2022/10/19: Underdark Delving Part 4 Report

General Summary

Knight, Locke, Senal, Avalon, Sunderfury, Zaran, Rodger   While looking for a spot to set up camp, Locke's ability to commune with nature let him notice a vault of some sort buried just under the cavern the party was exploring. The party estimated that it was about midday, so they had time to kill before the next day's meeting with Zarlask. They searched for the concealed entrance to the vault, and Locke, with luck and his communion, managed to find it. Sunderfury and Avalon checked the door for traps. There was a possibly poisoned blade trap, but it was made defunct by apparently being fused with stone. Sunderfury tore the door open.   On the other side of the door, hanging onto the inside handle, was a skeletal hand, thoroughly dead. A further pile of skeletons, apparently having died trying to climb out of the hole, was resting at the bottom. Investigation suggested they were drow. On the far side of the metal room was what appeared to be a supply vault. The party speculated that this was a sort of "dead man's chest" where all those who knew where the vault was placed were sealed inside by the commissioner and left to die. Rodger dispelled and consecrated the remains and gave them their last rites. A drow phantasm appeared and said "The dwarves are coming," which suggests it may have been dwarves who sealed them inside instead.   Locke and Avalon got to work on the lockboxes while Rodger and Knight stood watch. With the help of Avalon's weasel, they got all but the largest box open, finding what appeared to be pre-inflation collections of money. Practically pocket change in modern terms. The coins are printed with spiders and racy pictures of drow women. Rodger blushed and looked away, commenting that they "looked cold" in response to Knight's vague confusion.   In the largest lockbox, there were the remnants of a pillow and cloth, with a pseudo-gold sceptre and crown resting on them. Sunderfury licked the crown and stated that it tasted "burny" (and very poisonous) and not gold. The style of the items is unfamiliar; perhaps just so old they predate modern drow sensibilities. Identification reveals them as "The Ancient Crown and Sceptre of the Acid Lord".   With nothing else to find in the vault, the party headed back up and went back to finding a good spot to stay the night.   Late that night, Sunderfury heard the sound of hundreds or thousands of tapping feet or claws coming towards the party. He woke up the rest of the group, and they found themselves facing down thousands of the stone crabs that had previously been bothering New Hallownest. Some passed by the rest area Senal had dug for the group, but others started mindlessly attacking Rodger's shield and subsequently Locke's wall of wood (which they started eating). They were finally dissuaded by Senal's sword and suggestions that there was a big dead thing elsewhere to eat.   The next morning, Rodger provided food for everyone and Locke grew some additional food as a supplement. Once everyone had prepared for the day, Knight and Senal got up to a bit of sparring after seeing each other practicing maneuvers. Likely drawn by the noise, Zarlask arrived, then turned to human form, flanked by two floating red orbs. In appearance, he was a shadowy-eyed young man. Spiky red-tipped hair. Wearing black cloak. He still appeared wounded, so the party promptly cast heal on him, which didn't fully heal him.   He introduced himself. Zarlask, shadow dragon sorcerer and protector of the area. He and Knight discussed negotiations. Zarlask claims the Caverns of Ash and the rockflow cavern and everything north of those. In exchange for constant access to a good healer and good scholarly wizard for several years (at least), Darkhome could secure protected passage through the lower reaches of his territory.   Zarlask has a variety of issues he's trying to deal with. Among other things, there are dimensional issues, dream issues, and a tower with weird stuff. After we offered to help with at least some as a gesture of goodwill, he gave us an item to test our knowledge and problem-solving.   Arrow of the First Finger. Made by an eclectic wizard named Valtear to share his magics with other people. Takes in a 1st level wizard touch spell and applies the spell to whatever it hits when shot.   