Hell in Freeport

Notes About the Book as a Whole

See Manual of the Planes, pp. 115-123, about the Nine Hells of Baator, and p. 151 for Hellish Encounters.

The names of spells and magic items should always be italicized (about half of the spells mentioned in the text were not, and at least one magic item was not).

Monsters appearing in MM were not given stat blocks in the appendix. This would have been very useful, especially where more than one monster type is used in a single encounter. In some of the random encounter tables, page numbers are given for monsters appearing in special groups detailed their "organization" entry in MM, but this usage is not consistent.

Devil descriptions are found in the following locations:

• MM, pp. 48-53: barbazu, cornugon, erinyes, gelugon, hamatula, hellcat, imp, kyton, lemure[1], osyluth, pit fiend.

• Legions of Hell (LoH) (stat blocks: HiF, pp. 75-78, 80): bulugon[2] (p. 12), enforcer of Dis (p. 19), faceless (p. 20), ice stalker[3] (p. 26), Jalie Squarefoot (pp. 29-30), spinder (p. 44), vierhaander (p. 47).

• Hell in Freeport (HiF) only: kocrachon (appearance, p. 58; stat block, p. 76). [Addendum: Somewhat different stats for kocrachon appear in Book of Vile Darkness, pp. 175-176, but the CR and HD are the same.]

[1] See also Manual of the Planes, p. 116, about lemures.

[2] The bulugon also appears in the "Legions of Hell Preview": http://freeronin.com/gr_files/lohpre.pdf

[3] Stat blocks for both average (4 HD) and large (11 HD) ice stalkers are given in HiF, p. 76.

Note that the following modified or new monsters/NPC types are given full stat blocks in HiF (pp. 75-78): automaton [new; see full listing, pp. 85-86], basilisk (infernal, large), dread warrior [new], guardian naga (huge), pirate, pit-brier [new; see full listing, p. 86], prisoner, roper (huge), tendriculos (gargantuan), treant (infernal). See MM for all others.

Reference to the least/lesser/greater hierarchy of devils is made in the cathedral description (pp. 12-15) and elsewhere. This descriptor was not carried over into 3E. According to the (2E) Monstrous Compendium: Outer Planes Appendix, baatezu are divided as follows:

• Below least: lemure.

• Least: nupperibo*, spinagon*.

• Lesser: abishai*, barbazu, [bulugon], erinyes, hamatula, [kocrachon], osyluth.

• Greater: amnizu*, cornugon, gelugon, pit fiend.

*: These devils do not appear in the 3E MM or in HiF. Abishai appear in Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerun, pp. 12-14. Spinagons appear in Manual of the Planes, pp. 166-168.

[...]: These are new to HiF/LoH, but classed on HiF, p. 12. Kocrachon also appear in Book of Vile Darkness, pp. 175-176.

Other devils (not appearing in HiF) include narzugon (Manual of the Planes, pp. 167-168) and ghagatula (Book of Vile Darkness, pp. 175-177).

Larvae (mentioned on p. 51, Prison Marketplace) are the souls of the evil dead, with even less status than the lowly lemures, and found throughout the lower planes. For 3E stats, see Manual of the Planes, pp. 108-109 (Hades Petitioners). (Deities and Demigods, p. 55, also has general information on petitioners.) See Book of Vile Darkness (“Souls as Power”, p. 33) for some of the uses of larvae.

Prestige classes: The following prestige classes have been used in HiF, but are detailed elsewhere:

• Bla: Blackthorn: Focus on Freeport #10: Hell in Freeport Prestige Classes (http://freeronin.com/gr_files/focus10.pdf).

• Cru: Crusader: FoF #10.

• Dbl: Diabolist: Focus on Freeport #9: Hell's Foes (http://freeronin.com/gr_files/focus09.pdf). (Do not confuse this class with the lawful evil Diabolist that appears in Book of Vile Darkness!)

• Dvl: Devil Slayer: FoF #9.

• Gry: Grayback: FoF #10.

