Captured by the drow! You wouldn’t wish this fate upon anyone, yet here you are — locked in a dark cave, the cold, heavy weight of metal tight around your throat and wrists. You are not alone. Other prisoners are trapped in here with you, in an underground outpost far from the light of the sun. Your captors include a cruel drow priestess who calls herself Mistress Ilvara of House Mizzrym. Over the past several days, you’ve met her several times, robed in silken garments and flanked by two male drow, one of whom has a mass of scars along one side of his face and neck. Mistress Ilvara likes to impress her will with scourge in hand and remind you that your life now belongs to her. “Accept your fate, learn to obey, and you may survive.” Her words echo in your memory, even as you plot your escape.

Kindra and Mel find themselves prisoners of the drow, held in a cell built from a natural cave formation in the Underdark. The two have been stripped of all their gear and are shackled with manacles attached to iron belts by a short length of chain, and they also wear slave collars around their neck.

The two are not alone, they share the prison cell with ten others of varying races, each one shackled in a similar fashion. The ten others include:

Buppido, a talkative and cunning derro.
Derendil, a quaggoth who claims to be a cursed elf prince.
Eldeth Feldrun, a shield dwarf scout from Guantlgrym.
Jimjar, a deep gnome with a gambling problem.
Ront, an orc bully.
Sarith Kzekarit , a drow accused of murder.
Shuushar the Awakened, a kuo-toa hermit and mystic.
Stool, a myconid sprout.
Topsy and Turvy, two deep gnome twins.

Kindra and Mel have been prisoners of the drow for 10 days. Mel has spent the morning crying softly by herself in the corner. The prisoners are awaiting their morning meal of thin mushroom broth.

Kindra, make a Perception check to see what you’ve been able to observe about the drow that hold you prisoner, after introducing your character.

6

While Kindra has been imprisoned in this cell, she has found a single gold coin.

Kindra, a slim genasi blacksmith wearing tattered, dark work robes, pats Mel on the back, her hand warm to the touch. "Gonna be alright, pull it together."

Her eyes and the palm lines on her hands seem to glow like magma, almost piercing through the dark of the cave with a yellow/orange glow respectively. She has seemed rather disgruntled by the whole experience, especially being holed up in the narrow cave. Of course, the worst part is the meals. Not that they're insufficient nutritionally, or lack any texture, but that they taste like mushrooms.

...mushrooms. Bleh. Thank the gods for being able to change what the broth tastes like with prestidigitation.

Over the week they've been here, Kindra would interact with the other prisoners, if only to learn more about what the underdark is like and how long they've been here. She's hidden away the gold coin in a crevice.

Perception check + guidance: 17

Actually, the very first time Kindra tries to cast prestidigitation to improve the taste of the mushroom broth, the cantrip fizzles, having no effect. The broth tastes all the worse for it. Guidance similarly falls flat.

Kindra's attempts to interact with the other prisoners has won her two friends, or at least two allies, being the only two that share a language with the genasi. Eldeth Feldrun, the shield dwarf, has been in the prison for a few days longer than Kindra, and she has no problem making her opinions of the Underdark and those that dwell there known, calling the drow and other subterranean species "corrupt dark-dwellers". She is defiant to a fault, and Kindra has seen her hurl her mushroom broth back at the drow guards more than once, though she seems to be very hungry as a result.

Jimjar, the oldest of the three deep gnomes, was imprisoned shortly after Kindra and Mel, and to their surprise he speaks fluent common. He seems to be trying to make the best of a bad situation, placing little bets on which drow guard will check in on them next, whether Eldeth will successfully hit the guard with the broth, and the like. His optimism can be seen as a beacon of hope by some, or as a great annoyance by others. He shares some information on the Underdark with Kindra, such as it being a wide network of caverns and tunnels, and that the lot of them were unlucky enough to wander into drow territory, or were unlucky enough to wander near an entrance above ground.

The orc, Ront speaks some common, but apparently only enough to tell Kindra to leave him alone. He lets his muscles do the rest of the talking, intimidating anybody who gets too close to him.

Over the week that they've been there, Kindra has been able to notice some things about the drow that have captured them. Their leader seems to be one called Mistress Ilvara, of House Mizzrym, and she is always escorted by two male drow, one of which has a series of scars along his face and neck. The scarred drow seems to have lost some of his mistress' favor recently, and has been displaced by the other male drow. At any given point, three drow are assigned to watch the prisoners from a hanging guard post across a rope bridge. The total number of drow seems to be between fifteen to twenty. Though they never tell the prisoners anything directly, Jimjar has translated some overheard conversations, and has let Kindra know that they are to be sent to Menzoberranzan, the dark elf capital, as slaves.

Every now and again, the prisoners are forced to perform hard labor, and after breakfast, the first group will be taken out to perform these tasks for their captors.

