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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ilgatto" data-source="post: 9743964" data-attributes="member: 86051">Duergar & Daemons Part X: The Single ManIn which our noble heroes start the session engaged in conversation on what to do next, but not before the chevalier has been pestering Navarre for at least half of the profits of the trade deal he didn’t negotiate.“I am considering my uncle Alphonse to set up the consortium, old fruit,” Navarre says stiffly. “Best talk to him about the matter and all that.”Night 101, continued: With the small matter of his future earnings out of the way, the chevalier addresses his noble companions.“Messieurs,” he says solemnly. “We must form a Coalition of the North. To this end, we must free Wyrsn from the hold of the bandits.”“Wyrsn?,” Navarre all but exclaims. “Whatever for? It would take months, perhaps a year! Are we to give Mim all that time? My dear fellow! We must deal with Mim first and foremost, if only because he owes us an apology! There will be ample time for Suva… those concerned… to deal with the bandit councils after that.”“I stand corrected,” the chevalier says. “We can be on Apple Island with superior numbers within three months.”Navarre casts his noble friend a puzzled glance.“Messieurs,” the chevalier continues. “We must eliminate Mim’s barges. We’ll be fine once we get to the island but we may well be foutus if we run into them before we can get there. It is paramount we reach the island without incident!”“I’ll use me water liners,” Sir Oengus says. “You train your lubbers, me hearties, and leave Mim’s barges to me.”“Excellent,” the chevalier says. “One barge taken is one less barge for Mim and one more for us.”“Quite,” Navarre says. “But all of this is in three months’ time at the earliest. Water liners, infantry, all of this requires time. What is to be done until then?”A lengthy debate ensues, with the chevalier promoting crippling Mim’s economy again; Sir Eber suggesting getting to Apple Island without any soldiers at all and killing Mim and his generals personally; Sir Oengus proposing a trip to Walrus Island; Sir Suvali stating that the egg is all that he is interested in; and Navarre arguing that there could very well be a solution to the Mim problem in the Underdark, if only for practical reasons. Indeed, after some time, his argument seems to gain ground, with only the chevalier still resisting.“Messieurs, to resume: it will be winter before we can finish our preparations,” the latter says. “Half of King’s Lake will be frozen over by then. Oengus requires three months to train his soldats nagents. We will have six hundred men from three duchies – Dauberval, Sarazin, Nisibis – and it will take three months to train our infantry. We will require twenty barges to get our men to the island and acquiring them may very well take some three months as well. Everything points to a winter campaign.”“That does rather seem to be the case,” Navarre agrees.“Our focus must be on the barges,” the chevalier continues. “We must reduce Mim’s fleet and assemble one of our own. Without his barges, Mim will be crippled in more than one regard.”“True,” Navarre says. “No supply lines, no supplies. He will find it hard to feed his men in winter. Damned shame about the royal orchards, I say.”“Mim has three hundred men on Apple Island and two hundred on barges, six of which are armed à la manière d’Ungus,” the chevalier says. “Another hundred men are divided among his bases in his duchies.”“We must have superior numbers for our assault on Apple Island,” Navarre says.“Pas du tout, mon cher,” the chevalier says triumphantly. “That is exactly why we need a well-trained infantry!”“The barges won’t be a problem,” Sir Suvali says, who hasn’t said much so far. “I’ll fly up to them at night, drop some fire bombs and torch the lot. I’ll easily take out four barges a night. Now, can we get going? I’d like to get my Fireball.”A vote is taken and the majority turns out to be in favor of further exploring the Underdark for the time being.It seems that the debate was conducted mostly out-of-game, for now Sir Suvali addresses the queen again.“Can your majesty provide us with a guide?,” he asks.