• Hel: Hellblade: FoF #9.

• Man: Manikin: FoF #10.

• Mnt: Mountebank: Legions of Hell, pp. 52-54.

• Tem: This is an error for "Cru" (Crusader).

These sources include three other prestige classes, which were not used in HiF:

• Balan's Jackal: Legions of Hell, pp. 50-52.

• Inq: Inquistor: FoF #9.

• Plaguelord: Legions of Hell, pp. 54-56.

Covers

HiF also requires the DMG and MM, as stated on p. 2.

Introduction

p. 3 (and back cover), A Brief History of Freeport: "Secrets of Freeport" was released as "Freeport: The City of Adventure".

Act One: Deal With the Devil

pp. 5-7, Encounter 3: The Soft Sell:

Just read the opening of Hell in Freeport (HiF) and all I can say is AAAAAAArrrrrrrgh! Why is every priest who is not Brother Egil not what they appear? Why are the Gawds not striking down the horde of imposters and possessing spirits that seem to plague the Freeport clergy? Doing it once was fine in Death. Doing it a second time in Terror was a twist. But a third time takes the biscuit! Please come up with a new plot hook for City of Freeport or my players will begin to kill random clerics who entreat their aid on sight! [Steve Ellis, 8/19/2001, "Not again!"]

Ha! Well to be fair, the plot for HiF was set before we got our hands on Terror or Madness, and it must have slipped our collective minds to check for overlap.

    To avoid anti-cleric paranoia, I would suggest making the retribution crusade against Devil's Cry a civil instead of religious event. Maybe the inquisitors are part of a government crackdown that originated on the continent, or even a group of mercenaries hired by the Sea Lord. In this case, Inquisitor Hess would be an aged functionary instead of a cleric, and the Church of Retribution becomes a sort of government agency.

    The important thing is that Hess appears innocuous; if clerics are no longer innocuous in your game, he's gotta be something else. [Jim Bishop, 8/19/2001, "Re: Not again!"]

p. 6, The Church of Retribution: Apparently, the inquisition preceded Drac and Francisco's rise to the titles of Sea Lords (200 years ago), and Drac's bid for sole power (190 y.a.). (See Death in Freeport, pp. 3-5, and Focus on Freeport #5.) It seems highly unlikely that a large group of paladins and clerics of "retribution" would be active in a pirate haven like Freeport was at that time. Two possibilities suggest themselves: 1) The church became active during the century of prosperity starting 160 y.a., or 2) A shortage of "good" heroes immediately after the fall of the church allowed Drac and Francisco to pull off something as ambitious as the Great Raid (200 y.a.).

p. 9, Encounter 5: Sixteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest: Large sharks are 7 HD. However, Ragenchild is limited to 6 HD of animal companions if actively adventuring (see DMG, p. 46), or up to 12 HD in optimal conditions. "Blood in the Water" (p. 10) implies a different relationship, but the details are not given.

p. 13, Antechamber: Ignore the illustration; per the text, the golems are crudely sculpted as knights. 200 years seems a very long time for a Track attempt to give this much data, especially at the middling DCs listed.

pp. 14-15, locations 7-9: See the notes on the cathedral level 2 map (p. 35).

p. 15, The Chapel: Be sure to review Ghost (MM, pp. 212-213) and Incorporeality (DMG, pp. 77-78) carefully before running this combat. See also notes to the stats for Sir Jesswyn (p. 83) and Zakas (pp. 84-85).

p. 17, The Chapel: Regarding the lore about devils' corpses bursting into flames, see note #1 to pp. 55-56: Command Center.