(I forgot to mention this part in the post, sorry!)

Upon her first exposure to antimagic, Kindra grits her teeth. Magic had always been something that made her work faster, be able to protect herself, and just feel better about her life. Without it, she didn't really have much to go off of at the moment.

She thanks Jimjar for the information, sticks close to Eldath and talks a bit more (in dwarvish, to make it easier), both just to make a friend and because it helps maintain normalcy for Kindra - being quiet isn't really easy for someone surrounded by the clanging of a forge for hours each day. She leaves Ront alone, as requested.

The prospect of being a slave of the drow is basically out of the question. She enjoys a good workday, but not in the darkness of the caves, and certainly not to serve the drow of all people.

Notably, even during forced labor, Kindra seems to get into the same rhythm that she does during her normal blacksmithing job, albeit without the added benefit of magic. Work gets done quickly and without hassle.

The three drow guards that watch over the prisoners from their hanging guard tower begin to approach, each of them carrying a number of small clay bowls. They approach a gap in the cell door, and call out in a language neither Kindra or Mel understands. The other prisoners line up to receive their mushroom broth, with some of them being so hungry that they finish it in one gulp, while others have to take little sips to keep from gagging.

Eldeth offers a weak smile to Kindra. "Breakfast time."

Kindra nods to her friend as they go for their meal. Kindra manages to keep herself mostly together as she drinks the soup.

This morning's breakfast, like every other breakfast in the cell, is a quiet one, only the occasional gag from the fellow prisoners breaking the silence. The thin broth is unpleasant in both taste and texture.

After Kindra and Mel have finished their broth, and it looks like everyone else has as well, a larger contingent of drow guards show up at the cell door. There are six in total, with one fumbling with a set of keys at the door, and three holding crossbows trained on the prisoners. One of the other drow says something in Undercommon, and points to Kindra and Mel, as well as a handful of other prisoners. The others rise up and slowly make their way to the door. The time for hard labor has come.

Kindra cracks her knuckles and follows the rest out, patting Mel on the back to comfort her. She takes note of the layout of the cave as best she can.

The drow outpost, which Kindra would have discerned by now is called Velkynvelve, is built high up in a cavern, one hundred feet above the rocky floor of the Underdark. The prisoner cell is built into the cavern wall, while much of the rest of the outpost is built into a series of four stalactites. The stalactites are connected to each other, as well as the cavern walls, by a series of rope bridges. Beneath the bridges, a thick layer of spiderwebs stretches across the entire outpost.

Kindra and the others are brought through the first stalactite, which serves as the guard tower. The tower has two tables and three chairs, two of which are occupied by drow that watch the prisoners as they are escorted through. There is also a crude stairway that leads up to an upper chamber of the guard tower.

After leaving the guard tower, the drow and prisoners alike cross another bridge, leading to a ledge on the cavern wall. They pass another two stalactites as they walk through, eventually reaching their destination: the drow barracks. Kindra and Mel are guided to one of the two caverns, while the other two, Buppido and Shuushar, are taken to the other. Kindra and Mel are each given a scrub brush and a bucket of water. With a cruel sneer, the drow orders them to begin cleaning the floors. At least, that is what Kindra would glean from his hand gestures.

The other drow leave, leaving one with a crossbow at each barracks' entrance to watch the prisoners.

Mel manages to hold back tears long enough to ask Kindra "How can we get out of here?"

Kindra looks to her friend, patting her on the back with a warm hand. "We'll manage. Keep an eye out for what the guards do, and the layout of the place. There'll be an opportunity soon enough. We got this."

As for herself, she checks around to see if there's any visible exits to the cave system itself that the drow use to enter and exit the place. Additionally, when the drow guard is distracted and she has her back to him, Kindra will use shape water just to move the water in the bucket a tiny bit. Nothing useful, but just to confirm whether or not the entire place has antimagic or just the cell. She uses shape water because it only has a somatic component, which means she can do it with only an arm motion.

Kindra, to her surprise, is able to move the water within the bucket. It seems that the antimagic field only affects the prisoners while they are in their cell.

Make a Sleight of Hand check to see if you are able to cast the cantrip without the drow guard noticing. Make the roll with advantage since you waited for an opportune moment.

Sleight of hand: 11

Fortunately, it seems the drow guard does not notice.

Also, make a Perception check while you continue cleaning the room.

Perception: 12

In a corner, tucked away under one of the bunks in the barracks, there appears to be a forgotten shortsword.

(Does the drow guarding us break up any conversation? Can they understand common? I would assume Mistress Ilvara could but not sure about the others. Also: any jagged rocks that happen to be on the barracks walls, something that could potentially make someone cut themselves?)

(The drow does not disrupt any conversation. You do not know if any others understand common. Yes, I will say there is one particularly jagged rock jutting out of the wall.)