Letter 13

[lettersfrombel]

16 Tarsakh 1492 DR
Waukeen's Rest Inn

My dear River:

We followed up on that inn the goblins raided, Waukeen’s Rest. We found a party of Baldurian mercenaries there, burying the dead and putting out fires. From what I understand from my companions, the Flaming Fist are effectively the military of Baldur’s Gate, despite being nominally a mercenary company. By tradition, their leader is appointed one of the four Dukes of Baldur’s Gate, and the current one -- Duke Ravengard -- is the Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate, a sort of 'first among equals' arrangement.

Ravengard was trapped in Elturel during the recent unpleasantness there, and was, along with the refugees we met earlier, going towards Baldur’s Gate. Being attacked by drow on the surface didn’t make sense to the leadership. Most drow cities care little for surface politics, especially among humans. Our additional context about the Cult of the Absolute and drow involvement with that explained much. Excepting ourselves, every person the Cult infects with a mind flayer tadpole can be controlled by whatever the Absolute is. One of the four leaders and commander of the military of a large city in the Sword Coast is a prize.

The battle and fires caused enough confusion that no one was certain that Grand Duke Ravengard was killed or captured; the context we brought confirmed this capture and transport to Moonrise Towers with other prisoners. We did manage to rescue his advisor, Councillor Florrick. Who revealed our friend Wyll was Wyll Ravengard, the Duke’s son, and exiled for reasons relating to his pact with Madame Mizora and his inability to speak of it. I am very fond of Wyll, as you know, but I understand his father’s reasoning; I wouldn’t want Madame Mizora within a hundred leagues of anything I was trying to keep safe. If he cares about Wyll the way Wyll seems to care about him, he can’t help having her near one person he wants to keep safe, regardless of what he did. It also gives Madame Mizora a motivation as well beyond just the corruption of a single noble soul.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I still want to kill Mizora, regardless of who Wyll's father is -- her having a motive beyond cruelty doesn't make her a good person. I just like understanding what motivates people. It is useful for dealing with them.

I do wish that Wyll had mentioned this earlier. It’s not like he doesn’t constantly talk about his father, despite it being painful. Wyll is not a pragmatist the way I am, and I suspect his father is. Or else, even if he understands why, it doesn’t change the fact that it hurts. It... I have to reason it out rather than feel it, because my relationship with my parents was never one where I’d expect them to choose me over the House.

I wonder, is it worst to feel betrayed by a loved one you trusted, or to have never trusted someone you loved to put you first? Even though I love my brothers, and my sister, I would never expect them to side with me against Mother, or the House, or anything important. I certainly couldn’t do so myself, so it would hardly be fair.

But while Wyll might think his noble birth shouldn’t make a difference, it does. Oh, not to my personal feelings, or that of the others, but to strategy. Especially if he and his father have an attachment that is not simply blood: a loving father might take more risks on behalf of his son than an absentee father.

I also found something interesting down below the barn while helping retrieve everyone’s belongings. It seems the Zhentarim have set up below the inn. They didn’t expect to be right below a raid, so were quickly leaving, but I did manage to do them a favor by retrieving a box for them. What was in the box? I didn’t ask and I’m good, but not good enough to pick the lock, take a peak, and then seal things up such that professionals wouldn’t notice. I gambled that ingratiating myself with the Zhents was more useful than figuring out what they were smuggling at the moment. Given the gnolls that killed the original group with the box had one of the Absolue’s tadpoles in the leader’s brain, I suspect that while the Zhents clearly know about the cult — as one of their agents sold a very large amount of smoke powder to the group trying to kill the druids — they aren’t so vital that they are told things like ‘we’re going to raid the inn you use as a local base’. Or else the gnolls got the tadpole by eating its prior host. Possibly both.

While I was trading with the Zhentarim, I also managed to ransom an artist. Oh, despite what Astarion thinks of me, if wasn’t altruistic — we had a bit of a disagreement about using the party funds for this. But the artist’s patron was a noblewoman in Baldur’s Gate, and that seemed useful. They were also apparently engaged, and I continue to not understand human social customs. While I’m sure some splinter communities of drow have marriage customs, the closest we had growing up were consorts, which is more a woman declaring that a certain man ‘counts’ as part of her House and is attached to her personally as it is any affection.

Speaking of, no human should look that happen when they are captured by the Black Network, forced to work for them until the ransom is paid, get told that someone else besides the intended target ‘bought’ them, and then a drow walks up. I even still have the armor I liberated from Minthara on, so it wasn't even a case of 'maybe it's Drizzt Do'Urden here to rescue me'. Either the Zhents were particularly badly behaved, or this artist has inhaled too many paint fumes. Yes, I know the other day, I complained about a deep gnome assuming I freed him only to re-enslave him or do something equally horrible, but that was more ‘my people have this deserved reputation and it irritates me’. This man just needs to be supervised when allowed out of his studio.

