DF Whiterock Session 92: Gora-khan Again

Date:

2020-04-24

Weather:

Cold, session entirely underground

Player Characters:

Elias (Wiggles), Wood Elf Cleric, 424 points
Garreth (Zuljita), Half-Orc Fighter, 482 points
Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 482 points
Polly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 476 points
Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High Elf Wizard, 487 points

Significant NPCs:

Wolfrik, Charmed Duergar guard
Many Duergar guards
Gora-khan, Hobgoblin Vampire
Many Bat Swarms


The party started on the lower level of the duergar fortress of Narborg, about to ascend the stairs to the level where they hope they can find the Thane.  They know there was a No Mana Zone between levels that would cancel all their wizard spells.  This caused a lot of discussion about the right tactics to use to go upstairs.  Garreth was afraid they might have to retreat, so wanted to spend time moving loot out of Narborg back to the Bleak Theater first, to make it harder for the duergar to take it back.  He and Elias did that, while Seépravir magically monitored them.

The final conclusion was to Entomb Wolfrik (because they didn't trust him not to cause trouble when his Charm was dispelled), and then go up in a tight group, hoping not to alert any defenders until they had their magic back.  Garreth and Zaber each activated a non-magical glow stick, since they wouldn't have Dark Vision.  Garreth also palmed a flash pellet, and told everyone a code word (in Orcish) that meant to close their eyes because he was throwing it.  Elias's Flaming Flail also still worked, since it was powered by faith rather than magic.

At the top of the stairs, the mana level was low rather than zero, and there was a brass sigil on the wall opposite the stairs.  Seépravir cast See Invisible and See Secrets on Zaber.  He didn't find anything, and his Danger Sense didn't trip either, but as he approached the sigil, a stunning trap went off, and also a loud alarm.  He resisted the stun, and his Ring of Invisibility started working, showing that he had left the low mana zone.  The others scooted forward, and also Garreth and Elias managed to avoid stunning, though Elias needed to use Luck.  Seépravir cast Great Haste on herself, then Infravision on Polly and Garreth and Elias, then Invisibility on herself.  Zaber disabled the alarm, and heard the sound of footsteps outside the door.

Zaber opened the door.  Garreth ran around the corner, spotted a couple of duergar, and held the flash pellet he was holding, waiting for more targets.  The lead duergar yelled information about Garreth to the ones behind them, and also yelled for Gora.  Seépravir tried Charming a duergar, but failed, even with Luck.  Polly ran out and started shooting arrows, but the duergar blocked one and dodged the other two.

Elias moved up.  Seépravir tried Charming another duergar, and this time it worked.  She forgot to give him any orders though, so he continued charging at Garreth (who was not Seépravir, and might have been a threat to his new best friend).  Polly shot more arrows, which again failed to do any damage.  Garreth all-out defended.  Elias, not paying attention to Seépravir's casting, attacked the charmed duergar, who blocked it.  Seépravir then instructed the charmed duergar to rush the other duergar and push them back, and gave him a Shield spell and an Armor spell.  The charmed duergar turned around and shield rushed one of the other duergar, resulting in no damage but a nice obstruction.

Other duergar surged around their traitorous comrade, followed by some bat swarms.  Polly fired more arrows, managing to perforate a duergar skull and knock him unconscious.  Garreth started killing bats.  Elias tried flailing a duergar, who blocked it.  Seépravir, not a fan of bat swarms, started casting Create Fire in hexes around herself.  The charmed duergar rammed into another duergar.  Elias was critically hit by a duergar sword, but his Luck was back, so he forced a reroll then defended.  The duergar then rolled another crit, which could not be stopped, but failed to penetrate Elias's massive armor.  A bat swarm also failed to hurt Elias, while another failed to hurt Polly.

