M17. Prison
Access to this area is blocked by a featureless stone door that can’t be opened magically, with thieves’ tools, or by force.
Two rusty suits of armor sized for goblins and equipped with halberds flank a large stone door bereft of handles, hinges, or decoration.
Characters who examine the rusty suits of armor discover that each one has the inanimate skeleton of a goblin propped up inside it. Lifting the rusty visor on either suit’s helmet reveals its grinning skull, and removing the helmet entirely causes the goblin’s skull to tumble onto the floor. The suits topple over easily, producing a loud clatter as the armor and skeletons break apart on the floor.
Disturbing either suit of armor or touching the surface of the door causes a large, skeletal version of Endelyn’s gaunt visage to appear on the door, open its mouth, and say, “You shall not pass! Back, I command you!” The face on the door can see and hear whatever’s in front of it, and its open mouth forms a 1-foot-high, 3-foot-wide hole through the door; as the visage speaks, characters who peer into the mouth can catch a glimpse of an empty room beyond (see “Inside the Prison” below).
If the door sees Endelyn within 5 feet of it, or if someone taps the door using the fool’s scepter that belongs to Stagefright, it opens its mouth wide enough to create an 8-foot-high, 3-foot-wide archway that remains open until 1 minute elapses without a creature passing through it.
If neither of the above options applies, a character can trick the door into opening its mouth long enough for one creature to pass through it before the mouth snaps shut. Each of the following tricks works once:
A character who yawns within 10 feet of the door causes the door to yawn as well, enabling one creature to slip through its mouth.
A character who spends at least 1 minute reciting a dull monologue, soliloquy, or poem within 10 feet of the door causes the door to yawn out of boredom, enabling one creature to slip through its mouth.
A character who stands within 10 feet of the door and recites a funny joke or limerick causes the door to laugh, enabling one creature to slip through its open mouth.
Inventive characters can use the halberds from the suits of armor (or weapons of their own) to wedge open the mouth, preventing it from closing until these obstructions are removed. No ability check is needed to accomplish this. If the characters come up with a different creative solution, you can reward their creativity with automatic success.
Inside the Prison. Four cells sealed by stone doors branch off from the walls of this empty chamber. Stone levers jutting from the walls next to the doorways are used to raise and lower the cell doors, which can’t be opened from the inside except by the use of a knock spell or similar magic. Each one has a small window through which its contents can be seen.
Unless the characters have been detained here, three of the cells are open and unoccupied. The fourth cell is closed and holds Gleam’s twin, Glister (use the Selenelion twin stat block). Describe the cell and its occupant as follows:
An elf, her face partially hidden under a sun mask, is curled up on a divan, reading a book while sipping wine from a thin crystal goblet. Other items in the cell include a crystal decanter of wine and a bowl of figs on a small table, a gold-embroidered wall tapestry depicting a wooded elven realm, and a porcelain chamber pot decorated with gold filigree.
Glister is comfortable—if not happy—in her cell. Endelyn has urged Glister, for the sake of her twin sibling, to be a good, quiet houseguest. If Gleam is with the characters, she and Glister are reunited. The twins try not to get separated again; their goal is to reach the Fey Beacons (described earlier in the chapter) and use them to get back home to the Witchlight Carnival, with or without the characters’ help.
Glister knows the following useful information, which she shares with her rescuers:
“I overheard some goblins talking about a belfry in one of the turrets. Endelyn boarded up the belfry to prevent others from ringing the bell. Apparently, it’s the safest, fastest way to reach the Palace of Heart’s Desire.”
“Endelyn lost a key and is upset about it. Her minions have been searching for it, to no avail.” (Glister doesn’t know that one of the goblins found the key and hid it in area M4.)
“If my sister and I can reach the Fey Beacons, we can use them to return to the Witchlight Carnival.” (This is Glister’s ultimate goal.)
