Tower of the Ascendants: Peeking Around A Corner

Tower of the Ascendants: Overview Map

Tower of the Ascendants 2-1: Passage of Three

Trying some different lighting options, and torch models. I think I like the third one best.

Tower of the Ascendants: Vestibule

Fane of the Heresiarch: GAME OVER

With nobody able to contest him, the Heresiarch ascends to godhood. 

The Heresiarch, in all his divine glory.

Your new GOD rules over your planet for 1001 years, bleeding it dry of all life, at which point it and its denizens are nothing more than a lifeless husks. 

Seeking greener pastures elsewhere, he continues the cycle once again, launching deep into the stars, seeking out the next world to dominate.

It's a sad thing your adventures have ended here!

Thank you for playing Fane of the Heresiarch. I do plan on running this adventure again (possibly summer 2013), and will be opening it up to repeat players. Take what you've learned in this run, and see if you can excel in your score!

Special Thanks

Thanks again Sersa Victory for an awesome adventure!
  
Feedback
If you have a few moments, I'd love to pick your brain about what you liked and disliked about the Fane of the Heresiarch run. This feedback is open to lurkers to post to as well, not just players. 

In the comments section, answer the following questions:

• What did you like the most about the game?
• What did you like the least about the game?
• What one thing would you change if you could?
• What one thing can I change to make myself a better DM?
• This run featured a new element: audio narration. Should I continue with this technique on future adventures? Did it add value to the game?

What's Next?

In early 2013, I will switch over from running SVD Press games (Revenge of the Iron Lich, Crucible of the Gods, Fane of the Heresiarch) to an adventure recently released at a great fourthcore website, Dungeon Oracle. 

Here is a teaser of that upcoming adventure, Vault of the Wyrm Prince:

When the fires smoldered in the belly of an ancient red dragon tyrant, and his thirst had been slaked by the blood of countless innocents, the old wyrm made a deal with a succubus to spawn him a son and ensure his name would live forever. The demon held true, though she imbued the wyrmling with her own infernal blood.Those who fear and serve the abominable spawn of this pact know him as the Wyrm Prince.

Cast into the abyss centuries ago by the legendary Three- River Paladin, the Wyrm Prince licked his wounds and recovered his strength. The Three-River Paladin has passed into legend, and the Wyrm Prince has resurfaced, his vengeance awakened along with his hunger. The Wyrm Prince sacked the high city Zhaldanis, slaying its people and claiming the greatest gift from the gods— the Soulstone.

At this late hour, you must venture into the catacombs of the Wyrm Prince before the stone loses its power and all mortal souls are damned!

Fane of the Heresiarch: Watchtower II

The squares surrounding are a spiral stairs
leading down around the base of the watchtower.

The Chaos Device teleports you all back to the top of the watchtower, where you started.

You have three planets. Jade, Onyx and Diamond.

It is quiet here, the sounds of the wind outside the tower the only thing to break the silence... and of course the babbling mouths of the forsaken shells that compose the nearby gate.

What's next, crusaders?

Tower of the Ascendants: Entering the Tower

Three archways, each five feet wide and ten feet tall, lead into the dark. Each stone archway is flanked by the graven images of faceless angels.

The last week of Fane of the Heresiarch is upon us, and I will begin to post other things... such as my player-experience in @DrDavyJones play-by-blog, Tower of the Ascendants. Having fun with Doombuilder, I might screenshot the tower as I have time.

Wish me luck! Let's see if I can take my own medicine and survive a fourthcore adventure!

MilwaukeeJoe

Fane of the Heresiarch: Chaos Maze II

TIME TO DIE!!!

You have summoned the dread FIENDISH HALF-MANTICORE MINOTAUR, master of the chaos maze. It towers over you, nearly 20 feet tall. In one hand, it wields a deadly polearm that is has used again and again to decimate and decapitate the many hapless wanderers of the labyrinth. It's tail is filled with many poisonous spikes of the manticore.

