Castle Whiterock: The Duergar, part 1

Duergar are an important part of the Whiterock campaign. Dominating fully three levels of the dungeon and driving the economy of interaction between the lower levels and the surface, they are truly the heartbeat of the campaign. Once you've cleared the Thane and his clan out, you will literally have the run of the dungeon.

That's why I think it's important to spend some time on converting them properly. As I see it, I need to study two particular areas:

A) Finding the best conversion path for the duergar in the module, and
B) Learning to use duergar properly in a tactical sense.

B is the much larger of the two, I think. Very little is required for A but some intelligent decision-making and number-crunching. But tactically using the duergar effectively is important. Just their racial abilities of invisibility and enlarge person open up a number of ways to manipulate things like reach, threatened spaces, and the ability to hit with surprise and then run. Fighting duergar should be annoying and exhausting!

The Theater/Narborg Roster

Let's start with A), above. Running down through the rosters of levels 10, 11 and 12, duergar NPCs can be broken into three categories: Specialists, Muscle, and Leaders. Leaders could be considered specialists, I suppose, but in all forms of D&D Leaders typically worth as both Specialists and Muscle.

Most of the top level NPCs of Narborg seem to represent the end-goal of a particular path. Thus the career path that starts with the duergar bouncers in the Bleak Theater seems to naturally end in with the Underdeep Veterans in Narborg. The Guards and Experts seem to be all of the same type across a pretty narrow band of class levels, so there isn't much of a progression there. Thus a rebuild of the basic fighters seems in order. I'll probably use the Defender of the Weak build from  Rogue Eidolon's excellent Fighter Guide as a template. (note:The original version seems to have disappeared, so I'm linking Zenith Games for the content. Thanks to RE and to Zenith Games!) Also of interest, the Stalwart Defender prestige class, with build guidance here.

The rest of the duergar, the Leaders, need to be redone. A LOT has changed for these classes overtime, especially for Unchained classes. The Impresario, the Thane and his family, the commanders, almost all of them need some work. I will probably adopt some linear Unchained rules for the rogues and monk - I don't need them to be complex, I just need them to be workable when I'm juggling a combat with multiple monsters.

The casters from the above list really need to be redone. I find that most of the ancillary abilities of specialist wizards - not to mention the domain abilities of clerics - get lost in the shuffle. I've never had an NPC caster survive long enough to fall back on their X/day Elemental Ray attacks for a d6-plus-change, so why worry about it? Time to re-build!

I won't dive too deep into the rebuild itself but suffice it to say that it should allow for some interesting tactics during gameplay. The Defender build linked above should make it very hard for players to simply move past the front line of defense and force them to use their resources more intelligently.

Castle Whiterock: The Quest Continues, Volume Three

Buffing the Bleak Theater

Most of The Immense Cavern (level 9 of Castle Whiterock) can be played as is. You've got your troll squad with delusions of grandeur, the ettin, the mushroom forest, some drunk teenage stone giants... all of these can be played out with minimal hassle. 

The final room, though, is problematic, as I've mentioned before. Unless the party is caught totally unawares, without protection from fire, they will probably survive it. It's even possible they make it through taking only minimal damage. Indeed, even Energy Resistance (Fire) 10 turns the entire affair into a tedious exercise. So let's give it some snap! 

The Trapped Route to the Bleak Theater

So what do we have here? A password that gets you through the trap, disabling it for 5 minutes. A dead roper for color and continuity. And a big-ass fire trap. While 60d6 sounds like a lot, it's spread out over 15 rounds, at 4d6 per round. Also, there's a save, albeit a DC22 Reflex save. (why do you get a save against a cloud you are entirely engulfed in? No good reason!)

There's even a chance to avoid it entirely, at least for cautious players with a high Reflex bonus. If you are lingering near one of the doors when the trap is triggered, you can slip outside. Of course, that will split the party, which brings its own hazards. The sliding doors are tough (120hp, hardness 8) but blasting your way through or using stone shape is another option. 

Detection or Avoidance

Now it is likely the party will be looking for trouble in this place as it is a choke point and a fairly obvious transition to a deeper level of the dungeon. So Find Traps may be in effect or the rogue may actually scout ahead looking for traps, but the detection and disable DC is 33! So let's just assume that the rogue doesn't find it, or can't defuse it. Likewise, a 7th level caster is not likely to be able to Dispel the magical portion of the trap, as the DC to overcome it is 26, meaning they would have to roll a 19 or 20 to bring the spell down. 

Once Triggered

Now let's look at the damage. Over 15 rounds you are looking at 210hp, assuming average damage per round (14 hp) and you fail every Reflex save. But over the course of 15 rounds, you're likely to make at least one of those saves even if your Reflex bonus is only +3 or so, so let's call it 200hp. Energy Resistance 10 drops that total to 50 points; bad, but not generally lethal at 7th level. 

