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lettersfrombel1 Mirtul, 1492 DR
The Last Light Inn
Dear River,
I may be courting someone and I have no fucking clue what I am doing.
Last night, Wyll offered me a dance, and I actually managed more than a brief kiss goodnight. I invited him to go find a secluded spot and take things a bit (or a lot) further, but he insisted he was doing this the old fashioned way. Well, the human old fashioned way, the thing that happens in romantic tales. Which I understand to mean something like courtship. I clearly am going to have to sit down with every bard I meet and figure this out. For a species that lives such short lives and has large families, one would think they would be more in a hurry to get started.
It is novel, however, because while I don’t doubt I have more sexual experience than Wyll, if only by sheer lifespan, he’s the one leading the dance when it comes to romantic experience. Among my own people, most of my liaisons were finding those of like mind who weren’t going to make things too much of a power struggle, or cases when I had motives other than carnal ones. And on the surface, I’ve not pursued anything even medium term. Our friendship is the closest I’ve come, and I was never quite sure if I wanted to bed you or not. My fling with Astarion is probably the longest I’ve been with a lover who wasn’t another drow. Which… yes, I did finally break it off with him. He is good looking and very good in bed, but I keep having stabs of guilt about ‘does he actually want to be fucking me, or does he think he has to or I’ll stop protecting him’, and I still have no idea on how to talk to him about that. I should have done it earlier, but I needed that push over the edge.
Astarion continues to concern me. As long as his master exists, I don’t think he is going to feel safe, and will grasp for anything that will work as a weapon. Including figuring how the Cult of the Absolute controls people via the mind flayer parasites, so he has an army between himself and Cazador, and retains the parasite’s protection against domination. Or making deals with our old friend Raphael, who had showed up in the Last Light to approach Mol, the tiefling girl I was so impressed by. Nothing has been signed yet, so I still have time to find my own resources, but Raphael definitely knows more about Astarion’s situation than Astarion said, which is concerning.
In better news, the smith, Dammon, also made it to the inn, and managed to stabilize Karlach’s engine. He thinks he might be able to get it to run cool enough that other people can actually touch her; as it is, he had to make the parts he needed and have her install them, which takes a lot of nerve on Karlach’s part. We found the supplies here and there, and we’re going to talk to him this morning to see if he has news.
Jaheira and the Harpers have something of a plan, largely based around the fact that we can get to Moonrise Towers because most of the cult assumes we are fellow True Souls. Apparently, not enough information about us has been found to visually identify us. Our task is to figure out why the leader in Moonrise, Ketheric Thorm — who is supposed to be a Sharran priest who was involved with cursing this land, but is also supposed to be dead — apparently is not only alive (or undead?) but invulnerable to normal weapons. And rescue a number of people: most of the tieflings, a number of deep gnomes from Baldur’s Gate including the ones who know how to make runepowder, and Wyll’s father. Jaheira apparently thinks I am being selfless for doing this rather than seeking a cure, but I’m not going to rest easy until I know this is no longer a threat. As long as the Cult of the Absolute exists, I am on their target list for my continued ability to cause problems.
Even without Wyll’s father, the cult is already moving on Baldur’s Gate. Should this letter reach you before this all is resolved one way or another, I advise steering clear of there. I don’t know how the other cities of the Sword Coast are doing. I can only hope the cult’s resources are limited enough that they can focus on one city at a time. Some of the Flaming Fists are escorting Councillor Florrick back to the city to get reinforcements, but she made it clear that between the shadow curse and the cult, we should not expect them in time to do any good.
Speaking of the curse, we do have a lead for Master Halsin. A man stumbled out of the Shadowfell, with his mind partially intact. He mentioned the name Thaniel, a fae Halsin knew in the area, so if we can somehow heal him, he might be able to give us more useful information. I hope it works, because carrying torches everywhere is a pain in the ass. After checking in with Master Dammon, Jaheira told us to consult the priestess of Selune who is creating the barrier. She can give a blessing that will protect us from some of the curse. (It does remind me that traveling with clerics of darker gods can be a pain, as I expect complaints from Shadowheart about the blessing. She’s getting it anyway if she wants to come along.)
I’ll leave this letter with the people at the inn, though I don’t think anyone is leaving here until we can do something. I might have had better luck asking one of the Fists to carry my mail for some extra supplies.
Your (apparently no longer single) friend,
Bel
From the Player:
The Last Light Inn
Dear River,
I may be courting someone and I have no fucking clue what I am doing.
Last night, Wyll offered me a dance, and I actually managed more than a brief kiss goodnight. I invited him to go find a secluded spot and take things a bit (or a lot) further, but he insisted he was doing this the old fashioned way. Well, the human old fashioned way, the thing that happens in romantic tales. Which I understand to mean something like courtship. I clearly am going to have to sit down with every bard I meet and figure this out. For a species that lives such short lives and has large families, one would think they would be more in a hurry to get started.
It is novel, however, because while I don’t doubt I have more sexual experience than Wyll, if only by sheer lifespan, he’s the one leading the dance when it comes to romantic experience. Among my own people, most of my liaisons were finding those of like mind who weren’t going to make things too much of a power struggle, or cases when I had motives other than carnal ones. And on the surface, I’ve not pursued anything even medium term. Our friendship is the closest I’ve come, and I was never quite sure if I wanted to bed you or not. My fling with Astarion is probably the longest I’ve been with a lover who wasn’t another drow. Which… yes, I did finally break it off with him. He is good looking and very good in bed, but I keep having stabs of guilt about ‘does he actually want to be fucking me, or does he think he has to or I’ll stop protecting him’, and I still have no idea on how to talk to him about that. I should have done it earlier, but I needed that push over the edge.
