🗡️32. among us

session 32 • 06/20/2022 • 2,996 words

🌞 DAY 9 • 📅 ELEINT 30

📌 Reidoth's Cottage, Thundertree

2 Business Days

As the party, sans Soren, gathers in Reidoth's living room, they discuss what happened with the Venomfang fight, as well as Soren's current odd temperament.

Droop sadly inquires with Hugh why Soren is being "so mean", and Hugh responds with confusion of equal measure. Sildar, thorougly disturbed by the very eventful day, agitatedly reminds Hugh that he should know what's happening--it's happened before, in the Alderleaf family's farmhouse.

Sildar and Hugh discuss the similarities and differences of Soren's apparent "possessions" while Droop and Will are confusion before they're briefed on the past happenings.

Droop, upon learning that Soren reverted to normal last time, wonders how long Soren will be like this, Hugh suggests 2 business days, and informs the group of his letter to Garaele.

The group discusses taking Soren to a temple.

Butt-imar

Eventually deciding that the best course of action is to let Soren rest, Sildar checks in with Will, who lets out a Sildar-level sigh but acknowledges that he's fine.

Hugh--spurred by the bet about "growing wings" that he'd made with Sildar--begins to grill Will about his wings, asking him how he got them. Will becomes extremely uncomfortable, and tries to divert the subject.

Droop eventually piles on with the questions. Will eventually admits that he was born with the wings, and that he tries to refrain from talking about it.

Jharym pipes up, chiding Hugh for being inconsiderate towards Will's clear reluctance to talk about it. This is brushed off pretty quickly by both Hugh and Droop, leading Jharym to give Will a sympathetic shrug and reassurance as Hugh continues his questioning.

This leads to an absolute clown fiesta. My notes look like this:

• droop and hugh thinks he is half bird squawk squawk

• there is some discussion that will is perhaps, half dragon as well.

• will elaborates that his mother was of celestial nature, and that he was born with his powers and wings.

• sildar supplies that some cults might want deva blood (of which he assumes Will has, due to his heritage)

• will agrees that that’s why it has to be secret

• H&D immediately latches on “cult” as “colt”, as in our former rogue

• Hugh: “Maybe it’s cuz u have “ass” in your name. Have you tried calling yourselves “buttimars”?”

• will: ….

• H&D: “WHO DO WE NEED TO TALK TO TO GET UR NAME CHANGED” “WE CAN GO FIND THIS HISTORY PERSON AND BEAT THEM UP” “AND THE COLTS” “YEAH COLT DID GET BEAT UP A LOT”

• will tries his best to explain to H&D that if people find out about his race he WILL be kidnapped, tortured and other fun party activities

• sildar tries his best to help but there is no getting through to H&D's shared braincell

• the party decide to tell people that WILL IS A HUMAN

• hugh is like Ye he IS human, droop has a midlife crisis over this change in events

Sildar changes the subject to ask Will what he thinks of Soren now, that Soren took on such hefty damage to save the party. Will admits that he had lost his entire village to a drow raid, though he does not elaborate more. Sildar expresses his condolences, but stays firm on maintaining that Soren is a good drow, which Will hesitantly agrees with. He promises to avoid letting his previous experiences with drow cloud his interaction with Soren.

With this matter settled, Hugh decides that he wants to go scalp the dragon corpse. Will goes with him for safety while Sildar stays to watch Soren; they let Droop come along this time!!!

The bag of holding is given to the party so they can fit the dragon harvest in it.

Dragon Harvest

Along the way, Droop prompts Hugh about Soren allowing "one throw". Hugh revs up and YEETS the gobbo babbie real hard.

Without Soren's Inspiring Leader temp-health, Droop smacks his head on the branch, takes sizable amount of damage, and starts crying.

Will heals him with Cure Wounds and chides Hugh and Droop for their recklessness.

After a very, very long time of reasoning, the conclusion is reached that: Hugh will only toss Droop after Soren has done his fancy magic.

Hugh, Droop and Will reach Venomfang's tower without much hassle, and get to harvesting. Droop is absolutely terrified of Venomfang's size, and it takes some reassuring to calm him down.

With Will's help, Hugh successfully harvests various parts of the dragon: its scales, essence, a few decorative teeth, and some flesh.

Leaving the mangled dragon corpse behind in the tower, Droop, Will and Hugh return to Reidoth's cottage.

DILF Stands For Demon I'd Like to Fuck

While the group speaks outside, Soren catches bits and pieces of the conversation. He hears Hugh and Will leave to go scalp the dragon, and hears Sildar gently check in on him before shutting the door.

Assured that he would not be interrupted, Soren reaches into his mind to try and contact the "King of Shadows", as Hugh had called him.

With over-the-top, respectful and reverent language similar to how he addresses Nezznar, Soren recalls that the King wanted to "further discuss" what Soren can do for him, and expresses fear of keeping the King waiting.

Soren's surroundings melt away into a grandiose marble palace, where the following, 9ft-tall entity sits atop a throne.

The "King" seems to find great amusement in Soren's deference, but gently tells him to stand up and that the formalities are not needed--he wants Soren to refer to him as a friend, and gives Soren his name: Graz'zt.

