🔪14. to kill or not to kill

session 14 • 02/22/2022 • 3,046 word

『 📜 』 adventure log

🌙 NIGHT 4 • 📅 ELEINT 25

Dinner Time

On the way back, Sorennar drifts to the back of the group, still embarassed over his Drizzt incident. Sildar and Hugh both drift back to watch him. Sildar inquires about Hugh's pain, and he says that it's back to normal. Sorennar apologizes for the Dissonant Whispers once more, which prompts a discussion about everyone's weaknesses.

Sildar, Hugh and Colt's biggest weaknesses are, unanimously, apparently, tickling.

The chickens are ready by the time we arrive back, and Colt hounds Sildar for the money + his promise of treating the group again, which makes Sildar get up and leave for Barthen's to turn in the cart and obtain some resources / money.

Back inside, Sorennar seems to have deflated a bit, and is absently petting Gravy while staring into the table.

Hugh orders a well done beef steak, potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli. Lera orders a mashed potato and medium rare beef steak. Colt, assuming that Sildar is paying for the meal, orders the "best food", aged meats. Elsa requests payment upfront, causing Colt to backtrack and try to order the cheapests meats.

Sorennar, hearing this, comes up and empties the contents of his pouch, 44 silver, onto the counter to treat Colt before grabbing the vodka and retreating to a distant table to partake. Lera offers to throw out the alcohol if it's too strong, but Sorennar denies this and begins to drink, though he holds up well throughout the first couple shots.

Sildar returns with a large bag of money and new chainmail!! Sorennar is reminded of his other purchases from Barthen's, and gives Sildar a set of clothing that he had bought.

Sildar pays everyone the 22GP (escort), 60GP (willow), as well as the extra 15GP for Hugh. Sorennar is in utter disbelief of still getting paid, and tries to split the money between the rest of the party, prompting the party to disagree and Sildar to firmly give the money to Sorennar, who quietly takes it upon seeing it start to make a fuss among the party.

The group gets Sorennar to come join them at the table, despite his reluctance. He errs closer to Lera's side (away from Sildar). Elsa comes with the food, grumbling about the well-done steak, which Hugh gives to Sorennar, having remembered his distaste for raw/bloody food which he admitted to during WTFIUWT.

The group tries to get him to try lesser-done meats, which eventually prompts Sorennar to admit that he cannot stand rare meat due to having been fed rancid, whole rats and vermin during his time serving Nezznar. Colt, who had purchased a fine aged steak for Sorennar, sprints to the counter with it and requests it well-done at this, which horrifies Elsa more.

SORENNAR EATS FUCKING THREE STEAKS ON THIS FINE EVENING I GUESS!! He expresses gratitude for being allowed to eat at all. Colt reminds him that there are no unpaid favors between friends.

TSA Regulatory Search

Colt offers his food to everyone, except "maybe Sildar", prompting Sildar to question the hostility. Colt snarks that he's still mad at Sildar for suspecting Sorennar when it was just "a misunderstanding", causing Sildar disbelief at his continued denial.

Lera, who has been feeding Gravy, attempts to distract the group from the Sorennar situation, but to no avail as Sildar expands on the topic immediately, requesting that they confiscate Sorennar's things.

This is met with immediate resistance from the group. Everyone holds a vote and votes against Sildar, and Lera tries to reason that Sorennar has come clean about everything and deserves a second chance. While this is going on, however, Sorennar empties his bag onto the table in compliance with Sildar's request.

Sildar confiscates Sorennar's Taggit poison, his self-made poisons, his rapier and his lute. The party gets agitated at this, with Hugh going as far as to leverage his family's losses as a reason why he should get the final say. Sorennar snaps at this, wondering why the party is defending him after everything he's done, and why they're not angrier at him.

Sildar, though also frustrated, conveys his point well: that Sorennar is manipulative and may try to escape, and that they needed to be safe rather than sorry for at least one night. Lera is moved by this argument, and offers a compromise: they could keep Sorennar under strict watch for one night, but if he stays good, Sildar would have to loosen his hold on him.

