🕸️12. the spider's prey
session 12 • 02/16/2022 • 4,061 words
『 📜 』 adventure log
🌙 NIGHT 3 • 📅 ELEINT 24
Bye, Lake!
Lera offers to bathe Hugh's hair to make it silky smooth and luxurious. to which he agrees and leaps in the water... Lera has to take ten minutes to doff tho.
On the riverbank, Sorennar makes good on his threat of kissing Sildar, while Sorennar is still holding Colt's hand. Colt is shook'th and backs away. Sorennar invites a stunned Sildar to go swimming, and the entire group eventually gets into the water.
Sorennar tries his damned bestest to flirt with Sildar, who remains flustered. Colt inquires whether Sorennar still needs him to keep watch over his and Sildar's "talks", to which Sorennar implies they will be doing more than talking. Sildar leaves the water.
The group reflects on the swimming competition, with Sorennar convincing Colt to try and run on water -- he fails despite a valiant attempt, and Sildar attempts to encourage him. The group discusses their next course of action, with Sorennar attempting to convince everyone to set up camp by the lake so they can have a morning bath, but Sildar insists that they keep travelling for a few more hours, which the group agrees with.
Hugh, who is massaging Sorennar's head at this point as Sorennar floats in the lake, dunks Sorennar's head into the lake as a prank. Sorennar is extremely distressed over this, and looks a little terrified as he gets out of the lake shortly after.
The group discusses what to name the hyena puppy and the turtle. Hugh, being the one who caught the turtle, names it Truffle. The group votes and decides to name the baby hyena Gravy. Lera scalps Sorennar when he tries to pretend he doesn't care about the hyena, asking him to help take care of it.
Sorennar breaks a piece of jerky into 40 small pieces that the party calls "gravy bits". The group takes turns feeding Gravy to get him acclimated to the group's smell, then bring him and Truffle onto the now-tight-squeeze of a cart. Hugh and Sorennar double-check the gnolls' bodies and Hugh drags them off the road.
We set off!
On the Road Again
Sildar rolls a 2 on Sorennar's head. :( Sorennar calls him on being too forceful, so he just does the finger run through hair thing ;-; When Sorennar tries to tease him about the "head" misconception, Sildar implies he will practice "the other head", shutting Sorennar up for the rest of the journey. JK can you imagine this fkin gremlin shutting up for more than 1 min?
The group travels for an uneventful hour before finally turning onto the Triboar Trail! We decide to call it a night shortly after, setting up camp as always a little ways off of the road.
The group feed their animals and play with Gravy (who gets OVERFED by COLT), before ONCE AGAIN SOMEHOW discussing Sorennar being the leader, which he vehemently denies. The group begins calling him Captain Sorennar of the Fabulous Five and Lord's Alliance.
Sildar states that he'll be able to fill in papers for Sorennar's recruitment into the Lord's Alliance in Phandalin, teasingly implying that Sorennar was getting adopted, whether he liked it or not, as well as offering the positions to the group once more.
Lera feels inspired in her pondering for a cure for Hugh's condition, and offers to try something the next morning. Sildar takes Lera aside to talk about the private matter that she had previously mentioned. Sorennar attempts to sneak a listen, but Hugh begins enthralling him and Colt with goat stories.
Goats Goats Goats
Hugh has a convo with Sorennar about goats birthing, then his family raising goats for hundreds of years, and how they both mine and have their goat farm. Colt asks about a goat festival, but they don't, but Hugh is excited for it and he and Colt start brainstorming ideas on the festival.
Sorennar inquires about how close Hugh is to his family, pondering over healthy family dynamics and the carefree life of surfaceworlders. Sorennar also inquires about the comparison that Hugh made between his neighbors and the Ettercaps, wondering if it meant that Hugh lived near Underdark tunnels / had encountered Ettercaps before.
Hugh explains that no, he meant that his neighbors were noisy and ugly -- explaining his family's feud with the Ogleblockers over their communal goats. It's fucking incredible. They end up agreeing that if they ever visited Hugh's town, Colt would steal from the Ogbleblockers and Sorennar would sing terrible songs about them.
Impartial Justice
Lera apologizes to Sildar for allowing Yeemik to run free despite having admitted that he enjoyed torturing Sildar. She inquires what he thought she should have done to the goblins, but Sildar agrees that retreating there was the safest, most logical and correct course of action.
