✊71: dawn of our freedom

session 71 • march 28 2023 • 1,748 words

🌑 DAY 23 • 📅 MARPENOTH 13

Before the Storm

Across the ravine, while the events of last session are unfolding, Hugh is led to Ilvara's chambers, where she is currently being accompanied by Shoor. Cliff explains to Ilvara that Hugh has been a problem from the start, and needs to be "educated".

As soon as Cliff leaves, Hugh attempts to tell Ilvara that Cliff is lying, but only angers her more for speaking out of turn. She orders Shoor to chain him down in a corner and begins to whip him.

They begin to hear rumbling but don't think much of it. Hugh attempts to reason that he was only trying to stop Cliff from killing Ront--and by extension, wasting her money, which makes her take pause; but she continues the punishment anyway, believing it was not Hugh's place as an iblith to intervene with drow business.

As the rumbling outside gets louder, Ilvara sends Shoor to go and investigate. When he does not return, she goes upstairs herself, shortly after which Hugh hears a loud crashing from the floor above.

Dawn of Our Freedom

Soren gazes upon the mass of demons rapidly approaching Velkynvelve, and seems gratified. He thanks Nezznar for killing Tor, praising Nezznar for "doing well", surprising his former master with his boldness. Soren then turns and clangs his chain against the bars to draw the attention of all the prisoners, and delivers the following speech with surprising gusto:

My fellow prisoners. We stand at a crossroads of our fate. Our captors who have robbed us of our lives and dignity now face their reckoning at the hands of my Lord. Let us no longer be divided by our races, our cities and past grievances, for in this moment, there is no group of people more united than us by our desire for liberation.

Let us together light the spark of devastation for these fucking drow, and let it burn bright until the dawn of our freedom

Follow me. Fight by my side. And let us, at least for today, put aside our hatred to break each other’s bonds and take back what’s ours!

He asks Nezznar to break his chains (keeping in line with his promise to call him "master" from then on in exchange for his help). Nezznar grumbles about being ordered around, but attempts to anyway, failing to break the steel chains despite his best efforts.

Outside, swarms of demons launch a devastating attack on the drow guards, who are caught entirely by surprise. Will advises the prisoners to grab their blankets and gathers rocks into the fabric to form makeshift weapons.

Making Mistakes

As the drow struggle with the demons, Alya approaches the cell and orders the prisoners to stand down and stop making trouble. Soren begrudgingly agrees, but none of the prisoners move to obey.

Alya taunts the prisoners, especially Nezznar, citing her past friendship with Zaara Xorlarrin, Nezznar's youngest sister. She eventually turns to leave, but we see that she drops a key by the door. Hurriedly, Will grabs the key and finds that it unlocks Soren's shackles.

Soren instructs that the following of the group are freed from their shackles first--Nezznar, Sildar, Will, Shuushar and Jimjar, the former three being combatants, and the latter two in order to watch the unconscious Eldeth and terrified children.

The key also unlocks the cell door, and with that, we are free.

Lootboxing

Hugh easily manages to break free of his chains after hearing the sounds of Ilvara and Shoor fighting a massive creature on the top floor of the chapel. He hurriedly grabs following items from Ilvara and Shoor's rooms:

• Bag of Holding

• Vicious Flail

• Rod of the Pact Keeper (Soren's Warlock Focus)

• Ring of Spell Spinning

• Belt of Dwarvenkind

• Lightbringer (Will's Bow)

before the stalagtite he is in begins to rumble and crack down the side. As Hugh narrowly escapes, he witnesses Ilvara getting smashed through the floor by a fiendish woman with devil's wings, while Shoor struggles with a huge winged bird demon.

Best Served Cold

Leading the group of a dozen prisoners, Soren rushes through Velkynvelve, witnessing the carnage of the drow fighting with the demons.

When we stumble upon an eviceserated drow guard's body, Soren takes its shortsword and whip, distributing the weapons to the party so they can fight their way out. He gives the sword to Sildar and, after some hesitation, gives the whip to Nezznar.

Nezznar is extremely pleased and smug about this, much to Soren's disdain.

As we forge our way out of the guard tower, we are stopped on a wooden bridge by Cliff and two drow guards--one of which we recognize as Bemeril, the guard who was whipped for revealing the supply cart disappearance to us.

Soren stops the prisoners in their tracks and addresses Cliff with great glee: "I've been waiting for this." The group engages in battle with Cliff and the two drow guards, but armed with weaponry and their foci, the group make short work of them. Though the drow attempt to conduct strategic battle, lighting the group with faerie fire, Soren manages to cast Hold Person on Cliff.

