We finished the 2nd session of Palace of the Silver Princess last week. I have made a lot of changes to the original module but I did keep the plot of having to break the gem in one of three different ways. But once the 2nd session was complete I realized that the way I split up the dungeon two of the methods were in an area the players missed. Luckily the third method (the Dragon) was hard to miss.
Session 48: Palace of Ice
Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Alonso (Human Fighter), Aron (Human Monk), Domago (Human cleric NPC), Lantosh (Human Fighter NPC), Fenris (Human Thief NPC), Slabs (Bugbear NPC).
The heroes continue through the dungeon area of the palace. Meeting a few injured Spriggan that has fled from an earlier battle and running into a Boggart in some prison cells. Eventually, they walked past the stairs headed upward into the palace, and instead descended into some natural caves. They follow the sound of a heavy chain being dragged over stone.
Aron the monk scouts ahead of the group. He sees a cave packed full of dozens and dozens of stone statues of elven men and women. The statues are stacked carelessly in the cave, some piled on top of each other. While the rest of the adventurers wait, Aron moves about the cave between the statues searching. His persistence is rewarded when he finds a wooden crate with a pair of elvish longswords, and a battleaxe inside. Lakima casts Detect Magic on the weapons and they all glow as magical. Eathwund takes one sword and Alonso takes the other.
Aron continues deeper into the caves followed by the others. He is surprised when he steps around a tunnel and finds a large, red dragon lying in a cave. The dragon stares silently directly at him but does not make any threatening moves. Lakima tries speaking to the dragon in elvish and common to no avail. Lantosh tries goblin, kobold, and orcish. The dragon peers at each of them intently but does not respond to any of their queries. They notice that the dragon wears an iron collar which is attached to a large chain which is in turn attached to the stone wall. The Red Dragon strains at the chain at the limit of the chain but otherwise does not seem threatening. When they move on the dragon lets out an angry roar. Aron jokingly (they think) asks if they should release it.
Aron finds a cavern full of stone pillars and stalactites. Glowing blue moss grows on the pillars. Behind one pillar they find a stone statue of a frightened elf which appears to be trying to hide. The adventurers stop and decide to rest in this chamber to recover spells and bandage some of their wounds. Lantosh in particular is badly hurt. The adventurers set watches and rest for 8 hours. Over this time they hear the sound of marching feet frequently far in the distance. They also hear the dragon moving about on occasion.
Once everyone is rested they pack up and prepare to continue exploring. Domago casts Cure Light Wounds on Lantosh. They continue to explore and find a dead Spriggan chained to the wall. The creature appears to have been dead for a very long time. Domago takes some time to unchain it and bury it under some rocks. They continue on until Fenris and Aron find a chamber with a dark pool. At first, they believe it is full of water but as they check it they find it is full of purple ink. Suspicious, Lakima casts detect magic and sees a bright magical glow deep in the pool. He has Lantosh instruct his charmed bugbear to investigate. The Bugbear climbs into the pool and treads across before ducking under the water. The bugbear comes back up covered in purple ink - its fur stained purple. It reports through Lantosh that there is a stone statue just under the level of the ink. Lakima asks for the statue to be raised to the surface but it proves to be far too heavy for the bugbear. Using block and tackle and ropes the entire group manages to pull the statue up to the surface of the pool. The statue depicts an elven king on a throne. Unlike other statues they have encountered this statue does not look as realistic. Fenris examines it and removes four gems from the statue's crown. He also finds that the head can be removed. Inside he finds a Silver Ring. The ring glows as magical to Lakima. Lakima suggests that Eathwund put it on until he has a chance to identify it.
