Session 8: Schemes and Sepulchers

Characters involved:

• Amaril, elf cleric of Helm.
• Primeiro d’Pirazzi, human mage extraordinaire.
• Shrain, dwarf cleric of Moradin.
• Zelder, halfling rogue and pastry aficionado.
• Vaicht, elf monk of Kelemvor.
• Rulas, elf ranger.

After several days of their own snooping about, after following up one of Zelder's leads (in vain, sadly) about a superior fruit cake, the PCs headed towards the Hissing Stones bathhouse, where the'd been invited to meet with Ravengard.

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On the way, they noticed a lamp lad selling copies of Baldur's Mouth to citizens on the street. But Vaicht noticed that the boy sold a copy of the broadsheet to one citizen that appeared to come from a different stash of them. Unusual. After bribing the boy, the PCs procured a copy of this other paper which, upon further study, Primeiro discovered contained a hidden code once properly folded. The message was: “Gather at the last bell above the ankle of the Sow’s Foot.”

The last bell was midnight, while the Sow's Foot was a district in the Outer City. In addition, there was an establishment in that district known as Hamhock's Slaughterhouse; they recalled that a hamhock was the cut of the pig above the ankle. It seemed there was to be some sort of secret meeting at the slaughterhouse that very night.

At the Hissing Stones—a place of serenity, heated rooms and pools, and very little clothing (except silk robes, which the PCs had to accept)—they met with Ulder Ravengard. He was grim, as always, but still thanked them for their part in bringing the hand-thieves to justice. Now he had another task for them.

There was talk now that a new duke was due to be appointed by the Parliament of Peers and three men had been nominated already:

1. Ravengard himself. Traditionally, the fourth duke comes from or is associated with the Lower City. Duke Abdel, for example, not had not been a patriar.
2. Wyllyck Caldwell, a respectable patriar and, according to Ravengard, a good man.
3. Ariax Rillyn, a patriar and judge.

There was, however, a rumor that the Parliament of Peers wanted to stack the Council with a fourth patriar and cut the Lower City out of the government altogether. While Ravengard admitted he wasn't excited at the prospect of a politician's seat, he did say that it would give him, and the Flaming Fist, the authority to "squeeze the dirty water out of this city," like they should have long ago. To bring order to Baldur's Gate again. According to him, the patriars lacked the courage to properly "wield the Fist."

However, Ravengard knew he wasn't the favorite of the three. Caldwell, while respectable and well-intentioned, would simply be manipulated by the other patriars—he would be little more than a puppet. Ravengard intended to speak with him separately and see if he could be convinced to decline the nomination.

Ulder Ravengard

And Ariax Rillyn? According to Ravengard, the man was a monster in a seat of officialdom. Ravengard said he'd presided over many cases involving Guild agents and operatives, and he almost always let them walk free. He was clearly on the Guild's payroll! Ravengard explained that he had a plan he wasn't happy about, but believed it would remove him as an obstacle for the office of duke. He simply needed some incriminating evidence to "surface," and he asked the PCs to do this. He admitted it was underhanded, but given the circumstances, he had to "fight fire with fire."

The task: after dark, place several items (that Ravengard would entrust them with) inside the crypt of the Szarr family in the district of Tumbledown just outside the eastern gate. Ravengard would handle the rest; they need only deliver the goods. The PCs agreed, with some deliberation, although it was clear that they weren't especially keen on Ravengard's methods or what, if anything, lay behind all this. Was this really just a move to place himself in a position of greater political power? Until now, the marshal had been at least direct and honest about his actions.

When asked about money, Ravengard conceded that if they did this task, he would see them compensated. After the meeting at the bathhouse, three items were delivered to the PCs in a bundle, the items to be planted in the Szarr crypts after dark. A blood-stained dagger, a pipe, and the broken head of a cane—all one way or another clearly marked as belonging to Ariax Rillyn. The PCs were disappointed about how obvious—about how too obvious—such items were. Clearly Ravengard was new to such underhanded tactics.

Before dark, the PCs did some further investigations on their own. Vaicht spied on the lamp lad they'd purchased the broadsheet from earlier, marked another citizen buying the "special" edition of Baldur's Mouth, and followed the stranger to his home. Just for future reference. Meanwhile, Primeiro, in the guise of a more affluent citizen, visited the offices of Baldur's Mouth to speak with its owner, a man named Eldren Needle. The mage told him that in the morning, there would be word of some incident during the night; Baldur's Mouth should remain impartial and not jump to conclusions concerning the event. Eldren couldn't promise him anything, but he would consider it. Primeiro said he'd return.

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The others, meanwhile, drafted up a written account of what Ravengard had asked them to do, signed it with their names, and showed it to a worried Brother Hodges, telling him where they would hide the document (inside the shrine of Helm), in case things get ugly and they need some sort of absolving. Perhaps? The Ilmatari priest agreed, said he would help if he could, but was most concerned that any inquisition would affect the poor he attended to each day.

After dark, with the help of a ranger acquaintance of Shrain's—Rulas, an elf who'd done mercenary work, like him—they exited the city and walked up the hill toward Tumbledown. There, they found at the base of the cliffs the door to the Szarr crypts. Rulas found that the door was ajar and the stench of rotting flesh was strong beyond. Not a good sign. But the PCs were fazed.

Inside, down a curving stair cut into the bedrock, they found the crypts. Bones had been interred in the walls and there were a pair of sarcophagi. But there was also a smear of blood upon the ground that trailed around the corner....  Already prepared for an ambush, the PCs were not surprised when their voices drew the attention of the crypt's current occupants and were attacked.

It was three hideous, fang-mouthed, tongue-writhing ghouls, clad in rags and hissing for fresh met—and they were led by a spell-using, cowled stranger whose actions and ugly ritual scars marked him as another deranged cultist. The ghouls were blasted with spells, blades, and arrows, though one of them managed to slash open one of Vaicht's arteries and send him slipping to the ground in a spray of blood. They got the elf back on his feet with some timely healing magic, though the cultist used a spell that gave Primeiro a painful, shirt-staining wound.

The battle ended quite promptly when the last of the ghouls had been dropped and Shrain—still angry from his recent battles but quite possibly just because he's a cantankerous dwarf—buried the entirety of his battle axe into the cultist's torso. Scale male, cloth, flesh, and bone parted smoothly and the man went down in a fountain of gore.