⛱️88. beach episode?

session 88 • august 22 2023 • 914 words

🌑 DAY 28 • 📅 MARPENOTH 18

📌 The Darklake (Near Sloopbloodoop)

Bath Time!

At last, we're at the Darklake!

Hugh and the kids immediately try to go swimming. Will warns the svirnefbling children about the dangers of the Darklake, and they're like "yea we know we live here??" and get in LMAO

Most of the Underdark natives know not to stray far from the shore and we enjoy our first bath in a week.

Soren especially seems to enjoy the water, and helps wash Sildar's hair. Sildar returns the favor. Soren jokingly asks for the soap and Sildar jokes back "we're out but I can run to the store". The two enjoy a rare moment of solitude and peace.

Turvy thanks Will for saving him from the Mega Spider (it was a normal tiny one) last session.

Sildar asks if the water is safe to drink and Soren is like OHOOOOLD UP NO. Will, who has proficiency in brewer's tools, agrees to give purifying the water a shot.

Dwarves & Duergar

Grymus, one of the duergar twins, expresses her admiration for Hugh despite him being a surface dwarf, complimenting his combat prowess. Hugh attributes this to wrangling goats, and Grymus presumes incorrectly that goats are ferocious surface predators.

Hugh corrects her and says they are like smaller rothe, and tries to describe one to her with little success.

They bond over their jobs as miners; though Grymus is characteristically snobbish about the surfacer dwarves, she seems genuinely curious to learn.

Thurmond, Grymus' twin brother, tries to get her attention but she is busy talking to Hugh. Exasperated, he goes to Soren to complain about Grymus "wasting time with the dumb surface dwarf".

Soren is amused, and gently tries to reason that Hugh has done a lot to protect the group. Thurmond is like:

Thurmond just does a lot of grumbling about the dumb shit our group of surfacers are doing (keeping Sarith around, etc). This is especially funny because Soren is practically draped over Sildar right now in the water.

In a good mood, Soren suggests that Thurmond talk to Will, because "sometimes the surfacers say funny things". For good measure, he asks what Thurmond's favorite smell is (smoke and forges) and Prestidigitates Thurmond to smell like it.

Of course, Thurmond marches over to Will and demands that he "say something funny".

Will is unable to on the spot, and Thurmond is incredibly disappointed. As he's complaining about how unfunny Will is, something abruptly drags him underwater.

Bath Time Over!

Panic ensues as the group spots several ugly, troll-like tentacled creatures emerge from the water. After evacuating the non-combatants, the group tries to take down these "water trolls".

• Will casts Shield of Faith on Hugh, further demonstrating his mother's celestial powers

• Will also manages to Ensnaring Strike the creature that grabbed Thurmond, saving Thurmond's life.

• The duergar twins (Thurmond and Grymus) use their Enlarge/Reduce powers on the party's martials (Will and Hugh respectively) to aid them in the fight.

• Sildar attempts to join the fight but is stopped by Soren.

  • Soren fiercely demands that Sildar stay on shore to protect him; despite desperately wanting to help the party, Sildar listens to him due to the conversation they had the last night.

• Hugh is badly mauled but survives the fight with Droop fighting by his side.

Aftermath

After the creatures are vanquished, Hugh drags himself out of the water and does his "WhehHGHGhghhh I'm DYINGGG" bit, though he really is badly injured this time lol. Will heals him.

Droop is amazed that Hugh who (due to wild magic) was able to teleport around. He asks to learn how to do it too, Hugh says "you need magic mushrooms to be able to" and sets Droop on a quest to locate the magicalest of mushrooms.

Hugh is approached by Grymus, who once again lauds his combat prowess, seeming genuinely interested in getting to know him. Hugh wonders if she was the one who "made him big"; Grymus clearly sees the innuendo and goes along with the joke.

Hugh brings up shopping (for a goat to show her?), and Grymus mentions that Mantol Derith is the likeliest place to obtain contraband and exotic items in the Underdark, and Hugh announces to the group that he wants to there.

Soren explains that we can't as Mantol Derith is near Menzoberranzan, and expresses that he would never go near the city of spiders again as long as he lives.

As Long As You Live

Soren surveys the damages to the party and laments not being able to heal. Sildar, in the meantime however, is having 38273 mid-life crises over his being unable to participate in the fight at all.

This is made worse when Soren, oblivious, praises Sildar for staying out of the fight.

Sildar hides his guilt over being "useless" in the Underdark but expresses his barely-concealed frustration at not having been able to join the fight. Not sensing the gravity of Sildar's shame, Soren pat pat pats Sildar and expresses that he's just relieved Sildar doens't have a scratch on him.

Sadly, Sildar affirms his promise to Soren of "staying safe and alive".

Soren announces to the group that "I hope everyone got their baths because we're not getting back in there".

To wrap everything up with a cherry on top, Shuushar zen-ly tells the group that "water troll attacks are very common". You know, 10 minutes after we have already been attacked. Thank you Shuushar.