In the heart of winter, the teeth of the cold and dark sunk deep, the Fourth Herald of Night has come. In the place that was once the cradle of civilization, the birthplace of mankind, the water has run dry. Between the rivers, drained and still, a massive black ziggurat rises to float above them, called into being by the sacrifice.

The ziggurat’s interior is a lush and gilded place, an obvious way for Utultar to display his trophies and the accumulated opulence of hundreds of years. Where the water has been stilled below, hundreds of fountains are flowing in elaborate designs. Hanging gardens have strange and luxurious blooms. Despite harboring a being that seeks to end life as humans and nonhumans alike know it, the Fourth Herald’s palace is surprisingly hospitable - or at least, it does nothing to impede progress through the near-silent halls.

Cowed and silent servants picked from Outlands species as well as what seems to be a whole swathe of humankind stare or scurry out of the way of your progress. They bear a multitude of things; glittering ornaments, shining scrolls preserved in gold and silver, too-lifelike statues, and many other treasures that Utultar obviously covets. All of them have collars locked around their necks, another symbol of the Herald’s utter dominance.

The walls are covered in a history of events that Utultar seems to have had personal hand in, or at least seem to show him triumphing constantly in his various contracts. In between the murals and carvings, the walls are engraved floor to ceiling with writing in some ancient, inhuman tongue. Some daemonic dialect, so old that even those from the Outlands would find it no more comprehensible than a modern English speaker would find cuneiform.

Still, those familiar with contracts might recognize something of the structure…

This palace is an altar to Utultar’s ego, massive enough to consider itself a god in its own right, and it is designed in every aspect to comfort and protect its master. The only way through to the heart is to open each of the three gates, leading to the center and to Utultar himself.

He does not intend to make it easy for you.