They check out one more large cave and find a chapel dedicated to an elven goddess of unknown origin. As they head back toward the dungeon they spot four Spriggan on guard at the intersection of the corridor with the stairs. Before the Spriggan can react, Lakima casts Lightning Bolt, killing three of them. The fourth Spriggan flees up the stairs. Lakima shouts, “Stop it!” Aron and Eathwund run after the Spriggan up the stairs as it runs into a room. Inside the room, they see two weird fey creatures. The creatures have the heads of stags and the bodies of giant eagles. In the light of their lanterns, the shadows cast by the creatures appear to be humanoid. Aron, Eathwund, and Alonso attack immediately and kill the creatures fairly quickly. In the fight, the bugbear is gored and badly wounded. Aron runs through the chamber and up another flight of stairs. He spots the fleeing Spriggan attempting to climb up a ladder and leaps at it but misses. Alonso and Eathwund arrive and attack. Eathwund knocks the creature off the ladder. They fall upon it and kill the creature. As the rest of the group arrives, Lakima asks Aron to check the trapdoor in the ceiling. The rest notice two statues of robed elves behind a wooden crate. One statue is kneeling as if inscribing a message on the wall. Lakima and Aron read the message that is in elvish:
Evil red gem, malefaction. Sweet music from strings; Priceless sun blade of destruction,
Salvation rides on dragon’s wings.
Lakima notes that they have encountered a dragon. Seeing his purple bugbear friend is badly injured, Lakima asks Domago to provide healing. Domago tells him that he only has one healing spell left. Lakima tells him to use it. Aron reports that the trapdoor leads into another room with windows looking out over the countryside. The entire group moves up the ladder into the room. Stone statues of elven guards stand before the open windows. Dim light and cold winds blow through the windows. Lakima checks outside and sees other open windows to the palace. He spots a dark-skinned drow elf step past one of the windows. In the distance, he spots a company of soldiers headed along the river towards the palace. Lakima lets everyone know and urges speed in clearing up the mystery of the curse.
In the next hallway, they encounter the illusion of three swords fighting that vanishes as Eathwund touches them. Then they enter an alchemical workshop with an iron statue of a warrior in one corner. The statue is immobile until Lakima picks up some scrolls on a table. Then the statue walks stiffly toward Lakima and slashes him with a sword. The bugbear quickly runs in to protect Lakima, stepping in front of him and striking the statue with his hammer. The war hammer becomes stuck to the body of the iron statue. Lakima pulls the Staff of Striking out of the Bag of Holding and tosses it to Eathwund to use but Eathwund misses. Alonso strikes and the statue as well as Aron. Fenris hits it twice with crossbow bolts that stick to the statue. Then Lakima blasts the statue with his Wand of Shocking and the statue stops moving. All of the weapons stuck to it fall to the floor. While the Bugbear and Eathwund watch the immobile statue, Lakima takes time to collect a bunch of notes that are scattered about the room.
In a nearby room, they listen at a door and hear elvish voices. Lakima realizes that this would be near where he spotted the drow so he tells Aron, Alonso, and Eathwund to rush through the door ready to attack. Eathwund swings the door open and rushes through. They get the drop on two female drow standing in a study with open windows. Alonso slashes one with a sword and the drow female screams in pain and falls to the floor. The other drow tries to protect her but Eathwund stabs her. The wounded drow females scramble back away from the adventurers, one crawls to a bench clutching her wounded side, the other holds her sword at ready. Lakima calls on the drow to surrender, calling them intruders. The two drow do not lower their weapons but they do claim to be ambassadors here. They demand to know why they have been attacked and warn that there will be severe consequences for attacking them. After some more conversation, the adventurers and drow stop fighting. The drow female explains they are in the Palace to meet the Lord of this place that they name Catharandamus. They claim to know nothing of the former owners of the Palace. Catharandamus has been the Lord here for hundreds of years. They agree to leave immediately if given safe passage. The two drow enter a bed chamber where the adventurers see they have a pet cave lion. The adventurers leave the drow and head further into the palace. They find a chapel where fresh, red paint has been splashed over statues of elves. They hear a commotion from a room to the north and enter and find three Spriggan all at their giant size form. One of the Spriggan is splashing red paint from a wooden bucket onto silver and gold altarpieces. They catch the Spriggan by surprise and move into attack. Lantosh is struck with a sword from one of the Spriggan and he collapses unconscious. While the others fight Domago pulls Lantosh to safety. But he tells Lakima he has no more healing spells.
Aron, Alonso, and Eathwund manage to kill all three Spriggan. Alonso gives a healing potion to Domago and it is used to revive Lantosh. The fighter still looks badly injured. Lakima checks the gold and silver altarpieces and starts picking them up and putting them in the bag of holding. Domago tells him that they should leave the altarpieces as their agreement was not to loot items important to the elves. Lakima shrugs and puts them in the bag anyway.
