theunderdark

[theunderdark]

Chapter 6: The Whorlstone Tunnels

In earnest search of a dragon’s egg and a magical obelisk, our heroes venture into a forbidding labyrinth of interconnected tunnels and caves, known locally as The Whorlstone Tunnels.

Yet deeper underground than even the trench of Laduguer’s Furrow, their path takes them yet further from the surface. Home feels a long way from here. What curious and unfamiliar sights await them...?

The mute air

The clanging sounds of Gracklstugh’s forges, of metal on metal, and of the bustling markets faded away. Glowing mushrooms and plants lined the damp walls, casting spiral patterns on the dripping ceilings.

A choice of three paths lay ahead.

Torinn bravely stepped forward to explore the left-hand path, which led to a small empty cavern. A dead-end, but for a narrow crack in the wall, through which Torinn briefly glimpsed a small creature scrambling through. The team spotted two unusual mushrooms, which were later worked out to be Bigwig, a purple cup, granting some kind of increase in size, and a small stubby blue mushroom with white dots called Pygmywort, which does the opposite. They kept some for later, but dared not try it yet.

Akta convinced a hesitant Stool to explore the small crack in the wall, reporting back that there is an underground stream. A pool of this dark water blocked the middle of the second path.

Magical, luminescent fungus covered the cavern walls

A Derro’s Lair

So Jimjar led the team down the right-hand path. Boldly stepping into a large cavern, JimJar was met by the horrible stench of rotting meat. The floor was carpeted with humanoid remains - including fellow deep gnomes - arranged in a spiral pattern around the cave’s centre. A hunched figure turned to greet the team, wiping his hands on his vest and smiling viciously. “Oh, I didn’t expect you so soon!  But yes.. yes.. I sense that you are ready to receive the truth into your hearts!”

Unimpressed with the derro’s religious fervour, JimJar’s unflinching glare bought the team time to hold him down, but not before he was able to raise six undead skeletons to his aid from a nearby shrine. But the team dispatched them swiftly: Sariel unleashing a cloud of magical daggers, and Bree whipping them down like some skeleton bowling strike.

Meanwhile, Miri spoke to one of the dead gnomes, learning a little about The Gray Ghosts, a derro cult holed up in the North-East of the tunnels, who might have stolen the dragon egg. And of a large shrine in the East, where an obelisk might lie.

While they decided what to do, the ghost of a deep gnome popped out of the ground, affably introduced himself as Pelek, and asked the group to find his animated severed hand, lost in the tunnels. The group agreed to lay it to rest in Blingdenstone if they could.

By vote, the group decided to burn the skeletons, the unconscious derro cultist, and everything else in the room. While undead flames licked the walls, the adventurers took a short rest and told tales of their schooling and past.

Parade of Fools

The tunnel opened up into a natural cave, and Bree discovered several fungal creatures dancing to some silent tune. Stool excitedly alerted them that they were fellow myconids - five sprouts like him, plus three adults. Two larger ape-like plants were hunched nearby, covered in mushroom growths and yellow mold.

One of the sprouts was quivering in a corner. It was Sprout’s friend, Rumpadump! Worried that some “strange spores” had perhaps affected the rest of the myconids back home in Neverlight Grove, Rumpadump’s distress was felt telepathically by the whole team. And Stool communicated to Akta that Rumpadump knows the way home.

When Bree asked the myconids what was going on, their leader Voosbur explained that they were brought here by “the Lady”, a powerful being that loves and guides all myconids. When Bree graciously declined his offer to share “the Lady’s gift”, Voosbur took no offence and resumed his twirling dance.

Sariel and Adrik identified a growth on Voosbur’s shoulder, releasing a cloud of demon-tainted spores that should be avoided. Worryingly, the whole thing pointed to the influence of Zuggtmoy, the demon queen of plants and fungus, and, like Demogorgon, another monster who has somehow found her way to the material plane.

Stool’s introverted myconid friend, Rumpadump

A swarm of centipedes

The team bade a melancholy farewell to the lost myconids, as they slowly became invisible. They followed the tunnel on north east until they reached a T junction. A dense thicket of fungi blocked the juncture, although the forest was only 4 or 5 feet high - short enough to see over.

