The firebrands are a group of mages living with the Cult of Bayemirr, so they can use each other to their own ends. The head of the firebrands is the archmage Kelacies (old hm CN W(FE)19) an ancient fire elementalist. Most of the mages are fire elementalists except the battle mages, who are all invockers led by, and apprenticed to, Landrayis (hm LE W(I)14). Landrayis was one of Kelacies first apprentices who decided that he liked all destructive spells, not just fire based ones. All the battle mages are trained to fight beside fighters effectively. All the fire elementalists are apprenticed to Kelacies or Redbeard, Kelacies’ first apprentice, except Shmali Darab (½orc¼e¼hm CE F7/W(FE)7) who joined up. Shmali was an arrogant, violent, societal outcast who rode a griffon and had a tribe of urds under his control, which is why he was allowed membership. He charmed the urds cheiftain and the tribe feared him and his griffon. They were used in aerial defense and message delivering. Not many people really liked him, only frog the jailer, Landrayis, and Robert, so when he was killed noone really missed him, only his urds who left on his death.

There are about 30 non-priest followers of bayemirr, who are all trained as fighters. There use scimitars and wear black chain mail emblazoned with the symbol of bayemirr. They are all loyal to priests and obey them, except Korsair (hm LE F(beastmaster)10) who is a mercenary weapon master, hired by cult to defend fortress and train the followers. He was introduced to cult by Landrayis who is his friend and battle companion. They both ride griffons and fight complementry to each other with very good tactics. Korsair chose the better fighters and trained them as beastmasters attuned to either a fire lizard or griffon.

The cult has formed a mutual alliance with several creatures dwelling in the area. The first was Flamehorn, a venerable red dragon with 3 hatchlings, who lives in the split peak nearby, almost half a mile below the ground. One of her older children, Flaya, a young red, lives in the upper chamber of the cult complex. The cult owns Flaya more than Flamehorn now as she outgrows her mother, and has taken a liking, some think romantic even, to Kelacies. She will fanatically defend the cult, more so than the other dragons. In the next peak lives her mate, Redfury, an adult red who is unusually protective of Flamehorn and has a standing relationship with her. She doesn't mind this but she uses him more than anything, knowing his strange love for her. He is the lord of a tribe of fire giants who serve him and the cult. There is about 20-30 adult giants in the tribe but there will always be a couple guarding the lower entrance cavern to the cults complex. The giants and their hell hounds, gifts summoned by cult in exchange for the guarding service, hunt for Redfury but are sometimes jealous of the attention he gives Flamehorn.

The volcano has three huge caves in the west side which have been converted with magic and monster help. The bottom cave, a day and a half trek up the mountain side is the main entrance which goes into a large guard area with a massive porticulass over the entrance to cult. The room is always guarded by a fire lizard or two and their beastmaster riders (2-3rd level fighters), 5-10 fighter followers, several priests and a couple of mages. There is also gargoyles lining ledges near the roof about the cavern. The second and biggest cave is a couple of hours climb up the sheer, barren mountain side. It is home to Flaya, and is connected to the temple by tunnels at the back. The tunnels run up to the third cave, in to the core of the volcano which is dangerous to go in due to the poisonous fumes, and down

to the main cult anterchamber. There is another big tunnel, the entrance which has continual darkness covering all of it. That is where Kelacies is creating an army of Darkenbeasts. Sometimes he lets them out to fly at night.

The third, top cave, a smaller one with only about a 100ft diameter mouth, is the griffon aerie. There is one narrow tunnel that has steep stairs which is the only exit to the room, other than the cave mouth. Their is 10-20 griffons that live here. Most are attuned to one rider, but there are a few that can be used by others. The only other entrances to the cult complex, other than the caves to the outside, are the exit cavern, and the ventilation shafts.

The shafts are simply small 4ft square passages than circulate fresh air about the cult through vents which are all fire trapped as, my PCs found out :). The exit chamber is a huge chamber below the cult complex, deeper in the mountainthat is heavily guarded both structurally and by guards. There is a huge pit/crack that runs across the centre of it, that is full of all kinds of spiders. Their webs are burnt of occasionally to get them under control. Prisoners of the cult who are not sacrificed to bayemirr are thrown into pit for the spiders. The exit chamber is guarded by a couple of fire giants, gargoyles and magical defenses. A solid iron door stands at the top of narrowing staircase with arrow/spell holes giving a view to the exit chamber, and behind this door is where the human guards live.

The exit chamber goes back into tunnels littered with natural predators of the caves, most notables the many piecers. All the stalagtites in the exit cavern have been destroyed to keep track of the piecers. Cultists wanting to advance must go into these tunnels to personally get a sacrifice for bayemirr to be successful. There is in the tunnels a drop shaft that goes down hundreds of feet, into the core of the volcano, made by the toxic gases from the lava. This has a permenant levitate spell on it, and it goes down to the lava caves. The lava caves are home to fire newts and giant striders that areon tense but good terms with the cult. Their home contains the heart stone, necessary for the cults highest ritual, The Grand Ascention.

This is the ritual by which a new Bey is chosen and the old one ascends to become an Efreeti. A powerful and loyal Bey must take a 'quest' and accomplish several takes for the efreeti, including finding and releasing an efreet imprisoned on the prime material, destroying of a djinn or something valuable to them, and the sacrifice of some powerful gift(s) to Bayemirr. In the ritual following this, the heartstone is needed for the transformation.

The heartstone is a crystal made where the natural energy of the world, is focused at one point. It is in a small chamber with only a small ledge around the the pool of lava covering the floor. An onyx stalagtite hangs from the roof and a partner one rises from the lava in the center to meet it. Right where they meet is where the heartstone grows. It grows at a rate of 1000gp value per year, and 1000gp/level of Bey is needed in the ritual. It is incredably hot and takes one day per 1000gp to cool. After it has cooled though, it loses all its magic, and it's structure changes leaving it as a fire agate(about 10gp value / year).

The cult follows the efreet lord who is a passive member there to oversee sacrifices and rituals, but will aid if cult is losing badly in defense. The high priest is called a Bey (15+) and the current Bey is Raoulia Shure. The other high priests are the malik's(10-14th) and Vali's (6-9th). There are currently 3 maliks and 5 valis and about 20-40 other cultists. They are broken into groups unders the valis, so at any time there is a certain number of priests on defense, duties or resting/reinforcements.