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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ilgatto" data-source="post: 9800931" data-attributes="member: 86051">Duergar & Daemons Part XIX: The Red CaveIn which the DM informs our noble heroes that the tunnel that took them to the priest’s sanctuary did not go down but up and Sir Suvali announces that he has brought his character sheet up to date, that he can now also cast Continual Light and Enlarge, and that he presently hands each of them a copper ring with Continual Light on it, rings he has taken from the four chests of copper ware from Low-Ball. And there was much rejoicing, as some wise men once said.Day 160: Our noble heroes spend much of the day on the maintenance of weapons, armor, and equipment. Sir Eber has instructed his ‛team’ to fill containers with water and dump them in the main tunnel at the top of the stairs, which they do for most of the day. And sure enough, after some ten hours of hard work, they have removed enough water for the surface of the pool to be lowered by a tiny margin. This at least seems to suggest that the pool is not connected to some other body of water.That night, at around midnight, Navarre once again dives into the pool to see if the ‛door’ in the archway has opened. This is not the case. Some more attempts are made, but the ‛door’ remains closed.And so Sir Suvali uses his acorn amulet to contact Augustus Magister Rex in the hope that the Eminent Rector can shed some light on the situation. When the Eminent Rector answers his call and has finished venting his grievances as usual, especially when he realizes that he has now been a prisoner of the Ethereal Plane for well over thirty ten-days, the sorcerer describes the archway and the runes to him in exacting detail.“From your description, I would suggest that you have a gate accessible only to elemental earth and elemental water on your hands,” the Eminent Rector replies.“So only bodies made of earth or water can pass through?,” Sir Suvali asks.“Not necessarily,” the Eminent Rector says. “The composition of the basic elements is a matter of debate.”“Noted,” Sir Suvali says. “Does the gate require the pressure of water to function?”“Such trivialities are of no consequence in these matters,” the Eminent Rector says. “It is, to put it in layman’s terms, a sheet of rock between two elemental bodies, in your case between one of water and one of either earth or water, with the markings suggesting the latter to be water as well.”“So this has no bearing on what is allowed through?”“I would say it hasn’t.”Next, the sorcerer changes the subject to the egg that has now been identified as Lost Yerichor, but, like before, there is little the Eminent Rector can tell him about it.“Okay. Last question. Any suggestions as to why we couldn’t find the entrance again when we returned to it?”“There can be many explanations, as I’m sure you will be aware of,” the Eminent Rector says. “Planar or dimensional events, full moons, things like that. Not to mention a spell like Hallucinatory Terrain. Like the one you say you found in one of your ‛books of spells’.”“I thought the same thing,” Sir Suvali says – which he hadn’t. “Still no suggestions as to how we can get you out of there?”“Not unless you have acquired the necessary spell since you last asked,” the Eminent Rector sighs. “Unlikely, if only because I know of no one alive who can cast it.”“What do I have to do when I find it?”“Cast it on the amulet.”“What about Raise Dead? Resurrection?”“Both require my corpse to be present at the casting,” the Eminent Rector says. “Sadly, this will never be.”“Eminent Rector,” Sir Suvali says. “I will do what I can. Until we speak again.”He puts away the acorn amulet and turns in for the night.Day 161: When everybody is awake, Sir Suvali does his best to explain what he has learned from his conversation with the Eminent Rector. When his noble companions have processed as much of this as they can, Sir Eber announces that the pool is back to the level it was before his ‛team’ started hauling water out of it.“So there is a connection to the water on the other side?,” Navarre asks.“Not like that,” Sir Suvali says. “The second body of water does not have to be directly behind the gate. It can be a mile, ten miles, a hundred miles away, perhaps in another plane altogether.”“It’s a well,” Sir Eber says. “A water supply. There’s no freshwater here so the Underlings have made it come from somewhere else.”