Sorennar agrees to this quickly, though he requests his lute back in the morning so he could play as per his promise to Toblen.

Lera notices that Sorennar did not offer up the ritual spider-dagger that he had almost used to behead Klaarg, and gently prompts him by asking if there was anything else. After a very long hesitation, Sorennar produces the dagger from a well-hidden belt-sheathe, and begins to cry softly.

Sildar questions Sorennar's tears, which Sorennar attempts to deflect with sarcasm. Sildar isn't having none of it, and directly tells Sorennar that he needs to be truthful from now on so the group can better trust him. This starts another bicker-fest between the group about how they already trust Sorennar, and Colt voices strong disapproval about Sildar's actions.

Sorennar cuts them off to explain that the dagger was what Nezznar had used to kill Rizoyn, and that though odd, he couldn't bare to part with the dagger as it was all he had left of Rizoyn.

The group is shocked to silence. Sildar concedes that Sorennar can keep the dagger due to its sentimental value. Sorennar wonders about the safety of that decision, to which Hugh asks Sorennar bluntly if he planned on using the dagger against the party. Sorennar says no, and Hugh believes him wholeheartedly. Lera, bless her heart, tries to change the subject to the food amazing.

Hugh and Lera get up to speak to Elsa. Meanwhile, Sildar reluctantly asks to pat down Sorennar for hidden weapons, prompting Colt to drop "SildAr wHAt is WRONG wiTh yOU". Sorennar obliges, however, and sleight-of-hand's very well in hiding his small kalimba from Sildar as he searches.

Sildar addresses Colt, saying that he won't let his personal feelings for Sorennar potentially endanger the lives of thousands, pleading with Colt to understand that he cares for all those lives. Colt answers with "you care about so many lives, except the one that cares for you" DJFLKSJDFLKJSDLFKHSLDKFJLSKJDF

Sildar is unmoved.

Sorennar wonders about the confiscation of his instruments, reminding Sildar that most of his spells only require verbal components and that his weapon was his tongue. When Sildar is at a loss, Sorennar offers to be gagged, asking that it not be made too tight. Sildar refuses to do so, touching Sorennar and prompting him to offer up the kalimba he had hidden in his sleeve, stating that he did not want to betray Sildar's trust any more.

Sildar, at this, concedes that Sorennar can keep his instruments, though he keeps the poisons and rapier.

I Want to Talk to the Manager

Hugh asks for five more steaks, then tricks Elsa into teaching him how to "read" and going into the kitchen with her. LERA WAS WAITING TO PURCHASE ROOMS FROM ELSA AT THAT MOMENT AND SADLY GOES BACK TO HER TABLE ; ;

Hugh demands to know why Elsa was rude to Sorennar, and though Elsa tries to make excuses that she was only acting from a business standpoint seeing as Sorennar is a Drow that might scare away patrons, she later honestly admits that she may have jumped the gun on being prejudiced about Sorennar.

There is an argument in which Hugh threatens to get Elsa fired due to his friendship with Sildar, who in turn is friends with Toblen. Elsa calls him on his bluff, and threatens to get town authorities to get him kicked out. Hugh flatly refuses to leave the kitchen despite Elsa's demanding him do so, and she leaves to get the guards, at which point Hugh goes to sit...

Sorennar learns of the situation and apologizes on Hugh's behalf, prompting Elsa to apologize in turn for her rudeness. She does warn that if Hugh ever comes into the kitchen again, she would have them all removed from the inn.

After coming to this agreement, Elsa turns to return to the kitchen, only for the door to get kicked open by what looked like a ragtag group of mercenaries.

The Redbrands

Four of said mercenaries saunter into the tavern and begin making demands from Elsa, who scurries away, scared. Initially thinking them the guards, Hugh tries to throw Colt under the bus, but the group realizes that they're the Redbrand bandits that they'd heard were terrorizing the town.

