Fey Beacons

Fey Beacons

In this encounter, a cursed prince trying to find his way home is thwarted by a troupe of perytons. If they want, the characters can intervene on the prince’s behalf, or they can simply take in the sights and move on:

Eight columns of rock reach skyward, forming a ring around a deep crater lake. Rough-hewn steps spiral up each of the columns, and a rowboat is moored on the lakeshore next to one of them. A torch-bearing figure trudges up the stairs on the column nearest to the rowboat. Eight winged beasts with antlers shout and howl with laughter as they circle and wheel around it.

The columns of rock are 200 feet tall and 150 feet apart. Each one has a large copper brazier at its summit. These braziers aren’t visible from below the columns’ summits, but all eight can be seen from the top of any column or by a creature flying at that elevation or higher. The lake is 400 feet in diameter and 100 feet deep at its center.

The figure is Alagarthas, a wood elf prince from the Material Plane. As the characters watch from afar, he reaches the top of the column he is ascending and uses his torch to light the beacon there. The beacon burns bright as he descends the stairs and boards the rowboat. As the elf rows toward the next beacon, the eight perytons that had been harassing him extinguish the flame in the brazier with powerful beats of their wings. Alagarthas believes the fiery beacons can show him the way home, but only while all of them are lit.

Prince Alagarthas

After several failed attempts to fend off a green dragon threatening the prosperity of his kingdom, Alagarthas caught the eye of Endelyn Moongrave, who visited him on his home world of Toril. The hag showed the prince a future in which he defeated the dragon but lost his life in the process. Endelyn also claimed to see an alternate future in which the dragon was defeated and Alagarthas survived; she would share the details of her vision with Alagarthas, however, only after he stayed with her in the Feywild for at least one year.

The prince saw a year of his life as a small price to pay, so he accepted the hag’s terms. The year seemed to drag on and on, and when it finally ended, Alagarthas found himself with only one way to get home: a path that, according to Endelyn, is visible “only in the light of the eight beacons.” The simple goal of lighting the beacons has been repeatedly thwarted by the perytons, who revel in Alagarthas’s despair. Each time he lights a beacon, the perytons snuff it out, yet Alagarthas is too stubborn and determined to give up. He hopes the perytons will grow bored of their antics and leave him alone eventually. He is, however, misguided in that expectation.

Alagarthas is a knight (chaotic good) with these changes:

Alagarthas is unarmed and unarmored (AC 10).

He speaks Common and Elvish, and he has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet.

He has advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put him to sleep.

If the characters speak with Alagarthas, he tells his tragic story and shares the following information in the course of a conversation:

Endelyn’s castle is a grand and terrible theater where plays are performed on the stage for her amusement.

Endelyn is always trying to recruit new actors to perform in her theater.

The perytons were once a troupe of actors called the Greyhawk Mummers. Endelyn invited them to Motherhorn, where they performed pantomimes. (Alagarthas attended several of these performances.) When their popularity made them haughty and difficult to control, Endelyn locked them up. When they begged to be set free, the hag honored their request by releasing them into the wild—but only after she turned them into perytons. The transformation deprived them of speech, yet they retain their theatrical behavior.

Additional roleplaying notes can be found in the bio for Alagarthas.

Performing Perytons

As Alagarthas related, the perytons used to be human pantomimists known as the Greyhawk Mummers—so named because they got their start performing in the Free City of Greyhawk on the world of Oerth. The perytons remember their former lives as actors, and though they understand Common and Elvish, they can no longer speak.

Archillus and Mortia are the leading male and leading female of the troupe. The others are Verna (Mortia’s bitter understudy), Mauldower (an old-timer who believes his cohorts are amateurs), Angara (the troupe’s matriarchal dame), Gorgenal (a jester), Carthasar (a method actor), and Thornelia (a minstrel).

The characters can help Alagarthas without resorting to violence by asking the perytons to perform one of their favorite pantomimes. The perytons are taken aback, in a good way, by the request and appreciate the opportunity to entertain a crowd. They perform a pantomime show that lasts nearly an hour, then take their bows silently. If everyone in the party claps or cheers, the perytons are thrilled and fly off. If one or more party members fail to clap or cheer after the perytons perform, the perytons become furious and attack the party. Once the perytons are placated or slain, Alagarthas can light the beacons without further interference.

The characters can also impress the perytons by putting on a performance of their own. Impressing the perytons requires the performing characters to succeed on a DC 15 Charisma (Performance) group check. Any character who received an acting lesson from Candlefoot in the Witchlight Carnival has advantage on this check. If the group check succeeds, the perytons regard the characters as kindred spirits and will stop bothering Alagarthas if the characters ask nicely.

Unicorn Horn. If the Story Tracker indicates that the unicorn horn is here, it is in the possession of the peryton named Archillus. Skabatha Nightshade dropped it accidentally while flying over the mountains, and Archillus found it and kept it. He gives it to the characters if they applaud his performance or if they put on a successful performance of their own. They can also take the horn from his dead body.

Lighting the Beacons

If the perytons are placated or otherwise dealt with, Alagarthas can safely light the beacons. Alagarthas knows that he must be the one to light the beacons, for only then will they show him the way home. The characters are free to stay and watch as he climbs to the top of each rocky column and lights its beacon. It takes 8 hours for him to light all eight beacons—enough time for the characters to take a long rest if they choose to stick around.

Each beacon consists of an 8-foot-diameter stone brazier filled with coals that catch fire easily, even while wet. To light a brazier, one need only touch the coals with the head of a lit torch or some other open flame. If Alagarthas is allowed to light all eight beacons by himself, read:

Beneath the light of all the beacons, you see reflected in the mirror-like surface of the lake a forest of ancient trees shrouded in mist. Alagarthas bows to you, then leaps into the lake. As he plunges into the water, ripples fan out across its surface. After a minute, the forest scene fades away and the beacons go out one by one.

Alagarthas is transported safely back to his home in the Misty Forest on the world of Toril, as is any other creature that enters the water before the scene fades away.

Any character who lights all eight beacons without assistance causes the lake to display an image of whatever place that character calls home. The image lasts for 1 minute, and any creature that enters the water during that time is transported to this destination. There’s no way to get back to the lake, making it a one-way trip.