P14. Spiral Staircases
Areas P14a through P14d are on the palace’s lower level, while areas P14e through P14h are on the upper level. All eight rooms have similar decor:
The walls of this circular chamber are decorated with sculpted reliefs depicting humans and demons partaking in grotesque revels. A spiral staircase with a golden handrail is in the middle of the room.
The reliefs hint at Zybilna’s fondness for demons. Specifics about each room are provided below:
P14a. The spiral staircase ascends 30 feet to area P14e. To the northeast, an elevated staircase extends over part of the Court of Storms (area P13) and leads to one of the turrets of the central tower (area P48g on the upper level).
P14b. The spiral staircase ascends 30 feet to area P14f. To the northwest, an elevated staircase extends over part of the Court of Storms (area P13) and leads to one of the turrets of the central tower (area P48b on the upper level).
P14c. The spiral staircase ascends 30 feet to area P14g. The double door leading to the ballroom (area P22) is sealed with a lion crown lock (see “Crown Locks” earlier in the chapter).
P14d. The spiral staircase ascends 30 feet to area P14h. The double door leading to the ballroom (area P22) is sealed with a lion crown lock (see “Crown Locks” earlier in the chapter).
P14e. The spiral staircase descends 30 feet to area P14a. A double door leads to a stone balcony that overlooks the palace garden (area P2).
P14f. The spiral staircase descends 30 feet to area P14b. A double door leads to a stone balcony that overlooks the palace garden (area P2).
P14g. The spiral staircase descends 30 feet to area P14c. A double door leads to a stone balcony that overlooks the Court of Storms (area P13).
P14h. The spiral staircase descends 30 feet to area P14d. A double door leads to a stone balcony that overlooks the Court of Storms (area P13). Floating 10 feet above the top of the staircase is a banshee trapped in temporal stasis. The banshee is all that remains of a vainglorious elf queen named Pari Astarabad, who challenged Zybilna for control of Prismeer and paid the ultimate price. The banshee is condemned to haunt this tower and, thanks to Zybilna’s magic, can’t leave it. If freed from temporal stasis, the banshee can move between this area and area P14d, but nowhere else.
P15. Servants’ Quarters
This candlelit workroom contains tables, dressers, and bunks for the palace staff. Five goblins are frozen in place like statues, caught in the mundane chores of ironing clothes, darning socks, and folding sheets. A row of brass bells is mounted on one wall.
The five goblins (unarmed, chaotic good noncombatants loyal to Zybilna) are frozen in time. The bells on the wall ring whenever occupants of the guest wing (areas P40a through P40e) tug on the bell pulls in their rooms.
Butler. Zybilna’s butler, Thinnings (neutral), lurks in this room. Thinnings was away on an errand when the palace was frozen in time. Since his return, he has been spying on the members of the League of Malevolence.
Thinnings can be encountered anywhere inside the palace but returns to this room to rest. He has the statistics of a spy, except he is a Fey who speaks Common, Elvish, and Sylvan. He appears as a stick-thin man dressed in a brown dress coat, stockings, and buckled shoes. As an action, Thinnings can make himself as flat as a piece of parchment or revert to his normal thickness. In his flattened form, he can slide under doors, roll himself up, or even fold himself into the pages of a book.
The butler knows the palace’s layout and defenses, but he’s not inclined to share information with strangers. As soon as he hears a door to this room being opened, Thinnings ducks into the narrow space under or behind one of the dressers. Characters who have a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 14 or higher notice Thinnings as they casually survey the room; a thorough search of the room finds him automatically. Thinnings, who has no reason to trust the characters, refuses to emerge from his hiding place. A character can earn the butler’s trust and coax him out by reciting Demitasse’s rhyme (see area P19) and then sharing a secret with him. (Any old fact will do, as long as he doesn’t know it already.) If his trust is earned or the characters capture him, Thinnings shares the following information:
After using Zybilna’s cauldron to neutralize the archfey and most of her court, the hags of the Hourglass Coven left the League of Malevolence in the palace to guard the cauldron. Only three members of the league—Kelek, Warduke, and Zargash—are in the palace presently.