(Insight Check: Graz'zt enjoys the respect Soren is showing him, but seems to not take himself too seriously; he genuinely wants Soren to refer to him as a friend.)

Soren is bewildered by this, but obeys to the best of his ability, though he lapses a few times to bow/apologize--Graz'zt gently corrects him each time, and reminds Soren that they are to be friends. Soren, unwilling to believe that Graz'zt wants nothing in return for saving the party from Venomfang, presses about the apparent "favor" and "deal" that Graz'zt cited previously.

Graz'zt acknowledges that he will eventually want Soren to perform a task for him. For now, however, Soren's only orders are to "have fun and live your life how you want to". Graz'zt also, in a seeming show of concern, warns Soren against calling on him again the way he did at Venomfang--Graz'zt notes that his entering Soren's body will (as we've seen) cause sizable physical damage, if not death. Soren agrees to never call upon him again, and thanks Graz'zt for the help, bowing, before remembering Graz'zt's orders. He apologizes for the formality. Graz'zt responds that "friends forgive and forget".

;-; what's happening...

Sensing Soren's hesitation, Graz'zt further prompts to ask what Soren's deepest desire was, right then. Soren admits that he feels like he is unable to shake the feeling that his party is looking at him with disgust and fear, and that he is devastated to have signed away his freedom.

He asks Graz'zt for a place where he can feel safe.

Graz'zt smiles "fiendishly" and states "your wish is my command", before waving the illusion away from around Soren. Before the surroundings fade away, Soren catches a glimpse of a crystalline structure in the horizon, almost as though surrounding the throne room.

Hide & Seek

Will, Droop and Hugh return to Reidoth's cottage, where Sildar is sitting at the table, alone. Sildar tells them that Soren has been quiet, and he didn't want to disturb him while he was sleeping.

Will pushes the door open to check on Soren, but finds an empty bed. He reports to the group in a panic that Soren is gone. Sildar and Hugh come to the room to help investigate. Will searches the bed and finds only the ring that Nezznar had given Soren.

Thoroughly panicked now, the party splits up to find Soren, with Will keeping Nezznar's ring for the moment. Jharym, noticing the disturbance, inquires as to what happened and offers his help in searching South of the cottage.

After a little while, Sildar, Hugh and Will regroup outside the cottage and reason that Soren couldn't even prop himself up in bed; there was no way that he had gotten so far that the party cannot track him.

Thoroughly frustrated and devastated at losing Soren, Sildar starts crying.

As the party continues to make plans to find Soren, SOREN HIMSELF saunters up to the group, asking why everyone looked so glum. Cue an outburst of "WHAT is WRONG WITH YOU". Hugh hugs Soren. Sildar hugs Soren. Upon being asked where the fuck he went, Soren says he went out for some fresh air, and that he was feeling better.

Hugh asks Soren if he was alright even though it was very sunny out. After some stammering, Soren says that he's fine with it, and that it wasn't too bad, making Hugh sussy that something was wrong.

Soren seems all better, and begins acting extremely affectionate with Sildar, surprising everyone. As the party goes inside, they notice that Jharym is not there. Soren brushes it off as "he's a wood elf, he'll be fine", which annoys Will, who points out that Jharym could have died looking for him. Soren still seems uncaring of this, so Will goes out to look for Jharym.

Before he leaves, Soren calls out to Will to leave behind the Bag of Holding so he can cook.

On his search, Will finds some of Jharym's tracks heading South, but seeming to circle back. The tracks look as though someone had tried to cover them up. Will returns empty-handed.

Back at the house, Soren rifles through the Bag of Holding and takes out a whole watermelon, which he says he'll grill with the dragon meat that Hugh brought back. As he takes out other cooking utensils, he slips something out of the bag and into his pocket.

Sildar sees this, and asks Soren about it. Soren slides cha cha real smooth over to the kitchen while making excuses, but Sildar notices that he's acting extremely strange and presses the situation. Will returns around this time, and they all gang up :( on Soren, asking him what he took from the bag.

At this time, suddenly floor Soren.

(A second Soren appears on the ground next to Will, halfway-yelling"let me out". He seems gravely injured in the same way as he had been earlier that day, and is unable to get up on his own.)

Droop:

Floor!Soren has a string of instruments around him, while Watermelon!Soren does not. After a brief pause as the party tries to figure out what the FUCK is happening, Will nocks an arrow and points it at Watermelon!Soren (which is a bitch to type, so I will be typing Flooren and Wateren from now). Initiative is rolled.

Flooren mostly whines from the floor about how they couldn't tell it wasn't him--Wateren was trying to put watermelon on raw meat. Sildar hovers over Flooren, confused and unsure which to believe. In an attempt to test Flooren, he hands Flooren the vial of poison that Soren had made at the beginning of their journey, telling him to drink it to heal up.

Flooren stares at it, then Sildar, before putting the poison on the floor and amusedly says "maybe I should have labelled these", prompting Sildar to believe Flooren is the real Soren.

Crying Wolf

Presently, Wateren has edged his way towards the West of the house, trying to talk down Will from shooting him.

