Session 11: These Are the Prisoners

🪐 Campaign Arc

🎬 Previously On...

The party had reached Gracklstugh and secured a night’s refuge after killing a two-headed giant in the Blade Bazaar. A civilian had also died while fleeing through Aeris’s Spike Growth. Rather than wait for the city’s guards, the travellers followed Buppido north to a brewery, leaving the authorities’ response and the giant’s strange pleas unanswered.

🧭 Overview

Session 11 resumed inside the Darklake Brewery, a large, ramshackle stone-and-brick establishment in the Darklake District, heavy with the smell of brewing ale. Dwarven patrons drank and talked as music carried through the room. After the violence at the market, the party briefly found an ordinary enough problem to solve: where to eat and sleep. Aeris ordered a keg of ale and meat and potatoes for the group, setting up a tab. Varang committed wholeheartedly to the meal, eating and drinking until they passed out at the table. Vorgrath joined in and eventually settled the food, drink and lodging bill for the travellers.

Edric and Aeris used the opportunity to learn more about the city. A curious patron suggested the Stone Guard and the Keepers of the Flame as possible sources of work or information, although approaching the latter appeared to require an audience with the Deepking. The group also learned more about the divisions among Gracklstugh’s clans, their trades and influence, and the Council of Savants, said to number thirty-six members. What sounded like local politics was difficult to separate from the city’s culture of watchfulness, patrols and unseen observers.

While Edric sought information about the more magically inclined groups, Aeris listened to an intoxicated conversation about Droki, a derro who had repeatedly eluded the Stone Guard around the Blade Bazaar. He was described as a troublesome thief, known in part by his distinctive hat. When Aeris asked whether catching him might be useful, the patrons pointed him toward Errde, a captain of the Stone Guard. They shared another rumour as well: Deepking Horgar V had not been seen as often as expected, while friction between the city’s clans continued. None of the drinkers could establish what that absence meant.

By the following morning, after the group had rested, something more immediate was missing. Buppido was gone. The brewery’s keeper recalled the derro leaving of his own accord at roughly four or five in the morning, without saying where he was headed. Buppido had been sharing accommodation with Jimjar and Eldeth, but neither supplied a useful lead. Edric searched the room and even used Detect Magic, finding nothing unusual among the unmade beds. The party could not determine whether their guide was pursuing some private business or had simply left them behind.

Outside, the city was busy and the travellers attracted notice as obvious foreigners, particularly with Prince Derendil among them. The group considered contacting the Stone Guard, looking for the Keepers of the Flame or seeking Buppido, but the previous day’s violence made dealing openly with local authority unattractive. Asking after the Keepers only reinforced the difficulty of gaining access through the Deepking. The party therefore tried to skirt the Blade Bazaar instead of walking back through the scene of the giant’s death.

That was when someone spotted a small figure matching Droki’s description. As he disappeared through the crowd, Varang entered the bazaar to follow him. After searching, Varang caught the derro’s eye. Droki waved and ran. Varang sprinted after him, with Iragon following close behind. Edric cast Invisibility on himself and followed more cautiously, carrying Aeris in his pocket in rat form. Jimjar, Prince Derendil, Stool and Fargus initially waited near the edge of the bazaar, intending to follow if the others did not return.

The chase ended, for the moment, in a narrow back street. Three armed dwarves in matching armour bearing Gracklstugh’s crest blocked the way and demanded to know why Varang was causing a disturbance. They denied having seen the thief, despite appearing familiar with Droki’s name, and insisted the party should not be there. As Varang challenged them to do their jobs, footsteps came from behind. A drow addressed the Stone Guard captain and identified the newcomers as the escaped prisoners the guards had been discussing.

Edric did not wait to find out what the drow or the guards intended. Emerging from his concealment, he cast Fireball directly toward the drow. The blast engulfed combatants in the confined street and transformed the encounter into a fight with the Stone Guard and several drow. Varang called on divine protection, blessing Vorgrath, Edric and Iragon. Aeris emerged from his rat form and cast Faerie Fire, while Iragon struck with Eldritch Blast. The dwarves closed in with axes, and Vorgrath, fighting in a rage under the DM’s control, began cutting them down with his greataxe.

The clash became more dangerous as two drow archers appeared on the rooftops overlooking the alley. Edric answered their arrival with a second Fireball. It devastated several of the opposing fighters, but Vorgrath was also caught in its area and fell unconscious. Varang abandoned an initial attempt to stabilise him and instead brought him back into the fight with a second-level Healing Word, then turned Chill Touch against a nearby dwarf. From there the orc continued pressing through the enemy line, and the street became increasingly crowded with fallen bodies.

