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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ilgatto" data-source="post: 9764119" data-attributes="member: 86051">Duergar & Daemons Part XIV: Den of ThievesNight 137, continued: But now it is the chevalier’s turn to be the voice of reason.“Certainly, mon cher,” he says. “But we must know what awaits us up there. Rodlu? Enlighten us, if you please!”“Poison bolts,” Rodlu says, pointing to Navarre’s pack. “Have special mark. Almost never used. Is priests. Very expensive and duergar immune and priests insane.”“Sleep poison?,” Sir Oengus says. “A problem, to be sure.”“Is seven days back to Fish,” Rodlu says. “Only one day to Den of Thieves.”“Den of Thieves? Explain yerself, lubber!”“Is where raiders live,” Rodlu says.“I will not retreat,” Navarre growls, still fuming. “There’s webs there, right? And the priest is caught in the second. I say we get him out of there alive and use him to negotiate our way into the lair. Saves us from having to deal with an invisible enemy firing poisoned bolts at us for Olm knows how long, and we can take it from there.”“Hear, hear!,” Sir Eber says, albeit somewhat weakly.“We’ll advance in two groups so not all of us will be in range of their weapons at once,” Navarre says to the chevalier. “We’ll take the lead and Eber and Oengus will follow at some distance. Suvali will be behind them in the air.”He procures one of his fire bombs, tosses it into the air and deftly catches it again.“Tally-bloody-ho,” he says, a grim smile on his face.And so our noble heroes move back to the site of the ambush in formation, where nothing stirs when the first web appears in the light of the chevalier’s lantern. He dashes into one of the smaller tunnels to the right and then Navarre hurls his fire bomb. It shatters on the floor right in front of the web, spraying its contents over at least half of it. The web flares and the right half is gone in less than a second.“Hey, priest!,” he calls, moving through the darkness to where the web was without even bothering to crouch for cover. “See that? Surrender or burn to death!”When there is no answer for several minutes, the chevalier appears again and the noble duo move further down the tunnel until the light of the lantern touches upon the spot where the second web… was.“It’s gone!,” Navarre whispers through clenched teeth. “Confound it!”He signals the others, who arrive in due course.“Gentlemen, there is nobody there,” Sir Suvali says, pointing to his dogs when they stay all quiet.Our noble heroes have another quick look around and then Rodlu appears out of nothing.“Rodlu plunder one body?,” he asks.“Why?,” the chevalier asks in return.“Is no good Rodlu no crossbow, no bolts.”Navarre looks at his noble fellow in alarm. Surely he is not going to arm the creature?“Why don’t you search the maze there for secret doors instead,” the chevalier suggests.Rodlu shrugs and returns about ten minutes later.“Is no secret doors,” he says.“Messieurs,” the chevalier starts. “Et maintenant? On retourne? On continue?”It takes our noble heroes but a second to decide to press on, all of them quite eager to avenge the treacherous attack.“En avant!,” the chevalier cries. “On continue! Rodlu! If you would be so kind as to take the lead?”The duergar looks at the chevalier in alarm.“Rodlu no crossbow,” he stammers. “Is much danger.”“Pas du tout, mon cher, pas du tout!,” the chevalier waves away the complaint. “It will be to the advantage of all!”“Maybe not,” Rodlu says. “Raiders no good. Kill Rodlu quick.”“Mon ami!,” the chevalier insists. “Have you forgotten they cannot even see you?”A short debate ensues, with the plump duergar remaining torn between what he surely expects to lie ahead and the fact that he actually has nowhere else to go, until, finally, the chevalier manages to convince him to see reason.“Good,” he says. “Rodlu go. But you stay far behind. Raiders hear you miles away.”“Et voilà!,” the chevalier says, offering him a handful of pebbles. “You can use these to mark any traps you might find – or anything else that might get us into trouble. Mon ami! Adieu! Bon courage!”Rodlu looks at the pebbles and only just seems to manage to suppress a gesture of utter disdain.