Passing beyond the Tiamat Door, the party gets their first glimpse of the dread lair of Wyrmlord Azarr Kul--The Fane of Tiamat.

The wide entrance corridor has been carved from the mountainside by what Ovo deems to be ancient, skilled hands. The living stone has been artfully hewn and appears to be as structurally sound as it is impressive to behold. The reinforced masonry walls on either side bear artistic bas-relief sculptures of dragons and various religious iconography, with the motif of a red clawed hand repeated often. The ceiling is about 10 feet high and also appears to be in good physical shape, with few if any signs of fault lines.

The entrance corridor continues northward for 20 feet and then transitions to steep stone stairs that lead upward. Following these stairs, the adventurers come to a 10-foot landing, beyond which is a large iron double door, presently closed. Each door bears the emblazoned symbol of the Red Hand and both have key holes and, by Sarah's assessment, are locked. However; she did not see any evidence the doors were trapped.

When the rest of the party joins her, Sarah has been listening at the door and has heard nothing but silence beyond.

"Shall I try to unlock it?" Sarah asks as she readies her tools in anticipation of an affirmative answer.

Eoni jumped at the sound of Sarah's voice out of thin air.  She'd been expecting the invisible woman to be here, but it was still unsettling nonetheless.

"Go ahead," Dame Daflin replied once she'd regained her composure.  She still wore her lighted tiara and Elam had his lantern lit.

"Should we back up and douse the lights once she's unlocked the doors?" she querried the others.  "Only two of us can see in the dark so I'm not sure how much we'll have the element of surprise."

Sarah attempts to unlock the door . . .


13:04, Today: Sarah rolled 14 using 1d100 with rolls of 14.  Pick Locks (55).

Sarah works the lock free and the iron double doors are now unlocked, but still closed. The party hears no sound in response to Sarah's actions.

"They're unlocked," Sarah whispers.  "And I don't hear anything on the other side."

Ovo steps forward and looks for any traps that might have to do with pits or falling blocks. The dwarf, like Dergan, feels this has been all too easy. The howling creature never showed and the dragon kept hidden even after the light show and armored fighters moving along the open before the great stone doors.

Ovo discovers no evidence within the surrounding stonework to suggest pits, falling blocks, or any other such architectural security features.

Ovo, after his inspection, will tell the party he found no pits or stonework traps.

"We should be move'n as soon as ye be ready Dame Eoni. The longer we wait the more time they have to prepare for our come'n." The dwarf advised.

"All right," Dame Daflin replied softly to the dwarf as she moved back away from the doors and pulled her hood up to cover the tiara's light, "go ahead."

She motioned for Elam to cover his lantern light as well.

Vaxfar is comfortable in the dark.  He looks about the walls in the meantime. [Private to GM: He tries unsuccessfully to detect hidden/ secret doors
 02, Today: Secret Roll: Vaxfar rolled 5 using 1d6 with rolls of 5.  Detect hidden/ secret Doors (1-2).
 ]

Ovo urged everyone to stand back as he reached out and handed his crossbow to Dergan. Now he slid the shield from his back and placed it on his arm. The dwarf with one final look to make sure no one else stood near the door, then pushed against it using his strength to do so.

Sarah got out of the way.

Ovo pushes against the iron double doors, which prove to be significantly easier to push open than one might expect based solely on their size and construction.

The doors fling open on well-oiled hinges and catch at 90 degees, revealing a large foyer awash in a riot of color and the warm scent of vinegar and decay wafts up to assail the party.

Five sculpted stone dragon heads protrude from the center of the ceiling, and in each of their open maws burns a different colored jet of fire--blue, red, green, black, and white. The polished stone reflects the light and amplifies it.

Iron doors to the east and west each bear the image of a red clawed hand. To the north, a double door is embossed with the same icon.

The ceiling is 20 feet high and two balconies in the north wall overlook the room at a height of 10 feet. Atop each of the balconies, squats a thin, clawed reptilian semi-humanoid statue with large, bat-like wings. A prehensile tail is coiled around the statues' lower bodies. The statues' faces are vaguely draconic and each possess a pair of small horns, snake-like hair, and pointed ears.

The statues are crafted in leering pose, their slanted, devilish eyes focused on the entrance way.

OOC: The entrance foyer is 40 x 25 feet. Map update forthcoming...


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:16, Tue 01 Sept 2020.

Dergan doesn't like the look of those statues staring at him.  He notches his bow and aims it at one them, daring it to move.

Sarah silently skitters to the western door and applies her usual thiefly checks.

"I feel like we came in the wrong entrance," Dame Daflin whispered apprehensively.

[Private to Sarah: As soon as Sarah clears the western double door and has an unobstructed view of the foyer's southwest corner, she sees the rotting husk of a large, brown, serpentine creature with  tattered wings, skeletal arms, and a horned skull. Edritch light burns within the creature's hollow orbs as it watches the room while coiled in the foyer's southwest corner.

The creature does not give any indication it has taken notice of Sarah yet.]

The strange cobalt blue statue perched atop the balcony does not react to Dergan drawing his bow and taking aim on it. It continues to perch there, motionless, its eyes directed at the door and in the adventurers general direction.

Everyone except Sarah is still huddled at the entrance to the grand foyer.

"Sarah," Dame Daflin whispered, expecting the young woman to still be nearby, "do you think there are any traps in here?"

It was obvious there was magic in this room, but to what purpose?

"Don't enter!" Sarah's disembodied voice warns in a whisper.  "Southwest corner of the room; don't know what it is.  Looks like a dragon's caracass, but its eyes are glowing.  Looks like it's rotting, and it's still but I ain't sure it's dead."

After a pause Sarah gives voice to her fear:

"I hope it's not an undead dragon."

The hideous creature in the southwest corner, outside of view of those still in the corridor but within 10 feet of Sarah, lifts its neck as soon as Sarah begins whispering. The creature's glowing eyes pulse with energy as the monster sweeps its neck left and right, seemingly trying to locate Sarah.