Dark Dwarves

(Khundrakar, 20^th September, 1600)

Instantly, the band pulled back through the doors, avoiding the incoming quarrels. Spiking the hinges, they took a hurried council of war. Meanwhile, the sound of scurrying feet could be heard from beyond the portal.

Sack peered back through the doors, his bow out and his eyes scanning for a target. Meanwhile, Kobort, Invisible again, went up the wall and settled himself on the ceiling. He tried using a copper penny thrown into a corner to lure out whoever was in the room. The second try succeeded; half-a-dozen stunted shapes moved hastily from the shadows to investigate the sound, fanning out in a very praticed and professional way to flank the non-existent foe. Beside him, Sack heard a subvocal snarl from Hildraft, and he realized what he was seeing. Duergar! The Duergar were the Dark Dwarves, cast out from the dwarf clans æons ago for trafficking with the elemental Darkness for awful powers beyond reckoning. Exiled forever to the dark places of the world, they bore - and received - an undying hatred of the dwarves, and had degenerated into a twisted, evil people, possessed of much dark power but tormented by dreadful desires and hates.

Duergar warrior

Without hesitation Hildraft raised his shortbow and sent an arrow clean through the head of one of the duergar - barb, shaft and flights, and out the other side, dropping the warrior in a shower of blood and brains. Instantly, all hell broke loose.

Surya, Vollun joined in from beyond the door, Sack stepping through first, and Kobort, dangling precariously from his perch on the ceiling, loosed a shaft too. Completely surprised, the duergar were mown down without a struggle. The band, however, didn't relax for a second; in all minds one fact was uppermost.

None of these duergar had crossbows.

Sure enough, a second or two later, two sounds came from the shadows at the far end of the thronehall. One was familiar to all; the musical "twang" of crossbows being loosed. The other was only significant to Kobort, but he recognized it immediately. The soft "Foommmph" of a Fireball spell!

His desperate yell of warning was in time for Surya, who flung himself flat backwards through the door, but Sack and Vollun were caught full in the blast. Coughing, and on fire here and there, they lurched into the thronehall, and set off up the hall after Hildraft, who was already running, screaming with bloodlust, up the room.

Sack and Surya began hunting behind the pillars on the left, with Vollun on the right, as Kobort descended from the ceiling and joined Hildraft in his charge up the hall. As they did so, a new volley of crossbow bolts whined among them, and Vollun was badly wounded. Dropping his battleaxe, he cried to Kord for help, and was answered; a pale blue flare of light accompanied the easing of his pain. A bit stunned, he stood still for a moment to get his breath.

On the right, Sack had discovered that the duergar had an unexpected power - invisibility. The flatfooted crossbowman he'd been bearing down on suddenly vanished, and his blind swipe connected with nothing.

Then with a thump, a great mass of Web appeared, enveloping Vollun and Kobort (though the latter was unbothered thanks to his cloak). Hildraft just managed to sprint clear of the oncoming mass, and Surya, flattening himself against the right-hand wall, slid around.

In the centre, Hildraft and Kobort could now see the source of the trouble. On one side of the throne stood a duergar wizard, his black robes whirling as he prepared more magic. On the other was a duergar warrior, who seemed to be directing the others to some extent. Hildraft called on Kord to root the wizard to the spot; almost simultaneously, the wizard attempted to Hold Person on the dwarf. Both spells failed, and the two looked at each other with a touch of respect. Kobort riposted with his own Web, missing the wizard but catching two duergar crossbowmen lurking in the corner.

Emerging from the pillars, Sack found himself face-to-face with the duergar leader, whom he realized in some surprise was female. Cranking the Blade of the Sun up to its' utmost, he charged. Unhurriedly, she unsheathed the two short swords slung across her back and grinned evilly at him. Just as they met, Sack abruptly dropped the Blade's blaze to nothing and changed his angle of attack. This paid off; whe he relit his weapon, he could see the dark dwarven woman warrior had a great slash across her helm, which had saved her life, and blood running down across her face. Rallying, she re-engaged, soon dealing him a similarly bad wound to his head. Sack began to feel seriously worried.

Hildraft, mentally checking his spell repertoire, came up with a truly good idea, and invoked a zone of magical Silence, which filled the entire room. He saw the wizard blink, and shake his fist in fury as the spell he was readying sputtered and died. Before the duergar could react, Kobort and Hildraft were upon him, blades flashing, and the dark magician sank dying to the floor. Overcome with bloodlust, Kobort carried on and slaughtered the two duergar trapped in the Web, despite their attempts to surrender. Meanwhile, In the centre, Surya had mopped up the last of the crossbowmen as they tried to finish off the helpless Vollun Crusher.

Sack could feel his strength ebbing. Suddenly his vision reeled, and he realized that he was weakening far faster than he should have with the wounds he'd taken. A dark suspicion was confirmed by the sinister smears on his foe's blades; she had poisoned weapons. Desperate, he knew he had to end this quickly or he'd be lost. Putting everything into one last lunge, he beat down her guard and struck true, his point drilling through her eye into the brain.

Stumbling to his knees, he dug into his pack and pulled out his healing potion, bit out the cork and swallowed greedily. In a wash of relief, his pain faded and he was restored. Knowing they needed to rest, the party secured the doors of the thronehall and camped, resting in shifts and checking the loot from the duergar while they watched...

Potion of healing