Enthralled In The Dark

“Aye, I will tell thee about the worst of the Duergars, the Slavers, but it is not a pretty yarn. Know that it was two scores and twelve years ago, when I was a young buck and thought I would be a hero, travelling into the shadowdark, down under the ground below the deepest mines to slay monsters, loot treasure, and rescue the innocent. Hah! I was a young fool. I was a fairly tough lad, having fought a lot o’ goblins and orcs and even a few ogres. People called me the Cavalier back then. I was a right honest soldier and held up the law, and I did it with panache. I joined up with a crew of adventurers. It was me, two other fighters, a thief, and priest of Gede. Gods, were we ever naive…

…We travelled to this dwarven city that had been attacked by the grey dwarves. We learned that a dwarven laird’s child needed to be rescued after being kidnapped for ransom. A grey dwarf had brought severed fingers of the little one as proof he had been taken and tossed them at the laird’s feet before listing his demands and leaving. The laird wanted his son back, and he wanted the duergar chief’s head on a pike.

We followed the narrow, low tunnels that the duergar had dug to enter and leave the dwarven citadel, slouching through the maze. The darkness was as black as ink, and our torches barely illuminated the path even thirty feet ahead of us. It was a long trek through the dark, and we had to fight through one cave after another filled with subterranean horrors. The bloodthirsty stingbats and chittering death scarabs were a constant hazard. But eventually we found the stronghold of the duergar and saw where they were keeping their hostage. Our party’s thief stealthily took out one lookout after another so we could silently enter the cave the duergar had fortified to hold their prisoner. We quickly and quietly began untying the little dwarf to lead him out of the cave.

Alas, we were spotted and a fight with the duergar ensued. It was a running battle as we tried to get the dwarf boy out of the tunnels. The party’s priest was taken out, he was a bit too squishy for this mission. After a tough fight we were near the exit and the duergar were falling back. It was four of us against three of them. We were confident that our mission was about to succeed. Then a new duergar stepped out of a secret door.

The other duergar looked terrified of this newcomer and slinked away. One duergar was flung out of the way by an unseen force. We turned to focus on the lone grey dwarf with bows drawn. We saw a hairless female in marble grey robes and black chainmail, holding a shield and bastard sword. She seemed to ignore us and just looked at the dwarf boy. Suddenly, the lad began to cry and grabbed a dagger off the body of a dead duergar then with a low whimper slit his own throat like it was a piece of cake. Blood gurgled out of the wound and he collapsed. The duergar all slipped away into secret side tunnels while we gasped in horror and tried to revive the young child. With our healer down, it was to no avail, none of us could stop the bleeding.

We carried the bodies of our priest and the dead child back to civilisation, then took the boy back to his home and told his family all that had happened. The burly laird fell to his knees and sobbed, tearing out clumps of his braided beard and ripping his brocade coat in grief. We told him to use our reward money for the boy’s funeral and monument, and vowed to kill any duergar we encountered in the future. It was all we could do, and we knew it was never going to be enough…”--- Tarin the Slayer

Even more sullen and cruel than most grey dwarves, the duergar slaver is a mutant with greater mental powers than other duergar. Remorseless and bitter, they can kill with a thought, making the weak minded obey even self-destructive orders. Terrible enemies, they are feared even by other duergar, who avoid angering them at all cost. In charge of minding the slaves held by the duergar, they possess great authority within duergar society and are revered as much as they are feared.

Duergar Slaver. Tyrannical enforcers of the duergar, these mentalists develop the powers of the mind to dominate those around them.

AC 15 (chainmail + shield), HP 26, ATK 2 Bastard sword +2 (1d8/1d10), MV near, S +2, D +0, C +3, I +4, W +2, Ch +2, AL C, LV 5

• Enlarge. 1/day, +1d6 damage on melee attacks and ADV on STR checks for 3 rounds.
• Invisibility. 1/day, turn invisible for 3 rounds. Ends if duergar attacks.
• Sunblind. Blinded in bright light.
• Enslave. In place of attacks, one creature within far DC 15 WIS or the duergar slaver controls for 1d4 rounds.
• Telepathic. Read the thoughts of all creatures within far.
• Telekinesis. DC 15 STR or hover target up to double near.