🩸106. rend.

session 106 • march 12 2024 • words

🌑 DAY 30 • 📅 MARPENOTH 20

Body in the Bag

Nezznar approaches Hugh, who stops him from “infiltrating the dwarven circle” he’s formed with the duergar twins and Eldeth. Nezznar demands that he put Soren’s body into the bag. Hugh states this is Nezznar’s first good idea, and proceeds to immediately try to stuff Soren’s body in to the bag.

Will steps in and stops him from doing so; upon seeing Will and Sildar, Nezznar snatches the body back out of unadulterated spite. Will demands that Nezznar let Sildar hold Soren’s body for a little while, while Nezznar slides that Sildar does not have the right to even look at Soren.

Will demands to know why Nezznar thinks he deserves to hold him, asking who Nezznar was to Soren, and if he was his friend, “what were you to him?” Nezznar states that he is not trying to hold Soren at all, ergo the bag of holding, and answers that he was Soren’s master. Will denies this, making an argument for who the party was to Soren, stating that Nezznar never cared for Soren, and that while with the party, Soren was able to live with dreams.

Nezznar briefly loses his composure, snarling that “he is NOT LIVING AT ALL!” Nezznar agrees with Will’s claims that his and Soren’s relationship was not built on care, that the drow have no space for emotions like that, implying that the extent of their relationship was that they were both mutually benefitting from it; that Nezznar could offer Soren what he wanted: power and station.

Will… demands to know if Nezznar doesn’t care, why is he trying to hold onto the body. Nezznar points out that he is, again, not trying to hold onto the body, and is in fact trying to put it into the bag for safekeeping. Will wonders why he cares about the body if he doesn't care. Nezznar, who has noted Soren and his transactional relationship, states that this conversation is going nowhere, trying to push past Will to deposit the body in the bag.

Will continues to stop him, and they continue to argue. Nezznar eventually calls Will a coward for not avenging his village and insults his father for not “teaching him courage”. Will seems deflated by this, agreeing that he didn’t, and admitting that this is why he didn’t want to let the party down. Nezznar is thoroughly unmoved by Will’s self-pity.

Hypocrisy

Hugh, at this point, interrupts and tries to stuff Soren into his bag again; Sildar, at this point, breaks down and begs Nezznar to let him hold Soren’s body for just one moment. When Nezznar sneers about Sildar having left Soren’s body on the ground in the last fight, Sildar apologizes for that, promising desperately that he would never let Soren’s body go again, abandoning all pride in his pleading.

Will urges Sildar that he “doesn’t need to beg”, while Nezznar encourages him to continue. Will continues to state that Soren loved Sildar in an attempt to persuade Nezznar to give up the body—this falls on deaf ears once again. Eventually, Will snaps that they should have left Nezznar with Ilvara, which causes Nezznar to finally, well and throughly, put aside his facade of dignity and snap at Will. As Will continues to say that he deserves to have been turned into a drider, Nezznar rears in fury and prepares to bite.

Sunny, however, who has been standing by Nezznar’s side, rushes in and tries to offer herself for punishment instead of Will. Nezznar raises his whip—despite threats from Hugh of “if you swing that whip, it’ll be the last thing you do”—but eventually, slowly, lowers it. After a moment’s silence, he dumps the body unceremoniously at Sildar’s feet, telling him to “do as you like”.

He then orders Sunny to come with him, calling her by the name Soren gave her: “Sunny”, rather than “K’leril” (drow for ‘useless / garbage’) the name he had previously given her, and departs.

Will calls Nezznar a hypocrite as he departs.

Sildar dives to catch the body, and cradles it like the broken husk of a man he is. :( Hugh chides Will for the debacle, “so what did that accomplish? You do know that when you put something into a bag, you can still take it out?” Hugh notes that he had always been in support of putting Soren into the bag for safekeeping.

Will, exasperated, notes that it “was about Nezznar, he’s terrible, I’ve tried, I wish I could ask Soren why he put up with him for so long” (slavery be like that baBEY).

Hugh shoos Will and the grieving, sobbing Sildar away from the dwarven circle, because they are not dwarves.

