Hearts of Stone Episode 16: Under Dwardel

Dwardel, 25 May 216

The party makes its way back to Dwardel, and Boris, Silmaria, “Balthazar Rook”, Valore and X7-09 stay in town to deal with some unfinished business (namely, the Archmage’s alleged secret facility below the town hall) while the others hurry on to Marblehall to brief Countess Casila on the suspected orcish invasion.

Finding Amberlith’s pub abuzz with some sort of feast, our heroes enquire what they might have missed, and learn the following:

• A few days ago there was a minor earthquake near Marblehall. No-one was hurt, and property damage was limited to a few broken plates.
• The Archmage’s weather control station near Concord, known as Boltstrike Pillar due to the frequent lightning strikes it attracted, has vanished, leaving behind a large crater and no clues to what happened. Nearby areas of the Midland Sea are noticeably rougher than before.
• Lucius, Dwardel’s alchemist, has been unmasked as a werewolf by legendary adventurers the Vengeful Company; he was responsible for numerous disappearances and dismemberments around the town, and has been hanged. His last words were: “And I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for you meddling adventurers!” The Vengeful Company is now being celebrated with a week-long party.

Attempting to ingratiate themselves, our heroes are patronised by the Vengeful Company, whose attitude is that they are adorable but they should leave adventuring to the professionals. Boris, unable to enter because of his suddenly-acquired aversion to alcohol, stands outside scratching at the windows like a dog locked out of the house. X7-09 takes this opportunity to sneak up behind him with a rope, intending to forcibly wash and manicure him, but is frightened off by a hideous apparition, of which Boris will later claim ignorance.

Declining to venture into the dungeon at night, the group waits until dawn, when they are met at the town hall by X7-09’s cultist friends (who were at the party last night incognito, and arranged this rendezvous there). Showing the mayor their badges to establish that they work for Casila, they gain entrance to the town hall, its basement, and finally to a locked room at one end of the basement which contains a one-way teleporter (helpfully marked as such). Everyone except Balthazar and his squire Villain descend more or less straightaway, and the other two catch up after a few moments, by which time the main body has explored a small complex and started a fight with a couple of drow. Boris by this stage has transformed into an unusually furry mouse and attempts to entangle a drow with his exceedingly long and fluffy fur. One drow is quickly despatched, but the other breaks free of the fur, dodges past her assailants, boots open a door, and flees across a drawbridge into a large underground cavern populated with mushrooms, drow, giant spider mounts, and – some other arachnids.

Valore flies out, grabs the fleeing drow, and dives into a chasm surrounding the initial complex (she will emerge shortly, alone, with wings now made of metal, and make a superhero landing on the other side of the chasm). X7-09 is terrified as he realises that the “some other arachnids” are of special interest; he explains that their leader is none other than the spider mage who created him, and experimented on him, causing him great pain. He appears shaken by her appearance. Balthazar cuts off their dead foe’s head and marches onto the drawbridge, declaiming “For my master, the Archmage!” as he casts it into the chasm. He recognises the leader of the drow as the same one who tried to kidnap Casila a couple of months ago. Boris advances and casts fear on the arachnids, causing three of them to flee. As he has assumed elven form again, he is spotted by the drow leader, who calls out in Undercommon: “It’s Boris! Kill him!”

Meanwhile Silmaria and X7-09’s cultist friends are exploring the other exits from the complex, finding a rubble-filled stairway where some previous visitor brought the roof down, and two other drawbridges (one of which will become inoperable after Boris tries using the controls to operate it and they come off in his hand).

X7-09 climbs a ladder onto one of the complex’s turrets and casts a quick eye over the cavern terrain, seeing that the complex is carved into a giant stalactite which descends into a pit, and that stairways round the outside will give drow and spiders access now that one of the drawbridges is jammed in the “down” position. Concerned that the arachnids can now enter the complex, X7-09 calls on the Diabolist for help, and molten lava begins to fill the chasm surrounding the stalactite complex at an alarming rate, forming a sort of moat. Valore is perturbed when X7-09’s creator turns invisible, and even more perturbed when disturbances in the dust and debris covering the cavern floor suggest that a group of four invisible giant spiders are charging her. More drow pop up from behind assorted mushrooms and open fire with bows, to no immediate effect.

And people say there’s nothing to do in Dwardel.

GM Notes

I’ve started sharing news with the players to establish two closely-related things; first, that the world moves on even when they’re not looking at it, and second, that quests eventually expire if ignored. The disappearances at Dwardel were left alone for long enough that they became a good reason to introduce the Vengeful Company, who I expect to become long-term rivals, not least because their leader Borys Firesword is using the same name as one of the party and the same trademark weapon as another.

There was some creative use of icon dice rolls, and I was able to bring two characters’ backstories into play, which is always gratifying.

This session moved much more quickly than usual, because half the players were out celebrating a birthday and so we had a group of 5 players rather than the usual 9-10. I must consider splitting the group and running the two halves on alternate weeks, as this is more effective than tuning the rules for speed.