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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ilgatto" data-source="post: 9754262" data-attributes="member: 86051">Duergar & Daemons Part XII: (To the) City of CopperIn which the DM informs our noble heroes that it is Day 122; that it is some twenty-two days from Ball to the Red Cave; and that the chevalier’s preparations for the ‘winter campaign’ will be completed on Day 226, about a hundred days from now.Night 122, continued: Our noble heroes spend some time conversing with Meagle and Rodlu in the refectory. They learn that Ball is located somewhere below the border between Sarazin and Mim and that Dragon Point is on the other side of King’s Lake, below either Thuxra or Bagabuxsha.“I say, Rodlu,” Navarre asks at some point. “How big is this pillar we seem to live on anyway?”“Pillar has many creatures,” Rodlu says. “Purple worm, thoqqua, khargra, xorn...”The duergar starts a lengthy discourse on the latter, which turn out to be three-legged, three-armed, and three-eyed creatures that feed on gems. They come from the Elemental Plane of Earth, he says, just like many other creatures of the Underdark. He goes on to say that the duergar also have a connection to this plane and that they built the world on the orders of its owners. Annoyed that he didn’t get the answer he wanted, Navarre is nonetheless intrigued when he hears the duergar refer to ‘the owners of the pillar’.“Good lord,” he says. “The pillar is owned by someone?”“God creatures,” Rodlu says. “Daemons also come from other world. Gehenna.”“I see,” our noble hero says, not quite getting what the duergar is on about. There just seems to be too much he doesn’t understand of late.“Many creatures, you say?,” he continues, trying to get the duergar back on track. “Are there any other dwarves besides the duergar?”“Stonebones.”“And where would one find these?”“Intruders. Not from here. Thieves. Live on surface.”“Where on the surface? Can’t say that I’ve seen many of them about up there, old sport.”“Rodlu never see,” Rodlu says. “Intruders. Duergar build world. Not Stonebones.”“And what about the other ‘peoples’?,” the chevalier asks. “What are they?”“Elves, gnomes. Svirfnebli! Rats of Deep Underdark!”When it turns out that Rodlu doesn’t have much more information, Sir Suvali asks Meagle some questions about the ‘layout’ of the Underdark. He concludes that this part of the duergar realm consists of a number of settlements along a single tunnel shaped rather like a ring or perhaps a horseshoe. When asked about Ball, Meagle says that the clan that lives there has three settlements: Ball, Horrible, and Terrible. When pressed on the matter, he has to admit that all three settlements are actually called Ball, with Ball being known as High-Ball, Terrible as Middle-Ball, and Horrible as Low-Ball. It does not become clear what led to the schism.What does become clear is that High-Ball doesn’t seem to have much to interest our noble heroes, for the next notes indicate that the company are on their way to Middle-Ball.En route, Sir Eber, the chevalier, and Sir Suvali discuss Sir Eber’s slaves a lot. The creatures have started to grow hair and they have even looked at some of our noble heroes without orders to that effect – are the effects of the debilitating powder wearing off?Of further note would be that the DM started rolling some dice around midday, only to mumble that “it was nothing after all”. The tunnel continues to turn left ever so slightly.Night 123: The company reach Middle-Ball late that day, an elongated cavern with a canyon-like path down the center. Rows of buildings on each side form terrace-like constructs and most of these feature ornamental carvings like those in High-Ball. About halfway into the canyon, when the chevalier has yet again foregone voicing one of his customary introductions, Navarre points his lantern at a terrace – where some duergar instantly vanish.“Hello up there?,” he yells, before turning to the chevalier. “Well, old fruit? Shouldn’t you say something?”“Mes amis!,” the chevalier yells. “We have come from above to trade and talk!”When this only leads to more duergar disappearing, the company proceed for a bit until they reach what must be a refectory and a bathhouse.“Allô?,” the chevalier calls. “We will accept a modest geste of hospitality!”Now, several voices start yelling at Rodlu.“Duergar want buy me and other slaves,” the plump duergar explains.“They are free persons!,” the chevalier calls. “We cannot sell them! All we want is a place to spend the night!”Still without showing themselves, the duergar start suggesting ridiculously high prices for such a place, upon which our noble heroes decide to leave the invisible duergar of Middle-Ball to whatever they were doing.Night 125: At the end of the day, the company reach Low-Ball, another hemispherical cavern, this one with three groups of buildings centered on a raised plaza with some steps leading up to it and surrounded by what seem to be tiers of low benches.