Zaber, who had been running around invisibly, took a flash pellet from Garreth, who let him.  Meanwhile, a duergar with a flail and shield suddenly appeared behind the party.  (Luckily for them, someone was facing that way, so he didn't manage to surprise them.)  Polly shot some more duergar in the skulls and knocked two more out.  The charmed duergar kept ramming into his former friends.  Garreth tried Rapier Wit on the duergar with a flail, and thought he achieved a Stun, but the duergar was faking and wasn't stunned after all, and managed to block the followup attack easily.  Polly shot some arrows at the same duergar since his block was used up, but he managed to critically succeed on a dodge, and backflipped over the incoming arrow.  (Sadly for Team Duergar, a crit on a dodge against a ranged attack does not cause the attacker to fumble.)  Garreth went after the guy with the flail again, and this time managed to completely sever his shield arm, which flew 3 hexes east.  The duergar yelled "I can fix that after I kill you!" but Garreth yelled back "You don't have a shield...I've got an archer."

Seépravir, still terrified of bat swarms, cast Create Fire and Shape Fire, improving her anti-bat zone.  The charmed duergar tried tackling another duergar, but messed with the wrong one, and got knocked unconscious with a halberd to the head.  The duergar with the flail tried hitting Polly, and Garreth failed to sacrificially parry for her, but she dodged.  Garreth parried the followup.  The duergar yelled for Gora to hurry up.  A duergar with See Invisible tried chopping Zaber's neck, but he rolled a 3 on his dodge for a maximum critical success, and the duergar lost his balance.  The leader with the halberd then smiled at Zaber, showing that he also had See Invisible.  Meanwhile, a cloud of gas that had drifted up near Seépravir without anyone noticing it reformed into Gora-khan the hobgoblin vampire.

Zaber closed his eyes, yelled "Flash!" and threw the flash pellet, hitting the floor.  Garreth and Elias made their hearing check and closed their eyes in time.  Polly and Gora-khan were facing the other way, and were not affected.  The three duergar in front of Zaber, who didn't know what were coming, were badly affected by the bright light.  One was totally blinded for the short remainder of his lifespan.  The other duergar took -3 to DX.

Polly, again lucky to be facing the right way, saw Gora-khan appear next to Seépravir, and started shooting at his feet.  (Most of his body was concealed behind a door, but it didn't go all the way to the floor.)  She put two arrows in one foot and one in the other, annoying him.  Garreth also attacked the vampire, who turned back into gas to avoid the attack, but didn't re-materalize afterward, having decided his attempt to backstab the wizard had failed, and now he was in a one-on-three fight.  Seépravir cast Slow on his gaseous form.  She then tried Apportation, which didn't do anything.

The one-armed duergar with the flail resumed attacking Polly, but she dodged.  The remaining duergar all ganged up on Elias, but the combination of his armor, defenses, and their -3 to DX for exposure to very bright light meant they kept failing to hurt him.  Meanwhile Polly shot a duergar in the eye knocked him out.  Garreth Kiaied the gaseous vampire, but failed to stun him.  Seépravir cast Soul Rider on the vampire, so she could track him to wherever he flew away to.

The duergar commander with the halberd failed to hit Elias again, and then Polly managed to shoot him in the eye (that will teach him not to have a shield) and he rolled a 16 on his death check.  Gora-khan, wounded, managed to seep away through some holes in the floor.

We stopped there for lack of time.  All the duergar had been defeated, and Gora-khan had retreated in gaseous form for the third time ... but this time Seépravir could follow.  We'll see next week if the PCs finally manage to corner him.

GM's Comments:

My ruling on Invisibility and carrying a light source: if you're invisible, then any light that you emit is also invisible.  So if you have See Invisible, you can use it to see.  If you don't, you can't see it any better than anyone else can, so you either need to become visible or set your light source down so that it's no longer invisible.

Bat swarms do 1d cutting damage, as large area damage, meaning that the target gets the average of its torso DR and its worst DR (not including its eyes).  Most of the PCs now have DR 6 or better on most of their body, so swarms are no longer the bother that they used to be.  Seépravir still hates them though.

The charmed duergar never actually managed to hurt the other duergar, but he slowed down several of them with his slams, and caused the commander to finally waste a turn knocking him out.

Figuring out what can and cannot affect a vampire in Gaseous Form is tricky.  I decided yes for Slow and Kiai and Soul Rider, no for Apportation.  I also decided that Gora-khan had lots of air holes in the floor to retreat through, because he's that kind of vampire.  This annoyed the PCs a bit, but thanks to Soul Rider, they have a chance to see where he goes when he flies away.