ilgatto
How inconvenient
Duergar & Daemons
Part VII: Basileus Ante Portas
Part VII: Basileus Ante Portas
At some time during the ten-day they spend in and around Stalag, we join our noble heroes as they are discussing the duergar, with Sir Eber expressing his utter and undying hatred for the creatures once again, and the chevalier, as seems to have become his habit more and more of late, interrupting the proceedings at even the slightest hint of a conflict or, indeed, anything he fears might lead to one.
“The evil little creeps steal babies and keep slaves!,” Sir Eber barks at some point. “They must be eradicated root and stem! Cut down! All of them!”
“A-ha-ha-ha,” the chevalier interjects. “Tranquille, mon cher, tranquille! No need to get all excited!”
“What is there not to get excited about?,” Sir Eber fumes. “This whole place and everything in it is like a hell to me!”
“Tut-tut, mon ami,” the chevalier says. “Surely it isn’t all bad?”
“We must start with that tyrant king!”
“Not at all, mon ami, not at all,” the chevalier says in the most soothing of tones. “We are, after all, diplomats, non? We are here to establish a rapport with the duergar, not fight them.”
“Bah!,” Sir Eber says.
“A-ha-ha-ha! Not at all, not at all. Besides, the king will hardly leave his army at home if we should go after him, quoi? The rascal commands a hundred and fifty mounted warriors! Fi! We do not stand even the slightest chance against such a force!”
“We’ll see,” the ranger growls. “I will challenge the Underling king and that is that!”
“And what is it, pray, that you think will happen then?,” Navarre asks his noble cousin. “What if, by some miracle, you should succeed in besting him? No offense, old boy, but that old man did make rather short work of you. And even then, you cannot surely believe that an army of one hundred high-ranking warriors will bow down to you in awe after you have just killed their king? I do not for one moment believe that these duergar have shown even the slightest bit of their hand, and they have already proven to be untrustworthy and quite capable of taking on one of us without breaking a sweat. By Olm! The creatures dislike even each other!”
“We have a sorcerer,” Sir Eber says.
“I can creep up to him, use the wand, and then Eber can crush him under his foot,” Sir Suvali says.
“Indeed?,” Navarre wonders. “That is, if you can find something to creep up to, old boy.”
“Is there something I can do about this invisibility thing?,” Sir Eber asks the sorcerer.
“Not really,” Sir Suvali says, after a moment’s hesitation. “I could do something about it but I cannot do the same for you.”
“What is the use of killing this king anyway?,” Navarre asks the ranger. “Other than satisfying your apparent thirst for blood?”
“Then we will have done good,” Sir Eber says.
“And then what?,” Navarre asks. “Good lord, man! What is it with you and killing everything you run into that doesn’t fit your notion of an ideal world? Have you even begun to consider the magnitude of our discoveries in the last couple of ten-days? There is a whole world down here! Don’t you think that will have at least some implications for The Forest?”
“The Forest?,” Sir Eber asks. “What of it?”
“Three gods, man!,” Navarre exclaims. “There is a war on! Don’t you think we need at least a semblance of order up there before we start waging war on the Underdark?”
“A-ha-ha-ha!,” the chevalier cuts in. “Pas du tout, mes amis, pas du tout! We are here as diplomats! As ambassadors!”
“And whom is it, exactly, that we represent down here?,” Navarre continues angrily. “Whom are we to tell about this world? By Olm! I have to admit that I am increasingly of the opinion that we should get our affairs in order up there before we start dealing with duergar kings. And queens, for that matter.”
“I couldn’t care less about what happens up there,” Sir Suvali says. “Finding that egg is enough for me. Just think of the endless possibilities it presents!”
“That may be as is,” the chevalier replies. “Although perhaps not entirely to the point. Eh, bien! I shall ask for an audience with majesté and see if I can get her to speak about this exit to the surface. Perhaps that will help us in our decision on what to do next.”
