Tag: duergar

Report 6: Of Ghosts and Dragons

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, SvalaLeave a comment

Duergar

  • There is an alert that rings out in Dwarven as we pass through the locked door and head downstairs.
  • Another door, this one with the face of a glowering Dwarf, but we do not pause.
  • A large long room greets us, lined with pillars covered with carvings of giants and dragons. Tiled walls have been smashed, and a dais holds a throne.
  • A voice greets us telling us to turn around, in Dwarvish.
  • Ms. Lendiel and Mr. Darkfoot explain that we come in peace, looking for Durgeddon, that we are looking to hire him to repair work he had previously done.
  • He has been dead a long while, but the voice seems interested in speaking further about our skills.
  • A Duergar woman and a few guards step into view, taking Ms. Lendiel, Mr. Darkfoot, and Shohei away to speak with their leader.
  • They return a short time later with a woman named Nimiria and eight more guards.

History Lesson

  • The orcs, after being repelled by the Dwarven fortification, burrowed in beneath the defenses.
  • Durgeddon died in the chapel to the north of the main forge.
  • The northern area, however, due to this and other horrors of the battles, is full of the undead.
  • These Duergar came up past the Black Lake below where a young black dragon lives.
  • Durgeddon’s notes may be where the ghosts and such horrors are, and the dragon may be guarding the Orachalcum.
  • They will show us where to go if we share the information in his journal and half the Orachalcum.

Hauntings

  • Through a large barricade we find a silent room with a brackish well.
  • We head to the right to clear out the living quarters before heading to the chapel.
  • The second room we checked had a Rug of Smothering that tried to devour me, but most are ransacked.
  • In an empty armory, the armor wakes and attempts to smash Ms. Lendiel and Shohei to death.
  • At the end of this hall is a larger room with many corpses, but thankfully, they do not rise.
  • A ghost takes possession of Ember, though, despondent that it can no longer fix the mistakes it made in life.
  • It asks us to set right the wrongs of the shaman and kin who are cursed in the chapel and to lay Durgeddon to his proper rest.
  • This sends us back the other direction towards the chapel. Most of the rooms this way have also been destroyed.
  • But in a barracks we are attacked by a few skeletons.
  • The chapel smells of death, it reminds me of memories that are not my own.
  • We are confronted by Orge Skeletons, ghasts, and an Orcish wight.
  • I feel the curse releasing it’s hold as the wight falls, but there more to do, so I perform a cleansing ceremony that would have made my elders back home proud.
  • The journal is not here, so we take Durgeddon back to the ghost and lay all the dead to a proper rest.
  • We find a Library through one of the doors, and a succubus masquerading as a captive researcher.
  • Undead are not the only things haunting this place.
  • She has found the book we need and tempts Ms. Rosewood and Shohei into attacking the party when #13 figures out she’s lying to us.
  • Axel tries to negotiate with her after she goes ethereal so we can’t hurt her, but there’s some magic from the desk and #13 helps me find a summoning circle and spellbook.
  • She says the book will go with her if we break the circle, she wants to talk to me alone, but the others won’t allow it.
  • I copy down the magic circle with Axel and take the book, but it will have to be translated from Dwarven.
  • We get tired or her threats and decide to break the circle. The book stays behind, so we pick it and other interesting books up before heading back to the Duergar.

Black Dragon

  • Nightscale is a young adult black dragon who lives on his hoard in the center of an underground lake.
  • The Duergar paid it so that they could work the forge undisturbed.
  • The group decides we need a boat to get across the lake, so #13 gathers materials from the rooms we explored, and I learn how to build boats. It’s small, but good enough.
  • We put it in the Hole to get down the stairs and then quietly get in the lake. Ms. Rosewood takes Ms. Lendiel on Seahorse-back and #13 pushes the boat.
  • Everything is working well, until I try to stand up in the boat to get out onto the hoard and fall on my face. Must work on boating skills if this is going to be a thing. .
  • The battle is fierce at first, but then the dragon dives into the lake, leaving us to cast about for it.
  • Mr. Darkfoot and Shohei start looting the treasure, and I keep tossing heals as people surface with grievous wounds.
  • After a short time, it becomes clear the dragon has left entirely, so we finish looting and swim back to shore and make our way, boatless, up the stairs.
  • We split the 100lbs of Orichalcum with the Duergar and head back up through the orcs.

