🐠73. a brief respite

session 73 • april 11 2023 • 2,544 words

🌑 NIGHT 23 • 📅 MARPENOTH 13

Master Chef Willow

Will begins to cook the fish that we'd gathered, and attempts to collect the fish that the rest of our motley crew (NPCs) have gathered as well, albeit the duergar twins and Ront begin to hoard the fish for themselves lmao.

Will manages to wrangle the fish from Ront by noting that if they don't cook it, it'll go bad, which makes him oblige immediately bc "rot make stummy pain :("

Will manages to cook the fish excellently, and begins distributing it to the group of prisoners around him, who largely accept it gratefully. Sarith does not gather with the rest of the group, instead, laying in a corner sullenly.

Nezznar reluctantly accepts the fish but makes a show of suspiciously sniffing it and testing it for poison. Will rolls his eyes. He does not get paid enough to deal with this housecat drider.

Left to Fate

Soren begins to forage for resources by the lake, and manages to obtain a good amount of herbs and plants.

While he does so, he finds some kelp by the shore, which he harvests and calls Shuushar over to inquire if the vegan kuo-toa would prefer to eat this over fish--albeit Soren does so rudely, calling him by "come here, kuo-toa". Shuushar is confused because "I'm sure you know my name", but not offended. Will corrects Soren, who (seemingly) gracefully corrects himself.

Will wonders if Shuushar will eat meat if that's all they have, and Shuushar indicates that he would rather starve than partake in the flesh of another living being, especially when it resulted from violence.

Soren wonders if this means that his morals are more important to him than his life; Shuushar agrees. Soren points out that there are things that Shuushar wants to achieve, such as making it back to his village and sharing his teachings with the rest of his people--and that he cannot achieve those things if he leaves his fate to the gods.

Shuushar corrects Soren: he is leaving it up to "fate", and that if the cards fall in such a way that he is unable to return to his home, then so be it. He insists on sticking by his morals, noting that if they get him into difficult situations, then it was meant to be.

Soren notes that on the surface, such steadfast and strong-willed behavior might be considered "honorable", but in the Underdark, it can only be called foolish.

Shuushar points out that for all the resistance towards his teachings of peace and coexistence, the party still adheres to much of it, such as when they spared Sarith's life.

Soren attributes this to Sarith's usefulness and asks that Hugh, whom Sarith seems the most amenable to, try to get Sarith to lead them to the supply cart.

"A Nice Guy!"

Hugh sidles right over to Sarith, who groans and turns away from him, pretending to sleep. Hugh, naturally, persists, and has all his efforts at small talk shot down--Sarith refuses to admit if he's tired or cold or hungry, citing all of those as weaknesses.

Hugh calls them friends; Sarith calls him delusional. Hugh attempts to bribe Sarith into friendship with "free hugs" I'm losing my mind. This goes about as well as you would expect.

As Hugh continues to try and make a deal for the location of the supply cart, Sarith explains that there is nothing that Hugh could possibly offer him, as the only thing he wants is to clear his name and return to Velkynvelve.

Hugh promises to stick by Sarith's side until they find the true culprit behind the killing of Sarith's friend, and also promises to systematically capture and question every single name on Sarith's list of suspects. Realizing that this is his best bet to surviving in the party, Sarith reluctantly considers this "deal".

Hugh asks that in turn, Sarith stop talking about or trying to hurt people, pointing out that much like in the prison, we need to stick together to survive. Sarith points to the bitemarks on his shoulder and asks Hugh to "tell the drider that". Hugh agrees that Nezznar is "malding".

The Girls are Fiiighting! AGAIN!

Nezznar, hearing his name, snaps at Hugh and Sarith. When Sarith once again taunts Nezznar about what Ilvara had done to him, Nezznar points out that if they are recaptured, he would be sure to let Ilvara know that Sarith "worked with the surfacers" and guided them to this lake for food.

Hugh points out that Nezznar would still probably be in more trouble with Ilvara tho bc Nezznar directly caused the events that led to their escape LOL. Naturally, Nezznar and Sarith once again break out into a squabbling match including but not limited to:

• Nezznar calling Sarith a boot-licker, Hugh being VERY concerned about the hygenic implications of this

• Sarith saying he would rather be a dead drow than a drider

• Nezznar insisting that Sarith killed his friend and is lying about it

• Sarith exclaiming that "I cannot believe we (the male drow) used to respect you".

