Session 5: Defacement and Discrimination

Characters involved:

• Shrain, dwarf cleric of Moradin.
• Primeiro d’Pirazzi, human mage extraordinaire.
• Ulther Stormwind, human fighter from Icewind Dale.

At the Helm and Cloak, the PCs compared notes from their experiences in the city thus far: Primeiro and Ulther had been going about the streets, observing the polarizing extremes and moods of the classes. Both observed the Flaming Fist’s harsh treatment of the Outer City workers, the Watch’s treatment of the Lower City residents who came into the Upper City, and of course the general outrage at the recent vandalism and statue defacement. Meanwhile Shrain relayed his events in the Outer City, the attempted mugging, and the shadow figure who saved his life and demanded a meeting the next day at dusk in Little Calimshan.

Pictured: A Boo-less Minsc.

The next morning was drizzly and full of heightened outrage: This time the statue of the Beloved Ranger, Minsc and his miniature giant space hamster Boo, had been defaced. Disarmed, rather: Minsc’s hands were gone, and with them Boo. Where only the Upper and Lower City residents were angered by the previous day’s vandalism, now everyone was upset. Everyone loves Minsc and Boo, heroes of old and legendary companions of Duke Abdel himself from his adventuring days.

The PCs examined the area around the statue. Primeiro’s use of detect magic actually yielded two clues: (1) an enchanted gold, gem-studded brooch marked with the crest of Ravenshade (a patriar family known for its role in the gemstone trade) and (2) a magical dagger whose blade was marked with the crest of the Oberon—a patriar family who owns several drydocks in the Lower City. The PCs were forced to give up the brooch to the Watch who were on the scene, but managed to surreptitiously pocket the dagger without their notice.

To Shrain's dwarven eyes, it looked like the hands of the statue had perhaps been chiseled off with the dagger. There were even flecks of marble stuck to the blade, which was itself slightly bent, and the pommel was marred. Clearly, this act wasn't as precise or professional as the hand-thefts the previous night.

After searching around the statue, the PCs went to High Hall. There they finally met, at last, with Duke Torlin Silvershield, the High Artificer of Gond, in his offices. A tall, athletic, middle-aged man with immaculate armor and vestments, a neatly-trimmed salt-and-pepper beard, and calculating eyes, he seemed personable enough. The PCs had declined to meet with him on their first day in favor of meeting with Ulder Ravengard, and the duke acknowledged this fact briefly. He admitted that Ravengard was a good man and meant well for Baldur's Gate, but that he didn't think the Flaming Fist marshal sees the bigger picture—and that Ravengard has all the subtlety of a charging gorgon. The duke said that Ravengard thinks he can solve all problems with sheer force of arms. Sadly, the political and social situations in the city cannot be solved that way.

Duke Silvershield

Silvershield thanked the PCs for their service to the city thus far, anyway; had they not interfered in the Wide on that fateful day, more innocents would have been killed. But now he asked them if they would assist him in finding the truth behind the assassination of Duke Abdel, who had been a close friend of his. The PCs had proved themselves capable and had already shown to have an interest in bettering the state of things. Silvershield said he believed the Guild was responsible for Abdel's death, with its association with crime, deception, “foreign gods,” and even dark magic. The assassin had clearly not been a normal man, and must have been more than a mere hit man. Abdel had been murdered publicly; it was an act meant to be seen and mourned by many.

Silvershield was asked about Abdel's half-brother: according to the old stories, Abdel's fame came from his adventuring days, when he saved Baldur's Gate from imminent war. His half-brother, a warlord named Sarevok, was rumored to be possessed of evil, perhaps even divine powers. Some say he was even an agent of an evil god, one slain during the Time of Troubles but not quite forgotten. Sarevok had manipulated the now-disreputable merchant company known as the Iron Throne into instigating conflicts between Baldur's Gate and Amn. But Abdel had slain Sarevok and ended that scheme.