Act Two: In the Mouth of Hell

p. 17, The Chapel: Dread warriors do not appear in MM or Legions of Hell. See p. 77 for the stat block.

pp. 19-20: Antechamber: In the 2nd and 3rd sentences on p. 20, two different names are used for the captain: Whitman and Blight.

p. 23, The Law: See p. 70 (Encounter 2: Khaali's Army) about his warhorse.

pp. 24-26, Meet the Mayor: No mention is made here of Wycleffe's hellcat (bezekira) servant. It does, however, appear in his stat block (p. 84), and factors into his tactics in the battle in Act 3 (pp. 70-71, Encounter 3: Smash the State). It has 52 hp.

p. 29, Random Encounters: According to "Special Rules on the Styx," immediately preceding this paragraph, the journey takes 24 hours, not 2 days.

p. 32, Special Rules in Tyre: "Third Circle" should be "Eighth Circle".

Maps (pp. 33-40)

p. 35, Cathedral level 1: This map is not labeled as level 1. The arrow on "stairs down" is pointing the wrong direction (see level 2 side view, and p. 13: Antechamber).

p. 35, Cathedral level 2: The pointers for "steel tunnel sheared away" and "natural stone" are misplaced. The "heavy masony/stone slabs" only appear on the Hell side of the cathedral (pp. 18-19, locations 9-6); on the Prime side, there is a pile of rubble blocking these passages (p. 13: The Three Roads).

p. 37, Clocktower of Tyre: This map does not properly reflect the wall dividing the 8th statue (location 11) from the other seven (location 10), so read the descriptions on p. 44 carefully.

p. 38, maps of the Forge: No scale is given for these two maps, but location 0 is described as over half a mile across, which does not agree with the scale of the Pit map on p. 39. The 3/4 view map does not show locations 3-7 in the basement level, and the "Secret Entrance" sections do not match the top-down map. Based on the descriptions of the Forge in pp. 47-67, these two Forge maps are probably schematic rather than to scale. (Of course, the DM can always just decide to resolve the scale issue by ruling that this area of Hell isn't entirely Euclidian.)

p. 40, Top-down of a Cell: According to p. 57: The Cells, the wall thicknesses should be in feet ('), not inches ("). In any case, the exact thickness should be difficult for the PCs to determine.

[Act Two, continued]

p. 41, The Tyre Clocktower: The map on p. 37 is labeled ground/second/top floor, not by level numbers.

p. 41, The Courtyard: The "druid's vestment" is a magic item, but was not italicized; see DMG, p. 228.

pp. 41-42, The Stages: These animated objects (MM, pp. 17-18) are iron, large and mostly humanoid, so have Spd 30 ft, Face 5 ft x 5 ft, Reach 10 ft, hardness 10, and trample.

p. 44, The Catwalk & The Main Stage: The map (p. 37) does not properly reflect the wall dividing the 8th statue (location 11) from the other seven (location 10), so read the descriptions carefully.

p. 44, The Bell Ringers: These animated objects (MM, pp. 17-18) are iron, colossal and mostly humanoid, but are attached to the gears, so have Spd 0, AC 9, Face 40 ft x 40 ft, Reach 25 ft, Dex 0, and hardness 10. They cannot trample, but attack with reach weapons, and can strike the bell to harm creatures inside or outside their reach.

p. 45, Encounter 6: Above the Ice, Part I: See the general notes above about new prestige classes. Filthy Ike, Plutonius and Rogar's stat blocks (pp. 79, 82) have full summaries of their abilities. “Bar” should be “Bbn” (barbarian).

Act Three: Hell and Back

p. 47, Synopsis: It is never explicitly stated, but Dis is on the Second Circle of Hell. (See Manual of the Planes, p. 117.)

pp. 47-49, The Line: For DM reference, the PCs' gear is in the Property Room (Basement level, location 5, pp. 54-55), and their animals and familiars are in the Stockyard (Labor Quarter, location 5, pp. 58-59). When the PCs first awake in The Line, PCs with empathic lines to their animals will be more than one mile from those servants. However, they can communicate easily with them from within the Labor Quarter, which is only half a mile across. Between these two extremes, the DM must judge when the PCs are within one mile of their animals. (See the note for p. 38 about the issue of map scales.)

p. 53, Wardstone Vault: 1) There is no such thing as a "Willpower check"; use a Will save or Wisdom check instead. 

