H4 The Throne of Bloodstone.pdf - Free

than any dragon living on the Prime
plane. He is the spawn of a long line
of red dragons that Orcus has subdued
and brought to the Abyss.
There, the Prince of the Undead has
developed his line, certainly adjusting
the natural breeding process with
his demonic manipulations. The
result, to date, is the awesome creature
that now patrols the land around
his fortress.
The dragon patrols primarily the
barren wasteland in the area of the
PCs’ most likely approach, since the
other sides of the castle are protected
by vast cities of chaotic evil.
The problem with Fyrillicus is that,
in the course of breeding his size,
strength, and power to such an
extreme, his intelligence suffered
rather drastically. Although he is
capable of learning the spells listed
for him (by dint of no little tutoring)
he will never win any scholarships.
His approach to a problem is nearly
always that of the frontal assault. He
is savage, thorough, and cruel in combat.
Thus far, his relative stupidity
has not been a tremendous
drawback—in fact, he has yet to meet
an opponent who could really challenge
him.
The Encounter with Fyrillicus
When the PCs have studied the
castle for the appropriate amount of
time, the dragon will interrupt their
contemplations with an attack. The
PCs will see him soaring, a mile or so
away, and suddenly he will be right
above them, diving into the attack.
(This is caused by the distancedistorting
space around the castle,
not by any magical enhancement of
the dragon’s speed).
Fyrillicus will know the location of
the PCs to within 20 feet, but he will
not have any magical means of seeing
them if they are camouflaged, poly-
morphed, or otherwise concealed. He
will be able to detect invisible, however,
so that obvious tactic will not
work.
If he cannot see his victims, Fyrillicus
will breathe in the general area of
the party, two rounds after he arrives
overhead. Then, unless he has been
badly wounded by the PCs, he will
land and fight them in melee combat.
(He prefers his killing “up close
and personal.”)
II. Movement Around
the Fortress
This is the heart of Orcus’s power.
Thus it is subject to some very strange
natural effects, as well as the wards
and precautions wrought by the
Prince of the Undead himself.
Flying Above or
Around the Castle
The Prince of the Undead is a powerful
and ruthless ruler, but he is not
without his enemies—even among the
other planes of the Abyss. Consequently,
he has taken a number of precautions
against intruders approaching
and threatening his fortress.
Orcus has forbidden any flying in
the vicinity of his fortress. To enforce
his will, he has posted numerous flying
guards, entrusted with the simple
task of destroying any creature with
the audacity to ignore the prince’s
order.
These flying patrols are posted at
the various “Observation Towers”
marked on the map. These towers
have the unique feature of blocking
out most of the view, in order to
enhance their single purpose.
Any creature standing atop one of
the towers can see nothing that is
attached to or in contact with the
ground. However, it can see unerringly
(as if benefiting from a true seeing
59
spell) anything in its field of vision
that is not in contact with the ground.
Great bounties are offered by
Orcus for those of his flying patrols
that locate and destroy intruding flying
creatures. However, a sense of
order has evolved among these Abyssian
Air Patrols. The first of the
groups to reach a flying intruder is
allowed to attack and try to destroy
the intruders, while other air patrols
stand by. Only if the first group is
vanquished can the second move in,
and so on. Thus, flying intruders will
face a constant battle against these air
patrols. Although they will only have
to face one group at a time, as soon as
one group is destroyed, another is
there to continue the attack.
The air patrols will limit their
attacks to the airspace over the moat
or the fortress proper. They will not
bother creatures flying over the cities
or the countryside around the castle.
However, as soon as a group begins to
fly over the moat, they will be
attacked by one group of the air
patrol. On the round following the
slaying of the last member of that
group, the intruders are attacked by
another group.
If all of the members of an intruding
party land, they will have to finish
the combat with any group of the air
patrol that has already attacked them.
However, they will face no further
attacks by the air patrol unless a member
of the intruding group again takes
to the air. In this case, on the round
following the character becoming airborne,
the air patrol will attack again.
The air patrols include the following
types of creatures. Roll 1d6 to
determine which group is encountered,
and then determine the size of
the group.