Place yourself anywhere in the map on the left, for you have won initiative. The minotaur is at N8/O8/N9/O9 (large). 

Despite its large size, the minotaur has no problems fitting through the narrow hallways; such is it's mastery over the labyrinth.

Areas with rubble are considered difficult terrain.

Will this be your last battleground?

Fane of the Heresiarch: Chaos Maze

Underneath the Blighted Grove, this sprawling labyrinth beneath the Fane is stalked by a fiendish half-manticore minotaur. If you discover the inmost den at the maze's center, you may claim the treasures within!

Secrecy and honesty is the rule here. ALL out-of-character communications, including emails, that discuss locations of cards and strategies of this challenge are prohibited. When a dungeoneer takes his or her turn, he or she may choose to do any one of the following:

• Take a Short Rest.
• Use their keen architectural sense (alignment of walls, subtle air flow) to discern which corridors lead to dead ends (1/game).
• Use their acute sense of direction and aptitude for pattern recognition to help keep the party from getting lost  (1/game) . 
• Find a vantage point from which they can survey one of the labyrinth’s sections  (1/game) .
• Cast the Hand of Fate ritual (1/game).
• Choose two cards from the Labyrinth Deck, shown at the right, to reveal. 

I will then reveal the two cards. They will remain visible until the next person chooses.

• Matching two architectural features progresses the party one or two steps in unraveling the maze.
• Matching two treasure chests reveals a hidden boon.
• Drawing one Minotaur Card indicates the party narrowly escaped the hunting beast. Matching two Minotaur Cards indicates that the Minotaur has cornered its prey and attacks!
• Choosing two cards that do not match incurs 1 Blight and 5 damage which cannot be negated or reduced in any way.

After each dungeoneer has taken a turn, one row of cards is reshuffled and replaced. Play then continues into the next round.

The order of play for this challenge shall be first-come first-serve. Dungeoneers shall take their turn whenever they are ready, and then wait until after the cards are reshuffled at the end of round before taking another turn.

GO!

Fane of the Heresiarch: Blighted Grove

Twenty foot high stone walls surround this courtyard strangled by dead trees and algae-caked fountains. The courtyard is open to the ashen sky above. Beyond the trees, a colossal iron trapdoor 10 feet to a side lies embedded in the ground. Torches surround it, each flickering in the rain.

A maypole erected from polished humanoid spines rises from the center of the grove. Black and violet streamers dangle from the bones. Spectral children skip stones on a pond of brackish water at its base.

The humid air is dense with the odor of rotting vegetation. The piercing screams of wyverns can be heard in the distance beyond the courtyard walls.

A blindfolded medusa with pallid skin crouches in a nearby gazebo. She feasts upon the body of a paralyzed elven warrior, from which she pauses as she hears your approach.

"Ah, the sounds of crusaders. I recognize it anywhere. I am Dusk Blossom. Tell me, adventurers, who you are and why you have come. Do you seek entrance to the Chaos Maze?"

Fane of the Heresiarch: Deeper into the Pleasure Crypts

Among the sarcophagi, a lone gargoyle statue stands guard.

Surviving the battle with Sorrow Nimbus, you explore the Pleasure Crypts, especially the top tier that was previously unseen. 

In the far northeast corner of the tier, you spy a 10-foot diameter face hewn from brilliant ruby. This woman's face is not of the succubus you just destroyed, and you think you see similarities to the goddess you freed, Kishar. But the face is not Kishar's face. Casting Detect Magic, you sense teleportation about it.

Nearby, the golden sarcophagus is open and empty.

Descending into the pit with ropes, you save So-tin from almost certain doom. While down there, you find a pull chain embedded in the wall in the shape of a minotaur. The chain has not yet been pulled.

You inspect the pull chain, and while you do not know it's purpose, you feel certain that it is not trapped.

