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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ilgatto" data-source="post: 9737331" data-attributes="member: 86051">Duergar & Daemons Part IX: The KingslayerIn which the chevalier announces that he has changed his mind and wants our noble heroes to buy chain mail from the duergar queen instead of plate armor; the DM informs our noble heroes that their elders do take them more seriously now than they did before they put an end to the revolution all by themselves; and that it is Day 80.Day 80: When our noble heroes arrive in Sarazin later that day, they are received with much pomp and fanfare, trumpets blaring, banners flying, the cavalry riding out to meet them and peasant girls bearing their breasts and throwing flowers at their feet when they ride into town. A lavish banquet is held in their honor and Duke Sarazin and his entire family burst into tears when they witness their noble son perform a graceful pavane – and then the DM informs Navarre that the reception at Dauberval wasn’t at all as it played out in the last session but actually a lot more like the one our noble heroes have just received in Sarazin. He is also told that the ‛revolution’ has left the noble classes largely intact: only twelve barons and Duke Thuxra lost their lives – no more.When the chevalier announces that he will contact the ‘Sarazin spymaster’ and the DM informs him that such an individual does not exist, our noble hero decides to ‘depart for the seedier parts of town’ and visit several brothels, where he has his lewd way with some floozies of ill repute on his quest for his elusive ‘spymaster’, all ‘in the utmost secrecy and keeping a low profile’. In the end, he seems to get someone to travel to Apple Island under orders to find out how many troops the traitorous Mim has at his disposal and where he gets his money from.When he returns later that night, he ushers Navarre into a small, private room, saying that ‘Mim’s eyes and ears are everywhere’ and that he and Navarre must create ‘a secret army unit’ that is to occupy itself with ‘the trade with the north’. Although Navarre is at least as inebriated as the chevalier at this point, he cannot help but wonder what his noble friend is on about.Since the chevalier has to wait for the return of his spy, the noble duo spend the next five days enjoying the summer weather, a spot of punting on the Dusk, a round or two of croquet, and numerous déjeuners sur l’herbe in the company of eligible damsels, all drowned in copious amounts of Lillac. Others spend their time hanging with bargemen; others with their noses buried in books, speaking to people about magical potions, and flying about in general; and yet others practicing with short swords day and night in the hopes of becoming proficient in them before they have to fight duergar kings.Day 85: That morning, the chevalier and Sir Oengus usher Navarre into the small room again, where the first informs his noble fellows that his spy has returned with news that Thuxra has joined forces with the traitorous Mim because the new Duke Thuxra went to school with Mim’s heir.“Alors, mes amis!,” he continues, opening a bottle of Lillac and filling some glasses. “I have spoken to many people in the know and I have decided that we shall target Mim’s economy, starting with his gold ship. Once we have his revenue, Mim will be powerless.”“And how long do you think all of this will take, old boy?,” Navarre asks.“Details, mon cher, details,” the chevalier says, emptying his glass in one go. “We must keep an eye on the bigger picture.”“It will take too long,” Navarre says. “We haven’t got time for long-term operations. I say we retake Apple Island, get Mim to apologize for betraying our trust and then let the dukes elect a new king in council. Just as it has always been done.”Upon which the DM informs our noble heroes that there is no gold ship; that taxes are paid in goods and produce rather than coin; that the taxes are collected twice yearly by the bailiffs, once at the end of the lambing season and once after the harvest; and that the next harvest will be in two, three ten-days.“My spy tells me that Mim’s forces amount to a hundred of his own troops and some four hundred traditional forces armed with slings,” the chevalier says.“That would seem to be correct,” Navarre says. “Which rather begs the question of what happened to the thousand soldiers of the ‘revolution’.”“A hundred and fifty dead, another hundred and fifty wounded,” the chevalier says. “The rest have dispersed.”“Where to?,” Navarre asks. “To Wyrsn?”“Returned to the mountains by all accounts,” the chevalier says. “Now, with his armored barges, Mim…”“Can it, lubbers,” Sir Oengus cuts in. “We must go to Big Beach and retrieve the Varis! How else d’ye think we be getting’ to Apple Island?”“Good lord,” Navarre says. “Where have you been for the past couple of days? Visiting brothels? Cracking tea cups? There is no Varis in Big Beach! Where do you think Mim got his armored barges from? My dear fellow!”“Ah!,” Sir Oengus says apologetically. “Sorry about that.”“Now,” Navarre resumes. “What about using the Stalag duergar in some capacity? Do you think we could get to Apple Island through the Underdark? Save us a lot of bother on King’s Lake and all that?”