7️⃣🌑 emerging shadows

sessions 72-89 | 04/04/2023 - 09/05/2023 | summaries in a 100 words or less!

✨synopsis

The party and escaped prisoners navigate the perils of the Underdark, their unity challenged both by the monsters of the Underdark and escalating internal conflicts.

Tensions flare as Soren's instincts for pragmatic survival clash with Will's moral code and Sildar's compassion. These conflicts culminate into a fight that drives Soren to doubt his and the drow's place on the surface, pushing him closer to Nezznar--who stokes his growing disillusionment. Ultimately, however, Soren chooses to conform himself to the party's expectations.

Will's celestial mother contacts him and expresses concern about the growing darkness in Soren and Hugh. Feeling useless, Sildar is urged by Soren to avoid combat. Nezznar's insecurities, however, peak in a heated clash with Soren, leading to a poignant moment where Nezznar rejects the title of 'master'.

🍳 72. out of the pan-

As the prisoners begin fighting among themselves, Soren successfully unites them in a fragile alliance to escape the Velkynvelve drow.

Sarith, a former Velkynvelve guard who threatens the group, is shunned by all but Hugh and Will, who want to give him chance. Sarith begrudgingly gives Hugh (who fed him in Velkynvelve) directions to a small nearby lake.

Eldeth is horrified at Tor's brutal death, and Sildar finds it difficult to defend Soren's actions. Soren allows Nezznar to keep his whip. The prisoners reach the lake and enjoy a bittersweet celebration of their hard-earned freedom.

🐟 73. a brief respite

The group enjoy a night of rest, with Soren teaching the prisoners how to fish and cooking a feast. Hugh tries to get Sarith to warm up, but Sarith and Nezznar begin to fight.

Soren tries to defend Nezznar, leading Sarith to warn the group: "a dog will always return to its master". Soren is annoyed that Sarith is allowed to live, but the party is adamant about giving him a chance.

After discovering he's lost and gained powers due to his Graz'zt patronage., Soren presents a cheerful facade to the prisoners to keep spirits up, promising he would take them home.

🔥74. -and into the fire

Alone on watch, Soren's brave facade cracks and he lashes out when Shuushar pushes him to acknowledge his guilt about Tor. Soren becomes angrier when Will confronts Soren for making the decision to break out of prison at the expense of Tor's life.

Astonishingly, Soren finds solace in Nezznar, who encourages Soren's decisiveness and budding ruthlessness. Nezznar teaches Soren some magic at his request, but are interrupted by Ilvara's spiders and her Draegloth--a monstrous tracking demon.

Jimjar sacrifices himself to save the children, and the prisoners barely escape, realizing that they are being actively hunted.

🎆 75. all's fair

While nursing their wounds, the prisoners realize they lost all of their food in the attack, with resources becoming a pressing issue.

Soren tries to interrogate Sarith for the cart-route between Velkynvelve and Menzoberranzan, hoping to intercept the missing supply cart. When Sarith taunts Soren's former slave status, Soren burns Sarith, prompting Hugh to attack Soren.

Sildar and Will break up the in-fighting, but tensions remain high. Sarith demands that Soren beg for forgiveness on his knees, in exchange for the supply cart location. Realizing he values the party's lives over his own pride, Soren does so.

⚖️ 76. the heaviest weight

Soren's avoidance of Sildar becomes clear, confusing Sildar. Will confronts Soren about his burning of Sarith, and Soren bitterly argues with him about the inherent wickedness of drow.

Tensions grow between Soren and the party as a result of their different ideologies. Hugh receives an ominous nursery rhyme from Myco about Zuggtmoy.

Soren receives a spellbook from Graz'zt and shows Nezznar, who expresses concern about "protecting Soren" from Graz'zt; Soren is made uncomfortable at the realization that Nezznar has been protecting Soren from the worst of Menzoberranzan. The two bond over magic lessons for the rest of the night.

⌛ 77. borrowed time

The party realizes their lack of resources is worse than Soren has been letting on; Soren demands that they prioritize themselves, but the party worries over the prisoners' wellbeings, to his frustration.