“Maybe better take slave,” he suggests. “Rodlu can send ahead and see what happens and then warn you.”When the laughter has died down, our noble heroes establish a marching order, with Rodlu on point some considerable distance ahead, then Navarre and the chevalier, followed at some twenty yards by Sir Oengus and Sir Eber, and then Sir Suvali in the air some yards behind them again, albeit only after Sir Eber has expressed his displeasure about not being on the front lines and hiding behind others.“Not to worry, old boy,” Navarre says. “Just charge to the fore at the first sign of trouble and I’ll be well out of your way when you reach us.”And so our noble heroes continue their trek through the Underdark with extreme caution, moving only slowly and ever vigilant – except for a short span when Sir Eber decides to express his frustration at the proceedings by repeatedly yelling a platitude best not mentioned here. After about eight hours of this – the creeping about, not Sir Eber clamorously referring to excrement – the chevalier suddenly notices Rodlu in the light of his lantern, his back against the left wall.“Look,” the plump duergar mouths, pointing a crossbow at a brick wall jutting at a right angle from the right wall some twenty yards down the tunnel. It reaches to about halfway across the tunnel, leaving only a narrow passage for our noble heroes to negotiate. Still quite pumped up by the events earlier that day, Navarre decides not to wonder where the creature got its crossbow from. Instead, he dashes to the brick wall, crouches down and draws his sword. Moments later, Sir Eber is at his side.“Too late, old boy,” Navarre whispers. “A bit slow on our feet today, are we?”“The Den of Thieves?,” the ranger returns, ignoring the remark now that things are looking up.Navarre looks at Rodlu for an answer but the duergar is gone.“Hullo!?,” Sir Eber suddenly hollers. “Friendly folk!”Out of nothing, a duergar appears next to the noble duo.It is Rodlu and he presently raps his knuckles on the brick wall.“Is massive,” he says without bothering to whisper now that Sir Eber has made their presence known to all duergar and everything else within many, many miles. “Entrance to Den of Thieves. Now much danger. Rodlu no more in front. Raiders may have much experience with unseen enemies. Many traps.”When the others arrive, Sir Eber asks Navarre for the shield of the duergar king and announces that he will start down the narrow passage first. Navarre hands him the shield and then Sir Suvali suggests he send in one of his dogs first. When dog and ranger are some twenty yards into the passage, the chevalier advances, soon followed by Navarre another twenty yards back.Moments later, Sir Eber must roll d20 and a result of “13” informs him that he has just managed to avoid falling into a pit that suddenly opens in the floor beneath him, its bottom a forest of spikes. It takes up much of the passage and so the ranger sticks to the left wall when he starts moving again. He is almost past the pit when he must roll another d20. This time, a result of “1” informs him that he notices something move to his left and that a bolt is fired at him from a hole that has appeared in the wall as a consequence. The bolt whizzes past and he immediately pushes his shield against the wall, blocking the hole.The chevalier and Navarre witness the event and the first calls to the ranger to make some room as now he, too, starts wriggling past the pit. Now fifteen yards behind the noble duo, Navarre starts checking the walls for secret doors in case their enemy is planning some sort of pincer maneuver.In the passage ahead, the chevalier has passed Sir Eber.“Hand me your hammer,” the first says urgently. “I’ll look for more traps.”“I’ll do it myself,” the ranger says.He moves across the passage and fires some arrows at the hole, with negligible results. He exchanges his bow for the ice giant’s hammer, turns around and starts hammering on the floor in front of him – and almost instantly locates another trap. This one covers most of the passage floor to the left and so the company are effectively required to zigzag through the area as they advance.Yards back, having found no secret doors and keen to keep his hands free in what is now likely to become a complex trip through a trap-ridden passage where the enemy have all of the advantage, Navarre activates one of the fire beetle balls, ties it to his belt, and readies his crossbow.And then, just when Sir Eber is about to pass the second trap with his shield against the right wall, he and the chevalier must roll for surprise… and are both surprised when a secret door in the left wall between the traps opens to reveal two duergar firing their crossbows