Back at camp, Shadowheart and Madame Lae’zel finally had it out over the artifact in Shadowheart’s possession that Shadowheart’s church wants for some damned reason which I can’t ask about, because they removed Shadowheart’s memories in case of capture. Since it was stolen from the githyanki, Madame Lae’zel has a point, but I’m more interested in the fact that it blocks the Absolute and currently that’s at least part of what is keeping us all free and lacking tentacles. Madame Lae’zel suggested a duel in the morning, but then Shadowheart woke up in the middle of the night to try to preempt that — which, I wish we’d discussed whether or not githyanki dueling allowed for the rest of us standing by with a scroll of revivify for the loser before going to bed — and then I had to basically tell them that no one is murdering anyone else until we cut down on the number of people who want to kill us. It is refreshing that for once I’m not the one having the knife held to his throat, but I am this close to just attaching bells to all of them.

Honestly, River, at least Nurgle and Leona’s theological debates usually just ended with passive aggressive remarks and them needing to be at opposite ends of camp. I miss that. Both women have made it clear that while things are not settled, I need to keep my own nose out for the moment. Which I will as long as neither of them tries to kill one another. I am continually glad that I need less rest than humans (or half-humans, or githyanki, apparently) as someone needs to be keeping an eye on things, and Astarion apparently is the sort who wanted to see what happened more than keeping our numbers up. I need to get the man a hobby. But, between Master Halsin and myself, one of us can watch for inter-party strife. I do miss having your assistance here for mediation.

Lae’zel also mentioned that competition was the custom of her people growing up, and I do not need to feel this connected to a strange culture of, as near as I can tell, fanatical anti-mind flayer warriors. Because, well, drow (at least those raised in Lolthite settlements) are also competitive and taught not to trust each other: we serve our Houses, and Lolth. It’s a good way to grow up with a mix of ruthlessness and paranoia, and I imagine it means that we aren’t joining together to ask who this ultimately serves, because it generally is not us. Meeting more githyanki shall be interesting as a cultural comparison.

But, I did annoy a woman who might be a hag, and certainly is a spellcaster, so best to deal with that. If a particularly handsome frog is writing this next letter, please find someone who can cast Remove Curse.

Your currently non-amphibian friend,

Bel

--

From the Player:
So, Wizards of the Coast made sure to release Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus as a prologue to Baldur's Gate III, which I have. Duke Ravengard is having a terrible month. He is lured into Elturiel by one of the other Dukes, who was a Zarielite cultist. Hence she knew that past rulers of Elturiel struck a deal with Zariel, and she's calling it in on the anniversary. Ravengarde was organizing the defense of the city from Zariel's forces, Tiamat's own agents, and demons fighting the Blood War via an artifact that allowed him to tap into the god Torm's foresight... only for a demon lord to enter the field of battle close enough and use a mental attack on Ravengard to hijack the signal (and requiring the PCs to help a cleric exorcise Ravengard). Torm did suggest a way forward -- that Zariel's sword from when she was an un-fallen angel remained in Avernus, and that would be useful to free the city.

Of note, Descent Into Avernus offers possible endings that include redeeming or killing Zariel. Clearly the unknown DiA PCs didn't do that or Karlach would be having an easier time; the question remains if they left the tools required in play for others. (While Mizora works for Zariel, she seems to hold Wyll's contract in her own right, rather than as Zariel's lawyer, so Wyll might not be having an easier time if Zariel was dead or redeemed. On the other hand, Mizora would probably be trying to secure a new position, and Wyll could be useful, especially as pre-game, he is down with accepting orders from her to kill demons and devils.)

(It is really tempting to headcanon Ilphyl's party and have them be the unknown DiA PCs. On the other hand, the game I played Ilphyl in was centered in Waterdeep and Neverwinter, and 'the Cult of the Absolute couldn't infiltrate Waterdeep because Waterdeep was facing a secret rakshasa plot to infiltrate Waterdavian nobility at the same time, and that meant that it was harder to turn important people into True Souls' is a funny summary of how Faerun works.)

