It happened, first time in a very long time (20 years??) I had a doppelganger hit the party and gave one of the players the doppelganger to play. He did a great job and really tried to kill the party. He's also out there as a threat against the group on a going forward. It was a hell of a session - and we had a new player at the table so he was, I'm sure, full of WTF is going on here!?!?
Write up follows:
We awoke the next morning and everyone felt a heavy weight in our hearts. Very far behind the dwarven gates, we have until 2 to 4 today before our masks fail. And Ralstrom seems to know all about us.
We were escorted to the Parlor where Ralstrom was holding court along with his house and the Underthane Hylf and his house. Breakfast was served, along with a sugar glazed sweet roll. Everyone either took or not, Shim demurred getting an eyebrow from Dizzy and Connal. And then Ralstrom talked about contracts and getting a thing done. Putting an end to things. He talked about Axioms, truths he had to adopt and make his effort to live into.
Forever Alive was the last but he thought it applied to the end of a world. Like he could see the great work that he and his mentor put into place 200 years earlier. But it was time to move on. He signed the Asmodeus contract and went to hand it to Dizzy. Then he asked Dizzy that this was an important part of his life. He could join here, learn the secrets of Dumethion, and get the answers that he had the questions for. Just agree.
Hand was out for the young dwarf to take, and Dizzy looked at the party and sighed. “I agree.” And shook Ralstrom’s hand.
Party was like, WTF? The Duke of Razors then told the dark haired dwarf, “Max. Engage the Ragnarok Protocol”: The entire place seemed to shudder and the dwarves in here were getting furious. Eoghan enacted the Half League Bracers and pointed west. Anticipating portaling the entire party OUT of Gorok and away from here.
We did indeed portal away – but it was only a hundred feet or so before we slammed into the walls of the Homestead from the inside of the Great Hall. The door was ajar but the door and windows all had a blue glow around them. There was yelling and excitement and screaming. We could hear Hylf Tworock yelling to the guards to find them. While others were yelling at Ralstrom about the Ragnarok Protocol and why did you trap us?
With no time to think, the party turned to the staircase at the back of the hall, spun up to the right, and moved forward to engage the dwarven guard there. Dizzy was holding back while Eoghan and Brading were yelling at him, what the hell was he doing!?! There were two doors for East and West wing, and each one had a platemail wearing dwarf there with a flatbow and halberd.
Combat closed and the two animals were sent off to engage the dwarves. Connal was in the front as the rest of the group closed to engage. At some point the monk was right in the dwarf’s face stabbing and hitting. He tumbled back out of the way and then…
Shunk!!!
He was stabbed in the back, sharp blade ripping through his skin and taking 18 points of kidney damage. And he looked. And just Shim was there. “Shim!? What the hell man!!??”
“I am so sorry!” the gnome replied as the rest of the party closed. We could hear the dwarves coming out of the parlor and exploring, looking for us. Servants and maids were yelling that they could not get out, the ways out were sealed. Dizzy abandoned the first floor and joined the group on the next floor up. And he could see the backstabbed Connal and Shim the only figure close enough to have kidney hit the monk.
Words followed and we could hear the dwarves getting closer. Brading finished off the local guard and tossed the key to Eoghan, intending to help the others find out what was up with Shim. A dispel magic followed – nothing happened. And then the Shim attack happened. A Psionic blast smashed out, we countered, and then he cackled and drank a potion vial – turning to gaseous form and laughing as he faded away.
Doppleganger.
Eoghan got the door opened and Wilhelm and he called the animals, as we all ran into the East Wing, slamming the door closed. We took a weapon rack from the wall here and jammed it under the knob after locking the door. What the hell man?
Rewinding time…
Shim had eaten the cookies and drank the milk and then got very sleepy, passing out. He awoke some hours later, his head hurting and body aching. He was strapped to a torturing chair with a number of studs along the inner bindings (wrist, elbows, neck, ankles, thighs). A grey figure had his hands on his head, plundering his thoughts, his memories, everything that made Shim Shim for the last 2 years. When it was done, the gnome was a blubbering mess and tried to get his bearings.
Meanwhile, Nate, a human slave, was here cleaning up the gnome’s spit, sweat, and excrement. There were some war pigs here, the master of pigs, a dwarf named Darfus, was watching the entire thing and laughing.
Ralstrom Thurman Gorok, the Duke of Razors was here; along with his quiet and menacing valet. He proceeded to let Shim know that he was lucky. Lucky to have any true sight. That was limited to Odin. But he was blessed with a vision. Of Ragnarok itself. So he needed to plunder the gnome’s thoughts and make sure they got everything. A doppelganger, Skrellix, would be put in his place for now and when the time comes, help eliminate the dangerous members of his party.
The grey figure then shrunk down to Shim’s size and took on his entire appearance. The Majorica mask was magically torn from the gnome and the doppelganger put it on, taking on the visage of the dwarven kid as well. Wearing the gnome’s stuff, he left, heading back up to the bedroom to take over Shim’s life for now.
Nate was signaling to Shim that he wanted to help but they needed to bide their time. And then things got a bit out of hand. Shim powered up a summon spell but did it in such a way that the meta magic occurred without moving his hands – and a giant toad appeared! And then the stoic dwarf grabbed it by the face…and THREW it across the room where it smashed into a table and Shim dispatched it.