Assume your party is going to be casting spells during this time. Concentration checks against continual damage will be 18+ half the damage dealt, or 25 on average. And again, if Energy resistance is involved, that will probably be reduced to a 20. Not terribly difficult, given that the average Concentration check bonus in this group is +12. 

That means the party wizard or cleric will probably be able to get debuffs off. Either communal energy resistance or at least a few Channel Energies to keep people from hurting too bad; in fact a 7th level cleric's channel healing is 4d6, the same as the DPS of the trap. 

So while the cleric is healing or casting prayer for the party-wide +1 buff to Reflex saves and keeping people standing, what are the other folks doing? Standing around on fire, mostly. The wizard might have some utility spells to fire off that may help, but the fighters and rogues have time to burn (nyuk nyuk nyuk!), so this becomes an exercise in waiting. BORING. 

Snorefest or Gorefest

So let's introduce some more threats.

Let's add this guy: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/npc-s/npcs-cr-7/wrath-priest-half-orc-cleric-8/

He's got a nice set of combat buffs, energy resistance and, once fully prepped, will accomplish two goals: A) giving the fighters something to do and, B) force the party healer to make decisions every round (heal the party or heal the fighters or deal with the threat directly), keeping things interesting. 

But even this might not be enough to stress the group. So I'm adding another potential threat:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/npc-s/npcs-cr-6/bloodfire-sorcerer-half-orc-sorcerer-7/

Now we have a real fight on our hands. A small NPC party of 2 casters, buffing each other, attacking the party while they are on their heels, all while the room erupts in fire around them. Beautiful!

Conclusion

This setup gives me three options: the base encounter as written; a medium nasty fire trap in case the party is already taxed, and two upgrade positions in case the encounter goes to easily or they somehow manage to disarm/avoid the trap. It might seem mean, but in the end I actually hope this will deter any foolishness on the part of the group and make them take the Thane and his minions very seriously!

Also, the party has managed to get to this level with very little in the way of magic (they've been avoiding high risk-reward encounters like the plague), and the two NPCs will at least provide them with a number of basic magical equipment they will need later on. 

Castle Whiterock: The Quest Continues, Volume Two!

Now What?

The following factors have been lined up: 

• The Thane and his clan are now Aware Of The Party and are Taking Steps To Mitigate, as described in the module. 
• The derro are all but wiped out, the Iron Manacle and the mountain troglodytes are but a distant memory. 
• The Whiterock Orcs have held on to their little postage stamp of territory, against all odds. 
• The stone giant clan is a new factor, as yet unaligned in this struggle. 

The party's plan is to trundle down to the Bleak Theater and rescue the old character party. Heroically!

This leaves me with a number of things to do: 

First and foremost, I need to convert the duergar up from 3rd edition to Pathfinder. There has been some power creep over the years since CW was published, both within D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder, which is now closing in on it's second edition. Things which were dangerous to base classes are now laughable in this later edition of the game, and they need some hardening. I'll try upgrading the NPC-classed duergar to PC classes and keep both version on hand, just in case I've overestimated the party's abilities. 

Next, I need to figure out what to do with the trapped entry to the Theater on level 9. A sealed room with an incendiary cloud trap sounds rough, but I anticipate it being a cakewalk as written. Honestly, 15 rounds of 4d6 - even with the DC 22 reflex save for half - sounds awful for a bunch of 7th level characters, but really that's just a few Resist Energy spells and Channel Energy buffs. It's entirely possible they can walk away from that room unscathed, and I can't have that. 

If they keep sailing through these deeper levels without a serious check to their advance, they won't take the threats seriously until they are in way over their heads and I have a full TPK on my hands. Case in point, while the party handily dealt with bands of kamikaze derro backed up by an ettin and hell hounds, they were utterly crippled by a single Confusion spell. 

No, I need them to feel it. 

The Plan

With regards to the incendiary cloud room, I think I have an answer. I found two fire-wielding NPCs online that would fit nicely in that room; a priest of Wrath and a sorcerer, both half-orcs. The aforementioned 4d6 a round is not troubling on its own, but when backed up with a fully buffed beat-face war cleric and a direct damage and debuff-casting sorcerer augmenting the threat, it should keep the group nicely occupied and force them to be more cautious in their advance.

It works thematically, as well, since Thane Vejik is notorious for outsourcing talent to solve problems for him. 

Again the goal isn't to exhaust them utterly but to make them play smarter. 

Bleak Theater Upgrades

Converting the duergar NPC classes is problematic. The simplest solution is to up-convert them: basically this means adding +1 to their base attack bonus, but that option carries neither flavor nor punch. Ditto applying the "advanced" template; adds a little punch, but doesn't give them any flavor at all. 

