🍞11. breaking bread

session 11 • 02/12/2022 • 2,819 words

『 📜 』 adventure log

🌞 DAY 3 • 📅 ELEINT 24

Old Scars

Sorennar, resting against Sildar, asks Sildar if he knows how to stitch wounds. Sildar regretfully answers no. Sorennar hesitates before approaching Lera to ask her for her help with stitching the stab wounds on his back, from Aien, before they scarred. Lera agrees, but offers to instead magically heal them, which Sorennar gratefully accepts.

As Lera prepares to Channel Divinity: Preserve Life, Sorennar bares his back to the party with some nervous reluctance. It's clear in the day that the marks on his back are not tattoos, but rather, burn scars. Lera begins to connect the dots and breaks down at the implications that Sorennar had been branded during his servitude, and the idea that he may have to head back to the Underdark.

Trying to comfort the distraught Lera, Sorennar promises her that he would not leave the party like he said he would, promising as well that he would stay to play music, cook and fight alongside the party for as long as they wanted. Lera begins profusely apologizing for Sorennar's traumatic experiences, and Sorennar sits her near Sildar and Hugh to calm her down.

Around this time, the baby hyena begins to stir. Hugh and Sorennar try to pick it up, the former with little success while the latter managing to pick it up and feed it out of his hand (nat 20). As Sorennar gives it a bath in the lake to wash off the gore from its meal, Aien groggily wakes up.

Talking to Walls

The group is on high alert and though Esta tries to defuse the situation, Aien assumes the group is going to bring him to the Underdark under Sorennar's deception, but the group is adamant that they are just going to Phandalin, that Sorennar is a good person who has done nothing to steer them in the direction of danger.

Aien is similarly stubborn about his mindset, citing every "good" thing Sorennar has done as for his own benefit / in order to earn the party's trust, and stating that Sorennar likely had an entrance to the Underdark near Phandalin that he was leading them too -- that's why he had travelled from there and was returning with the party.

Sensing that neither party was getting through to each other, Lera suggests waiting for Celaena to wake up before continuing the conversation. Aien agrees. Esta, exhausted and distraught, lays on Aien's lap and naps.

Sorennar examines the extent of the other adventurers' injuries and commends the party on their combat prowess. He retrieves Hugh's flail from the lake easily and returns it to Hugh.

Underdark Infodump

Their curiosity piqued by Aien's claims about extensive slavery in Menzoberranzan, the group has a conversation about the Underdark as Sorennar forages around them. They learn that:

• If Drow step out of line, they get turned into horrifying and extremely powerful spider-drow amalgamations called Driders, which retain some semblance of memory / personality, but are driven by bloodlust.

• The outskirts of Menzoberranzan is heavily guarded by said Driders, making getting to the city walls itself a nearly impossibly dangerous task.

• The city itself is crawling with guards that would enslave any non-Drow, and so the safest place to enter is the Stenchstreets, where there are fewer guards.

• There is a Duergar (deep dwarf) city named Gracklstugh. The Duergar -- unfriendly and extremely hostile towards Drow -- also engage in slave trading.

Hugh balks at the idea of going down there, stating that he would like to explore some overworld options before heading down to what seems like certain death. Colt seems intimidated as well, but seems thoughtful at the mention of slavery in Gracklstugh.

Esta interrupts this conversation by screaming at Aien, who had just asked her to escape on her own. He believes that the adventurers will kill or drag them down to the Underdark for their actions, and pleads with Lera that they at least spare Esta. Lera and Aien start debating the matter of Drow morality again, with Aien citing that Sorennar had a spider symbol tattooed on his back, implying that he worships Lolth.

Sildar offers to bring Sorennar somewhere else so he does not have to listen to Aien, but Sorennar seems unperturbed by the insults.

Still shaken over the discovery of Sorennar's brand, Lera vehemently defends Sorennar on that front, citing the drider transformation as evidence that the Drow are being forced to carry out Lolth's will. Aien retorts that the Drow are still selfishly choosing self-preservation over not enslaving/torturing other races; and that even under the pain of being turned into a Drider, Aien would think to hurt others to save his own life.

Sorennar flinches at this, and calls out to Aien, then cracks a raw egg into his own mouth while making eye contact with Aien. He proceeds to explain that the marking on his back is the sigil of noble House Xorlarrin, not Lolth's symbol, chiding him for "lecturing" Lera without having all the facts.

This disgusts Aien more, as Drow nobility is despicable to him, though Lera assures him that Sorennar is not nobility. Celaena begins to stir at this point, and Lera calls Sorennar and Sildar over to the prisoner-tree in preparation of speaking to her.

Head!

Hugh, frustrated by Aien's seeming close-mindedness, offers to give Aien a head massage to calm him down in true party fashion, by offering him ,, "head". Aien recoils at the implications and FINALLY explains to the group what "head" means, which has Sildar going:

Sorennar, who is cooking with his foraged resources, is FUCKING DYING.

