https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhx3zdJQluc
Thulrum congratulates the party at the bar for clearing out the library, and asks if we’re ready to take on the other two contracts.
Aelin is dead silent in the corner after what happened last time; she won’t be speaking up here.
Dayne questions Thulrum about one of the contract options — the druid outpost — and asks what they have to offer/why we would take them out.
Thulrum explains they reside over a powerful mana well that would benefit the rebellion greatly. Dayne asks what the druids are doing there; “just living?” and Thulrum says “well, you know, survival of the fittest. We need what they have. But you know all about that, huh, Dayne?”
Dayne:
“What do you mean?”
Thulrum:
“Nothing, nothing. I was just recently given a few rumors about your past.”
Dayne:
“Oh? Well go on, don’t be shy.”
Thulrum:
“You want me to air it out here? In front of the rest of your party?”
Aelin looks up from under her hood at that.
Dayne:
“Please do.”
Thulrum:
“A couple scouts returned information that a group is looking for you. Apparently, your little stunt at the previous gate got you noticed by the city. They told me that you were a part of the organization at the heart of Silverhold — within the college. Is that true?”
Dayne:
“Of course that’s true.”
Thulrum:
“So how do we know you’re not a spy?”
Dayne:
“All you have to do is ask yourself. We have similar backgrounds, don’t we? As I recall, you’re a former Silverhold official, aren’t you?”
Thulrum:
“Aye, you’d be right. But I’ve spent my life’s work on this rebellion. I can’t say the same of you.”
Dayne:
“Well, that makes both of us. You can spend your life’s work on it, but what is this rebellion even really about? Is it for the people? Is this a just cause? Or —“
Thulrum (yelling over him) (he never does this):
“OF COURSE IT’S FOR THE PEOPLE! How dare you question me?! I’ve put the last 10 years of my life into buildings this to try to take back what is rightfully ours. For the people.“
Dayne:
“Which people? Because you’re about to send us on a mission to go murder some druids who aren’t doing anything. Who are just living in solitude — and your justification for it is “they have what we need”? “Survival of the fittest”? But you’re some “freedom fighter”, are you? It sounds to me that you just want things. So who’s this really for? I’m not here to go killing people for you, okay? If this is a cause I can get behind, then I can get behind it. But I’m not some murderer for coin.”
Ianoth (chiming in):
“Ironic that you’re suddenly a pacifist.”
Thulrum:
“Thank you Ianoth. This man has committed great atrocities. And we heard about the egg. I can’t believe I’m taking this from you. You want to know what this is really about? You want to know why I’ve set my life to taking back? Those bastards killed my wife. They took my newborn son. I don’t know what they’ve done with him, I don’t know if he’s still alive. But I’ve put everything into taking down what they took from me. I don’t want to see more families rift apart like mine was. But you wouldn’t know about that, huh? You had a cushy life, you come from a good family, you went to the best college —“
Lorin:
“Hey — we all have our reasons to be here. Step off Dayne.”
Dayne:
“You don’t know shit about us. And you especially don’t know shit about me. I’ve lost people too, especially to the college. You wanna know the reason why I was in the college, it’s because my brother was the one selected for it. But I knew what they were about. So even though he hates me to this day for it, I swapped our names at the registration so that I would be the one to have to go through it. And I don’t regret that. But I know what they’re about. And I know who the true enemy is — and it isn’t guards in an outpost, or druids in the woods — it’s the officials. The top brass. So if you’re going to free the people, you need to remember something: every guard we kill, every person that we slaughter in order to get to the people who are actually calling the shots, those are the people that you claim you’re “fighting” for. And it’s their blood on our hands, not yours right now. So yes, I will question who we’re putting to death. Because if you truly care about the people, then you wouldn’t have us torching outposts and killing soldiers who don’t even understand why they’re dying,”
Thulrum:
“And what would you think is a better way to do this? They didn’t listen to our diplomacy. What makes you think they’ll listen to you? We’ve tried, Dayne.”
