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9 Tarsakh 1492 DR
Unknown beach, Sword Coast????, Material Plane
My Dear River:
I do not know if I will send this letter, or even be able to. I have found myself in a spot of trouble, that may well be the end of me before this letter can even reach you. And, well, I presently do not know exactly where I am. If you do not hear from me again, please assume I am dead and... say something to Orva and the children. You would know better than me what should be said; I never was any good with young people. Orva, at least, will be matter of fact about it.
As for what has befallen me, I had intended to travel to Waterdeep. Waterdeep has certain connections to the Underdark and I wanted the gossip. Imagine my shock when I am teleported on board some sort of flying mind flayer contraption, whose construction cements my belief that mind flayers know exactly how horrifying they are and want to capitalize on it. I might have to burn the clothing I was wearing; furniture should not be describable as viscous.
You now have a very good idea why I now believe that I will be dead by the time this letter reaches you. If not, let me spell it out: rather than being selected to be dinner or an experiment, I was implanted with one of their larva. Seeing the process first-hand is going to add to the reasons I am glad elves do not dream as humans do. But, my abduction did not entirely go to my captors’ plans.
Have you heard of the githyanki? I had not, but apparently they are a sort of dragon-riding humanoid race who have a personal grudge against mind flayers — more so than the rest of us, I mean — and do not seem to be native to the Material Plane, or at least not Faerun. They managed to down the contraption, though given they nearly did so in the Nine Hells, I object to their timing.
My, we are adding so many things to ‘Bel’s list of things he was content never experiencing’: the Nine Hells. Even during my upbringing, I would never expect to go there. After all, Lolth holds her domains in the Abyss, not the Hells.
Anyway, the githyanki attack may have been due to the mind flayers abducting one of their own. Madame Lae’zel was... well, let us say she is a professional soldier and has little patience for yours truly when I am not fighting. It is confusing when I am the moral compass of a group we are in. You all have rubbed off on me dreadfully, and I am not sure how I feel about that. I kid, of course. You, River, and the others are all delightful in your own ways. And I am getting maudlin, so back to the story.
Thankfully, Madame Lae’zel’s pragmatism meant I could convince her that while I — and she — were infected, both of us were free of enthrallment, and that having a second blade would be useful. We managed to locate a third captive who we could free, and seemed to be resistant to control. Madame Shadowheart — yes, really, that is her name — did not react to being rescued by a drow and a member of a race she probably had not seen before. Not surprising, given an uncertain doom is better than a certain one. She is some manner of cleric, but I was not able to ascertain of which god. Frankly, at the time, I wasn’t going to ask questions. We also encountered some poor unfortunate who was either too far along or was in a less damaged portion of the ship, and several individuals who were either enthralled or had singularly poor judgement.
Thankfully, due to my ability to lie like a rug, Madame Lae’zel’s familiarity with mind flayers, and Madame Shadowheart’s ability to keep us both alive, we managed to return the ship to the Material Plane without the mind flayer in charge realizing we were not enthralled. I hope. I was separated from them in the crash, so I have no knowledge if either they or the mind flayers survived, or how long we have, beyond ‘days’. I did not think to ask Madame Lae'zel, and I doubt I would like the answer.
I do not know how I survived, as I fell quite some distance. I hope it is latent drow magic finally manifesting, but I suspect that is not actually the case. I may have less time than I think.
If I find a town before then, I will send this letter. Madame Lae’zel seemed to have some thoughts on options beyond ‘if any of us start growing tentacles, the others stab them’, which was the best plan I could come up with. If I locate her, perhaps she can explain more.
For now I remain,
Your dear friend,
Bel
From the Player:
Unknown beach, Sword Coast????, Material Plane
My Dear River:
I do not know if I will send this letter, or even be able to. I have found myself in a spot of trouble, that may well be the end of me before this letter can even reach you. And, well, I presently do not know exactly where I am. If you do not hear from me again, please assume I am dead and... say something to Orva and the children. You would know better than me what should be said; I never was any good with young people. Orva, at least, will be matter of fact about it.