Sarevok

When asked about the sumptuary laws, Silvershield sighed and shook his head. He seemed to sympathize. "The Parliament has my hands tied," he said, and said perhaps in the days to come, he could convince them to reverse the laws. However, before he could trust the PCs with too much information, about his own efforts or even the Guild, he tasked them with finding the culprits behind the theft of the statues’ hands. The defacement of the Beloved Ranger could not be ignored. If they could find the guilty parties, the PCs were to bring them straight to Silvershield in the Upper City—ideally, the High Hall itself.

Primeiro asked, given the evidence they’d already acquired (he did mention the Ravenshade brooch), what the likelihood of a patriar family being responsible. Silvershield didn’t shy away from this possibility. If evidence could be found that a patriar was responsible, they would face the Council of Four's justice. But again, the culprits must be brought to him, not be turned over to the Flaming Fist and made into a public spectacle. Shrain mentioned the Waterdeep connection with the assassin's weapon, and Silvershield admitted the possibilities of foreign powers striking against Baldur's Gate. But clearly, he believed their enemy was within the city.

And so the PCs set out to continue their own investigations. They questioned the lady of the house at Ravenshade Manor and learned that her son, Vendyr, had not yet returned from a revelry on the previous night. She remarked that he was likely with another boy, Marek Oberon. The PCs confirmed the Oberon-Ravenshade connection when they went to one of the Oberon shipyards in the Lower City and even made the acquaintance of one of the ferrymen who provide boat access across the harbor. They wanted to question a ferryman who’d have been on duty during the evening hours (named Wald) but his friend said he wouldn’t be back until the evening again.

They also met with Ravengard again, for the Flaming Fist had employed the boy Allyck to find them. When they'd concluded their initial questioning, the PCs walked to the Sea Tower of Balduran, where the Flaming Fist marshal was in the midst of training exercises, squaring off in mock combat against four of his soldiers.

Ravengard told them their efforts to close down the Oasis and the Low Lantern had been largely successful—the Guild would have lost a foothold and meeting place in the Lower City without the latter—but that it would have been more successful had they captured Laraelra Thundreth, the Guild-affiliated sorceress. Ravengard went on to ask them what they'd been involved in since then and he spoke of his anger and concern about the many damaged statues. Ultimately, he wished them to find the culprits—like Silvershield—but he wanted the guilty parties brought to him there at the Seatower for processing. The Seatower of Balduran is a prison as well as a fortress. The guilty parties, he said, would face public trial.

Ravengard even offered to give the PCs an honory rank in the Flaming Fist, granting them the uniform and authority of a flame (a lieutenant) with none of the corresponding duties; instead, they would report directly to him. Their task now was to bring in those who were responsible for the statue vandalism. While the PCs accepted the new uniforms (white tabards displaying the Flaming Fist livery and their ranks), they weren't convinced that it was best, at this time, to go about openly with the uniforms on. Still, they took them.

From the Seatower, the PCs intended to meet with the mysterious man who bid them come to Little Calimshan at dusk—not a fact they'd shared with Ravengard or Silvershield. There was still just enough time, so they crossed the harbor, then headed toward Basilisk Gate to the Outer City. On the way, they passed by the Shrine of Suffering. Primeiro had not, until then, met Brother Hodges, the humble priest of Ilmater who cares for the shrine and offers meager copper pieces and food to the poor who gather there.

Symbol of the Flaming Fist

The tired but friendly cleric beckoned them over and told them that someone had been looking for them: a lamp lass by the name of Chesserie who didn't know their names but wanted to find the "heroes of the Wide." Hodges said she'd be waiting by Heap Gate, the eastern-most gate to the Upper City and one of the several that only patriars are permitted to use.

Since it wasn’t too far off their course, the PCs agreed to look into this and they walked to the gate. There, a tired, disheveled young girl, bearing the lantern-staff of a lamp lass, was drowsing near the steps of the gate. When she realized who they were, she said she had something important to tell them, and she didn't know who else she could trust. Allegedly, a group of older kids—patriar kids—had come through the gate last night (from the Upper City) and had paid her well to lead them to the docks, and the ferry boats, and had tipped her exceedingly well to be quiet about it. But she couldn’t; she was afraid they’d done something bad. They were nervous and they carried a big backpack.

When the PCs thanked her for the information, she said, “Promise me. Promise me you’ll bring back Boo!”

Everyone in Baldur’s Gate loves Boo.

