Monster Lairs – Empyrean – Castle Dunamis
Slab
It is fortunate for mortalikind that empyreans are rarely encountered in their world. For while they are typically kind beings, when they go bad, their god-like power makes them a terror to behold. And never has there been a more terrifying example of this than the empyrean Heracles.
Born the son of Zeus and mortal Alcmene, Heracles was not satisfied living among the gods in the outer planes. He sought to make a name for himself among the mortals. For a time, Heracles was revered as a great hero among mortals, his various exploits legendary. However, as legendary as his strength and bravery were, so too was his rage. One day his rage took the better of him and he killed his first mortal wife Megara and their children. Though he would later redeem himself through twelve labors of penance for this, he never would learn to control his rage and would kill many others that he would live to regret murdering.
After paying his penance for the murder of Megara and their children, Heracles married a woman named Deianira, who ultimately poisoned him in a fit of jealousy. Were Heracles a normal mortal man, his story would end there. But Heracles was no mortal man. Guilt for his crimes sent his soul to the nine hells and there he became corrupted and wicked due to the outrage of his betrayal. He was eventually resurrected, but by then the damage had been done and all that made Heracles heroic before, now turned him into a terrifying warlord. Leading an army of mortals and fiends alike, Heracles has returned to the plane of mortals and quickly slaughtered his second wife along with everyone in the city she lived in.
When not slaughtering his enemies, he retires to his personal retreat, Castle Dunamis. Built by his mortal allies, the castle consists of protective walls surrounding 2 buildings. The first being a small barracks for his personal soldiers and servants as well as a larger, yet modest building given his titanic proportions. Here, Heracles is able to relax and contemplate his next plans for conquest and destruction. Where once he sought glory and fame, he is now content with fear from his followers, and it is not an uncommon sight to see a screaming mortal flung over the walls into the surrounding seas, the penalty for disappointing him.
