Releasing Zybilna from temporal stasis can be accomplished in one of three ways:
Shattering Iggwilv’s Cauldron with a frost brand or flame tongue weapon, which ends the time-freezing magic throughout the palace.
Touching Iggwilv’s Cauldron with a unicorn horn while reciting a poem called “The Witch Queen’s Cauldron” (see area P22), which also ends the time-freezing magic throughout the palace.
Touching Zybilna with a unicorn horn while speaking her true name, Natasha, which can be learned in the palace’s costume room (area P36), from Iggrik the quasit (see area P51), or from the family tree in Loomlurch (see area L11 in chapter 3). Once she is freed, Zybilna can use the horn, the poem, and the cauldron to break the spell on the rest of the palace, as described in area P22.
Zybilna Comes Alive
If Zybilna is freed from temporal stasis, read:
Once more able to move, Zybilna lurches forward a step, then quickly regains her balance.
“Damn. Too late!” she says with a snarl.
Her eyes dart around in search of enemies before fixing on you. “Have we met?” she asks.
Iggwilv the Witch Queen gives the characters time to explain themselves, hanging on their every word. If you used the Warlock’s Quest adventure hook and one or more characters have childhood memories of Zybilna, it dawns on Iggwilv that she has met those characters before and gives them a knowing look.
Zybilna/Iggwilv is troubled to learn of what has happened to Prismeer and vows to undo the damage the Hourglass Coven has wrought—a task that will take considerable time and effort. If the characters have unfinished business with the Hourglass Coven, the archfey reveals to them the weaknesses of all three hags and allows the characters to deal with the coven as they see fit (see “Fate of the Hourglass Coven” below). Additional roleplaying notes can be found in the bio for Zybilna.
Things Best Left Unsaid
If the characters speak to Zybilna/Iggwilv about her past, her mood suddenly darkens:
The archfey’s hair turns from white to raven-black, and she appears younger and angrier now than she was a moment ago. “You know nothing about my past!” she snaps. “The wars I’ve won, the enemies I’ve crushed. I’ve turned the hourglass on its end so many times. Each turn is a new beginning. Who are you that stands before me and speaks of things best unspoken?”
Ask the players in turn what, if anything, their characters try to do to quell the archfey’s anger, then have the characters make a DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) group check. Add 1 to the DC for each dretch in area P37 that the characters killed. Any characters who deliberately stoke her anger, or who say or do nothing, automatically get failures on their checks.
On a successful group check, Zybilna/Iggwilv apologizes for her outburst, and her mood lightens. On a failed group check, the archfey erases all knowledge of Iggwilv and Natasha from the characters’ memories before continuing the conversation as if nothing had happened. Inform the players that this effect has occurred—the names Iggwilv and Natasha no longer mean anything to their characters, and their characters are unaware of what Zybilna has just done. As far as the characters are concerned, Zybilna is the archfey who rules Prismeer and has no other past identities. The effect is permanent and irreversible.
Various loose ends are addressed in the sections that follow. Some of the events described in these sections require the characters’ involvement, while others can play out in their absence.
Fate of the Hourglass Coven
If all three hags of the Hourglass Coven are dead, there’s nothing more to be done with them. This section discusses what happens next if Zybilna is set free and at least one of the hags is still alive.
The surviving hags can sense when Zybilna is released from temporal stasis—or, rather, they can sense when their hold over Prismeer is lost. The instant Zybilna regains control of her domain, the hags use their plane shift spells to flee to Gehenna, where they maintain a cramped tower guarded by yugoloth mercenaries. They don’t think that Zybilna is aware of the tower, but her spies learned about it some time ago. She reveals the tower’s location to characters who want to conclude their dealings with the hags or perhaps put an end to them. The tower in Gehenna is beyond the scope of this adventure; flesh out its occupants and defenses as you see fit if the characters decide to pay the hags a visit.
Zybilna takes no immediate action against the surviving hags, preferring to let them stew in exile. If all three hags are still alive, the coven stays together even though its members constantly blame one another for their failures. The hags are united by their fear of Zybilna’s wrath, and they live in torment, dreading the day when Zybilna seeks them out and inflicts punishment on them for their wickedness.
Valor’s Call and the League of Malevolence
The heroes of Valor’s Call become distressed if they learn that Zybilna and Iggwilv are one and the same. They know Iggwilv only by her reputation as a villain, but they have allied with Zybilna against the League of Malevolence. That alliance persists, at least until the league is destroyed and its surviving members taken into custody. Zybilna offers to send Valor’s Call and their prisoners back to the Material Plane, after which Valor’s Call and Iggwilv go their separate ways.
League members who are still at large in the palace try to flee as soon as the time-freezing magic on the palace ends, for they know Zybilna will not forgive them for their treachery. If the characters rescued Strongheart, the merciful knight sets out to track down and capture the remaining members of the league, whereas the other members of Valor’s Call would just as soon dispose of them. If you want to use the League of Malevolence in future adventures, allowing one or more of its members to escape means they can show up again later in your campaign. The league might also have other members whom the characters have yet to encounter.
Stolen Treasures
In accordance with the rule of ownership (see “Rules of Conduct” in Prismeer Overview), Zybilna won’t allow characters to keep Iggwilv’s Cauldron or the vorpal sword, Snicker-Snack. The characters can keep any other treasures they acquired in her domain, but only because she chooses to bequeath these items to them.
Lost Children
As beings of unfettered emotion and potential, children are of great importance to Zybilna. The archfey sees to it that any children held captive by the Hourglass Coven are liberated, rid of unhappy memories, and escorted back to their homes by pixie courtiers. The same holds true for any children who were sequestered by Zybilna’s protective magic (see “Children of Prismeer” in Prismeer Overview).
Madryck’s Reward
If you used the “Warlock’s Quest” adventure hook, the characters might want to contact their employer, Madryck Roslof, and let him know that Zybilna is well. If she is asked, Zybilna is willing to convey a message to Madryck so that the characters don’t have to rush home with the news.
Characters who waste no time getting back to Madryck find him safe at home, still clinging to life. Madryck upholds his end of the agreement by giving them the key and the directions to his buried hoard (see “Madryck’s Treasure” in "Beginning the Adventure").
See @Zybilna's Gifts in Key Magic Items lore.
Characters are likely to move onto @The Feywild and/or @The Feydark after the @Witchlight Carnival module is over. - If so, encourage them to explore.