Courts of the Shadow Fey Session 9 – A Royal Audience

Courts of the Shadow Fey was the third 4th Edition Open Design project from Kobold Press. I ran the adventure in 2011 as part of the same Parsantium campaign as Wrath of the River King and Halls of the Mountain King.

This is a really fun but tricky adventure to run so hopefully these write-ups will prove useful to other GMs. In this session, something terrible happens to Krivinn, the party’s paladin, and the party meet with the Queen of Night and Magic for a second time. 

Begin here with Session 1 – A Chill in the Air.

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25th December

The characters wake up following a well-earned extended rest after their trip into the Black Well. Now that Ella is of high status, she has two lantern dragonettes following her; Mal’uk, meanwhile, seems to be cloaked in perpetual shadows.

Krivinn receives a challenge to a duel at midnight on the Bridge of Night with Lightning Lord Suvid, Quickling Lord of Blades, to settle a matter of honour on behalf of the Black Prince. The dragonborn, of course, accepts.

That night, the characters and the Black Prince witness the duel. Lord Suvid is very fast and scores four hits on Krivinn very quickly, winning the contest.  The bridge fades into nothing beneath the paladin’s feet and he falls into the darkness below. Ella and the others go down to have a look but there is no sign of the body.

Ella tries to get an insight into what happened from the obsequious Eracen, and Saethus visits the Tower of the Lords of Light – neither learn anything useful. Meanwhile, Mal’uk visits the Librarium in search of the ritual he came to the Courts looking for, but the books all seem torn or moth-eaten, and he’s put off staying too long by the sleeping shadow mastiffs who wake up and start growling at him.

Later that night, the Raven Demons, firbolgs in the service of the Black Prince, break into the party’s living quarters and attack the characters while they sleep. Mal’uk saves Ella by drawing the firbolg bloodbear away from the ranger and forcing him to attack one of his companions. Ella keeps firing arrows from the door of her room, and Saethus uses his flaming sphere to finish off the last two opponents.

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26th December

A herald arrives from the Queen of Night and Magic, inviting Ella and the other characters to an audience.

The party ascend the thousand steps to the Queen’s audience chamber in the clouds, and ask her to intercede on behalf of Parsantium. Her Majesty is swayed by Ella, Saethus, and Mal’uk’s carefully-chosen words and extravagant gift, and agrees to hold off sending her viceroy to the city if the characters will go into the Spiral Maze, enter the Tower of the Moon, and return with the Moonlit King’s agreement and his orb. The Queen gives the PCs ceremonial daggers with her owl symbol – these will allow them access to the labyrinth.   

Returning to the palace below, Saethus visits Revich again and asks for advice on dealing with the Maze and the King. Ella goes to the Librarium where she is able to see through the illusions hiding the books, but cannot figure out what they are telling her. The pair meet up to compare notes, and spend some time talking to various courtiers in an attempt to find out more information.

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