Will is hesitant to shoot, still a little confused. Hugh, who has wholeheartedly believed something was wrong from the start when Soren didn't seem to mind the sun, tackles Wateren, knocking him back into the wall.

Wateren begins to beg the party for mercy, citing several things that make the party stay their hand:

• Hugh and Soren's talk on their first watch wherein Hugh told Soren that he "thinks Soren is a good drow", making Soren cry.

• Sildar's promise to always be there for Soren when he needed help, even if they were miles away, Soren just had to "call for him"

Hugh is unmoved, but Sildar becomes doubtful. Seeing Sildar hesitate at this, Will questions Wateren on what he had asked Reidoth about the night before, believing that Wateren would not know this if he was not really Soren.

Wateren, however, answers with stunning accuracy: that he had asked Reidoth on how to lengthen Sildar's lifespan (or shorten Soren's own) so that he and Sildar might be able to live out their full lives together.

This causes Will to hesitate, allowing Wateren to reach where Gundren is sitting, immediately slams Gundren with an unarmed attack, dealing hefty damage--though much of it is blocked by the Inspiring Leader that Soren had distributed that morning.

Upon this, the party launches their attack on Wateren, who seems intent on killing Gundren. Comically, during the fight, Droop, who has been holding up the heavily injured Flooren, continually tries to feed the poison to Flooren because he believes it to be a health potion, leaving Flooren to fend Droop off while incapacitated.

During the fight, Flooren uses Command, a spell Soren has not used before, to force Wateren to his knees.

Though he seems much tankier than normal Soren, Wateren is swiftly brought down by the party's combined efforts and tied up in a corner.

Aftermath

Sildar helps Flooren into a chair. Now all convinced that Wateren is the imposter and that Flooren is the real Soren (so I will refer to him as Soren going forward), the party discusses the bewildering turn of events.

Musing cryptically over how he had been trapped in a cave, Soren takes his ring back from Will, jokingly saying "I do", which Sildar comments drily on. Hugh and Hugh begin undressing Wateren, but find nothing of note on his body.

Sildar questions Soren on where he actually was. Soren vaguely mentions visiting his benefactor, which concerns Sildar. Soren, however, maintains that his benefactor has been kind to him, and that "things might be good now", which Sildar does not believe.

The group remember that Wateren had been rummaging through the Bag of Holding, so we try to retrieve from it anything that might be important. When we try to retrieve the map of Wave Echo Cave from the bag, however, it seems to be missing. The party looks around the room and at Wateren again, but find nothing; Soren points out that Wateren had hovered by the fire for a long time while talking to Will.

There is, in fact, smouldering bits of paper in the fireplace. We question Gundren about any copies he might have made; he doesn't have a copy, but somewhat knows the layout in his memory, and can help navigate the cave still.

We realize that Jharym is missing, still, and make the connection that Wateren might be Jharym, whom we've had suspicions about from the start. Gundren reacts badly to these accusations, even moreso when Hugh suggests that we shouldn't even go to look for Jharym, since he's likely evil.

When Gundren tries to go off to look for Jharym on his own, Soren stops Gundren momentarily to tell him that he understands the feeling of being willing to sacrifice the world for one person; but that the fate of the world indeed hinged on Gundren's survival, and so he needed to be careful. Gundren agrees, and Hugh offers to escort Gundren on his search. They search around the cottage but come up with nothing that Will has not found: tracks that circle back to the cottage and disappear.

During this time, Soren inquires about the blood on Droop (from Hugh throwing him). Droop tries to hide the fact that he was thrown and hurt, earning a hi-5 from Hugh. Will comes clean about everything lmao.

At some point, Reidoth returns. We recount the events to him and state that Wateren, tied up and unconscious, might be a doppelganger--since we had faced one not too long ago, sent by Nezznar. Reidoth advances on Wateren with his staff, as if to kill him; we stop him as we want to question him. Reidoth coldly orders Will to "kill it" after the questioning, citing the Emerald Enclave tenet that unnatural beings must die.

Will seems hesitant, but tells Reidoth that he would. Soren puppy eyes Reidoth into giving up the bedroom that night.

Confused as to why Wateren would have burned the map instead of trying to escape with it, the group settles down and waits for Wateren to wake up in order to question him.

Lingering Madness

As the excitement dies down and Droop and Sildar fuss over Soren, he seems to grow distant again, as he did when he woke up previously that day. Soren refuses to receive any help, healing or words of concern, going as far as to demand that Droop stop holding him up--promptly falling over because he can't support himself yet lmao.

Soren seems disoriented and confused, asking to be helped to a lake so he can bathe, but then promptly shoots down any offers to help bring him there. Will tries to boil water for him to bathe with, but he turns that down as well.

Eventually, he loses his temper and demands the party to leave him alone, but in disorientation, asks them to stay instead. Sildar begins realizing that Soren is not in his right mind, and indulges in Soren's unreasonable demands, including asking Sildar to put away his sword--implying that he thinks Sildar would kill him when they're alone.

; - ;

Though still hesitant, Soren seems moved that Sildar would toss aside his sword like that, and agrees to get moved to the bedroom to rest.

As they prepare to do so, Wateren begins to stir and wake up.