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lettersfrombel9 Tarsakh 1492 DR
Emerald Grove, Sword Coast
My dear River:
I wonder if I will send these letters. I think I must, because I would not want you or the others to look for me, and I find that while I do love keeping secrets, I have no interest in those remaining after I die. So, I will be uncharacteristically honest in these letters. I have found myself somewhere settled, at least, but in imminent peril beyond what is happening in my own skull. I believe I have earned enough goodwill that these letters will make it to you, even if I do not.
Both Madame Shadowheart and Madam Lae’zel survived the crash. I stumbled on Madame Shadowheart near my own landing point, also unaware how she survived the crash. On examining the wreckage, we found a third survivor.
You all have rubbed off on me terribly. First, Madame Shadowheart actually thinks I am a good person. Then when we encountered a survivor, Mister Astarion attempted a bit of trickery — he claimed to spy one of the mind flayers’ pet brain things, then managed to get the drop on me. Thankfully, all he wanted was to know what was done to him, and that we were not to blame for it. Entirely reasonable, given the circumstances, so I won’t hold a grudge for him holding a knife to my throat. He is a surface elf, but between his white hair and red eyes, I wonder if he has some of my own people in his ancestry. Perhaps I’ll ask about it.
I am concerned by Mister Astarion’s interest in controlling the larva rather than removing it. He really is reminding me of some of the people from back home, if you excuse the massive ignorance of aberrations. Which means I hope with more knowledge, he will accept that the wisest course of action is to remove it.
Unfortunately, one of the mind flayers also survived the crash. Doubly unfortunately, it nearly ensnared me with a charm in the name of a restorative meal. It reminds me of the reason we took all of those precautions when pursuing a mind flayer; without them, I only resisted because I knew exactly what it was planning on doing to me. I finished it off for that.
I continue to not like anything in my mind. If I recall, I couldn’t even drop my guard around Marius enough to let him pull an image from my mind. Thankfully, my dear River, you are more trusting than I. Given my connection to the other victims of the mind flayers, I find myself deeply unhappy of the glimpses I get of them. Not that they are worse people than me, but I wonder if they are seeing more of me than I want.
We managed to recover Madame Lae’zel after some of the locals — a pair of tieflings — had captured her. Apparently a slightly bloody drow showing up was enough to scare them off. Madame Lae’zel continues to balance out yours truly charm, and to be our expert. The githyanki naturally have a procedure that will allow for mind flayer larva to be removed; sensible if they regularly fight mind flayers, and want to avoid attrition. Because one of her captors believed another tiefling had seen someone like Madame Lae’zel — who is quite distinctive-looking — she suspects it is nearby. Which... it is nice to not be doomed.
It is a startling reminder that Madame Shadowheart sees me as a kind person, because I had rescued her when Madame Lae’zel did not want to waste the time. I will try to tell her that I did so mostly because I believe in strength in numbers. I’m not actually a kind person. (I know you think so, and the children do, and... well, Orva might understand where I am coming from, as Orva is also a pragmatist.)
The tieflings were apparently staying at a druid grove, which we are currently resting at. Hence, that trouble I mentioned: it was beset by goblins, and they have kidnapped the head druid, and the second-in-command (or however druids organize themselves) wants to throw everyone non-druid out and seal the grove. I don’t know all that much about druids — Sylvia is the closest I’ve met — but I do know they are healers, and might be worth checking in on while we are in the neighborhood. I do believe Madame Lae’zel trusts her own people more than ours, and Mister Astarion seems to think I’m doing this out of altruism, rather than a trade for services (and a chance to catch our breaths), but it is worth the attempt. Also, I’d like to know more about the goblins before trying to move through unknown territory at speed.
Alas that Astarion and Shadowheart aren’t doing much to convince people that I am harmless. The tiefling leader, Zevlor, decided to comment on my being a drow twice when we were finding out the local situation. I know my people have the reputation, and exactly why we deserve it, but I did not remind him that he probably hates people bringing up the whole ‘descended from fiends’ thing, and it is much the same with me. Or maybe that’s why I didn’t say anything when he told me how ‘brave’ it was for me to walk around on the surface without a disguise, because he knew exactly the sort of bullshit I experience.
I’m ranting to you, dear River, because I don’t yet trust my companions, and you have heard this before, even if you do not have the first-hand experience, and may have even harbored such thoughts yourself when we first met. I sometimes wonder if I should have asked Sylvia why she chose to pretend to be human for so long; I don't know much about kitsune to know what reputations they have.
At least there were no insinuations of my ‘proper’ role as being a sacrifice to Lolth, or it would have ended in violence, and after I defused a conflict between Zevlor and those who lost his druid friend. I sometimes think I make such an effort to be a delight because it is not expected of a drow. (More fool them; it takes charm to survive female attention.)
But, between these druids and Madame Lae’zel’s creche, perhaps we are only mostly doomed. Once we deal with these goblins, and whatever other peril is on the way.
I still remain,
Your dear friend,
Bel
From the Player:
Emerald Grove, Sword Coast
My dear River:
I wonder if I will send these letters. I think I must, because I would not want you or the others to look for me, and I find that while I do love keeping secrets, I have no interest in those remaining after I die. So, I will be uncharacteristically honest in these letters. I have found myself somewhere settled, at least, but in imminent peril beyond what is happening in my own skull. I believe I have earned enough goodwill that these letters will make it to you, even if I do not.
Both Madame Shadowheart and Madam Lae’zel survived the crash. I stumbled on Madame Shadowheart near my own landing point, also unaware how she survived the crash. On examining the wreckage, we found a third survivor.
