Session 6: The Rumor of Dead Gods

Initial characters involved:

• Shrain, dwarf cleric of Moradin.
• Ulther Stormwind, human fighter from Icewind Dale.

From Little Calimshan, Ulther and Shrain headed down the long road of the Outer City towards the district of Twin Songs. This is where evidence (their own and Rael's intel) indicated the statue-thieves had gone. It was already well into the night.

Twin Songs was a bit less run-down than the other districts of the Outer City, perhaps due to its proximity to Wyrm’s Crossing and Wyrm’s Rock, the fortress of the Flaming Fist. As the human and dwarf approached the ramp leading up toward the bridge of Wyrm’s Crossing, they saw a curios trio standing in the firelight—a human and a pair of mismatched elves. The human was fairly nondescript compared to his companions. One elf wore simple garments and carried little more than a pair of daggers, looking a bit rougher than most wood elves, with short-cropped hair, a “bandage” over one eye, and the scars of many brawls; the other, armored in scale male despite his slight frame and bearing a holy symbol...of Helm.

Helm, the Vigilant One, the Watcher, the god of guardians...slain many years ago. Already ill-favored by many due to his righteous involvement in the Time of Troubles, Helm's faith had only dwindled further since his death. But apparently, some kept his tenets alive.

In any case, the group didn’t look like Baldurians. Foreigners, then, just like Ulther, Shrain, and their other companions. Newly arrived to the city—and what a time to be visiting, with so much unrest.

New characters:

Symbol of Helm,
the Vigilant One

• Amaril, elf cleric of Helm.
• Pisqual "Piper" Dunraven, human rogue.
• Vaicht, elf monk of Kelemvor.

The trio were talking about what to do next, and Amaril had been explaining to his companions that he'd been led to Baldur's Gate because of a vision he'd received. In it, an aging human male in heavy plate armor lay dying in front of the shrine of Helm. Three shadow figures loomed over him, threatening, lurking, but not touching him.

As Amaril was describing this, they were attacked. A thin dart ricocheted harmlessly off of Amaril's armor, and as Vaicht and Amaril went to investigate the source of the dart, ruffians with crossbows came into view and took shots primarily at Amaril. Ulther and Shrain joined in to assist the newcomers, concluding that they're probably not deserving of assassination. And Shrain was taking it personally—thugs with crossbows in the dark bothered had earned his eternal ire. Amaril's spells lit up the dark and spewed fire upon their enemies.

The thugs were driven off, frightened by an excessive show of force, but the man behind the attack turned out to be a ritually-scarred human wearing armor beneath his cloak, a mace, and a caster of spells. With a mere gesture and foul utterance, he sent Piper tumbling to the ground, bleeding badly. Ulther, Shrain, and Vaicht took him down—one arm cut cleanly off—but in his death throes, the freakish man spasmed, bled more than he ought to have, and his bones seemed to pop and dislocate themselves. The result was that he looked like he'd been slain in far more violent a manner, a display that reminded Sharin and Ulther both of Duke Abdel's assassin.

Flaming Fist soldiers heard the commotion and came onto the scene. Ulther displayed the silver brooch and it inspired their cooperation. Nevertheless, the Flaming Fist took charge of the scene and carried the dead man's body back to the Wymr's Rock. Vaicht bound Piper's grave wound, and Shrain used a brief prayer from Moradin to revive him. The PCs followed, with the three newcomers allowed to join them on Ulther's allowance.

Symbol of Bhaal,
Lord of Murder

The PCs didn't initially find any clues on the corpse, but then Amaril spoke up and convinced the others to let him examine the body. Doing a thorough search, the elf priest revealed a dark red tattoo on the man's back which depicted a skull surrounded by a halo of tears. Or blood drops? He recognized it as the symol of Bhaal, the Lord of Murder, god of assassins....who also happened to be long dead. In fact, Bhaal had been slain before Helm, during the Time of Troubles.

But he knew of some old stories that suggested that Bhaal had some foreknowledge of his own death so he went among mortals and spread his essence. Old lore suggested that his foul dissemination involved Baldur's Gate somehow....

At this point, Ulther wanted to get back on track. Trusting the newcomers more now, he broadly outlined what was going on in the city—some of which they'd gleaned during the day when they first arrived fresh from the road. He also told them that he was charged with investigating defacement and theft of the statues' hands. The whole city wanted justice, but three specific agencies wanted the culprits found and has tasked Ulther and his companions with finding them: Duke Silvershield, Marshal Ravengard, and more recently, Rilsa Rael of the Guild.

The PCs decided to ask around, so they started with a local water hole. Finding a lead, and the purchase of a substantial amount of watered-down, not-so-great ale, they went down by the banks of the river beneath the abutment of the Wyrm's Crossing bridge to talk to a local man the barkeep had called Squinty. He was a ragged, homeless-looking fellow, with a scraggly beard and a very ugly, if old, wound on his face that had long since taken his eye. Bribing him with ale, the PCs learned that a group of patriar youths had indeed reached the shore here by means of a ferry from the harbor. Squinty said they were nervous and they carried something in a backpack. He heard them say they were going to "Hadru's place" on Wyrm's Crossing—evidently Hadru, whoever that was, owed one of the kids' families a favor.

It didn't take long—by asking a Flaming Fist soldier—to find out that Hadru owned a pottery shop just a little ways down the street from Wyrm's Rock. Piper make short work of the lock on Hadru's front door, and they snuck inside—only to be confronted by the potter himself, who was rattled and swiveled a hand crossbow at them. The PCs couldn't keep their initial ruse up, but they eventually leveled with him and explained that they wouldn't tell on him if he revealed what he knew.

What Hadru knew: Six kids—patriar youths all—had come to him seeking a place to hide. They were in his cellar even then, hiding out. Since there was a balcony jutting from the cellar, which overlooked the river, there was concern that confronting them might make them do something rash.