Oozes and Orcs

  • We check through the last of the dwarven area and find a storeroom of rotten food.
  • And several oozes which attack #13. Ms. Rosewood and Mr. Darkfoot destroy them.
  • The only other things left on this middle level are corpses and water.
  • And a cavern with a Roper that we smash and then cut open for the treasure it has eaten.
  • There is also a small jail with a dwarf corpse that I am able to speak to. She was put here by the orcs to die.
  • After laying her to rest in they crypts in the main room, we head upward.
  • We find a room full of orcs and after Mr. Trisfir destroyed them with fire, the entire orc encampment came charging down the corridor.
  • We were forced to destroy all but one who ran away so that we could leave this place.

Demon Dragon

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

We got to East Haven as the demon dragon was still attacking it. It’s all on fire and falling down. We gotta get it out of the town, so I grab the alarm horn from Eggy and blow it at the dragon. It really works and it breathes pain all over me, but I’m fast and smart so it doesn’t hurt that bad. Doc gets really big and just keeps hitting it right in the face while we all throw stuff at it. Saalym and Sandy fight with a bunch of the blue dwarves first, and then run right up Doc so they can punch it, too! I kill it though! Cuz I’m the strongest! It falls right down in front of us and Explodes! That was really fun!

Doc and I run off with a piece of scale to show the town what I did. We help them kill the rest of the blue dwarves, and tell everyone they’re safe now cuz I killed the demon dragon. Leshy came with so she and Doc can help the hurt people. When we save the people at the townhall, I show them the scale and he takes it. But Leshy says it’s dangerous and takes it back. He says we should take the big statue, too. It all needs to be destroyed or something. I’m going to keep my piece though, it won’t hurt me, I’m too smart!

In the morning, Twitch says he has a new mission for us, to help with the stupid winter goddess lady. Says there’s an old city under the ice with big magic things. Says the dragon heart he got yesterday is a battery for the sun thing, but there’s even better under the ice maybe. We have to go get a book first though, that knows how to get under the ice. That seems like a really smart book, just like me. I know how to get through ice, you chip it out of the way. Twitch says it’s on an island of frost giants, so that will be lots and lots of fun!

Twitch asks then if I still have any of the demon rock. It’s mine though. Eggy says it’s dangerous and it could hurt me. Doc is worried about me, too. Eggy doesn’t want me to end up in a cage like the gnolls’ guy, or crazy like the king we killed. I think he might kill me and take my head, even though I’m faster and smarter than him. I could kill him first, but Saalym wouldn’t like that at all. So, I bury it near the dragon rocks. I know where it is, I can get it back if I want to.

We go check on Good Mead first. The bees are okay, but most of the town is wrecked. We go check on the church where they put Sammy, but the crypt is open and Sammy is gone! Saalym is really upset and no one knows what happened. Maybe he wasn’t really dead. Maybe the winter goddess lady took him. Eggy says we should ask around wherever we go to see if anyone has seen him.

So, I turn into him, as best I can remember and head off to ask everyone in town. Eggy and Saalym shout at me, but it’s what Eggy said to do. I don’t understand why they’re mad. I’ll get her some mead so she doesn’t have to go near the bees. I don’t know why she hates the bees so much. Nobody in town has seen Sammy, but I tell them if they do to tell the Speaker. I make my funny hat change my clothes so they look like Sammy’s, too. But only to show the kids. I think the others would like that even less. Weird.

Saalym doesn’t want my present of mead, so I drink it myself on the way back to the mountains. We gotta make sure all the blue dwarves are dead before we go kill a bunch of giants. But some other blue dwarf lady has taken over the castle. At least she can talk so we understand. She’s not gonna play with the demon rock and doesn’t want to take over Ten Towns, so we let her be. Boring! I wanted to kill more blue dwarves! Time to head for the giants’ island then.

Down With The King!

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

The weird blue Dwarf King says we’re intruders and trash! He sends his even stranger creatures to attack us, poor fungus things. We put them out of their misery. Him too. It’s been a lot of fighting, especially for Saalym and Leshy who went up the elevator alone. Silly girls. What goes up comes back down. So, they take a moment to rest.

Doc and I take a look around. There’s a room full of fungus nastiness. A guard station with some pretty rocks that Twitch won’t let me touch. There’s a big door, but there’s noise behind it, so we wait for everyone to catch up. There’s some blue Dwarves there, trying to tie up a big bug. I shout for them to leave it alone, and they do. But then it and they attack us. Oh well. Mean, nasty blue Dwarves.

The next room is a huge forge that seems to pulse with a heartbeat. There’s lots of blue Dwarves in here on top of a bunch of towers. And there’s some of the big furry guys from the throne room down by the forge. Eggy shows off the head of the crazy king, trying to say we set them free, but I guess they didn’t like that.