Astarion continues to concern me. As long as his master exists, I don’t think he is going to feel safe, and will grasp for anything that will work as a weapon. Including figuring how the Cult of the Absolute controls people via the mind flayer parasites, so he has an army between himself and Cazador, and retains the parasite’s protection against domination. Or making deals with our old friend Raphael, who had showed up in the Last Light to approach Mol, the tiefling girl I was so impressed by. Nothing has been signed yet, so I still have time to find my own resources, but Raphael definitely knows more about Astarion’s situation than Astarion said, which is concerning.
In better news, the smith, Dammon, also made it to the inn, and managed to stabilize Karlach’s engine. He thinks he might be able to get it to run cool enough that other people can actually touch her; as it is, he had to make the parts he needed and have her install them, which takes a lot of nerve on Karlach’s part. We found the supplies here and there, and we’re going to talk to him this morning to see if he has news.
Jaheira and the Harpers have something of a plan, largely based around the fact that we can get to Moonrise Towers because most of the cult assumes we are fellow True Souls. Apparently, not enough information about us has been found to visually identify us. Our task is to figure out why the leader in Moonrise, Ketheric Thorm — who is supposed to be a Sharran priest who was involved with cursing this land, but is also supposed to be dead — apparently is not only alive (or undead?) but invulnerable to normal weapons. And rescue a number of people: most of the tieflings, a number of deep gnomes from Baldur’s Gate including the ones who know how to make runepowder, and Wyll’s father. Jaheira apparently thinks I am being selfless for doing this rather than seeking a cure, but I’m not going to rest easy until I know this is no longer a threat. As long as the Cult of the Absolute exists, I am on their target list for my continued ability to cause problems.
Even without Wyll’s father, the cult is already moving on Baldur’s Gate. Should this letter reach you before this all is resolved one way or another, I advise steering clear of there. I don’t know how the other cities of the Sword Coast are doing. I can only hope the cult’s resources are limited enough that they can focus on one city at a time. Some of the Flaming Fists are escorting Councillor Florrick back to the city to get reinforcements, but she made it clear that between the shadow curse and the cult, we should not expect them in time to do any good.
Speaking of the curse, we do have a lead for Master Halsin. A man stumbled out of the Shadowfell, with his mind partially intact. He mentioned the name Thaniel, a fae Halsin knew in the area, so if we can somehow heal him, he might be able to give us more useful information. I hope it works, because carrying torches everywhere is a pain in the ass. After checking in with Master Dammon, Jaheira told us to consult the priestess of Selune who is creating the barrier. She can give a blessing that will protect us from some of the curse. (It does remind me that traveling with clerics of darker gods can be a pain, as I expect complaints from Shadowheart about the blessing. She’s getting it anyway if she wants to come along.)
I’ll leave this letter with the people at the inn, though I don’t think anyone is leaving here until we can do something. I might have had better luck asking one of the Fists to carry my mail for some extra supplies.
Your (apparently no longer single) friend,
Bel
From the Player:
I continue to be amused that Bel picked the character least like him in terms of ‘the balance of physical and emotional intimacy’. It does mean I have a character who has tried to be smooth and seductive who now is (offscreen) calling in every favor he has with Alfira to hear ‘popular romantic ballads of Baldur’s Gate’ to figure out what Wyll means. Or bothering the other party members, which Astarion might find hilarious and Lae’zel baffling. I honestly don’t think Bel ever even considered if he wanted romance, but… well, he kind of does? Realizing that the guy you like spent time planning this for you is in the ‘oh, this is unexpected but I think I like it’.
While I do see Bel as poly-agnostic (is that a word?) — he is fine with either a monogamous or polyamorous relationship as long as he knows the expectations and the monogamous relationship is meeting his needs — he did actually need to cool with with Astarion for the reasons he mentioned, so Astarion bringing up ‘hey, are you with Wyll’ was an opening to say ‘yeah, I kind of am now’. (Bel also has been flirting hard with Halsin, so there probably will need to be the ‘defining the relationship’ conversation with Wyll in the future. Thankfully, Halsin is a grown-ass adult and won’t sleep with anyone whose partner isn’t comfortable with it, because monogamy as distinct from possessiveness wouldn’t occur to Bel necessarily.)
Bel does figure that Astarion’s talk about controlling the cult is down to ‘dude wants a weapon to go kill Cazador’, because it is a very familiar outlook to the world: someone has to be in charge, so if it is me, I’m not the one getting victimized. Hence Bel’s realization that they are going to need to deal with Cazador, though he is hoping it can be ‘after the Cult and saving Baldur’s Gate’. Bel has not learned from experience that he doesn’t get to choose the order of his problems’ resolutions.
Bel’s relationship troubles are going to deal with the fact that Lolthite drow society is hierarchical. While same-sex relationships lack an inherent hierarchy in drow society, there is still the ‘class, birth order, and general power’ to think about, as well as political influence. And even if both people want to opt out, there is the awareness of expectations. Bel doesn’t know how to navigate this with Astarion, so he decides to just leave the relationship without an actual conversation about why. And this is going to bite Bel in the ass when it becomes harder to ignore that Wyll isn’t just ‘my boyfriend, the Blade of the Frontiers’ but ‘the only child and heir to the Grand Duke of Baldur’s Gate’, while Bel is a non-human foreigner with zero high-society social connections on the surface outside of Wyll.
Bel’s scene with Jaheira involved realizing she slipped something in the wine, identifying it, calling it out, drinking it anyway, and then lying about how much the parasite is affecting him. (That last one may be denial on his part. He’s fine. It’s only a little brain worm.) See, you can trust him? He’s willing to drink a truth potion. He just objects to the fact people keep trying to kill him. Bel also got to help Mol try to hustle Raphael at lanceboard, even if Raphael knew exactly what both of them were doing. It was the principle of the matter.
