Prologue: To Boldly Go Where People Have Not Been in a Good Long While!

"I don't understand all of it," she replies. "Let's just wait for her to tell us."

A minute later Eninahes says, "Thank you for waiting for me to compose myself. Let's introduce ourselves properly. I'm Eninahes, the Lady of the White Well. Welcome to my demesne. Will you introduce your friends Ser Katheryn?"

When you guys turn around she's looking a lot better. Her face is still a little puffy but her confidence seems to be back.

"Oh, right. Here's Carlos and Hunter," she gestures at them,"and we work together as mercenaries." There's a moment of silence. "I think that's pretty much it, unless they want to say something else..."

She gives them a look.

Carlos just shrugs.

"We're good friends." One double-take later, Hunter is on his best behavior in front of Eninahes. She's beautiful too, but type is another matter. I wonder what her age is? "This job's become something else, though. I'm sorry for what happened here, it's awful."

She nods in agreement with Hunter. "I'm sorry to have caused you all so much trouble. I thought Allinandra was my friend. When she asked for my help to save the Druids of Eyton's Grove I believed her. I didn't know she meant them harm."

Hunter's guilt comes back like an aftershock and hits him again. "...Allinandra? What do you mean? What about her mother, Nesme?"

Carlos goes pale as he understands - "¿Don't you remember, Hunter? Allinandra does whatever her mother tells her."


Then he asks Enihahes - "How long have you known her?"

"Oh..." He frowns. "Of course. No one would have trusted Nesme, so she sent her."

There's a pause from him while he shakes off his anger.

"I've known Allinandra for almost one hundred years. She came seeking to make a pact with me so she would have the power to overthrow her mother." When she sees the blank looks on your faces at that fact she further explains, "There are many routes to magic power and making a pact with an Archfey is one of them. In exchange for service, a warlock can gain great power--such as wielding an artifact weapon or how to draw upon the more esoteric powers of the fey such as teleportation and the creation of mist on command. I'm one of a few beings in the multiverse who can make such pacts and I make them only rarely compared to the others."

She coughs and continues, "Now where was I? Oh yes, making a pact. She claimed that Nesme is evil, and does much harm to the good and innocent folk of the world. While I wished to help her I was forced by my...situation to refuse." Her cheeks flush in embarrassment. "I'm afraid my stepfather placed a curse on me when I was but a babe in punishment for my mother's infidelity. My conception was the result of a cruel and vicious trickery upon my mother and father both, by my mother's sister no less.

While my mother bathed here at the White Well, my father was drawn here by a spell. He was a brave Shiere Knight of great renown, who knew no fear and would have never turned away from an adventure. At least, that's what my mother use to tell me." Once again seeing the blank looks on your faces she adds, "A Shiere Knight is very much like a knight-errant in the Mortal World. They are knighted by the houses of noble eladrin but are expected to wander in service to all Eladrin and to all the good peoples under their protection, slaying monsters and fighting evil. But anyway, my aunt placed an illusion upon my father, giving him the likeness of my stepfather and so he lay with her right in this spot. When I was born nine months later my stepfather cursed me not 3 minutes from the womb, to remain here until a hero is able to win my heart."

Kathryn is even more confused. "But you didn't help her. So how can anything be your fault?"

Carlos sighs and scratches his head - "Well i'm no hero, and as for heart---" - then shakes his head and gets back to business - "Yeah, what Kat said. But strikes me as odd that Allinandra - on her own or under Nesme - would throw away a hundred years of gaining your trust on this one act of murder. Even if they did hate the Eyton Druids."

"I think I understand. She promised she could be that hero for you, or that she could bring someone who would win your heart. And elves have nothing but time. And what's a century or two of wearing sheep's clothing to remove a curse on your tribe?"

Eninahe's story of her origin does not appear to be doing Hunter's temper any favors. "Forgive my curiosity, but what became of your father?"

Rory wrote:"I think I understand. She promised she could be that hero for you, or that she could bring someone who would win your heart. And elves have nothing but time. And what's a century or two of wearing sheep's clothing to remove a curse on your tribe?"

Eninahe's story of her origin does not appear to be doing Hunter's temper any favors. "Forgive my curiosity, but what became of your father?"

"My father is dead. He relinquished his sword, tossing it in this very well and, eventually, into my keeping. He renounced his knighthood and wandered away in shame. On my tenth birthday we received a visit from a bard who had known my father later in life. He had fallen in battle protecting Astrazalian from a Fomorian incursion. I never knew him in life but I know him in song. I wish I could have met him."

Zeiss wrote:Kathryn is even more confused. "But you didn't help her. So how can anything be your fault?"

K wrote:Carlos sighs and scratches his head - "Well i'm no hero, and as for heart---" - then shakes his head and gets back to business - "Yeah, what Kat said. But strikes me as odd that Allinandra - on her own or under Nesme - would throw away a hundred years of gaining your trust on this one act of murder. Even if they did hate the Eyton Druids."

Eninahes starts fidgeting uncomfortably and playing with a bit of her long silver hair, "Oh Katheryn, I did help her. Twice. She said she'd need access to Eyton's Grove to save the druids there. So I gave her a key, that would allow her to enter. It's a magic walnut, from Eyton himself and blessed by my power. It opens the gate on the Grove and defeats its wards and illusions.