“Arena for fights,” Rodlu explains.The company enter the cavern and proceed down a street that runs between two of the three sections that make up the settlement. Each of these measures roughly twenty by twenty yards and each is separated from its neighbors by another street, with the first leading to an open doorway to the right and the second to an ornate gate in the cavern wall to the left, rather like the one in High-Ball. Our noble heroes identify a refectory and a bath house, while a larger, relatively massive but otherwise rather nondescript edifice takes up most of the section on the other side of the arena.“Palace of queen,” Rodlu announces, when the company reach the gates of the building.“Honored queen and adoring subjects!,” the chevalier calls, gesturing grandly. “We present ourselves! We have stories and offers of trade! We are looking for hospitality!”Four duergar appear out of nothing, in plate armor and with shields and halberds.“Welcome,” one of them says.“Merci,” the chevalier says. “That is good to hear.”“You wish?”“We are in the market for exotic goods,” the chevalier says. “Metals, special stones, the work of your most accomplished craftsmen.”“Maybe duergar have things you like,” the guard says. “One moment.”When he returns some fifteen minutes later, he is in the company of four other duergar, each carrying a small chest.“Things duergar sell,” the guard says. “Humans appraise.”The chevalier opens one of the chests, which contains all manner of copper items – bowls, cups, utensils, all of excellent craftsmanship and many of them filigreed, engraved, etched, or a combination of the three.“This is of excellent quality,” Navarre says, nodding appreciatively. “Where did you get it?”“Copper dwarves bring copper,” one of the newcomers says. “Low-Ball duergar are craftsmen.”“How much do you ask for these chests?”“Two gold for one chest.”“Good lord!,” Navarre exclaims in surprise. Although he doesn’t know much about such things, two gold seems a decent enough price for work of this quality.“What do you think?,” he asks the chevalier.“C’est pas cher. I’d say there would be quite a bit of interest for these. Indeed, there may be a decent profit in it for us. Double our money and all that.”“I say, old boy,” Navarre says to Sir Eber. “Do you think your men could carry these chests to the surface?”“So you two think you can make some money here?,” the ranger says angrily.“Whatever do you mean?,” Navarre asks.“I’m saying that you’re spending our money,” Sir Eber growls.“You have me at a disadvantage, old boy,” Navarre says. “I haven’t got the foggiest about what you’re on about.”“You can’t do that and pocket the profits.”“Who said I am going to pocket anything?,” Navarre says.“The money is not for you alone.”“You are mistaken, Sir,” Navarre says stiffly, deciding to let the small matter of the business with the wine being on his head alone pass. “All earnings will go the war effort, which, surely, will be to the benefit of us all.”“Just as long as you know,” the ranger says.Navarre doesn’t even know what to say to this.And so Navarre ends up buying all four chests, which sets him back eight gold and will roughly net him sixteen gold when he sells their contents on the surface. The chests weigh around twenty-five pounds each and Sir Eber’s slaves will carry them for the time being. All in all, it must be said that Navarre realizes with some amusement that this may well be the first time in his life that he has actually made some coin himself!After all of this, Sir Eber asks the newcomers if they can make a gilt copper face mask for him. He is informed that they can, that this will take three days, and that it will cost him thirty gold. Clearly, Sir Eber is not about to spend his earnings on the war effort or, indeed, to the benefit of his noble companions any time soon.When this is done – and after instructing Rodlu to pay close attention to the proceedings so that he can learn the tricks of the trade – the chevalier converses with the newcomers for some time. He speaks of supply lines, timetables, production numbers, and he is told that filling another chest will take ten days.At some time during all of this, a number of duergar appear and hastily enter the palace.“I have arranged everything,” the chevalier says to Navarre when our noble heroes are walking to the refectory. “Rodlu will be in charge of the operation in the mine. He hates his own people and he will be the perfect partner for us. He has asked us to set up a trading post for him, a secret office, so that he can deal with the duergar in an official capacity.”