🦢70. swan song
session 70 • march 26 2023 • 2,545 words
🌑 DAY 22 • 📅 MARPENOTH 12
Like Pulling Teeth
Hugh is led to the elite barracks, where Nadhiir--Soren's older brother--is. Nadhiir begins grilling Hugh about their adventures.
Dancing for Money
N: Where did you meet everyone? H: Neverwinter N: All of them? H: Yes. N: Even Soren? H: Yup! He was dancing on tables. N: Dancing...? H: Yup! He was making money. N: Ugh....?? By the Queen...l
Because Will had previously told Nadhiir (in accordance to Soren's made-up story so as to not let the drow know that he cares for the party) that the party had met Soren in Wave Echo Cave, where he defected after Nezznar became a drider, Nadhiir is amused and annoyed that it was a clear lie.
NADHIIR BELOVED.... Soren wasn't stripping HE WASNT I SWEAR HE WAS LITERALLY JUST DANCING
Nadhiir asks about Soren, seemingly curious about his brother's actions on the surface. Hugh truthfully tells him that Soren has saved his life a lot, and that Soren "killed a dragon by cutting its head off", OMITTING the fact that Soren was possessed by a Demon Lord to do it, and that the backlash had almost killed Soren.
Nadhiir is shocked to learn it was an adult dragon lmao and wonders how because "Soren was never one for sword fighting".
Faires and Pudding
Hugh mentions going to a faire and obtaining some teeth from a trinket vendor... but instead phrases it like "We went to a faire and got some baby teeth".
Nadhiir is like "ah. on the surface, these faires are where you pull teeth from children?"
IM LOSING MY MINDD
Hugh has to explain the concept of faires to this dumbass drow. He also mentions eating "lots of pudding and becoming the pudding king", which horrifies Nadhiir, as in the Underdark, "puddings" are a dangerous kind of ooze. Nadhiir picks at his facial scars while they debate the feasibility of eating pudding, until Hugh finally explains that it is a kind of dessert on the surface.
The conversation is kind of sad lmao :( Hugh keeps giving examples of surfacer desserts like cakes and pies, but Nadhiir seems thoroughly unfamiliar with them.
Redbrand Mercy
Hugh eventually mentions that they "took over a town". He means that the party became heroes of the town, but Nadhiir understands it as that the party raided it, and nods approvingly. This is the FUNNIEST conversation of the campaign, hands down.
Hugh mentions how they put a bunch of bandits in jail. Nadhiir is confused by the concept of 1. helping a town get rid of bandits and 2. not killing the bandits on the spot. Hugh explains that he would have wanted to, but the rest of the party (including Soren) wanted to lock them up instead of executing them. Nadhiir slowly realizes that his brother is as soft as he was as a child.
Drow are Great!
Nadhiir then confirms the timeline regarding Nezznar and Soren, learning that Soren had been helping the party long before they confronted Nezznar at Wave Echo Cave.
Nadhiir inquires why the party allowed Soren to be with them after knowing the repute of the drow and his past. Hugh says that he doesn't believe in judging someone until they've done bad, and that he thinks "the drow are great"!
Nadhiir wonders how Hugh feels about him, then. Hugh says that Nadhiir is nice (which, naturally, offends the drow). Nadhiir begins blustering with threats. All drow are the same.
Nadhiir begins to threaten to poison Hugh LMAOO, in a DIRECT parallel to when Soren during his first days of adventuring with the party, when he was trying to convince the party not to trust drow and subtly threatened to poison them. You can really tell that Nadhiir and Soren are related.
Hugh maintains that you shouldn't judge someone until they do something bad to you, Nadhiir maintains that this attitude will only get you stabbed in the back.
When they don't reach an agreement, Nadhiir brings Hugh a vial of clear liquid ("my best poison") and forces him to drink it, in an attempt to scare Hugh; Hugh drinks it pretty willingly because he believes Nadhiir is "nice". Nadhiir is flabbergasted by Hugh's blind trust, and notes that if it had been Nadhiir's best poison, Hugh would be dead instantly.
After nothing happens, Hugh correctly deduces that Nadhiir had just given him water, and notes that this just proves that Nadhiir is a good person. Nadhiir is :/ and says that maybe he didn't want to kill a valuable prisoner. ALL drow are naturally tsundere. I'm dying.