Adrik and Miri stepped forward, but as they assessed a way forward, a hissing sound started to rise, like a hundred tiny voices whispering in unknown tongues. They foraged some food and water from barrelstalks and ripplebark, large mushrooms that they were familiar with from their escape from Velkynvelve.

Everyone crunched their way forward, each using their own skills to forge a path ahead. Miri used her scythe to cut out a path, revealing a nest of centipedes that poured onto the ground. Bree took a moment to go into an abyssal trance, learning that more and more centipedes would come, and Adrik heard them chanting for the Bigwig mushroom, which Sariel held. Taking no chances, she teleported out of the thicket instantly.

Akta could stand it no longer, acrobatically leapfrogging over Miri to safety. Eventually the rest of the crew were able to make their way out, though Miri took several uncomfortably poisonous nips on the way out.

The Raucous Mesa

A long tunnel curved around on itself in a spiral. Eldeth, faithfully fulfilling herrole as the group’s trusty red-headed dwarven scout, explored a tunnel running further north-east, reporting on a network of smaller tunnels. 

Entering a wide chamber, the largest so far encountered, the group spotted glowing mushrooms and slimes around the floors and walls. A huge mesa - a flat-topped rock with steep cliffs on all sides - stands in the middle of the cavern. The ceiling is too dark and high to see. 

Hearing murmurs and whispers from the top of the mesa, the team clambered up a ramshackle staircase carved out of the rock in a spiral. From the top, the rhythmic clanking and loud conversations of Gracklstugh can be heard. Pausing to concentrate, almost to a trance, is when secrets are revealed...

[theunderdark]

Chapter 5, part 2: Down Laduguer’s Furrow

Back altogether once more, our crew of heroes set out to explore Gracklstugh’s molten pot of merchants, priests, guards, workers... and dragons. What will they find, and will it help them return to the surface world? 

(Narrator’s note: Ahem.. not sure this is remembered perfectly.. but here’s the main points!)

The Blade Bazaar

The team split up, with Akta, Adrik and Sariel heading to the market. They bartered with some strange merchants who seemed to be losing their marbles, purchasing and selling a few things along the way. 

And thanks to Bree’s advice, they also met Ylsa Henstak, a member of Gracklstugh’s merchant council. A canny caravan master, she invited the group into her well guarded office, although Akta chose to stay outside and flirt with the guards. 

Ylsa revealed that she would be travelling to Neverlight Grove in 10 rotations, and from there to Blingdenstone, which she advised as the best place to get to “the light lands.”  The group was welcome to join their caravan, as long as they could look after themselves.   

But when pushed on transport a little further, confessed a further secret. Deep below Gracklstugh, she explained, there is a labyrinth known as The Whorlstone Tunnels. 

Somewhere inside, there is an obelisk, “about the height of a dwarf, which has some magical powers of transportation that I have been researching for many years.” 

Intriguingly, she declared that if the group could secure the obelisk for her, then “surely, you shall have safe passage through the Underdark to wherever you wish to go.” 

Like her fellow duergar and grey dwarf the group met previously, Hemeth Ironkeel, the caravan master Ylsa can certainly hold her own...  

A Task from The Keepers

Meanwhile, the rest of the group met up the Keepers of the Flame, who were ready to escort Torinn to his work in Themberchaud’s cavern. Their leader, Gartokkar, introduced himself and his companions, who eyed the group suspiciously. One of the priests' hands was on fire, curled into a fist. 

They agreed to use powerful magic to revive Bree, noting gravely that “raising a creature from the dead is no small thing.” The priests explained that they believe when souls leave this “material plane”, they travel to other planes. 

After the group faintly remembered some details about where Bree had said she was (hiding in a wilderness? monsters? a fortress with skulls?) the priests realised that Bree was in The Abyssal Plane, the land of demons. “This is an altogether different proposition. We will need blood.” Eventually, after some ugly work, but to everyone’s delight, Bree opened her eyes and breathed once more. 

Acknowledging that they had undertaken a great service and favour, the Keepers entrusted the group with a perilous task. 

Turning to Torinn, they granted that although he had grown close to Themberchaud, their responsibilities as the Keepers were serious. "He is growing stronger and more resistant to our manipulations. He will need to be replaced by a younger dragon - it is too dangerous from Gracklstugh otherwise.”

