🕷️86. peekaboo!

session 86 • august 13 2023 • 1,410 words

🌑 DAY 28 • 📅 MARPENOTH 18

Holy Creatures

We find the remnants of what looks like a battle between travelers and spiders, with a some dead giant spiders scattered about. Hugh begins to harvest them for chitin. Soren and Nezznar are both horrified at the desecration of the spider’s corpse due to Lolth’s love for thme, and attempts to stop Hugh; however, Hugh is adamant that he wants to make armor out of the spider and finishes his harvesting.

Nothing happens to Hugh. They continue on.

Eventually, we come across an old cart with no one on it—a clear answer to who won between the travelers and spiders. We inch forward to investigate, and Hugh and Sildar are immediately beset upon by massive spiders, some of them with thousands of eggs / young hanging off their backs. I want to die.

The party—sans Soren—begin to fight the spiders, but Soren cannot bring himself to lift a finger against the spiders, as hurting a spider is punishable by death in Menzoberranzan. Similarly, Nezznar hangs back and shows fear at the idea of hitting any spiders.

Before taking the frontlines, Hugh orders Droop to protect Soren, which Droop takes VERY VERY seriously because he’s a good boy, he tries to stick right by Soren’s side and growls at anything that comes near.

Sildar quickly gets overwhelmed in the darkness, and Will shouts that they need to help him. Finally, Soren steels himself to fire an eldritch blast at the spiders—just as the stone wall next to him opens up.

A humongous trapdoor spider emerges, stabbing Soren with a claw and dragging Soren back into its lair as the “trapdoor” swings back shut.

Save The Ren

The first to react to this rather upsetting turn of events is, surprisingly, Nezznar, who shouts in alarm and smashes his way through into the ambush spider’s lair, leaping down in there after Soren.

Meanwhile, Soren manages to free himself from the ambush spider’s claws but is immediately shredded by the spider’s powerful bite. Nezznar yanks Soren away from the ambush spider and wedges himself between Soren and the ambush spider, ordering Soren to run.

As the ambush spider launches a ferocious attack on Nezznar, Soren manages to nullify the brunt of it with an illusionary swarm of butterflies to distract the spider—using Silvery Barbs for the first time on Nezznar’s behalf.

Back in the tunnel, the party fends against the swarms of spiders, but the fight proves difficult when they find themselves entrapped by their webs when they hear one of the children scream from the group of NPCs. Will uses Misty Step to get out of his webs, and goes to check on the children—as it turns out, Turvy got bitten by the smallest little baby spider and is freaking out about it. LMAO

Sildar, meanwhile, struggles to tear himself free of the webs and when he finally succeeds after a while, hurls himself down the hole after Soren and finds Soren fighting alongside Nezznar against the ambush spider. He tries to drag Soren to safety, but Soren hesitates to leave Nezznar to die and continues offering Nezznar support in the battle.

As the ambush spider tears into Nezznar, Nezznar bites back with equal bestial vigor while Soren blasts it from behind—their fear of spiders seemingly forgotten—and eventually, the ambush spider succumbs to its injuries first.

In the tunnel, Droop, Hugh and Will manage to kill all the spiders coming down from the cavern ceilings, and we regroup, having emerged victorious against this treacherous cave of spiders.

Everybody Disapproves

As the group nurses their wounds, Nezznar gruffly chides Soren for not following orders and running when Nezznar had told him to.

Soren is literally so confuddled by Nezznar’s seeming protectiveness, but truthfully and gratefully thanks Nezznar for going down to rescue him.

Nezznar wonders if the “swarms of flies” were Soren’s, referring to Soren’s SIlvery Barbs which takes the form of swarms of butterflies. Soren acknowledges that they were, and Nezznar is begrudgingly impressed by Soren’s magic, but also is like “mrmrmrmmrrr you kept this from me”

As Soren checks in with Sildar, Will approaches Nezznar and, again, thanks him for saving Soren. Nezznar goes into “tsundere” mode faster than the speed of light, pointing out that it was only logical that he try to rescue Soren, whose knowledge and skills made him valuable to the group’s survival.

Nezznar also salts that no one else went into the hole except him (it was because most of the party was stuck in webs, but Nezz is ignoring that sign because he can’t read)—that “someone had to go rescue Sorennar, and none of you seemed willing to”.

Will posits that he didn’t go rescue Soren because he saw Nezznar go, and that he “trusts Nezznar to help Soren”. Nezznar is taken aback by this, but seems smugly pleased. Will receives +1 Approval with Nezznar but loses all his approval with the rest of the group, because wait wait wait please do NOT trust Nezznar with Soren wha—

A Goddess’ Reach

Sildar fusses over Soren, Soren fusses over Sildar, they are both super fucked up. Sildar is freaking out about how Soren got yeeted into a wall, and Soren promises to stay away from the cave walls from now on, jokingly requesting that Sildar carry him for the rest of the journey—but despite his injuries, Sildar instantly obliges.

Realizing the extent of Sildar’s injuries trying to get away from the spiders to rescue him, Soren apologizes for not being there to protect Sildar. Sildar bitterly retorts that he was the one who was supposed to protect Soren, not the other way round. Sildar seems extremely gutted by his current weakness in combat—due to his lack of armor, magical items and dark vision, which Soren notes.

Hugh begins systematically skinning the spiders for hide and chitin LOL. Sildar wonders if Soren is OK with this. Soren notes that they just massacred a whole cavern of spiders, and that if Lolth could do anything about it, she would have done so already.

Remembering Graz’zt’s words of “you’d be surprised at how little the gods can reach”, Soren slowly begins embracing—with great glee—the fact that Lolth might not be as omniscient and omnipotent as the drow have been taught. In contrast to the start of session, Soren encourages Hugh to desecrate the spiders as much as he wants.

By His Name

Eventually, Soren expresses his concern to the party over Nezznar’s strange behavior. Though he has been referring to Nezznar as “master” since Velkynvelve, this is the first time he does so in front of the party.

Sildar’s face falls and he is aghast that Soren is so freely calling Nezznar “master” again.

Desperate to deflect from the topic, Soren makes an abhorrently tasteless joke, offering to call Sildar the same in a sexual manner— “what’s wrong, my love, are you jealous?”

Horrified, Sildar says, “No. Just saddened”.

Finally, Soren explains the deal that he had struck between him and Nezz—Nezz killed Tor for Graz’zt’s help in freeing them from the prison and would help the party fight their battles, and in exchange, Soren would call him “master” going forward. Bitterly, Soren notes that “if this is what it takes to keep the party breathing, then it is the smallest price I can imagine.”

Sildar softs a little as he realizes that Soren was doing it for the group, thanks him but gently reminds Soren that they have the upper hand and that Soren could simply not uphold his end of the deal, and Nezznar could not hurt him for it.

Eventually, Soren begrudgingly admits that it is more comfortable for him to call Nezznar by “master” and laments his cowardice—it scares him to call Nezznar by name against Nezznar’s will, because of how he would have once gotten brutally punished for doing so.

Still saddened, Sildar accepts this.

Hugh proceeds to dump all the skinned spider corpses into the cart, against which Nezznar is resting. Nezznar, who is still cowed by the idea of hurting spiders—since he has felt firsthand Lolth’s wrath—snaps at Hugh to move the spiders somewhere else.

Hugh is like “:3 say please”. Nezznar stoutly refuses, and looks to Soren—Soren obliges and says “please, Hugh”. Hugh is dissatisfied that Nezznar got Soren to do it, but does oblige.

Will investigates the surrounding area and goes back to Soren like a puppy to show what he has found omg I love him so much.