Journal Entry – Inquisition

The Inquisition is here, and they are here in force. They hold the Owl’s nest. People could not keep their mouths shut and they know if not everything, then close enough to it to damn us all. If we do nothing about them, then the best we can hope for is horror and watching friends and family murdered after we have defeated Chiropoler. I don’t see a good way out. At least with Chiropoler our choice is simple, we destroy the monstrosity or we die. So let’s take a look at our options.

Throw ourselves on the Mercy of the Inquisition, and repent for our so called sins.
If we do this, we might be able to save the most devout Benalians. There is a chance that doing this would save myself, Sophie and Julienne. Doing this would also doom any of the Circle who couldn’t flee, including Pascal. Not to mention that Sophie would never stand for it. Doing this is a Cowards option.

Flee the inquisition before Chiropoler is defeated.
If we delay until the inquisition is fully engaged fighting Chiropoler, we will have our best chance. To flee. If they are hurt enough in the fighting they might not even be able to properly pursue us. That could give us enough of a head start to separate and get to some kind of safety. The only upside is that this present a reasonable short term chance for most of Louisant to survive.

I have concerns about this option. The inquisition defeating Chiropoler is by no means certain without our aid. While they are no doubt capable warriors, they do not have the experience we do in fighting our way through Chiropoler’s body. We cannot leave until we know that an awake Chiropoler is not left behind us. If the inquisition does win, I suspect they would come after us all the harder for letting them fight it alone while we ran. This also feels like a cowards choice.

Flee the inquisition after Chiropoler is defeated.
It is possible that the fight against Chiropoler might do enough damage to the inquisition, that we stand a chance of escaping afterwards. With sufficient preparation, we might be able to flee to safety. Fleeing gives us a chance to preserve life without sacrificing inquisition lives.

The problem with this plan is that a focused inquisition would have a much easier time running us down. We must assume that they have the advantage in terms of logistics and communication. We also only have a vague idea of where we can flee safely. There is no guarantee that waiting to flee will work. Of the available plans this has one of the lowest chances of working. However, it is ethically acceptable, and is one we can at least attempt.

Convince the inquisition that we are right.
This is possible in theory. Anything is possible in theory. If this was to work, it would be the best option both from a moral and a practical standpoint. Practically speaking, our chances of pulling this off are nonexistent, laughable really. Even trying is likely to bring about the worst response from the inquisitors.

Fight the Inquisition.
We could fight, even being significantly outnumbered. We have potential allies they would not be prepared for and we know the land. We also have capabilities they will not be prepared for. Mages, the rites of the circle, recovered ancient weapons, newly designed weapons and whatever capabilities are still hidden from me. I think we would have a chance against what they have in Luisant.

But this is a bad plan. People would die on both sides, and I find the very concept of killing Benalians for our own benefit repugnant. Even if it would be self defense. I also know Sophie would hate it. Worse than that, I don’t think it would do any good. Even a clear victory would just bring more and more people hunting for us. Eventually we would lose. This should only be a last resort, and only to buy time to implement a better plan.

Throw the Inquisition after a better target.

If we could convince the Inquisition that there is a better target, they might leave us alone, at least for a time. This plan has many problems. First, the inquisition will not be easily fooled. Any target we send them after will need to be real. The only viable targets I can think of are Chriopoler, the Werewolves, the Spider Vecatrans and the Vecatran traders. Beyond Chrioploler and the werewolves, I don’t believe revealing any of those groups would be practical or ethical.

To an extent this is what we are already doing with Chriopoler, as they have to prioritize a resurrected Witch King over anything else. Most other plans will take time to implement and will benefit from distracting and delaying the Inquisition. So if we need to buy time beyond focussing on Chiropoler we should let them know about the werewolves.

Restore the Mists.

This is probably the best overall solution, especially if we can manage any control of the mists. It preserves our way of life, holding the community together. Of course I have no idea how we can accomplish this. We know very little about the original creation of the mists, beyond the fact that it involved both Benalian priests and a Vecatran circle.

Even given our ignorance, I think we need to pursue this goal while also expecting to need to follow another plan.