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lettersfrombelGreengrass, 1492 DR
The Last Light Inn
Dear River,
My life has gotten far too full of gods, devils and heroes recently, River. Let’s start with the heroes first. The Shadow-cursed lands live up to their name. We are still in the outskirts of the curse, but if we step outside the light — a torch, or magic — we can feel the curse rotting our insides. We came across a couple of dead animals that don’t seem to have rotted. We also saw what happens to people if they don’t get into the light; they rise as undead, or shadows. I don’t think I’d venture here without a cleric or similar.
We encountered a patrol of Harpers here. I mentioned them in a prior letter; some do-gooder organization that wanders the Sword Coast. Surprisingly, no comments about my species. We did have to assist when one of their members was dragged off into the dark. They directed us to an inn that had been warded against the curse that they were using as a base. We also learned that when their leader decided to detain yours truly because she thought I was a True Soul and… well, I don’t know if she was going to interrogate me or just kill me. The group had enough captured parasites they could use them as a test for True Souls. We might have been killed, except that the tieflings had stopped here as well. Mol, the charming little future thieves’ guild leader, spoke up on my behalf. It seemed I had made an impression on her. Enough that the Harpers were convinced I was acting against the Absolute. I had to explain that our group was warded, and that I didn’t know entirely how it worked, but I could tell her what I knew. Thankfully, bringing the artifact out did actually affect the parasite they were using as a test.
Karlach recognized the lead Harper’s name. Jaheira was a half-elf who had saved Baldur’s Gate from bhaalspawn a century ago. Apparently the god Bhaal, a god of murder, decided he was going to sow his divine seed throughout the coast, and use the various children as part of his plots. Which may just be the equivalent of telling them to go kill things for Daddy; Bhaal is not a sophisticated god. Seeing Karlach so excited was, frankly, adorable. She and Wyll are coming to my meeting with Jaheira. We also need to check if Master Dammon is still with the others, to help Karlach.
Before that, we met another legend, one even I had heard of. Coming up into the lands, we had someone waiting for us. I assume you have heard of the wizard Elminster. Gale not only knew of him, but was familiar enough with him to be pissed off by his attempts to avoid the subject of his visit. At first I just invited him to our camp for a midday meal, just to get him and Gale to stop bickering, but I quickly figured out that his cranky old man demeanor was at least partially to avoid the actual subject.
Mystra has been watching us. She noticed that Gale’s orb is getting harder to stabilize by consuming bits of Weave, and brought Elminister in to cast the spell to stabilize it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a gift for free. She wants us to find out whatever the Absolute is, and use the orb to blow it up. Gale was lucky he was reminding me that Elminster was here as a messenger, because I was inclined to tell him to fuck right off. I’m pretty sure I said the same about Mystra. Gale pointed out that the gods can’t interfere directly with this sort of thing, and that divine intervention often causes more problems than it solved. And certainly, I grew up in a culture where we could have done with a little less divine intervention. But I object to using this as a criterion for forgiving Gale, rather than asking him to do so for altruistic reasons or because he still follows her. I’ve made it clear that Gale blowing himself up is a last resort, and that we are going to find another way. He fucked up in getting himself in this situation, but if we can figure out how to keep him alive, we are doing so.
So, Mystra, Vlaakith (would-be gods count), and Shadowheart’s patron are all on my shit list with Lolth. (Even Shadowheart is upset at Mystra, which says something about how this feels like a god has overstepped when another god’s cleric considers it an unreasonable request.) See my earlier statements about trying to deceive or compel people who are already loyal. Mystra didn’t need to dangle forgiveness in front of Gale to get him to sacrifice himself, only tell him that he could.
In other news, who should come visit us but Mizora, or at least her image. She has another mission for Wyll — a rescue, rather than his normal fiend-hunting. She tried to pretend this was business as usual, but she was clearly nervous about something. She threatened Wyll by noting his pact allows her to turn him into a lemure — one of the most lowly of devils — and cast him into Avernus. (Wyll said that was what he expected to happen to him at his death and, River, I don’t intend for that to actually happen. Humans live short enough lives as it is. And that comes from someone who was taught that the proper afterlife for drow was to continue to serve Lolth in the Demonweb Pits, which is not as pleasant as it sounds.)