He took us to the Blacklight Forest at the urging of one of his treant friends. As the name suggests, it's full of weird plants and lit by blacklight, which makes everything look strange. There are pale furless rats with buck teeth that may be mutant squirrels. There are old and ruined defensive towers interspersed through the area, which don't seem to have defended anything in a very long time. Colorful unfey flit around the area. Magic is operating strangely, flipping on and off.   There's an obelisk at the center that appears to be responsible for all this. That's what Zarlask is defending. It's highly resilient, having won a fight against a trebuchet round without a scratch (while the projectile froze and shattered), and everything in the forest would try to kill us if we tried to harm it anyway.   There are little streams of water flowing through the area that appear to be on purple fire, but are harmless. Those who stand in the water have their soul aura dancing around them, reflecting their alignment. It seems like it may be a literal stream of Know Alignment. There are some other effects that can cause confusion, like Senal's affinity with darkness causing her aura to mostly be black. When Knight stepped in, it looked like he was a cloud or constellation of colors and darkness forming little faces, centered around his childhood mask, colored blue. Zarlask's soul aura is cherry red, with a heart of gold and sky blue.   The party was guided onward to the monolith at the edge of a lake of this water (which is apparently entirely drinkable with no side effects). The monolith is about four times as tall as it is wide, and the blacklight glow is hindered by extensive fog. The obelisk is a giant crystalline edifice. The unfey are sparse in this area, and if anything magic is stronger than normal.   The crystal used to be a person who the treants are familiar with. This is the single largest solcite crystal any of the adventurers have ever seen. Rodger tried to read its alignment and got royal purple and white, which is only clear in that there's clearly a great deal of contradiction.   Sunderfury tried to speak to the squirrels and the crystal. The squirrels are zealots that revere the crystal as the creator and life-bringer. The crystal seems to be able to hear Sunderfury but not verbally respond, though it seems able to playfully respond with manipulation of the fog.   The name of the being in the crystal was "taken" by greed, evil, and tyranny, according to the treants. When asked, Zarlask said the elder unfey had suggested we be brought here so we could "be introduced". Knight, understanding, returned to the crystal and asked if they could understand him. There was a rustle through the nature all around him. He introduced himself formally. "I am Knight, king of New Hallownest, and I greet you in peace."   Abruptly, all of the unfey throughout the forest charged out of the forest, converging on Knight. He stayed peaceful and still, and they surrounded him, cutting him off from the outside world in a ball of glowing red unfey. With them eating all the magic coming in, light was normal inside. One of the unfey popped up in front of Knight's face. He greeted them, and they bobbed in answer. Then they dashed to Knight's belt and the collection of swords on his back. He shifted the swords to see that they were drawing his attention to the Dream Master's Nail. He drew it and held it flat in front of him, offering it for study, and they made a slashing figure-eight motion. He double-checked that they wanted him to use it on something, presumably the crystal. They answered by shifting and dashing off into the forest again, hiding, the conversation complete.   (Locke, meanwhile, was back near where they'd entered the forest, cataloguing plants. They're... strange. Uniquely evolved for this place and these energies, and either immortal or not alive in the first place.)   Knight explained the blade and his conclusions to Zarlask. Zarlask agreed to let the adventurers try, but he was taking no responsibility if it blew Knight across the forest. Knight, Senal, Rodger, and Sunderfury (and possibly Avalon and Zaran) grouped up, and Knight readied the Nail and swung...