Hugh, who had just emerged from Ilvara's chambers behind the fight, takes the opportunity to tackle Cliff off of the bridge--much like he did to a goblin in the very first session of the campaign. :') AMAZING!! Cliff fails the shove due to the Hold Person, and is immediately swarmed upon with spiders, much like he had done to prisoners in the past. KARMA BABEYY

Soren kills Bemeril with Eldritch Blast before shooting him off the bridge, to spare him a gruesome death to the spiders. The other drow, however, isn't as lucky--he's badly burned by Will, whipped by Nezznar (who misses two bites after telling Soren to "watch and learn" LMFAO) and then knocked off the bridge by Hugh, where he suffers a quick but terrible death.

Last Sprint

We make it past the bridge after a tearful reunion between Hugh and the party. Hugh distributes what weapons he was able to retrieve. As we pass Ilvara's chambers, we see that the first floor has entirely caved and that the stalagmite is precariously close to breaking off. Ilvara is still in combat, though it looks like she is gaining the upper hand, whilst Shoor finishes the Vrock and begins to help her.

Will pauses to try and see if he can see Glitter in the chambers, but is unable to find her amidst the brutal combat. Soren says that he is sorry for his loss, but urges Will to keep moving, which he does. :(

As we pass the kitchen, Soren rushes in through the battling drow and demons in order to retrieve the Alchemy Jug and Chest of Preserving. Will runs through the elite barracks and retrieves the All Purpose Tool and Herbalism Kit, but takes a heavy hit from the brawling demons, reminding us that we should not stay long lest we get caught in the crossfire.

We witness Vorn, the drow who struck up conversation with Soren on the travel to Velkynvelve, get his head ripped off by a demon. Soren is struck by the realization that he very well could have been one of these guards here, had he not been enslaved by House Xorlarrin and continued through his studies at Melee Magthere, and offers his respects to Vorn due to what the drow had said about wanting to move past his station and become someone important.

My Brother's Keeper

As we finally near the elevator, we see a battle-worn Nadhiir stumble out from the guard barracks, covered in the blood of demons. He raises his blade to stop the prisoners from reaching the elevator.

Devastated, Soren asks if Nadhiir remembers Dresnan's (their father) words: that the reason older brothers are born is to protect the little ones to follow. Nadhiir tightly acknowledges this.

Soren tells Nadhiir that no form of torture or beatings could ever compare to how it felt, holding Rizoyn in his arms as the their younger brother bled out. Soren says that he would not do that to Nadhiir, and offers himself as a sacrifice in exchange for Nadhiir letting the rest of the prisoners go.

Nadhiir bristles at Soren calling him brother, citing their previous conversation where he disowned Soren. Soren insists that they will always, always be brothers, continuing to try and offer himself to stay behind.

Nadhiir finally snaps and asks why he would ever want Soren, of all of them, to stay here in this hellhole. He says that it is his (Nadhiir's) duty to stay here, not Soren's. He commands the quaggoths to make way, and allows the group to pass. 🥺

As the group boards the elevator, Soren asks Nadhiir to come with them, because he knows that Ilvara would be furious at their escape. He says that even though there is no prestige on the surface, there is freedom. Nadhiir scoffs at the idea, noting that there is no freedom to be had; the drow would hunt them down, and says that he would do what he could to slow them down.

He also admits that he enjoyed listening to Hugh tell stories about Soren's adventures ("how you killed that dragon, just like how you said you would when we were younger"). He reminisces about how Soren had always wanted to be an adventurer and hero even when they were kids, and urges Soren to go forth and live that life--"you would enjoy it more than I would".

IM FUCKING UGLY CRYING AT THIS POINT LMAO.

Amidst tears, Soren hugs Nadhiir and bids him farewell, asking that he promise to stay alive. Nadhiir acknowledges this and asks that Soren do the same, before ordering the quaggoths to lower the escaped prisoners into the depths of the Underdark, to freedom.

As we descend, we see Ilvara land her final blow on the cambion she was fighting. Soren collects himself and instructs the prisoners to move, keep moving, that direction doesn't matter as much as getting out of there before Ilvara notices them.

Aftermath

A little over an hour after the escape, Ilvara has the drow guards lined up, along with Shoor, Nadhiir and Alya. She furiously screams at them for allowing the prisoners to escape, demanding accountability, before ordering them to track down the escapees before she "put all their heads on sticks at the bottom of this ravine".

The drow jump to action.