I pressed. I told her that because this was clearly beyond Wyll’s normal duties, we wanted to re-negotiate his contract to end once this rescue was completed. She agreed once we completed the rescue. It… well, it might be not that easy. Both Wyll and Karlach reminded me that Mizora (and devils in general) are tricky, and Mizora refused to tell us who she wanted retrieved, beyond ‘Zariel’s asset’. Given Karlach herself counted as that, it’s not optimistic. On the other hand, they are being held by the Absolute, which isn’t exactly desirable either. I’d rather my mind stay free even if my body was pressed into Zariel’s servitude than to be enthralled to a cult. Of course, I’d rather neither, so do not see this as acting as any infernal bargain. But… if negotiating with devils is a skill I can learn, I’d like to learn it.
Our dream friend has been more vocal since the creche. He also reports that the Absolute is stepping up its attacks on us, trying to get us to transform into mind flayers. Which might be a good sign that we are making an impact, but I can’t help but think of that elf we met in Auntie Ethel’s trophy room, seeing my future as a mind flayer, with my friends dead around me. I suspect if one of us is transformed, that is the likely goal — kill as many of the others as possible before being brought down.
Your friend,
Bel
From the Player:
The Last Light Inn
Dear River,
My life has gotten far too full of gods, devils and heroes recently, River. Let’s start with the heroes first. The Shadow-cursed lands live up to their name. We are still in the outskirts of the curse, but if we step outside the light — a torch, or magic — we can feel the curse rotting our insides. We came across a couple of dead animals that don’t seem to have rotted. We also saw what happens to people if they don’t get into the light; they rise as undead, or shadows. I don’t think I’d venture here without a cleric or similar.
We encountered a patrol of Harpers here. I mentioned them in a prior letter; some do-gooder organization that wanders the Sword Coast. Surprisingly, no comments about my species. We did have to assist when one of their members was dragged off into the dark. They directed us to an inn that had been warded against the curse that they were using as a base. We also learned that when their leader decided to detain yours truly because she thought I was a True Soul and… well, I don’t know if she was going to interrogate me or just kill me. The group had enough captured parasites they could use them as a test for True Souls. We might have been killed, except that the tieflings had stopped here as well. Mol, the charming little future thieves’ guild leader, spoke up on my behalf. It seemed I had made an impression on her. Enough that the Harpers were convinced I was acting against the Absolute. I had to explain that our group was warded, and that I didn’t know entirely how it worked, but I could tell her what I knew. Thankfully, bringing the artifact out did actually affect the parasite they were using as a test.
Karlach recognized the lead Harper’s name. Jaheira was a half-elf who had saved Baldur’s Gate from bhaalspawn a century ago. Apparently the god Bhaal, a god of murder, decided he was going to sow his divine seed throughout the coast, and use the various children as part of his plots. Which may just be the equivalent of telling them to go kill things for Daddy; Bhaal is not a sophisticated god. Seeing Karlach so excited was, frankly, adorable. She and Wyll are coming to my meeting with Jaheira. We also need to check if Master Dammon is still with the others, to help Karlach.
Before that, we met another legend, one even I had heard of. Coming up into the lands, we had someone waiting for us. I assume you have heard of the wizard Elminster. Gale not only knew of him, but was familiar enough with him to be pissed off by his attempts to avoid the subject of his visit. At first I just invited him to our camp for a midday meal, just to get him and Gale to stop bickering, but I quickly figured out that his cranky old man demeanor was at least partially to avoid the actual subject.
Mystra has been watching us. She noticed that Gale’s orb is getting harder to stabilize by consuming bits of Weave, and brought Elminister in to cast the spell to stabilize it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a gift for free. She wants us to find out whatever the Absolute is, and use the orb to blow it up. Gale was lucky he was reminding me that Elminster was here as a messenger, because I was inclined to tell him to fuck right off. I’m pretty sure I said the same about Mystra. Gale pointed out that the gods can’t interfere directly with this sort of thing, and that divine intervention often causes more problems than it solved. And certainly, I grew up in a culture where we could have done with a little less divine intervention. But I object to using this as a criterion for forgiving Gale, rather than asking him to do so for altruistic reasons or because he still follows her. I’ve made it clear that Gale blowing himself up is a last resort, and that we are going to find another way. He fucked up in getting himself in this situation, but if we can figure out how to keep him alive, we are doing so.
So, Mystra, Vlaakith (would-be gods count), and Shadowheart’s patron are all on my shit list with Lolth. (Even Shadowheart is upset at Mystra, which says something about how this feels like a god has overstepped when another god’s cleric considers it an unreasonable request.) See my earlier statements about trying to deceive or compel people who are already loyal. Mystra didn’t need to dangle forgiveness in front of Gale to get him to sacrifice himself, only tell him that he could.