Dayne:
“You have a capable strike force right here. If we get into the heart of Silverhold, if we find where the officials are at, and we strike there, at the heart, then we can get right to it. We should be clandestine. We should be in the shadows. We should be going after the leadership.”
Thulrum:
“You don’t know what they’re capable of!!! You don’t know the atrocities they’ve been able to commit. They’re more powerful than anything you’ve ever known.”
Dayne:
“I’m a walking example of that! I’ve survived that. I used to be a weapon that they attempt to turn me into.”
Dayne lifts up his sleeve and shows off the scars and black and red magic runes across his arm.
Dayne:
“I know exactly what’s at the heart of it. And it isn’t just manasteel — it’s things beyond this world.”
Thulrum:
“Then you understand why we need to do what we need to do. You understand what’s needed for this fight. Then why are you so against it?”
Dayne:
“How are we going to earn the trust of the people if our “rebellion” is built on the bodies of common folk? They’re going to look at you and they’re not going to think freedom. Liberty. They’re going to think about their brother, their sister, their father that died at our hands. And we’re supposed to stand up on a stage as heroes? It’s not gonna work that way.”
Ianoth:
“Every rebellion is built on the blood of common folk, boy. You wouldn’t know that, coming from your silver-plated family.”
Dayne:
“Why the fuck are you even still here?”
Ianoth:
“The reason I’m here is because… I’m sick of listening to you, and listening to you squabble our time.”
Dayne:
“You’re sick of listening to me, so you follow us around all the time? Why are you here?”
Ianoth:
“I’m sick of your grandiose speeches. I’m here because I’m fighting for a cause I believe in, unlike you, who seems to never have any sort of virtue at all.”
They go back and forth for a while, Ianoth antagonizing Dayne and the rest of the party, and Dayne calls him out for using none of his spells and just using a crossbow, and tells him that he’s a liability. Ianoth claims that he is “hiding his powers” for later (lol).
Dayne gives Ianoth an ultimatum: learn to be a part of the team and drop the “hard on” he has for him, or else he will fucking kill him.
Dayne:
“We can go handle the druids. But Thulrum? Understand that we are not mercenaries. I am not a mercenary. I am here for a cause. So I will question who you put me after.”
Thulrum apologizes and they cool down, going back and forth and calmly explaining their sides. Dayne kind of backs away, saying he’ll go to the druid camp if that’s what the rest of the party wants.
They all depart and take a long rest before the mission the following day.
Aelin goes to the armory and gets a new poison-tipped dagger, then makes her way to the bar.
Dayne approaches Olwynn as she is preparing her spells, and asks what deity she follows. We find out her and her family follow Savras; Knowledge Domain.
Dayne, also being of a “holy” class, describes how his oath isn’t exactly to the gods, but in spite of them. He asks her how she reconciles with being unheard after Savras didn’t aid her in the last mission.
Olwynn:
“I suppose I’m just used to it. He’s not very vocal.”
Dayne:
“I wasn’t expecting that answer. You seem kind of like a holy woman without faith.”
Olwynn:
“We’re raised with the expectation that we must be at our best for the gods to hear us. I was not at my best, and so, the god did not hear me. That’s just how it is.”
They continue chatting about Savras and religion, and Olwynn thanks Dayne for speaking out earlier in the day.
Olwynn approaches Aelin, who’s leaning against a wall in the back of the bar, playing with her knife drinking a Joyous Father (happy dads but in dnd world)
Olwynn:
“Hello.”
Aelin looks at her and nods her head in her direction and then looks back at her knife.
Olwynn:
“Um, I… I just wanted to apologize, for…”
Aelin:
“For what.”
Olwynn:
“In the library… I didn’t mean to —“
Aelin (cutting her off, looking up at her):
“— it’s fine.”
Olwynn:
“…Are you sure?”
Aelin:
“Yep.”
Aelin looks back down at her dagger.