“I would prefer to leave the operation in the hands of our own people,” Navarre says. “Rodlu continues to profess that he doesn’t know anything about anything and I do not share your conviction that he will not betray us the first chance he gets – or cause problems in general.”“Not at all, not at all,” the chevalier says. “He is a fast learner. He has even asked me for a woman so that he can present her to the duergar as a slave.”“Good lord!,” Navarre says. “Surely you are not going to give him a woman?”“Rodlu has assured me that he only needs her to confirm his status as a merchant in the duergar empire,” the chevalier says. “She will remain a free woman and he will treat her well.”“You cannot seriously believe a single word of what you have just said,” Navarre all but exclaims. “I do declare! Have you taken leave of your senses?”The chevalier throws him a frosty glance.“You disappoint me, monsieur,” he says.When our noble heroes are about to enter the refectory, some duergar all but push past them, carrying amounts of parchment and writing utensils.Long before this, Sir Oengus left for the refectory and entered the place with all the bravado of a sailor on shore leave. He started drinking beer with several of the duergar in the common room, who told him that they were extremely interested in ‛anything he could tell them about the surface’. When the subject of trade came up, one of the duergar – one Hador – said that he would be quite willing to buy maps of the surface.“This be yer lucky day, ye old scallywag,” Sir Oengus said to him. “I just so happens as to be havin’ exactly what ye be wantin’.”“Fantastic!,” Hador said, before turning to the other duergar and barking some things to them in their language. After some consternation, he turned to Sir Oengus again.“Duergar want maps,” he said.“Avast, ye old picaroon!,” the latter said. “Ye’ll be havin’ as to show me some gold first.”“Duergar pay.”“Well, ye’d better be gettin’ me a quill and ink then, to be sure!,” Sir Oengus said. “And another round of beer, by thunder!”Hador yelled something at the other duergar, who presently returns with parchment and writing utensils, just when the rest of our noble heroes and their entourage enter the refectory.“Har, har, mateys!,” Sir Oengus hollers at his noble companions. “Beer?”“Don’t mind if I do, old boy,” Navarre says as he and the others join him at the table. “I say! What is all this?”“I as to be drawin’ these ‘ere swags some maps, see?,” Sir Oengus says. “Paid good gold, to be sure!”He takes the parchment and starts drawing some lines on it.Drinking his beer, Navarre has a good look around. Seated at the table is a single duergar, Hador, while the other duergar are standing behind him and stretching to get a glimpse of what Sir Oengus is drawing. Meanwhile, Hador is somehow managing to urge Sir Oengus on while trying to keep his fellows at a distance at the same time without Sir Oengus noticing. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the creatures were duergar, the scene would have been quite comical.“I say, old bean,” Navarre says to Sir Oengus under his voice. “Is it wise to be giving these creatures maps of the surface?”“Scupper that, lubber,” Sir Oengus replies. “They be sea charts, see? Arr! Old Oengus has not been struck by the yardarm just yet!”Sir Oengus, wholly into his role as a bargeman again, continues drawing his map and spinning tall tales of the sea and all of its perils to the duergar.“What rank is that duergar at the table?,” Sir Eber asks Rodlu, after some time has passed.“Four. Highest rank in refectory now.”“Aye, me hearties!,” Sir Oengus hollers. “These be the songs of the sea, by thunder! Ye’d be wantin’ to ‘ear some of the tales of the land, ye say? Talk to the peacock port-side! He be a gifted storyteller, to be sure!”“Stories!,” one of the duergar in the room says. “Fantastic! Peacock!”“Pas du tout, pas du tout,” the chevalier says, gesturing in all modesty.“Yes!,” another duergar says. “Peacock! Stories!”“A-ha-ha-ha!,” the chevalier sings. “It is too much! Messieurs! Je vous en prie!”But he doffs his hat and gets to his feet despite his protestations.“Ahem, ahem!,” he starts, clearing his throat. “It is not my habit to be the center of attention like this.”Short pause for effect.“Alors!,” he resumes. “Il était une fois, on the surface… yes, on the surface, where a ball of fire lights up the sky, burning all duergar who venture there, causing them terrible pain! Oei, oei, oei!, they scream as they run around burning! Affreux! Donc…, there lived up there a strange people and some of them went on an adventure. They traveled far and beyond until they came to an island where un géant lived! Yes, a giant! Fee-Fay-Fum!, the giant hollered when he saw the adventurers and he was larger even than the largest of them… and larger still than the largest of the duergar! And the heroes fought this giant and, after they had defeated it, they took to the air on magical wings, flying over forests, skimming the treetops…”“Duergar want trees!,” one of the duergar yells. “Duergar want buy wood!”Unfortunately, this rather curtails the chevalier’s momentum and so we will never know how the story ended.Later, when Sir Oengus has finished his map and received his gold, the duergar get up and start for the exit.