You all have rubbed off on me terribly. First, Madame Shadowheart actually thinks I am a good person. Then when we encountered a survivor, Mister Astarion attempted a bit of trickery — he claimed to spy one of the mind flayers’ pet brain things, then managed to get the drop on me. Thankfully, all he wanted was to know what was done to him, and that we were not to blame for it. Entirely reasonable, given the circumstances, so I won’t hold a grudge for him holding a knife to my throat. He is a surface elf, but between his white hair and red eyes, I wonder if he has some of my own people in his ancestry. Perhaps I’ll ask about it.
I am concerned by Mister Astarion’s interest in controlling the larva rather than removing it. He really is reminding me of some of the people from back home, if you excuse the massive ignorance of aberrations. Which means I hope with more knowledge, he will accept that the wisest course of action is to remove it.
Unfortunately, one of the mind flayers also survived the crash. Doubly unfortunately, it nearly ensnared me with a charm in the name of a restorative meal. It reminds me of the reason we took all of those precautions when pursuing a mind flayer; without them, I only resisted because I knew exactly what it was planning on doing to me. I finished it off for that.
We managed to recover Madame Lae’zel after some of the locals — a pair of tieflings — had captured her. Apparently a slightly bloody drow showing up was enough to scare them off. Madame Lae’zel continues to balance out yours truly charm, and to be our expert. The githyanki naturally have a procedure that will allow for mind flayer larva to be removed; sensible if they regularly fight mind flayers, and want to avoid attrition. Because one of her captors believed another tiefling had seen someone like Madame Lae’zel — who is quite distinctive-looking — she suspects it is nearby. Which... it is nice to not be doomed.
It is a startling reminder that Madame Shadowheart sees me as a kind person, because I had rescued her when Madame Lae’zel did not want to waste the time. I will try to tell her that I did so mostly because I believe in strength in numbers. I’m not actually a kind person. (I know you think so, and the children do, and... well, Orva might understand where I am coming from, as Orva is also a pragmatist.)
The tieflings were apparently staying at a druid grove, which we are currently resting at. Hence, that trouble I mentioned: it was beset by goblins, and they have kidnapped the head druid, and the second-in-command (or however druids organize themselves) wants to throw everyone non-druid out and seal the grove. I don’t know all that much about druids — Sylvia is the closest I’ve met — but I do know they are healers, and might be worth checking in on while we are in the neighborhood. I do believe Madame Lae’zel trusts her own people more than ours, and Mister Astarion seems to think I’m doing this out of altruism, rather than a trade for services (and a chance to catch our breaths), but it is worth the attempt. Also, I’d like to know more about the goblins before trying to move through unknown territory at speed.
Alas that Astarion and Shadowheart aren’t doing much to convince people that I am harmless. The tiefling leader, Zevlor, decided to comment on my being a drow twice when we were finding out the local situation. I know my people have the reputation, and exactly why we deserve it, but I did not remind him that he probably hates people bringing up the whole ‘descended from fiends’ thing, and it is much the same with me. Or maybe that’s why I didn’t say anything when he told me how ‘brave’ it was for me to walk around on the surface without a disguise, because he knew exactly the sort of bullshit I experience.
I’m ranting to you, dear River, because I don’t yet trust my companions, and you have heard this before, even if you do not have the first-hand experience, and may have even harbored such thoughts yourself when we first met. I sometimes wonder if I should have asked Sylvia why she chose to pretend to be human for so long; I don't know much about kitsune to know what reputations they have.
At least there were no insinuations of my ‘proper’ role as being a sacrifice to Lolth, or it would have ended in violence, and after I defused a conflict between Zevlor and those who lost his druid friend. I sometimes think I make such an effort to be a delight because it is not expected of a drow. (More fool them; it takes charm to survive female attention.)
But, between these druids and Madame Lae’zel’s creche, perhaps we are only mostly doomed. Once we deal with these goblins, and whatever other peril is on the way.
I still remain,
Your dear friend,
Bel
From the Player:
The 'Marius' Bel mentions was a vampire lord, who was annoyed that something else (the mind flayer) was hunting in his territory, so was inclined to help the party. I mention this because I find it hilarious that Bel's first thought about Astarion's appearance was 'drow ancestry' and not vampirism. Probably because Astarion is behaving rather like Bel would, if he was alone and didn't have the experience of working with other people.
As I mentioned in the last post, Bel's self image is that he is not a kind or nice person. In reality, he has a giant soft spot for children, or people he perceives as being inexperienced. Shadowheart is starting to trigger it, because both Astarion and Lae'zel are pretty clear they can take care of themselves.
I also suspect Lae'zel finds Bel annoying as balls, even if he is competent at a fight. Because Bel does not shut up, and uses his social skills in ways that might seem useless when Lae'zel is used to a military structure and is trying a mix of bluntness and intimidation with people. Bel actually is upfront with the reason in his letter -- while drow have a reputation for violence, a male drow has to get good at reading the room when it comes to female drow.
Ironically, Bel's sibling became a druid, and I might someday run through Act I to see what changes as a drow druid.
Yes, the proper role comment was made by an NPC at the table. Thankfully, it was the person who turned out to be using mental powers to disguise that he was a mind flayer, because Bel wanted to stab him with all of his knives. It was right after Bel's ward was kidnapped, and since Bel believes he's already lost one little brother to 'males are useless', Bel considers it a massive act of self control that he didn't stab the NPC (and end up with surprise mind flayer confrontation).