The conversation turns to the possibility of torturing the goblins, admitting that in the moment of anger and vulnerability, he may have considered it, but is glad that he did not. Lera tells him that she believes that it is his right to decide and would have supported that decision, shocking Sildar, who believes that torture should never be encouraged.
A slight conflict occurs between the two characters as Lera believes that the victims of traumatic abuse should always have the right to pick the punishment -- even if it involves torture -- in order to help soothe the victim's soul and experiences.
Sildar disagrees with this, believing that in the moment, the victim of abuse is likely full of adrenaline / not sound enough of mind to make a decision that they won't regret for the rest of their lives, concluding that allowing the victim to become involved in torture would only cause further pain and trauma.
Lera questions him whether he would be able to remain so impartial if it was his family, friends or loved ones in that situation. Sildar maintains that he believes that no matter the circumstance, death is the cleanest resolution as punishment, noting as well that the afterlife would inflict punishment on said abuser for eternity.
Sildar raises his voice and appears angry when Lera maintains that if the victim would suffer psychologically from the torture, then Lera would do it herself, chiding her for being self-sacrificing in the wrong way. Lera apologizes to Sildar for not taking into account that he was angry. Sildar leaves and asks Lera to do what she thought was right, and to consider Helm's tenets. Both head back to the fire -- Sildar upset and Lera saddened and shocked.
The rest of the group notices when Sildar raises his voice as they aren't sitting too far away, and Sorennar goes to check in on Lera, who looks very shaken. He offers a listening ear, but Lera seems tired and bids the group good night, seeming jumpy around Sildar.
The group set up a watch system--
Hour 1,2 - Sildar/Sorennar
Hour 3,4 - Hugh/Sorennar
Hour 4,5 - Colt/Lera
Hour 7,8 - Colt
-- and those not on first watch go to bed.
An Uneventful Night
First Watch 💦
Sorennar wonders about the convo between Lera and Sildar, but Sildar only offers that he's upset about Lera's self-sacrificial tendencies. The topic is changed, with Sorennar admiring the stars and recounting bringing his little brother to caves filled with luminescent flora that resembled stars.
Sildar muses over seeing it himself one day, implying that he would like to lead the Lord's Alliance down to Menzoberranzan to help the Drow assimilate into society. Sorennar scoffs at the notion, convinced that it would be both futile and deadly. Sorennar jokes about leaving Sildar all of his journals and notes, which Sildar takes seriously.
(Sildar also hints that he considers himself defenseless and weak due to the events of the previous day but Sorennar is a dumb hoe and misses it.)
Sorennar rests on Sildar as the latter laments Hugh's threat of spreading unbecoming rumors of him in Phandalin. Sorennar tries his best to flirt. Sildar continues lamenting how busy they would be in Phandalin. It's a mess. Sorennar admits that he never intended to stay with the party. Sildar reminds Sorennar that he can call on him for help, and then continues lamenting the fact that he could not escape Ayluin's grapple to help him today. Sildar is so sad tonight ;(
Sorennar offers to help Sildar practice and ends up just hugging him and then insulting him. 👍
Sildar again brings up the idea of Sorennar joining the Lord's Alliance. Sorennar barely entertains the idea as feasible, citing his being Drow, as well as his past crimes of stealing and supposedly killing adventurers in self-defense. When Sildar shoots down all of these points, Sorennar warns him that being seen with a Drow would tarnish Sildar's reputation, to which Sildar replies "if it's for you, then it's worth it", prompting Sorennar to necktie-yoink kiss him again.
Shit escalates, they fuck.
Update: Chris wants me SPECIFICALLY TO INCLUDE RIGHT HERE that Sildar should have a reputation of PULLING SOREN'S HAIR AGAINST THE TREE. HE IS A HAIR PULLER. HE FUCKED UP SOREN'S HAIR SO MUCH AND DIDN'T EVEN FIX IT AFTERWARDS!!!! THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TEDTALK. CHRIS LITERALLY REQUESTED THIS.
