Saturday B3 Palace of the Silver Princess Tom Moldvay and Jean Wells Notes & Commentary For Your Old School Campaigns

Sometimes the obvious isn't obvious at all when you've been rereading the same material for many years but at about three A.M. this morning the obvious hits me. I could transition my players into a pocket side adventure involving based on the works of HPL, Lord Dunsany, & Clark Ashton Smith. There's a series of forts along the old Hyperborean border lands that were filled with strange Hyperborean writing at might activate a gate or two. I had this echoing through my head at about eight o'clock this morning. I've been thinking lately once again about B3 Palace of the Silver Princess which has always been a bit of a minor obsession.
The module always reminds me of Shadows of Nightmare by Clark Ashton Smith especially with its dream like connections.

What gulf-ascended hand is this, that grips
My spirit as with chains, and from the sound
And light of dreamland, draws me to the bound
Where darkness waits with wide, expectant lips ?
Albeit thereat my footing holds, nor slips,
The night-born menace and the fear confound
All days and hours of gladness, girt around
With sense of near, unswervable eclipse.

So lies a land whose noon is plagued with whirr
Of bats, than their own shadows swarthier,
That trace their passing upon white abodes,
Wherein from court to court, from room to room,
In hieroglyphics of abhorrent doom,
Is trailed the slime of slowly crawling toads.

Shadow of Nightmare By Clark Ashton Smith

"Not long ago, the valley was green and animals ran free through golden fields of grain. The Princess Argenta ruled over this peaceful land and the people were secure and happy. Then one day, a warrior riding a white dragon appeared in the skies over the castle, and almost overnight the tiny kingdom fell into ruin. Now only ruins and rumors remain, and what legends there are tell of a fabulous treasure still buried somewhere within the Palace of the Silver Princess."

All of has me thinking about the fall out from Palace of the Silver Princess adventure that I ran some months ago. Basically I'm thinking that Arik of the Hundred Eyes patron of Forbidden Secrets & the Lost has taken the entire adventure of B3 into his own fragmented Dreamlands realm and the cycle of events continues regardless of the adventurers, or outlaws who find the place. The events are a part of an ever looping cycle. Treasures, relics, etc. taken from the place spread the corruption of Arik of the Hundred Eyes across the face of Hyperborea. The PC's are going to have to tackle the adventure on his terms to rid the world of the ever increasing evil. Parts of the module could be crossed over into the recent Free  DIY revamp of B3 Palace of the Silver Princess to give the whole affair a much more sword & sorcery Weird Tales feel to it.  That being said one of the elements that I really want to add into my current adventures is rival NPC adventurers. These folks can generate so much conflict and heart ache for PC's and players.

1d6 Random Rival Low Level Adventurers For PC's To
Encounter Table

1. A party of second level thieves known as 'Well's crew' is looking for relics & treasures. They're murderous thieves and scum of the based nature.
   
2.   Here a  group of 1d10 outlaws is on the run from Hyperborean bounty hunters and they've hidden out only to find themselves here. They're very dangerous and armed with a variety of make shift weapons. They won't hesitate to murder others for their own arms. 

3. A gang of cut throats from the losing side of an army has decided to try their luck here there are 1d6 3rd level fighters

4.  Strangely garbed Amazons armed with radium pistols & close in weapons are on the hunt for a sacred object. They are 2nd level thieves and assassins working for their clan heads there are 1d6 lady adventurers 

5. Disguised as palace servants these adventurers are all 2nd level adventurers making their way through the palace. They will murder anyone they come across. They are lead by a third level necromancer

6. A group of 1d6 royal soldiers has begun to plunder parts of the palace and is looking for other co conspirators to help them. They are 2nd level fighters armed with a variety of swords, knives, and other melee pieces for murder & mayhem.