Fortress of the Fallen Stair
I can’t blame ya for being curious about a place so steeped in legend and mystery, cutter. The Fortress of the Fallen Stair has this eerie allure that pulls at the greed-glands of those power-hungry tanar’ri, a seductive whisper promising glory untold, and it’s a whisper that’s seen more than a few daft cutters meet a messy end.
Legend has it that the fortress hides a secret most potent; a fallen fragment of the grand Infinite Staircase, a curious artifact that’s as beguiling as it is treacherous. Picture a stairway as wide as an elephant, tucked away in a labyrinthine palace that sprawls across a land so vast, it could swallow a country. The stair holds power, a power to transform a mere mortal into a being of unparalleled might, a true Lord of the Abyss, if the tales hold a lick of truth, that is.
Now, the fortress itself, it’s a right mess, a ruin that bears the scars of endless battle, a monument to greed and ambition and testimony to the destructive power of desire. It stands battered and bruised, a shell of its former glory. It’s guarded by invisible walls of force, remnants of a spell most potent cast long ago when the very fabric of reality shuddered and wept, and the stair took refuge in Pazunia, creatin’ a fortress to shield itself from the chaos that followed.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting, cutter. The stair’s got a bit of a temperamental nature, ya see. If some daft sod has the gall to touch it, well, they’re in for a nasty surprise. It’s got a penchant for takin’ things, snatching away a random possession from the one who dared to lay hands upon it, sending it off to become part of the Infinite Staircase. See, this fragment of the Stair is a relentless entity that ever seeks to restore itself, one stolen item at a time.
Now picture this: Every inch of that fortress, from the grand maze the size of a city to the sprawling palace, it breathes deception, a deadly game of cat and mouse where tanar’ri lords vie for control. Their relentless struggle has left the place in ruins, a battlefield ambition meets a brutal, bloody end.
Why do they fight? Well, apart from because they’re tanar’ri and that’s their very essence. Well, amidst the ruin and chaos, there lies a rumour of power untold for the one brave (or foolish) enough to seize it, to navigate the maze of treachery and deceit, to reach the heart of the fortress and claim the fragment of the Staircase that awaits therein. The prophecies say whoever controls the Fortress will control Pazunia. But let me tell you cutter, that prophecy has paved the paths with the bones of those who tried and failed. Aye, the fortress calls to the power-hungry, the ambitious, the foolish, a siren song that’s seen many meet their end in the pursuit of power.
Canonical Source: The Great Modron March [2e] p82-89 (adventure)
