DF Whiterock Session 97: The Thane

Date:

2020-05-29

Weather:

Warm, session entirely underground

Player Characters:

Elias (Wiggles), Wood Elf Cleric, 433 points
Garreth (Zuljita), Half-Orc Fighter, 492 points
Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 492 points
Polly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 486 points
Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High Elf Wizard, 496 points

Significant NPCs:

Rolf, Possessed Human Cultist
13 Duergar Clansmen
Zahd, Fake Thane of Narborg
Thane Hrolad of Narborg
5 Summoned Grimlock Barbarians



We resumed with the PCs having just defeated the skeleton of the famed warrior Koborth.  The battle had left several of them badly wounded, and so they started with healing.  First Zaber brought the Wineskin of Healing Potions to Elias and had to drink until his HP were above zero, to avoid inconvenient unconsciousness.  Garreth tried following up with Esoteric Medicine (Chi), but his chakra did not align properly.  Elias had some Universal Scrolls of Major Healing stashed away, and Garreth and Zaber read them over him until he was mostly healed.  After recovering some FP (with help from Seépravir's Lend Energy), Garreth also read a scroll of Bless for Elias, to replace the one that had saved Elias from a potentially fatal head wound.

With Elias fixed, the passed the wineskin to Polly, who drank a couple of healing potions and was fine.  (She heals very well thanks to having over 20 HP.)  While lying on a dire bearskin rug and trying to regain FP, Zaber heard some falling rock to the west.  He eventually dragged himself over to take a look, and saw that the tunnel through the rubble that they had dug had collapsed.  After some discussion, Garreth and Zaber decided to press on forward rather than re-dig an escape route.

Zaber picked a lock on the iron door to the north that Koborth had been guarding, then pushed it open.  Behind was a large room, with tapestries on both sides: one featuring duergar making a deal with a red dragon; the other featuring duergar killing drow.  Straight ahead was a throne, with a crowned duergar sitting on it, flanked by three more duergar.  In front of the throne was a pile of coins.

The duergar on the throne tried to parley.  He offered to let them keep the pile of coins if they'd leave and not come back.  Garreth immediately rejected the deal.  The duergar then said they could kill him, if they left his people unharmed.  Polly rejected that, saying that 4 minions wasn't nearly enough and she wanted to know where the rest were.  The duergar asked who sent them -- was it the Mountain King?  Was it House Ereluc?  Garreth said it was because the duergar kept sending slavers.  Polly again asked the duergar to call more lackeys to have a more interesting fight, but he said that this was all that he had left.

At some point Seépravir noted that the guy on the throne might not be the actual Thane.  Garreth checked out his crown, which appeared to be made of gold and gems, not bones.  He decided it was time to stop talking, fast-drew a bastard sword, and threw it at the alleged Thane.  He blocked it, then yelled "Enlarge!" to the other duergar.  There was some more yelling of insults, but at that point the combat was on.

As all the duergar Enlarged, Zaber fast-drew his knife and flew forward.  Polly flew forward with her bow ready, as the fake Thane said "no bows in my throne room!"  She tried shooting him three times, but one arrow was blocked and two were dodged.  Garreth flew forward, as Seépravir cast Great Haste on Elias, and Elias activated Heroic Might and Heroic Grace, for +9 to ST and DX. 

Polly flew behind the thane, and shot him in the back of the head until he failed to dodge and fell down unconscious.  She plinked another duergar too, with a critical hit leading to hideous scarring.  Garreth stepped up and tried a rapid strike with his katana, but was blocked and parried.  Seépravir stepped up and used Rapier Wit on a duergar, causing mental stun.  Elias shield slammed a duergar, then went for a rapid strike and badly wounded him with his flaming flail.