No Weaknesses

Thurmond, eventually, musters up the Tremendous Courage and Discipline to ask Hugh why the fuck he had gathered all the dwarves together in a circle near one of the entrances of the ravine.

Hugh notes that the circle is the superior shape formation because you can see all sides and all the flanks are covered—there are no weaknesses.

Not expecting a serious and sensible answer from Hugh, Thurmond was Too Stunned to Speak. He settles back into the dwarven circle wordlessly.

Big Buff Bodyguard

Ront, during this, asked “y’all gonna eat that?” abt the jerky curing by the fire, and did not, in fact, wait for an answer.

Diana, after her talk with Will previously, approaches the campfire to try and cook something, and finds only five of the nine servings of meat left. She chides Ront like a disappointed owner of a Great Dane who just got into the kibble bag and ate the whole thing. Ront weakly tries to deny having eaten anything, but Diana quickly breaks down his valiant attempt at lying.

Eventually, Diana notes that Ront is much bigger than everyone else, and should be getting a bigger share of the rations. Ront is SO HAPPY that someone FINALLY agrees with him about this, sadly pointing out that neither Soren nor Nezznar let him have more than the usual amount of rations (if even that).

Diana points out that now that she is the resident cook, she gets to decide the portions, and can give him more. She hints that she doesn’t have much in the way of armor / defences—Ront agrees she “break like twig”, Diana corrects him that “more like a flower”—and propositions that Ront be her bodyguard in exchange for extra rations—three extra a day (??)

They shake on it; Ront wiggles her arm really hard and Diana basically trains him to do it gentle. Girl have you considered a path in Beastmaster Ranger?? Eventually, they get to talking about Diana’s lack of defenses, and Ront is worried that Diana will try to “wear him” like a meat shield. Diana is amused: “I only wear pretty things,” and Ront wonders if he needs to wear Diana then, inadvertently calling her pretty.

Diana is :3 about this.

Forbidden Ront Eldeth Lore

Ront sticks close by Diana, of his own accord and without need for command, because “communication and empathy forges stronger chains than fear and violence” is a fucking core part of the campaign yesss queen! He is, unfortunately, stinky as hell and Diana reminds him that his services are only required in combat.

Ront points out that they are always at risk of being in combat. Diana responds that they are safe at camp (LMAOO girl abt to eat her words rq rq in about an hour). Ront explains that the “dwarves will attack at camp”, and that the surface dwarves of our party are dangerous.

The camera pans to the dwarven circle, where Hugh is probably playing patty cake with Eldeth.

Diana is shookth and wonders if Eldeth is a traitor.

After some confusion, Ront explains: he means that, back on the surface, dwarven raiders would commonly attack his orc tribe while they were camping. He points out that Eldeth was one such raider, and that they were fighting each other when they fell into the Underdark and were captured by drow together. He blames Eldeth for them being stuck in “stinky dark no-tree land”.

Diana muses that she came to this “stinky dark no-tree land” of her own accord, venting briefly that she came down here to see the beauty of her drow heritage, but has found nothing but Traumatic Core Memories. Ront listens to all this and helpfully adds “I miss trees. :( It dark.”

Diana agrees that it is very dark.

Eye For an Eye

Will joins the campfire around this time. He asks Sarith, who has been resting by the fire and nursing his mangled leg (which got crushed in the Demogorgon attack), if they are on track to get to Gracklestugh.

Sarith’s leg bones might’ve gotten softed, but his heart sure hasn’t! He sneers at the idea of giving Will information for free. He asks that his leg be healed completely, and then he would “think about it”. Will and Diana attempt to bargain Sarith into giving them directions first, in exchange for some healing; Sarith refuses to say another word until his leg is fully healed.

Diana attempts to intimidate / blackmail Sarith by withholding healing or food, but Sarith is confident in his determination that, now that Soren is dead, the party can no longer efficiently gather food nor even begin navigating, and are all set to get lost and die. When Will threatens Sarith with a similar fate, “you think you’ll get anywhere with that leg of yours?” Sarith snidely points out that if any drow soldier should jump at the chance to kill so many surfacers in one fell swoop, even at the cost of his own life.