Years ago, Zybilna befriended a jabberwock and trained it to drink from her cauldron. It still frequents the palace and loiters around the cauldron, making it impossible for Kelek and the others to guard the cauldron effectively. The only creature in the palace that stands a chance in a fight against the jabberwock is Zybilna’s great owl, Bloodybeak, which is kept in the aviary (area P20).
To free a creature frozen in time, one must touch it with a unicorn horn while speaking the creature’s true name. (Thinnings knows that “Zybilna” is not Zybilna’s true name. He thinks her true name is Iggwilv, but it’s not.) The League of Malevolence is searching Prismeer for a unicorn horn so that Kelek can free Ringlerun, his archenemy, from temporal stasis and steal his staff of power.
Additional roleplaying notes can be found in the bio for Thinnings.
Treasure. The bottom drawer of Thinnings’s dresser contains the butler’s collection of rings. Many of the rings are rewards from Zybilna for faithful service, and others were gifted to him by guests who learned about his obsession. The collection includes the following:
Sixty-one ornate silver rings (10 gp each)
Thirty ornate gold rings (25 gp each)
An onyx ring (50 gp) that radiates an aura of illusion magic under the scrutiny of a detect magic spell (when worn, the ring creates illusory butterflies that flutter around the wearer)
P16. Palace Kitchen
An eight-foot-tall, three-foot-diameter, multitiered cake rests on a large round table in this kitchen, which also contains a stove and an assortment of mismatched cupboards and worktables. Eight pixies are suspended in midair around the cake, each wearing a chef’s hat and a flour-stained apron. Six of the pixies squeeze cloth tubes that have icing coming out of them. The other two hold armfuls of tiny crimson candles.
Thick creepers with broad leaves encroach on the kitchen through a partially open door in the middle of a concave wall. The roots stretch across the floor and coil around the large table, but not around a smaller, rectangular wheeled table that has three trussed-up giant rats on it.
The eight pixies work for Zybilna as bakers, and they are frozen in time. In addition to the large cake described below, characters can see platters of blue-frosted cupcakes and candied apples on sticks, bowls of sugar-glazed button mushrooms, and bottles of eveningberry wine (a sweet, nonalcoholic drink).
Cake. This perfectly preserved cake was made for Zybilna’s birthday. Made of cream, sponge, fruit, and white icing, the cake has eight tiers and weighs 100 pounds. If the characters want to move the cake safely, they can transfer it to the wheeled table.
Wheeled Table. Three giant rats, frozen in time, lie atop the small table. The rats are meant to be fed to Bloodybeak, the great owl in area P20.
P17. Base of the Beanstalk
An open doorway leading from the kitchen (area P16) has thick creepers spreading through it.
Here, the palace has been torn asunder by the growth of an enormous beanstalk that has lifted one of its towers high into the air. The space beyond the open doorway is choked with rubble and the thick roots that form the beanstalk’s base.
The tower above is area P51. Zybilna’s quasit, Iggrik, used a potion from his mistress’s laboratory (area P42) to grow the beanstalk and cause the tower to be lifted to its present height.
The beanstalk is 80 feet high, elevating the floor of the tower 20 feet above the palace roof. A creature that can fly can reach the tower easily enough. A creature can climb the beanstalk without needing magic or climbing gear, but doing so requires a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. On a check that fails by 5 or more, the creature falls.
The beanstalk has AC 15 and is impervious to most forms of damage. If it is struck with the woodcutter’s axe (see area P6), the beanstalk shrinks 5 feet for every hit point of damage the weapon deals. If the beanstalk takes enough damage to reduce its height to 50 feet, the tower drops to its original position (so that the floor of area P51 is level with the second floor of the palace), and the beanstalk dies.