They return to the campfire after the deed, Sildar extremely flustered and awkward, and Sorennar seemingly unphased. They engage in idle chatter as Sorennar completes some sort of letter in his journal. Sorennar attempts to prospect if Sildar had "fun", and if he would be willing to once again share a bed that night at Stonehill -- Sildar affirms as much.
As first watch draws to a close, Sildar brusquely wakes Hugh up, denies that anything at all happened during their watch (Soren: 😢) and goes to bed.
Second Watch
Hugh immediately snitches on Sildar and tells Sorennar that Sildar said nothing of importance happened. Regardless, Sorennar is in a very bright mood, idk why, though his happiness is briefly dampened when he opens his bag to stow his journal, and sees the half-processed poison, which reminds him of what's at stake. He continues to process the poison.
Hugh brings up his resistance to poison, stating that the poison would likely not help him in a tough situation. The topic shifts to Hugh's family, and Sorennar wistfully wishes that he and his brothers had grown up in Hugh's village.
Inspired by Colt's earlier admission of his real name, Hugh tries to press Sorennar for secrets, but gets none because he has no stories of his own to trade.
Sorennar wonders about Hugh's "rages", musing over what starts them. Hugh says that it's the desperation and panic of seeing someone he loves hurt. Hugh worries over turning into the mushroom-covered creatures in his dreams, and Sorennar suggests that if Hugh goes to the Underdark for a cure, he should visit Neverlight Grove to see advice from the myconids, the friendly mushroom people.
Hugh tries to insist that Sorennar come with them to the Underdark when that happens, but Sorennar admits that it would be a hinderance -- most civilizations shun Drow or hold them in extremely low regard. Hugh grumbles about how Drow-hatred seems to be too common, prompting Sorennar to call the hatred justified.
Hugh tells Sorennar he is a good Drow, and Sorennar cries like a little bitch. Hugh wipes away the tears. 😢 Sorennar kisses Hugh on the forehead for being sweet ;;
The conversation turns to Hugh's opinions on what is real and fake. Sorennar admits he has never seen a vampire either, but insists that he's met (and was intimate with) a Tabaxi named Star in the Morning, which Hugh doubts.
Sorennar excitedly recounts that Stonehill Inn has a stage with a piano, and cannot wait to finally have some time to relax in a comfortable inn and perform for lots of people. Hugh promises to cheer for him really loudly. ;; Sorennar also reminisces about Henry, a sun elf whom he met in Phandalin and hopes to become intimate with -- and is surprised when Hugh understands the innuendo.
Hugh offers to wingman for Sorennar and Henry, but Sorennar states that he would prefer to interact with Henry alone. No clue why :)
Revisiting the previous conversation about "secrets", Sorennar tells Hugh of his and Sildar's activities on the previous watch. Hugh wonders if Sorennar is planning on courting anyone else in the party, and Sorennar responds with everyone, establishing that he is completely open to casual intimacy with the party. Hugh implies that he would take him up on that offer.
HUGH GOES RIGHT OVER TO SILDAR AND TELLS HIM HE HAS A BIG DICK AS HE'S SLEEPING????
SILDAR DOESN'T EVEN QUESTION IT??????????
Sorennar's watch draws to a close. He attempts to trance while sitting next to Sildar because he misunderstands Sildar's invitation, but eventually climbs over to join Sildar, who accepts. They spoon.
Third Watch
Colt and Lera take next watch. Lera briefly discusses her talk with Sildar, believing that it was her insensitivity that had angered Sildar. Colt suggests that she should talk it out with Sildar to avoid any misunderstandings.
[Thank you Lily for writing the following part!]
