The Red Dragon

The Red Dragon Chinese Restaurant is a now closed restaurant on 42nd street in Sapphire City. It is the current headquarters to the Ne’er Do Wells and previously home to a Cult of Tiamat headed by Barrow Si. The restaurant is situated on a network of tunnels, one of which leads to a portal to Hell.

The Red Dragon is not the first Chinese Restaurant to be situated in that particular spot. There has been a Chinese restaurant there ever since Sapphire City was founded by Chinese railway workers when they finally reached the West Coast. Called The Iron Dragon in reference to the railway, The restaurant was a hotbed for unexplained activity. Patrons and Owners alike reported seeing ghostly images and hearing muffled voices that belonged to no one. These reports eventually led to less frequent visitors and the restaurant shutting down a few years after opening. By this point, Sapphire City had begun to grow and the lot was quickly bought by an enterprising supernatural enthusiast, Named Arthur Helmsley who re-opened the restaurant, now called the Spirit Train, he theorized that the “ghosts” that people saw were the spirits of those who died while making the continental railway and that they had come to this place to finally rest. In addition to serving food during the day, Helmsley would host ghost hunting expeditions at night, though there were many different ghosts some were more popular and frequently seen.

The Wheel A ghostly wheel that occasionally appeared. It would appear, quiver in place for a moment and then vanish without a trace. Some claimed to have heard mumbling coming from the wheel though nothing was ever clear. The final appearance of The Wheel it turned at untraceably fast speeds and shot off like a rocket.

The Wisp Appearing as a bright sphere of light, The whip would bob, whir, whistle and beep. It interacted the most with observers often attempting to play with them. It has continued to appear on and off as long as there has been a building in the location.

The Face Appearing as the dark shadow of a face, this appeared on flat surfaces and whispered dark secrets. This shade was generally been avoided and vanished along with Helmsley about a decade after appearing for the first time.

The Shotgun Ghost So called because it always appeared with a bang, reminiscent of a shotgun blast, this humanoid ghost would be accompanied by the strong smell of brackish ocean water. It would appear frequently and was a favorite of guests as it was quite entertaining. It’s last appearance was particularly explosive. It is said that the ghost physicaly manifested itself as a fishman and yelled “Don’t trust Enron or Hats that recommend it to you! It is an evil hat!” before vanishing forever.

This last appearance of The Shotgun Ghost deeply unsettled Helmsley who closed the restaurant and his ghost hunting tours. He was not seen again. It is now believed that he built the vast tunnel system that exists underneath The Red Dragon today, however there is no evidence of him doing so, or where he wound up.

Since then the Restaurant has passed from hand to hand, never lasting for long but never closing for good. The Red Dragon was purchased by a Mr. Barrows. This was of course Barrow Si’s Pseudonym and the events that followed are chronicled in Episode 3.

The Restaurant now is just a front for the Ne’er-Do-Wells, who don’t trust the portal to hell with anyone else. However, there are a plethora of unexplored tunnels and no one knows exactly where they lead.