“Maybe,” the queen replies. “Not good go to Underdark. Only bad sorts. Next is inn for bad sorts. Then Red Cave. Red Cave have many important queens. Very obsessed for strangers. Red Cave no good for one Stalag duergar.”“We shall inform them that we have slain the king,” the chevalier says. “Perhaps majesté could provide a letter expressing as much? A message, a token?”“King sword very famous,” the queen says. “Show to duergar is big sign of king dead.”She casts Sir Eber a strange glance, even though he has given the sword to Sir Oengus some time ago.“What will we find in the Red Cave?,” Navarre asks.“Two gates for Red Cave,” the queen says. “One to one part and one to other. Stalag duergar can only go in one part.”“Why does majesté have problems with the duergar of the Red Cave?,” the chevalier asks. “You are all duergar, non?”“Many duergar, many views,” the queen says, after giving the matter some thought.“Surely not as exalted as those of majesté,” the chevalier suggests smoothly.“All duergar same in Red Cave,” the queen says. “Commune. Bah! I cannot think of it!”“And what is their trade?”“Slaves.”“Human?,” Sir Eber cuts in.“All kinds.”“Is the way to the Deep Underdark through the Red Cave?”“Way goes on,” the queen says, after some hesitation. “No direct way to Deep Underdark.”“Is there a material reason for this ‘indirectness’ or is it a cultural thing?,” Navarre asks.Again, the queen hesitates.“Two times no,” she says eventually.“Why, it would seem that we are to have a bit of an adventure, then,” Navarre says to his noble fellows before addressing the queen again. “Did you also mention an inn?”“Inn is for renegade males,” the queen scoffs. “Bad sorts.”“Majesté,” the chevalier says, with an elegant flourish. “With adventure thus calling again, we would humbly ask for the honor of being excused. We assure majesté of our profoundest égards and beg her forgiveness for our feeble attempts to thank majesté for her patience and hospitality. Majesté, nos compliments! Messieurs, on départ!”And so our noble heroes take their leave of the queen of Stalag, on their way to further adventures.Night 102: Early that day, after spending the night on their folding boat, our noble heroes approach the only exit from Stalag they have not yet explored. When they get there, a duergar appears, who informs them that the queen has told him to be their guide. He doesn’t seem very pleased.“Welcome aboard, matey,” Sir Oengus says. “Sails away, I says!”The company enter the tunnel and find it to meander slightly on a mostly level plane. They pass quite a number of the narrower tunnels they have seen in the walls of other tunnels, each lower and about a tenth of the width of the main tunnel.“Duergar explore,” the guide explains, when asked about them. “For mines, for veins, pockets.”“These tunnels are quite different from the main tunnel,” Navarre says. “So who made the main tunnels?”“Old tunnels,” the guide says. “Belong to White Wizard. Dragon.”“Indeed?,” Navarre asks, raising an eyebrow. “A dragon?”“And where is this dragon now?,” the chevalier asks.“Duergar came as helpers of White Wizard,” the guide says.“And the dragon?,” the chevalier asks.“Dragon killed. All dragons dead.”Our noble heroes do not learn much more than they already know, except that the inn down the road is called “The Single Man” and that no female duergar are allowed in there.Some five hours later, a light appears in the distance and the company halt to wait for what approaches.“Duergar come,” the guide says, when the light has moved only a bit closer.“Allô?,” the chevalier calls.An unintelligible response follows.“We come in peace!,” the chevalier calls.When the light gets closer, the guide advances and engages in a short conversation with an unseen creature.“They speak duergar,” Sir Suvali says. He has been paying attention when the duergar were speaking ever since our noble heroes started running into them on a regular basis and he already seems to understand some words of their language. When the guide returns, he informs our noble heroes that they must sit down against the tunnel wall and avert their eyes while the other duergar pass.“Certainly not, old boy,” Navarre says.The guide shrugs and some moments later seven duergar come into view at some sixty yards, a pale human on a chain behind each of them. The humans present a poor sight: they are naked, completely hairless, with gaunt physiques and apparently wholly devoid of even a modicum of free will.