Have you seen this hamster?

At dusk, they did as they'd agreed the previous night: They went to the gate of Little Calimshan to meet with a stranger. The stranger appeared, hooded as before, and beckoned them inside the gates, then led them up a flight of stars, across a series of catwalks and backyards, and finally into a dark, empty lot behind a building.

Ushering them inside, he showed them into a room with flickering oil lamps hanging from copper chains and a fire pit in the center. Multicolored rugs and cushions blanked the floor in Calishite style. Heavy drapes obscured the walls and ceiling, creating the impression of being inside a tent. Sitting at the fire was a turbaned man with dark skin, a wrinkly face, and wrapped in an ornate, brocaded robe. The stranger sat beside him, then threw back the hood and tore away the false beard he wore. She wore. She was a young woman with shaggy hair, dark eyes, and skin that suggested a mixed heritage.

"Thank you for coming," she said. "I didn't know if you would, but I had great hope." The woman introduced herself as Rilsa Rael, owner of the pawnshop they were in—the Calim Jewel Emporium—and she admitted that she did work with the Guild. She said by now they'd have heard many terrible things about the Guild, that it was the scapegoat for the Watch and the Flaming Fist both. But Rael insisted that the Guild was the only protection the common people had against the unjustices of the city—especially for the lawless Outer City. For example, at the Calim Jewel Emporium overpays for the trinkets and trash that the poor bring in, using the money it secures through clandestine—and yes, often illegal—means.

The Guild, while many believe it to be a criminal organization, ultimately works to redistribute wealth to support those who are trodden upon by those with money and power. "Baldur's Gate is a merchant's town," she explained, "and gold greases its wheels." You have to pay to get in, and you often have to pay to get out. According to Rael, the government, the law enforcement, the wealthy are themselves corrupt. Toll and tax agents frequently demand bribes or confiscate alleged contraband, targeting folk from the Outer City because they know no one listens to the complains. The poor of the Outer City are being kept poor.

Only one voice, Rael said, existed for the poor: Duke Abdel Adrian. With him gone, things would only get worse. Were already getting worse, as they themselves had no doubt seen.

Rael asked for their help. She knew they were already working for the Flaming Fist (representative of the Lower City and the law) and had potentially made agreements with Duke Silvershield (representative of the Upper City and the government), but she believed they were interested only in themselves or their visions of the city—not the everyday people who work and support Baldur's Gate. Certainly not the poor.

When asked about the vandalism and the statues, Rael admitted that the Guild had been involved in some of it. She said she knew of some people who might be connected to the stolen statue hands from the first night, and she was already looking into that—but the Guild had nothing to do with the defacement of the Beloved Ranger. Quite the contrary, even the poor of the Outer City were fond of that folk hero and his diminutive companion. She said that if the PCs wished to help her, they would indeed find the guilty ones behind that crime—and she, too, suspected it was the work of patriar youths—but she told them not to hand over the culprits to Silvershield. If the youths are returned to their families, they'll get a slap on the wrist, nothing more; their crimes will be hushed up, and the commoners of Baldur's Gate will be taxed to cover the damages. What Rael—what the Guild—wanted was true justice. In some ways, she wanted what Ravengard wanted, but she doesn't suggest a drawn-out, expensive trial under the care of the Flaming Fist. The families of the youths should be made to pay for the crimes—in gold and in humiliation. It should not fall on the poor, nor on the Guild.

Rilsa Rael

Toward that end, Rael suggested that the PCs bring the culprits to the Counting House by the docks in the Steeps district. There, its owner, a dwarf named Rakath Glitterbeard, would process them first and ensure that their families would be financially accountable. So the PCs would face a choice soon enough: hand them over to Silvershield, to Ravengard, or a clerk sympathetic to the Guild.

Rael's informants suggested that the youths had ventured to the Twin Songs district, the Outer City section near Wyrm's Crossing. So the PCs agreed to head there straightaway. It was already dark. Rael thanked them for coming and hoped they would help her. If she proved their interest in justice by bringing the culprits to the Counting House, she would trust them with more information. She said the Guild, too, wants to discover the truth behind Abdel's assassination.