Within the Royal Palace of the Purple Dragon, in
Suzail, there exists a wing of the palace that is haunted by zombie rotters, roaming skeletons, ghostly haunts and worse. (Note to the reader: The matter of freshly decapitated corpses discovered in a macabre pile within the Haunted Wing, their heads nowhere to be found, is a topic for another day.)
The existence of the Haunted Wing is no mystery to Suzailans, nor the fact that this part of the palace was once home to many Wizards of War, ladies in waiting, palace servants and courtiers.
To this day the bold and the foolish may encounter the ghosts of court ladies wandering the darkened halls and black passageways of the Haunted Wing. (Darkness being a necessity there, for no torches or lamps remain and all the windows have been covered over in drapes and black cloth, the better to keep the massed undead placated and, to a degree, peaceful.) Should one of these "sad queens" approach you, your best defense is not sword or spell, but music. Specifically, the kind of intricate courtly music performed on harps a handful of centuries ago. A ghastly smile, a nod of appreciation and their soundless withdrawal is the reward given to all who placate a sad queen this way.
But remain careful. A pair of ghostly minstrels roam the Haunted Wing. Music attracts them. And like bees drawn to flowers they alight upon the living to find sustenance. Some say a tune can repel them if you play badly enough. Others claim just the right tune will turn one or both of the minstrels into a "friendly" guide. Just what the minstrels will guide you to remains a mystery, though rumor has been swift to claim powerful artifacts, diaries holding the secrets of the Royal Family best left unknown, caches of gems and elegant dresses, and all other manner of things may be found in the Haunted Wing. [1]
Those who work and live in the Royal Palace know that there is treasure and magic in the Haunted Wing. Likewise, that any such items found are to be turned over swiftly to the
War Wizards so they may return the items to the Haunted Wing. The undead have rampaged in the Royal Palace once before, chilling and slaying their way through the halls in search of plundered magic.[2] Senior courtiers and
War Wizards alike have no desire to see another horde of enraged undead. Thus, knowledge of the Haunted Wing's many treasures is kept from the public.
[1] The swift spread of these and other Haunted Wing rumors in
Suzail has resulted in the birth of a phrase meant to alert the listener that a specialist may be required to complete a difficult, dangerous task. That phrase being, "How many bards will it take?"
[2] The ghost of the Alarphon who ordered the retrieval of magic items from the Haunted Wing, along with ghosts of her three apprentices, now linger in an opulent, albeit cobwebbed and dust-filled, bed chamber, close to the magic items they took. They are hostile to all living things. Palace rumor claims the Alarphon's ghost can be lured away by ghostly playing of one of the two minstrels. Another rumor holds the Alarphon's apprentices will lay down on the sumptuous bed and "sleep" whenever they hear the right bedtime ballad and not stir again until the light of sunrise touches the palace's topmost tower.