Colt asks again what she means by that, and she says that she thought she knew the kind of mature person he is and that she doesn’t know anymore, then blames herself saying it’s her fault that he got angry, that she should have ended the conversation when he first got annoyed, that she should learn not to push people. Lera reminisces about the first time we all met, and mentions to Colt how she was asking about his parents and he had gotten annoyed, says its one of her bad habits to keep pushing even when it bothers someone, and that she doesn’t always realizes it, then apologizes to colt for it
Colt the fuckin sweetheart reassures her that its FINE, because he had told her and she stopped, she promises to try and do better. Colt says its Sildar, it’ll be fine if she has another talk with him later since he seems like a forgiving person, because Colt has apologized and he didn’t yell at him again. Lera tells him that she did apologize and say sorry to him, but that he seemed cold, so maybe it was too soon so she’ll give it some time. Colt advices kindly to try again tomorrow or the day after, which Lera says seems wise
Lera gently inquires, and says to him beforehand to tell her if he’s uncomfortable with the topic, about what sort of punishment would he give to those who might hold his parents captive or as slaves in the Underdark and had horrible things done to them. Colt replies ‘their deaths’, however that comes about, to get it over with quick. Lera mulls over this thoughtfully
Lera asks if he still wants to find his parents if they’re still in the Underdark, and after 1-2 seconds of hesitation he replies with a yes, as it would be better to know exactly what happened than to imagine countless possibilities over and over then asks her if she agrees. She says if her father was in a similar position, she’d do the same as what Colt is doing.
Lera asks Colt about Luskan, where he was before Phandalin, and he says its a cold place, which is why he had the coat. Lera questions the coat, since it’s from his friend, and he says yes he met them there. Colt says he thinks they were nice people, one of them was like Hugh, he gets angry sometimes in a good way, only when he needed to, very strong, and that he never beat him in a duel.
Lera poses some "hypothetical" questions about torture and enslavement in order to test the waters with Colt regarding how he feels about his parents' situation, but this bothers Colt due to ,, his parents' situation. Colt concludes that he would not want to torture his parents' abusers, also feeling that death is justice enough, and Lera considers this thoughtfully in contrast to her beliefs.
In order to cheer Colt up, Lera puts on a puppet show for him, inviting him to try his hand at it -- though without practice, Colt's attempts fall rather flat despite his naturally high dexterity.
Lera asks Colt what he wants to do in Phandalin when he gets there, Colt says since they’ll arrive at night then likely just find a bed and sleep. Lera glances at Sorldar sleeping, mentions how they’ll likely be sleeping in the same room, which Colt agrees to.
Colt begins getting excited over Sorennar’s cooking, hopeful that maybe they can have more of it in Phandalin when they reach. He mentions that he didn’t eat anything bad from Sorennar, so he would eat and try anything Sorennar makes since ‘he has a certain level of fineass’ -Sorennar dies in his sleep from attention and happiness-
Colt admits that he hears ghosts, occasionally, and that the occurrences have been getting more and more frequent -- once every 5-10 months initially, but now almost every other day. After the fight with the Kindreds, he heard an extraordinarily loud screech. Lera is concerned about this, but is unsure how to treat him.
Eventually, Lera goes back to sleep, leaving Colt to finish his watch.
Fourth Watch
Colt's last watch is peaceful and uneventful!
🌞 DAY 4 • 📅 ELEINT 25
In the Woods
The group rouses for another day of travel, hopefully ending in Phandalin. Sorennar whinges about rushing so much, wanting to enjoy their last day of travel together. He offers to cook the group breakfast, but Sildar is extremely eager to get to Phandalin, a sentiment shared by the group, so they eat rations on the cart :(
Sildar promises to pull his mega high rank Lord's Alliance strings with Toblen Stonehill, the owner of Stonehill Inn, to allow Sorennar access to the kitchen so he can cook then.
The initial segment of travel is relatively quiet; the group idly chats while Sorennar processes some new plants whilst laying on Sildar. Hugh plays with Truffle, even though the turtle bites him 3 times :( Colt is bing chilling.
Eventually, about an hour from Phandalin, Gravy begins to react to a scent, attempting to throw himself off the cart to get to something in the forest. Lera notices what looks like a humanoid body laying in the woods. Sorennar suggests checking it out, while wrangling a blood-frenzied Gravy.
The group disembarks to find the body of a dwarf lying face-down in the grass. The dwarf, who has clearly been heavily tortured and wounded, has red-brown hair like Gundren, and the group is briefly horrified that it's Gundren. There are marks carved into his back, which Sorennar recognizes as Drow.
The group turns the dwarf body over, noticing that though he is wearing a necklace with a sigil like Gundren's, he is clearly not actually Gundren. Sildar reminds the group that Gundren had two brothers, and we assume that this is one of them.
Sildar is extremely concerned, pointing out that he and Gundren were going to meet his brothers, Tharden and Nundro, in Phandalin together. He admits that the fact that one of the brothers was captured means that the other most likely was as well.