We fought the ones on our tower and shot at the ones in other places. It looked like some of the other Dwarves liked that the king was dead, because they was fighting on some of the towers. Doc went down with Sandy to fight the furry things, but there were tiny ninjas on the floor that kept stabbing his ankles. They took care of it all though. Eggy says there weren’t ninjas, it was just a spell. I don’t think that’s how spells work.

When everyone’s dead, we take a look around the forge. It’s really hot! Twitch says there’s a dragon’s heart in the forge, from a red one. He wants to kill the heart or the forge or something, so that they can’t make another demon dragon. That’s boring though, it doesn’t fight back. There’s all kinds of scraps of the tingly demon rock, so I snag a really small one when Twitch is busy. It’s not fair I’m not allowed to have one.

Doc and I take a look around. There’s a bunch of clothes and gear on one wall, so we go in the nearby door. There’s a big Dwarf lady statue in there, but her head’s cut off, and there’s a weird purple guy chained to it. He doesn’t look so good. Doc says he’s dead. There’s more doors, so we keep going. There’s a blue Dwarf behind one of them. He wants to experiment on me, just like he did the dead purple guy outside. That’s no okay, so Doc hits him, and he turns all red and spikey and then he explodes. I take his hat, I like it, it’s funny. Everybody came running because of the fight, and Twitch gets really interested in the stone tablets in the room. He starts rubbing paper over them with charcoal or something. Seems boring.

Doc and I wander off again, but this time Eggy and Leshy follow. We find a couple dwarves in robes torturing a couple other dwarves. We save one of them. A lady dwarf, but she runs away. There’s weird coffins in here, but they have spikes inside them. Next we find a bedroom with moldy ale and empty chests. Then we find some of those big armor Dwarves and a lever. I make the lever go and then we smash them out of their armor. They were protecting a room full of chests with locks on them. Eggy remembers that we have a paper of symbols that might match them, so we come back later.

The next room we find is lots more fun. There’s six blue Dwarves all drinking. When Eggy shows them the dead King’s head, three of them help us attack the other three. But then more arrive and some of them are bad and some of them help us. Only four of them survive though. But at least it was better than none like it seemed in the forge room. There’s also a hall full of lightning.

We gather the group back up again and find a prison with some naked people the Dwarves had kidnapped. All their stuff is back out by the room with the rocks, so we give it all back and help them get back out of the castle. There’s also a bunch of big riding lizards, but Eggy can’t make friends with them, so we leave them alone. The only other tunnel down here seems to go all they way under the dark.

We talk about taking a big rest, but people are worried about the dragon. So they think about the map and distances and think maybe we can save a couple towns if we leave right now. So, we head back out of the mountain and down. We run into a friend of Twitch’s. She’s nice and came to find us to get our help with the dragon. So, off we rush.

Duergar In the Castle

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

No choice but to climb the stairs, really. And it’s just so tall that we all go up together. The door doesn’t have a way to get in, but it just opens right up. So does the big gate thing. They must want to talk. Maybe they don’t like the goddess lady either and can help us.

Or not.

They start shooting at us! After inviting us inside! That’s terrible hospitality. The even start throwing magic at us, and that’s just not right. So, we throw right back and smash that unwelcoming party. How rude!

We look around where all the mean ones were waiting. There are some bedrooms there, but they’re all boring. Eggy found a secret tunnel that led to a room with a map on it. There was a dragon figure on the map over by the Ten Towns. It was on a weird thing so I moved it back to the mountains, but nothing seemed to happen. Twitch said it isn’t magic and can’t call the dragon home. There’s a lever which moves the figure back out to the towns and back again. Strange table.

Further on we find a fancy bedroom with a fancy trunk. It has a poison cloud trapped under all the fancy things inside. There’s also a closet shrine to a Dwarf god in here and a whole bunch of mind flayer skulls. They look kinda cool, so I take one for Doc. The god statue is made of the demon rock and tries to head my mind, so Twitch wraps it up to try and protect us, but it tries to eat him, too. Saalym smashes it to bits. There’s a key underneath. Mine now.

Next we find a room with levers and chains and things. Pulling the lever makes noise, but not near by. Twitch thinks it might be the front door. Leshy says the hole in the floor and ceiling is an elelator. It’s a cage that goes up and down. It’s up right now, so we wait. When it comes down to us, it’s empty, so Sandro, Twitch and I get in and it takes us down.

There are some duergar down there, but they don’t want to fight. They want us to kill their leader for them, or so Twitch says, but he’s pretty smart. It takes For Ever until the rest of the group makes it down. Leshy and Saalym had to fight a bunch of guys by themselves, I guess. But now everyone’s downstairs, we can deal with the big mean leader guy and his fungus friends.

