P40. Guest Wing
This wing of the palace is reserved for Zybilna’s guests, including envoys from other archfey and petitioners from the Material Plane.
Each room holds a four-poster bed, a wardrobe containing outfits that magically tailor themselves to their wearers, and a dressing table. A bell pull mounted on the wall by the door enables guests to summon servants from their quarters (area P15). If the characters ring any of these bells, the butler Thinnings creeps up to investigate 5 minutes later.
Each room’s occupants are frozen in time. Individual rooms have their own color schemes and notable features, as indicated below:
P40a. Red Room. A high elf noble (neutral) with long hair stands in the middle of the room. The elf, Carisso, is holding a crystal goblet of water. Tied to his belt is a glass-handled rapier (actually a +1 rapier). A goblin (noncombatant) stands next to him, holding a tray with a decanter of water on it.
P40b. Blue Room. This chamber has a line of bluebirds perched motionless on the sill of an open window. The room is otherwise unoccupied.
P40c. Green Room. A well-dressed forest gnome (noncombatant) stands on a stool in front of a vanity, looking into a mirror as she combs her green hair. The vanity has various cosmetics and vials of perfume on it.
P40d. White Room. A handsome young male human (noncombatant) in a white nightshirt sleeps in the bed.
P40e. Black Room. Six goblins (noncombatants) are in the midst of cleaning the room. One of them perches precariously on a stack of chairs while reaching out to dust the top of a tall black wardrobe.
P41. Talking Door
This door is closed and magically locked.
The surface of this double door is sculpted to look like the head of a cat. As you approach, it purrs, “Why, hello there.”
This door was meant to require a password to be opened, but the door grew bored of asking for the same word all the time and now seeks answers to more meaningful, philosophical questions. The door explains this pleasantly, then poses one of the following questions:
Which is more important, intelligence or wisdom?
Are we at the mercy of fate, or do we create our own destiny?
Which has more power, the sword or the quill?
The door enthusiastically debates either side of each point. There are no right or wrong answers; to open the door, a character must argue their case and succeed on a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check. A character who impressed Feathereen, the gondola swan in the Witchlight Carnival, is filled with confidence in this debate and gains advantage on the check. On a successful check, the door swings open.
P42. Laboratory
The door to this laboratory is sealed with a hart crown lock (see “Crown Locks” earlier in the chapter).
Broken oil burners, grimy glassware, and jars of pickled fungus clutter this ruined laboratory. A beanstalk as long and thick as a constrictor snake sprouts from an unstoppered potion bottle. Bulging bean pods hang from its stem.
Zybilna used this laboratory to brew potions, including an experimental oil that stimulated the growth of plants. The beanstalk in here is one result of this study; Zybilna’s quasit, Iggrik, pilfered and used a more potent variant of this potion to create the enormous beanstalk in area P17.
Treasure. Characters who search the laboratory find a potion of growth, three potions of healing, and two potions of giant strength (hill).
Twelve bean pods hang on the beanstalk and are easily detached. A detached bean pod can be hurled up to 120 feet as an action. When it is tossed on the ground, it disappears and produces an effect identical to that of the plant growth spell (the version of the spell that takes 1 action to cast).
P43. Mirror of Heart’s Desire
The door to this room is sealed with a lion crown lock (see “Crown Locks” earlier in the chapter).
This marble hall is empty except for a tall mirror mounted in an alcove on the north wall. Cold, spectral mist hangs motionless in front of the mirror’s reflective surface and covers the floor beneath it.
Zybilna brought mortals before this mirror, where they could see the objects of their heart’s desire reflected in it. Any creature that stares into the mirror for 1 minute sees its own reflection fade away, to be replaced by an image of the thing it wants most. The mirror is a Large object with AC 13, 5 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage.
If a character looks into the mirror long enough to trigger its property, work with that character’s player to determine what the character sees: it might be something or someone the character lost, a goal the character has yet to attain, or a momentous event that has not yet come to pass. If you are using the “Lost Things” adventure hook and the character hasn’t yet found what they’re looking for, the mirror might show the character its location and a route the character can take to get there.