At Lera's prompting, Sorennar deems the Drow writing as "horrible, religious ramblings to Lolth", too awful to translate for the group. Sorennar is extremely agitated, raising his voice to demand that Sildar and the group stop pursuing Wave Echo Cave now that it's clear that the Drow are involved -- comparing the foolishness of it to confronting a dragon.
Hugh acknowledges the danger, but states that if there is to be a war between the Drow and surfacers, it would be less of certain death to try and stop it before it starts. Sildar, Lera and Colt all agree with the sentiment, frustrating Sorennar enough to step away momentarily, before returning shortly after to apologize for his outburst and agree with the group: the Black Spider must be stopped, and they must hurry to Phandalin.
Hugh refuses to leave the body nor bury it here, stating that according to dwarven customs, family should bury family. When Sorennar and Sildar protest bringing the body with them onto the cart, Hugh insists on carrying it to Phandalin on foot. Sorennar expresses extreme discomfort at having the body nearby, citing that the marks of torture remind him too much of home. Hugh covers the body in a tarp.
Sobered by the experience, the group continues on for another hour.
Phandalin!
We reach Phandalin!!
Sorennar and Hugh stay in the cart to guard the Rockseeker brother's body while the rest of the group search for the remaining brother. Sildar suggests going to Stonehill Inn, which is where he knew the brothers were staying.
The group gets there and has a morbidly comical conversation with Toblen Stonehill, who is much more interested in the bill that the Rockseeker Brothers owe him than their disappearance. They learn that the Rockseeker brothers left for the Triboar Trail several days ago, together, and draw the conclusion that the other brother was in fact kidnapped as well, like Sildar said.
The group returns to Hugh and Sorennar, and together, they dig a grave for the Rockseeker brother on the edge of Phandalin. As the group agrees to take a rest at Stonehill Inn and discuss their next course of action tomorrow, Sorennar declares that he wants to visit Henry for a "good time" in order to wind down after the stressful day.
Recognizing that the group was a bit apprehensive about his leaving, Sorennar entrusts his cloak to Lera, stating that he would never go anywhere without it.
The group wishes him the best and watch as he departs towards the East part of town, and re-enter Stonehill Inn. Mild chaos ensues as Hugh attempts to order a flagon of apple juice and Colt attempts to fleece Toblen for the price of fresh juice. Toblen retreats to the kitchen, where the group hears him shoo Henry!!! who was working late in the kitchen to fix something.
Everyone, recognizing Henry, begin to teasingly grill him on his "thoughts on Drow". He's confused at first, but recognizes Sorennar's cloak, which Lera has. He asks them about Sorennar, revealing that:
Sorennar had been in Phandalin a tenday prior, inquiring about the Wave Echo Cave.
Sorennar claimed to be a researcher from Candlekeep
Sorennar departed for Neverwinter, stating that there was "easy information" to be gotten
Sorennar had wanted something "nailed".
Henry's house is on the West side of town, not the East, where Sorennar had gone.
The family living at Alderleaf Farm went missing 4-5 days ago, except for their youngest son Carp, who is currently non-verbal
The party is shocked by the revelation that Sorennar had been lying to them about not knowing about Wave Echo Cave, and potentially had been using them for information. Lera attempts to defuse the situation and keep Henry from knowing about Sorennar's lies, keeping the conversation going amicably until Henry leaves, after promising to return the next morning for breakfast with everyone.
After Henry leaves, the group somberly discuss their next course of action. Sildar is extremely angry, and requests that Toblen clear out the tavern so that they can confront Sorennar in the taproom, where he wouldn't be able to escape. Lera attempts to calm him down, but Sildar remains furious that Sorennar had been risking -- if not actively endangering -- so many lives, and clearly had no qualms about lying to the group.
The group agrees to try and hear Sorennar out before making a judgement. Sildar requests that someone go to the Shrine of Luck and speak to SIster Garaele for scrolls of Zone of Truth, so that they can ensure that Sorennar is not lying in the following confrontation.
The Spider's Web
Across town, Sorennar makes his way through the farms and into the woods on the outskirts of Phandalin.
He travels to a clearing in the forest, meeting with a large spider, which he refers to as "Master" and to whom he promises he "has a lot to report".
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