“Messieurs?,” the chevalier calls after them. “Are you going?”“Duergar leave humans for night,” Hador says.“Tiens!,” the chevalier says. “Would you mind if we locked the door after you?”“Not at all,” Hador says.And so the chevalier locks the door and the company are left in refectory, alone for the night.Night 126: After an uneventful night, our noble heroes spend the day in Low-Ball. They learn that it will take them some two days to get to the copper dwarves; the chevalier negotiates the delivery of more chests of copper with some duergar negotiators; and our noble heroes are informed that the ornate gate is a gate to High-Ball – shortening the journey to one day instead of three; that it is closed and only to be used in times of conflict and then only after the queen has given her permission; that it is a “level-2 adit”; and that the chevalier has changed his mind again and now intends to buy copper from the copper dwarves rather than from anyone else.“We will have a direct line to the source,” he says. “It will be cheaper.”“What about the queen?,” Navarre asks testily. “Are you to break your word again, Sir?”“Nonsense,” the chevalier says. “I shall renegotiate.”“Bah!,” Sir Eber comes in. “Why do you trade with these critters? They are slavers and evil to the core and we should be killing them!”And so the company spend the next couple of days in Low-Ball to wait for Sir Eber’s golden mask to be delivered.Night 130: The company have been traveling for two days, down a relatively straight tunnel for a change (from Mim to Palava), when they reach a set of large, copper double doors in a wall blocking their way, each nine feet tall and six feet wide. The doors are heavily and expertly worked, featuring as they do all manner of decidedly violent and bloodthirsty scenes in relief – duergar fighting duergar in a disturbing orgy of murder and carnage.When the chevalier tries and fails to open the doors, he calls Sir Eber. However, although he announces ‘that he will make short work of it’, he, too, fails to open the doors and so the chevalier knocks on one of them.“Ouvrez les portes!,” he calls. “S’il vous plaît!”From behind the doors comes a voice, hollering something in the language of the duergar.“They want you say names,” Rodlu informs our noble heroes.“We are emissaries from the king above!,” the chevalier yells. “We request an audience to discuss a trade deal! Word of our arrival has preceded us! We come in peace and we are few in number!”After Rodlu has translated this, nothing happens for more than five minutes. Then, the right door opens ever so slightly and a duergar peeks through the opening, possibly a soldier or gatekeeper of some kind.“Bonjour,” the chevalier says. “We seek an audience in your city. Is there somewhere we can speak in a more civilized manner?”“Go away!,” the duergar says.“We have passed many duergar posts and conducted trade to great benefit of the duergar,” the chevalier says.“What humans want?”“We would like to buy copper.”“How much?”“How much do you have?”“Hundred ingots.”“At what price?”“Very cheap!,” the duergar says. “Ten gold for one hundredweight ingot.”“A deal is only possible if we are also allowed free passage to Dragon Point,” the chevalier says.“Dragon Point very far,” the duergar says. “Eleven days! Very dangerous! Thieves! Gangs! Doors on other side are also closed! Humans get blindfolds!”“We are peers of the realm and not to be blindfolded,” Navarre says. “Our word must be enough.”“Ahem, ahem!,” the chevalier cuts in. “Your proposition is… a matter of concern. We shall consider it. Ah! Did I mention that we have brought des cadeaux for your queens?”“Ten queens. Ten gifts?”“Évidemment,” the chevalier says smoothly. “But we must pass through your city without blindfolds.”“When you pay gold for copper?,” the duergar asks.“In a ten-day,” the chevalier says. “The sale will take place in the cave we spoke of.”Navarre wonders which cave the chevalier is speaking of, and when he spoke of it with this duergar. Then again, he wasn’t listening much when his noble friend spoke to the negotiators in Low-Ball.“Twenty,” the duergar says. “Twenty days. Ten kilos of copper in cave.”Ah, Navarre thinks, there you have it.“Rodlu!,” the chevalier calls. “Write this down, would you?”The doors open and so it was that the chevalier negotiated our noble heroes’ entrance to the city of the copper dwarves.</blockquote>

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