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lettersfrombel3 Mirtul, 1492 DR
Moonrise Towers
Dear River,
I’ll jot down another note later. If I survive. We’re at Moonrise, and it is perilous to make sure no one figures out that we are free of the Absolute’s control. I’m used to faking religious fervor, but the presence of so many people who can get into my mind ups the ante. The rank and file won’t look too closely as long as no one is reckless, but we need to interact with the leadership to find out what the Absolute is.
We managed to approach one of the leaders of the cult, this Ketheric Thorm we’ve been hearing so much about. Check the ‘male elf’ off from the visions we got from the leadership back in the goblin camp. Far less dramatic, and all the more sinister for it, he’s definitely the sort of person I can imagine ordering the death of a refugee camp and druid grove the same way a merchant might order a shipment of apples. Or a general requisitioning a wagon and camp supplies, appropriately enough.
We were also reunited with our old friend Minthara (the drow I took issue with at the goblin camp), who was being raked over the coals for her failure at the grove, and still failing to acknowledge that any of it was her own fault, or that we were responsible. She was too busy trying to save her own ass to out us, thank all the gods for that. I was able to distract Thorm’s underling, Disciple Z’rell, away from Minthara, but I suspect that is only a stay of execution. It also put the attention back on the goblins. Minthara may have had a point that the goblins were outclassed, but this is definitely the sort of organization in which no one wants to be at fault. Perhaps because they will get killed. Thorm ordered the goblins killed anyway, and one of the goblins tried her luck at skewering Thorm.
Which… well, it was worth a shot if she was going to die anyway, but we got to see both Thorm’s immortality, and that he is comfortable with it enough that he didn’t even flinch at the blow, or let his appearance of someone’s elderly grandfather drop. (I mean, not mine, but someone’s.) After that display, and the death of the offending goblin, Z’rell ordered me to handle the remainder as a True Soul. I knew the smart thing was to either slit their throats or order the guards to do it, but I just ordered the guards to turn them out as soon as Z'rell was gone. I have no idea if they’ll survive the curse, but they might know enough to stay hidden, in places the curse is weak enough that light alone can protect you.
Of course, then I had to convince Z’rell that I wasn’t a traitor. And she was enough of a sadist, that she barged into my mind to get the actual memory of the goblins’ deaths rather than accept whatever bullshit I spun. River, I do not like the Cult’s use of their powers; especially on me. I am learning that my upbringing could have been worse, as none of my family had the ability to get inside my head. (Well, perhaps one of the wizards, but not so cavalierly.) She bought my explanation that sending the remaining goblins out to die in the cursed lands was pragmatic, as no one was going to have to scrub the floors or dispose of the bodies, but she still didn’t believe my loyalties, so riffled through my other thoughts anyway.
I tried to focus on the most distracting thing I could think of, which was my sexual fantasies, which I’m not particularly ashamed of, but can cause others to shy away from embarrassment.She still learned more than I’d prefer about me. I don’t know that ‘wanting to be touched’ is a strong desire of mine. It’s nice, but a driving goal? Well, it worked, so I shouldn’t object. It mostly worked, but I suspect if things weren’t busy around here, I’d have to deal with another would-be suitor, and one that is supposed to outrank me.
Signs of the Absolute’s lock on others’ brains are all over. The halfling in the kitchen had a trio of mentally enslaved gnolls working for her. River, I know gnolls are created by a demon lord from hyenas, and so are not generally intelligent beings one can come to accord with, but it’s unsettling to see them just meekly taking orders because they are too enthralled to be their murderous selves. I value my life, so I wasn’t going to break the command, but it was hard to pretend that I thought this was some wonderful miracle of the Absolute to let them be slaves to the cult rather than their demonic creator. One of them worked so hard to fight the spell that he keeled over in front of us, which is the first time I’ve ever felt sympathy for a gnoll and probably the last.
It makes me miss home. Because as much as we all were taught from birth that the natural order was Lolth on top, then Her priestesses, then other women, then men, then other elves and other species, everyone knew that the true order was based on ‘whatever you could get away with without being caught by someone who could do something about it’. It might have made us all paranoid and untrusting (and untrustworthy), but at least the people in power knew the rest of us would consider stabbing them in the back, and wouldn’t just meekly follow orders, while thanking them for the privilege of kissing their boots. (If we were doing that, it was because it was the best way to get to future backstabbings.)
Speaking of home, we found a few people who don’t see a problem with working with a brainwashed cult, and the cult is willing to leave alone. One was a drow who, naturally, assumed I was in charge of our merry band. (I mean, she wasn't wrong, but for reasons that have nothing to do with my species.) She tried to buy my blood for potion ingredients, which… I know I’m not a wizard or anything, but she should know better than to expect I wouldn’t be paranoid about giving strangers my blood, especially other drow. I know what people can do with blood, thank you!