“What is this!?,” Sir Eber barks to the guide.“Slaves,” the guide replies.This seems to infuriate the ranger no end and he has some trouble restraining himself, if only just.“How much do these miscreants want for them?,” he manages to growl.The guide walks over to the slavers and presently returns with one of them.“Slaves go to mine,” the slaver says. “Gold was paid.”“How much?,” Sir Eber says.“Thirty gold.”“Too much. Ten.”“How many humans you want?,” the slaver asks, a sly grin on his face.“I’ll take them all.”“Two hundred gold.”“That isn’t much of a discount,” Sir Eber says.“Hundred seventy gold for seven,” the slaver says.“Deal.”Navarre and the chevalier have been watching the proceedings in amazement.“This is quickly becoming a rather expensive day,” Navarre says to his noble friend. “What with a whole city of slavers up ahead and all that.”When Sir Eber has played the slavers they disappear into thin air, leaving their slaves behind. Although still recognizable as such, these seem barely human, with empty eyes and quickly proving to be incapable of doing anything on their own – the creatures just stand there.“Slaves born and bred in Underdark,” the guide says.“Take these men back to Stalag,” Sir Eber says to him. “See to it that they are bathed, fed, clothed, and that they get a roof over their head. I hold you responsible for their treatment.”“No problem,” the guide says, clearly glad to return to Stalag. “Have a nice day.”When the guide and the slaves are gone, Navarre addresses Sir Eber.“I say, old boy,” he says. “Wasn’t that a bit strong?”The ranger throws him an angry glare,“Strong?,” he barks. “You haven’t seen strong yet!”“Indeed?,” Navarre says. “I’d say we haven’t seen the last slave today.”“What is it with you people?!,” the ranger bursts out. “Why aren’t we killing these dwarves and burning down their cities instead of talking to them? They must be destroyed, all of them!”“Calm down, old boy,” Navarre says. “It seems to be the way of things down here.”“They keep slaves!,” the ranger fumes. “Human slaves! It is against nature! Against everything I stand for!”“Is it?,” Navarre asks. “Isn’t it rather the way of nature that each has his own place in it?”“That be easy coming from you,” Sir Oengus cuts in. “You keep slaves yourself.”“Whatever do you mean?,” Navarre asks, without the faintest idea of what his noble fellow is on about.“You have farmers and servants, haven’t you?,” Sir Oengus scoffs. “Nothing more than slaves, lubber!”Navarre can hardly believe his ears.“Surely you jest, Sir!,” he says. “Slaves? They are the common folk, whose duty it is to work the land, serve their betters – as it is my sacred duty to protect them.”“You think they like working for you, then?,” Sir Oengus asks.“And what has that got to do with anything?,” Navarre asks. “Each has his own place in life. It has always been like that.”“Easy for you to say,” Sir Oengus says. “Talking from up there all high and mighty.”“And what are you, Sir?,” Navarre asks sharply. “A revolutionary?”And so, some three hours later and after much rejoicing, our noble heroes arrive at “The Single Man”. The first signs of the inn are several openings in the wall to the right, which seem to be stables of varying heights – although usually quite low – and then the faint sound of music is heard. Our noble heroes advance until they reach a wooden door in the left wall. The music has become louder and seems to come from right behind it.The chevalier knocks on the door and some time passes before a small shutter opens and a dark face appears.“Bonjour,” the chevalier says. “We have come as ambassadors from the king above to trade with your people and explore the Underdark. We have spoken to many duergar and negotiated deals with them to the benefit of all concerned. We have spoken with queens and generals and one of us has slain the duergar king. We are but simple travelers looking for a place to spend the night.”The shutter closes and, when it opens again after some time, two faces peer through the hole. The music has stopped.“Ah! There you are!,” the chevalier resumes. “Some sober lodgings for the night, aubergiste. We will pay.”