“Ah, yes, the duergar,” the chevalier says. “I have been thinking about that. Their plate armor is too expensive, and Oengus here has been told that the crossbows our own craftsmen make are both better and cheaper than those of the duergar. Therefore, I have decided that we will spend our money on training two hundred superior infantry to crush Mim’s slingers, which will be expensive and take three months.”“I see,” Navarre says. “And what about your arrangement with the queen?”“I shall renegotiate,” the chevalier says frostily.“For what?”“For what we need.”“Indeed,” Navarre muses. “So now what?”“Sarazin will deliver one hundred infantry,” the chevalier says. “You will deliver the same, so we will have to retrain fifty slingers each. We shall share the costs.”“What about my water liners?,” Sir Oengus asks.“Your what?,” Navarre asks.“Nisibis will deliver fifty water liners,” Sir Oengus says. “Special forces they be, on armored barges and trained to operate in small groups. They work under the cover of night, as fish in the water. Board Mim’s barges and sink them one by one.”“Indeed?,” Navarre wonders. “That doesn’t sound like a bad plan at all. I must admit that I haven’t given Mim’s barges much thought.”“That’s why you swags have me,” Sir Oengus says.“What I have been thinking about is a united fleet,” Navarre says. “We must consider the implications of our discoveries for when all this is over. There may be a whole new world out there and who knows what creatures live in it? I say we start protecting our coastline, provide ourselves with a first line of defense.”“That be exactly what I be trainin’ me water liners for,” Sir Oengus says. “Leave it to me.”During the next couple of days, there is a lot of talk like this, with our noble heroes discussing Mim, the duergar and their king, the Underdark, the future of The Forest, and many similar subjects – so much talk, in fact, that it takes up most of the session. At some point, when the chevalier and Navarre are discussing the former’s plan to target Mim’s economy again, the chevalier fills his glass and lowers his voice.“The good thing is that this strategy will deliver Mim to Sarazin on a silver platter,“ he says. “Once we have his barrows, he’ll have nowhere to go.”“Not entirely sure what you’re on about, old boy,” Navarre says, throwing the chevalier a sharp glance. “Surely you are not suggesting Sarazin take Mim?”The chevalier smiles.“My dear fellow!,” Navarre cries. “Have you taken leave of your senses? You will be no better than Mim!”“Bof,” the chevalier says, shrugging as he leans back. “What of it?”“I am not sure I appreciate your traitorous notions, Sir,” Navarre says stiffly, emptying his glass and leaving in a huff.Day 91: And so the day has come when our noble heroes have to return to the Underdark to keep their appointment with the duergar king. They take a river barge to Dauberval, where they arrive at the end of the day, just in time for dinner. The chevalier takes the opportunity to discuss his plan to train infantry with Duke Dauberval and it seems that a timetable for the attack on Apple Island is made.At some point during the conversation, the duke informs our noble heroes that the Alliance – Dauberval, Sarazin, Weald, Nisibis – are considering negotiating with Mim. Disgusted, Navarre decides to let the matter pass nonetheless and leave the war talks to the chevalier and whatever nobles lend him their ear – fully aware that his noble friend’s opinions and plans are as fickle as the wind and, perhaps more importantly, because he has not yet found a way to speak to his noble father about the subjects he deems important. He spends some time talking to Sir Oengus about the latter’s water liners and then sees to it that the wine for the duergar king and the men who are to carry it up to the tin mine are ready to go for tomorrow.Day 92: That morning, with Navarre in full regalia, our noble heroes and the bearers gather at the jetties and board a small boat. At the end of the day, the company reach the farm where our noble heroes had lunch just over a ten-day ago. Now, the premises include a small shed with a crude sign attached to it. Presently the farmer comes walking, wringing his hands and welcoming his noble guests and their entourage. As usual, the chevalier hurries to the fore.“Mon Dieu!,” he exclaims, pointing to the shed and handing the farmer a silver coin. “Regardez! Un entrepreneur! What is the name of your établissement, monsieur?”“‛The Dancing Pig’, my lord,” the farmer says, beaming as he points at the sign. “You are my first customers. If my lord would see the pig?”The chevalier follows the farmer to the pigsty, where he finds a pig wearing clothes and a top hat.“Would you like to see it dance, my lord?,” the farmer asks.“A-ha-ha-ha!,” the chevalier laughs awkwardly from behind a perfumed handkerchief as he hands the man some more coins instead. “Rooms for the night, some supper, and your best wine if you would, aubergiste!”Navarre cannot help but be amazed – and rather pleased – that the man has actually taken his advice.Day 93: The company reach the old tin mine around midday, where Navarre signs a letter of payment worth sixty silver and the bearers start back for the river. Our noble heroes manage to get the barrels down the ladders and start waiting for the duergar to arrive.Day 94: Moments after midnight, a duergar appears out of nothing, soon followed by others emerging from various nooks and crannies – gray, evil-looking dwarves, with nasty grins on their faces and armed to the teeth. Navarre cannot help but note the surreal nature of the event – was it only a day ago that he was in Dauberval?