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150ABYSSAL LAIRA lair for five 28th-level adventurersIn one of the countless layers of the Abyss yawns thegreat Blood Sea, a region of ichor and clotted fluidthat churns and writhes, flowing everywhere andnowhere at once. The Blood Sea touches all greatwaters found in the Abyss and snatches errant travelersand foul fiends, subjecting them to the filthydenizens of its depths and the exiled demon lords leftto rot on islands of flesh and congealed blood.Although the strange and disturbing vistas of theBlood Sea are endless, few compare to the floatingislands of rotting flesh that drift across the leproussky, raining pus and blood. It is fitting, then, thatthe flesh clouds are home to a ravenous deathmaskdragon, a beast whose hunger rivals that of the dreadgoristro demons and whose savagery is eclipsed onlyby the vicious cruelty of the balors.HistoryNo one is certain where the fleshy islands came from;demons have little concern or care for the history oftheir diseased realm. Cosmologists have postulatedCHAPTER 3 | Dragon Lairsthat the flesh might be the remains of the Blood LordHaemnathuun, suggesting that blood fiends whojoined the primordial in his ancient war against thedeities retrieved sections of their master’s corpse inthe hope of recreating him. To escape the astral stalkers,they fled to the Abyss.Other theories suggest that the flesh is from a deaddeity, one cast out from the Astral Sea for madnessand rent asunder by the ambitious demon lords intheir bid to steal divine power for themselves. Conflictingarguments point to any number of deities,and no evidence has been found to identify any oneparticular god with certainty.The true origin of these floating patches of fleshis unknown, but few can deny the identity of theislands’ most infamous inhabitant—Anthraxin theDevourer. The dragon came to the islands centuriesbefore, and she carved out a kingdom of sorts amidthe fleshy mounds and suppurating sores. Establishingherself as mistress of the floating flesh, Anthraxincommanded a region devoid of subjects, aside from ascattering of blood fiends that burrowed in the moistcrevices of the rancid meat. That she had no subjectsmeant little to the deathmask dragon. Instead, sheembraced the disgusting feast before her and gorgedherself on the choicest morsels harvested from thedripping viscera.For centuries, Anthraxin ruled uncontested, andin time, even the blood fiends paid her respect,bowing and scraping before her bloated magnificence.But recently, her territory has been invaded bynew powers—wretched demons from the deep thatneither care nor worry about the dragon’s presence.They ignore her and focus on plundering the islands,tearing through the soft meat in search of somethingfor their distant master.Anthraxin is concerned about the demons’ presencebecause their work weakens the islands, andwhen they exhaust one, ripping apart its guts, it losesbuoyancy and slowly sinks to the Blood Sea below.Fearing that the demons will destroy her entirerealm, Anthraxin wants to gain their attention and,she hopes, their adulation. If she can bend them toher will, she can learn what they seek and perhapsclaim it for herself.EnvironmentEach island is a microcosm of the Abyss’s disturbingcapacity for randomness and its disdain for life. Theisles are perversions, gross and twisted parodies ofthe land masses found in the mortal world. Insteadof woods, one finds forests of hair. In place of glisteningpools of clean water are leprous bogs choked withsquirming parasites and crawling with vermin. LifeRICK SARDINHA