A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words - The Palace of the Crow King

This post was inspired by the amazing image below, created by @wakeupkitty for a writing prompt in the Freewriters Community.

It's set in my Dungeons & Dragons world, and stars one of my favourite long-running NPC's. The picture is amazing enough that I might just write an adventure around it, with this post being the starting point.....

Enjoy !

"That's not the decrepit, half-buried ruin I expected !" Zithaka exclaimed out loud as she emerged from the ravine.

What she saw was ornate, actually too much so. Extravagant and unnecessary towers, spires and minarets all over the place, rising to a height like an over-complex wedding cake. An honest-to-goodness palace, here deep in the Hamad Qaratti desert, where no-one but she should be.

What she had expected to see was a tel, just a hill with the weathered, sand-blasted wall-tops of a ruin poking out into the harsh desert sun. She was a week's travel deeper in than Kirvash, the ruined Elasian citadel, and this was the location where she'd expected to find legendary Kassurishan, the fortress built in ancient times to mark and counter Kirvash by the Amisharian Empire.

Instead, she saw this complex palace where no palace should be. What was going on ?

And there were crows. Lots of crows. What the hell were crows doing in the deep desert ?

As she strode towards this place that should not be, a few of the crows broke away from the swirl around the palace spires, heading towards her in a direct line. She already had her falchion in hand, but didn't raise it; crows were smart, and might not be hostile.

Ha ! Who was she kidding ? Everything was hostile. That was the nature of the world. Some were obviously hostile, others could be bargained with.

The lead crow swooped around her head. Laughing at her. She was sure that was what it was. It was doing that rapid "kaw-ka-ka-ka" that crows do when they find something amusing.

But it wasn't trying to peck her eyes out. That was a turn up for the books. She'd just come from Darirri, where everything (alive and otherwise) had been trying to rip her to shreds. So she'd told Sir Galuk, her sponsor, that she wanted some R&R time to do a little private job on her own account.

"Hey, crow," she called out to the bird. "What the hell is going on here ? Whose is that palace ?"

She didn't really expect it to answer.

But instead of laughing some more, it started to make a different sound. She'd heard it was called a cronk. It was kind of croaking at her. Croaking. Croaking. Wait, what ?

"Hang on crow. Are you seriously telling me what I think you are ? That's the Palace of the Crow King ?"

"Ah--kah, ah-kah, ah-kah !" the black bird replied.

She grinned. "Thank you, bird ! Tell His Majesty that I'd like to have a chat."

Tipping a wing and winking a beady, glossy eye at her, the bird flew off, heading in a direct line toward the palace.

It took an hour of slogging through deep, fine sand, but eventually Zithaka reached the palace. The door stood open for her, so she strode in and headed in a straight line through shadowed cool chambers, each filled with roosting crows on ledges near the ceilings.

Her instinct was right. Soon enough, she found herself entering what was clearly the throne room.

At the far end was a low dais, with an ornate throne at it's centre. It looked like the throne had been assembled from every random lost trinket and glittering necklace that had ever been mislaid, and she remembered how crows had a terrible reputation for taking shiny things.

Upon it was the Crow King himself. A young man, enveloped from the neck downward in a cape of black feathers. He had a sharp nose and beady eyes, but was still handsome in an eldritch kind of way.

Bowing, Zithaka introduced herself. "You Grace, I am Zithaka Ecks, called Zit by my friends. Your palace .... isn't what I expected to find here. But thank you for allowing me in."

The Crow King smiled. "Welcome Zit, my crows saw you coming from afar. I have a hunch you came here seeking ancient treasures. Well, my treasures aren't ancient, but some may still be interesting to you. I'd be happy to exchange them for stories; news and gossip you may have heard from around the world. And maybe a favour. One involving my sworn foes, the Magpie Sisters...."

Zithaka smiled. She knew this game. "Let us talk and tell tales, your Majesty. And make bargains...."

A little extract from the World Map - the palace is roughly where the "D" in Hamad Qaratti is