Hugh asks if Nadhiir wants to be friends. LOOL After rudely turning him down, Nadhiir inquires if Soren seemed like he was having fun on the surface 🥺. Hugh said it looked like Soren was having tons of fun. Nadhiir is thoughtful. :c
A Little Bit of Torture (As a Treat)
Nadhiir then questions the party's opinion on Soren ("pretty great! I like his lute and music, especially when he plays it fast so I can dance to it.") Hugh is the purest cinnamon roll.
Nadhiir notes that it's Soren's fault (due to his connection with Nezznar, whom Ilvara was tracking), that the party is in this situation. Hugh maintains that it was actually Will and Sildar who wanted to bring Nezznar to justice at Waterdeep (LMAOO Soren also did, but thank you Hugh, you are a ride or die buddy)
Hugh maintains that Nezznar deserves to die for what he did to Soren. Nadhiir wonders if Soren got his revenge on Nezznar by torturing him after his capture.
Hugh says "Uhh I think he mocked him a couple times. They basically just threatened each other for days". LMAOO
Nadhiir is shocked by the fact that Soren was too soft to even take revenge on Nezznar. Nadhiirs final question is whether Soren tried to run when he saw Ilvara. Hugh says that he didn't, that he fought a little bit but then very quickly gave up.
Nadhiir asks Hugh to pass along a subtle message to Will that would tell Will that he knows Will had been lying to him. Hugh happily does so. Hugh does not receive the food he is promised :(
Lookin' Good
Soren asks Stool how long their telepathy will last, but Stool doesn't know LMAO. Soren: "well, while we're making the most of it, Sildar, you are looking very cute today." Sildar is taken aback because of their terrible situation + he looks like shit from being dredged back from the dead lmao. Weakly, he returns the compliment, and smiles when Soren responds like normal: "I always look cute".
Will is the biggest third wheel to third wheel, I'm so sorry my pure cinnamon roll boy
Soren, after being unable to talk to the party for almost a tenday, rambles ON AND ON with all his little bard heart, trying to rouse the party and formulate plans and trying to put on a brave face despite his despair. He ultimately delivers a rather un-valiant speech, but it's heartfelt, and grants the party a bit of hope (Inspiring Leader).
Weaponsmaster Cliff brings back Buppido, and the derro doesnt seem hurt, but he does seem conflicted. Hugh asks (via Stool's telepathic spores) what they did to him, but Buppido doesn't seem to receive the message. Sorennar scoffs at the idea of adding the derro to the connection.
Weaponsmaster Cliff brings Group 1 to go do chores.
Hugh returns and lets Will know that he OUTED his ass to Nadhiir. Will has a panic attack over the imminent torture. We come up with a cover story for future drow questioning. Soren continues to try to make plans, noting what we should retrieve first should the opportunity to escape arise, because "it will be hard to survive in the Underdark without our gear".
Eventually, Soren, due to the previous day's mealtime fiesta (in which Hugh and Will gave their food away to other prisoners), asks the group to promise him that if the opportunity to escape arises, they will prioritize THEMSELVES over the others in the cell.
No one agrees to this lmao. Soren maintains that the Underdark is no place for softness, but Will and Hugh both insist that they want to try to save as many people as they can.
The group sleeps, uneasily but uninterrupted.
🌑 DAY 23 • 📅 MARPENOTH 13
Good Job
Weaponsmaster Cliff drops by and, in accordance to his previous demands of Will to "beat the shit out of the nearest person when he next hears the words 'good job'", tells the prisoners that they are all doing "such a good job".
Reluctantly, Will gets up and punches the nearest person in the face: Ront. Ront, who was already angry at Will for stopping him from hogging all the food, punches back, and quickly the two become embroiled in a vicious slugfest. Eventually, since Ront hits harder with his higher strength, Will thinks to go retrieve a rock from the campfire in the middle of the room, which Ront mimics, and the two are brought very close to death by bashing each other with large rocks.
During this, the guards attempt to intervene, but are stopped by Weaponsmaster Cliff, who has had it out for Will since the start and is enjoying watching the scuffle. Cliff makes idle comments such as "we have got to remove those rocks. look at what they're doing to each other with 'em!" and "really, will? I give you guys one compliment and you start fighting while I'm talking?" etc LMAO We all hate his fucking face.
Will does extraordinarily well (3 nat 20s BRUHH GOOD FOR YOUU!!) and it looks like they are about to kill each other when Eldeth pleads with Hugh to help them, as she believes that Ront will kill Will. Hugh refuses, because he believes that the guards will not let one of them die and lose out on slave profits.
Desperate, Eldeth throws herself between them, causing Cliff to call the fight and the guards enter to restrain all parties involved.
