DF Whiterock Session 91: Figuring Out the Stairs

Date:

2020-04-17

Weather:

Cold, session entirely underground

Player Characters:

Elias (Wiggles), Wood Elf Cleric, 421 points
Garreth (Zuljita), Half-Orc Fighter, 480 points
Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 480 points
Polly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 474 points
Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High Elf Wizard, 485 points

Significant NPCs:

Talladay Arrowmelt, Halfling chef
Wolfrik, Possessed Duergar guard
6 Ettin Zombies


We started with the PCs still deep within the duergar fortress of Narborg, after the PCs defeated some duergar and stone golems in the Thane's dining room.  It was a large split-level room, with a very fancy marble dining table with gold trim, surrounded by six fancy chairs and a small throne.  There was a mural on the ceiling, featuring three panels.  One showed construction of an underground fortress.  Another showed a war between duergar and drow.  And the last showed a meeting between duergar and a red dragon, with a huge pile of gold and gems changing hands.

Zaber sat in the throne, but, surprisingly, nothing happened.  He then opened a secret door (which he had spotted using See Secrets) and found stairs leading up into a blank wall.  The expected secret door in the blank wall was not present.  There was a small secret panel, concealing a rope.  Zaber resisted pulling the rope, and had Seépravir cast Wizard Eye to investigate the tiny secret shaft.  But the eye just went up to the ceiling alongside the rope, then winked out of existence.

Pulling the rope rang a bell.  A few seconds later, the stairs started to slide sideways.  But they still ended in a blank wall.  After some discussion, Zaber walked to the top of the stairs, into a No Mana Zone, which caused all his spells to be dispelled.  He could no longer fly, or see in the dark, and came back down the stairs, cautiously, to ask for new spells.

At that point Polly looked under the table, and found nothing.  Then she got Garreth to help her left the throne, and found nothing under it either.  She started suggesting putting the throne on top of the table, for some reason, but by then Zaber had found another secret door, and everyone lost interest in playing with furniture.  Behind the door was a winding passage.  Zaber explored it, invisibly, and found a room with three zombie ettins standing in front of three circular crank wheels.  He snuck back and told the others that there were enemies to kill.

Polly flew into the room and started shooting at ettin zombie brains.  The first arrow was dodged, the second killed a zombie, and the third killed a different zombie.  Seépravir Great Hasted Elias, who flew into the room at double speed and slammed the surviving zombie to the ground.  It tried hitting him with two flails from its back, but he blocked one and parried the other.  Elias responded by smacking the zombie in one of its skulls with his flail, seriously wounding it but not knocking it out.  Polly then shot it in the skull for a critical hit, finishing the zombie and stealing Elias's kill.

After the zombies were out of the way, Zaber decided to try spinning one of the wheels.  He just barely managed to budge it.  Polly and Garreth moved up to help, and together managed to spin the other two wheels, which caused a grinding sound.

Zaber went back out in the hall and spotted another secret door.  This one led to another winding passage, then another room with three ettin zombies standing in front of cranks.  Once again, Polly flew into the room, fired three arrows, and killed two zombies.  Elias followed her in, ignored the third zombie, and stuck his face into a skinny passage in the wall, but didn't manage to squeeze in.  The last surviving zombie tried an All-Out Attack (Double) against Polly for a total of three attacks.  Garreth tried sacrificially parrying for her, but failed.  Polly managed to dodge all the attacks, though, using a combination of acrobatics and Luck.   She then shot the zombie in the eye, fatally, and another room full of heavy wheels was out of strong cheap labor to spin them.

Zaber squeezed into the narrow passage that Elias had given up on fitting in.  Somehow, he managed to fit (he made his Escape-6 roll), and found that it led south to a dead end, then northeast to the pantry behind the kitchen.  When he got to the pantry he found Talladay Arrowmelt, the halfling chef who they had met earlier.  He asked the captive cook some questions, but once again the halfling didn't know much useful and just wanted an escort home.  Meanwhile, Garreth used Power Blow to get very strong, and spun one of the wheels by himself.

More searching revealed a second staircase, also leading to a blank wall.  It also featured a hidden panel, and a rope, that rang a bell.  But this bell sounded different than the other one.  This time, pulling the rope didn't cause any stairs to move.

There was one more unopened door.  Zaber opened it, while Polly waited to shoot enemies, but behind the door was just a deep cistern full of water.  Garreth warned that the water was probably poisoned, since duergar are immune to poison and would do that kind of thing.  Seépravir sent a Wizard Eye into the pool, but it didn't find anything interesting, just water.  She then sent the eye up the second set of stairs, and it hit another No Mana Zone and disappeared.