She also tried to get me to order Astarion to bite her, because apparently she has some rather well-considered fantasies about vampires. (Aside, I need to remember this if I’m ever ashamed of talking about a fantasy in public. Telling a bunch of strangers that you want a vampire to nearly drain you dry for the thrill was a thing that happened.) Since Astarion refused — and frankly, was weirded out by the whole thing, which I sympathize with — I backed him up. I love the simple pleasure of telling a drow woman no. It will never get old.
Z’rell ordered us to help someone named Balthazar with retrieving a relic from the Thorm family mausoleum. Since we need to both figure out how Thorm is immortal, and get closer to the Absolute to figure out what it is, our interests happen to align for the moment. But first, I need to find where the prisoners are, which is presumably where Minthara was taken, and see if we can break them out without alerting everyone here. Wish me luck, even if by the time you get this letter, it will be over one way or another.
Your friend,
Bel
From the Player:
Moonrise Towers
Dear River,
I’ll jot down another note later. If I survive. We’re at Moonrise, and it is perilous to make sure no one figures out that we are free of the Absolute’s control. I’m used to faking religious fervor, but the presence of so many people who can get into my mind ups the ante. The rank and file won’t look too closely as long as no one is reckless, but we need to interact with the leadership to find out what the Absolute is.
We managed to approach one of the leaders of the cult, this Ketheric Thorm we’ve been hearing so much about. Check the ‘male elf’ off from the visions we got from the leadership back in the goblin camp. Far less dramatic, and all the more sinister for it, he’s definitely the sort of person I can imagine ordering the death of a refugee camp and druid grove the same way a merchant might order a shipment of apples. Or a general requisitioning a wagon and camp supplies, appropriately enough.
We were also reunited with our old friend Minthara (the drow I took issue with at the goblin camp), who was being raked over the coals for her failure at the grove, and still failing to acknowledge that any of it was her own fault, or that we were responsible. She was too busy trying to save her own ass to out us, thank all the gods for that. I was able to distract Thorm’s underling, Disciple Z’rell, away from Minthara, but I suspect that is only a stay of execution. It also put the attention back on the goblins. Minthara may have had a point that the goblins were outclassed, but this is definitely the sort of organization in which no one wants to be at fault. Perhaps because they will get killed. Thorm ordered the goblins killed anyway, and one of the goblins tried her luck at skewering Thorm.
Which… well, it was worth a shot if she was going to die anyway, but we got to see both Thorm’s immortality, and that he is comfortable with it enough that he didn’t even flinch at the blow, or let his appearance of someone’s elderly grandfather drop. (I mean, not mine, but someone’s.) After that display, and the death of the offending goblin, Z’rell ordered me to handle the remainder as a True Soul. I knew the smart thing was to either slit their throats or order the guards to do it, but I just ordered the guards to turn them out as soon as Z'rell was gone. I have no idea if they’ll survive the curse, but they might know enough to stay hidden, in places the curse is weak enough that light alone can protect you.
Of course, then I had to convince Z’rell that I wasn’t a traitor. And she was enough of a sadist, that she barged into my mind to get the actual memory of the goblins’ deaths rather than accept whatever bullshit I spun. River, I do not like the Cult’s use of their powers; especially on me. I am learning that my upbringing could have been worse, as none of my family had the ability to get inside my head. (Well, perhaps one of the wizards, but not so cavalierly.) She bought my explanation that sending the remaining goblins out to die in the cursed lands was pragmatic, as no one was going to have to scrub the floors or dispose of the bodies, but she still didn’t believe my loyalties, so riffled through my other thoughts anyway.
I tried to focus on the most distracting thing I could think of, which was my sexual fantasies, which I’m not particularly ashamed of, but can cause others to shy away from embarrassment.
Signs of the Absolute’s lock on others’ brains are all over. The halfling in the kitchen had a trio of mentally enslaved gnolls working for her. River, I know gnolls are created by a demon lord from hyenas, and so are not generally intelligent beings one can come to accord with, but it’s unsettling to see them just meekly taking orders because they are too enthralled to be their murderous selves. I value my life, so I wasn’t going to break the command, but it was hard to pretend that I thought this was some wonderful miracle of the Absolute to let them be slaves to the cult rather than their demonic creator. One of them worked so hard to fight the spell that he keeled over in front of us, which is the first time I’ve ever felt sympathy for a gnoll and probably the last.
It makes me miss home. Because as much as we all were taught from birth that the natural order was Lolth on top, then Her priestesses, then other women, then men, then other elves and other species, everyone knew that the true order was based on ‘whatever you could get away with without being caught by someone who could do something about it’. It might have made us all paranoid and untrusting (and untrustworthy), but at least the people in power knew the rest of us would consider stabbing them in the back, and wouldn’t just meekly follow orders, while thanking them for the privilege of kissing their boots. (If we were doing that, it was because it was the best way to get to future backstabbings.)