Soren inquires about Menzoberranzan politics from Sarith and learns that his House, Catanzaro, played a hand in Xorlarrin's fall. Will receives a message from his Deva mother, who explains she's been stuck in the Underdark this whole time, leaving Will conflicted and confused.

At night, Sarith attempts to escape but is caught by Hugh. The party convinces him to draw them a map of the area.

🕳️ 78. burrowing depths

Soren and the party disagree on how to deal with Sarith; Nezznar takes advantage of this to push Soren towards becoming more drow and doing the things the party is "too soft to do".

Tensions continue to rise between Soren and Sildar due to Soren's coldness. We find the cart but are attacked by Umber Hulks that disorient and separate the party. In the ensuing tense battle, Nezznar accidentally strikes Soren.

In desperation, Will discovers he can channel his mother's divine power, while Soren manages to unleash destructive power drawn from Graz'zt to save Hugh.

📦 79. the cart!

We lick our wounds and investigate the cart. Soren nurses where Nezznar whipped him in battle by accident; Nezznar helps him with surprising contrition. They briefly reflect on and bond about how different their circumstances are now.

Will expresses concern privately about Nezznar and Soren's "buddy-buddying". Sildar notes that Soren forwent magic lessons with him for Nezznar's. Frustrated, Sildar begins to understand how disadvantaged his lack of dark-vision makes him: he couldn't do anything to the Umber Hulks.

Sarith is uncooperative about helping w/ potential traps, but we successfully loot the cart safety regardless, obtaining various resources and weaponry.

💔 80. divided convictions

The party gives their newfound clothing to the children, while Soren argues with them prioritize themselves, eventually snapping frustratedly.

We celebrate our victory with a feast that quickly turns sour when Soren serves the Umber Hulk (bugmeat) to Sarith, who refuses to eat it. When Soren casts Command to force him, Hugh threatens to fight Soren over "leadership", which Soren reliquishes to avoid fighting. Hugh uses his "leadership" to command the party to "be nice to Sarith", then gives it back.

Will accuses Soren of enjoying this powerplay and offers to instead eat the bugmeat in Sarith's place, thoroughly infuriating Soren, who goes on a raging tirade about how the surfacers have no right to enjoy their cushy lives on the surface then come down here with self-righteous expectations.

He storms off, and is surprisingly followed and comforted by Nezznar, who stokes Soren's flames of resentment at the party. Soren returns his Spell-Weaving ring to Nezznar.

(Slightly longer than 100 words bc this was such an eventful session).

🔮 81. crystal caverns

Soren eventually returns to help night-watch, seemingly gripped by a forceful conviction to "claim" Sildar. Sildar's trust snaps Soren out of it, and the two reconcile and apologize to each other.

We travel towards the Darklake and find a crystal cavern suffused with fae'rzress, an Underdark wild-magic/radiation, causing our magic to go haywire. Will is shunted through an abyssal dimension, while Hugh loses all his hair. We are attacked by lurking shadows and an animated minotaur construct.

In the ensuing fight, Soren is heavily injured by the minotaur, and seemingly disappears, dropping a ring to the ground.

🔗 82. the pactmonger

The group panics over Soren's disappearance before Nezznar correctly deduces that the ring is a demiplane that Graz'zt granted Soren, much like Soren used in Wave Echo Cave when fighting him--and that Soren is hiding in it to heal.

Sildar and Nezznar fight over who gets to hold the ring; Sildar wins by virtue of the party's strength. Hugh and Droop mourn Soren, whom they think is dead 🙏 The party continues onward, with Sildar gingerly guarding the ring.

We come across a drow traveling merchant flanked by two large demons, and strike up a trade--when Ilvara Mizzrym suddenly appears.

🎭 83. false appearances

Ilvara starts strong by threatening our lives, wellbeings and sanity. The party prepares to fight, but realize that Ilvara is hinting at them to stand down.

It becomes apparent that this is not Ilvara, but Soren pretending to be her. "Sor-vara" attempts to scare Jakoth into leaving all his wares. This works until one of Jakoth's demons becomes enraged and slams Soren into the wall, knocking him out and breaking the illusion.

