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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ilgatto" data-source="post: 9780031" data-attributes="member: 86051">Duergar & Daemons Part XVI: Tunnels & TrollsIn what starts as a session with little action and much talk and ends as one, the DM opens the proceedings by informing our noble heroes that a ledge runs around the outside of the dragon cave – the room at the top of the tower of Dragon Point; that the cave is located some two kilometers above sea level; and that he has some additional information as has been provided by the savants, being: that the duergar came with the dragon, aka the White Wizard; that a cataclysmic event involving ‛an adversary, an enemy, a force’ destroyed the White Wizard and all other dragons over a period of time; that ‛this’ was the home world of multiple white dragons before that; that ‛dragons of other colors’ may exist on other worlds/in other dimensions; that duergar also inhabit other worlds; that much of the deep Underdark is likely submerged; that the Underdark is also home to svirfnebli, illithids, and purple worms; that duergar priests can open portals to other worlds; that these are evil worlds with ties to the duergar god; that the pentagram on the plaza in Lost Yerichor could be anything; that it is ‛priest business’; and that savants stay away from priests at all times because they have a reputation of being insane.Of further note would be a memorable but unrecorded discussion between Navarre and Sir Eber, with the latter once more arguing that all duergar must be destroyed – and what in the name of Olm was Navarre doing negotiating with the raiders?! – and the first defending the more reasonable notion that everything has its own place in nature and the grand scheme of things, and that this is exactly why he was negotiating with the raiders. This leads to the DM informing them that The Forest counts some 120,000 tax-paying souls, and that perhaps some 5,000-6,000 duergar inhabit what our noble heroes now consider to be the Underdark.The conversation between Navarre and Sir Eber took place while they were sitting in one of the windows of the dragon cave, and it eventually turned into a more general debate about the future of The Forest and the upcoming fight against the traitorous Mim. Much to Navarre’s surprise, his noble fellows all agreed that they would support a bid for the throne by him, to which our noble hero reacted in all humility and with much curling of his mustache.Night 153, continued: We join our noble heroes and the savants at a meal in the refectory of Dragon Point. When the chevalier mentions his interest in the spidersilk again, he is informed that it hails from the Broken Lands, a dangerous place that has collapsed into a maze-like section that goes on for days. Many beasts live here: terrible creepy crawlies, barbarians in the form of ‛wild’ duergar.“Seigneurs!,” he calls, rising from his chair and tapping a small silver spoon against a crystal glass to get the attention of his noble fellows. “With the time of departure at hand, I call you to council! I remind you that two options have presented themselves in the past ten-day! One, we depart through the air, which, as our diligent sorcerer has not neglected to inform me on multiple occasions, will be an extremely costly affair as far as a notion he refers to as ‛charges’ is concerned. Eh, bien! While I do not have the slightest idea what that means, his insistence on the matter seems to leave no room for doubt as to the importance of the matter. Two, we continue our journey through the badlands. This will eventually lead us to the Red Cave, where experience has taught us that we are unlikely to be allowed passage. Since an assault on its walls will most likely lead to a deplorable outcome, we shall have to revert to either diplomacy or subterfuge. I therefore propose that we approach the gates in the guise of slavers come to sell slaves. A-ha-ha-ha! We will not even have to trouble ourselves acquiring this … commodity.”“Toutefois,” he continues, casting a furtive glance at Sir Eber. “Although this might allow us entrance to the city, fortune may well turn against us as we try to leave it.”“Maybe we should not pretend to be slavers,” Navarre says. “Perhaps the badlands will yield something of value? Then we would at least have something to sell.”Night 154: Our noble heroes take their leave of the savants early that morning. They have been able to buy supplies and Sir Eber has even equipped his slaves with leather armor, hammers, and daggers, to the tune of one hundred gold coins. The creatures have become rather more vocal in the past ten-day and the ranger is now consistently referring to them as his ‛team’. Navarre seems to have sold one of his vials of oil of enchantment +2 for the princely sum of thirty gold coins and nine gems worth a hundred gold each.When the doors to Dragon Point close behind our noble heroes and Sir Eber’s ‛team’ later that day, Rodlu appears out of nothing and so the company are on the road once more, with a day’s travel to the badlands ahead of them. After four hours of walking in their usual formation, the DM asks Sir Oengus to roll for a random encounter. When our noble hero promptly rolls a natural “20”, the DM has the dog on point stop, manage a single, feeble bark, and then start back for the company at speed with its tail between its legs and whining loudly. This is followed by a sound like something running and approaching fast. Sir Eber tosses his torch further into the tunnel and then a steeder comes a-charging, complete with saddle and two duergar on it, with the first alternating between looking ahead and over his shoulder in panic and the second barely moving at all. The company quickly make room to allow the speeding steeder and its riders to pass.