    2) Mephits are normally CR 3. The wardstone grants extra abilities to both the mephits and the PCs (though the PCs will need to observe and experiment to learn this), so it may fair to leave the mephits at CR 3. 

    3) Plutonius's caster level is only 10, so he can only carry 500 lbs. in addition to himself. The spells on his scroll, however, can transport 1000 lbs. (assuming he makes his caster level check).

p. 50-52, Special Rules in the Forge: See DMG, p. 84, about the "fatigued" condition. See the general notes above about larvae.

pp. 52-53, 3. Automaton Garage: In the third paragraph on p. 53, "active" should be "activate".

p. 54, Random Treasure: Potions are one dose (1 oz.) per vial.

pp. 54-55, Property Room: Note that polymorph only heals when the spell is first activated, so "Kelso" cannot heal himself by ending the spell. He must rely on his regeneration power and escape spells.

p. 55, Warden Vinc's Office: 1) The third trap requires a Will save, not "Willpower." 

    2) The value of the soul contracts is debatable. If they represent ownership of a damned soul, they are worth 50+ gp (per p. 51, Prison Marketplace). If they are unholy compacts (see Legions of Hell, pp. 56-57: Fallen Celestial Template), they have no real value (beyond sentiment on the part of the contract-maker), because they are not needed to maintain the compact.

pp. 55-56, Command Center: 1) The text says that a devil's corpse can bypass the wizard lock; however, the cathedral's description (p. 17) says that devils slain in Hell burst into flames. 2) A victim of the gargoyle's mouth may still have one arm free, in which he is not helpless, but simply reduced to Dex 0 (-5 modifier) and pinned (+4 to be hit).

pp. 56-57, The Arena, and Cells: See the notes on pp. 40 and 74 about the maps.

p. 58, Infirmary/Torture Chamber: 1) Kocrachons are new to HiF; see p. 76 for the stat block. 2) Potions are one dose (1 oz.) per vial.

p. 58, Guard Post: See note #1 to pp. 55-56: Command Center.

p. 59, Encounter 3: Cast into the Pit: The map is on p. 39.

p. 60, Mold Farm: Yellow mold is a CR 6 trap (see DMG, p. 117).

p. 61, Vacuum Vents: These are the "Suction Tubes" labeled on the map (p. 39).

p. 61, Pit-town: For stats for Mialee, Tordek, Jozan and Lidda, see the "Dungeon Delve 2000" files on the WotC site: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnD_DDelve2k_Intro.asp

pp. 61-69, Movement Two: Snakes and Ladders:

I've been reading the HiF but something disturbs me a bit. How does a PC or NPC for [that] matter, enter the arena from the cells catwalk, and is it the cell openings that are shown on p. 64? [Wilfard, 10/26/2001, "The Arena"]

If the party is singled out for the Arena, they're either escorted down to the ground floor by Stinkhorn and his retinue (who would open the forcewall and fly the party down), or just sucked up in a vacuum tube from their cell and deposited on the sand. This is actually the most likely--prisoners are moved around the complex the way that mail was moved around buildings in the 40s, just shuttled at high speed through pneumatics. [Jim Bishop, 10/31/2001, "Re: The Arena"]

And how does the ladder apartments function? -I can guess that the apartments are placed on top of each other, but how does one get from one paartment to another? -And are there a common (drinking, feasting) room? And what should happen if the PCs try to wreck the whole place and [try killing] the competitors before the actual battles? [Wilfard, 10/26/2001, "The Arena"]

Those are great questions. As originally conceived, there was a vacuum shaft running up the center of the tower, from top to bottom. If you rule that the main door (p. 40, the door on the south wall) leads to a vertical vacuum tube, maybe one that responds to mental commands, then your party can roam up and down the ladder causing havok. You'll need to draw a map for the fire giant [room], though, because the one we provided is far too small for them.