“Good evening,” the first duergar grins. “Humans have wine?”“Certainly,” Navarre says. “Do you have the gold?”“Duergar taste,” the duergar says, procuring a box and opening it. In it are many gold coins.“Be my guest,” Navarre says, stepping aside.The duergar opens one of the barrels and takes several swigs from it.“Must do,” he says, licking his lips, a glint in his eye.He hands the box to Navarre, who counts the coins in it – there are exactly five hundred of them.“Excellent,” he says to the duergar.“Duergar take wine now,” the duergar says.“Ah, monsieur?,” the chevalier starts. “Mayhap you could provide us with a guide for the journey ahead? We have some business to attend to in Stalag.”The duergar seems to consider the request.“Humans can follow duergar,” he says, eventually.The duergar take the barrels, greatly reduce themselves and the barrels in size and start their descent down the fault and its treacherous passages, followed by our noble heroes.It must be around five o’clock in the morning when the company reach the bottom of the fault, where they find a large number of the duergar king’s men waiting. There are some tense moments but the duergar soon turn out to be interested in the wine only and they allow our noble heroes to await the arrival of their king.“Make camp,” one of the duergar says.Our noble heroes start preparing for the coming Underdark night when the king and his generals appear.“Mon roi!,” the chevalier cries. “The wine is here!”The king takes a couple of large swigs from one of the barrels and he has some trouble hiding a distinctly pleased look on his face. He gestures to his men and then the duergar start gulping down the wine like duergar possessed, with some even performing some merry jigs. Watching the duergar like this, Navarre is reminded of the many fairy tales that speak of dwarves and leprechauns and their lust for wine. It would rather seem that these stories may very well be based on the duergar.After some time, Sir Eber approaches the king.“What about our duel?,” he asks.“We go to Stalag arena,” the king says, licking his lips before gulping down more wine.Night 94: The army and our noble heroes break up camp. At the end of the ‘day’, at around what would be six o’clock in the morning on the surface, the convoy comes to a halt. When it starts moving again, our noble heroes pass ten duergar sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall, all demure and quiet and with their eyes averted.It isn’t much later when the convoy stops for the ‘night’. Making his camp, Navarre realizes that he is seeing the Underdark with different eyes now. Some of the wonder has gone, the place now being as real to him as the surface world. Indeed, this time, he has come prepared, with waxed cloak and blanket and a thick, waxed, woven mat to sleep on – just like when he would spend the night in a cave on a camping trip in the mountains.Night 95: Later that day, the convoy reaches the rothman cavern, where there is not a single rothman or rothé in sight, hiding in their fortress as they are with the gates closed. The king and his men hardly pay the settlement any attention and start making their camp for the night. Still four days to go to Stalag.Night 96-99: The convoy travels through the Underdark for all of four days, stopping only rarely and typically only when it runs into other duergar, which our noble heroes always find sitting sedately against the wall when they pass them. Sir Suvali and Sir Eber spend much of their time discussing the upcoming duel with the king, with the first making all kinds of strange calculations over and over again. On the third day, the sorcerer informs his noble companions that Sir Eber just might have a shot at the king.“I have made some calculations,” he says. “The king is invisible, faster, and a better fighter but Eber is stronger and the potion will give him extra power. All in all, there is now a fifty percent chance for each to win, without taking into account the Sword of Shadows and any surprises the king may bring to the field.”“Seems the odds have improved since last time, old boy,” Navarre says to Sir Eber.The ranger does not answer. In fact, he hasn’t spoken much at all since he issued his challenge, wholly focused on the fight to come as he has been ever since.Night 100: When the convoy reaches Stalag late that day they find the city in complete lock-down. There is not a single sign of any activity whatsoever and so our noble heroes spend the night at the quay with the stairs in their folding boat.Night 101: When our noble heroes arrive at the amphitheater early in the morning they find that over two hundred duergar have already gathered here. All are visible, and our noble heroes do not recognize many of them as being the king’s men or from any duergar settlement they have been to so far, leading them to consider that the newcomers may be from some three or four clans as yet unknown to them. Despite the many duergar present, the amphitheater is remarkably quiet, with the creatures communicating mostly in their silent tongue. All watch Sir Eber enter the amphitheater with interest, continuing to do so when he starts oiling his weapons. Not entirely unexpected, the Sword of Shadows does not accept the magical oil.Then, an impressive-looking duergar takes the stage, probably one of the king’s generals. He yells something in the language of the duergar, followed by a call for order in Gaelic.