Meanwhile, exploring through the now open north double doors, you find a charnel chamber containing eight decrepit sarcophagi (closed with heavy lids). There are more skeletons here, the ones that couldn't get through your chains, and you annihilate with extreme prejudice. 

Atop each sarcophagus lid is a series of symbols. Each one is slightly different. The eight lids are displayed below:

1. Sun, Moon, Star, Hand / Trident, Pyramid, Crown, Tome
2. Moon, Star, Sun, Hand / Pyramid, Crown, Tome, Trident
3. Star, Hand, Sun, Moon / Crown, Tome, Trident, Pyramid
4. Hand, Sun, Moon, Star / Tome, Trident, Pyramid, Crown
5. Moon, Star, Hand, Sun / Tome, Pyramid, Crown, Trident
6. Star, Hand, Sun, Moon / Crown, Tome, Trident, Pyramid
7. Star, Moon, Hand, Sun / Crown, Pyramid, Trident, Tome
8. Hand, Sun, Moon, Star / Tome, Trident, Pyramid, Crown

Fane of the Heresiarch: Pleasure Crypts

Music: Atrium Carceri | Void | Victorian Meltdown

Azure velvet tapestries, depicting a pair of ghostly lovers chasing one another around a trident, dangle from the smooth grey stone walls of this large chamber. Ivy and violet flowers cling to the walls, lit by rays of smoky crimson light filtering down through skylights in the vaulted ceiling high above.

A 10-foot high tier inlaid with baroque patterns rises along the north and east walls, its golden-railed balcony overlooking a grove of dead trees in the center of the chamber from which shrunken heads grow like fruit.

Near, to your left, is a set of closed double doors bearing spiked pull rings. The doors are embossed with the image of a succubus embracing an armored tiefling skeleton wrapped in broken chainmail.

Off to your right, you spy a tower-like structure ten feet in diameter rising from a pit in the center of the room. A glistening gold sarcophagus is visible at its peak.

The air is heavy with the stink of perfume and fornication.

Actions, crusaders...

Fane of the Heresiarch: Ashen Ambulatory III

Surviving the Gauntlet of Walls and claiming your second planet, you have teleported back to the Ashen Ambulatory, stepping out of the Scrying Mirror. 

A new crusader joins you as well, teleporting in from the infernal stronghold gate. 
OOC: Bjorn, please describe your new crusader.

Full-Length Scrying Mirror
A full length mirror is set into the crackling brimstone walls here. The copper frame is etched with a proverb in the Abyssal script: “No beauty without envy, no love without jealousy.”

By looking into it and incurring 3 points of blight, you many ask your reflection to show them one object or creature in the Fane, even if you have not seen it before. The mirror will show you the vision for one round before disappearing.

Marilith Statue
The statue is of a six-armed, serpent-tailed demoness (pictured) that smells of lilacs. 

Font of Blighted Warding
You come close to the fountain and see that it is hewn from translucent precious stone, mixed with obsidian, in which quivering organs are embedded. 

You may drink of this fountain to gain temporary hit points equal to your healing surge value, but each time you do so, you incur 1 point of blight. Like all temporary hit points, these do not stack with one another. The THP last until beaten out of you.

Click for a larger version.

Vine-Choked Archway
A rusted iron portcullis blocks access through a wooden archway clutched by black vines. Chunks of petrified demon princes lie strewn before the gate. Beyond, a courtyard of dead trees is visible beneath the fiery underworld sky. A casual inspection of this rusty gate makes you think that this could be easily lifted.


Crucified Angel
The upper body of an angel has been crucified to a secret door here. The secret door is open to the Prison of Frozen Gods.

Succubus Mural
The image of a succubus has been painted onto the wall here. However, the wall is open, two halves rotated away at the center of the succubus painting revealing a short passageway and stairs leading up and out of sight.