At this point the group discussed using pickaxes to dig holes through stone.  Zaber found another small secret panel near the top of the stairs, with another rope inside.  When he pulled it, another bell rung, twice, in a different pitch, but nothing else happened.  He went to the top of the other stairs and found another secret panel, another rope, and yet another different bell.

Garreth formulated a plan.  He would spin one set of wheels, while Elias and Polly spun the other set, and Zaber watched the stairs, and Seépravir used magic to watch through Zaber's eyes and relay information to the others.  After trying a lot of things, they finally got two sections of a staircase to slide into the right position and created stairs to the level above.  However, the way led through the No Mana Zone, so Seépravir realized that walking through it would dispel the Possession on Wolfrik and free him.

So the whole group went back to the Bleak Theater level where Seépravir's own body was safely Entombed, tied up Wolfrik, then Seépravir un-Entombed herself.  They frog-marched the tied Wolfrik back up stairs, then the whole group went up the stairs, through the No Mana Zone, to a new level.  And when they got there, I realized the Roll20 map for the new level had a problem, and ended the session a bit early.

Next time, we find out what's on the new level.

GM's Comments:

We spent the whole session on two easy fights and one hard puzzle.  There were actually two solutions to the puzzle.  The optimal one was to find the secret panel at the bottom of the stairs (very hard unless you had a See Secrets spell, which makes it automatic), pull the rope to ring the bell to tell the ettin zombies to slide the bottom half of the stairs into position, then find the secret panel at the top of the stairs, pull the other rope to tell the ettin zombies to slide the top half of the stairs into position, then ascend.

Of course, the PCs killed the ettin zombies.  At that point ringing the bells did nothing, and they needed to spin the right wheels in the right order to get the stairs into position.  Fortunately, there weren't that many combinations, so they eventually blundered into the right sequence by brute force and luck.  Also fortunately, they were strong enough to spin the wheels.  (It was a ST-6 roll for one PC, easier if multiple PCs were spinning wheels together -- but Garreth's Power Blow made it almost automatic.)

DF Whiterock Session 90: Duergar Ambush and the Thane's Dining Room

Date:

2020-04-03

Weather:

Cold, session entirely underground

Player Characters:

Elias (Wiggles), Wood Elf Cleric, 418 points
Garreth (Zuljita), Half-Orc Fighter, 478 points
Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 478 points
Polly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 472 points
Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High Elf Wizard, 483 points

Significant NPCs:

Wolfrik, Possessed Duergar guard
Many Duergar Guards
Duergar Commander
Destrachan
Earth Elemental
2 Stone Golems



We started in mid-battle, inside the duergar fortress of Narborg.  The party had opened a door and found a warehouse with three duergar, but one had run a pillar and summoned an earth elemental, and then a destrachan and several more duergar guards had reinforced the duergar from the north.

Fight against Duergar, Earth Elemental, and Destrachan

Polly recognized the destrachan as dangerous because of its sonic cone attack, and fired three arrows at it, but it dodged two and she missed with the other.  Garreth smashed the stone elemental with his katana, but it was too tough to notice much.  Seépravir, still inside the Possessed Wolfrik, turned Invisible.  Elias ran up to the nearest duergar and used Rapid Strike to deal two flail attacks, but one was blocked and the other parried.  The elemental tried slamming Garreth, but he dodged.

Then the destrachan breathed sonic death.  Zaber, Polly, and Garreth were all in the line of fire, but all were close enough to getting out of line of sight that a successful retreating dodge would protect them.  (But Garreth could not retreat because he just made a Committed Attack, so he ate some damage.)  The duergar near Elias tried a rapid strike, but Elias blocked one attack and parried the other.  Zaber All-Out Defended and flew to safety.  Polly shot a duergar in the skull, killing him, leading the duergar commander to yell "She killed Fark!  Everyone kill the archer!" in Dwarven.

Garreth tried a rapid strike on the elemental, which parried the first attack but ate the second, for enough damage to slow it.  He then tried Rapier Wit on the nearest dwarf, which froze in amazement.  Elias went for a Rapid Strike on the duergar again, and this time connected once with his flail, for major damage and knockback into a crate.  The elemental tried rolling into Garreth again, and missed.  Polly flew behind some duergar and put two arrows into one's skull, killing him, then one arrow into another's skull, knocking him out.  Garreth chopped up the elemental some more, but it refused to stop moving.