Glister’s Plan. If the characters need some direction on how to deal with Endelyn, Glister has plotted her revenge against the hag and suggests the following course of action:
“Endelyn can be destroyed for good, but only during an eclipse. I say we create one! There is a moon prop in storage. If I were to stand behind it while wearing my sun mask, the moon would eclipse the sun. Were this configuration to occur in Endelyn’s presence, she would know her doom is at hand.”
The moon prop can be found in area M12.
Glister and Gleam are willing to go along with any other plan the characters conceive, but the sisters always have each other’s safety uppermost in their minds. Appendix D has additional roleplaying notes for Glister.
Tales from the Gloaming Court, Vol. 8. The book Glister is reading is a hefty, green-covered tome with a withered frog stitched into its spine. Kissing the frog or stroking it with a moistened finger causes the frog to croak the book’s title in Elvish. This book is volume 8 of an eleven-book series titled Tales from the Gloaming Court.
Endelyn stole this book and its companion in area M7 from her sister Skabatha’s private library (see area L14 in chapter 3). Stagefright lent the book to Glister without Endelyn’s knowledge when the elf complained that she was bored. Glister doesn’t take the book with her when she leaves her cell, because she finds the intrigues of the Gloaming Court quite dull.
Treasure. Glister’s cell contains the following items of value:
A porcelain chamber pot with gold filigree (50 gp)
A crystal wine decanter (125 gp) and goblet (25 gp)
An embroidered tapestry depicting a woodland realm of the elves (250 gp)
M18. Audience Chamber
The walls of this chamber are jet black, with gold-painted scrollwork where the walls meet the ceiling and each other. Ornate, high-backed armchairs face a raised dais. An alcove at the back of the dais is half hidden by a black curtain.
This chamber is unoccupied until Endelyn Moongrave has need of it. The hag uses the room for private meetings with visitors, particularly those who want to know their futures or who want to strike bargains with her. Endelyn stands in the otherwise empty alcove when performing her auguries (described below).
A detect magic spell cast on the alcove reveals an aura of conjuration magic emanating from it. While standing in the alcove, Endelyn can use a bonus action to speak a command word (“imprek”) and teleport to her wardrobe in area M22, along with anything she is wearing or carrying, provided the wardrobe’s main compartment is empty and the wardrobe hasn’t been destroyed.
Endelyn’s Auguries. The Orrery of Tragedies in area M14 allows Endelyn to foresee the arrival of visitors and glimpse their fates, which she communicates to them through grim performances that she calls her “auguries.” Endelyn claims to be the sole source of these prognostications while failing to mention that the orrery shows possible futures, not necessarily the future.
Endelyn performs auguries for characters who want to know their futures and who strike a proper bargain with her (as described in “Bargaining with Endelyn” earlier in the chapter).
If the characters ask her to conduct auguries for them, read:
Draped in black robes, the hag peers down at you from her curtained alcove. Her long fingers twitch, and extra hands appear from within the folds of her ghastly dress. She gazes upon each of you in turn before saying, “Seekers of fate, you have come before the Dame of Unhappy Endings to glimpse your doom. Behold!”
The hag unveils a puppet theater that was hidden in her clothing. It includes stringed marionettes that resemble you and your companions. With each tug of the strings, the puppets bob around the stage, speaking in the hag’s scratchy voice.
Drawing on information fed to her by the Orrery of Tragedies, Endelyn performs a macabre puppet show that reveals how each character is fated to depart the multiverse. Have each player roll a d8 and consult the Unhappy Endings table to find out how Endelyn predicts that player’s character might die. (You can devise other unhappy endings, if desired.)
Unhappy Endings
d8
Cause of Death
1
Eaten alive by a dragon
2
Stabbed through the heart by an invisible assassin
3
Dissolved in a pool of acid
4
Pulled down into dark water and drowned
5
Hanged by the neck
6
Impaled on a stalagmite
7
Poisoned by a friend
8
Crushed by a falling castle