As for what has befallen me, I had intended to travel to Waterdeep. Waterdeep has certain connections to the Underdark and I wanted the gossip. Imagine my shock when I am teleported on board some sort of flying mind flayer contraption, whose construction cements my belief that mind flayers know exactly how horrifying they are and want to capitalize on it. I might have to burn the clothing I was wearing; furniture should not be describable as viscous.
You now have a very good idea why I now believe that I will be dead by the time this letter reaches you. If not, let me spell it out: rather than being selected to be dinner or an experiment, I was implanted with one of their larva. Seeing the process first-hand is going to add to the reasons I am glad elves do not dream as humans do. But, my abduction did not entirely go to my captors’ plans.
Have you heard of the githyanki? I had not, but apparently they are a sort of dragon-riding humanoid race who have a personal grudge against mind flayers — more so than the rest of us, I mean — and do not seem to be native to the Material Plane, or at least not Faerun. They managed to down the contraption, though given they nearly did so in the Nine Hells, I object to their timing.
My, we are adding so many things to ‘Bel’s list of things he was content never experiencing’: the Nine Hells. Even during my upbringing, I would never expect to go there. After all, Lolth holds her domains in the Abyss, not the Hells.
Anyway, the githyanki attack may have been due to the mind flayers abducting one of their own. Madame Lae’zel was... well, let us say she is a professional soldier and has little patience for yours truly when I am not fighting. It is confusing when I am the moral compass of a group we are in. You all have rubbed off on me dreadfully, and I am not sure how I feel about that. I kid, of course. You, River, and the others are all delightful in your own ways. And I am getting maudlin, so back to the story.
Thankfully, Madame Lae’zel’s pragmatism meant I could convince her that while I — and she — were infected, both of us were free of enthrallment, and that having a second blade would be useful. We managed to locate a third captive who we could free, and seemed to be resistant to control. Madame Shadowheart — yes, really, that is her name — did not react to being rescued by a drow and a member of a race she probably had not seen before. Not surprising, given an uncertain doom is better than a certain one. She is some manner of cleric, but I was not able to ascertain of which god. Frankly, at the time, I wasn’t going to ask questions. We also encountered some poor unfortunate who was either too far along or was in a less damaged portion of the ship, and several individuals who were either enthralled or had singularly poor judgement.
Thankfully, due to my ability to lie like a rug, Madame Lae’zel’s familiarity with mind flayers, and Madame Shadowheart’s ability to keep us both alive, we managed to return the ship to the Material Plane without the mind flayer in charge realizing we were not enthralled. I hope. I was separated from them in the crash, so I have no knowledge if either they or the mind flayers survived, or how long we have, beyond ‘days’. I did not think to ask Madame Lae'zel, and I doubt I would like the answer.
If I find a town before then, I will send this letter. Madame Lae’zel seemed to have some thoughts on options beyond ‘if any of us start growing tentacles, the others stab them’, which was the best plan I could come up with. If I locate her, perhaps she can explain more.
For now I remain,
Your dear friend,
Bel
From the Player:
I mentioned in the intro I wrote that Bel has just enough prior history with mind flayers that he knows exactly what will happen to him, and it scares the crap out of him, but not enough to recognize that the strange powers like a mental link with Shadowheart and Lae'zel, and what looked like levitation are not a standard part of ceremorphosis.
Bel also likes to rationalize when he does kind things. Like, yes, he was thinking 'I want backup' when he spotted Shadowheart, but he was also getting pings of empathy. I don't think Lae'zel believes him. I suspect she has already started to come to the conclusion that while Bel is good with a blade, she should ignore most of what comes out of his mouth.
Not entirely sure why Bel feels the need to give both of his new friends titles; if it's some holdover about respect for women or just Bel deciding that his normal flirtatious banter would not go well with Lae'zel and affecting faux chivalry instead.
I don't think I mentioned in the background 'who is this guy', but Bel is also pretty much a 6 on the Kinsey scale, so as much as he might flirt with anyone, he only does so with women when he's pretty sure it will not be taken seriously, or if he thinks it will get him out of a bad situation. This is also his standard for elders, the small races, and any other person he doesn't particularly want to bed, but needs to appear well-disposed to.
