Royal Palace of Farrog

The Royal Palace of Farrog was not only the official residence of the monarch of the Kingdom of Farrog, but it was also the center of Farrog's judicial,^[1]^[2] diplomatic,^[3]^[4] and governance^[5]^[6] functions.

The Royal Palace had originally been a citadel which had taken up an entire hill in the city of Farrog.^[7] The Palace's high surrounding walls were surmounted by a collection of sharp spikes. As was customary, these spikes displayed a variety of decapitated heads - as well as entire bodies - impaled upon them for the edification of the populace.^[8]

Some of the older subterranean tunnels of the Royal Palace had marble tile floors and walls decorated with brightly painted friezes that were thousands of years old.^[9] The bowels of the Palace were the location of the usual crypts, prison cells and deep, dark dungeons.^[10]^[11]

The palace's seneschal was Shartorial Infelance.^[12]

In The Fiends of Nightmaria[]

Having usurped the throne of Farrog and slain the previous King, N'Gorm the Lesser, the necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach declared themselves, respectively, 'King Bauchelain the First' and 'Grand Bishop Korbal Broach'.^[13]^[14] As such, they took over the Farrog Royal Palace for their own nefarious purposes.^[15]^[16] The Ferryman who had brought them to Farrog, and who was possessed by the Indifferent God, was locked away in the palace dungeon.^[17]

The new king took advantage of civil unrest over the results of the city's 'Artist of the Century' competition to arrest all the artists, poets, singers, musicians, dancers, and other voices of potential subversion.^[18]^[19]^[20] Anyone who they thought might possibly be a threat to their domination of the city, such as Thieves Guild Mistress Dam Loudly Heer or the pursuing Nehemothanai, was sentenced to be tortured and executed, or added to Broach's collection of undead servitors.^[21] Many of the survivors of the events of Crack'd Pot Trail, including Apto Canavalian, Brash Phluster, Steck Marynd, Tulgord Vise, Tiny Chanter, Flea Chanter, and Midge Chanter, were among those receiving ministrations from Binfun, the Royal Torturer.

Many inside and outside the palace were not pleased with actions of the new regime. The Cook at the Royal Palace was so upset at Binfun's treatment of her favourite actor, Sorponce Egol, that she spoiled his meals. Seneschal Shartorial Infelance was so smitten by Steck Marynd that she killed Binfun and set him and his companions free.^[22] The Party of Five surreptitiously entered the palace through an old postern gate to find and free Dam Loudly Heer. Meanwhile, the Indifferent God slipped free of its mortal prison and wandered the palace's crypts.^[23]

Bauchelain and Emancipor Reese retired to the Conjuration Chamber to summon up the powerful Demon Prince Flail Their Limbs and a small army of demon minions to hunt the escaped God.^[24] Then King Bauchelain met with Nightmarian ambassador, Ophal D'Neeth Flatroq, who delivered Nightmaria's declaration of war on Farrog. The necromancer was horrified to learn that Nightmaria's massive army was nearing the city. He ordered Emancipor Reese to ready their carriage for flight.^[25]

The Nehemothanai and the Party of Five had a brief brawl that sent the escaped prisoners to the Apothecary, but the room was occupied by thirty-two demons and a melee ensued.^[26]^[27] Once the fight was over, the group made use of the healing substances to be found there, including a Potion of Ineluctable Genius quaffed by Brash Phluster.^[28]^[29] Apto Canavalian slipped away on his own and had a hair-raising encounter with the Indifferent God,^[30] while the other Nehemothanai vowed to confront Bauchelain and Korbal Broach in their throne room.^[31] The now intellectually formidable Phluster lingered behind to loot the Apothecary's remaining vials and flee the palace.^[32]

Meanwhile, the Party of Five stumbled into Broach's Chamber of Collections where the new Grand Bishop helped them achieve their stated goal of rescuing the Head of the Thieves Guild by presenting them with Dam Loudly Heer's severed head. After Broach slipped away through the room's secret door, the thieves took their prize and retraced their way out of the palace.^[33]

Bursting into the throne room, the Nehemothanai found only Demon Prince Flail Their Limbs. He informed them that they were too late--Bauchelain and Korbal Broach had already fled. Before leaving the room, the prince warned the group that Bauchelain had left behind a dangerous demonic mouse on the throne as his heir. Determined to destroy any minion of the necromancer, the skeptical Nehemothanai ignored the advice and prepared to rush the mouse. When the doors to the throne room slammed all around them, a startled Steck Marynd accidentally loosed his quarrel at the mouse and unleashed mayhem.^[34] From the street outside, Brash saw the Royal Palace suffer a sudden, inexplicable collapse.^[35]

Chamber of Collections[]

The Chamber of Collections was a room where Korbal Broach kept the decapitated heads of the people he had beheaded before turning them into his headless undead servants.^[36] Dozens of these heads were stored on crowded shelves in a floor-to-ceiling cabinet situated on one side of the Chamber. In addition to the regular entrance, the room had a secret door in the same wall against which rested the tall cabinet.^[37]

Conjuration Chamber[]

The Conjuration Chamber was a space Bauchelain used in his more complex spellcasting, particularly when he was summoning dangerous demons.^[38] The floor of this chamber was thickly covered with etched pentagrams of various sizes, which left little room to move around between them. Along one wall was a narrow table crowded with items used by Bauchelain in his arcane activities, including "phials, beakers, stoppered urns, small ornate boxes, clay jars, blocks of pigment, brushes and reeds of charcoal." Upon a shelf situated on the wall above this table were tiny captive demons, each contained in its own private prison. The room had once suffered a mouse problem, which the cats had been brought in to resolve, but several of the vermin had intruded on the pentagrams during a summoning and been possessed. Now the room's dozen cats remained safely on a high shelf "lying in solemn observation, tails twitching." ^[39]

Royal Apothecary[]

The Royal Apothecary was contained in a room set aside for the use of royal cutters.^[40] The Apothecary, itself, was situated at the back of the cutters' room and consisted of shelves on which could be found rows of phials, flasks, bottles and jars.^[41] These containers held a variety of healing salves and unguents, as well as some High Denul elixirs and other potions.^[42]

Additional Features of the Palace[]

The Armoury^[43]
Guard Room(s)^[44]
Grand Living and Working Quarters of the most important residents of the Palace
The Royal Treasury^[45]
Stables^[46]^[47]
The Strategy Room (with map-table)^[48]
The Throne Room (with cushioned throne)^[49]^[50]
Torture Chamber(s) (equipped with torture devices)^[51]
Working and living areas for the resident staff and servants of the Palace & other miscellaneous spaces

Notes and references[]

List of abbreviations • Paginations • How to reference an article

[1] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3

[2] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 10

[3] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 7

[4] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 16

[5] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5

[6] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 13

[7] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 12

[8] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 6

[9] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 12

[10] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5

[11] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 15

[12] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3

[13] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 2

[14] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3

[15] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 9

[16] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 18

[17] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5

[18] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3

[19] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5

[20] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 10

[21] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 2

[22] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 10

[23] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5

[24] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 9

[25] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 16

[26] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 17

[27] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 20

[28] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 28

[29] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 28

[30] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 24

[31] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 24

[32] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 24

[33] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 18

[34] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 27

[35] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 28

[36] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5

[37] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 18

[38] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5

[39] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 9

[40] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 20

[41] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 23

[42] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 20

[43] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 14

[44] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 15

[45] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5

[46] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 16

[47] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 21

[48] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3

[49] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5

[50] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 27

[51] The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 4

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