“Pay?,” one of the faces asks.The shutter closes and then the door opens. A duergar appears.“Welcome, welcome,” he says, grinning. “Welcome in establishment. Unique! Yes! Fantastic! Free humans! Gentlemen! Follow me!”The innkeeper ushers our noble heroes into the common room, upon which the music resumes. Two creatures dressed much like the queen of Stalag are dancing on a stage next to one where the musicians are playing. A handful of duergar sit at tables, eyeing our noble heroes with interest.“Sit, sit!,” the innkeeper gestures, before heading to a counter. “Food comes!”When our noble heroes have taken seats, the innkeeper brings a number of platters of meats, cheeses, pastries, sauces.“I’ll have some of your best gnome blood to go with that, landlord,” Navarre says, dipping a moldy cheese into one of the sauces. “I say! Jolly nice place you’ve got here! Well played, old boy!”“We would like to stay the night, aubergiste,” the chevalier says, ignoring the food. “Do you have any rooms?”“Certainly,” the innkeeper says. “Follow me to show rooms.”Navarre, the chevalier, and Sir Suvali follow the innkeeper through a door at the back, down an empty corridor, and then down another with a room at the end. The room contains some stone benches and it is large enough for all of our noble heroes to sleep in.“Excellent,” Navarre says, who has kept his eyes open en route to the room and presently notices that the door can be locked from the inside.“I’ll stay here and study,” Sir Suvali says.Navarre and the chevalier return to the common room where Navarre tries all of the food, finding most of it to have a typically bland taste without the pungent sauces. Only the pastries have a sweet taste of their own – ‛osquip’ meat in a honey-like substance, the chevalier explains, before he turns to some of the duergar present.“Messieurs,” he starts. “Would you, perchance, hail from the Red Cave?”“No,” one of the duergar replies.“We hear of you,” another says.“A-ha-ha-ha,” the chevalier laughs modestly. “Not at all, mon ami, not at all!”“You come from Evil Queen,” the duergar resumes.“We do?,” the chevalier asks. “I can’t say that I recall meeting this individual.”“Evil Queen of Stalag,” the duergar says. “Bad sort.”The other duergar nod in agreement.“Ah!,” the chevalier says. “We have, indeed, spoken to majesté! Enchanting woman! And where might you gentlemen hail from?”“We no clans,” one of the duergar says.“Then you come from further down the road?,” the chevalier asks, glancing at the dancers on the stage. “Not from Beyond?”“Human speaks of Refuge,” one of the duergar says. “Bah! Drunkards! Bad duergar!”The chevalier spends some moments looking at the dancers on the stage.“Eh, bien!,” he resumes, his eyes still on the dancers. “Would you gentlemen be interested in some business?”“Big market every ten-day in Stalag,” one of the duergar says. “Small market every day. Much trade in Stalag.”“Vraiment?,” the chevalier says, still ogling the dancers. Apparently, he is quite taken by them.“Et les… demoiselles là-bas?,” he asks, winking naughtily. “Ooh la la-a-a-a, hein? Can one engage them in… private conversation?”“If you will excuse me?,” Navarre says, rising to his feet. “I do believe that it is time for me to retire.”When he is gone, the chevalier continues asking the duergar about the dancers, with Sir Eber and Sir Oengus cheering him on.“Tell me, mon ami,” the chevalier asks one of the duergar at some point. “What do the queens say about you having these saucy demoiselles dancing up there?”“No womans may come here,” the duergar says.“Excellent!,” the chevalier says. “Dites-moi, what does it take to get one of them alone?”“You pay,” the duergar says, a lewd grin curling his lips. “You have gold?”“Well?,” Sir Eber cuts in. “What about it, Sarazin? I’ll pay!”And so it is that the chevalier ends up taking one of the dancers to a quiet room, where the creature assumes a demure pose on the bed.“Asseyez-vous, ma petite, asseyez-vous!,” the chevalier croons. With the moment suprême now obviously approaching fast, our gallant hero starts fidgeting about the room in what he calls ‘an attempt to create a little atmosphere’.“I undress?,” the dancer asks, after some time.“Allez-y, allez-y, ma petite!,” the chevalier sings, now decidedly flushed. “Je vous-en prie!”The dancer undresses and presently a plump, pinkish, hairless, male duergar stands in the room, stark naked in all his glory. The chevalier has to swallow hard.