    As for the party breaking into other apartments, my advice is to put yourself in the shoes of the warden. Devils are all about rules, and the Ladder is much more important than most other things in the prison--this is how they actually convert prisoners to the lawful evil way of life. Of course, prisoners in the Ladder have a lot more privacy than the general population. There's likely no cameras, and the guards would be a lot more lenient about "minor infractions", like sneaking into the slaadi apartments and setting a bunch of snare traps, than they would be normally. If the party pulls out the big guns and starts destroying opposing teams "unfairly", they'll probably be disqualified and sent down to the Pit. [Jim Bishop, 10/31/2001, "Re: The Arena"]

pp. 62-63, New Accommodations: 1) Note that erinyes can easily change their form to appear as any race or gender that might appeal to their "clients." (The polymorph self spell description [PH, p. 237] does not explicitly give the ability to change gender, but this should be allowed. After all, succubi can appear as male incubi, and erinyes serve the same function.) 

    2) A map of a typical Ladder apartment is given on p. 40, but no description is given besides the brief passage here.

pp. 63-65, Encounter 2: Countdown to the Arena: The paladins' stats are given on p. 83, but for the dwarves, elves and gnomes, only the leaders' stats are given. Per Encounter 3: The Main Event (pp. 65-67), the PCs will not fight those three teams. If the DM wishes to stat up these teams, see "NPC Statistics," DMG, pp. 47-58. Use Waywocket's spell list (pp. 83-84) for a guide to the lesser gnome wizards' lists.

p. 65, Manikins: Iron Jack is located in the Automaton Garage (Encounter 1, Area 3, pp. 52-53).

p. 66, Battle 2: Crusaders: "Tem" is an error for "Cru" (Crusader).

p. 68, The Iron City of Dis: 1) Atison is a "Warmaster," which is not identified. The Warmaster prestige class (Sword & Fist, pp. 37-38) is not available to evil creatures. 

    2) The Council of Lords includes Furcas (male duke; see Legions of Hell, p. 21).

p. 77, The Final Battle: Against the Clock Tower: As in Act 1, the Clocktower of Tyre map (p. 37) is labeled by floors, not level numbers.

Handouts

p. 74, Handout B: A Laborer's Cell: According to p. 57, The Cells, the wall thicknesses should be in feet ('), not inches ("). In any case, the exact thickness should be difficult for the PCs to determine, so remove them from the handout.

Appendix 1: Statistics

p. 75, Devil, Bulugon: Per Legions of Hell, p. 12, CR is 5.

p. 79, Filthy Ike: “Bar” should be “Bbn” (barbarian).

p. 80, Lord Protector Highsmith: "Tem" is an error for "Cru" (Crusader); see the general notes above about new prestige classes.

p. 83, Sir Jesswyn: Jesswyn is a ghost (see MM, pp. 212-213), so has d12 HD [not d10] and Spd fly 30 ft. (perfect). His ghostly armor and shield only protect against ethereal creatures (unless they are ghost touch armor [DMG, p. 181], in which case only the enhancement bonus applies), and his deflection bonus only protects against corporeal creatures. Change his AC to 15 vs. corporeal (+1 Dex, +4 deflection) [or AC 17 if ghost touch armor & shield], 24 vs. incorporeal (+1 Dex, +10 +1 full plate, +3 +1 large shield). His magic lance works normally against corporeal creatures when he manifests.

p. 84, Wycleffe: Note that Wycleffe's stats are identical to the sample mountebank in Legions of Hell (pp. 53-54). Quicken Spell gives no benefit to sorcerers.

pp. 84-85, Zakas: Zakas only gains the benefit of his ghostly armor vs. incorporeal creatures, unless it is ghost touch armor, in which he gets the +3 listed. He has AC 15 vs. corporeal (or the listed 18 with ghost touch armor). [His deflection bonus is correct, unlike Jesswyn's.]

Appendix 2: New Monsters

p. 86, Pit-brier: See general notes above about new prestige classes.

3.5 Revisions

See Hell in Freeport (3.5 Revisions) for [incomplete] revision notes.