Hugh insists that various members of the party give each other,, , head ,, all the time. Hugh proceeds to give Aien the worst head massage he has ever experienced in his life, and moves onto his ears after. Aien considers this torture.

While this is happening, Celaena wakes up seeming very distressed and mumbling to herself. Lera approaches and they briefly talk about her loss of powers, which Celaena insists is Sorennar's fault. Sorennar approaches and she turns her attention to him, demanding to know what he did. Sorennar asks her to think logically, and to realize that a Drow could most certainly not steal a Helmite's powers.

As she thinks about this, Sorennar confirms with Lera that he gets to decide what to do with their prisoners. She hesitantly agrees, but before she can stop him, he takes out a weapon and seems to subtly threaten the adventurers, before cutting their binds and inviting them to the campfire dinner.

The Most Awkward Family Dinner

Colt wakes Esta and invites her to the campfire meal, which Esta eagerly agrees to and begins horking down food. Aien is bewildered at Sorennar's hospitality, which Sorennar brushes off, comparing the adventurers to the hyena pup who is presently throwing up. Celaena is subdued, not touching the food.

Aien begins lightly questioning Sorennar about his motives, what he was doing in Phandalin. Sorennar responds by telling him that he is but a humble, traveling bard collecting stories and playing tunes in taverns that allow him to.

Aien also questions Sorennar's "noble symbol". Sorennar denies ever being considered a "Drow noble", and promises that he has not heard from or of the nobles in a very long time. Aien finally asks how Sorennar could have possibly escaped Menzoberranzan if he was a "good Drow", to which Sorennar responds that he is very good at lying.

Colt comments on Sorennar's fineass. Aien gives up and goes back to eating.

Ayluin, at this point, begins to stir. Hugh greets him and invites him to dinner, stating that everything was fine. Ayluin, hungry and not one to question anything, joins the campfire. He questions briefly why Hugh has his flail, but decides that Hugh is keeping it for safekeeping and happily lets him.

Ayluin merrily congratulates Sildar, whom he deemed a worthy opponent, on their fun fight. Ashamed of how powerless he had been in the grapple, as well as that he had been "unable" to keep his promise of coming whenever Sorennar needed help, Sildar lashes out at Ayluin and calls him a coward for not letting him retrieve his sword until the end. Ayluin is unphased, calls it a good fight and helps himself to the food.

Mutual Understanding

Sorennar finishes his food and leads the baby hyena away from the mess that it had made, to the rock where the group had previously rested. He begins practicing with his lute. Lera speaks with Celaena more about her loss of clerical powers, and Celaena is still disbelieving that Sorennar could possibly not be trying to lure the party into the Underdark.

Lera invites Celaena to speak to Sorennar personally to see for herself, leading her to Sorennar. Lera questions Sorennar how he feels about the party going to the Underdark, which he responds unfavorably to. Celaena asks to speak to Sorennar privately, and Lera leaves despite Sorennar's sarcastic protests.

When the rest of the parties are out of earshot, Sorennar admits to Celaena that he agrees with her mindset and actions against Drow. He states that it's unlikely that Helm had intervened on his behalf, and urges Celaena to think of another reason why she might have lost her powers. She recalls that she lost her powers shortly after striking the paralyzed Colt, which Sorennar suggests to be the true reason why Helm forsook her.

Celaena reasons that the reason why she struck Colt was to kill Sorennar, and concludes, despite Sorennar's protests, that Helm took her powers because she wrongfully tried to kill Sorennar. She apologizes and attempts to make amends, but Sorennar is wholly unreceptive, directing her to speak with the more "morally inclined" members of the party such as Sildar and Lera, and telling her to apologize to Colt instead.

Sorennar attempts to return the health potion they found on her, but she insists that he take it as repayment. She extends her hope that they might meet again one day, but Sorennar is not optimistic, and shooes her back to the campfire.

Flail Bros 4 Lyfe

Ayluin confronts Hugh about his flail, and Hugh establishes that he is, in fact, taking the flail from him and intends to keep it. Ayluin gets upset and declines Hugh's offer to arm wrestle for it, so Hugh goes to talk to the group about it. Though Colt and Sorennar are on the fence, Sildar and Lera unanimously state that the flail should be returned to Ayluin, as punishing wrongdoings with theft is not ideal.

Hugh goes to return the flail to Ayluin, who mistakenly thinks that Hugh had just been kidding about keeping the flail, and is immediately back to being happy. Colt attempts to establish Sorennar as the leader of the group, and Sorennar threatens him to shut up or he would kiss him on the mouth.