“A-ha-ha-ha!,” he laughs awkwardly. “Mon ami! I had no idea! A little conversation, perhaps?”Tiens, tiens! When the laughter has died down, the chevalier tells the plump duergar to get dressed again and starts expressing his outrage at the affair. The duergar, who is exceedingly timid for one of his kind, remains submissive during the whole episode, apparently used to all sorts and clearly prepared for anything. In the end, it becomes clear that he is clan-less and rank-less and that he is the slave and property of the innkeeper. This makes him of no importance or value to duergar society whatsoever, except, obviously, in his capacity as… a prostitute.The chevalier informs the chubby fellow that he cannot bear to see him suffer like this and that he will buy his freedom if he will allow this. The duergar says that the human can do whatever he wants to him, clearly not believing a word of what the chevalier says and perhaps expecting the whole thing to be part of some fetishist sex game. Eventually, after the plump duergar has agreed to everything the chevalier has said, our gallant hero takes his leave, again promising the duergar that he will buy his freedom.When he gets back to the room where his noble fellows sleep, he finds Sir Eber on guard.“He wants to be free more than anything else,” he says, when he has informed his noble companion of what has transpired. “It is a splendid opportunity! He will be the most loyal duergar one could ever hope for! We must buy his freedom!”“How much?,” the ranger asks.“Three hundred gold,” the chevalier says.“No problem,” the ranger says, procuring his bag of gold.Seeing the ranger counting out the gold, the chevalier suddenly backs down.“Ah! Oui…,” he starts. “Perhaps we can free him in a… more clandestine manner?”“All fine by me,” Sir Eber replies.“Speaking of coin,” the chevalier says. “He also told me that the queen is known as the Evil Queen and that she has fifty daughters she exploits mercilessly. He said that every female born to the duergar gets a dowry at birth, which makes the queen fabulously rich. Alors…”“Go to sleep, Sarazin,” the ranger interrupts him. “I don’t care about money.”Night 103: When everybody is awake, the chevalier informs his noble companions of his nocturnal escapade in some detail, before suggesting taking the plump duergar with them on their way back.“I strongly oppose the notion of kidnapping this duergar,” Navarre says irritably. “It would be theft and needlessly aggravate many duergar, if not jeopardize the policy of diplomacy you yourself have so admirably concerned yourself with.”“We can buy his freedom,” Sir Eber says.“And how much would be involved in this transaction?,” Navarre asks.“Three hundred gold.”Navarre has to restrain himself quite considerably, mightily vexed at his noble companions’ obvious intent to blow all the money they’ve earned on trivialities rather than the war against Mim – or, for that matter, to finance the disastrous deal the chevalier negotiated with the queen of Stalag.“I cannot say that I am much in favor of any of this,” he eventually manages to croak.A vote is taken and so it is decided that Sir Eber and the chevalier will talk to the innkeeper about buying the plump duergar from him when they pass the inn again on their way back to the surface.When our noble heroes are having breakfast in the common room, the innkeeper joins them and warns them about the Red Cave.“Bad sorts,” he says. “Very bad. You go no more than thirty yards to gate. Queens will try to catch you and sell you as slaves.”Although it is not the first time our noble heroes have heard the duergar discuss their own kind in this manner, the innkeeper seems strangely adamant.“What do you suggest?,” the chevalier asks.“You write letter and leave for gate and go,” the innkeeper says. “Queens have two hundred armed soldiers.”“We appreciate the warning, old boy,” Navarre says.A shrewd look appears on the innkeeper’s face.“I pay five hundred gold for one Red Cave princess,” he says. “Also for other princesses.”Our noble heroes take their leave of the innkeeper and continue on their way. About an hour later, the tunnel takes them into a cavern some fifty yards wide and ten high. Some twenty yards down the cavern a wall with arrow slits and two gates in it blocks their progress.