Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Jaedin Dakara
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Age: 23
Height: 5'11'
Weight: 155 lbs I've been living on the Sword Coast for some time now, and I have made no progress in my quest. I have made few allies, and many enemies. The Flaming Fist has been of no help. They looked at me like I was crazy when I warned them that He was here. I don't think they are investigating the matter at all. I regret involving them, as I must constantly hide what I am... It's not just them. Any force of good in this area who might stand against Him won't trust me. Not now. But I had no choice, did I? At least, that's what I tell myself. That the Pact I swore was the only way I could save myself from this burning curse... This overwhelming power boiling inside me. I still feel like I am in control, but how long will that last? Will I be able to tell when I start to slip? When I start to lose it all?

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's cover the basics. My name is Jaedin Dakara. And yes, I am a warlock. But before you try to smite me, hear me out. First, we aren't all evil. Well, most of us are evil, but some aren't. Including myself, obviously. Second, and more importantly, we didn't all choose to be warlocks. In fact, I think that anyone who chooses this path is a moron. Just put in some effort and become a wizard. Or, if you're too stupid for that, swear fealty to some deity that you think you'd get along with and hope they grant you a tiny fraction of their power.

Most people don't know much about warlocks. Granted, we're a pretty exclusive club, and the membership fee is pretty hefty. Look at me, making jokes when my soul is at stake in this grand mess I call a life? Does that mean I am still myself, or that the strain of my Pact is slowly wearing away at my sanity? Who knows. But speaking of Pacts, that reminds me of what I actually wanted to talk about. Not all warlock pacts are made with Devils (or baatezu). Most are, as these are the easiest pacts to make. Any baatezu will gladly trade the powers of a warlock for your entire soul in a pact certain. There's also the more subtle pact insidious, in which the pact-maker thinks they actually have the upper hand, and can gain the power without truly making a sacrifice. The fine print of these pacts usually states that this is not the case, and the pact-maker ends up as soulless as if he had made a pact certain in the first place.

But, infernal pacts are only the most common variety of pact. There are other, more ephemeral kinds of pacts. A warlock can seek out and form a pact with an Archfey, usually a Lord or Lady of the Fey Courts. As most mortals are probably unaware, there are two courts which divide the majority of the fey, much how devils and demons are divided. The Unseelie court originates most fey pacts, particularly its ruler the Queen or Air and Darkness, who's true name is unknown by mortals and never spoken among the fey. The Seelie court is ruled by Titania, who has a much better disposition than her sister (who is the Queen of Air and Darkness, a shocking revelation I am sure). There are also abyssal pacts, which are like infernal pacts, but made with demons instead. These pacts are very difficult to form and dangerous to boot, as demons are extremely chaotic and are not bound to their promises in the same way that devils and fey are. An abyssal pact-maker is a true fool. Finally, there are star pacts, which I can find very little information on, even in my father's tomes and journals. These pacts are the most mysterious, and potentially the most dangerous, of all pacts, as they deal with elder evils so foul and ancient that they are beyond mortal comprehension.

Now that I have bored you all to tears with secrets that many warlocks would die to protect, you might be asking, what do I have to do with all of this? And here is where my story gets complicated. If you want to get technical, it all started when I was born. That was when my father abandoned my mother and I. My father was a handsome man, with some connection to the fey in his ancestry (which I, perhaps unfortunately, share). As far as I can tell, he beguiled my mother, a nobleman's younger daughter, and got her with child (that would be me). She was cast out of her family's holdings and disinherited, and spent the rest of her life as a serving woman in a tavern in Waterdeep, where I grew up.

It wasn't until I was twelve that I inherited my father's pact, and began to use my powers unintentionally. I won't get into the specifics, but it was then that my mother revealed to me that my father was a warlock. An evil one, at that. My mother helped me find ways to conceal my powers, and I learned to control them on my own, but my young mind was aflame with questions. Who was my father, really? Was my mother telling me everything she knew? At that point, I didn't really know what a warlock was. My mother told me they were dark sorcerers that got their powers by selling their souls to devils. Did that mean my soul had been sold? These questions were hard for me to contemplate, as young as I was.

Unfortunately, if you are dying to hear the answers to these questions, I am afraid you will have to wait until a later date. This entry is already quite lengthy, and I tire. But, I predict I will find no leads in the search for my father, and thus will be back in this chair soon, writing down more of my incomprehensible thoughts.

As I was walking through the docks district of the Gate the other evening, I was accosted by what I can only presume was an orphan child, pleading for money so that he could purchase some food. He was a ragged thing, wearing tattered clothes that smelled of rotting garbage and horse dung. His emaciated figure made his state of near-starvation apparent. I began reaching for my coin purse without hesitation to fish out a few gold pieces for the poor lad, as the desperation and fear in his eyes were so familiar to me. It was like looking at a reflection of my younger self (albeit a good bit dirtier than I ever was), during the lows of my youth as a beggar child on the streets of Waterdeep.