at the intrepid duo. With his target clearly visible in the light of the chevalier’s torch, Navarre immediately fires a magical bolt at one of the duergar, hitting the creature for a respectable amount of damage.As bolts start whizzing past from many directions, the chevalier and Sir Eber close with the two duergar just as the first of these is hit by a magic missile from Sir Suvali and fumbles his attack. The chevalier misses him nonetheless but Sir Eber is less unfortunate and his attack almost brings the second duergar to his knees, preventing him from making his attack count. Things take a turn for the even worse for the two duergar when Sir Eber’s opponent is hit by two arrows from Sir Oengus and the ranger himself cuts him down with a massive blow – and the second expires when he suffers hits from the chevalier and another of Sir Suvali’s hard-hitting magic missiles.However, this does not bring an end to the proceedings and Navarre, advancing to the first pit, sees both the ranger and the chevalier disappear through the opening to the ‛Chargez!’ of the latter. But the noble duo have to duck more bolts fired from various locations within the room – the chevalier only very narrowly escaping being hit by one – and they are intercepted by two duergar who presently drop their crossbows and block their advance. All of this leads to the noble duo barely getting past the entrance and failing to hit either duergar, while Navarre, now at the opening with his sword drawn, finds his way forward blocked by his noble fellows.But, today, the ranger and the chevalier are not to be denied and they can press on when Sir Eber’s opponent is hit by yet another magic missile and goes down under two herculean blows from the ranger, and the chevalier also strikes twice, forcing his adversary some yards back into the room. This opens up the left flank and Navarre dashes into the room, where he immediately runs into a third duergar, which he misses on a “4” when he is struck by a bolt fired from somewhere behind his adversary – and doesn’t have to pass a saving throw. He spies some six or seven duergar in the room, with the surplus presently concentrating their fire on Sir Eber, to no effect so far.Moving past the duergar fighting the chevalier, Sir Eber reaches three duergar against the far wall, one of which sags to the floor – victim to Sir Suvali’s Sleep spell – before the ranger can even think about hitting him. And so he takes on one of the remaining two, once again dispensing some serious damage and not being hit in return – as he isn’t by the bolts of the other duergar in the room. Near the entrance, the chevalier and Navarre only manage to deliver glancing blows as they have to fend off the furious attacks of their opponents.Back in the main tunnel, Sir Oengus, still wearing only leather armor, has been working up the courage to charge into yet another melee that will likely net him some serious damage. He drops his bow, draws his sword, takes a deep breath, charges into the room, and ends up all the way next to Sir Eber. He takes a swing at one of the duergar engaging his noble fellow, but to no effect. His opponent is struck by an arrow from Sir Suvali and misses him in return and then Sir Eber all but cuts his own opponent in half. At the entrance the chevalier also manages to bring down his opponent, something Navarre fails to do with his.Now, there are only four duergar left standing, one battling Sir Oengus, one Navarre, and two against the left wall, who once again fire their crossbows at Sir Eber to no effect, one of them even fumbling his attack. Sir Oengus misses his opponent again, who, now faced with two opponents and with nowhere left to go, also suffers a mighty blow from Sir Eber and doesn’t get to hit him in return. The ranger is missed, again, by the bolts fired by the two duergar against the left wall, one of which is now charged by the chevalier and suffers a respectable amount of damage as two arrows from Sir Suvali hit the wall behind the second. Still struggling to deliver a serious blow, Navarre finally manages to wound his opponent to some extent, while he suffers no damage himself in return.The fight rages on for three more rounds, with our noble heroes now definitely having the upper hand. And then, indeed, after Sir Oengus has tied up the sleeping duergar and Sir Eber brings down his opponent and the duergar against the left wall after Sir Suvali has shot one of them for good measure, the last duergar left standing – the one Navarre still hasn’t managed to dispose of – throws down his weapon.