Üle Oakenballs, Ye’ lived a long enough life outside
the mountain. Its ‘nigh time ye’ returned to tha’ forge.”
“Aye Turl Toffennubs, Jus’ a one more time down into
tha’ depths. Thars more riches for ol’ Üle down thar”
“Oakenballs, I’ve ‘a’ seen this before; ye’ goin but
ye’ ain’t comin’ back the madness has already taken ye’”
Üle Oakenballs
had already left by the time Turl Toffennubs finished his sentence. His eyes
were glazed and his mouth was dry. He only thought of going deeper into depths
beneath the tower...
Dwarfs that are called to adventure in the world of men
subliminally are all driven by a desire to go deep into the earth. Most dwarfs
are able to satisfy this desire in their own mines but dwarfs called to
adventure seek new depths. When they try to surpass their level cap they
succumb to their obsession and head into the dungeon for the last time, like
lemmings they seek the lowest level and begin to dig deeper, new, confused,
chaotic tunnels. Their language becomes mixed with chaos and it becomes hard
for them to think. Some monsters will attack them but by the time this madness
takes them, they stink of chaos and most will let them be.
Thaddeus Wangshingle handled his mace, adjusting his
grip reflexively, as he evaluated the strange dirty naked dwarf feverishly
carving deeper into the earth below Zenopus’s Tower. His companion, Winslow
Mudfish approached silently, dagger in hand, until he could hear the dwarf’s
mumbling. Every once in a while Mudfish thought he could make out a word, but it
was clear that this dwarf had forgotten all syntax long ago. Mudfish looked
back at Wangshingle and shook his head. The two turned their eyes to their
dwarf companion.
Norvin Brün, bristled at the attention “‘tis not a
dwarf. ‘tis a dvergar. They be evil.
Step back Mudfish all handle this one meself.” Brün rushed forward, mighty axe
held high. It took many hacks with his axe for the dvergar to stop moving and
still more hacks before Brün stopped swinging. His companions looked away,
pretended to search for secret doors. They headed back up to the surface in
silence, returned to the inn and drank.
Dvergar are a lie told to
outsiders in an attempt to hide the final fate of dwarfs who spend too long in
the outside world.
My previous posts
concerning demihuman level limits are here:
Nicely handled.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteNot bad. I dig on forced retirement of demihumans...especially if they end up turning into something "unnatural" (like a wild-eyed Chaos dwarf).
ReplyDeleteHolmes never mentions level limits, so it seems unfair to slap them on a player once they've progressed past Basic to OD&D or AD&D. Plus in practice I've never really used or enforced them. But they are part of the "D&D rules milieu" of 1974-1980. I enjoyed reading your ideas here; following your blog now.
ReplyDelete