Speaking of home, we found a few people who don’t see a problem with working with a brainwashed cult, and the cult is willing to leave alone. One was a drow who, naturally, assumed I was in charge of our merry band. (I mean, she wasn't wrong, but for reasons that have nothing to do with my species.) She tried to buy my blood for potion ingredients, which… I know I’m not a wizard or anything, but she should know better than to expect I wouldn’t be paranoid about giving strangers my blood, especially other drow. I know what people can do with blood, thank you!
She also tried to get me to order Astarion to bite her, because apparently she has some rather well-considered fantasies about vampires. (Aside, I need to remember this if I’m ever ashamed of talking about a fantasy in public. Telling a bunch of strangers that you want a vampire to nearly drain you dry for the thrill was a thing that happened.) Since Astarion refused — and frankly, was weirded out by the whole thing, which I sympathize with — I backed him up. I love the simple pleasure of telling a drow woman no. It will never get old.
Z’rell ordered us to help someone named Balthazar with retrieving a relic from the Thorm family mausoleum. Since we need to both figure out how Thorm is immortal, and get closer to the Absolute to figure out what it is, our interests happen to align for the moment. But first, I need to find where the prisoners are, which is presumably where Minthara was taken, and see if we can break them out without alerting everyone here. Wish me luck, even if by the time you get this letter, it will be over one way or another.
Your friend,
Bel
From the Player:
Bel is still bitter about Minthara’s lack of recognition that she was bested, but he might concede that ‘pleading for her life’ was not the case to admit the foe was too much for her. I was also pleased that the Z’rell dialog after you spare the goblins allowed for the very excuse Bel was planning on giving: that given that the area was surrounded by the shadow curse, there was no reason to kill the goblins, just turn them out. Bel’s normal strategy for avoiding cruelty to others is to take refuge in pragmatism: I’m not kind, I’m efficient.
Honestly, the mind stuff is the biggest thing that scares Bel about the Cult of the Absolute, because a lot of time the only safe place he had growing up was inside his own mind. He’s aware that he doesn’t always use the link ethically, but he’s getting the impression that the cult leadership attracts people who are willing to fully use that power. The kitchen scene is a clear example, because it wasn’t the sort of sadistic cruelty Bel expected, and he thinks most people would be fine with gnolls not trying to kill people, but felt cruel to him in ways he can’t articulate. Again, the idea that even slaves back in the Underdark had the ability to complain about being slaves when no drow was in earshot, but these gnolls were expected to be happy and grateful that they were now serving the Absolute by being controlled by a cult member, and even made to pray when she was showing off her power.
I also liked that the game unintentionally had a reaction that worked for Bel regarding ‘deflect Z’rell’s probe into his motivations’, in addition for ‘why did you free the goblins’. Because while Bel is complaining about Araj oversharing, he would entirely use his sexual fantasies to try to get someone to drop a mental link (because you were the one prying, asshole) — he suggested mooning/flashing the scrying eye to one of the goblins back in Act 1 if it tried to follow them to the latrine — but Z’rell managed to get enough from that to actually get something useful about Bel’s desires. Which, yes, he does actually want things like trust and emotional intimacy and touch, and he is not comfortable with the idea that this could manipulate him. Hell, I wonder if Bel didn’t spot Astarion’s ulterior motive in his seduction until after they had sex not just because Bel isn’t used to being the one in power, but because Astarion did pick up on something Bel wanted enough to temporarily suspend the part of his brain that asks ‘why is he doing this’.
Bel really doesn’t like the idea that he could see how the Cult of the Absolute could recruit him, even without the parasites… though awareness is probably the best counter.
(Aside: Bel did hug Karlach as the test that her engine was no longer causing her to be too hot to touch. It might well be the first time he hugged someone for non-sexual reasons in years. It might finally occur to Bel that while Wyll isn’t ready to have sex, Bel can get some of his need for physical intimacy via physical affection from friends and his boyfriend. That and I can see Karlach being the sort of person who, now that she can, deciding that everyone in camp should be offered hugs or fist bumps or whatever else. Woman’s spent 10 years not touching people, she’s going to make up for it by touching everyone who wants to be touched.)
Bel totally does not question why Araj assumes Bel can order Astarion around. Bel is a drow, Astarion is not and is a type of undead that usually is not independent of a ‘master’, therefore Bel must command him. Bel does actually find it deeply satisfying that he can tell a female drow ‘no’. It does make me regret having Bel resolve his love triangle before Moonrise, because I know this encounter triggers Astarion’s Act 2 romance scene, and some of that brings up things that Bel actually does want to talk about with Astarion. Ah, well, I’ll see what happens when I get back to camp, and then there’s always fan fiction after watching the actual scene on YouTube. (Because, honestly, Astarion being honest with his original intentions would let Bel open up about ‘yes, I know because I would have done the same thing not so long ago, and hated myself for it, and I think we would work better as a platonic support group than a couple for that reason’.)