Rewards Granted

Ancient drow crown and sceptre, "The Ancient Crown and Sceptre of the Acid Lord". 3 XP for extensive good roleplaying.

Character(s) interacted with

Zarlask

Notes

New Hallownest income and expenditure notes, from 2023/08/20:

New Hallownest has received its first month of mithril income: 4,425,000 gold.   Knight went to Argerus with Zess's help to look for mercenaries. Available individual mercenaries, plus Knight's thoughts:

Xixchil Mercenary: Bombaradril the Death Dealer, he is interested in working for... or fighting Knight as he looks fun and has enough arms to make it interesting. (cost negotiable - suggested 50k/month)

Interesting, but what does he bring to the table? Pure combat skill? Leadership? Scouting? Crafting?

Down on his luck Drow Mercenary Captain: Xav-ris Fireblade: A fighter and rogue by trade, an edgelord archtype but purportedly a competent leader and scout. (20k/month)

Good option for scouting drow. Cheap enough that loss or poor reliability is minimal concern.

He's a captain with no company?

Yuul-Barin, a yak man advisor: 8' tall yak man in a fancy robe with a variety of staves. He claims to be a conjurer and priest very capable in earth magic. (14k/month)

Useful for city defense, cheap enough to be worthwhile.

An intelligent black/green slime that communicates telepathically: 'named' Slick. It is offering its infiltration and spying services to the highest bidder. (For reference it is a type of slime called a flareater (MC vol2 page 57) (Base Price = 10k/spy mission, assassinations extra)

Cheap enough to be worthwhile. Use to double-check Xav-ris's work initially, focus on investigating drow intentions?

  Available mercenary companies, and Knight's thoughts:

Grim Jack's Mercenary Company: An experienced company familiar with Renedge, a wide variety of races with access to some fairly hefty magic. x250+? non uniform mercs, An infamous dastardly commander included for 800k/month.

Highly effective, very expensive. Questionable or nonexistent morals.

Lenux's Rogues: Spies, saboteurs, raiders, and ambush specialists. Crossbow/shortsword/dagger/cudgel x100 rogues specialized in fighting highly unfair battles. Human, 1/2 elf, elf, dwarf and halfling troops. 500k/month

Better as offensive troops. Could send them to support Derkusk, then redirect to formians later?

Aerennil's Hopilites: Blessed pike/magic shield and javelin, trained to heroically hold off armies or the largest of monstrous foes in tight formation. Human? Includes heroic command staff. x115 pikemen, 700k/month

Decent option for city defense, but with concerns about versatility for price. Do they just have direct weapon and shield buffs, or more versatile magic?

Eben's Barricade force: Heavy shield/armor and lightning cudgel heavy infantry. Known for holding off literal demonic invasions. x80 Gargoyles/Margoyles in heavy armor with limited flight, but full climbing ability. 800k/month

Very promising, but numbers and versatility are a concern for mine defense.

Grandsmashers's Smashers: Goblin mob with infantry x2000, worg calvalry x200, collapsable catapults x4, slingers x400, 750k/month plus loot

Possible support for Derkusk. Great numbers, good racial affinity, but high price tag.

Aevelia's armor plated iron golems. 150k per golem. Boasts self repair via self minifireball and easy-to-replace ablative armor.

I'd love to have at least a few of these for city defense. These plus aesthetic golems supporting Guardians of GD, Sentries, and city heroes?

Aesthetic stone golems. Cityscape statuary that can defend your city and populance. Programmable to identify intruders and invisible/disguised foes in your midst. 100k per golem.

As above.

50x well-armored and flatulent ogres at Colosseum of Fools. 300k/month, mostly smithing and food costs.

Good candidate for aiding Derkusk.

  Prospective missions:

Defend mine and supply route: Grim Jack's 800k

Defend New Hallownest: Yuul-Barin 15k, Guardians of Ghul-Dan 75k, 4x aesthetic stone golems 400k (one-time cost)

Aid Derkusk: ogres 300k

Scout drow city-states: Slick 10k

Scout formians: Xav-ris Fireblade 20k, Lenux's Rogues 500k

Fight formians:

  Questions:

How have the Guardians of Ghul-Dan been doing? Could they use a rest? Are they willing to rotate to New Hallownest?

They would be happy to rotate out.

What form of support would Derkusk prefer? Line combatants? Scouts? Specialists?

All of the above, really.

What does Bombaradril bring to the table?

Pure combat monster. Huge number of accurate attacks.

  Final missions and defense spending:

To defend the mine and route: Grim Jack's Mercenary Company (800k).

To defend New Hallownest: Rotate the Guardians of Ghul-Dan from the mine and route to New Hallownest (75k). Support them with Yuul-Barin (15k) and 4x aesthetic stone golems (400k, one-time payment). Lenux's Rogues (500k) work local recon and counter-infiltration.

To aid Derkusk: Armored ogres (300k), Bombaradril the Death Dealer (50k).

Intel-gathering: Slick (10k/mission), Xav-ris Fireblade (20k). Slick focuses on the formians, Xav-ris focuses on the drow.

  Total defense spending: 2.17m gold.
Infrastructure and local New Hallownest investments: 1.5m gold.
Grateful rewards to adventurers who helped us get this: 240k gold.
Reserve: 515k gold