“Stand back,” the chevalier says. “Thirty yards, the aubergiste said. Sound advice with those arrow slits.”He ushers his noble companions back into the tunnel, procures his trumpet and blows the ‛Open the Gates to Honored Guests’. When nothing happens for fifteen minutes, he ties a handkerchief to his scabbard, advances about a yard into the cavern and blows his trumpet again. Navarre is right behind him, his crossbow drawn.“We come from the realm above to trade!,” the chevalier yells, waving his scabbard when there is no reaction to his second effort on the trumpet. “We would speak to your queens or their representatives!”There is no answer for some time.“Where you come from?,” a voice comes, finally.“We come from above with food and wine of excellent quality!,” the chevalier yells.Again, there is no answer for quite some time.“Wait!,” the voice comes, eventually.Time passes before the voice speaks again.“What you propose?”“The best wines for treasures of the earth and exotic goods!,” the chevalier yells.More waiting.“You come from Evil Queen?”“We come from the king above!,” the chevalier yells. “We have defeated the king of the duergar and carry with us proof of this!”Some more waiting.“Put goods at gate!,” the voice comes.“We are emissaries!,” the chevalier yells. “We have come to talk!”Yet more waiting.“Come back when you have trade goods!,” the voice comes again.“And what would you offer in return?,” the chevalier yells.Time passes.“Gold, slaves, semi-precious stones!,” the voice comes.“Do you have an entrance to the Underdark?,” the chevalier yells.More time passes.“Maybe!,” the voice answers.“What are your prices?”Yet more time passes.“Reasonable!”“We can offer wine of the best vintage! Du chocolat, du nougat, du miel, all of the most excellent quality!”Another prolonged pause.“Ah-a-a-a!”“We expect something of equal value and quality in return,” the chevalier yells. “Weapons, explosives, siege engines.”As may have become clear by now, the duergar of the Red Cave take a long time to answer each question and they continue to do so throughout the entire exchange. For the sake of brevity, a succinct version of the episode is given below.Some questions about possible passages to the Deep Underdark lead to little more than that there are some fifteen clans or tribes beyond the Red Cave. After a while, it becomes clear that the duergar are not prepared to open the gates to our noble heroes, let alone allow them to pass. It is only when Sir Eber yells at them that he killed their king and shows them Navarre’s shield that the creatures seem to see some reason. They announce that they will allow our noble heroes passage for the princely sum of fifty gold each and that trade is possible, albeit on their terms only. However, the duergar of the Red Cave do not turn out to have any goods of any interest to our noble heroes.“We are interested in goods of a more exotic nature!,” the chevalier yells at some point. “Like they sell at the island with the fire beetles!”More waiting.“Bad sorts!,” the voice yells. “Daughters of Evil Queen rule island! Banned from Stalag! No trust them!”And then, finally, Navarre has had enough of the duergar of the Red Cave and their antics. By Olm! He is a peer of the realm, and he will not stand being treated like this any longer!“If you gentlemen would excuse me?,” he growls, pushing past the chevalier and Sir Eber as he steps into the cavern.“You in there!,” he calls. “I am Navarre Dauberval de Vergennes and I would speak to your queens! Your demand for payment for our passage is preposterous! We will either pass through your city in a dignified manner and to the benefit of us both or we will turn back! I await your answer and I urge you to make haste. I will no longer tolerate you wasting our time like this!”After the mandatory pause, the answer comes.“Put goods at gate for duergar appraisal and duergar consider what you say!,” the voice comes.“Right, that’s it,” Navarre says to his noble fellows, before turning to the gates again. “Gentlemen, I bid you good day!”And with that, our noble heroes turn around and head back to Stalag.</blockquote>

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