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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ilgatto" data-source="post: 9709286" data-attributes="member: 86051">Duergar & Daemons Part VI: Queen of the Dripstone Cavern – ContinuedIt must be around six o’clock in the morning when our noble heroes start climbing the palatial staircase. After a while, they emerge on a plateau some distance up the wall of what seems to be a huge cavern – by far the largest any of them has ever seen. It is utterly silent and dark and it is only after they have shone their lanterns into it for a bit that our noble heroes realize that the entire cavern must be filled with many, many dripstone formations – a veritable forest of stalactites, stalagmites, and columns. Our noble heroes estimate that the cavern stretches at least one hundred and fifty yards into the distance and that the floor, if there is one, must be somewhere below. Although they cannot be sure, one stalactite in particular seems to stands out. It appears to be in what they suppose to be the center of the cavern and it looks to be at least sixty meters long and perhaps forty wide. The ceiling seems to be at its highest point here, perhaps more than a hundred meters from where the floor must be.At one point, Sir Eber suggests the lanterns be extinguished and then, when their eyes have adjusted to the darkness, some of our noble heroes think they can see very faint lights throughout the cavern and on the large stalactite more in particular. Close to the ceiling to the left of the plateau, walkways – or perhaps suspended bridges – seem to connect some of the stalactites and columns. Also to their left, but still on the plateau, an opening in the rock reveals another series of steps leading some twenty yards up to what appears to be another opening in the rock.At their feet, a structure like an amphitheater disappears into the darkness below.It is another city and a large one at that.“Allô?,” the chevalier hollers. “Allô? We are here!”His voice trails off into the darkness before it comes echoing back several times. He procures his cymbals and hammers on them for a while, no doubt to test the acoustics again – ‘Ping! Ting! Dong!’Navarre takes this as his cue to climb the steps in the opening to the left and finds the opening at the top flanked by the statues of two dwarves – minimalist in style and guarding a spiraling staircase leading even further up into the rock.“Let’s see where it leads,” Sir Suvali says next to him. Apparently, he has followed him up the stairs.“On y va!,” the chevalier cries, who now also seems to be there.“Manners, chaps, manners,” Navarre says. “Perhaps we should introduce ourselves to the leaders of the city before we start trudging about in it?”But the chevalier and the sorcerer are already gone. The stairs take them to another opening in the cavern wall, this time about two-thirds of the way up to the ceiling, from which they would have had a splendid view of the cavern had it been properly lit. What they do see is a suspended bridge constructed of metal chains, which connects the opening to a stalactite in the distance. It must be some sixty yards above the cavern floor and four more bridges follow after it, until the last one connects to the large stalactite in the middle of the cavern, perhaps some forty or fifty yards away.The chevalier has a good look down the bridges and doesn’t spy a living thing: no guards, no soldiers, not a single duergar – not that this is too strange, mind you. He looks down to see if he can discern the others on the plateau below, but to no avail. So out come the cymbals again – ‘Dzing! Ting!’ When the sound has echoed back several times, he suddenly hears some music, very faint and coming from the direction of the large stalactite. It has all the qualities of a fanfare.Meanwhile, Navarre has returned to Sir Eber and Sir Oengus on the first plateau. When the noble trio hear the cymbals they look up to where the sound comes from and see the chevalier and the sorcerer in an opening higher up the wall.“Well,” Sir Eber says, smiling at Navarre. “We’d better get up there, what?”The noble trio start up the stairs and the chevalier is just blowing his trumpet when they reach the third plateau.“Well, well, well,” Navarre says, looking at the bridges. “This seems to be the way to the large stalactite.”