“Alarm!,” the first duergar screams in his own language. “Rock troll!”Recognizing the words, Sir Suvali translates it for the benefit of the rest of the company. Our noble heroes get Sir Eber’s slaves out of the way and create a formation with three lines of defense, Sir Eber and Navarre forming the first – and then a loud stomping noise approaches fast.“The first side passage is two hundred yards down!,” the voice of the chevalier comes from behind.But it is too late. A huge brute made of stone appears up ahead, with a terrible head and wildly flailing its long arms as it comes thundering down the tunnel. If anything, the monster looks like an uncomfortably large, stone version of the ice troll our noble heroes encountered in the cave where they arrested Albert Murphy now many ten-days ago.“Stand, creature!,” Navarre calls imperiously, stepping forward and raising his hand. “State your intentions!”These become quite clear when the gangling beast continues its charge and so Navarre fires a magical bolt at it, to no effect as it whizzes past the advancing monster. Seconds later two arrows come flying past, one of which lodges firmly in one of the creature’s arms, and then a mass of sticky strands appears in front of it, hiding it from sight.“Out of my way!,” the chevalier yells as he comes charging through the lines from behind. “Chargez!”Annoyed because his noble friend breaks formation, Navarre retreats to replace him in the second line of defense. Nothing happens for four minutes and then the magical web starts to twist and writhe and the trollish brute reappears and continues its assault. Our noble heroes fire multiple missiles to the ‛Chargez!’ of the chevalier and the monster is hit by a torch from Sir Suvali, a magical bolt from Navarre, and another arrow from Sir Oengus before the chevalier and Sir Eber reach it and start hacking away at it, with the Sword of Shadows tearing right through the monster and ichors, gravel, and sand fly in all directions. In the next round, the chevalier manages to deliver another considerable blow and the monster is struck by yet more missiles, among them a magic missile from Sir Suvali, before it can manage a glancing blow against Sir Eber in return.“It hits like a fairy!,” the ranger yells and then even more damage inflicted by him and the chevalier fells the monster, having suffered as much as 120 points of damage as it has.“Gentlemen,” Sir Suvali declares from behind. “My compliments. Good work. Good thing that we had some time to prepare.”Lowering his crossbow, Navarre turns to look at him in astonishment. Oh dear. What did the sorcerer just say?“Random treasure!,” the DM calls in gleeful anticipation and to the cheers of our noble heroes. He rolls up some thousands of copper and silver coins and five gems of varying worth.And now the DM asks our noble heroes for their advice on how he should handle the battle against the traitorous Mim, which will surely become a bit of a mass affair what with it involving two armies marching against each other and all that, and the AD&D rules not really being up to such. He informs them that he has been giving the matter some thought and that he sees three ways to deal with the situation. One, he can continue to treat our noble heroes as individuals and have them fight their own fights on the battlefield while he rolls some dice to determine how the battle as a whole fares. Two, being nobles of the realm, our noble heroes have the right to command small units of men, which he could then treat much like the above, with him rolling dice again for the battle as a whole. Three, that same status also allows our noble heroes to be present in the generals’ tent and partake in the decision-making.Some questions are asked and this leads to the notion that the nobles of The Forest will constitute the cavalry, that the infantry are first-level Fighters, that the artillery comprises zero-level slingers, and that there will be some two or three Sorcerers, one of third level, one of fourth, and the third of an unknown level. A lengthy discussion does not lead to our noble heroes quite reaching an agreement, as usual, with Navarre favoring the third option, Sir Eber and Sir Oengus leaning toward the second – in combination with the first as applicable – and the chevalier torn between leading the cavalry and sipping Lillac in the generals’ tent.Night 154, continued: The company have a good look at their surroundings and they find a dead steeder on a junction of the main tunnel and a tunnel to their left that may have been dug by the monstrous brute they just defeated. Ahead, the main tunnel narrows considerably, with walls now reduced to piles of rubble rather than solid rock.</blockquote>

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