And so the chevalier heads for the palace, where he is received by a courtier, apparently the ‘caravan master’. From him, he learns that the way to the surface is but rarely used these days; and that there are four possible exits our noble heroes can take from Stalag: the first two being passages further into the Underdark, the third the one back the way they came, and the fourth the way to the surface. He is informed that, if ever, the duergar venture to the surface only during what they call the ‘Dark’ – the three nights of the month when there are no moons in the sky at all.
The caravan master also tells our noble hero that the entrance to the exit to the surface is on the quay next to the waterfall, and that the exit proper is a staircase five hundred yards long. It will take four hours to get to the top – luckily so, for Stalag is located in one of the uppermost parts of the duergar empire.
When the conversation turns to duergar trade caravans, the caravan master explains that these use steeders – the giant spiders our noble heroes found in the cavern with the egg – to transport goods. These steeders are bred by the ‘spidermen’, a clan of duergar living in a settlement down the road from Stalag. When asked about these steeders, the caravan master says that the ‘spidermen’ will likely ask some two hundred gold for a single steeder and that, no, there are no steeders large enough for humans to ride.
Night 53: That ‘day’, still several days before Sir Eber is back to his full hit points again, Sir Suvali announces that he needs to go the surface for supplies. Navarre jumps to his feet and says that he will accompany him, eager to find out about what is going on up there. The noble duo proceed to the staircase, where they now find some steps leading up to a blind wall. They spend some time looking for secret doors, or anything else that would allow them to proceed, but they cannot find a thing – and then a duergar appears out of nowhere, fully geared up as usual.
“My good man!,” Navarre addresses him. “Kindly tell me where we can we find the way to surface, would you?”
“Who speak to humans about stairs?,” the duergar asks after a moment of hesitation.
“I believe it was the caravan master back at the palace,” Navarre replies. “Well? Where is it?”
“We are going to get the presents for your queen,” Sir Suvali adds.
“Humans ask queen,” the duergar says. “Many traps. Need guide.”
“Damned nuisance,” Navarre says irritably. “Well? Lead the way, man!”
The duergar takes the noble duo to the large stalactite, where they knock on the door. As usual, some time passes before the door opens and a duergar appears.
“Ah!,” he says. “Traders! You wish?”
“We want an audience with the queen,” Sir Suvali says. “We want to discuss further cementing the relations between our peoples and ask her what presents she wants from the surface.”
The duergar tells them to wait, and closes the door. Some time later, it opens again, and a courtier appears – a baron no less. Sir Suvali repeats his request, but the baron hesitates.
“Best be quick about it, old boy,” Navarre says. “Haven’t got all day.”
The door closes again. When it opens again after some time, the baron informs the noble duo that the queen has granted them permission to use the way to the surface.
“Wait,” he says, before he closes the door again.
Some time later, the door opens again. Some duergar appear, which take the noble duo back to the cavern with the waterfall, where they hand them blindfolds. Though not amused at all, Navarre is now even more eager to return to the surface than he was before, so he decides to swallow his objections. The noble duo put on their blindfolds, notice a sudden draft, and then they are walking up many, many steps.
Sir Suvali has his senses wide open as they proceed and so, when the noble duo are finally told they can remove their blindfolds, he concludes that the way up was pretty straightforward, but for two stops: once at the beginning, and once just moments ago.
The noble duo are now in a dark cave and, as far as they can tell, there’s only a single duergar with them.
“Will you wait for us until we get back?,” Sir Suvali asks while Navarre lights a lantern.
“Duergar wait,” the duergar says. “Go.”
And so it is that Navarre and Sir Suvali are back on the surface of the world for the first time in what seems like ages. They make their way down the cave and eventually emerge on a small plateau high up in the mountains. It is the middle of the night and the noble duo see the stars glittering in the night sky overhead. Far, far below them, a valley stretches into the distance and they can discern the first of the Three Brothers to their left, the others some distance behind it.
“We must be rimward of Dauberval!,” Navarre exclaims. “Let’s go!”
But then Sir Suvali bluntly refuses to use his magical wand to reduce Navarre in size and take him along. Navarre has to restrain himself quite considerably, absolutely livid at the sorcerer for using the opportunity to assert himself again; furious at himself for not realizing sooner that something like this was going to happen; and extremely frustrated that there is nothing he can do about it now except strangle the pathetic SOB, which would rather ruin this and the next sessions. And so, when his ‘noble companion’ is gone, Navarre heads back into the cave, where he finds a duergar waiting.