Dead People, Gnolls, and A Dragon

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

Twitch says we have to go find his friend who is now a bad person, so we go down a ladder to a room with frozen dead bodies in it. There’s water down here and a little boat, so we put Eggy and Leshy into the boat, Saalym climbs on the walls, and the rest of us swim in the cold water. There’s bodies in the water, too. Off to one side, there’s a little room of grain and a hungry rat – boring. Off to the other side there are even more bodies in the water. These have chainmail on them. Maybe they were the Speaker’s guards or something.

The next hall leads to a wooden statue of a person in a block of ice. Twitch says he thinks it’s for their demon god, but this seems real lazy. They got all these dead bodies and they put a wooden guy inside the ice. I guess the demon god guy got encased in ice, maybe they shoulda caught a demon to put inside, but at least a person!

The next room has the tiefling lady we’re looking for. She is really rude. Twitch wants to kill her, but she says he’s wrong about her and is going to be in trouble. He attacks her anyway, but she made the air all wet and disappeared. He looks all over the room, but doesn’t find anything.

That’s boring though, so Doc and I go down the other hall and pull a lever we find there. There’s a big noise and a new tunnel has opened in front of the boat. We all head back out into the water and find another tunnel. This one has all the servants of the Speaker, so we give them food and help them get back through the water to the keep.

Leshy says she’ll clean all the water after Twitch and Saalym get all the dead bodies back out of it. Folk are worried about Twitch and want the Speaker to sign papers saying she was bad, so she can’t get Twitch in trouble. I don’t know how that’s supposed to help, but he seems happy about it. Nothing left to do here, so we head back to check on East Haven.

The dwarf lady owes us money for the killer we killed, but it takes a couple days for her to show up and pay us. People say some gnolls have been raiding and attacking people. They killed one lady and took her magic fishhook that catches magic fish. Leshy doesn’t believe in magic fish, but my Dad caught one and it took him to the faewild so there!

We head out to our ship on the way to the gnolls. The were-polarbear we had heard about is sleeping inside, but everything looks fine. He’s really nice so we tell him he can sleep there whenever he wants. He says there’s trouble with some of the nomads, so he’s going to try to help. Then we head down to the gnoll chasm to camp.

After we rest, Eggy finds a way down, but also a cave, so we go in there first. There are a bunch of gnolls in there and they attack us, so we kill most of them. Doc really doesn’t like it when people hit me. But Twitch talks to the survivor and tells him not to attack people anymore. He agrees and runs away after telling us that Chizga is the leader down below. Doc and I find a big table in the next room covered in blood, and Doc smashes it up.

We all head down into the chasm where there are a bunch of gnolls on spike and weird echoing laughter. I wonder if they were a rival clan or if Chizga worships the stupid winter goddess lady. We work our way around to another cave. This one has pictures in blood on the wall. There’s a fish cooking over little fire and a fishing pole and spear. Doc and I head in to go see if that’s the fishing pole we’re looking for and trip over a sleeping gnoll.

This is Chizga, I guess. I take the fishhook off the pole and put it in my shirt. Twitch talks to him and tells him to stop killing people, but Chizga doesn’t seem happy about it. Twitch says he doesn’t think he’ll stop if he gets hungry again. But we decide not to kill him anyway.

Further up the chasm, there’s a guy in a cage with a black javelin made from the demon rock. I let him out, but then he tries to stab me, so Doc knocks him off the cliff after grabbing the javelin from him. It’s not tingly, and Twitch takes it away with an invisible man. He says it is bad and made that man crazy.

We keep going and find a bunch more gnolls. They look really, really hungry, so we give them some food. Eggy starts getting mad then. He wants to go back and kill Chizga for being mean to his tribe and not taking care of them. Seems like they oughta take care of it themselves, but a couple others agree. We all agree to go back and talk to him at least.

We go back and ask about the crazy man, he says he caught him in the chasm, but he was too dangerous to kill or something. Doc tries to challenge him for leadership of his tribe, but he refuses. I turn into a gnoll and try, but he says I don’t smell right. We leave then, and Eggy shoots him dead.

We head out after that, to go find the last castle of blue dwarves who have come up from under the dark. It’s a few days away, but Eggy knows where to go. The walls are really huge here, and there’s a big staircase to get up to the doors. As we get close, a big dark icy dragon flies out of one side and heads up towards the Towns. We can’t go as fast as that, so they’ll have to take care of themselves. Maybe it’s just going to talk to the white dragon that’s mad at us. We’ve gotta get inside and see what the dwarves are doing first.