Castle Whiterock included a custom NPC class called the Guard, sort of a mixed duty sentry and fighter. These Guards patrol the duergar domains keeping an eye out for trouble. A straight conversion to Fighter would make them better combatants, but at the cost of other skills. Likewise, a straight Thief would sacrifice combat ability in favor of  skills. So maybe I'll do a mix of both.

Thus the duergar "ushers" (Guards) become Fighter/Thieves 3/3 or 4/4, while the "bouncers" (Warriors) become straight up Fighters.

I'll leave the "stagehands" as Experts. Someone has to know how to make the sausage. 

Most of the monsters in the theater can be directly converted. I'm considering tossing out the Grimlocks, because grimlocks are just stupid. I mean, what the hell? They're blind orcs with blindsight. No special attacks or abilities, nothing to differentiate them from other horde-type assailants. Out they go. I'll throw something else cool in there to take their place if I need to. 

Last, but by no means least, I will have to determine what happened to the old character party after their arrival. Since I don't have copies of most of those characters, I'll have to recreate them based on notes I have from before. Or at least the ones that survived. That should be fun! 

So this is me, planning three or even four sessions ahead. That's the game! 

Castle Whiterock: The Quest Continues!

I'm worried about my players. I am.

My current group has been playing around - and in - Castle Whiterock and its environs for a year or two now. They've become cursorily familiar with the area, the nearby town of Cillimar, and various and sundry NPCs important to the plot of the supermodule. They've also introduced some variances to the setting. 

For instance, after wiping out a group of gnolls who had moved into the spot previously occupied by the Slavers of the Iron Manacle, they ran into a group of stone giants (random encounter), and directed them (unintentionally) to the ruins of the castle. Upon their next return, a clan of 20 or so of the giants had moved in and started remodeling the upper keep. The giants are friendly, for now... 

They've met Lorus Swiftquill and arranged a quid pro quo deal with him; information for information. 

They've located and restored the Hidden Fane of Justicia on level 7 and cleaned out both the chapel of Bobugbubilz and the Wight Lady!

They've made friends with the folk of Stone Pig's Crossing, in a tiny hamlet half way between Cillimar and the Castle. 

They've forged a business relationship with Chauntessa, and guessed more about her nature than I'm comfortable with as a DM. 

The one thing they haven't done, though, is the first job that Chauntessa gave them: find the "other group"... 

You see I had another group once. This group of adventurers swept through the upper levels of CW, murder-hoboing their merry way down to level 7, when the group sort of fell apart all at once. A few players moved away, another one got a job that didn't allow for much downtime, and that was all she wrote. 

Fast forward a year or two and I have a new group with no connections to the old! Their game started out in the same world but relatively remote from Castle Whiterock, but I introduced one plot thread that lead to Whiterock, and that was the one they chose to follow.

I decided to keep some continuity going; this group would follow on where the other group ended; Chauntessa would offer them the same deal as to the other group with a caveat; they should also try to determine what happened to the party that came before. 

At the point where the old group broke up, their party had a nasty scrap with the skum and, impaired with lowered resources and damaged boats, came to the derro slaver's outpost and (I deemed) were finally overwhelmed, captured, and taken down below. 

All Roads Lead To Narborg

Now it was up to the PCs. This was not their first rodeo and not even the first time they had to deal with duergar, even within Whiterock. They did a bit of sleuthing as they explored the now semi-repopulated dungeon. They have pieced together that the previous party was (mostly) captured by the slavers and shipped down to the Bleak Theater. In the interim several other things have happened.

1. Having wiped out most of the derro on level 7 and interrupted the flow of slaves, the party has faced increased resistance from the duergar and their lackeys upon each return to the Castle. The pattern has been established: an ambush involving troublesome cannon-fodder monsters supported by the duergar, who flee as soon as the battle turns against them. 
2. The party has pieced together the fate of the previous party and passed that on to Chauntessa. Chauntessa was gravely concerned about the party's ability to infiltrate the Bleak Theater and warned them against doing so - noteworthy because this is the first time she's ever advised caution. (And she has now thrown THREE parties into the maw of Whiterock!)
3. And most recently, they learned that the stone giants had been visited by the envoy of Thane Vejik and offered them payment in return for slaves. 

The giants are ambivalent, neither trusting the duergar to honor their agreement nor leave the clan alone, but not wanting to deal with the hassle of having an angry clan of duergar under their feet. They have handed the problem off to the PCs, as they have helped the clan out before. But if they do accept, the town of Stone Pig's Crossing could be wiped out by the giants virtually at one blow, and quite easily.

Thus here we are; the characters stand at the brink of level 9, the Immense Cavern, facing a determined enemy that is growing hungry and desperate to restore its economy.

(to be continued)