They demand that the group clear off of the table they were currently eating at (though the whole tavern is empty). Colt begins to exercise malicious compliance by clearing his plates one at a time, though Sorennar complies and tries to defuse the situation, sensing trouble.

The Redbrands demand that the adventurers leave the town by the next morning, leaving their cart behind as "compensation". Hugh wonders aloud if these are the Red Brands the party's looking for, alarming the rest of the party and prompting him to lie, though it still infuriates the Redbrands.

The Redbrands hint that they have hostages from the townsfolk, and that the adventurers should comply if they wanted these hostages to remain safe. The group, hearing this, backs down. Sorennar's bag contents are still from the table from when he emptied them for Sildar, and the Redbrands help themselves to his wine, which infuriates Colt.

In the tense atmosphere, the group discusses and decides that they need to take down these Redbrands for information. To avoid the hostage collateral, Hugh suggests "making it look like wolves killed them". Lera suggests letting them intoxicate themselves into submission, but Sildar worries that they'll leave at any moment. Hugh is enraged that they're eating his food.

In order to minimize damage to the tavern, Sorennar suggests that he put a plan in place to incapacitate two of them, while the group takes on the rest. He offers to sing for the RB, and is ushered upstage. Sorennar plays what sounds like a Drow lullaby, lulling two of them to sleep instantly, beginning combat.

GG EZ

The Redbrands, are too preoccupied with waking up their comrades to be able to deal much damage to the group.

Sildar, Colt, Lera and Hugh unleash their might on the Redbrands, aided by Sorennar's new and improved Dancing Lights Faerie Fire.

Hugh gets mildly injured, but the fight ends rather quickly after Sorennar gives his new ring from Nezznar a try and manages to restrain almost everyone (Sildar, Hugh and Colt included) in a Webs spell. The group knock out the remaining stragglers. Sildar compliments Sorennar on his new combat techniques. Sorennar happiness noises.

Elsa comes back horrified at what the group did, stating that the Redbrands would take it out on her, Toblen's family, and the townsfolk. The group promises that they'll look into it, and eventually decide to drag the bodies out into the woods to question so that there would be no affiliation with Elsa and Toblen.

Lera expresses concern at using the Bag of Holding to transport living beings, but the group shrugs it off when Elsa says that Toblen had once transported live chickens in them. They give the BoH with the people in them to Colt, and has him dash to the nearest patch of woods before releasing the Redbrands.

Moonlight Interrogation

We tie the Redbrands to a tree, loot them, and splash water on one to wake them up. Though the human attempts to establish bravado, Sorennar quickly intimidates him into submission while continually assuring (lying) that they would let him go after the questioning. The group learns the following:

• His name is Fynn

• The RB did take the Alderleaf family, but did not know they had left a child behind.

• The RB are based in Tresendar Manor (Fynn tries to lie and say Sleeping Giant, but Sorennar sees through it).

• Fyn promises to make an honest living in Leilon if he's released.

• The Redbrands are led by a short, dark-eyed human wizard named Glasstaff. Sildar and Lera take pause at this, considering that it matches Iarno's description.

• The Alderleaf family was kidnapped so the RB would have leverage over the town.

• Fynn was aware of the RB's misdeeds when he joined, but did so anyway to feel a sense of power.

Throughout this, Fynn continually begs to be set free. Lera attempts to persuade him to join forces with them to take down Glasstaff, but he denies the possibility of ever being able to stand up to Glasstaff. Sorennar makes as if to put Fynn down as the party had planned, which upsets Colt and makes him look away.

Fynn's pleas become more and more desperate, causing unrest with Sildar, who believes Fynn's claims of turning over a new leaf, but do not wish to risk the wellbeing of Phandalin over his own emotions. Lera also grows uneasy and tries to propose alternative ways of resolving the situation. Hugh is unperturbed by Fynn's begging.

Sorennar seems determined to follow through, confirming with Sildar that this is what needs to happen (Sildar doesn't respond), before casting Vicious Mockery on Fynn, who saves. Sildar discusses what to do with the bodies, suggesting they stray from their initial plan of the wolf attack, as no one should desecrate a body.