“I surrender!,” he yells. “Gentlemen! Welcome!”When everybody has stopped laughing, our noble heroes have a quick look around the room. They see a stone table and some stone chairs and stools and then Rodlu, appearing out of nothing, informs them that there is a secret door in the back wall, right across from the one in the entrance. Still high on their victory, our noble heroes open it forthwith, revealing a narrow rough-hewn passage veering to the right after some fifteen, twenty feet.“More traps?,” Sir Suvali suggests, addressing no one in particular.“Raiders make many traps,” Rodlu says. Yet again, Navarre realizes that the plump duergar seems to have a healthy respect for the raiders, having been unusually vocal about them and shown some considerable initiative ever since the company reached the Den of Thieves.“I suggest we interrogate our prisoner here and then send it to its people to negotiate a way through,” our noble hero suggests.“Bah!,” Sir Eber scoffs. “What can they do? We slaughtered all of them here without breaking a sweat.”“Speak for yourself, old sport,” Navarre says irritably, not quite himself yet after the trouble he had with his opponent – as opposed to his noble fellow who rather went through the duergar like a meat grinder on fire. “By the way. Can I have my shield back?”“Gentlemen,” Sir Suvali declares. “We will spend the night here.”“Will we?,” Navarre snaps, growing decidedly tired of the sorcerer’s imperious statements, especially those meant to get others to do something that will serve some unspoken purpose for his own benefit. “Whatever for?”“It is time.”“Is it?,” Navarre asks, looking at the DM and being mightily peeved when the latter says that it is eight o’clock in the evening local time and the glib sorcerer gets away with it again.Anyway. Duringst the meanwhile, the chevalier has entered the newly discovered secret passage and found it to continue for another twenty feet before it ends in a wall. He mentions as much when he returns to the room and asks Rodlu to follow him back in.“I suppose we can use that table to block the secret door in here,” Navarre says, after he has quaffed some of one of his potions of extra-healing and regained some of his composure when he realized that much of his bad mood is also due to the fact that he didn’t take down as many duergar as Sir Eber. Oh well, that's what you get when you actually have to roll dice for your stats.When Rodlu returns and informs our noble heroes that there is another secret door at the other end of the narrow passage, Sir Eber gestures him to show it to him and follows him back in. He eventually manages to wedge one of his stonemason’s tools between the wall and the door proper, which should prevent it from opening too easily.When he returns, his noble companions have started questioning the prisoner.“You there!”, Navarre barks at the duergar. “Why this cowardly attack?”“Master!,” the duergar cries.“Where is your lair, miscreant!,” Sir Eber joins in. “Where does this tunnel lead!”“Who is your king!,” Sir Oengus yells.“No king,” the duergar whines. “Queens!”“A-a-a-h!,” Sir Oengus says. “So if we hand you over to some queens there will be many a bone to pick with you two?”“You kill many family of all queens!,” the duergar returns. “Queens pick bones with you!”“Tranquille, mon gars, tranquille,” the chevalier interrupts, a steely look in his eyes. “How many are you?”“Hundreds!,” the duergar says.“Écoute,” the chevalier says, a definite edge to his voice. “You do understand that you will live no more if we catch you telling us a lie, now, do you not?”“Yes,” the duergar says, rather more subdued.“Bon!,” the chevalier resumes. “Now. How many warriors in your nest?”“More than hundred. Hundred, two hundred.”“Next question. Where does that secret passage lead?”“Tunnel. Complex.”“The main tunnel?”“To crossroads.”“How many traps?”“Many!,” the duergar says, before hastily adding. “No traps to crossroads. Ten clans.”“Which way to Dragon Point from these crossroads?,” Navarre asks.“Third with clock.”“What do we have to do to get past your cavern to Dragon Point without having to kill everybody?”“You pay much gold,” the duergar says, with a glint in his eyes. “One thousand gold!”“Ha!,” Navarre scoffs. “Indeed! I’d say there is not a lot I myself would not do for a thousand gold. I ask you again. How do we get past your cavern without a fuss?”