The Final Straw
Weaponsmaster Cliff mocks Will and Ront (who, terrified of Cliff, insists that Will "started it"). When Cliff insults Ront for being so weak as to lose to a human, Ront maintains that he's "hungry", as usual. Cliff notes that with the recent supply cart shortage, they don't want to keep feeding the orc, especially if he's not strong enough to put up a decent fight.
Ront misunderstands and asks if he can go free now. Cliff says yes, and the guards begin to drag him to the cliffside. Though Ront is excited, everyone else in the cell understands that the drow are going to feed Ront to the spiders. As Ront passes, he points to Hugh and asks if "friend also free?" indicating that he would like Hugh to also come with him. :(
Hugh stands up then and says that he will give his food to Ront, asking that the drow spare him. As he argues that Ront would be a good fighter if he was fed, Cliff grows increasingly annoyed with Hugh's insolence, and eventually erupts into a rage when Eldeth also interrupts him to try and take Hugh's place in punishment.
He commands Hugh whipped, and Hugh tries to dodge a few of the strikes, enraging the drow even more. When Hugh tries to push Droop off of the bed to get him out of the crossfire, Cliff orders that Hugh be brought to Ilvara and tortured to death, alongside Droop and Eldeth.
Desperate, Soren tries to point out that Hugh is the "best fighter that the pits will see, and will fetch an excellent price". Cliff, however, has his massive stinky ego hurt and furiously states that he doesn't care about profits anymore, and wants Hugh dead. The drow drag him out in chains.
Eldeth struggles to try and save him from certain death, and is whipped until she falls unconscious.
As Hugh passes Sarith in the stalagtite where he is still being punished for speaking about the supply carts, Hugh waves and is stabbed in the stomach for it by a furious Cliff before being hauled off to Ilvara's chambers.
Anything.
After the guards filter out with Hugh, Will attempts to stabilize the unconscious Eldeth and succeeds. Horrified at the fact that Hugh is going to get tortured and most likely executed, Will sits on his haypile and just stares, helpless.
Soren marches over to Nezznar and pleads with the drider to kill Tor, as they had previously discussed regarding Graz'zt's demand for a sacrifice in exchange for helping Soren escape. Nezznar scoffs at the idea of getting himself into trouble with the drow, and remains skeptical that Graz'zt will help Soren even if they make a kill in his name.
Soren, thoroughly desperate, promises Nezznar that he'll do anything in exchange for this favor. Nezznar mulls over this, and demands that Soren guarantee his safety after they escape. He notes that though Soren might find him useful, the others in the party will surely want to execute him as soon as they're out of the prison.
Readily, Soren agrees to this.
Nezznar also demands that Soren call him "master" from now on. Soren balks briefly, but quickly relents when Nezznar claims to be able to hear Hugh's screams from across the ravine. Nezznar demands that Soren kneel and beg for his help. Soren complies with this again, getting on his knees and pleading with Nezznar: "please, Master, please kill this sun elf for your stupid, ignorant dog".
Finally satisfied, Nezznar strides over to Tor and, in one swift motion, rips his throat out. Sunny, who is sitting next to him, screams and begs for mercy.
Soren invokes Graz'zt as Tor chokes on his own blood, but even as the guards enter the cell to apprehend Nezznar, nothing happens. Disappointed but not surprised, Nezznar, as the guards swarm around him, looks to Soren and asks "what was all that for? tell me, where is your demon, Soren?"
Devastated by the idea of having taken Tor's life and sacrificed Nezznar's for nothing while Hugh is still being tortured, Soren puts himself between Nezznar and the guards, shaking Tor's dead body and screaming that "I did it, I called for this kill, Graz'zt, listen to me".
It's clown fiesta times today in Velkynvelve. When the guards try to take Nezznar, Soren tries to bite them. Absolutely unhinged behavior. Goblin mode.
Eventually, Soren is overwhelmed and pushed to the ground by the guards while the rest of them drag a resigned Nezznar to Ilvara's chambers. They muse about how they'll finally get to see her kill Nezznar. Though Soren initially attempts to fight back, he sees Will silently pleading with him to stop, and sees Sildar's horror, and realizes that he needs to stay alive for them.
Destroyed and in tears, Soren begs for Nezznar's forgiveness as the drider is dragged away.
At this time, however, the cavern begins to echo with a hideous, wicked laughter before rumbling with demonic howls, growls and snarls.
Across the ravine, in the darkness of the cavern, we see a mass of glowing red eyes approach.
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