The Puzzle Palace was a great subterranean maze situated south of Konigheim in the Utter East of southeast Faerûn.[2] It was a bewildering place of mazes and traps, and sometimes thought to be just a legend.[1][3]
Description[]
A section of the maze, showing flame grates, extended and retracted bridges, a trip switch, and statues.
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.[2]
The maze was filled with statues of adventurers, as well as a few medusae of a local variety (commonly called "gorgons").[2][note 1]
The Puzzle Palace connected to the Hall of Wonder, with a pair of large iron doors leading out of the maze.[2][note 2]
History[]
During the time of the Bloodforge Wars (648–657 DR),[4] 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.[1][note 3]
Afterward, the gamester and hedonist Stivanu Pantel wasted a lot of time in the Puzzle Palace, forgetting 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.[3]
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.[3]
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.[3]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Game artwork and terminology do not closely match typical D&D monsters. The Gorgon unit is much more like the medusa, not the gorgon, of D&D. This medusa has snake-hair, a serpentine body in place of legs, and a venomous bite that turns a creature to stone. Thus the medusa is assumed here.
- ↑ In Blood & Magic, there is a clear connection between the Hall of Wonder and Puzzle Palace, with the two linked in the "Nuts and !Bolts" campaign and linking doors in some versions of the battle-map, suggesting they are part of the same complex. However, the nature of this connection is unknown; they might be joined directly or via a tunnel, a portal, or even an enormous slide. The game map places the former in the mountains and the latter near the coast, but should not be considered accurate.
- ↑ In the Blood & Magic game, two alternate campaigns are provided, one for Garrulos and one for Wormskull. These appear to be mutually exclusive and an official history is unknown.
Appearances[]
- Games
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Tachyon Studios (November 1996). Designed by Brian Fargo. Blood & Magic. Interplay.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Tachyon Studios (November 1996). Designed by Brian Fargo. Blood & Magic. Interplay.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Tachyon Studios (November 1996). Designed by Brian Fargo. Blood & Magic. Interplay.
- ↑ Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 94, 95. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
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