• Nezznar, though CLEARLY hurt by this, is like WHO CARES WHAT YOU THINK BITCH

Eventually, Sarith says something that hits a sore spot and Nezznar, FOR FUCKS SAKE, again tries to go bite him. Hugh steps between Nezznar and Sarith, threatening to kill Nezznar if he hurts Sarith.

Will, seeing the commotion, also tries to talk Nezznar down. Angrily--realizing that this is not a fight he could win--Nezznar storms off to go sit in a corner and sulk.

Soren follows him, wanting to speak to Nezznar.

Fireside Deals

Sarith is brought to the campfire to sit with the cool kids.

When offered food, he establishes that he does not want to owe the party any favors; the party has to placate him by saying that the food could be part of their deal in exchange for the location of the supply cart.

You literally have to treat the drow like fucking CHILDREN to get them to accept or do anything nice lmfaoo.

Sarith warily accepts some fish but carefully sniff-/taste-tests it for poison, and eats it very, very slowly. Shuushar introduces himself to Sarith, and is met with the most withering, unimpressed glare.

Hugh negotiates with Sarith; Sarith's terms are as follows: he will be fed and kept safe from harm, and in turn, he will lead (not tell) the party to the location of the supply cart. Hugh readily agrees.

Will suggests that Sarith could perhaps also help out with chores, cooking, cleaning and fishing--this is met with disgust from Sarith, who claims that this is slave labor.

In the meantime, Sarith notices that Sildar is glaring at him. Amused, he calls Sildar out on it and insults his human eyesight; Sildar smugly demonstrates the "Dancing Lights" cantrip that Soren has been working on teaching him, annoying Sarith. Sildar expresses that though he will not kill Sarith, he doesn't trust him as far as he can throw him.

Sarith taunts the group for trusting Soren instead; when Sildar and Will rise to defend Soren's honor, Sarith asks them where Soren is now. The group looks around to see Soren sitting by Nezznar.

Sarith gloats that "a dog will always run back to lap at its master's heels".

Lapping at Heels I Guess

Soren catches up with Nezznar, a little alarmed that Nezznar might be trying to leave altogether.

To Be More

Nezznar seems gratified that Soren chased after him, but chastises Soren for thinking he would be so stupid as to wander off into the Underdark alone and so injured.

Nezznar plops down onto a nearby rock, clearly still furious at being spoken down to and strongarmed by the party. Soren sits by his side, making small talk and checking in on his wounds. Nezznar brushes off his concerns, and jumps right into complaining about the party LOL.

Nezznar vents about his frustrations about the party trusting Sarith, but remarks that he will "laugh when Sarith kills them all". This is, of course, very contrary LMAO, but Soren knows better than to push and so he promises to speak to the party about no longer associating with Sarith.

Nezznar asks if Soren truly thinks the party will listen to him. Soren is initially confident that the party will pick him over Sarith; but then he glances over at the party, and sees them seemingly breaking bread with Sarith. :(

Deflating a little bit, he changes the subject and asks Nezznar to, in turn, stop antagonizing the party. Nezznar deflects for a bit, citing the party saying rude things about him (they didn't) and that they keep mentioning his name (they only did once).

Eventually, it becomes clear that Nezznar hates being reminded about his drider features (i.e. the biting, fangs, anger, being called "the drider", etc). Nezznar expresses determination to show the party that he is more than that and can provide knowledge about the arcane and underdark, that he can prove useful.

During his blustering, Nezznar also contradicts himself by saying he "doesn't give a rat's ass about the party". Soren catches this, and gently points out that if he doesn't care about the party's opinions, then why should it bother Nezznar so much that they are referring to his drider features? Nezznar is like "wait shit u got me :/" LOL

Soren promises to speak to the party on Nezznar's behalf and ask them to put more faith in his arcane / book knowledge, which Soren truthfully acknowledges as impressive.

In turn, Nezznar promises to try and control his temper. He quietly mentions that he "really doesn't want to make a habit of biting". This is very sad ; ;

Plans for the Future

Soren inquires about Nezznar's plans after this Underdark stint--implying for the first time that he no longer has intentions to fulfill the party's original plan of "dragging Nezznar to Waterdeep for justice".