The priests had been nurturing a successor – but the egg has been stolen. “We have traced it to a maze under the city, The Whorlstone Tunnels. You must go there and retrieve it.”  And if it could be returned?  “Then Torinn,” promised Gartokkar, “we will happily release you from our service.”

“With your brave friends, it should be easy no?”

The wrymsmith of Gracklstugh...

Themberchaud’s demand

A voice called out, and a reptilian behemoth came into view, its scales the color of lava, its bright yellow eyes glowing in the shadows of the cave, before coming into the light.

“Gartokkar, you didn’t say I was having surfaces for dinner today...”

Chuckling at his own wit, the dragon’s massive body gave the group the distinct impression that he is overweight, indicating eating habits that concerned the group.

“Foreigners,” said Gartokkar, with great reverence, “meet the Father of the flame, the Everburning, and The Foundry’s Heart - Themberchaud - the wrymsmuth of Gracklstugh.“

The dragon dismisses Gartokkar, and took Torinn into his confidence. 

“The Keepers are too arrogant to think that I am not aware of what’s going on. I know they are planning to replace me.”

“This is what you will do. You will find me this egg, wherever it is, and I shall hatch it, and dragons will rule the city. Leave now. And come back to me with the egg.” 

A Rampaging Giant

At some point the group met up in the market, and JimJar tried to pocket a penny whistle. Well, as the famous Darklake saying goes, nothing’s too small for a too small thief. 

The stone guard arrived, arresting her. Meanwhile Bree, zealously enjoying her newly found life, attempted to save her, but only ended up getting arrested too. The group met Commander Errde Blackskull, leader of the Stone Guard. 

After interrogating them and learning of their intriguing connection to the dragon Themberchaud, Commander Blackskull decided to release them. 

“There is a power growing in the Underdark,” he warned darkly. “The Stone Guard must protect Gracklstugh from whatever demonic forces may come. Find me the new dragon’s egg, and I will give you supplies and gear for leaving Gracklstugh, from our very own armoury.”

Before anything could be agreed, the rhythmic hammering of the city's forges was drowned for a second by a thundering roar and the sound of crumbling rock. Everyone turned to see a two-headed, gray-skinned giant burst through toward the market, howling madly and lashing out left and right, littering the plaza with rock and stone debris. 

As he bellowed, one of his swings connected with a duergar soldier, whose broken body flew through the air, crashing nearby with a sickening crunch. The group fled before either of the giants two heads had turned to see them. 

Down Laduguer’s Furrow 

Somehow... the group got back together and figured out that there was an entrance to The Whorlstone Tunnels at the bottom of Laduguer’s Furrow, a huge rift that splits the city in two. 

On their way, Akta clumsily knocked her shoulder against a tall hooded figure in a green cloak. A leathery arm grabbed her arm, and a caution: “Watch your step, Tiefling.” 

She eyed the group. “Have you ever had the pleasure of visiting Velkynvelve?”  Wisely, the group remained quiet, but someone noticed a spider broach on her arm - might she be connected to the Drow group tracking their escaped prisoners? Would she report back to the spider priestess, the commander of Velkynvelve, Ilvara Mizzrym? 

Ignoring protests from Adrik and the others, Akta followed the figure into a side street and murdered her. 

With that small problem seemingly resolved, the group headed into the tunnels. It grew suddenly cold, as they stepped into a cavern with three paths leading off. The crew looked at one another, and bravely stepped forward...

[theunderdark]

Chapter 5: The City of Blades

Our intrepid adventurers have so far escaped drow captivity, witnessed the razing of a city by a powerful demon lord, travelled for days through endless caverns, losing and finding friends along the way, and are now sailing towards Gracklstugh, the City of Blades…

In the boat:

The cunning gnome JimJar

The thoughtful wizard Sariel

The brave dwarf scout Eldeth

Your pal Adrik the bard

The kindly cleric Miri

Poor Bree the halfling, lifeless but for her freaky, twitching arm

Stool, shivering in fear and clinging to

Akta, the sensitive but deadly tiefling rogue

Hemeth Ironkeel, a duergar rescued from Sloobludop,  

And an empty seat where your fearless dragonborn friend Torinn should be.

