Bloodcrystal

Bloodcrystal is a four-towered castle of great size with red crystalline fragmented cupolas atop each tower. The total of the teeming armies here is unknown, but they are awesomely powerful.

First, Szeffrin has not only humanoids of the usual type—orcs and goblins—but more than 100 ogres and phalanxes of both hill giants and trolls. How he keeps control over these usually quarrelsome races is unknown, but discipline appears to be maintained. There are even ettins, used as guardhouse watchouts.

Second, Szeffrin has renegade priests of Hextor in his citadel. Some are rare humanoid shamans of this power, others are turncoat humans from North Province and even the central Aerdy lands. Why they have chosen to serve Szeffrin is uncertain, though as priests of war they must know that the opportunity for glory cannot be far away.

Third, Szeffrin has fiends of Pazrael here. There are perhaps 30 nabassu at any given time, and perhaps ten times this number of least and lesser tanar'ri. More worry ing still, a few gehreleth and yugoloths have been sighted at the castle by brave Nyrondese spies, and even a marilith or two has been spotted. And, while there are enough fiends here, Nyrondese mages have warned their king that Szeffrin may be able to call upon thousands of them should he so need this.

Finally, Szeffrin has well more than 2,000 undead creatures here. Zombies and skeletons have been created from the bodies of Almorians slain by fiends, but there are also several hundred much more dangerous undead, notably ju-ju zombies and ghasts.

To complicate matters, Bloodcrystal is a potently magical place. The entire structure is said to have sprung up, on the site of a great Nyrond-Aerdy battle, within a week. The great iron gates of the castle have been seen to spit smoking, corrosive acid upon command from one of the red-robed mages serving Szeffrin. And a red-streaked black "rainbow" has also been seen above the place, depositing bloody hailstones the size of goose eggs.

What other intrinsic magic the castle has is unknown, though it radiates magic (alteration, abjuration, conjuration/summoning and evocation) very strongly. It is also magically protected against assault by fire, light ning, and transmute rock to mud and the like. Ghiselinn, premier mage of Nyrond, has grimly assured his king that even an earthquake would leave the place still stand ing. The Nyrondese are also said to be keenly troubled by sightings of a pair of gray-robed albino Suloise mages, apparently identical twins. Admittedly, in these days almost any very fair-skinned Suel person is suspected of being an agent of the Scarlet Brotherhood, but these mages are powerful. One cast a meteor swarm at fleeing Nyrondese.

And all this may yet be the tip of the iceberg. Flying above the Sword Road recently, seemingly impervious to missile fire, came two great fiery stone chariots, flying aloft with teams of fiends spraying acid and cloudkills onto the terrified Nyrondese below. Archbold's mages have identified these as a transformed version of the chariot of Sustarre spell, and the gloating aviators were traced back to Bloodcrystal. Again, whatever magical artifact Pazrael is using in conjunction with Szeffrin, it must be greatly powerful to create such effects. Magical scrying has not revealed what this artifact may be, nor what powers Szeffrin and his ally may yet unleash from it.

This malign edifice is home to Szeffrin, arch-fiends, murderous priests of Hextor and Istus alone knows what else. Bloodcrystal appears as a four towered castle with red crystalline fragmented cupolas atop each tower. Evil and very powerful magic must have been employed in its construction. Juju zombies (by day), and ghouls and ghasts (by night) guard the walls, and elite ore archers prowl the battlements. Ettins and trolls man the guardhouse above the great, acid-spitting iron gates. Tanar'ri of several types have been seen inspecting troops and defenses. At least one marilith has prowled the battlements, and nabassu stalk the blasted lands seeking victims among the few surviving humans who have not yet been able to flee.

Bloodcrystal has powerful magical defenses of its own. The structure blocks all but the most powerful magical scrying, and Archbold's Grey Seer has warned him that it is also protected against fire, electrical attacks and transmute rock to mud.