Those days were tough, certainly... But sometimes I long for the carelessness of those times. Before I was old enough to work, I would run free with countless other child urchins, doing whatever we could to eek out a living from society's dregs. Not all of them were as lucky as I, to have a mother who cared for me and a place to sleep each night. The servant's room I shared with my mother was cramped and bare, but it was safe and warm. Those days were a different kind of adventure than I face now. My needs were simple, and I survived with the glibness of my tongue and the quickness of my hands.

The terms of my Pact weigh heavier upon me every day that passes; I need more time to find Him. But, I made progress not a few days past. I was in the Sharptooth Woods with some other adventurers, hunting orcish raiders, when I sensed traces of my father's pact-magic. I made a mental note, and after we finished our hunt and parted ways, I returned under the cover of darkness and invisibility. There, in the woods, I found a temple to Bane. It was a likely place for my father to tap into layers of evil energy, which he could bind to himself for any number of nefarious purposes. And, sure enough, I could tell that the traces of his magic were inside. As far as I could tell, the temple was deserted, so I made my way inside. There were no visible indications of what my father had done inside the temple, but I could feel his magic staining the walls and the altar. If he had performed some sort of ritual, all traces were gone. I cannot rule out the possibility that he knows I am tracking him and is making efforts to conceal his activities, but I am hoping this is not yet the case. Still, it is evidence that he is active in this area, and that I am on the right track.

I have been continuing my research on the obyrith, and what I have discovered so far is troubling. Obyrith are an ancient race of demons that predate the tanar'ri. Some of my sources claim that the obyrith actually created the tanar'ri to serve as slaves, and that the obyrith were once the most populous type of demon in the Abyss. One such obyrith, named the Queen of Chaos, tried to unite the demons of the abyss in a war against the Forces of Law in the Age before Ages (what exactly this means is unclear to me so far). I am not sure what exactly happened, but for some reason the obyrith alliance fractured, and the Queen of Chaos was overthrown in a tanar'ri uprising. The celestials took advantage of this situation to launch a full scale invasion of the Abyss, in which most of the obyrith were slain.

The obyrith were said to have forms that were so monstrous and incomprehensible that any mortal who looked upon them would be driven insane. The thought that my father might be working with these creatures is... troubling, especially given the danger of abyssal pacts. Few of the demon princes and abyssal lords that survive today are Obyrith, but several are names that any demonologist would recognize: Dagon, Prince of the Darkened Depths, Pale Night, the Mother of Demons, and Pazuzu, Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms. Dagon and Pale Night both fit the traditional description of the obyrith, having forms too terrible for mortals to look upon. Pazuzu, on the other hand, is unique, and that is the reason I suspect him of being the obyrith my father has been making repeated contact with.

During the reign of the Queen of Chaos, Pazuzu remained an independent demon lord, so he managed to survive the uprising in which the Queen was overthrown. He has since adapted, taking on a form more recognizable to humans: that of a large, gargoyle-like creature. He is also far more interested in gaining influence in the prime material plane than he is in conquering the Abyss, which also sets him apart from most of his brethren. He is the lord of the skies above all layers of the abyss, making him a lord of considerable power. His personal lair is called Torremor, and it is located on the 503rd layer of the Abyss, but according to my sources, he spends most of his time on the first layer, Pazunia.

But, the real reason that I suspect my father of working with Pazuzu is that I think the demon lord has some kind of link with the Queen of Air and Darkness. All kinds of evil flying creatures worship Pazuzu, including many evil fey, those of the Unseelie Court. I have yet to uncover any details that would hint at any sort of relationship between these two beings, but I have my suspicions. Pazuzu is normally interested in corrupting individuals in the service of good, such as myself, but if he thought a pact with my father would further his goals, I would imagine he could be convinced.

If indeed my father has made a pact with Pazuzu, that would mark his fourth pact thus far. While it is not uncommon for a warlock to have two pacts, I have never heard of anyone (besides my father, of course) managing to form more than that. Nor did I think it was possible for a warlock to make pacts from different sources... But my theories on this issue are still incomplete. I don't know if he has some sort of magical aid that allows him to coerce these beings into pacts with him, or if this is some play for power on the part of the Queen of Air and Darkness. Theoretically, it might be possible for her to use her pact-link with my father to siphon infernal energies through him from his other pact-sources, to use for her own ends. Then again, knowing my father, he has already guessed this, and has some sort of contingency plan in place... Regardless, I have already made preparations to contact my Seelie patron, and inform him of my theory.

I don't know how much longer I can do this alone. I need allies in this fight against the forces of infernal corruption, but who can I trust? Or, better yet, who would trust me? If only I could find another warlock who shares my ideals... That would be the perfect ally, except that there is not a warlock out there that I can trust. I know from experience that we are all exceptional liars and deceivers. But, there are few others that would have the intimate knowledge of demonology that I seek... no, that I need to come out ahead in this battle. But, I have endured these past years. I am sure that I can endure a little longer yet.