Alone on The Darklake

The rescued duergar claimed that Gracklstugh, his people’s city, was 5 days sail away by boat. The group quizzed him cynically about his intentions, his history, and the nature of the city, demanding to know whether he could secure their safety.

Hemeth explained that Gracklstugh is an industrial city, its forges kept alive from the fire of a red dragon called Themberchaud. To the group’s concern, he also mentioned slavery and hard labour in the metalworks. 

Most of the city is off-limits to non-duergar, and the city is policed by The Stone Guard, an elite private militia who have pledged to protect the city and its leader, the DeepKing Horgar Steelshadow. Indebeted to you, it seemed all he wanted was to buy you a hearty round of drinks.

Suspicious, but hopeful that they could find some way to the surface, and keen to head in the other direction from the newly awoken demon, the group sailed on.

The boat narrowly avoided rockfalls and dangerous underwater obstacles, thanks to some mysterious but highly effective transmissions from Bree.  

Miri used powerful magic to speak directly to her, learning that she was hiding in a forest on another plane of existence, a savage wilderness filled with fiends and monsters that whispered the name Demogorgon. She was able to make out a three-towered fortress in the distance, topped with fanged skulls.

True to form, Akta gave her no advice or reassurance whatsoever, but was satisfied by the idea that Bree could somehow warn the group of possible dangers ahead.

Hemeth Ironkeel…

Four Doomed Dwarves

Working in shifts for 3 days and nights, Adrik’s magical campsites were extremely convenient, providing much needed water and recuperation.

Nevertheless, a senseless attack from a mad aquatic troll was fended off, thanks to JimJar’s fierce don’t-mess-with-me powers, Akta’s blinding shuriken, and a vicious mockery of words from Adrik. Hemeth also threw his javelin into the lake needlessly.

But Hemeth was to prove a worthy comrade on the following day, when he skewered an annoying bat-like stirge that was hassling the boat.

On the fourth day, another boat appeared on the lake. Eldeth was quick to recognise them as her dwarven compatriots, and they were in high spirits!  And dwarves they certainly were. Never before had the group seen such dazzling, lustrous red-haired beards flowing from the chins of these four women. 

The dwarves explained that they had left their hometown of Gauntlgrym, on a mission from King Bruenor to establish new trade contracts with the cities of the Underdark. 

So far, they had been unsuccessful. Eldeth, their scout, had been captured in Velkynvelve. The Duergar merchants of Gracklstugh seemed loopy and had kicked them out - although they had heard of a Dragonborn working there. And now Sloobludop had been destroyed? 

They didn’t believe your hallucinations about demons (”they’re just folk takes!”) but intended now to head for Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, before eventually returning to the surface via Blingdenstone.

They invited Eldeth to join them, but after some alarming hand-signals from Bree, she was convinced that should she do so, she would never make it back to the surface alive. And after all, she exclaimed, “these brave folk are my kin now!” They wished each other good luck.

An Ominous Arrival

The next morning, Adrik used his powers to confirm that Torinn was indeed somewhere in Gracklstugh. The air became warmer and thicker, and soon the sounds of clanging iron and steel were ringing in the wind.

A large city, set back from the shore, was ahead. On JimJar’s suggestion, the group decided to pretend to be traders from the Zhentarim Clan. The boat was abandoned by a “welcome” pier and the group set out on foot, Akta carrying Bree’s body with Stool’s help.

Approaching a massive bronze gate, six heavily armoured duergar suddenly appeared from behind. A harsh voice hissed from a nearby crossbow slit: “State your names and business!”

Despite some audacious attempts at diplomacy from Miri, Adrik and Hemeth, the guard was not convinced by any of their brazen lies. However, a cryptic message from Bree led JimJar to offer a dagger as a bribe. Despite her lack of discretion - “ooh, isn’t this dagger nice!” - the plan worked and the guard nervously accepted the offer. 

“Go to the Darklake Docks and find a duergar named Werz Saltbaron. Give it to him. Tell him that they are gifts for Gorglak. He’ll know. And I will check with Werz at the end of my shift! If it isn’t there, I will have you all arrested.”

He vanished, and Bree confirmed that some duergar have the ability of temporary invisibility.  

With a groan of heavy machinery, the inner gates opened and a gust of hot, ash and smoke-filled wind rushed in. Compared to the quiet of the Darklake, the roar of furnaces and the sound of hammers striking anvils was overwhelming. They had arrived in Gracklstugh.