Fountain of Blighted Haste
The teeth of pit fiends float in the grey water of this fountain. A marble idol carved in the likeness of a hooded figure wielding a trident stands in the center of the water. 

Dungeoneers may drink of this fountain to gain an action point, but each time incurs 2 points of Blight.

Iron Portal
A huge square of rusted iron is bolted to the wall here. An ochre portal that reeks of acid swirls within the square. The portal teleports you to the Death Wyverns' Crucible.

Hourglass Keyhole
An obsidian hourglass-shaped keyhole is set into the otherwise featureless wall. It looks as if the key needed would be the kind that would fit in your hand, aka a "normal sized" key. Of course, one might be able to pick the lock if their skills are good enough.

Fane of the Heresiarch: Gauntlet of Walls

The first section of the Gauntlet of Walls.

OOC: Technical difficulties prohibit an audio narration this time. Considering time constraints, I'm just going to post and keep things going.

Leaving the observatory, you find the hallway bends first to the east, then narrowing to turn south. You emerge into a new room. The stone walls, floor, and 20-foot high ceiling of this bare chamber have been worn smooth as if by hundreds of years of erosion. 
 

You enter at B1.

A marble demon's face is set into the center of the west wall. Fist-sized ochre gems glow from within its sunken eye sockets.

An iron door is set into the east wall, ten feet above the ground. Flanking the door on either side are mithril plates etched with the image of a robed acolyte wearing a trident medallion.

Good luck, crusaders!

Fane of the Heresiarch: The Observatory

Music: Valve | Portal | Android Hell

Gardain steps through the portal, experiencing vertigo as he suddenly finds himself alone in an observatory. Looking up, he witnesses the enormous opaque glass dome high above, showing many wondrous constellations where beautiful fist-sized colored gems form the stars.

Before him, a stone table stands in the center of the chamber. Numerous charts and astronomical tools litter its surface in a haphazard mess. 

One square = 10 feet

To the right, a glittering black rock the size of a carriage is set against the southwest wall. Several humanoid skeletons have been partially-excavated from within.

To the left, a mystic crystal plaque with a handprint is bolted onto the eastern wall.

Something about the chamber gives Gardain a sense of peace and calm. However, the sight of the hallway exit at the far end brings back the feeling of danger and foreboding in full force...

Welcome to the observatory...

Crusader: Gardain Feybane, Dwarf Cavalier!

“Ah nae’r thought it could come tae this… Half-blood gods rainin’ deat down from th’ heavens, men, women, children dyin’ at th’ hands of false prophets and heretics… “

“Oh aye, we fight, we struggle again’ their farces and we whet our blades in their blood time and again, but this will nae’r be over till we take th’ fight to this ‘Heresarch’, what e’r it be.  Ah dinnae ken if we can win again’ a god, Ah dinnae ken if we can drive back this darkness… But Ah’ll no be found wantin’ when my times at an end, nae soul can say that Gardain Feybane, son of Khul Feybane and ancestor of Thun Feybane dinnae stand up and uphold his Granfrar’s honor and birthright.

When there be fightin tae do, Feybanes fight.  ‘S what we do best.  Ah’ll send this fhoul beast back tae th’ stars that spawned it…”

“Or Ah’ll be proud tae die wi’ my Granfrar’s axe in its skull…”

Fane of the Heresiarch: OOC 2

Crusaders,

Feel free to talk freely here about anything out of character.  I will not use it against you.

MilwaukeeJoe

Fane of the Heresiarch: Prison of Frozen Gods

Music: Atrium Carceri | Cellblock | Entrance

Guest Narration by @StephenChast of Hunter's Haven

The secret door swivels open releasing a drought of chilled, damp air. The passage beyond leads to a secret chamber where black icicles drip from the low ceiling, lending it a cave-like appearance. 

1 Square = 10 Feet

Eight crackling obelisks of charcoal-colored ice stand in a circle within this hexagonal prison. They dominate the chamber and obscure your view of the far end. A humanoid is entombed in each and, upon closer inspection, you realize that the incarcerated figures are GODS.