Iragon used Steps of the Fey to reach the roof and interfere with nearby attackers, then engaged a drow archer with the Dhauzimmer Blade of Lathander. He later attacked from the high ground with further Eldritch Blasts and teleported back down. Aeris tested Land’s Aid amid the fighting, using its ability to aid an ally and harm enemies, and later used healing magic. Varang also continued supporting the group, including forcing a dwarf to grovel with Command. Meanwhile Jimjar, Eldeth, Prince Derendil, Ront and Fargus had joined the fight. Fargus brought down one dwarf with his rapier, while Vorgrath’s relentless blows left several others dead.

The battle did not end cleanly. A wounded drow archer threw down her longbow and surrendered, but she was killed after surrendering. Eldeth attacked the unarmed, pleading drow, and the DM’s closing account also described Ront beheading a drow. Another dwarf attempted to flee down the alley, but Edric trapped him in Web. After checking that bystanders had cleared the area ahead, Aeris placed Spike Growth farther along the escape route. Every opposing guard and drow involved in the alley battle was killed; none escaped.

With the street covered in bodies and the immediate fighting over, the group had not achieved the thing that started the chase. Droki was gone. Edric called out to the unseen thief, offering payment if he could show them a quick way out of the area. No answer came. The session ended with the party still in the aftermath of a bloody confrontation with Gracklstugh’s guards and drow, with Buppido missing and no confirmed route away from the scene.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Party Members

The five character portraits below are the same BookStack image assets used in Session 10.

🎭 NPC Tracker

Only characters with a new development or direct role this session are listed here; prior companion histories remain in earlier sessions.

📍 Key Locations

• Darklake Brewery: The group’s overnight refuge, site of rumours about Droki, the Deepking and city factions, and the place where Buppido was last confirmed.
• Darklake District and Blade Bazaar perimeter: The busy streets where the travellers sought information and attempted to avoid the site of the previous battle.
• Blade Bazaar: Varang spotted Droki again, received a wave, and chased him into the neighbouring back streets.
• Back alley and adjoining rooftops: The guarded street where a drow recognised the party and the confrontation escalated into an extended fight.

📑 Session Highlights

• A disappeared guide: Buppido walked out before dawn and left no clear message or magical clue.
• An unwanted recognition: A drow identified the party as escaped prisoners to local guards.
• Fire without negotiation: Edric opened the clash with Fireball and later brought down Vorgrath with his second blast; Varang revived him.
• A rooftop and an escape lane: Iragon fought the archers above, while Edric and Aeris blocked an attempted escape.
• A surrender ignored: A drow archer laid down her bow and surrendered, but was killed. All opposing guards and drow died in the alley.

🎞️ Key Scenes

Potatoes Before the Trouble

At a crowded brewery table, Varang leaned over a mountain of potatoes while Aeris’s keg of ale and mugs occupied the centre of the scene. It was a rare moment of comfort before the city demanded another price.

The Wave in the Bazaar

Across a busy duergar marketplace, a small, hatted derro acknowledged Varang with a wave, then vanished into the side streets. The chase began before the party had agreed what it intended to do with him.

These Are the Prisoners

In the narrow alley, a drow stood behind Edric and identified the travellers to the armed dwarves. Edric reacted with magic before anyone could establish the terms of the confrontation.

Fire from Both Sides

Vorgrath fought through the smoke in a packed stone street as another Fireball erupted close enough to catch him. The explosion left the raging orc unconscious, forcing Varang to pull him back from the brink.

No Answer from Droki

After the fighting, Edric called into the empty street for the thief to lead them away. The only response was silence.

🧵 Ongoing Threads & Plot Hooks

• Buppido’s whereabouts: He left the Darklake Brewery early in the morning without telling the party where he was going. Whether he intended to return remains unknown.
• Droki: The small derro evaded the Stone Guard and the party alike. His purpose, possessions and possible knowledge are still unknown.
• The drow connection: A drow recognised the fugitives and spoke as though the guards were already aware of them. How much of Gracklstugh’s authority is involved is not established.
• Guard casualties and witnesses: No enemy combatants escaped, but the bodies of the Stone Guard and drow remained in the alley. Whether other witnesses observed the confrontation and how the authorities will respond remain unknown.
• Iragon’s armour: His commissioned fitted plate armour remains due for collection on the seventh day of Kythorn, with 735 gold still to pay.
• Gracklstugh’s internal tensions: Patrons spoke of clan rivalry and the Deepking’s reduced public presence. These were local rumours, not independently verified facts.
• Earlier Underdark mysteries: The unnatural rot, the strange two-headed giant and other unresolved signs of corruption were not explained during this session.

💰 Loot & Discoveries

⏭️ Cliffhanger

• The alley battle ended with every opposing guard and drow dead, including the archer killed after surrendering.
• Droki remained missing; Edric’s offer of payment for an escape route received no response.
• Buppido had disappeared hours earlier. With no enemies left alive, no loot collected and an alley full of bodies, the party faced an uncertain response from Gracklstugh’s authorities.