Hugh returns to discuss similarly about the 13 gold. Even Sorennar thinks that having only 13GP between them is kinda sad, especially recalling that Esta had spent 10GP on candy shortly before. Colt tries to argue that they should only give back 3GP, and Lera "agrees" that they should all chip in with 3GP each for the adventurers, which everyone refuses. :(

Hugh goes to return the 13GP, and Lera sneaks to slip some gold into the adventuerers' bags (omg sweet summer child ;-;), pretending that she had gone to test the temperature of the water. Sildar immediately calls her out on it because the water is still warm LMAO.

Sorennar compliments Sildar on his "new tricks", based on Ayluin's recount of the fight. Sildar implies that it was his panic and concern over Sorennar that drove him to fight so fervently, flustering Sorennar.

The group debates bathing, but decide against leaving themselves vulnerable to the other adventuring party, who are presently trying to fish their gear out of the lake bank where Hugh had dumped it all. The group decides to go fishing instead, as they had planned, with Hugh showing off his professional fishing gear to an impressed Sorennar.

The other adventuring group, whom Esta formally introduces as the Kindreds of the Sun, apologize once more (minus Aien) to our group for the trouble they had caused. Our party warns them about Yeemik's goblin tribe on the High Road. Celaena promises to keep a more open mind in the future, but also urges the party to exercise more caution, as per her talk with Sorennar.

Ayluin decides to exchange flails with Hugh and "keep his forever and ever" so that they would always remember themselves as "flail bros". As they tap flails, they say their goodbyes and the Kindreds of the Sun depart to Neverwinter.

Hugh tries to meme Sildar for not using a flail, and Sildar my beloved sassy dad claims that he does want to use a flail, asking to take Hugh's instead. Hugh backtracks and promises to buy him a flail at Phandalin???

The group discusses a name for themselves, and Hugh suggests again the Fabulous Five, which includes Sildar. Sildar hesitates at the idea of being included within the group as he believes that he'll need to split off from the group in the future. Sorennar, once again, threatens him with "stop talking or I will kiss you on the mouth". SILDAR POINTEDLY MAKES A SHOW OF CONTINUING TALKING BUT ANNIE IS A FUCKING DUMBASS AND DOES NOT CATCH ON!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO SORRY!!!!!!!!! Sorennar will make it right next session don't worry.

Hugh threatens to stub Sildar's toe, and attempts to do so when Sildar does not stop denying his involvement in being part of the party.

Fishing for Pets

Hugh manages to dig up 14 worms at Sorennar's instructions about fishing. Colt teaches Hugh how to attach bait to the fishing rod. Sorennar tries to guide Hugh with fishing, but Hugh does relatively well and Sorennar lets him take the reins.

Hugh does very well on his first attempt, capturing a small pink turtle, which he triumphantly puts into the bathtub he got from Willow Inn. He unfortunately breaks a line on a fish after, but attaches another hook and skillfully catches a large mouth bass. He separates the bass from the turtle and places the turtle into the metal bucket he also got from the inn.

The group discusses having Sorennar prepare the bass sometime tomorrow.

What's at Stake

Colt asks to speak privately with Sorennar, which Sorennar is surprised at but agrees.

Colt apologizes for his incessant questions about Sorennar's tattoo, which Colt now recognizes as a brand scar. Sorennar refuses his apologies, stating that it was not Colt's fault, but only reluctantly accepts the apology when he recognizes it might make Colt feel better.

In a rare moment of vulnerability, Sorennar acknowledges that he had feared that the party would think less of him for bearing a mark like that, but is relieved and grateful that Colt is speaking to him normally. He kisses Colt on the forehead.

Colt, flustered, wonders if they are good friends. Sorennar admits that the concept is foreign to him, but if he was ever to have "good friends", he would consider the party to be some.

Colt says at this point that he had thought they were friends originally, but when he realized Sorennar was missing and Aien was probably hurting him, he had seen red and was surprised at how angry he had become. This touches Sorennar to the point of tears, though he tries to deflect the conversation.

Colt attempts to end the conversation here, but Sorennar notices that he has more to say, and presses on. Colt questions Sorennar about Gracklstugh and the Duergar taking slaves, wondering if Sorennar and Lera had been trying to hide that information from him.

Sorennar transparently informs Colt that the search for his parents in the Underdark would be extremely dangerous, deadly even, and likely to be fruitless considering how large the Underdark was. He also warns Colt that surfacers who remain in the Underdark for more than a few years tend to become "changed" or broken.

Colt acknowledges this, but decides that he would not be able to live with himself without at least trying to seek out his parents, especially if there was the likelihood that they might be living in slavery right now. Sorennar relents, stating that Colt's family was lucky to have a son who would go to such lengths.

As Sorennar links arms with Colt to return to the party, Colt stops Sorennar to ask, if Sorennar were ever imprisoned in the Underdark, whether he would be angry that Colt took so long to rescue him. Sorennar is taken aback, but says that he would be extremely grateful if Colt remembered him at all. They return to the party.