The nearest is a black-haired woman in bloodstained plate mail--whom you recognize as Kishar, Goddess of Slaughter & Retribution. To her left stands a stooped pale woman wearing sack-cloth and clutching an empty wooden bowl. She is Naia, Mother of Pestilence. To Kishar's right, is the defiant, winged form of Lyth, Mother of Beasts. The Mother is unabashedly nude, caked in emerald slime, and covered in crimson tattoos.

It is very quiet, and oh-so-cold in the Prison of Frozen Gods...

Fane of the Heresiarch: Ashen Ambulatory II

Surviving the Death Wyverns' Crucible and claiming your first planet, you have teleported back to the Ashen Ambulatory, stepping out of the Scrying Mirror. 

A new crusader joins you as well, teleporting in from the infernal stronghold gate.

OOC: I have reposted the Ashen Ambulatory below, adding comments in red bold italics of discoveries you have had when you last were here. I'll let the new crusader describe himself.

Full-Length Scrying Mirror
A full length mirror is set into the crackling brimstone walls here. The copper frame is etched with a proverb in the Abyssal script: “No beauty without envy, no love without jealousy.”

By looking into it and incurring 3 points of blight, you many ask your reflection to show them one object or creature in the Fane, even if you have not seen it before. The mirror will show you the vision for one round before disappearing.

Marilith Statue
The statue is of a six-armed, serpent-tailed demoness (pictured) that smells of lilacs. 

Font of Blighted Warding
You come close to the fountain and see that it is hewn from translucent precious stone, mixed with obsidian, in which quivering organs are embedded. 

You may drink of this fountain to gain temporary hit points equal to your healing surge value, but each time you do so, you incur 1 point of blight. Like all temporary hit points, these do not stack with one another. The THP last until beaten out of you.

Click for a larger version.

Vine-Choked Archway
A rusted iron portcullis blocks access through a wooden archway clutched by black vines. Chunks of petrified demon princes lie strewn before the gate. Beyond, a courtyard of dead trees is visible beneath the fiery underworld sky. A casual inspection of this rusty gate makes you think that this could be easily lifted.


Crucified Angel
The upper body of an angel has been crucified to the wall here. Gore cakes the wall, and its spine hangs down like a long chain. Thick frost covers the entire grisly display. The angel's spine has been made into a pull-chain mechanism that goes into the wall. There is a seam of a secret door behind the angel. 

Succubus Mural
The image of a succubus has been painted onto the wall here. However, the wall is open, two halves rotated away at the center of the succubus painting revealing a short passageway and stairs leading up and out of sight.

Fountain of Blighted Haste
The teeth of pit fiends float in the grey water of this fountain. A marble idol carved in the likeness of a hooded figure wielding a trident stands in the center of the water. 

Dungeoneers may drink of this fountain to gain an action point, but each time incurs 2 points of Blight.

Iron Portal
A huge square of rusted iron is bolted to the wall here. An ochre portal that reeks of acid swirls within the square. The portal teleports you to the Death Wyverns' Crucible.

Hourglass Keyhole
An obsidian hourglass-shaped keyhole is set into the otherwise featureless wall. It looks as if the key needed would be the kind that would fit in your hand, aka a "normal sized" key. Of course, one might be able to pick the lock if their skills are good enough.

Fane of the Heresiarch: Death Wyverns' Crucible Part II

Hydra ghouls can't count.

[Shazi]
Temporarily ignoring the zombie in front of her, Shazi takes a step back and tries to thread her shuriken through the bars. The shuriken strikes true in the body of the death wyvern, causing it to shriek in pain!

Tech: Natural 20 for 18 damage! The wyvern is wounded. Shazi, let me know if there's extra damage when you crit. I'll add it on.

