Chains of Asmodeus

Random Encounters in Malbolge

Objectives in Malbolge

S1: The Swarm

The inn sits at a confluence of chasm and tunnel thoroughfares between infernal fortresses, in a particularly perilous region of the plane. Perilous more for Fiends than for travelers from outside the lower planes. From long feeding on the toxic flesh of Malagard—perhaps helped along by the tinkering of the inn's proprietors—the local life has developed some potent weapons to deploy against devils. In place of the regular poisons that Fiends are immune to, many species of giant scorpions and giant spiders inject acid with their stingers and fangs, or even more bizarre fluids that sear like the radiant touch of angels, rendering down fiendish flesh into a readily ingestible soup.

The tumultuous air above isn't safe either, as flights of ayperobo swarms (see appendix B) issue from their crevice nests, eager to devour prey. Those devils tasked to take messages and goods through the region of the inn always hurry to take shelter there, no matter the risks, and mortal travelers would be advised to do the same.

S2: Ekengarik's Hive

[image: Ekengarik's deadly swarms chase travelers to the inn.]

S3: Entrance

Read the following as the characters approach the inn.

Had the plane's current ruler, Glasya, any respect for her predecessor then doubtless the construction would be counted as deep disrespect. Glasya isn't sentimental, however, and Malbolge offers little else in respect of building material. Even the iron of the infernal fortresses must be hauled in from more productive layers. As with most locations in Malbolge, the inn continues on many levels under the ground. There are always guest rooms to be had, for a price. The proprietors accept a variety of currencies. Soul Coins, most commonly, but also magic objects or rare ingredients, given the work all three tend to. Devils passing this way know to bring appropriate recompense for the shelter, but mortals may be dismayed to find that all their gold and gems buy them nothing. However, there are always other options for those visiting from other planes. Not necessarily palatable options.

The characters can purchase lodgings for 1 Soul Coin or an uncommon magic item. Then they're taken to their rooms (see area S6).

S4: Feasting Hall

A great feasting hall is found on the first level of the inn, usually hosting at least a score of devils at any given time. They jostle elbows at tables scrimshawed from Malagard's bones and eat from a unique menu. The flesh of Malagard is generally unpalatable even to Fiends, but the inn's proprietors have the knack of transforming it into a delicacy worth the journey—to a devil. Mortals are advised to bring their own lunches unless they have a cast iron immunity to poisons.

The hags are always on the lookout for new business associates, or spare parts for their creations. If at any point the characters want to speak to the owner of the inn, they can ask any of the kobold serving staff. The kobold explains who the three hags are and that they often remain in their workshops in the basement. If the characters ask to speak to the hags directly, the servant leaves to fetch them. Roll on the Dealing with Hags table to determine the result of the request. If the character provides a bribe or incentive to encourage the hag to meet, then add +2 to the roll.

S5: Kitchens

The kobolds who staff the inn are routinely maimed, killed by accident, tortured, and even eaten by their employers, especially Irabella. They're very aware that they're the weakest things in all the Nine Hells, more wretched even than lemures, and while nothing keeps them safe from the hags, Irabella takes exception to any guests who take liberties with the staff. Working for her is miserable but better than being cast to the mercies of the Nine Hells. The most potent, sorcerous, and wicked among them ascend to the heady rank of chef and become Irabella's chief hench creatures, petty kitchen tyrants among their own kind.

S6: Guest Rooms

The guest rooms themselves are comfortable enough, if one doesn't contemplate the materials used to furnish them. There are six double bedrooms on each level.

S7: The Basements

The work of the hags, when they aren't playing hostess to select visitors, is in the construction of monsters. The secret lies in the flesh of Malagard, which is infinitely dead yet simultaneously bubbling with corrosive and stinking life. Using carefully selected components harvested from the ancient archdevil, adding in parts, pieces, and rare ingredients collected from across the Nine Hells and beyond, they create new beings with independent existence and will. For, while they lack the divine spark that would permit them to create true life, still the carrion flesh of Malagard holds enough vitality to grant a permanent animation to their stitched-together creations. The secret of how they harness the deceased hag-mother's power is known only to the three of them and represents their last bargaining chip should the powers of the Nine Hells decide their tenure is at an end.

While the basements are sealed off from the rest of the inn, there are no guards when the hags are off dealing with guests. The basements are accessible through an iron door that has Arcane Lock on it. Read the following if the characters decide to investigate:

This cavern is where the creations that the hags are currently working on are found. The angel doesn't have a spark of life as of yet, but if Anacreda feels threatened she can awaken her creation. The angel is a planetar that is considered a lawful evil Construct. It doesn't have its spellcasting feature. If the characters are here peacefully, review the "Services" section, for a description of what the hags might offer the characters, and ask for in return.

