When we went to see Bann Teagan, it turned out his promise of aid was merely a back entrance into the castle itself. Despite the high likelihood of encountering more of those undead horrors which attacked the village last night, Bann Teagan's only solution was for us to sneak into the castle via the back entrance. No soldiers. No army. Just us.
It was lucky for him that Arlessa Isolde came out of the castle when she did. While we were "discussing" the Bann's distressing lack of support, the Arlessa came down from the castle. She tried to charm me with her beautiful puppy dog eyes but I saw through her right away. Unfortunately, the Bann doesn't appear to be as smart. She spun a highly suspicious story about how the Bann needed to travel to the castle alone otherwise even more horrors would be let loose. Despite such an obvious trap, the Bann agreed.
Anyway, as I said, it was lucky for him she came out when she did otherwise I would have given him more than an earful for his "support".
The Arlessa spins a sad, but suspicious, tale with her puppy dog eyes
In any event, my band of warriors entered the castle via the secret entrance in the mill while the Bann accompanied the Arlessa back to the castle. I actually suspect this secret entrance is more of a secret escape route from the castle - why else would the entrance be in the village? I have to wonder what kind of coward this Arl Eamon is to have an escape tunnel built into his castle. For myself, you can be certain of one thing - I have no scars on my back.
Although Bann Teagan was of little use, Ser Perth once again proved his worth. After sneaking through the dungeon, we managed to get to the main gate and open it. Ser Perth had gathered some of his knights and together, we stormed the main hall.
Ser Perth and his knights join us after we open the main gate
Actually, the word "stormed" isn't quite accurate in this case. The scene which greeted us as we entered the main hall of the castle certainly wasn't what we expected. Instead of the expected scenes of carnage and death, we found the Bann acting like a clown while being encouraged by a young boy who turned out to be Connor, Arl Eamon's son.
Connor enjoys his court of clowns
It appears that Connor has been possessed by a demon and is now an abomination although, for now at any rate, he still looks just like any other boy. The abomination ran off like a coward while the castles guards, clearly under the demons enthrall, attacked us.
It wasn't much of a fight. Without the demons direct influence, Bann Teagan and some of the guards were able to break clear of the demons spell. With both their assistance and the aid of Ser Perth, we were able to easily overcome the remaining guards. The only question is what to do with Connor now that he has been possessed by a demon.
Personally, I would have just stormed the upper levels and killed the boy. I have no taste for all this sneaking around. However, the Arlessa is desperate for a way to save her boy. Much as I dislike this fool of a woman, hers is a sad tale and I cannot help but feel a certain level of pity for the woman. So despite my preferences, I now find myself considering the words of Jowan.
Oh, I almost forgot. The tunnel from the village led into the castle's dungeons where we met a blood mage by the name of Jowan. According to the Arlessa, it was Jowan who had poisoned the Arl and set off the series of events which have led to the current situation. I admit that I was skeptical at first (I find it hard to believe anything that Orlesian noble woman says), but Jowan freely admitted to his crimes when we met him in the dungeon.
For a blood mage, Jowan was certainly nothing like I expected. He was surprisingly rational and remorseful over his actions. I suppose I should have left him to rot in the dungeon for his crimes but instead, I listened to my companions. They felt it would have been cruel to let him die like a caged animal with so many undead wandering the halls. I can see their point but still - a blood mage? Hmm.
In any event, our decision to free him proved beneficial.
Jowan pleads for a chance at redemption
When the Arlessa pleaded for a way to save her son, Jowan was the only person who had an alternative. With his blood magic, he is able to send a mage into the Fade to directly battle the demon possessing Connor. If we can defeat the demon in the Fade, then not only would Connor survive the experience, but he would return to normal as well.
But the cost will be high. Jowan will need to sacrifice someone in order to power the spell (the Arlessa immediately offered her life - say what you like about her, the woman dearly loves her son). The larger problem is that only a mage can enter the Fade and retain any semblance of sanity or control. Jowan himself cannot enter the Fade as he is casting the spell so the only option left to us is Morrigan.
Jowan offers the use of his blood magic to save Connor
With no guarantee of success, I am left pondering whether we should just storm the upper levels and kill the boy or whether it is worth taking the risk of sending Morrigan into the Fade alone. I admit it would be a shame to waste those puppy dog eyes of the Arlessa.
I also have to wonder if Morrigan would even be willing to risk herself to save the boy?
4 comments:
TEAGANNNN!
Boy, she had an annoying personality and accent - really wanted to slap her one, the silly bint.
In both my playthroughs I've tried to save both connor + silly bint - think i'll sacrifice her in one of my rogue playthroughs.... :)
You can try to save the Arlessa? Wow - I had no idea.
When she offered herself as a sacrifice, I just said - okay, go ahead. I mean, the whole sorry mess is her fault to start with (imho) so I didn't really spend much time trying to think of a way to save her...
You didn't know? :)
Excellent - I thought you were just RP'ing your dwarf!
I was RP'ing my dwarf in the sense that her offer to sacrifice herself is something that he would accept as the whole thing was her fault to start with.
If I had known you could try to save both, I might have tried that route. My dwarf is a bit of a womanizer and sleeps around a bit and may have tried to save her simply because she has a pretty face. Unfortunately, its hard to put this aspect of his personality across in the blog as its meant to be a journal written by him (plus there is also the fact that I'm nowhere near good enough to be an actual published author who would probably have found a way around this).
The problem is that, although he sleeps around, he doesn't brag about it as he simply considers this normal. So there is simply no reason for him to mention this kind of stuff in his journal just as he doesn't mention what he eats for breakfast (although you will start to see more of this as the story develops. The romance, I mean - not journal entries on breakfast...)
Bear in mind that, as a dwarven noble, he has had steady access to noble-hunters who have been perfectly willing to sex him up on the off chance that they could get pregnant and join a noble family.
Post a Comment