“Sails away, lubbers!,” Sir Oengus says, stepping onto the first bridge.Although the bridge creaks and clangs alarmingly as the others follow, it does get them to the first stalactite safely. Our noble heroes cross more bridges and notice that the music gets louder the closer they get to the large stalactite. Eventually, the fifth bridge takes them up to a wooden door in the large stalactite, some arrow slits sitting in the wall to either side and above it. Although they cannot be sure, the music seems to come from somewhere within the stalactite.The chevalier knocks on the door and, when there is no reaction, he takes a few steps back and blows his trumpet again. The music stops and then the faintest of lights appears behind one of the arrow slits next to the door.“Who are you?,” a voice asks.“We come from above,” the chevalier declares, putting away his trumpet. “We are traders and ambassadors. We respect you and your city and it is for that reason that we ask for an audience.”“Traders?”“And diplomats! We would like to parley with persons of authority.”“Surrender!”“At once!,” the chevalier cries. “We are not your enemies!”“Put down weapons!”“I am hardly armed, monsieur,” the chevalier replies. “My hat! I take off my hat for you!”“Only one may enter,” the voice comes. “Duergar prefer womans.”“Why, that would be me, then,” Sir Oengus says. “Ah, no, that’s Varis!”As Navarre smiles at the small joke, the voice comes again.“Tie up womans and send in!”“A-ha-ha-ha!,” the chevalier laughs. “N’est-ce pas? Ah…, pardon! Monsieur, I am afraid that our women are in short supply at the moment.”After a moment of silence, the door opens to reveal a circular room, fifteen to twenty yards in diameter and some ten high. Numerous chains run from the ceiling to the floor, quite possibly in lieu of pillars. To one side, a flight of steps leads up, another one down. Although the room is largely devoid of ornaments, there is a throne at the back, which lends it an air of an otherwise rather rather nondescript and empty audience room. There is not a single duergar in sight.“Allô?,” the chevalier tries. “Allô?”But no one answers and so our noble heroes enter the room. When everybody is inside, an old duergar appears out of nothing. He looks like he has just woken up from a deep sleep and seems out of breath to boot. Nevertheless, he is in full plate armor and armed to the teeth, a hammer and pick on his back.The chevalier takes off his hat and waves it about for a bit.“Mon vétéran!,” he says. “A thousand pardons for our unannounced arrival at this hour. Tant pis! Je suis là!”“Only one enter!,” the old duergar says. “Others outside!”“I do declare…,” Navarre starts.“Kst, kst!,” the chevalier cuts in, waving his hat at him. “I shall deal with this. Confiance, mes amis! All will be well!”Perhaps too stunned to react, the rest of our noble heroes head back outside and then the door closes behind them.“Well…,” Navarre starts after some time.“Whatever,” Sir Eber agrees.Fifteen minutes pass before the chevalier returns.“We can trade,” he says. “There is a way to the surface – the only way to the surface, that is. That is what she said. Eh, bien! Back to the boat!”“She?,” Navarre asks irritably, annoyed at the chevalier’s infuriatingly summary report of the talks.“The queen,” the chevalier replies.“The queen,” Navarre repeats. “Well? Out with it, man!”“We must wait for six hours,” the chevalier says, apparently fully intent on not disclosing anything of use for some reason.“Wait for six hours?,” Navarre cries. “What in Olm’s name do we have to wait for six hours for?”“They are all asleep at the moment.”“They?,” Navarre repeats. “Who, they? And what was that music if they are all asleep?”“It was an afterparty.”“And what do you suggest we do for six hours?”“We get back to the boat and sleep,” the chevalier says.“My dear fellow!,” Navarre exclaims in exasperation. “What is wrong with you!?”“Let it go,” Sir Eber curs in. “It’s his thing. Let’s get back to the boat and discuss how we’re going to kill the king.”“We are not strong enough to take on the king, mon ami,” the chevalier says.“Come on, man!,” the ranger scoffs. “Do you really think we can’t handle a couple of flyspeck creeps?”“They are invisible,” the chevalier says awkwardly.“They are murderers,” Sir Eber growls. “Slavers! Besides, we don’t have to tackle the whole army at once. It’s all a question of tactics.”“We will have to hand over our weapons for the audience with the queen,” the chevalier says, apparently eager to change the subject.“I will not hand over anything,” Sir Eber says. “I carry the Sword of Shadows and there is no way I will give it to these creatures.”“Quite,” Navarre says. “We are peers of the realm. Our word must be enough.”