Ep. 90 The Road Below Chapter Four

Thorin Stoneknuckle

## Listen

Ep. 90 The Road Below Chapter Four

—Sayings of the Umbragen

Crast and Drakir meet up with Thorin in Wroat to prepare the jailbreak of Commander Bala. Thorin gets one of his contacts in the Swords of Liberty to ask for her superiors help in a distraction.

## Synopsis

### Swords of Liberty

Crast and Drakir arrive in Wroat via lightning rail, ready to break Bala out of prison. They meet up with one of Crast's contacts, a dwarf named Thorin Stoneknuckle, in a seedy alley in the city. Thorin has a general idea where they're keeping her, but once they're in there are some places he's not allowed to go. The timeline he'd been given was off by a few days; the trial is today, so they need to decide where they'll be taking her from.

The execution will be a public display, and they'll have to go through most of the city to get to there. There will be plenty of places that traps might be set. Crast suggests causing a distraction, which makes Drakir bring up the Swords of Liberty. They'll be an escape route once they grab Bala; perhaps the Swords could be their cover. Their leader, Haydith ir'Wynarn, lives in Wroat and they might find a way to get in contact with her.

There's one big hiccup; Crast refuses to work with the Swords of Liberty. After much debate over the matter, Thorin decides he's going to contact them, and Crast can work with them or not. Drakir points out that Crast could just kill them after. Also, he has an orb that could summon a dragon. Thorin is not a fan of either of these things.

Thorin has a contact in the Swords, just a low-level person. Crast still resists, and Thorin starts losing his temper and asks what their other options are. Drakir hopes they could get them to attack the security detail, and some of them might die. Afterward, the Swords would be blamed and hunted down and killed. Crast starts coming around to the idea, and Thorin's fear of Drakir grows. He also notices the grass around the drow is dead.

For their escape, Drakir can make himself and Bala invisible, and it might be a good idea for Thorin to get out of town after they're done. They'll lay their ambush near the river and Drakir will grab Bala, turn them invisible, and use a potion to allow them to breathe underwater.

A rat scurries by and dies. Thorin takes three steps back.

### Thorin the Spook

Thorin knows someone who has an apothecary shop who was selling potions illegally, and he can get some potions from him. When they arrive Devlin, the shop owner, complains that Thorin needs to get his credit balanced before he buys more potions, and Thorin fires back that he should also stop selling illegal potions in the city. To rub his nose in, he takes a candy off a tray on the counter for himself and throws another to Drakir. He's handed a potion of green liquid that has jellyfish-like bubbles in it. Drakir does a quick Detect Magic on it to confirm it's what they need, and Thorin leaves the shop.

*"If you speak about our being here to anyone, I will kill you and everyone you love."
—Drakir*

Thorin hears the threat from Drakir and pops back in to say he'll try to prevent it.

They go to where they know Thorin's next contact hangs out a lot; Eva, a low-level member of the Swords of Liberty. When she sees them coming, she kicks a bag around a corner. Thorin sighs and after she tries convincing him there's nothing in the bag, he opens it up. Inside there are illegal magical potion that cause a sense of euphoria - drugs. Thorin takes them, then turns back to Eva and tells her the situation with Bala. He asks her to get word to the Red Owl, to which Eva expresses some doubts but says she'll try. Eva is to tell her that the brother of Beric Rowan needs to speak with her.

Before they leave Thorin promises to try to stop Drakir from killing her and everyone she loves if she fails. According to Drakir, he can't.

While returning to Crast, the two contemplate if the fake King Boranel will be there, and if they should take the opportunity to poison him.

They meet up with Crast again. Since they're uncertain if the Swords will be able to help, they'll plan as if they won't but hope for the best. Through the conversation Drakir drops the bombshell on Thorin about the real Boranel being in Flamekeep.

Thorin takes his hammer out in a non-threatening way, about to show off, and the second he does Drakir summon his Flame Tongue sword. It catches on fire and then is put out. Thorin summons a spectral hand and waves it at him - Drakir does the same. Crast steps between them, not sure how serious this is, and Thorin throws his hammer, snaps his fingers, and it's back in his hand. Drakir throws a Shadow Blade. Crast starts getting annoyed and admits he didn't tell Thorin everything, but mentions Three will be there and he knows about it. They discuss ways of getting to him for his aid in the jailbreak.

Thorin just wants to not be implicated.

End of episode.

## Quotes

"Are you thinking that might be the best—is that the weak point? The transport?"
"How good are you two at breaking into places and being quiet and sneaky?"
"I am very good at breaking places."
"Yes, probably in transport."
*—Thorin and Drakir 0:18:44*

"In the Underdark we have a saying that the person who hates your enemy is also⁠—"
"Your enemy."
"⁠—useful to you."
"Is also your lover. The translation is not perfect."
"The person who hates your enemy has utility to you at the moment."
*—Drakir, Crast, Eric, and Jeff 0:26:50*

"Also, if it would be helpful, I have this thing that I could use to summon a dragon."
Another strong 'please don't' from me."
"It will be hostile towards me when it arrives.
"It'll be hostile to *you*?"
"Yes. But it would create a large distraction."
"You're certainly not wrong."
*—Drakir and Thorin 0:30:41*

"And that whole thing about the enemy of the man that you don't like is the buddy that you need."
"Has temporary utility."
"Has temporary utility. I hear it's better in the original Undercommon."
"Not really."
*—Thorin and Drakir 0:39:00*

"Drakir could kill *everyone*."
*—Philip 0:59:06*

## Spells

* **Drakir**
	+ Detect Magic
* **Thorin**
	+ Mage Hand

## Trivia

* Randy wanted to give Crast a British accent, but, according to Randy, Eric said no.