“Good thinking,” Navarre says.Now that there’s nothing left for them to do in the cavern with the pool, our noble heroes break up camp and the company return to the main tunnel and turn left. Now that the Red Cave is mere hours away, our noble heroes discuss the problem with the duergar in it probably refusing them passage again. Since they have found nothing much that would be of interest to the duergar of the Red Cave, the chevalier declares that the plan with the slavers in disguise is now their only option. Again, Navarre expresses his objections with some vehemence and there is much of ‛being a peer of the realm’, ‛an accounting for insults suffered’, ‛refusing to beg the creatures for passage through their damned city and even less so when wearing a blindfold’, and ‛only being seen in disguise at a bal masqué to the pleasure of eligible damsels’. Moreover, he argues, there is a perfectly usable exit back at Dragon Point, returning to which would have the added advantage of him being able to see whether the raiders have reached a decision as to their participation in the war effort yet.“We can always go back to the savants if the slaver plan fails,” the chevalier says smoothly. “Perhaps even pay another visit to the raiders.”However, some ten minutes further down the tunnel, he suddenly stops.“Messieurs!,” he declares. “We shall go back to the savants!”“Don’t ask me,” Navarre says, for once applauding his noble friend’s fickle ways. “I second the motion.”A lively debate ensues once more, in which Rodlu explains that duergar are no better at surprising people than humans and that the way through the Red City ‛open’ to travelers is a single passage, well over three hundred yards long and with battlements to each side where armed duergar lurk at all times. There seems to be no end to the debate until Sir Suvali announces that he can cast Reduce on the doors to the city.“Let’s do it!,” Sir Eber says. “We’ll charge in under cover of our magical lights and fight our way through!”“Excellent!,” Navarre adds, now actually looking forward for the chance to right some wrongs. “Onward!”“Eh… mais…,” the chevalier stammers, quite bemused until the enthusiasm also gets to him. “D’accord! Applaudissements!”And so the company continue on their way to the Red Cave in a light mood, and discussing their assault on the Red City. Sir Oengus suggests using the pinnace as cover for when they are in the passage through the city, to which Sir Eber replies that he will charge any Underling stupid enough to get in his way regardless. But then Sir Suvali declares that he cannot use Reduce on the doors after all and our noble heroes end up in another seemingly endless debate. In the end, with Navarre stubbornly continuing to refuse to disguise himself as either a duergar or an <s>asparagus</s> slave, once again expressing his amazement at his noble fellows being quite willing to do so, the chevalier finally does the unthinkable.“Slaves… messieurs,” he starts, hastily correcting himself as he addresses Sir Eber’s team. “We require your assistance, if you please. Our way to freedom leads through the Red Cave and we must revert to subterfuge to pass through. To this end, we shall disguise ourselves as slavers en route to the surface world and I would call upon you to assume the role of our slaves. A-ha-ha-ha! Une petite pantomime!”“Er…,” some of the slaves stammer, obviously unaccustomed to speaking up. “Red Cave duergar think in much tradition. Red Cave queens not believe in cavern with no roof.”“Comment?”“Better master not say cavern with no roof,” the slaves say, before adding that they will now start shaving themselves.Some hours later, Sir Eber and the chevalier hear what appear to be some people conversing in muted tones.“Rodlu, check!,” the chevalier says, obviously forgetting himself.“Huh?,” Rodlu says. Maybe he has taken note of Sir Eber’s slaves speaking up for themselves with a modicum of success?“Mon ami!,” the chevalier starts again. “Would you be so kind as to go and check what that noise is?”“Okay.”The plump duergar vanishes into nothing, to reappear behind the chevalier about ten minutes later.“Is five minutes to hubward gate of Red Cave,” he announces.“And what is the source of the hustle and bustle?,” the chevalier asks.“Is market.”