The City of Blades…

Reunited in Room Eight

The group’s journey to the docks was not as straightforward as they had hoped. 

At the ramshackle Darklake Brewery, Hemeth learned that another Clan had taken over the Ironkeel business. He steeled for a fight but the group managed to stand him down. Bree alerted the team that the newly brewing kegs of ale were likely poisoned.

Inside Ghollbrorn’s Lair, an underground inn, they saw all kinds of races but few duergar. A serving lad explained that this was one of the two inns in the city that would serve “outlanders,” and rolled his eyes at the idea of days and nights. Here in Gracklstugh, time is measured in “rotations” of hourglass oil lamps.    

Another of Bree’s messages from the beyond was decrypted by JimJar, who set out with Akta to find Torinn in room eight. Meanwhile, Hemeth bought a round of ale, declaring a toast! Optimistically considering his debts repaid, and feeling conscious surrounded by non-duergar, he downed his ale and left abruptly. 

Before they could consider this, Torinn arrived, to great acclaim! 

Hearty food was a welcome sight in The Ghollbrorn’s Lair

Dragons, clerics and other complications

The group were eager to hear how Torinn had come to be here in Gracklstugh. Similarly, he was overjoyed to once more be together with his companions!

Torinn explained that he had been kidnapped by Duergar who had forced him to work in the city’s forges, hammering out spiked rocks for its catapult defences. Fortunately, he had met The Keepers of the Flame, a group of powerful psychic clerics who had recognised him as a dragonborn.

The Keepers work for Gracklstugh’s leader, DeepKing Steelshadow, helping him crush any potential mutinies. They also manage Themberchaud, the great red dragon who keeps the city’s smelters ablaze. 

Every morning, The Keepers meet Torinn outside his lodgings at Ghollbrorn’s Lair, telling him if he is needed for work. And if so, they escort him to the dragon’s cavern and back, each timing crossing some kind of deep trench.

Poignantly, Torinn described how he had become very fond of the dragon, working as his assistant (though under constant watch from The Keepers). Torinn had learned that Themberchaud was tragically doomed to be slain before he grew too strong. The Keepers have been secretly nurturing another dragon egg. 

Shocked to see that Bree was no longer entirely alive, Torinn suggested that the Keepers might be powerful enough to revive her. 

Noticing that the oil lamps were burning down, the group set out for the Docks.

Assassins, interrupted

The streets became crowded as the group entered The Blade Bazaar, an intriguing market of treasures, weapons and armour. They counted ten stalls in total. 

Another message from Bree was interpreted: someone here might help the group to leave the city. But all this bustle was considered a distraction, and they marched on, soon feeling the cold air off the lake. 

A number of large galleys, and dozens of smaller sail craft were moored on the jetties. It was eerily quiet, but for a lone duergar at the end of a pier. Bree warned the group of assassins nearby, and Adrik indeed heard footsteps, but nothing concrete could be ascertained. 

So, very carefully, Miri called out to him, in such a delicate tone that the figure knew at once that she could be trusted. He started down the pier.

But before conversation could begin, two duergar clad in black cloaks appeared, cutting him off. They pulled out glowing blades and went to attack! 

He cried to the group desperately for help, and JimJar jolted the assassins long enough for him to confirm that he was indeed Werz Saltbaron. The group rushed to his aid. Eldeth held back, taking care of Bree.

Adrik stormed in with his mace, Sariel unleashed a cloud of daggers, and after Werz had been stabbed in the gut, Torinn and Miri stabilised him with spells of healing. Akta deftly seized one of the assailants by the neck, and soon the two would-be murderers were both unconscious. 

At the sound of approaching Stone Guard, Werz persuaded the group to flee, though not after Adrik had (rather uncharitably) stolen his wallet. Demanding that he quickly explain himself, the group learned that this was some kind of inter-clan quarrel, as both his and another clan were trading with merchants in Blingdenstone.

Werz was brought to the nearby Shattered Spire Inn, where Adrik paid for a private booth, and where the next move (and what food to order) was thoughtfully considered. And with Eldeth and JimJar now firmly part of the group, the BASTAM Adventurers were gloriously renamed to MajeStab.. (!)