Seépravir Mass Dazed the destrachan.  (It's a bit of rules silliness that regular spells cost extra for large creatures, but area spells do not, so it can be cheaper to Mass Daze a large creature than Daze it.)  It failed to resist and stared into space for the rest of the fight.  Elias moved.  The elemental tried to slam Garreth again, but he dodged.  One surrounded duergar, knowing he was doomed, went for an All-Out Attack (Double) on Polly, but Garreth parried the first attack for her, and Polly Acrobatically Dodged the second.

One of the wounded duergar passed out.  The final duergar got shot in both eyes by Polly, fatally.  Garreth stabbed the earth elemental again, and it finally stopped moving.  With the fight over, Polly murdered the Dazed destrachan, and Garreth used a duergar axe to make sure the earth elemental was really finished.  Elias cast a few Stop Bleeding spells (more than intended because he kept failing, due to -5 for other spells on), while Zaber looted the duergar, finding the usual axes and scale armor, plus a few gems and potions and keys.

Eventually everyone was healed and rested enough to resume exploration, and they went north, where the destrachan and extra duergar had come from.  They found a room with a couple of chairs and several unoccupied jail cells.  Some of the keys they just found fit the jail cells.

They continued exploring west, and found a storeroom containing sundries like cloth, leather, sacks, string, ball bearings, and feathers.  Polly was offended by the feathers.  Zaber took some ball bearings.  Continuing west through another couple of doors, they found a hallway with alcoves on both sides, each containing three paintings of duergar.  Three of the duergar appeared to wear the same crown of bones, while the other three did not.  However, Art Appreciation Day was cut short, as Zaber noticed, via See Invisible, an ugly, invisible duergar with a mace hiding further along the hallway.

Zaber shouted a warning to the others.  Polly tried shooting arrows at the general area where Zaber said the duergar was, but missed.  The duergar that Zaber had spotted, plus two more invisible duergar, charged.  The PCs who couldn't see the enemy All-Out Defended.

Polly's turn came around again, and she made a Hearing roll to target an invisible duergar, then rolled a critical hit (even with the -10 for an invisible target).  The duergar used Luck to make her reroll, then dodged and blocked three non-critical hits.  He then tried stabbing Polly in the eye with his edged rapier.  He missed his first attempt, turned visible, then Garreth Sacrificially Parried his second and third attempts.    Another invisible duergar, this one with a mace, tried smacking Polly in the face.  She made her Hearing roll to get to defend at -4, then dodged, though it required Luck.  His second attack missed.  Another invisible duergar also attacked Polly with a mace.  Garreth used Blind Fighting to locate the attack, then Sacrificially Parried it for Polly.  He attacked Polly again, no longer invisibly, but she dodged.

Seépravir decided the duergar were attacking too much, and used Mass Daze on all three.  It worked on the two with maces, but the leader with the rapier managed to resist.  She followed up with Rapier Wit on the undazed one, but he ignored it.  Garreth tried Kiai on the same duergar, to no avail.  Elias teed off one one of the dazed duergar with his flail, killing him.  Polly tried shooting the active duergar, was dodged, and accidentally hit the surviving dazed one, undazing him.  She put a second arrow into his brain to finish him off, then fired at the one with the rapier, who dodged it.  Fortunately, Polly's arrow missed Elias.

The duergar fast-drew a small glass globe, then dropped it as a free action.  It shattered, releasing poison fumes.  Duergar are immune to poison, but Garreth, Polly, Zaber, and Elias had to make HT resistance rolls.  They all succeeded.  The duergar then tried to stab Polly, but Garreth sacrificially parried and rolled a critical success, causing the attacker to drop his rapier.  He fast-drew a knife and tried stabbing Polly with it twice more.  She acrobatically dodged the first, then critically dodged the second, causing him to drop the knife too.  The duergar yelled "that's not fair!" in Common.

Seépravir tried Entombment, but the duergar resisted.  Garreth tried multiple katana attacks, which were blocked and dodged.  Elias moved up.  Zaber tried an eye stab, missed, used Luck, and hit.  The unlucky duergar rolled an 18 on his dodge, smashing his eyeball into the incoming knife and falling down, stunned.  He survived the eye strike, but then Polly followed up with three more arrows to his eyes.  He somehow dodged the first, despite being slowed, stunned, and prone.  He didn't dodge the other two, and he died.

Polly immediately checked out the duergar's rapier and determined it to be nice quality.  Also, it was hanging from a metal lanyard, not the usual leather kind.  Garreth took the upgraded lanyard and attached it to his katana.  Seépravir determined that the rapier and the duergar's cloak were both magic.  Zaber grabbed a key ring and a potion from the duergar's body.  The group then looted all three duergar, and took everything back to their makeshift loot storage room.  For good measure they also took all six paintings.