“Order!,” he hollers. “High Rules! Fight to knock-out! No poisons! No tricks!”A deathly silence falls over the amphitheater and a palpable tension is now in the air, which only increases when the king himself appears on the stage. Even more duergar appear in utter silence, until there are well over three hundred in sight.And then, suddenly, if such is at all possible, the whole place becomes even more quiet. A black sphere has appeared in an opening high up in the amphitheater and it presently floats down to the stage – a globe of darkness slowly descending.The duergar move out of its way in great haste, without speaking or, indeed, making any sound whatsoever. The sphere comes to a halt when it reaches a front-row seat and then an eerie, nasty chanting commences, apparently originating from within the sphere.“Ladoorwadoordoorladuguerladoorwaardoor,” the chanting sounds.The king has been watching the event with growing discontent and presently turns to face Sir Eber, who has quaffed his potion in the commotion.“No more waste time,” the king says. “Human walk behind for many days and I tire of that. Human want to remove armor?”“Only if you do the same,” Sir Eber says.“No,” the king says.He rolls a “1” for Initiative and then the fight is on.Without bothering to become invisible, the king grows to a height of well over six feet, walks up to Sir Eber in a straight line and swings his hammer at him, hitting him full on. Sir Eber doesn’t flinch and swings both of his weapons, hitting the king with the Sword of Shadows. Much to the disappointment of at least some of our noble heroes, the duergar king doesn’t die on the spot. Still, the hit does seem to have a strange, almost imperceptible effect on him – perhaps lending an odd sense of accomplishment to the event, if anything.The king lashes out again, delivering a massive blow. Neither of the combatants has moved much, nor will they for the entire fight, and so the duel rather becomes a matter of two warriors exchanging, taking, and dodging blows, neither of them willing to show any sign of weakness or utter any sound until one of them falls.It is the king who is the first to inflict damage again after this – and once more seriously so. Sir Eber returns the favor, this time with his long sword. The king swings his hammer – a glancing blow – and then Sir Eber swings his long sword again, this time with exacting precision (“20”) and to great effect, forcing his opponent to take a step back to keep his balance. The king retaliates by fumbling his attack (“1”) and the Sword of Shadows penetrates his defenses again – and still the king doesn’t die. He misses again (“2”) and suffers another hit from the ranger’s long sword. Again, the king fumbles his attack (another “1” if you would believe it), with Sir Eber inflicting yet more damage with his long sword.It would be fair to say that our noble heroes and the assembled duergar are watching the duel without breathing much. Both combatants have not yet uttered a sound and, although Sir Eber seems to inflict much more damage than the king, the latter hasn’t flinched. But then, when the hammer swings again and Sir Eber takes a serious blow, blood starts trickling from various openings in the king’s armor. Seemingly unfazed by this nonetheless unsettling phenomenon, the king manages to land a devastating blow (“20”), forcing Sir Eber to take a step back and fumble his attack with the Sword of Shadows (“1”) although he does manage to make his long sword count.And then, just as he lifts his hammer again for the next blow, the duergar king sags to the floor – dead.The chanting from the black sphere stops and a deathly silence once again prevails.“Messieurs,” Navarre says solemnly, rising from his seat and bowing his head ever so slightly. “Le roi est mort.”Without a word, the king’s generals rise and step onto the stage where their king lies dead, blood now gushing from all openings in his armor. They start to pick up their fallen liege and then Sir Eber approaches and takes the king’s sword and shield. When the generals pause, he throws them an ominous glare.“I have fought to reestablish order in the duergar kingdom,” he says. “I hope that you will elect a king who will be more reasonable than the last one, so that both our peoples may prosper.”“Finally!,” a duergar yells from the stands. “More slaves!”“I take a dim view of slavery,” Sir Eber growls. “Let it be known that battle awaits any new king who continues the practice of taking slaves from the surface.”And so did Sir Eber Ard Weald kill the king of the duergar. And, although he did not become their new king – as he would have had he been a duergar – he was now the highest-ranking warrior of the duergar and there would be few duergar willing to challenge him for quite some time to come.“Let’s get out of here,” Sir Eber says.“To the palace,” the chevalier says, a little paler than usual.When our noble heroes approach the palace, Sir Eber addresses Navarre.“You want this?,” he asks, handing the king’s shield to his noble companion.Navarre hesitates.“Take it,” the ranger says. “You’re at the front all the time, aren’t you? You’ll need it.”Navarre takes the shield and shakes the ranger’s hand.