Nezznar thinks about this for a long time, before finally hesitantly saying that he would probably want to head towards Menzoberranzan and see if he can research any way to reverse the driderism.

Soren points out that there is no literature, lore or legend about such a thing. Nezznar in turn points out that of course there wouldn't be--why would the drow keep such blasphemous texts? Soren realizes the truth in this, and wishes Nezznar luck in this.

Nezznar then explains that after he regains his magical casting, he is going to hunt down Ilvara like the monster she is. Soren is taken aback, and points out that Ilvara, backed by her house, her squad, and Lolth's power, is probably stronger than Nezznar even at his best. Nezznar recounts Soren's stories of hunting, quoting Soren: "there is nothing so big that you cannot bring down, given enough time and preparation".

Soren is shook'th by the fact that Nezznar had clearly been not only paying attention to his hunting stories but put stock into them. Still, he begins to express concern for Nezznar's safety if he chooses to make an enemy of Ilvara, before stopping himself and acknowledging that "whatever you do after we part ways is your business, not mine".

Nezznar falls silent at the implication that once their journey in the Underdark concludes, so would their "acquaintanceship". After sitting with Nezznar for a little while longer, Soren gets up and returns to the party.

The Price of Power

Soren cheerfully checks in with the party as though nothing was wrong, and inquires how their conversation with Sarith went. He is informed about their deal, and reluctantly accepts that it is best the party find this supply cart, but advises them to be careful around Sarith.

Hugh and Sildar begin to squabble about whether it is a good idea to trust Sarith; Hugh maintaining that Sarith had not acted on his threats nor done anything threatening to the party; Sildar maintaining that BRUH HE SAID HE WANTED TO KILL US? The conversation is not resolved.

Soren notices that Hugh and Will are still littered with wounds from their experiences with the drow and their whips; he offers to heal them. However, when he tries to cast Healing Word on Hugh, nothing appears to happen.

Wondering if something was inhibiting his spellcasting, Soren tries to cast other cantrips, such as Dancing Lights--which seems to work fine. A little concerned about having seemingly lost his healing abilities, but trying his best not to make a big deal out of it, Soren chalks it up to being "too exhausted" to cast, promising to try again tomorrow.

Soren Hallwinter

Soren addresses the prisoners as a whole, commending them again on a good day's work; he continues putting on a cheerful facade, joking that he hopes they found tonight's fare more palatable than the slop at Velkynvelve, and encouraging them to eat their fill.

Soren goes over some ground rules--don't wander too far from camp, don't light any more fires or bright lights, and don't make too much noise--and lets them know that we would stay here for another day to stock up on food, before journeying North to the supply cart.

Topsy, beloved, asks where the pee pee corner is. Soren obliges and picks out a corner for her.

After the prisoners settle down to sleep, Soren approaches a very wary Eldeth; he initially begins the conversation by laying on the flattery / compliments, but when Eldeth doesn't buy it, he quickly gets to the point. Soren introduces himself as Soren Hallwinter, and when Eldeth questions his last name, admits that he is betrothed to Sildar.

Eldeth is horrified by the thought and accuses Soren of seducing and manipulating the party. Soren cuts her off and regales her with the story of how they met: how he had joined up with the party with the full intention to prevent them from finding the forge, and to kill Sildar. He admits that if the party had not found out the truth, he's not entirely sure if he wouldn't have helped Nezznar kill them.

Eldeth is confused by why Soren is telling her all this. Soren points out that despite knowing this, the party still trusts him--using this to explain that the party are "trusting fools, but for it, they are better people than you or I could ever hope to be". He advises Eldeth to stop trying to turn them against Soren, because "they will never, ever change their minds" and tells her to "stop wasting your time arguing with brick walls, and instead stand with them."

Finally, Soren offers her the advice that "to preserve your humanities, you're going to need them, and they're going to need you". Eldeth is surprised by all this, but points out that the drow massacred her people in droves, and that she was never going to stop warning them against the evils of the drow.

She establishes that she will never trust Soren, but that she would also never give up on the party even if they were all fooled by him.

Satisfied by this, Soren commends her people on their raid on Gauntlgrym, telling her that as he's "glad Q'Xorlarrin fell". Leaving Eldeth bewildered, Soren returns to the party.