And then, with all the PCs in the room, the duergar sprung their trap.  Behind each of the two illusionary tapestries on the sides of the room were 5 duergar with crossbows.  The 5 on the east side shot Garreth in the rear, while the 5 on the west side shot Seépravir/Rolf in the side.  Unable to defend, Garreth was hit by 5 bodkin bolts, but his armor took much of the damage, so he was only wounded to -2 HP.  Seépravir dodged most of the bolts, needing Luck once, so only took minor damage.  A couple more duergar piled onto Garreth, but he could see those ones coming, and parried their axes.

Zaber flew up behind a duergar invisibly and backstabbed his skull through chinks in his helmet, for a kill.  Meanwhile Polly kept flying behind duergar and plugging them from their non-shield sides.  Garreth passed a consciousness check, fast-drew a healing potion, and chugged it to get back above 0 HP.  Seépravir, tired of being shot at, cast Missile Shield.  Elias tried setting the tapestry on fire, but it wouldn't burn, as his flail passed right through it.

Zaber, seeing this, declared that he didn't believe in the tapestry, and managed to see the duergar behind it.  Polly followed his lead, disbelieved the tapestry, and started shooting duergar behind it, though since their shields were pointing at her, they blocked and dodged.  Elias belatedly figured out the tapestry wasn't real and managed to start flailing the duergar behind it.  He killed one and badly wounded two more.

With the illusions revealed, the duergar in the alcoves came out to fight with the axes and shields that they had readied after dropping their crossbows.  They had numbers (the fight started at 14 to 5), but the PCs had Flight and Luck and Elias with Great Haste and Heroic Might and Heroic Grace and Polly able to fly behind enemies and shoot them in the back of the head, so after their crossbow ambush failed, the battle went like a lot of the battles against the duergar.  Elias and Garreth wore them down frontally, while Polly and Zaber got behind them.  The last few tried mobbing Garreth with All-Out Attacks, but he managed to stop them, and then they died.

Nobody believed that was the real Thane, so Zaber asked Seépravir for See Secrets.  There were no secret doors in the main room, but he found one in the western alcove, behind the illusory tapestry.  He found a short passage, leading to a room containing some crates, some barrels, and a bald duergar with a crown of bones.  As Zaber entered the room, the Thane blew a horn, and several grimlocks appeared.  Zaber flew right back out of the room to alert his friends.  Seépravir said she had plans for the Thane and wanted him alive.

Polly flew in and started shooting at grimlocks, but they blocked and dodged.  Garreth also ran in.  The Thane pulled out a large magical rod with an axe head, pointed it at Polly, and said "Boom!"  A beam came out at Polly, but she dodged it.  Zaber poisoned his knife with wyvern venom.  With the fight at close quarters, Polly drew her rapier and stabbed a grimlock, for a nasty double damage critical hit.  Garreth tried rapid striking a grimlock, but was blocked, and his Rapier Wit had no effect.  Seépravir gave Garreth a Great Haste, though it took Luck to succeed.

Elias found a gap in the line of grimlocks and charged through to the Thane.  The Thane didn't like this, and touched his magic rod to the wall behind him.  A spot on the wall opened up and pulled him through, then closed behind him.  Elias tried following him through, but just bumped his face into the wall.  The Thane had escaped!

There were still grimlocks to deal with.  Seépravir cast Mass Daze on a clump of 4 of them, succeeding against 2.  Zaber tripped one from behind using Judo, then Garreth finished him.  Polly stabbed a wounded one fatally, and then killed another one.  And the fight was done.  Seépravir examined the wall where the Thane had escaped, but saw no tunnel.  She suspected he'd used some kind of magical door through the wall.

The group quickly voted, and decided to keep hunting the Thane rather than returning to town.  We'll see if they manage to find him, next time.

GM's Comments:

The fake Thane didn't fool everyone.  He needed a more convincing crown.  There was no way the PCs were going to negotiate with the duergar anyway.

The duergar crossbow ambush did fool everyone, but only one PC (Garreth) had his back to one of the tapestries, and he has a lot of DR and HP, so it wasn't as effective as it could have been.  Maybe if Seépravir had been in her own squishy body she could have been in trouble, but she was possessing Rolf, and he has armor and HP.