“I am at a loss for words,” he says.When our noble heroes reach the palace they are taken to the queen at once. There are many duergar present, most with a look of apprehension on their faces. A ‘merchant’ approaches and hands a thousand gold pieces to Sir Eber, who immediately gives two hundred and fifty of them to Sir Oengus, apparently to repay a debt of two hundred gold.“Returned with interest,” he says.With the noble duo thus engaged and the chevalier strangely silent, it is Sir Suvali who addresses the queen first, even mixing in a word in the language of the duergar.“Our champion has fought and defeated the king,” he says. “We have solved a problem for the dvergr and we hope that an unbreakable bond has been established between our peoples.”Many of the duergar present nod in approval.“Duergar army will go and choose new king from highest ranks,” the queen says.“We hope that the new king will obey the rules like many have done before him,” Sir Suvali says.“Decide new king will take many months,” the queen says. “Perhaps new king renegade, perhaps not. I think not.”“Good,” Sir Suvali says.When the queen starts asking about the trade deal the chevalier continues to remain silent. And so, when nobody else speaks up, it suddenly falls to Navarre to deal with the matter. Not at all well-versed in such things, he tries to keep the conversation formal, which seems to suit the queen. When he mentions that there may be some changes to the arrangement with the chevalier, the queen informs him that her smiths have already forged four plate armors. Navarre feels compelled to honor at least that part of the deal, cursing the chevalier’s silence and fickle ways, especially when he finds that this will cost our noble heroes more than two and a half thousand gold pieces – money wasted as far as he is concerned. He manages to steer the conversation to what the queen would like to see delivered instead of what she herself has to deliver now that the armors are no longer required, and the DM promises to get back to him on that.When the conversation does get to what the queen would have to deliver, she suggests paying our noble heroes in ingots of copper, of which she says she has an unlimited supply. Navarre is unsure as to what that will bring him but he quickly accepts the proposition when the DM tells him that the amount suggested by the queen will result in our noble heroes delivering a thousand gold pieces worth of goods from the surface in return for an amount of copper they can sell for eleven hundred gold.Navarre decides that he will approach his uncle Alphonse on the matter when he gets back to the surface – a man he knows to have a head for coin. All in all, the negotiations end with the DM informing our noble hero that, once the whole thing gets going, the operation will net our noble heroes forty gold pieces each month after costs – the latter including the construction of a passable road from the tin mine to the river, the payment of bearers, the hiring of carts. Navarre cannot help but be rather content with this – forty gold to spend on the war effort each month is at least something.After all this, Navarre speaks to some of the queen’s generals on the subject of the death of their king, to find that they are quite pleased with this ‘fortunate turn of events’ and they inform him that the chance that the new king will also go renegade is negligible.When Navarre asks them if they could see their way clear to assist our noble heroes in the war effort on the surface, he is informed that no duergar of sound mind and body will hire out for such an undertaking; that there are no tunnels leading to Apple Island because the tunnels of the Underdark do not usually pass underneath water of any kind, at least not until one gets to its deepest parts; and that any tunnels leading to the Duchy of Mim will be in the territory of other duergar clans.Epilogue: The session has long ended – which explains the silence of the chevalier at least to some extent – and now Sir Oengus announces that he will order a special belt buckle for Sir Eber to denote his rank in duergar society. This to replace exactly such a buckle the king had on his belt, which the ranger wasn’t allowed to take when the duel ended because of ‘taboo’ and because taking it anyway at that point would most likely have resulted in the king’s men attacking our noble heroes.Then, Sir Oengus asks some of the queen’s generals whether any duergar would be willing to join his water liners, selling the latter to the generals as ‘assassins, marines, sneaky types’. The generals’ answers do not differ much from those they gave Navarre earlier when he asked a similar question but Sir Oengus persists and he eventually finds a duergar who suggests that some duergar may throw out some lines and then see what that will bring.“Maybe some maniac duergar are so stupid,” the duergar says.In any case, Sir Oengus is told, any activities any such crazy duergar would possibly engage in on the surface would have to be during the Dark. He learns that one of these ‛Darks’ will be some ten to eleven ten-days from now, which would almost coincide with the assault on Apple Island proposed by the chevalier when he spoke to monsieur his father and Duke Dauberval earlier.</blockquote>

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