Vardak's Fortress, Part 2 (Kuthona (XII) 15th, 4708 AR)

Flames, equal in brightness to torches, sprung forth from objects and lighted all the rooms in the fortress, which had 20-foot-tall ceilings. The building had few windows, and all of them were too narrow for even a Small creature to squeeze through (with the exception of the throne room, but those windows were over the cliff).

Aside from the main doors, the only other way into the fortress was through a trap door atop the tower. The heroes opened the trapdoor after picking its lock.

Planning Room. A huge map of the Bloodsworn Vale sat on a table in the center of this room. In the corner, a spiraling staircase appeared to ascend into the tower of the fortress.

This is Lord Vardak’s planning room, where he had sketched out his plans for the vale and the neighboring kingdoms. Overlaying a very detailed representation of the vale were a number of notes in different-colored inks. All of the blue notes on the map detailed roads, walls, and a city labeled as “capital”. These appeared to make the vale, and some of the lands from surrounding kingdoms, into one unified nation. There were also notes in red scrawled across the map that noted the location of Fort Thorn and the path through the vale. A single note in the corner read “They must be destroyed”. The map of the vale was quite accurate and worth 50 gp to Sir Tolgrith.

One of Vardak’s barghests resided in this room. The heroes killed it.

Audience Chamber. The door from the hallway leading into this chamber was locked but the heroes opened it by picking its lock. In the far corner of this room stood a throne sitting upon a raised dais. Made from black stone, the solid throne was padded with plush red fabric and bejeweled with tiny rubies. Behind it was a tall window that looked out into the mountains.

This was Vardak’s audience chamber, where he waited to receive any intruders. The dais was 5 feet above the floor of the room and was protected by a pair of pit traps built into the floor, that dumped Aranthor out of the fortress and 100 feet down the mountainside before landing.

Vardak was aware of the heroes' approach and waited for them here. When the heroes entered, he stood up from his throne and addressed them.

Sitting in the throne was a chiseled man with slightly elven features. He wore red robes, trimmed in black. He had no hair on his head except for a black goatee streaked with gray. He stood, carrying a grim staff in hand, and called out. “I was wondering if the fools would send someone to try and challenge my dominion. Unfortunately, the penalty for challenging the Lord of the Bloodsworn Vale is death. Come, and let me usher you into the afterlife.” Vardak's supreme confidence in his own abilities and arrogance were apparent.

Two barghests from a room adjacent to the audience chamber came to join the fight soon after it begun.

Vardak was wreathed in flame when the heroes entered the room. He cast fear immediately before the combat was joined by his barghest guards, sending Gryxxa and Jules running in a panic. He paralyzed and froze Grishan in place when his guards were in the fray, forcing Junia to dismiss him. Since Vardak appeared to be winning, he ordered his barghests to stand down so that he could finish off the intruders himself.