Goodman Games

or; What does the Bleak Theater look like in season?

Long story short, after clearing the upper castle and the caverns leading to the Immense Caverns, my group left for 2 months in game before returning to explore. The only 'survivors' they left behind were the Duergar Bookkeeper on level 2, who escaped using his tricks and Vulgarsis with whom they established a 'peaceful' relationship.

The party is 10th-11th level. Still in line with the levels of the dungeon. What should they find when they return?

The cockroaches of the monster world: orcs and goblins.

I think the Duergar should be waiting in ambush. I would trap the hell out of everything and jump them when they are near dead. Then drag them down into the Underdark kingdom of the Duergar.

Going through a similar thing now. Party steamrolled down to 7, got in over their heads with the derro, then the players shuffled. Some levels were scoured clean while others had bloody paths carved through them to the next level.

The Slavers of the Iron Manacle, Kargra's white orc tribe (but not Drugila's loyalists!), the Clockwork Academy, the stoneborer ants on 6, and all the troglodytes have been thoroughly destroyed.

What's left is Drugila's mostly decimated tribe, a smattering of unaffiliated and mostly dumb monsters, and the untouched Library, Level 5 and 6A.

Now there's a new group in town starting off at about 4th level.

I think DCCFan is right on. The duergar still need a channel by which to obtain new slaves and Drugila is vastly weakened, so it makes sense for those factions to come to an arrangement.

With all those bodies laying around, it stands to reason that there would be some zombie/skeleton reanimation. The corpse-strewn tunnels are also fertile ground for scavengers; rot grubs, giant flies, slimes and oozes, and so on.

The thane might hastily deploy some of their "extra" zombie ettins near the surface as a deterrent. The duergar could also deploy some mercenaries (Company of the Night Wolf or additional derro bands) throughout the emptier portions of the dungeon, particularly near the passage from one level to another.