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VOLCANO LAIRA lair for five 19th-level adventurersThe Fire Peaks of the Sunset Sea are a chain of volcanicislands that mark the edge of the world. Few daretravel as far as these sinister islands because they aresaid to be places where cannibals, savages, and terriblebeasts are half starved for the flesh of the living.Although many fears held by those who sail the seasarise from superstition and ignorance, these rumorshave a kernel of truth—the archipelago is home to apredatory red dragon.Of the islands that make up the chain, Hellkilnis the worst. It is dominated by a vast, angry volcanothat erupts several times each year; the geothermalinstability builds up the island with lava belchedfrom the depths. Inside the volcano, the red dragonInfernus makes his home, nursing old grudges andplotting his revenge for offenses from the distant past.Above, in slightly cooler chambers, his azer slaves toilto manufacture a doomsday weapon whose powerpromises to bring death and destruction to the dragon’shomeland.HistoryInfernus has burned with an unquenchable hatredfor humanity for as long as he can remember. Alreadyan adult during the devastating wars between hishomeland Arkhosia and the vile Bael Turath, he, likeothers of his kind, answered the call to battle. Infernustook to the air to rain fire upon the tieflings andsend their fiendish allies back to the dreaded NineHells whence they came.He fought in war after bitter war, racking up morekills than the pathetic metallics and the easily leddragonborn. Though Infernus blamed the wickednessof the tiefling breed for his own willingnessto murder and destroy, he secretly exulted in theviolence, and he always used more force than wasrequired to spread as much ruin as he could.But for all of the red dragon’s zeal in battle, hisefforts were for naught. Treachery in the Arkhosianranks—and the disastrous final conflict that saw BaelTurath swallowed up by the earth, along with countlessdragons and dragonborn—spelled the end of theancient dragon empire. Though the war was overand dragonkind scattered, Infernus still craved themayhem of battle. He was not yet willing to set asideviolence, so he turned to hunting humans, blamingthem and their moral weakness for the death of hisnation.Scouring the remnants of Bael Turath, immolatinghumans, tieflings, and anyone else who got in hisway, Infernus spread fear throughout the lands. Itwasn’t until a cadre of wizards and warriors met thedragon on the field of battle and fought him for daysthat Infernus quit the land and fled for a safer placebeyond the realms of the lesser races.He flew until he came to the Fire Peaks. Choosingthe largest and most volatile island, the dragondescended into the caldera to nurse his wounds.To his surprise, he discovered that a clan of azersdwelled in the volcano, having fled the tyrannyof their fire giant masters. Infernus saw the valueof these diligent workers and quickly subjugatedthem. In exchange for constructing a great weaponwith which he could gain revenge on his enemies,he would allow the azers a degree of autonomy andfreedom—and, of course, their lives. The azers chafedat finding themselves in the thrall of another master,but they realized that they had little choice; evenon the fringes of the world, they had heard of thered dragon’s dark deeds. They agreed to the termsand set out to build the weapon to their master’sspecifications.134CHAPTER 3 | Dragon LairsTOMAS GIORELLO