[So-tin]
So-tin points his scimitar at the hydra ghoul, power lancing outward to strike the foe. The hydra ghoul shrugs off the attack as if it were from a fly!

Tech: Natural 6, miss. I don't spend APs for characters when they are on autopilot.

[Palim]
Palim shakes off the effects of the wyvern poison (saved!).

[Zombies]
The zombies claw at Kallista and Palim. Kallista easily defends, but Palim leaves himself open for a nasty bite!

Tech: Natural 20 on Palim. Palim takes 16 - 5 = 11 damage. Palim is at 37 hp.

[Death Wyverns]
The death wyverns see easy prey in Palim, and they swarm him with their attacks. Even with his buffed up defenses, he feels the sting of a bite from one, and a tail from another.

Tech: (15-5=10) damage from bite. Ongoing 5 damage negated by resist. Palim is at 27 hp. Ongoing 10 poison (save ends).

[Hydra Ghoul]

Turen might be dead, but he gets
this cool afterlife power.

Turen has grabbed the hydra ghouls attention for certain, and the horrific monstrosity focuses all of its attentions upon the druid! The teeth of the various heads rip the druid apart, each of the four sharing in his bloodied limbs - a delicious druid meal!

Tech: 
Free action: Snapping Jaws (See below).
Move: Stand up from prone.
Standard: Hydra Fury. Six bite attacks (two from Snapping Jaws). Three hits for 48 necrotic damage - 15 resist all = 33 necrotic damage. Turen is KO/Prone at -6 hp. 
Action Point: Coup De Grace on Turen. (32-5=27) points of damage. Since this is more than Turen's bloodied value, Turen is slain.

And then there were four.

Fane of the Heresiarch: Death Wyverns' Crucible

A painful demise awaits Palim in the Death Wyverns' Crucible.

Music: Atrium Carceri | Void | A Curved Blade

Palim casts the rope into the iron portal, and is instantly teleported to the Death Wyverns' Crucible! 

The iron portal becomes clear, and his allies can see all that transpires. They witness Palim appear, prone, in the center of nine slabs of black marble that jut from a pool of hissing dracolisk bile. Hundreds of humanoid shapes writhe in the bile, their limbs broken and flesh like peeling parchment. Many try to scream, but only maggots tumble from between their crooked and cracked teeth. The chamber is open to the air above, to swirling clouds of smoke and ash. 

Palim is surrounded by eight, caged, 15-by-15 foot square platforms. A short copper obelisk stands in the center of the four corner platforms; Ceramic skulls rest impaled at each obelisks' apex, mouths agape. A flame burns within each skull, of differing colors.

You also spy a glowing, magical stepping stone within each of the platforms. The aura is obvious to those trained the arcane arts - teleportation magic.

Your inspection of the new chamber is cut short as two dark winged shadows circle in the gloom high overhead. Strips of leathery flesh dangle from the yellowed bones of these winged undead beasts. You recognize them from myths and legends - Death Wyverns.

Palim's choices are obvious. Fight, flee, or die. But for the rest of you, you have a more interesting decision. You can rush in after your friend, stepping through the portal and joining him in combat. Or, you could watch the events unfold from the safety of the Ashen Ambulatory; watch and learn, perhaps, from Palim's fatal mistake. 

In the end, he is just one crusader, is he not?

Fane of the Heresiarch: Ashen Ambulatory Explored

OOC: Since you've indicated actions that would explore more of the ambulatory, I have decided to reveal much more in an open post here. Check out the image (click on the map for a larger version), and read the text below to see what you find. Fee free to perform searches, cast Detect Magic, and so forth.

Full-Length Mirror
A full length mirror is set into the crackling brimstone walls here. The copper frame is etched with a proverb in the Abyssal script: “No beauty without envy, no love without jealousy.”
 
Nobody has yet looked into this mirror.

Marilith Statue
The statue is of a six-armed, serpent-tailed demoness (pictured) that smells of lilacs. 