Exasperated, Diana sidles up to the dwarven circle (and is met with the usual shooing by the dwarves). Diana asks to speak to Hugh, and is graciously granted an audience by the Grand Council of Dwarves.

She complains to Hugh about Sarith’s conduct, noting that Hugh should try and convince Sarith to help them since Hugh saved his life. Hugh—having dealt with Sarith many a time before and knowing that Sarith favors trades—asks what Sarith wanted in exchange. Diana cites Sarith’s demands of full healing of his leg, and Hugh is like “then do it??”

Diana is reluctant and frustrated, and returns to the campfire to muse about her next course of action.

How To Train Your Human

While Diana is speaking to Hugh, Nezznar sidles up to the campfire and tries to quietly take two skewers and return to his corner with Sunny. He is, however, stopped by Will, who asks to know what he plans on doing with the food, and tells Nezznar to give one to Sunny.

Nezznar notes that it’s none of Will’s business what he does with his “property”. Will states that Sunny is not his property; Nezznar states “yes she is,” Will repeats “no she’s not”. Nezznar sneers at the lack of depth their arguments always come down to, and snides Will for refusing to ever back up his point with logic.

Will insists that Nezznar does not own Sunny. Nezznar offers to call Sunny over and have her comment on the situation, fully confident in his control over Sunny. Will agrees, and calls Sunny to come over from across the cavern. Sunny does not move or respond. Eventually, Will walks over to her to try and get her to come over; as Will reaches Sunny, Nezznar calls for Sunny, who immediately responds and runs towards Nezznar, passing Will.

Shocked, Will returns to the two. He urges Sunny not to listen to Nezznar, pointing out that Nezznar has no real power over her. Nezznar, however, remains quiet, and so does Sunny. Eventually satisfied by her conduct, Nezznar muses cruelly that Sunny’s “devotion is so shallow that the surfacers are questioning it”, subtly threatening to punish her. She is terrified, pleading to Will that she is, in fact, willingly serving Nezznar.

Will once more urges Sunny to take his hand and escape; she does not. Defeated and appalled, Will watches as Nezznar and Sunny retreat back to their corner.

The Whole World Blind

[Will/Diana convo, no notes, will need to check recording to fully write out]

• Diana and Will chill together after that ordeal

• Diana expresses that she feels like she needs to heal Sarith, if not just because out of spite because she wants to differentiate herself from the drow part of her

• She continues to express her disillusionment with the drow (and by extension, her drow heritage), noting once more that she had come here full of hope for the supposedly beautiful legacy her father left her, only to learn that it was "all ugly".

• Will expresses frustration about the drow in general, agreeing with Diana that they fucken suck leave much to be desired.

• Will recounts his childhood, telling Diana that his father once rescued a smol stray drow noblegirl who got lost on the surface, and adopted her into the family. Though he recounts fondly about the girl (Lythrana), he admits that eventually, as she warned, drow raiders came for her and burnt his village to the ground, killing his father.

• Will recalls how he tried to learn more about the drow after losing everything to them, trying to understand them (interesting!!! so it wasn't for revenge?). Despite this, all of his experiences so far has led him to all but give up on the drow and dismiss them as irreedeemable.

• Will gently reassures Diana that "but even if you're half-drow, you're still a good person".

Again and Again

As this discussion goes on, across the tavern, Nezznar gives Sunny a skewer before eating his own. Sunny holds it patiently with big wet eyes.

Eventually, Nezznar delivers his usual TED talk at her: she is not allowed to die without his permission, etc. He notes that means she needs to take care of herself. She affirms that she will do so, but still just holds the skewer. Nezznar snaps that that means she needs to eat.

Sunny finally registers that the skewer is for her, and is shocked, asking again to confirm if she is allowed to eat. Nezznar impatiently threatens her abt making him repeat his orders; Sunny eats hungrily.

While Sunny eats, Nezznar attempts to start a fire in their corner. After failguy-ing miserably for 40 minutes (rolled a nat 1, he stubs his finger on a rock), he demands that Sunny do it. When Sunny doesn’t know how, Nezznar orders her to go join the surfacers by the fire, but forbids her from speaking to any of them. She trots over to the campfire and lays down. Beloved.