“I’m heading back to my boat,” Sir Oengus says, who has also had enough of the exchange. “You can stay here if you like.”And so our noble heroes retreat to the folding boat, where some of them get some sleep.Hours later, at around six o’clock in the evening, a number of duergar appear on the quay while Sir Suvali is on guard. He calls the others and, when everybody is on deck, the duergar start yelling at each other – or perhaps at our noble heroes – until one of them waves a white flag. He does so for a while until he finally procures a scroll and starts reading from it in his own language. When he is finished, he speaks some words in Gaelic.“Very welcome! Ambassadors! Queen will speak. Big honor! Follow me!”Our noble heroes follow the duergar delegation back to the cavern and across the bridges to the large stalactite. Down below, they now see numerous faint ‘lights’ blinking in and out of existence as they move about, much like fireflies. Although only the duergar from the quay are visible, our noble heroes get the distinct impression that more of the creatures are accompanying them.When they reach the large stalactite the door opens and our heroes are taken into the room with the chains and the throne, then up the stairs to the left and into a room where at least a hundred duergar have gathered, most of them in armor and all armed to the teeth. Seated on another throne and guarded by four duergar in full regalia is a creature wholly covered in a construct of cloth, with a veiled slit where its eyes must be.The duergar who read the scroll, apparently some sort of herald, exchanges some words with the creature, which now addresses our noble heroes.“Welcome, dukes,” a female voice sounds. “How can duergar be of service?”The chevalier takes one step forward.“I am Scaralat de Sarazin,” he says, executing an elegant flourish. When nobody says anything after this, he finishes his flourish and turns to his noble companions. “A-ha-ha-ha! Messieurs?”“Huh?,” Sir Oengus says.“The queen!,” the chevalier whispers urgently. “Là-bas! Your name!”“A-a-a-h, I s-e-e-e-e!,” Sir Oengus says, before turning his attention to the creature on the throne. “My queen! I am Oengus of Nisibis! At your service, esteemed queen. We come from far and have many things to offer. Eber, your turn.”“I am Eber of Weald,” the ranger says. “We come in peace.”When the others have introduced themselves, Sir Oengus speaks again.“Wonders we have seen!,” he starts. “We come to trade and speak of good things.”“What is your rank?,” the queen asks.“We are dukes,” the chevalier says, before Sir Oengus can say anything. “We rank just below the king, who is chosen from among our number.”“And where is your queen?”“Our king resides above,” the chevalier says. “He can also be a queen.”“Most excellent,” the queen says.“Men and women are considered equal among our people,” the chevalier continues.“Ah!,” the queen muses. “Is way of humans.”“My queen,” the chevalier says. “Would you do me the honor of allowing me to speak to your entourage?““You may address my brothers, cousins, and nephews.”“Ma reine, messieurs!,” the chevalier says, executing a grand gesture. “We offer all of you our deepest gratitude. We shall speak of your welcome on the surface and all will stand in admiration of the hospitality of the duergar of Stalag! Et maintenant! Let us celebrate this most fortunate event!”When none of the assembled duergar react to this in the slightest, the queen speaks again: “You will sell me human females.”This seems to throw the chevalier quite considerably and all he manages is a stifled cough.“Honored queen,” Navarre says. “It is not within our power to determine the fate of our women.”“Ahem! Ahem!,” the chevalier interjects, clearly even more nervous. “A-ha-ha-ha! Ma reine! Of course, our women will gladly consider any offer of marriage!”There is a moment of silence.“You have humans of no rank?,” the queen asks.“A-ha-ha-ha! We can inform them of your proposition.”Not quite sure what is going on, Navarre wonders what the chevalier discussed with the old duergar when he was alone with him in the palace.“Best you send child girls,” the queen resumes.“Rest assured, majesté, that we shall convey your magnanimous offer of friendship in all haste,” the chevalier says, bowing elegantly. “Now. If majesté would do us the honor of allowing us to relieve her of the burden of our presence…”“Do you have human slaves here?,” Sir Eber cuts in.“Not now,” the queen says frostily.“And what will happen to the women we would bring you?”“They are sold.”“So you have a transit point here?”When the queen doesn’t answer, a deathly silence prevails in the room for some moments.“Sold to whom?,” Navarre asks, when he notices that the chevalier has fallen as silent.“Many peoples live in Underdark,” the queen says, after some time.“Would your majesty care to elaborate?”The queen says something unintelligible.“How do we get to these peoples?,” Sir Eber asks.“They are in Deep Underdark.”“Is there a map?”“No.”“So where do we go?”