“A market indeed,” Navarre says. “Let’s get it over with.”He lights his lantern and then pushes his ring with the Continual Light on it in a pouch containing mud. He closes it carefully and starts for the hubbub ahead.As they move further down the tunnel, the company start to hear soft music as the sound of many duergar speaking to each other in muted tones becomes ever clearer. They reach some steps, which take them down some way until Navarre, in the lead, sees a faint light ahead and extinguishes his lantern. Advancing cautiously, he turns a corner and sees a rectangular cavern where many faintly glowing rushlights move about, illuminating a collection of market stalls as well as several gates in three of the walls. There must be some fifty to a hundred duergar about, all of which presently disappear, leaving the market square utterly dark and silent.“Allô?,” the chevalier starts, passing Navarre and stepping into the square. “Have no fear! We come as visitors! I call upon the market master!”The sound of two gates closing comes from the right.“Allô?,” the chevalier resumes. “Monsieur le placier?”A well-dressed duergar appears out of nowhere some distance in front of him. He is perhaps best described as a cross between a Roman senator and a Praetorian guard and several items of silver adorn his person.“Honor to your queens, your clan, and your market,” the chevalier says with an intricate flourish. “We come as traders! We hope to receive a warm welcome!”“Ah,” the duergar says. “You again.”“Eh, bien!,” the chevalier continues. “Mon capitaine! It is a pleasure to be in your presence!”“What you want?,” the duergar asks.“A-ha-ha-ha!,” the chevalier laughs. “Nothing much, I assure you. Just to get to the gate on the other side.”“I allow you pass with blindfold,” the duergar says. “I must pay one gold for each to each queen.”“Vraiment? And how many of your excellent queens are there?”“Twenty-five.”“Pardon?,” the chevalier all but coughs after swallowing audibly.“Twenty. Five. Gold. Per. Person,” the duergar says. “Hand on heart. Free passage.”“I see,” the chevalier says. “Let me see… So that would amount to, what? … Ah! The meager sum of well over three hundred gold for free passage?”“Exactly.”“Belt buckle says captain is bandit,” Rodlu whispers from behind the chevalier – invisible, of course.Meanwhile, Detect Magic has informed Sir Suvali that the duergar’s silver brooch, dagger, and shoe buckles are magical, and he presently nudges Sir Eber.“He’s loaded with magic items,” he murmurs to him. Indeed, his eye seems to have fallen on the brooch in particular, which is of a rather strange and unique design, unlike anything he has seen in the Underdark, obviously of exceptionally fine workmanship and representing a delicate leaf.“Perhaps I can fight one of you for the honor of passing through your city?,” Sir Eber suggests.“Possibly,” the duergar says. “Wait here and I ask if one duergar want fight Kingslayer.”When the laughter has died down, Sir Suvali approaches and asks if he can buy the duergar’s brooch, which, now that he sees it up close, appears to be made of some material like silver rather than actual silver.“Ten thousand gold,” the duergar says.“Is it?,” Navarre laughs, quaffing a small stone cup of gnome blood. He has found a stall with the stuff and convinced the invisible trader to sell him shots of it.However, faced with what is probably their last chance to get their hands on one of the many fabulous magic items that must surely be all over the Underdark – none of which they have found so far – his noble companions do not agree. A complicated negotiation ensues, with the duergar sticking to his price and Sir Suvali eventually paying him the amount asked for in all kinds of goods, to the satisfaction of everybody except Navarre, who has had to hand over his last fire beetle light ball as part of the deal.And so, with this out of the way, all that remains is the small matter of the company passing through the Red Cave.“How about a rock troll in a barrel as payment?,” Navarre suggests, when the duergar sticks to the twenty-five gold per person per queen. Well, he would, wouldn’t he?“What you mean?”Our noble hero explains what the proposition entails, to some extent at least.“Is deal,” the duergar says.“Excellent!,” Navarre says, throwing some copper coins on the stall. “Forward!”“Stop!,” the duergar says. “Blindfolds!”“Let’s just do it,” Navarre sighs, having downed at least five shots of gnome blood by now.And so it was that our noble heroes finally gained access to the Red Cave.Blindfolded.Night 166: An uneventful five days takes the company to “The Single Man”, where they get some rooms and a meal and then the DM announces thatTHIS ENDS THE EXPEDITION TO THE REALM OF THE DUERGAR.(Which is a bit abrupt – and rather to the disappointment of at least some of our heroes – but there you go.)</blockquote>

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