There is a main keep built on the island of rock jutting up alone from the valley floor. It is constructed on the site of the copper dragon nesting grounds, and is only accessible from the air. There is no gate in the surrounding wall. Access is from the air, or from underground. A tunnel connects the main fortress to the main warren of tunnels under the central spur. There I no tunnel connecting the central guard tower to either outpost on outer spurs. They open onto the hillside, but only the central tower is connected to the tunnels.
The warren of tunnels are the home to the acolytes and guards of the complex. The guards tend to remain close to the central tower, or one of the auxiliary ones. The main fortress is reserved for the primary cult leaders. The tunnel to the fortress is alarmed to alert those inside to movement through the tunnel. The courtyard around the central keep within the fortress walls is also alarmed in the same way.
As the party arrives at the mountain pass accessing the valley, they are noted, and followed quietly. A shadow has seen something in them that it hopes to use for its own benefit. The shadow is a Revenant seeking to avenge itself on someone within the complex, and needs the character’s assistance to enter. In return, he will offer to direct them as well as he can to whatever objective they have. As it turns out, the Revenant is seeking the head of the cult as well. He has no means of bypassing the alarms, but knows roughly where they are, and can point them out. Once inside the fortress, he is not aware of any alarms that have been set, but his innate abilities can direct him to the leader.
The leader of the cult currently is a Half-Red Dragon Veteran named Paul Kamina. His mother was Erin, and his father was our grand villain… polymorphed. Erin Kamina fell under the dragon’s spell completely, and became pregnant. She convinced Ran Tethrek to work with her to betray the rest of the party by suggesting some of them were in league with the dragon, and that they needed to eliminate them and open a channel with the copper dragons to avenge the deception. This is what they did.
When she gave birth to Paul, it became obvious that there was a deeper truth behind what Ran had been told. Erin set herself up in the main fortress with Paul and a small group of extremely loyal minions. Ran was left to organize the acolytes and train the guards. He only saw Erin on rare occasions, and Paul was kept out of sight and raised in private. Ran became concerned about the visitors coming to the fortress in secret, and the withering of the connection with the copper dragons. He began to question what Erin’s real motive was, and resent the role he had played in helping her.
Eventually, in the last five years, Paul emerged to assume full control of the cult, and began directing its movements across the mountains searching for relics and powerful artifacts, some dangerous to dragons, some lost benefits. The acolytes in the tunnels were barely tolerated, and treated as second class members, largely ignored. The main power of the cult flowed from within the fortress, and was reaching out its long, greedy tendrils to all corners of the north.
Ran heard the disgruntled rumblings of the acolytes and went to confront Erin. His movement tripped the hidden alarms, and he found Erin frail in her library. He burst in on her, intending to demand answers, only to find himself surrounded by a private guard and Paul. Paul tried to keep him from speaking with Erin, but he brushed him aside and confronted her. She seemed distant and unfocused. He asked for answers and she gave him stares. Paul tried to corral him and shepherd him from the room. He erupted in anger, shoving Paul to the ground and threatening him with a drawn blade. Erin came alert instantly in a powerful rage, and attacked Ran. He took the brunt of her fireball, which killed most of the guards, then lost his mind and savagely attacked Erin, killing her. As he turned to leave, Paul subdued him, and had him executed for his treachery. Now, his revenant seeks to avenge his death against Paul.
Erin had been under the sway of the dragon’s charms and so devoutly consumed by his rage, that she was not easily destroyed. Eager to live forever, she was in preparation for becoming a lich, and barely human any more. In fact, once struck down, the frail body disappeared, and her power and evil manifested itself as a Shadow Demon. She was violent and beyond reason, and locked in her suite in the tower, but still dangerous. Her chambers hold the secret treasure chambers, and much of the powerful items the cult has gathered. Paul either doesn’t know of these chambers, or is so convinced of his own physical presence and might that he cares not.
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