“Deeper.”“Can you supply us with a guide?,” Sir Oengus asks.“No.”“So what will we find down there?,” Navarre asks.“Pillar is magic lodestone for many creatures,” the queen says. “In many centuries, many creatures come. You find many in Underdark.”“Ye be sure ye don’t have someone who can be our guide?,” Sir Oengus asks. “Are there no adventurous duergar in your court who would accompany us? Maybe to find the robber king?”“Ahem! Ahem!,” the chevalier hastily cuts in. “A-ha-ha-ha! Oh dear! Is that the time?”“Surface has no ceiling and burning ball of fire,” the queen answers Sir Oengus. “Is awful! Terrible!”“That be the sun, oh queen,” Sir Oengus says.“No duergar can go there,” the queen continues. “But duergar want many things from there. You will sell us food.”“Now that would be possible,” Sir Eber says.With the conversation with the queen thus turning to food, Sir Oengus addresses some of the duergar next to him, asking them whether any of them would want to guide him and his noble companions through the Underdark and perhaps even accompany them to the surface. The duergar glance at the queen uneasily and only some of them seem willing to speak. However, none of the speakers turn out to be interested in taking our noble heroes anywhere, although Sir Oengus does learn that there may be some ‘madmen’ in other settlements willing to do the things he speaks of.“Why are you so eager to avoid speaking of women and the king?,” Navarre asks the chevalier sotto voce.“We have no time for this king,” the chevalier replies, keeping one ear on Sir Eber’s conversation with the queen. “We must pass through here to continue our journey.”“Do we have to pass through this city?,” Navarre asks.“Yes,” the chevalier says. “It is the only way.”But then he overhears Sir Eber mentioning the duergar king again and the queen asking him stiffly how he and his dukes ended up in her city anyway and this seems to be his cue to cut in once more.“Majesté,” he says. “We travel on a boat on the river. We passed an island with beetles and another place before that.”“Pah!,” the queen says. “Degenerates! Thousand curses on all of them!”“A-ha-ha-ha!,” the chevalier laughs nervously. “Before that, we passed through a door to the water on our way to majesté!”But Sir Eber is not easily swayed.“What about this king?,” he resumes. “I hear he plunders cities?”“King has one hundred warriors,” the queen says.“Is there a price on his head?”“No,” the queen says, after pondering the question for a bit. “Price no matter. King is highest rank. No price on his head… now.”“So what is the king’s rank?”“Duergar have rank to twenty. King has ten.”“I see,” Sir Eber says. “Who has twenty?”“Duergar heroes.”“Do you have someone of rank ten I can fight? So that I can see what that means?”“Difficult,” the queen says. “Duergar gain nothing if he win and lose face if human win. Duergar must have something.”“Such as?”“Hmm… Your magic sword.”“Er…,” Sir Eber says.“We will wager a hundred gold coins,” Sir Suvali says.“Agreed,” the queen says without a moment’s hesitation.Now that Sir Eber seems to have what he wanted, Navarre decides to see whether he can steer the conversation in a more useful direction.“Is this king in contact with the ‘other peoples’ of the Underdark?,” he asks.“No,” the queen says, after she has said something to the herald in her own language. “Only duergar in duergar realm.”“How far does the realm of the duergar reach?,” Navarre asks.But the queen rapidly seems to have lost interest in the conversation.“Duergar realm is circle,” she says, after speaking to the herald some more. “Stalag on outside.”“I see,” Navarre says. “The king operates within the duergar realm and not outside of it?”“So it is,” the queen says, rising from her throne.“Now you fight,” she says to Sir Eber.All duergar jump to attention and the queen leaves the throne room without another word, much to the apparent relief of the duergar and, still somewhat inexplicably, the chevalier.“I admit that I am a bit nervous about this fight,” Sir Eber says to Navarre, straightening his back.“Not to worry, old boy,” Navarre replies. “I will be right behind you, applauding with some vigor!”Sir Eber laughs uncomfortably.Now, the herald announces something in the language of the duergar, followed by some words in Gaelic.“High rules,” he says. “Fight honest to knock-out. No poisons, no tricks! We go!”And so our noble heroes and the duergar leave the queen’s palace and head for the amphitheater at the foot of the first plateau, where the herald speaks again, apparently repeating what he said earlier in the palace.“High rules,” he says to Sir Eber. “Knock-out. Honest! No dirty play. No poisons!”