Font of Blighted Warding
You come close to the fountain and see that it is hewn from translucent precious stone, mixed with obsidian, in which quivering organs are embedded. 

You may drink of this fountain to gain temporary hit points equal to your healing surge value, but each time you do so, you incur 1 point of blight. Like all temporary hit points, these do not stack with one another. The THP last until beaten out of you.

Click for a larger version.

Vine-Choked Archway
A rusted iron portcullis blocks access through a wooden archway clutched by black vines. Chunks of petrified demon princes lie strewn before the gate. Beyond, a courtyard of dead trees is visible beneath the fiery underworld sky. A casual inspection of this rusty gate makes you think that this could be easily lifted.


Crucified Angel
The upper body of an angel has been crucified to the wall here. Gore cakes the wall, and its spine hangs down like a long chain. Thick frost covers the entire grisly display.

Succubus Mural
The image of a succubus has been painted onto the wall here. However, the wall is open, two halves rotated away at the center of the succubus painting revealing a short passageway and stairs leading up and out of sight.

Fountain of Blighted Haste
The teeth of pit fiends float in the grey water of this fountain. A marble idol carved in the likeness of a hooded figure wielding a trident stands in the center of the water. 

Dungeoneers may drink of this fountain to gain an action point, but each time incurs 2 points of Blight.

Iron Portal
A huge square of rusted iron is bolted to the wall here. An ochre portal that reeks of acid swirls within the square.

Hourglass Keyhole
An obsidian hourglass-shaped keyhole is set into the otherwise featureless wall.

Fane of the Heresiarch: Ashen Ambulatory

Music: Atrium Carceri | Reliquiae | Acolyte

Leaving the Bleak Seminary behind, you enter a long ambulatory where the very air is thick with soot. Bone chandeliers dangle on rusted chains from the high vaulted ceiling. Candles made from human fat burn perpetually in iron candelabrum set into the brimstone walls. Canals of lava run along the base of the walls, casting a deep red glow across the uneven floor.

The sound of hacking coughs and gentle sobbing radiates from some unknown hollow beyond the walls. From the far end to your left, you also hear running water and think you spy a fountain where the hallway bends to turn north.

You enter the Ashen Ambulatory at Q13.
Features: Fountain (D12), Mirror (O13), Keyhole (T11),
and perhaps more...

Next to the doors, you see a full length mirror set into the crackling brimstone wall. The copper frame is etched with a proverb in Abyssal. Palim, who now understands that cursed language, translates it as, “No beauty without envy, no love without jealousy.”

To the right, the hallway quickly turns to head north. From this angle, you see an large, obsidian, hourglass-shaped keyhole set into the wall.

Watch your step, crusaders...

Fane of the Heresiarch: Bleak Seminary

Music: Atrium Carceri | Void | Slower

The floor of this vast tiered seminary is not hewn from stone, but rather thick chipped glass. Hundreds of feet beneath the glass roils a lake of churning balor blood from which islands of brimstone stalagmites jut.

Towering ivory bookshelves line the walls, each filled with thousands of tomes bound in wriggling raw skin. Many demonic imps flock from shelf to shelf, rearranging tomes, shuffling papers, and lighting the innumerable crimson candles that hover in the acrid air.
 

You approach from the east,
descending the stairs (P8/P9).

Several pillars rise from between the stacks, each with three muzzled flameskulls chained to an iron hook at its apex.

A 10-foot tall statue of a demonic woman with a veil across her face looms in the center of the library. She clutches an iron brazier in her hands. Six pedestals surround the statue, with a closed tome on each.

Towards the back, a balcony rises above the entire seminary. A lectern is visible near its edge.

In addition to the way you came, there are three obvious exits... one to the north, west and south... doors of steel-rimmed oak.

Actions, crusaders...

Fane of the Heresiarch: OOC

Crusaders,

Feel free to talk freely here about anything out of character.