And then a fucking whole ass Draegloth falls from the ceiling and crushes Will, I guess!

So, unfortunately, the dwarf circle was not a dwarf sphere, and therefore was not observing in the 3rd dimension (it’s ok, they won’t make that mistake again, we duct-taping Droop to Hugh’s forehead). The party is descended upon by a chaos of spiders from the ceiling, as Ilvara’s forces seem to have found us.

Cries of the Draegloth

The Draegloth is holding Soren’s old cloak (the pink one, which was confiscated in Velkynvelve), and seems to have been tracking the party with it.

Though the party is taken by utmost surprise by the sudden attack, Hugh leaps into action, hurtling across the cavern and landing heavy blows on the Draegloth. Will, who is still badly injured from the Demogorgon’s attack earlier and sustained previous injuries in the Draegloth’s landing, puts on a valiant stand, calling upon celestial power to smite the Draegloth twice and staggering it.

Nezznar, upon recovering from his shock, casts Faerie Fire on the Draegloth and a spider, but is too shaky to do it properly—landing it only on the spider. Sildar, however, huddles in a corner, seemingly too defeated and broken to even join the fight. He cradles Soren’s body—fulfilling his earlier promise to Nezznar that he would “never let Soren’s body go” again.

In the meantime, a spider infiltrates the dwarf circle!!! Eldeth and Droop hold it at bay while Thurmond protects the still-weak Grymus. A second spider personally harasses Diana, who is not getting paid enough for this shit.

Unfortunately, a third spider lands squarely on Sunny, who is too terrified to move. She is bitten and badly hurt by the spider’s poison. This distracts Nezznar from the Draegloth, and he immediately turns to try and help Sunny.

Drums of War

The battle looks bleak, as the Draegloth continues to land heavy blows on Will, seemingly intelligent enough to focus down one target at a time. When given the chance to retreat by a critical hit from Hugh that distracts the Draegloth momentarily, Will refuses to stand down, instead choosing to empty more smites into the creature, taunting it, seemingly accepting his impending and sure death in order to protect the party.

As the Draegloth readies its last blows, a gonging sound rumbles through the ravine, momentarily seeming to disorient the Draegloth. It misses one attack, and though it still downs Will, is unable to fully finish Will off.

Following the gong, a large, well-built Firbolg (Rend) slides down the side of the ravine, landing heavily by Sildar, who is still huddled in a corner. She has a feral mess of pink hair, is dressed in hide and furs, wields a jagged halberd adorned with a large ornamental bell, and has tribal drums strapped to her waist. Upon taking in the situation, she notices Sildar next to her, still cradling Soren’s body.

Drumming a warlike beat, she roars at Sildar “WHAT YOU DOING?? STAND, FIGHT!” and giving Sildar bardic inspiration, giving him physical strength and vigor. Reminded of how Soren’s bardic inspiration once made him feel even in the face of futility, Sildar stands up and—with Soren’s body still in his arms—draws his sword.

Sunny Protection Squad

Sildar joins the fight, targeting the spider that is killing Sunny. He lands three powerful hits on the giant spider, and, finally, bolstered by Rend’s bardic inspiration, lands one final one that executes it, killing it in one single turn. Father is fatheringgg 🙏

Nezznar, in a rare (and first?) moment of co-operation with Sildar, snatches Sunny from the spider’s mandibles as Sildar works on killing it, and safely drags her away from the fight.

Turning Tides

Diana, who, again, deserves a fucking raise so bad, gathers herself remarkably quickly from the Surprise Spider. She heals Will, getting him back onto his feet.

Rend pushes forward, landing several solid hits on the Draegloth alongside Hugh and greatly weakening it. Will gets his bearings, and, finally, lands the final blow on the Draegloth (with the help of Rend's Silvery Bards AA :>) , striking it down.

Hugh goes to chop off the arm that's holding Soren's cloak, but before he can do anything, the Draegloth seems to dissolve into goo and melt through the ground, leaving behind the cloak, and a small bag.