lydamorehouse | Upon the Eve of War (Reply)

The campaign is winding down. Idyril's life choices are coming home to roost.

Also, see previous entry. I'm going to have to miss next session, so this is the reason for my absence. Idyril is finally, seriously going rogue. (With full approval of the actual players, just to be clear.)

===

April 27, upon the eve of war,

Eagle’s Fort

Ave,

Everything I’d made peace with has been thrown into question.

When Zavala handed over the Queen of Autumn’s Heart to Captain Philip, he did so with these words: “Receive the gift of your mother’s heart.”

Your mother.

You could have heard a pin drop when he said these words.

I, myself, felt betrayed. This whole time that I had believed Captain Philip to be nothing more than a skilled soldier fighting an unexpected and unknown enemy, his own mother was part of the Fey factions that oppose the Queen Below. This is not some distant Fey relation as he led me to believe when I noted his Eladrin heritage. This is his own mother. He acted as surprised as the rest of us, but for all I know it could be just that: an act.

I’m not shaken in my belief that the Queen Below is the enemy of good. This, I have seen with my own eyes. However, it’s now obvious that the Fey are playing both sides.

This is not a clean war. It’s dirty.

The comfort that I’d given myself as I slaughtered my own bloodkin was that, at least, the side I had chosen was unsullied by Fey influences. I had presumed that Captain Philip was his own man, or at least in so much as a soldier serving the crown can be. I thought his motivation was only to keep the Prime Material free of invasion from the Fey, but now I can’t be so certain. As I have written before, we know nothing of the Queen of Autumn or her motives. She may well be making her own play for annexation. Her son is installed in a major fort, after all. Overtaking or opening her own gate in his keep, especially now that she rules his heart, is not beyond the realm of possibility.

The irony is that Philip is sending The Caravan on a mission to destroy one of the Queen Below’s gates. This portal to the FeyWild is being guarded by the Prince of Rhyme and Frost, an ArchFey whose presence we can feel even here in Eagle’s Fort, where the ice and chill has settled unseasonably early on the fields and cobblestones.

The Caravan is taking Philip at his word and is currently drawing up battleplans to firebomb the trees that hold up the arch of the gate.

Meanwhile, I’m making my own plans.

Speaking of a mother’s influence, I would not be the Trevorian heir if I didn’t seize the opportunity to parlay. When we make our way to the Prince’s encampment, I will surrender. I will tell those gathered that I’m a double agent. Hopefully, Mother’s name and my previous actions will be enough to convince the Prince that there might be some truth to such a claim. I intend to speak to him in honest, good faith. Any magicks he might employ to detect deception will fail. I don’t know which side I should stand on, after all. If he and his allies can convince me that the Queen Below has done what she must out of desperation in the face of a more powerful and evil enemy, then I’ll join them. If they can not--well, then I’ll be in a perfect position to assassinate the Prince, won’t I?

Yes, this is very likely a suicide mission. Regardless of the answers I receive.

I think I’ve known that fate would lead me here for some time.

Yesterday, when Grigor went to the Temple of Ioun, I followed him. Initially, I’d intended to see what it was that drove Grigor so hard that he presented himself to his order at every opportunity. I uncovered nothing. It seems that he is simply a very devout monk. However, Mother has always taught us to respect the gods and so I inquired as to an appropriate offering to Ioun at the Temple gates. I was told that I could leave a secret in the alms box or give a confessional of sorts, a kind of information dump, to one of the priests.

I chose to do both.

Thus, as I head out to this final confrontation, it’s with an unburdened soul. I’ve given the Ioun priests every last piece of knowledge I own. They know my history. They know my plans. They know everything I’ve suspected or feared. I even told them that I love a human witch and that my only regret in choosing this path is that I might never retreat into her soft embrace ever again.

As for the secret I left with them, it’s one I suspect I’ve kept only from myself: I’ve never stopped loving Mother and wanting to please her.

And thus, I remain, your ever foolish elder brother,

Idyril