One of the fascinating things about playing Bel is that he was originally created as ‘Ilphyl’s next-oldest brother’. So I had set some of the family dynamics in play, but writing both of them really shows off the contrast. I get the impression that the birth order is a lot tighter for siblings 1, 2 and 3 (Xundus, Kyor, and Bel) then a long gap (40-50 years) between Bel and Ilphyl, and another 40-50 year gap between Ilphyl and Yoleanea. I’m tempted to suggest that was family dynamics — once it was clear that Bel’s mother was not going to have an heir quickly, but was obviously fertile, her sisters basically agreed that it would be best if their elder sister picked one of her nieces as heir by making sure she didn’t have a daughter, which meant makign sure she didn't give birth to a child. Like, I assume drow somewhat space out their kids because they can and certain parts of infant care can’t be delegated as well, but the gap seems large for a woman trying to conceive a heir.

So Bel has a lot better sense of his older brothers, and I get the impression he and Kyor are close enough in age that their actual childhoods overlapped, they treated each other (and were treated) as closer to peers, and Bel regrets that ‘brother has magical talents I don’t’ meant they weren’t as close as they age. Ilphyl was young enough that Bel felt responsible for them, and could be given responsibility of them rather than their father or an uncle handling their education.

(I don't have a good sense of who Xundus is yet, beyond 'the one most content with his role in drow society' and 'spared some of the shit Bel and Ilphyl suffered, because his mother was more certain her second or third child would be female'. While sons are not prized, a firstborn is still proof that you have become a mother.)

But, as a younger child himself, Bel doesn’t really feel close to his parents. Bel’s mother was very much a distant figure that made sure her sons both loved and feared her, and her consort was largely uninterested in fatherhood. (Technically Bel is not his mother’s consort’s son, but mostly considers that relevant for siring children, not family relationships. Matrilineal societies largely find the concept of ‘bastardry’ proof that tracking bloodlines by the father is stupid, and while there might be political implications if Bel were female, he’s not. Bel’s mother mostly wanted to be sure that the problem wasn’t on her consort’s side.)

This is also why I set up Ilphyl and Bel’s hometown as a small and somewhat heterodox Lolthite settlement; it meant that if it doesn’t work like it does in FR canon, I could just rationalize that as cultural differences.

Bel is also comfortable with politics in ways Wyll is decidedly not. Bel recognizes that Wyll can’t actually opt out of politics as long as his father is involved in politics and cares about Wyll, and that having connections with people less ethical than oneself can be useful. It also means that Bel isn't willing to discount that Wyll's father might care about him, and just have conflicting loyalties. He can't do anything to protect Wyll from Mizora, and since Wyll can't give the terms of the pact, Ravengard doesn't know if Mizora can use him against Wyll or vice versa, the best thing is to get Wyll out of Baldur's Gate and try to convince Mizora that she can't use Wyll to get to him.

(I suspect if Bel was in Duke Ravengard's position -- loved one made infernal pact, can't say what is in it -- Bel would try to pretend 'no, I don't actually care about you and never did' to avoid the relationship being used against them. It would also be a knife in Bel's heart if it was someone like Wyll, because Bel knows Wyll doesn't think like that, and even the pretense would upset him.)

Bel's comfort with ambiguity is also why Bel decided that whatever was in the Zhentarim's box was probably less useful than becoming ‘a friend of the family’ with the Zhents and getting information from them (and observations of their camp). Bel considers whatever the Zhents do on anything not involving him as ‘not my problem’.

(It helps that Bel is far more willing to work with people motivated by coin, because while those people might be willing to kill or steal from you, they don’t have a moral objection to being paid not to be evil barring ‘breaking contracts just because you try to buy them out is bad for business’. Fanatics or people who want more abstract forms of power are more dangerous than people who just want to be rich and don’t care how many bodies they need to step over to do it.)

Bel also rationalizes dropping an absurd amount of money to ransom an artist as ‘well, this guy has connections in Baldur’s Gate and now owes us a favor’. The dialog after rescuing the artist also allows you to act like you did buy a slave, but Bel doesn’t actually find that funny so wouldn’t even joke about it. Bel does have a distaste for slavery, but his upbringing means he never feels comfortable vocalizing it or even acting on it for no pragmatic reason, or to protect someone he’s loyal to. Like, he’s willing to assure Astarion, or Wyll, or Karlach that they aren’t going back to the people holding their leashes if Bel can help it, because Bel can frame that as personal loyalty rather than some broader ethical statement. Barring anything involving children, including adolescents, of course — that gets Bel to defensibly admit that he does have morals beyond just ‘protect the people I’m close to’, even if it is just 'I don't like seeing kids hurt'.

Bel is surprised how much he relates to Lae’zel and her desire to be seen as worthy. It’s also why he is trying not to antagonize her, but he does wonder if she’d be better off without her people, since that was how he came to terms with his own worthiness or lack thereof. Bel still doesn’t think highly of himself, but he also recognizes that him own opinion should matter more than people for whom he’ll never be worthy.