“I say,” he starts. “The Three Brothers out there, do you know of them? Part of your empire in some way? Any exits to speak of?”
“One exit from drunkards,” the duergar says.
“One exit?,” Navarre asks. “One of how many exits?”
“Two exits,” the duergar says. “One to Brothers and one to mines.”
“Cheers,” Navarre says. “I’ll be on the plateau. No need to wait up and all that.”
Day 54: It takes the sorcerer some six hours to fly to Diamond Castle. When he gets there late in the morning, he sees that the lake is now completely empty, and that numerous banners fly from the castle walls – Sarazin, Dauberval, Nisibis, Weald. All around the castle, people are hard at work, mostly repairing roads. The castle itself doesn’t seem to have suffered much from what must have transpired there.
Within the castle, he is welcomed by an official, who informs him that the rebel army was defeated by the royalists and that the castle is now safe. More importantly, Duke Mim marched on Apple Island after the battle, where he has proclaimed himself King of The Forest and now resides. His already annexed Palava and Big Beach, while Palavan troops have invaded Bagabuxsha and are currently in control of half of the duchy. Dauberval, Sarazin, Nisibis, and Weald have rejected Mim’s claim to the throne and are preparing for an invasion from the coastal duchies once Bagabuxsha has fallen. Wyrsn is now a bandit stronghold, in name ruled by people’s councils.
The sorcerer buys some supplies (iron rations, some bottles of Lillac), takes a bath, washes his clothes, and then sleeps for the rest of the day.
Back on the plateau, Navarre has decided to make the best of the situation, He has started to look for a way down, but the DM tells him that he won’t be able to get off the plateau without rolling dice. And so, since he doesn’t want to end up in a gully with a broken leg, our noble hero has to let go of the notion of an excursion into the mountains. Gritting his teeth, he meticulously establishes the location of the plateau in relation to the Three Brothers and some other notable landmarks, and then spends the rest of the day lying in the sun and enjoying the summer weather.
Day 55: Sir Suvali returns some time after midnight, obviously having taken his time again for dramatic effect. He has brought the required supplies and informs Navarre of the civil war. Our noble hero can hardly believe his ears and he feels a great anger rise – for didn’t he and his noble companions promise the traitorous bastard their support in council some ten-days ago?
“The bloody nerve of the man!,” he fumes, taking a large swig from one of the bottles of Lillac. “How dare he! I shall personally throw him the gauntlet when we get to Apple Island!”
“Let’s get the duergar,” the sorcerer says.
Navarre corks the bottle again and heads back into the cave, where he starts knocking on some walls. After several minutes of this, one of the walls slowly moves to one side, and then the duergar guide appears. When they have put on their blindfolds, Sir Suvali and Navarre are taken down the stairs again. Just short of an hour later, they are back in Stalag.
Here, the rest of our noble heroes have spent their time recuperating (Sir Eber), shopping (the chevalier, Sir Eber), and exploring the city (Sir Oengus). Although they didn’t actually see many duergar, none of them were under any illusion that they were not under constant surveillance.
The city itself, shrouded in perpetual darkness and usually devoid of any life to the eyes of the noble trio, has indeed turned out to be a veritable forest of stalagmites and columns. Narrow, mostly natural paths – streets – meander through the formations, with steps and small bridges added where necessary. Most of the formations are inhabited to some extent, and our noble heroes have concluded that there must be some five hundred to a thousand duergar living in the city.
In the center of the city, directly below the large stalactite where the queen resides, they have found a plaza-like space with a daily market where invisible duergar sell their wares, usually food laid out on mats woven from vine-like creepers and fungi. Surrounding the plaza are the ateliers and shops of artisans and craftsmen, who mostly work either in stone or copper – the latter commodity apparently being in endless supply. The noble trio have also noticed that there seems to be but little coin about in the city, and that most sales involve an exchange of goods rather than money. Indeed, it would seem that the
At some point, Sir Eber asked a duergar whether the problem with the duergar being invisible all the time could be solved.