P44. Jars of Time
The door to this room is sealed with a hart crown lock (see “Crown Locks” earlier in the chapter).
A three-level mahogany table stands in the middle of this otherwise empty chamber. Three gleaming bell jars rest on the table’s separate tiers, each one containing a visage wreathed in mist.
Any creature that touches one of the jars on the table causes all three jars to display illusory images of that creature from different time periods. The jar closest to the floor shows the creature in its youth. The jar on the middle tier shows the creature as it is now. The highest jar shows what the creature might look like in its later years. Zybilna was the last one to touch the jars, so they currently show images of her past, present, and future self:
The lowest jar depicts a young woman with raven-black hair.
The middle jar displays a middle-aged woman with long white hair.
The highest jar shows a white-haired crone or hag.
The jars are stuck to the table with sovereign glue. Each jar is a Small object with AC 13, 3 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. For each jar that breaks, an invisible stalker is released, appearing in the air above the table. A stalker attacks whoever is responsible for breaking its jar, ignoring all other targets. The stalker returns to the Elemental Plane of Air when it or its target dies.
P45. Zybilna’s Bedroom
This spacious bedchamber is lightly furnished. An oval mirror in a black wood frame is mounted on the east wall, and a chess set with jet and bloodstone playing pieces rests atop an octagonal table in the southwest corner, flanked by two comfortable, high-backed chairs. A four-poster bed with black silk sheets and drapes stands in the middle of this room. Lounging on the bed are two creatures, each with the lower body of a lion. One has the head and upper torso of a woman, the other the head and upper torso of a man.
The creatures on the bed are two lamias named Nemesatra and Trizzian. The demon prince Graz’zt sent them to parley with Zybilna, because he is convinced that the archfey knows the whereabouts of Iggwilv the Witch Queen (with whom Graz’zt has unfinished business). Nemesatra and Trizzian suspect that Zybilna and Iggwilv are the same person, but the lamias need proof before they return to their master.
Graz’zt has bestowed on each lamia the ability to touch the surface of any mirror (as an action), disappear inside it, and reappear on another plane of existence of their choice, as though the lamia had cast a plane shift spell that affects only one creature. Nemesatra and Trizzian used this ability to travel from Azzagrat (Graz’zt’s home in the Abyss) to the Feywild, and they plan to use it again to return to Azzagrat once they get the proof they desire. The costumes in area P36 are not proof enough on their own, but any or all of the following constitute proof:
The sworn testimony of Thinnings the butler (see area P15), Kalimanzaros the dwarf (see area P21), or one of the hags in area P47, which the lamias must obtain using a suggestion or geas spell
A copy of The Faceless Lord (one of Iggwilv’s known unpublished works) from area P38
The jars of time in area P44, provided and the jars still show three faces of Iggwilv (including her younger self, which the lamias recognize)
When one or more characters appear before the lamias, Nemesatra fixes them with a steely gaze and asks, “Are you important?” She expects an affirmative reply, for neither she nor her companion have time for wastrels. Nemesatra and Trizzian won’t reveal the purpose of their mission. They view the characters as pawns, ordering them to share any information they uncover about Zybilna’s past. Once the lamias obtain proof that Zybilna is Iggwilv (or cleverly fabricated evidence to the contrary), they use the nearest mirror to return to Azzagrat.
The lamias’ access to the palace is limited because they can’t bypass its locked doors or fly. They entered the palace through the coach house (area P11) and have visited areas P29, P14c, P14g, P41 (where they debated the magical door), and P46.
If the lamias are attacked, they defend themselves until at least one of them loses half of their hit points or more, whereupon they touch the mirror in this chamber and return to the Abyss. If the mirror has been destroyed and they have no clear route of escape, the lamias use charm person, suggestion, or geas spells to persuade the characters to leave them alone.
Treasure. The chessboard was a gift to Iggwilv from the archmage Mordenkainen and is worth 2,500 gp. Its pieces mutter under their breath when they are taken off the board. The chessboard is one reason why Nemesatra and Trizzian suspect that Zybilna and Iggwilv might be one and the same, since Iggwilv’s passion for the game is well known to Graz’zt and his underlings.