“Maybe I arrange something for five hundred gold,” the duergar says.“Such as?”But the duergar doesn’t come up with a straight answer, instead evading the question and repeating much of the above. Nevertheless, our noble heroes do learn that using him as a hostage will not get them very far, if only because each of the five tunnels that converge on the intersection is claimed by at least one different clan.“Why did the priest attack us back in the main tunnel?,” Sir Suvali asks at some point.“Priest say intruders come,” the duergar replies.“What clan is he from?”“Is woman,” the duergar says, somewhat subdued as all duergar seem to be when the concept of women is mentioned.“What?,” Navarre exclaims. “Without the veils?”“Is princess. Family of king. Mother is sister of king.”“So the priests are female?,” Sir Suvali asks.“Priests insane! Womans priests not so insane. Very rare.”“I’ve had enough of this,” Sir Eber says. “I say we sleep and get cracking first thing. Suvali! Let’s go and rig the tunnel out there so there won’t be any surprises tonight.”And so the ranger and the sorcerer leave the room and spend some time setting up all manner of threads, wires, and bells in the passage outside. In the guardroom, their noble companions bind and gag their prisoner and relieve him and the sleeping duergar of their valuables, to an amount of some fifty gold in coins and various paraphernalia, all of which they hand over to Sir Eber’s slaves for safekeeping. When this is done and Sir Suvali and Sir Eber return, they wake the sleeping duergar and subject him to the same questions they put to their other prisoner earlier. This does not lead to much more than they already knew.“What about the poison?,” Sir Suvali asks at some point.“We buy,” the duergar says. “Others clans have mongers of their own.”When the questioning gets to how the company can avoid the various raider clans, a calculating grin appears on the prisoner’s face.“You free me and I try to make you pass,” he says. “More bigger chance if you also free other duergar.”“Very funny,” Navarre says, yawning. “Let’s tie him up and get some sleep.”Our noble heroes decide who will stand watch and when and the night passes without event.Night 138: After a short breakfast, our noble heroes prepare for what is undoubtedly going to be an eventful day. When they are ready, the chevalier addresses their second prisoner.“I am going to send you ahead, mon ami,” he announces. “If you think you are going to walk into a trap, you can do two things: keep walking or look back over your shoulder to warn us – without so much as a squeak. Is that clear?”The duergar nods and then the chevalier undresses him down to his underwear, gags him, and ties a rope around his waist.“Allez hop!,” he says, pushing the duergar into the tunnel.The duergar heads straight for the opposite wall, moves past the second pit and continues along the right wall for a short distance. Our noble heroes are right behind him, considerable distances between them as before, and with Sir Oengus at the back with the second prisoner.It isn’t long before the duergar on the rope stops moving – without turning around – and the chevalier advances until the ‛crossroads’ appears in the light of his lantern. As expected, it is a five-way intersection – surely the DM hasn’t made the passage “X”, with the present passage being horizontal or vertical and thus forming a fifth passage into the “X”?Anyway. The chevalier pulls the duergar back and whispers to him to take the tunnel to Dragon Point.“Hmm…, hmm…,” the duergar murmurs, obviously considering his options. “Hmm…”“Alors?,” the chevalier urges him. “Are you afraid?”The duergar nods affirmatively.“We are a little bit afraid, mon ami,” the chevalier says in a conciliatory manner. “That is why you are walking in front of us. Eh bien! En avant!”The room resounds with the laughter of our noble heroes once more and then the duergar moves back up to the intersection, where he looks to the left… looks to the right… and then stops moving altogether.“Why does he stop?,” Navarre asks the other prisoner.But he gets nothing more than a tense look from the creature… and then it vanishes into nothing. Almost instantly, the chevalier pulls him back but he is too late: all he gets is the end of the rope. The duergar is no longer there.“A-a-a-a-h!,” he says, nodding almost appreciatively. “He has become smaller!”</blockquote>

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