Dungeons and Dragons Day 13: Fires, Tunnels, Spiders
With no time to lose and a Dwarf Succession crisis to begin to resolve, the party returned to the tunnels beneath the Dwarven City. With the paper they had collected, a route to The Slavers Den had been revealed. And there was only a door leading to an unexplored room standing between the group and that hideaway. Knowing there might be trouble, the Warlock/Barbarian used his Bag of Tricks to send a giant dog to investigate.
Black Pudding:
As it turned out, this had been a wise decision. The Dog got swallowed up by a mass of darkness. The party had run into a Black Pudding! This creature split into two when the Death Knight attacked with his sword. Worse, one of the creatures followed the Monk who had decided to make use of his wall walking abilities. Given its nature, the Black Pudding stuck to the wall quite easily.
Both creatures decided to focus their efforts on the Death Knight, and the second of the creatures managed to subdue him. As it would take a long time for the Death Knight to be digested, the party still had not failed to save him. The quickly got him out of the monster’s remains and it was realized that the man’s armor had been damaged by the acidic skin of the Black Puddings. Deciding to gather their breath of an intense battle, the group rested for an hour before continuing into the Slaver’s Den.
Slaver’s Den:
Once the party reached the location on the paper, they beheld an interesting sight. They now found themselves in a massive cave area with a ceiling high enough that they could barely see the top. The complex was also littered with countless spider webs. Given the enemies the party had encountered frequently, the group had an idea what sort of denizens lived in this cave.
Those enemies appeared suddenly. A Giant Spider which was accompanied by a weird Elf Spider Hybrid: A Drider. The Rogue looked around and noted that the webs were highly flammable. Thus he came up with a plan. After watching the patrol route of this enemy, he set up a trap. The Drider slipped on a trigger and suddenly the webs in the room not only ignited, but combusted. The Giant Spider was killed instantly and the Drider severely weakened.
The Monk decided to take advantage of the chaos and climbs to the ceiling of the cave for a surprise attack from above. Unfortunately for him, he misjudged the drop and flew past the enemy thank to the power of natural 1. Instead he got into a serious battle with gravity and physics. A fight he chose to surrender to so he could return to the bigger battle. Armed with only a slight hit point loss, the Monk decided to regain his fallen pride.
Traps:
The flames ultimately destroyed the Drider, and sadly any treasure that would have been on it. Now that this threat was clear, the party explored the caves. It was not inhabited by any other enemies, but there were traps. A guillotine blade almost fell from the ceiling in a side room, and an arrow trap caused the party some trouble. As it turned out, there was hidden treasure that these traps were protecting. While none of it was magical, it did have some value nonetheless.
In another nearby room, the party smelled gas in the air. The Rogue all too familiar with flammable objects, fled from the room. The rest of the party did likewise, save one person. The Death Knight, who felt drawn to a certain corner of the room. In this corner sat a rusted sword. The potential for treasure made the Death Knight oblivious to the other dangers in this room.
The rest of the party put their heads down as the room they had just been in exploded in fire. The gas combusted and with the Death Knight in it. Miraculously, due to some extremely good luck on the Death Knight’s part, he was only burned and very alive. Grabbing the rusted sword that he risked his life for, the party stumbled into the final room in the Smugglers Cave.
Revelations:
This final room ended up being empty. No traps, no other nonsense. But this did not bode well for the party. Somehow, the Slavers knew they were coming. The fireplace in the corner looked like it had been used recently. They had just fled recently! The only thing of value they found, was a note that indicated two things: First, there was a second hideout and with directions to it. Secondly, the party realized the Drider they had just slain was the very same Drow that they had abandoned in the tunnels.
The Death Knight who was a Drow himself knew about the cruel fate of Drow that were turned into such a creature. This had been punishment, and the group feared a possible warning to them as well. Returning with important information, the group entered the Dwarven City again. Glafrel was curious to know what had happened.
The Royal Houses:
The group showed him the parchment and he revealed that one of the deadly houses that stood right near their political opponent, the Queen was behind this. But to prove that this house was connected they would need to enter the other Slaver’s Hideout.Before they left the group asked Glafrel about the different houses in the Dwarven City. First, on the side of the Queen stood three deadly houses:
House Runebrewer: the most dangerous of the three owning many of the valuable resources as well as the Queen’s Ear. Indeed, the Dwarf who had given the speech in her stead was the head of the house. This Dwarf, named Daznock was a dangerous adversary, and Glafrel looked nervously around before making one more statement. There was a possibility that he was a powerful sorcerer.
House Windmaul: This house was the most popular in the City. They also were a clan of deadly warriors. Glafrel expressed regret that this house was an enemy. He admitted there was tension between this family and Runebrewer. The party decided they would be paying House Windmaul a visit in the near future.
House Bronzebuckle: The last of the three enemy houses was the polar opposite of House Windmaul. They were viewed as opportunists and schemers by the Dwarven City and trusted by no one. They also tended to do the dirty jobs that no one else wanted. Glafrel pointed out that this family was once part of his own but a schism has separated the two factions.
Glafrel told less bout the three houses on their own side. First was his own house:
House Minebuckle: They were the owners of the mining operations within the Dwarven City.
House Trollbreaker: The second most powerful house in the Dwarven City. No one knew what to make of them. They had a hand in every industry but also troll the hell out of actual Trolls and the Dwarven City itself. Glafrel admitted that the most likely reason that they had allied with Fodrin at all was just for kicks.
House Ice Gut: The craziest house in the City. They put their troops through crazy regiments that break their body mind and spirit before they can be considered warriors of the family.
The Vampire:
With this knowledge in mind, the group went back into the tunnels to find the second slavers hideout. They found a complete massacre when they arrived. The slavers had been torn apart after they were killed. Sadly, the children they had been smuggling had also been killed, though with different wounds. The party deduced that the slavers had killed the children and then been brutally killed by something else. After searching the bodies heavily, the Necromancer and Death Knight found a conclusion to this riddle. Bite marks on the necks: A Vampire
And that Vampire was nearby. In the next room nearby. The party was exceptionally suspicious as they should have been in this situation. This Vampire did all the work for them though, so they spoke to her. She introduced herself as Antoinette and informed the party she was working with the exiled Prince Faldrin. She told the group where documents that would be vital to helping the Prince were located. Still the group did not like this at all.
They returned to the Dwarven City for some well earned rest. They keep watching increasing amounts of intrigue circle in. There are only 12 days left until something cataclysmic happens and this situation is getting harder, not easier to deal with.