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The Deva Spark
A bar room brawl? No big deal. Except when it starts on the Abyss—and the brawlers are a deva and a bebilith! The deva: A celestial champion who serves the cause of ultimate Good. The bebilith: A nightmarish monster whose every deed reeks of ultimate Evil. Two eternal enemies locked in a bizarre struggle for the ultimate prize.
What terrible secret connects these two beings? And what does it all have to do with the legendary deva spark? Only a group of brave cutters can get to the dark of this peel, and they'd better hurry... because time is running out!
The Deva Spark is a Planescape adventure for a party of four to six characters of 5th—9th levels. From the blasted pits of the Abyss to the peaceful forests of Elysium, the heroes track a barmy bebilith who holds the key to saving the life of a dying deva. Can your characters handle the fire of the deva spark?
What terrible secret connects these two beings? And what does it all have to do with the legendary deva spark? Only a group of brave cutters can get to the dark of this peel, and they'd better hurry... because time is running out!
The Deva Spark is a Planescape adventure for a party of four to six characters of 5th—9th levels. From the blasted pits of the Abyss to the peaceful forests of Elysium, the heroes track a barmy bebilith who holds the key to saving the life of a dying deva. Can your characters handle the fire of the deva spark?
32 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1994
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December 16, 2022A deva on a spy mission drops off its celestial nature with a human it misjudged, who got killed and went to hell — and now the spark is in a demon, who is changing into something maybe good while the original deva is dying without its spark.
Is this the cleanest way to start this adventure? Does it make sense for this deva to be so stupid and in such a rush as to put its spark in a bad person? I mean, I like the dilemma at the end (theoretically) of a dying good person and a transforming from evil to good person, and you can only save one (or can you), but it also feels like a false choice in some ways. (That said, there’s something interesting here between “putting back the status quo” and “trying something different.”)
But also, it’s just a lot of setup for the premise.
Act 1 has a similar issue in that the PCs get involved in this by getting the wrong change at a bar — including a magic portal key — and stumbling into an Abyssal bar. And the rest of the adventure hinges on the PCs observing something — the ex-deva getting wounded and a particular devil getting the spark — without intervening, which is just aggravating to me. Can you tell the players, “this is a cut scene where you just watch”?
So, screw it: start with the PCs getting the mission from a dying deva, who says “take me into the Abyss to find my spark.” (Also funny that the devil with the spark immediately starts feeling a little celestial, whereas the person who got that spark in the prologue continued to be evil.)
(Or maybe: the start should be “this devil is escaped into the celestial realms, go stop it!” — and then the twist is that the devil is struggling with its evil and good natures.)
(That said, here’s a bright note: the adventure notes some ways the PCs might try to get out of the adventure and gives some info about how to get them back in: in Planescape, your faction can always give you a mission.)
(Also another bright spot: the idea that a deva can remove its celestial spark and that spark can affect another creature is very interesting. After all, what if a demon wanted that spark in order to pass in the celestial realms and spy with the knowledge that it had a deadline for getting back and getting that spark out of it?)
The rest of this adventure, well, besides the fights at the beginning, a lot of Act II is following the devil’s trail and hearing stories of how it was evil and good (and then some fights against another demon who is able to get here anyway); and Act III is the PCs leading the angel and the devil through a bunch of tests to see who is worthy, which… isn’t really interesting EXCEPT these challenges are also clues as to the really good solution: not giving the spark to one or the other, but joining them together.
But this is what I want more of: not a puzzle to solve (and I don’t love that there’s a happiest ending here, which gives the PCs more experience), but a dilemma to deal with. (Again, don’t love that if the PCs chose the angel, he immediately shares some of his life with the devil, bringing it to goodness. What the PCs decide should have consequences. (In this case, if you choose the angel, the devil should go back to being evil and also now have a legit grudge against the PCs.)
Is this the cleanest way to start this adventure? Does it make sense for this deva to be so stupid and in such a rush as to put its spark in a bad person? I mean, I like the dilemma at the end (theoretically) of a dying good person and a transforming from evil to good person, and you can only save one (or can you), but it also feels like a false choice in some ways. (That said, there’s something interesting here between “putting back the status quo” and “trying something different.”)
But also, it’s just a lot of setup for the premise.
Act 1 has a similar issue in that the PCs get involved in this by getting the wrong change at a bar — including a magic portal key — and stumbling into an Abyssal bar. And the rest of the adventure hinges on the PCs observing something — the ex-deva getting wounded and a particular devil getting the spark — without intervening, which is just aggravating to me. Can you tell the players, “this is a cut scene where you just watch”?
So, screw it: start with the PCs getting the mission from a dying deva, who says “take me into the Abyss to find my spark.” (Also funny that the devil with the spark immediately starts feeling a little celestial, whereas the person who got that spark in the prologue continued to be evil.)
(Or maybe: the start should be “this devil is escaped into the celestial realms, go stop it!” — and then the twist is that the devil is struggling with its evil and good natures.)
(That said, here’s a bright note: the adventure notes some ways the PCs might try to get out of the adventure and gives some info about how to get them back in: in Planescape, your faction can always give you a mission.)
(Also another bright spot: the idea that a deva can remove its celestial spark and that spark can affect another creature is very interesting. After all, what if a demon wanted that spark in order to pass in the celestial realms and spy with the knowledge that it had a deadline for getting back and getting that spark out of it?)
The rest of this adventure, well, besides the fights at the beginning, a lot of Act II is following the devil’s trail and hearing stories of how it was evil and good (and then some fights against another demon who is able to get here anyway); and Act III is the PCs leading the angel and the devil through a bunch of tests to see who is worthy, which… isn’t really interesting EXCEPT these challenges are also clues as to the really good solution: not giving the spark to one or the other, but joining them together.
But this is what I want more of: not a puzzle to solve (and I don’t love that there’s a happiest ending here, which gives the PCs more experience), but a dilemma to deal with. (Again, don’t love that if the PCs chose the angel, he immediately shares some of his life with the devil, bringing it to goodness. What the PCs decide should have consequences. (In this case, if you choose the angel, the devil should go back to being evil and also now have a legit grudge against the PCs.)
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