Jakoth is furious at the deception, but Will tries to defend Soren, who also smooth-talks his way out into an uneasy peace. The party sets up camp and Soren pulls out a cake from his ring.

🕯️ 84. a belated birthday

Soren reveals that he's been working on a "birthday cake" for days now, foraging for Underdark replacement ingredients for the flour, sugar, fat and eggs--to celebrate Will's birthday, which had been spent "unnoticed" in Velkynvelve.

Will is flabbergasted and touched, and the party throw a little "party" for Will, with Jakoth and his demons. Nezznar, who had attempted to escape while "Ilvara" was here, is uncharacteristically muted.

Soren wonders if his actions (trying to steal from Jakoth without hurting him) pleased the party, but is chided by Will and Sildar for his rash decision. Sunny stays up with Will and Soren during watch; they tell her about the surface and Soren makes little illusions for her.

🍄 85. the devil's mushroom

During watch, Buppido expresses homesickness; Soren disagrees one could miss a place so cruel to them. Hugh and Soren discuss stuffing the party into the Bag of Holding to hide from danger. Hugh tests this on a sleeping Sildar.

Soren remains distant from Sildar, eventually snapping at Sildar's self-sacrificial tendencies, finally revealing his trauma over seeing Sildar get killed by Ilvara. Soren manipulates Sildar into promising to stay out of all future fights.

Nezznar purchases a lute from Jakoth at the cost of his pride, gifting it to Soren. Later, he tries to prove his "usefulness" by harvesting Timmask; only to contract its disorienting spores and accidentally slap Soren.

🕷️ 86. peekaboo!

In a cave, the party is attacked by spiders and Soren is dragged underground by a trapdoor variant; despite his fear of spiders, Nezznar dives in without hesitation to save Soren.

Together, the party takes down all the spiders; Soren realizes Lolth's limitations when they are not smitten for this. Will praises Nezznar for saving Soren, saying he trusts Nezznar to protect Soren.

Soren reveals he is still calling Nezznar master (as a result of the Velkynvelve deal)—but he is more comfortable doing it than not, shocking and saddening the party. The party finds abandoned loot in the cave.

🐺 87. in sheep's clothing

Soren gives Sunny some clothes; uncomfortable with her fear, he lies and says that he's a human slave disguised as a drow, which sparks camaraderie with Sunny and him.

Emboldened by his newfound discovery that Lolth wasn't as powerful as the Menzoberranyr clergy made him think, Soren goes on a spider-killing spree in the cave, even as the party gets more hurt by the spiders. Eventually, they convince him to leave the spiders alone, reluctantly.

We talk about plans to infiltrate Sloopbludoop for supplies; Shuushar claims to have connections to a head priest there, Plooploopeen.

🏖️ 88. beach episode?

Grymus expresses interest in surfacer life, but is dragged away by her overprotective brother, Thurmond. We reach the Darklake shore and rest, but the peace is shattered when we are attacked by water trolls.

Will saves Thurmond's life, after which the duergar, who haven't joined any fights so far, enlarge Hugh and Will for the fight. Sildar tries to join the fight but is stopped by Soren, due to his prior promise to do so.

Soren commends Sildar on staying safe, unknowingly causing Sildar more insecurity over his "uselessness".

🔥 89. by my name

As we cook, Soren tries to exert dominance over Ront, surprisingly succeeding. Soren notices Sildar's insecurity and expresses his love for Sildar regardless of his strength. Will is frustrated with his own softness, inadvertently agreeing to give out more food when asked, and is insulted by Nezznar.

Soren learns to his shock that Nezznar also harbors insecurities; and had always lied to Soren about his true strength and station. When Nezznar (trying to salvage his pride) claims he never cared for Soren, Soren kicks Nezznar from the party. When Nezznar reachest out in protest, Soren, in lingeringfear, burns Nezznar with Hellish Rebuke.

Furious, Soren demands Nezznar give him back "all of his dignity" or get out of sight. Nezznar solemnly asks Soren to stop calling him "master" and by his name instead; and begins calling Soren by his preferred name (rather than "Sorennar"). Shaken, Soren agrees to let Nezznar stay.