S8: Irabella's Workshops

Irabella the hag (Irabella uses the archmage stat block, but her creature type is Fey) seldom leaves her great wheeled bath, that is hauled laboriously about the ramps and elevators of the inn by the staff of kobolds she commands. Her workshops are half-submerged, and here she creates aquatic monstrosities on demand. Great Sahuagin priest-kings, aboleth archmages and elder kraken all send emissaries to her, and she makes benthic terrors to trouble the dreams of sea gods. She is sharp and bitter in manner, abusive to her servants and needling to her patrons and sisters, but she also commands the day-to-day running of the inn and its kitchens, tedious work the other two have no taste for. Hence her constant barbs are endured.

S9: Malecki's Workshops

Malecki, who claims to be the direct descendant of Malagard, is a night hag (with 150 hit points) whose work is on a grand scale. Her workshops are huge caverns in the rock, supplied with arches of bone that serve as gates from which her creations can leave, too vast to navigate the physical tunnels to the surface. She calls her work 'bespoke behemoths', living war engines of armor and tusks and spines, and she is happy to deliver them via her gates direct to a battlefield of her patron's choice if required. Malecki appears as plump and cheerful and is absolutely not to be trusted under any circumstance. Her creations are of undeniable power but are best released and then avoided as they've a tendency to forget who their master is soon after being deployed.

Malecki is still working on her latest creation, a yet-to-be-named fiendish war-machine (uses the statistics of a goristro demon). It is tethered by a magical chain with a length of 5 feet (though given the creature's size, it is capable of reaching much further than that). Currently it is docile and apparently tolerates, if not enjoys, Malecki's grotesque surgery. If she is attacked, Malecki uses a bonus action to free it from the chain, and the creature defends her.

[image: The rickety steps lead down to the hags' workshops.]

S10: Anacreda the Angelmaker

Finally, there is Anacreda the Angelmaker, the leader of the coven. Anacreda (see accompanying stat block) makes beasts of the air and bears a great pair of dove-grey wings herself, a living advertisement of her skills. She is only ever hideous, never bothering to disguise her true visage, but at the same time she has a stern grandeur to her that strikes Fiends and mortals both with its gravity and awe. Nobody has tested her to find out how personally powerful she is, but when Glasya herself comes to visit it is Anacreda she guests with. The two of them sit for hours, drinking peculiar vintages and exchanging secrets. And, while Glasya is the one entity whom Anacreda visibly defers to as her superior, the archdevil treats the ancient hag better than most of her own direct subordinates.

Services

As well as making monsters to order, the three sisters keep up a busy trade in exotic components and pieces, part of a network of speculators, harvesters and collectors that spans the planes. In addition, they happily modify Fiends and even mortals. They replace and add limbs, senses, and organs, both on request from those seeking greater personal power, and to fulfill specific punishments for recalcitrant Fiends that Glasya sends to them. Because they represent an unusual little blister of relative lawlessness in the Nine Hells, the sisters have also been known to hide fugitive mortals from infernal pursuit, for a price—though they're also not averse to taking payment and then betraying their guests, if they're feeling treacherous. The three sisters of the Hag's Arms are anything but reliable collaborators save where their business partners are too powerful to play games with.

When mortals do beg their services, the required payment varies. Most often they might simply ask for one member of the visiting group—as a plaything, for their soul, or to trade on to some fiendish creditor. As mortals are oddly reluctant to enter into that kind of transaction, they take other services. There is almost always some rare component one or another sister is after for her latest creation, and they've devised a variety of powerful geas-type bindings to ensure that any agreement isn't reneged on. They particularly like effects that have their errand-runners gradually mutate or deteriorate the longer the task remains undone. In game terms, any Geas they cast works as if it was cast at 9th level. In addition, the geas can only be ended with the Wish spell or by killing the hag that cast the spell.

All three sisters appreciate things that are in short supply in the Nine Hells. A bard's skilled performance, some witty repartee and a challenging game of skill might serve just as well as a quest across all the known planes for a piece of an ancient monster still currently within its original owner. Until you go before them, cap in hand, it's impossible to know how hard a bargain the hags will drive.

Risk-taking characters might want the hags to help them survive the dangers of the Nine Hells. Roll on the Hag Parts table... this is the modification available currently (this might change the next time the characters visit Malbolge). If the cost of 3 Soul Coins is paid, one character gains the modification after 2d4 hours of surgery. However, there is almost always a drawback. Roll on the Bad Deal table.