RUMOR MILL
The inn's dining hall gives characters a chance to
mingle with non-duergar who are visiting Gracklstugh.
Characters seeking information can, with a successful
DC 10 Charisma (Persuasion) or Intelligence
(Investigation) check, find out the following information,
or you can si rnply roleplay their interactions with
random patrons.
The general gist of the infor mation is that trade
routes out of Gracklstugh have become more dangerous
recently. The fauna and more primitive denizens of the
Underdark are all riled up about something. Among the
tales told by the travelers. second-hand stories about
demons attacking isolated settlements are common.LADUGUER'S FURROW
Long ago, an earthquake split the cavern that houses
Gracklstugh, leaving a rift nearly two hundred feet deep
and five hundred feet wide. Laduguer·s Furrow has a
packed-gravel floor and extends roughly a quarter mile
beyond the natural walls of the city in both directions.
Each end of the rift has a steeply sloping floor, carved
with a set of stairs and a wide ramp for both pedestrians
and wagons. Vents along the walls release potent
gases that sappers of Clan Xardelvar tap for industrial
applications. including the crafting of the magical name
lances used by xarrorn warriors.
The chasm is Gracklstugh's main residential zone,
with homes buill on the top part of its north and south
sides. Outsiders are normally forbidden from this area.ABANDONED GUARDHOUSES
Near the western gate of Laduguer's Furrow, the
duergar built a series of guardhouses to keep an eye
on derro slaves living in the West Cleft. These were
abandoned when Deepking Tarngardt. grandfather of
the current monarch, liberated the derro, allowing them
to spread from the West Cleft District into the East Cleft
District. The guardhouses now stand empty. providing
an ideal place to lie low and keep an eye on traffic in and
out of the eastern derro boroughs.
GREAT GATES
~-----------------
The openings that Laduguer's Furrow creates in the
wa lis of Gracklstugh's cavern are blocked by massive
structures of bars and scaffolding, each set with several
gates. Gates are guarded by two visible duergar soldiers
and ld4 + 3 invisible ones.CHASING DROKI
If the characters decide to wait for Droki to enter the West
Cleft or somehow follow him here, use the chase rules
in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master's Guide, adapting the
results for urban complications to a cave full of hateful
derro. If Droki loses them, the characters must resort to
less convenient means of finding the Whorlstone Tunnels.
If the characters do manage to catch Droki in the West
Cleft, he drops limp and babbles, but is suspiciously
amenable and shows the characters the entrance to the
tunnels. See the "Whorl stone Tunnels" section for how to
roleplay Droki.C HAPTER 4 I GRACKl.STUGH
WEST CLEFT AND
EAST CLEFT DISTRICTS
East and west of Laduguer's Furrow gates are areas
that serve as horne to Gracklstugh's unwanted derro
population. The West Cleft District was the original
abode for the city's derro slaves and remains a dark
and dangerous ghetto. The East Cleft District was more
recently settled after the derro earned their freedom.
though it is only slightly less rough than West Cleft.
The homes of the derro are mostly burrows carved
into the walls and simple structures piled atop one
another. The dirty and cluttered streets of both districts
formed as dwellings spread and came together, and not
as a product of planning. The derro population is much
~reater and their tunnels extend much farther than
the duergar believe. The derro arc close to mounting
an insurrection, held back only by their own lack of
organization and by their leaders in the Council of
Savants having grown too used to their privileges to
foment rebellion.ENTERING D ERRO TERRITORY
-----
The derro are automatically hostile toward anyone
entering their warrens, especially surfacers.As you pass through the gates, the stench in the air
changes from acrid and metallic to fetid and repugnant,
the fires of industry replaced by squalor. The homes in
this part of Gracklstugh are crudely carved from t h e rock
or are just holes in the walls, arranged in no apparent
order. The chatter in the air is unnerving, with hundreds
of derro muttering, screaming at each other, and
otherwise reveling in their insanity. Those who spot you
look at you with a burning hatred.At the end of each hour the adventurers stay inside
either derro area, there is a 25 percent chance that 2d4
derro (see appendix C) attack without warning. Tf the
characters kill any derro, the chance of another attack
becomes 50 percent every half hour.
Sneaking through the senseless arrangement of the
burrows is relatively easy. as the derro a re normally too
preoccupied with their own mad scheming to notice a
group trying not to attract attention. The characters can
attempt a DC 10 group Dexterity (Stealth) check, with
success negating the need to roll for a possible attack at
the end of each hour or half hour.
Other means of subterfuge such as illusions, climbing
along the walls, or using flying or levitation magic
automatically avoid detection, but invisibility of any
kind activates ma~ical wards placed by derro savants to
guard against duergar intrusion. When a ward activates
in response to the presence of an invisible creature,
nearby derro fly into a frenzy, creating a chaotic mob
meant to drive away invisible duergar patrols. Derro
make active Wisdom (Perception) checks contested by
the characters' Dexterity (Stealth) checks if a ward is