“Yes,” the duergar replied. “Duergar be seen.”
“That is not what I meant,” Sir Eber said, only narrowly avoiding adding the ‘miscreant’ – or perhaps even ‘you evil f*ck’ – to the sentence.
“Priests can see unseen duergar,” the duergar said. “Nothing else.”
“Is there a priest here?”
“Queen has priest. Big temple in city of drunks. Assassins! Evil poisoners!”
The ranger would have lifted an eyebrow if that wouldn’t have hurt so much. Duergar calling something ‘evil’? Whatever next!
After this, he went to what he gathered to be an alchemist’s shop.
“Is there a powder I can puff at invisible creatures?,” he asked the alchemist.
“Gold dust?,” the alchemist asked, with a sly glance at the ranger.
“Cheaper.”
“Hmm…,” the alchemist said. “Coal dust is cheap.”
“Can you prepare twenty flasks of it?”
“Human use in fight against duergar?”
Sir Eber hesitated.
“Er… you have enemies, don’t you?,” he resumed.
“No matter,” the alchemist grinned. “Human kill duergar how many he like. Human can also put much water on floor. Torch whole room also good! Make copper thread with small bells!”
This, the ranger did not expect. Indeed, much to his surprise, he subsequently had a long and rather agreeable conversation with the alchemist. In the end, he said that he would still like to speak to a priest.
“Not good,” the alchemist said, shaking his head. “Difficult. Priests serve cruel god. Duergar avoid priests at all costs.”
“Does the king have a priest?”
“No. King is exile. Not part of society. Priests side with queen.”
“Where is the queen’s priest?”
“Temple in palace. Nobody go there with free will.”
“Doesn’t sound too scary to me,” Sir Eber laughed.
“Fine,” the alchemist said. “I no go in any case.”
When Navarre and Sir Suvali board the folding boat, they find Sir Eber and Sir Oengus on deck. The ranger immediately hands them ten flasks of coal powder each, explaining their use in the process.
“The Underlings tell me that the priest can see them when they are invisible,” he adds.
“Perhaps their god allows them to,” Navarre suggests, opening another bottle of Lillac.
“I can also see invisible things,” Sir Suvali says, without proceeding to explain how.
“A-a-a-h! Mes amis!,” the chevalier exclaims, noticing Navarre and the sorcerer as he appears on deck. “Vous êtes de retour! Welcome! Welcome back!”
“Tiens!,” he continues when he sees Navarre with the bottle. “Du Lillac?”
And so Navarre and the chevalier dig into the supply of Lillac and they are soon prancing about to much guffawing and witty repartee.
Night 57: After much deliberating on a future course of action, and with Navarre ever more inclined to let the Underdark be the Underdark and return to the surface to fight the traitorous Mim, we join our noble heroes on the bridge to the palace for yet another audience with the queen, probably to finalize the trade deal the chevalier has been negotiating with her and her advisers… when all hell breaks loose.
“The king!,” many duergar yell in the city below, obviously in their own language. “The king! Save the women and children!”
“Run!,” the sorcerer yells.
“Have you lost your mind!?,” Navarre snaps. “Our place is with the monarch!”
“We must cut him off at the gates,” Sir Oengus says. “It be our only chance.”
But the chevalier has already knocked on the door.
“Majesté!,” he cries. “We are here to protect you!”
“Go away!,” a voice comes from behind the door.
“To the gates it is, then,” Navarre says. “Oengus, lead the way, old boy!”
“Pardon?,” the chevalier asks, startled. “And then what?”
“We shall speak to the man, mon cher,” Navarre says. “He is a king, is he not?”
“Have you taken leave of your senses, monsieur?,” the chevalier asks. “The man is an evil tyrant! We are no match for him and his cavalry!”
But Navarre has been drinking quite a lot of Lillac.
“To the gates!,” he yells, starting down the bridge.
“Right behind you, Sir!,” Sir Oengus hollers. “Lay a course! Man to the crow’s nest, by thunder! All hands on deck!”
