Puzzle Palace

The Puzzle Palace was a great subterranean maze situated south of Konigheim in the Utter East of southeast Faerûn. It was a bewildering place of mazes and traps, and sometimes thought to be just a legend.

Description
Lying underground, the Puzzle Palace was an extensive maze of pale-brown stone blocks with deep, dark chasms between them. In the center was a large platform ringed by great walls with a statue of a dragon at each corner. These blocks and central platform were connected in places by wooden bridges and blocks holding grates that could eject fire. Bridges could be extended or retracted and the flame-grates switched on and off by pressure-activated tiles, called "trip switches", nearby; one needed to walk over these to extend or retract a bridge, to clear a path, or to trap or burn a foe.

The maze was filled with statues of adventurers, as well as a few medusae of a local variety (commonly called "gorgons").

The Puzzle Palace connected to the Hall of Wonder, with a pair of large iron doors leading out of the maze.

History
During the time of the Bloodforge Wars (648–657 DR), the Puzzle Palace was a base of the mad inventor Wormskull the Artificer, where he designed and built his inventions. During the Nuts and !Bolts (sic) conflict, Garrulos the Occasionally Good came to the Puzzle Palace to confront his brother Wormskull over the theft of the Pearl of Power. In one version of events, Garrulos pursued Wormskull through the Puzzle Palace to reach the Hall of Wonder. In another, while Garrulos tried to stop him, Wormskull searched for three components hidden within three statues in the Puzzle Palace; these were key to his great machine, the terrible Juggernaut. Either way, the two brothers fought a bloodforge battle.

Afterward, the gamester and hedonist Stivanu Pantel wasted much of his time in the Puzzle Palace, forgetting his work, home, and friends. The leader of the Legendary Campaign decided to force Stivanu out and face reality, with the two waging a bloodforge battle there.

Later, the Legendary Campaign leader chased Kala Danirith along a tunnel through the mountains, when it collapsed and dropped both of them in the Puzzle Palace. The two foes then fought a bloodforge battle.

Finally, the Legendary Campaign leader and their rival Venar Orknal agreed to a contest of skill and bloodforge battle prowess within the Puzzle Palace, with the loser to give up their mission and claim to the kingdoms of the Utter East.

Appearances

 * Games:
 * Blood & Magic