“Splendid!” Ralstrom laughed. “See? I don’t have the true sight. Visions I don’t know! I can deduce and suspect, the Threadbinders can work the skein in limited way but we don’t know all.” A gag was then put in the gnome’s mouth and bound in place. Ralstom got closer and then leaned in. “Odin hung for 9 days. And he could see what was to come. I will have your vision.”
And then using a long sharp knife, Ralstom proceeded to carve Shim’s left eye out of his head. The gnome was screaming and wailing, gagged and bound, he howled and sobbed and wailed. And when the blood flow was too much and he passed out, the duke of razors healed him, had the stoic dwarf cauterize the torn blood vessels, and went back to slow methodical cutting and carving again. They took everything – the entire socket, leaving a crater in the gnome’s face. Shim died twice during the process – each time was healed up and forced to experience terrible torture.
Ralstrom kept telling him it was for the greater good and sacrifice is needed. Then he held the bloody eye and sobbed in pleasure. “I can see it! I can see the mountain exploding! Praise be to Dumethion! Oh! The norns! I can see them! So many threads are cut! So many threads are ended! It’s glorious! A life’s work….Glorious!”
And then the sick demented wizened nihilistic dwarf ate Shim’s eye and shuddered practically orgasming with pleasure.
At this point he wished Shim a good night and made his way upstairs. He had a big day tomorrow, would sign off on something he had left undone a century and a half earlier, and maybe get a new apprentice before the day was over.
Nate and Shim did their best to communicate, deciding to help one another. Darfus kept giving Nate directions and the human slave kept doing it. At some point he managed to get shim’s gag loosened. And then another time got a cut of the gnome’s wrist bindings. The war pig was the big problem but the two of them bided their time and after some sort of shaking occurred at the house, lured Darfus over and then Nate attacked with a Trokar he picked up.
The keeper of animals at the human slave tore at each other, while Shim fired off a magic missile spell, hitting the war pig. He was pulling and cutting , freeing himself as the battle continued, Nate getting cut and hurt, and then a gore from the charging pig. But a critical hit to the neck helped and Darfus slowly died as Shim was finally freed.
The ranger officer came out of a side office and Shim fired off another spell, summoning more monsters. Taking Darfus’ axe, Nate ran to the fight as the ranger officer fought a summoned 9’ tall giant spider. Eventually poison ran through him and he fell over. Dead.
The two of them regrouped, grabbed a few bits of clothes, ransacked the office for some potions (2 healings were given to Nate), took the battle axe, and they then feds the bodies to the 3 remaining war pigs. Hands were shook, Shim was down an eye, but they needed to get up and try and find the gnome’s friends. Took the stairs up to the Inquisition chamber where they opened the door – and it was the door that was at the end of the hall by the apartments. Shim made them both invisible and they ventured out.
Something was going on. The place was on lockdown, guards were everywhere looking for the party, and they needed to find them. They went north, Nate suggesting they go to the Slave chambers and entice the others in there to rebel. Two dwarves, a goblin. Invisibly they convinced them it was time – not a decade from now. But now. The goblin took the offered axe and ran off to the Chapel to attack the dwarven priests there. The others, getting Nate’s advice, went south to the Inquisition chamber to get some weapons.
Upstairs, the party talked about finding Ralstrom’s chamber here but while discussing where it might be, a chambermaid was wandering by, saw us, screamed. And Dizzy shot her dead. We ran into the hall andacross the way, bursting into a guard chamber while three other dwarven guards charged down to us. As we poured in, the lone guard in here still getting dressed was attacked and slain.
We barred the door, there was another door out of here. Brading was in the front and while Dizzy was trying to pick the lock, the 3 dwarves burst in and the battle was on. Brading took up the front, preventing them from swarming into the room, but the halberd attacks were beating the dwarven cleric up. He was forced back and the way was clear for others to come in.
We drew up battle lines to hold them at bat as Dizzy tried and failed and tried and failed to open the door. Arrows were fired, the animals ran forward, and we hit and beat and slashed. The dwarves were wearing platemail and even when they were hit, the damage was minimal at best. The battle took a VERY long time, and through it all – Hylf’s people had found the dead dwarven guards and were breaking down the door to the East Wing.
One dwarf went down, then the other. Finally the 3rd was dropped and we ran out of the guard room and went south as the Eastern Wing door was battered apart. We found Ralstrom’s room and shut and braced the door. And on the south and west walls were 2 10’ diameter portals. Talk was filling the wall with Fizzstone and blasting a hole out, or having Wilhelm crumble a section of the wall here.
Time was about out when we decided to hit the south portal, fire it up – and we flashed…in a large chamber that was used as an inquisition chamber. Two dwarves in rags and wearing slave collars were here. We could hear Ralstom’s people elsewhere in the Homestead. Back on the 1st floor. The dwarves were told to get weapons by their friend Nate and then join him.
As for Nate and Shim, they were invisible by the Chapel as the dwarves took the goblin slave down. It did mention Nate, and the dwarves were going to take care of the slaves. They marched off and the two invisible friends were tight to the wall as they passed. And it was here that Nate remembered the ceremonial Odin armor in the Chapel. He told Shim and the sorcerer agreed the fighter needed some armor so they went in and Nate began strapping the platemail on, while going on that they needed to find Kiera, and elven slave and his love, and free her – as the same time Shim needed to find his friends, tell them about the doppelganger.
There we go. Workmonth the 5th, 11:15/11:30 AM. Party is in 2 parts right now and both sets are on the run.
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