Sorennar offers to take on the task of carving the body to look like a wolf attack so that the group does not need to, and Sildar disagrees. Sorennar, now letting his reluctance shine through, tries again to kill Fynn , saying ‘I’m sorry’, casting Unsettling Words and Vicious Mockery, BUT Fynn saves again, and continues sobbing and begging.

Finally, Sorennar deflates, and asks Sildar to kill Fynn instead, illuminating the area with Dancing Lights. Sildar wonders if they needed to do this after all, trying to deflect by stating that Lady Luck seemed to favor him, an excuse that Sorennar bandwagons. Hugh is unwilling to relent about killing him due to the safety of the town.

Lera continually attempts to convince the group not to kill Fynn, which Sorennar agrees with, but Sorennar is firm about killing the other three due to the risks even letting One Redbrand go poses. Lera argues that they could have good reasons for having become a Redbrand, such as depseration or starvation, but Sildar points out that they could lie, and that the risk was too great. Colt is greatly saddened and stressed out by the concept of executing unconscious people.

In the midst of this argument, Sorennar wonders if the town has prisons.

The group calms down, Hugh knocks out Fynn so he stops crying?!?! They realize that the jails are probably locked and closed for the night, but Sildar gives Colt his blessing to break in. They send Colt to scout out the Townsmaster's Hall, and he returns after finding it relatively easily.

Breaking and Entering!

The group arrives at the Townsmaster's Hall, which Colt breaks into very, very easily! The group explores the mansion, eventually finding what seems to be a very decadent and big office full of documents and drawers.

Hugh finds a locked drawer, which Colt picks again with ease. They find the prison keys, and various other documents inside. Lera finds stairs leading down, and finds the prison. Colt, Hugh and Lera lug the prisoners into separate cells.

Sorennar lingers upstairs to search for paper, after the group suggests leaving a note to Harbin. Sildar notices and follows Sorennar upstairs without trying to hide his surveillance. Sildar requests that Sorennar include Sildar's name on the paper, so that if the Redbrands find it somehow, they would direct their ire at Sildar instead of the town.

The group regroups upstairs, and Colt suggests that Sorennar create some webbing with his new ring to stick the note to the door. Sorennar attempts to do so, covering a 20x20ft area of the office with webbing and engulfing both himself and Sildar. :((

Sorennar dispels the spell sheepishly and apologizes profusely to Sildar.

Sildar requests a crossbow bolt from Lera, which he establishes she won't be getting back :(( He stabs the arrow bolt into the door, securing the paper to the door and turning Sorennar on,

Hugh gets onto the table and smacks the gavel after asking permission from Dad Sildar. He has a lot of fun with it, and Sildar relents, allowing him to do it more times.

get on it chris

Sildar tells Hugh that he'd make a good judge, but backtracks when Hugh takes him seriously. He tells Hugh he needs to be able to read important documents, make important decisions, be able to read, etc. Sorennar says he cant be caught by others in here, and Hugh says what if he‘s fucking the townsmaster in here??

???

(Hugh establishes that he does not like the current townsmaster, but he wants to fuck the next one...)

We take the keys to the jail and return to the inn.

Back At The Inn

Elsa is waiting for us at the inn. Hugh immediately blurts out that the Redbrands in prison, which sends Elsa into a panic, since she knows that Harbin will try to release them. Hugh proceeds to try and lie and say that they had actually teleported to another prison, which Elsa doesn't believe for a moment.

Sorennar attempts to defuse the situation by saying that it's best that Elsa doesn't know the details, which convinces her. She provides us with free food, stating that we needed to gather our strength to fight the Redbrands the next day.

She gives us two keys -- one big room and one small room, reminding us that if we did not deal with the Redbrands by tomorrow, we would not be allowed to return and endanger Toblen's family.

Hugh ‘jokes’ that we broke into the Townsmaster's hall, and Colt tells her to ‘let it go~’. Elsa retreats to the kitchen.

The group finishes their food, and prepare to discuss sleeping arrangements.