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. This is the final episode and marked the end of this particular campaign.
Begin here with Session 1 – A Chill in the Air.
27th December (contd.)
The characters arrive at the Tower of the Moon. The bright light at the top comes from Revich, angel of the Lords of Light. The party call out to him but he doesn’t respond. Mal’uk starts casting a ritual under his breath but the others don’t realise what he’s doing and Ella pushes open the blue glass door.
Inside, the characters can make out the ghostly form of the Moonlit King behind a glowing wall of lunar force. Brave Ella offers the king some jewellery but he isn’t impressed. Then, she hands over the magical shield she was given by Lord Chelessfield and the King accepts. The ranger continues to talk to the insane monarch who asks the party to spill his blood before he will free Parsantium from shadow fey rule. Unsure how to reach him to do this, Khuma summons his spirit companion behind the wall of force but dismisses it when the King’s giant derro bodyguard approaches menacingly. Ella figures out how to move the moonbeams around with her radiant sword but soon realises this doesn’t help the adventurers get to the King.
Khuma and Ella use their weapons to smash down the wall of force and attack the Moonlit King. As he fights the party, the king asks them questions, such as how long has the queen ruled for, and where his daughter is. Fortunately, Mal’uk has done a lot of research into the Shadow Courts and is able to answer these correctly as he fights. The characters work out that the King’s madness stops them attacking while he is standing in a moonbeam.
The swordmage protects Ella, using dimensional vortex to divert the King’s attack on to his derro servant, and then teleports the monarch out of his moonbeam so he can be attacked. Khuma seizes the opportunity and unleashes a storm of blades, inflicting two criticals on the King. Ella keeps the moonbeams moving around using her sword while the other two characters and Khuma’s bear battle the derro ravager and the moonbeam devil. The King continues to question the party – a wrong answer brings another moonbeam devil into the fray as the first one falls.
The party continue to talk to the King. Eventually Khuma goes to mop the shadow fey’s fevered brow – this act of kindness brings the Moonlit King to his senses. He drops his orb of power and slumps to the floor. He offers the party a bargain – he will return the City at the Crossroads to its people; in exchange the adventurers must pursue and slay the Demon Lord of Roaches in the Abyss. The characters agree and Mal’uk is marked with a crescent moon tattoo to seal the bargain.
The characters are returned to Parsantium instantly. When they arrive, it is a year and a day after they left, the Festival of Lights is in full swing, and no one seems to remember the time when the shadow fey ruled the city. No one, that is, apart from Hidden Ambassador Thelamandrine who thanks the characters for what they have done.
Returning to their apartments, the party are glad to see Krivinn preaching the nobility and majesty of Bahamut outside his shrine to passers-by.
If you’d like to keep up to date with my session write ups and game design work, please do join my mailing list – there’s a sign up form below and subscribers receive a free Parsantium supplement.
Discover more from Richard Green | Game Designer
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Richard Green | Game Designer 