In other news, who should come visit us but Mizora, or at least her image. She has another mission for Wyll — a rescue, rather than his normal fiend-hunting. She tried to pretend this was business as usual, but she was clearly nervous about something. She threatened Wyll by noting his pact allows her to turn him into a lemure — one of the most lowly of devils — and cast him into Avernus. (Wyll said that was what he expected to happen to him at his death and, River, I don’t intend for that to actually happen. Humans live short enough lives as it is. And that comes from someone who was taught that the proper afterlife for drow was to continue to serve Lolth in the Demonweb Pits, which is not as pleasant as it sounds.)
I pressed. I told her that because this was clearly beyond Wyll’s normal duties, we wanted to re-negotiate his contract to end once this rescue was completed. She agreed once we completed the rescue. It… well, it might be not that easy. Both Wyll and Karlach reminded me that Mizora (and devils in general) are tricky, and Mizora refused to tell us who she wanted retrieved, beyond ‘Zariel’s asset’. Given Karlach herself counted as that, it’s not optimistic. On the other hand, they are being held by the Absolute, which isn’t exactly desirable either. I’d rather my mind stay free even if my body was pressed into Zariel’s servitude than to be enthralled to a cult. Of course, I’d rather neither, so do not see this as acting as any infernal bargain. But… if negotiating with devils is a skill I can learn, I’d like to learn it.
Our dream friend has been more vocal since the creche. He also reports that the Absolute is stepping up its attacks on us, trying to get us to transform into mind flayers. Which might be a good sign that we are making an impact, but I can’t help but think of that elf we met in Auntie Ethel’s trophy room, seeing my future as a mind flayer, with my friends dead around me. I suspect if one of us is transformed, that is the likely goal — kill as many of the others as possible before being brought down.
Your friend,
Bel
From the Player:
Realized I was missing some of the tieflings and replayed this, only to realize it was due to a decision I made in Act 1, so I just wasted some time.
Bel is more mad that Mystra is couching this as Gale’s redemption rather than just asking Gale to deal with it, and giving him the tools (a stabilized Netherese Orb). Because Bel totally believes Gale would martyr himself without need for ‘this is your repentance for having fucked up’. Which… Bel totally believes Gale fucked up in trying to surprise a god of magic by doing some dangerous magic shit to ‘help’ her (which was probably more ‘impress her’). Mystra fucked up by leaving Gale hanging and then being all ‘you need to do this as an apology’ rather than ‘this is important enough that I trust you to do this’. Bel is at least aware enough to not be too snippy at Elminster, even if he does wish they could just throw the epic-level wizard at the problem. (Why do we even have them if we can’t?)
Of note, I’ve seen commentary that Gale mentioned Ao, the Overgod, which is not common knowledge, but given Gale’s background, it makes sense why he knows about him. Bel probably needed to clarify that. And, yes, as someone who grew up in a Lolthite community, Bel is generally in the ‘gods cause more problems than they solve’, to the point where Lolth’s cultural manipulations of the drow apparently mean she needs to keep meddling to keep drow cities politically sustainable, but it would be really nice if Mystra could just fix this other than ‘guilt Gale into blowing it all up’.
(Bel did kind of want to grab a random book from the supply chest and have Elminster sign it, just to give it to his wizard brother. Like ‘I couldn’t bring him home to meet you, but look who I met!’.)
Bel is impressed that the Harpers figured out how to detect True Souls, or at least people implanted with parasites. The duergar could, of course, but that was because of inborn psychic affinity, particularly for mind flayer stuff. Not much use to the party because their own tadpoles clue them in, but clever.
Shadowheart and Astarion also have Bel worried. Bel really does not like or trust Shar, and seeing what Shar’s followers did is a marked contrast to Shadowheart’s more sympathetic take on the god. And, frankly, after talking Lae’zel out of fanatical devotion, having to push back on Shadowheart is exhausting. And Bel just wants to stand next to Astarion and point to Wyll as ‘this is why we don’t make deals with devils’. Right after finding out that Wyll’s contract apparently isn’t just of the ‘Mizora gets to call him to take down demons and devils indefinitely’, but ‘even Wyll assumed it would end with him being cast into the Hells as a lemure'. Hence pushing to re-negotiate as soon as Bel noticed Mizora seemed desperate. Bel knows that it won’t end there, but it might at least give them breathing room.