“Understood,” Sir Eber says, stepping onto the stage and glancing at the assembled duergar to see if he can locate his opponent. Some of the duergar have started to talk excitedly among themselves, which seems to remind the herald of something.“Human!,” he calls out to Sir Eber. “Fight is in dark!”“I will accompany our champion with a torch,” Sir Suvali says to him.“Maybe we can use the fire beetle balls?,” Navarre suggests. “I don’t want to depend on torchlight if the duergar should decide that a possible victory of Eber is not much to their liking.”“I was just thinking the same thing,” Sir Suvali says hastily, putting away his torch.Our noble heroes activate some of the balls and place them around the stage, so that it is bathing in the red light.Then, an older duergar appears out of nothing. He is in full plate armor, wields a hammer and pick, and he is obviously the local tough guy. He steps onto the stage and throws Sir Eber a proud glance. The ranger takes a few steps toward him and greets him in a formal manner.“Fight!,” the herald yells.The older duergar instantly vanishes into thin air. Nothing happens for some time until Sir Eber suddenly lashes out to his left and seems to hit something that is not there. He is immediately hit by a hammer, with such force, in fact, that he has some trouble staying on his feet. The older duergar appears out of nowhere and now Sir Eber swings his axe at him. His opponent dodges the attack and swings his hammer again, hitting the ranger once, twice, and sending him reeling. Sir Eber makes a feeble attempt to swing his sword at him (“1”) and then the older duergar hits him twice again and now Sir Eber’s lights go out.“Quite,” Navarre says. “Can’t say that the old dwarf didn’t make rather short work of our champion, what?”“Blimey,” Sir Oengus says. “That picaroon likely be the best fighter as ever I saw one!”“Bah!,” the duergar champion says to our noble heroes. “King wipe floor with champion!”Sir Suvali steps onto the stage and tends to his noble companion’s wounds. Some minutes later, Sir Eber regains consciousness, scrambles to his feet and offers his opponent his hand.“Where is gold?,” the duergar champion asks, as he takes the hand.Sir Eber gives him the promised amount of coin and the duergar champion vanishes into thin air, followed by most of the other duergar. None of the duergar have reacted much to the fight and the outcome – it seems they didn’t expect much else.“I’m afraid these dwarves are not exactly weak,” Sir Eber says to his noble companions.“If not to mention a hundred of them firing crossbows at us,” the chevalier adds.“Indeed,” Navarre muses. “It would seems that taking out his king may well will require an ungentlemanly amount of dishonesty on our part.”Because Sir Eber will be out of the running for quite some time, our noble heroes remain on their folding boat for the next ten-day, paying regular visits to the city and even the palace during that time. The chevalier asks a duergar smith to improve his plate armor and has to sell his dwarven chain mail to him when he is told that this will cost him six hundred gold. The smith informs Navarre that the duergar in the city can create a masterwork shield from his fire beetle chitin shell; that such a shield will then require the services of a ‘wizard’ – apparently the duergar word for ‘sorcerer’ – for the necessary enchantments; and that the duergar have no wizards.Our noble heroes also learn that Stalag has a population of some five hundred souls; that the Deep Underdark is home to kuo-toa (fish people), illithid (octopus people or mind flayers), and drow (elves), the latter being non-natives in any case; that the world is a pillar and that the duergar came to it first; that this means that all other creatures arrived after them; that the pillar was once entirely devoid of life; and that this was especially true right after it was created by ‘the creator’.Sir Suvali spends all of his time studying the three spell books from the river room in the egg and he eventually informs his noble companions that the books contain sixteen written spells and that he has never heard of such a thing before. He finds the spells hard to understand but he believes he can use each of them once and that this will probably result in their formulae vanishing from the pages.“It’s either that or I’ll have to start learning a whole new system of magic,” he says. “And there is no one in this world who can teach me.”Finally, our noble heroes take some time to adjust to the duergar rhythm of day and night, which means that they now operate during what would be the night for them and that they sleep during the day.</blockquote>

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