Surprisingly, nothing bothered them during the post-battle looting.  Eventually, the group resumed their trek west, until they came to a dead end, with doors north and west.  Zaber listened at both, and though he heard movement to the north.  The group formed up in combat position, and then Zaber picked the lock, and right when someone was about to open the door, Seépravir mentioned that she was tired.  So the whole group retreated back east and rested until they had all their FP back, then came back to the door, and opened it.

On the other side of the door was a large split-level room with a high ceiling.  On the balcony level was a very fancy marble dining table.  On the ceiling was a huge mural featuring a red dragon, but there wasn't time to examine it closely, as several invisible duergar and a couple of stone golems were charging at the party.

Zaber, invisible, flew up and over the enemies and pretty much stayed out of the way.  Polly asked for See Invisible and waited for Seépravir.  Seépravir cast See Invisible on Polly as requested.  Polly then shot three arrows at a duergar, which blocked one, dodged one, and got nailed by one and injured badly enough to be slowed.  Garreth stepped up and All-Out Defended, preparing to parry whatever came.  Elias moved.

An invisible duergar tried All-Out Attack (Double) on Polly.  It missed the first attack, and then was no longer invisible, and Garreth parried the second.  A second invisible duergar tried All-Out Attack (Double) on Elias.  He failed to defend and was smashed in the head for 13 crushing, but his DR was more than that, so he just ignored it, enraging the duergar.  The duergar followed up with a Rapid Strike to Elias's torso.  Elias just stood there and let the duergar hit him, and once again the blows weren't hard enough to penetrate his armor.  The duergar then yelled to his companions to Enlarge.  The final two duergar, still invisible, did just that, as the stone golems moved closer.

Battle Against Duergar and Golems in the Thane's Dining Room

Zaber flew up and avoided the fight.  Polly shot a duergar in the eye, knocking him unconscious.  She then tried shooting on of the invisible ones, but he blocked and dodged.  Seépravir cast See Invisible on Garreth.  Garreth used Rapier Wit to stun the duergar that was failing to hurt Elias, then used Rapid Strike on a golem, hitting once.  Elias also used Rapid Strike on a golem, hitting once.

One golem returned the Rapid Strike at Garreth, but he dodged both.  The other returned a Rapid Strike at Elias, who blocked one and parried the other.  The parry could have broken his flail, but Elias rolled high enough that it hit his shield instead.

Zaber flew up to the dining room level.  Polly flew behind a duergar and shot him in the back of the skull, knocking him out.  She then put a cutting arrow into a golem, doing some damage.  Seépravir cast Shield on Elias.  Garreth went for two deceptive attacks on a golem and managed to miss twice, then used Rapier Wit to stun an invisible duergar.  Elias double-stuck a golem again, achieving one solid hit.

The wounded duergar that had failed to hurt Elias earlier, now recovered from stun, Enlarged.  The golem near Garreth tried two attacks with its huge maul, but Garreth dodged them.  The other golem attacked Elias twice, but he blocked and dodged.  Zaber looked around the dining room to see if anyone was hiding.  He didn't find anyone, but he did find a secret door.  (He had See Secrets on.)  Polly put three more arrows into a golem, damaging it.  Seépravir cast Haste on Elias, further buffing his defenses.  Garreth tried two more attacks on the wounded golem.  It parried the first, but the second destroyed it in a rain of stone sharpnel.  Elias tried the same thing on his golem, also hitting once, but didn't knock it out.

A now-huge duergar tried smashing Elias with his mace, but Elias defended.  A still-invisible duergar tried ambushing Garreth, not knowing Garreth had See Invisible and was able to parry normally.  The surviving golem tried hitting Elias twice more, and Elias successfully blocked and parried, and was again lucky that the parry hit his shield rather than his flail.

Polly decided that was enough screen time for the duergar, and shot both of them in the skull, killing one and knocking the other unconscious.  Seépravir gave Elias tactical advice to All-Out Attack the golem and finish it.  But before Elias had a chance, Garreth stole the advice, did an All-Out Attack (Double) with the second attack a Rapid Strike, hit the golem three times, and destroyed it.

It was late, so the night's final decision was whether to stay in the dungeon or go back to town.  Garreth maintained his position that they should stay in the dungeon until the duergar were defeated, and the others agree.  So we stopped right after the battle in the thane's dining room, before any looting or exploration.

GM's Comments:

Three fights this session, all against duergar and friends.  The sacking of the duergar fortress of Narborg is starting to become a grind.  Maybe they'll defeat the duergar soon and move on to something new.