But she also...kissed me and said she loved me. She said she needed my help to defeat her mother once and for all. It had been so long since anyone had done that I got butterflies in my stomach and she promised to end the curse once she was free. I don't know if it will work or not but I had to try. I've been here so long. So long. There is a weariness in her voice, eons old. "So I took a chance and made a pact with her and lent her my father's sword. But that was a week ago. I don't know what is happening, it's all so confusing. If she told the truth I don't want to break the pact and put her in danger but at the same time I don't want her misusing my father's sword. This whole thing is my fault. I knew better than to get my hopes up." She hangs her head in shame.

The white-haired mercenary isn't sure where to take this conversation, and the amount of information that has been thrown their way is making her head spin. But seeing Eninahes hang her head in shame is enough to prompt her to action. Ignoring eladrin etiquette (not that she knows anything about it), she slowly approaches the elf, kneels down in front of her, and hugs her.

"Don't worry Eni. I don't understand everything myself, but I promise you, I'll find a way to get you out of here, even if I have to kick your stepfather in the face. You have my word."

Hunter softens when he hears the the end of her morbid tale. Perhaps the Shiere knight was a victim as much as her mother.

Kathryn's bold promise makes him uneasy, though. "Okay, one thing at a time, Kat. We need to handle this business with the druids first."

"Eninahes, Allinandra's mother Nesme is not 'defeated', and if either of them have the sword, I haven't seen it. She betrayed your trust, my lady. She had no intention of helping you, and she opened the way with the key you gave her so the gnolls could enter and bring utter ruin to the grove! The pact between--"

He cuts off mid-rant. "Hold on. If you dissolve the pact, will she feel it? We need every edge we can get in a confrontation, but we outnumber them, and if they know that the pact was broken, they'll bolt before we can reach them."


Persuasion: 4
If a Persuasion check is needed to convince her to dissolve the pact with Allinandra, my result is unfortunately a 4.

Carlos looks at Kathryn, then at Enihahes, back at Kathryn. Then thinks for a moment before piping up - "Ay, i'm not too smart so i don't know what to make of it. But i can't tell if she did it on purpose or was duped into it, or something else. Whatever happened, she's been fooling SOMEONE this whole time. But the girl just doesn't have the cool way about her that her mother does; she's just far too feist--" - he stops short, as something strikes him. Then looks at Hunter - "Oy, maybe THAT was why she was so rude to you."

Hunter raises an eyebrow. "I don't get your meaning."

Carlos scratches his head - "Well, uh... think about it. Allinandra either lied to Nesme for a hundred years, or she lied to Enihanes for a hundred years. If she loyal to Nesme right now, she probably a lot like her mother, and she cold and collected enough to lie to someone for a century - complete with kissing and love talk - while really plotting to bank all that into... a break-in with some Gnolls." - Carlos explains awkwardly, as his eyes dart from side to side, trying to imagine the ludicrous idea himself.

"Can you imagine that woman really snapping at you, or getting all bent out of shape because Zoe gave her a thumbs-up? On the day her big scheme came to fruition, no less? At first i thought she was a kid, since she seemed all over the place with her composure. But now it makes more sense that she's distraught at having unwittingly betrayed Eni and let those niños die. And now having to sit there with her mother, instead of being right here."

Carlos finishes his big smart-sounding tirade, and immediately starts to feel lightheaded - "Ooooohh.... i think that was too much for me." - he awkwardly confesses, with one hand wearily scratching his head - "I think i need a break."

Hunter folds his arms and ponders for quite some time. His frown continues to sour each passing second.

"No! I don't believe one word of that. I gave her the perfect opportunity to open up and ask for help, and she spit at me and called my people trash. She and the rest of her circle have never been here and wouldn't dare enter because they're cowards. I won't give her the benefit of the doubt now, even if she is being straight-up with Eninahes. If they force violence, I will pry that finger from her mother's lifeless hands, and I will turn her into a pincushion if she gets in my way."

Still weary, Carlos can only sigh and shake his head - "And i thought I was dim..."

@Katheryn A shiver goes up Katheryn's spine at her promise. She isn't sure what happened but it feels important. Eninahes is taken aback by Katheryn's promise. "Kat, no! You can't! He'll kill you!"

@Hunter "I can end the Pact whenever I wish but I'm not going to do it without proof that she betrayed me. What if she is waiting and biding her time? What if her attempt failed and she is there against her will? No, I won't get her killed nor will I help you kill her."

@all "Noble heroes," she says, becoming formal once more. "Please accept this quest. Find out what Allinandra's role is in this matter once and for all. Bring her back to me alive if you can, return my father's sword if you can't. Swear it and I shall reward you generously."

Kathryn nods. "Of course I'll do it. I planned to anyway."

"I wanted to get to the bottom of it, soon as i found the niños. But one thing i have to ask; what Pact did Allinandra make with you?"

"I swore three times to help her win her freedom and she swore three times to be my champion and spread my name, not just throughout the Mortal World, but in the Plane Above (the Astral Sea) and the Plane Below (The Elemental Chaos), from the Feywild to the Shadowfell, and so win my heart and break my curse.

Swearing something three times binds you to your word, punishing those who would break it. Something about the Feywild itself makes it so. And social station matters not--peasant, noble, archfey, god--we are all bound by our word and break it at our peril."