Session 41 - Baldurs Gate (recap)

In this session, our party arrived in Baldur’s Gate, explored, found Ackyn Selebon, and reunited…

Baldur’s Gate

• Aegar and Pliny, on their boat, traveled below Wyrm’s Crossing and docked in the Steeps.
• Aegar asked Pliny what the customs were, and Pliny did his level best to bring Aegar up to speed.
• The captain pointed them to a dockmaster, who was wearing a medallion of scales, signifying his membership as an official of the Merchant’s Guild.
  • The dockmaster approached: “Good day. What’s your business here?”
  • Pliny talked about being back to visit the old stomping ground at Hopstra University. Aegar described his plan to enroll in Hopstra and become a bard. His abysmal singing (“Take me home, country road…”) got him a small discount.
  • “For you, college boy, 5 silver pieces, and for you mister ‘bard in knightly armor’ a gold piece for you sir.”
  • Pliny graciously offered to cover both (and asked about purchasing earplugs)
    • The dockmaster pointed Pliny to Hans’ Mercantile
• Pliny and Aegar wished Krusk well, and sent him home to Elturel.

Exploring

• Pliny and Aegar set out to find a place to call home base and make a plan to find Zoyana, before Pliny began reminiscing.
• As they walked Pliny, more-or-less, gave Aegar a history of Baldur’s Gate.
  • Prior to the conversation, Aegar knew of the Flaming Fist and among them Marshal Ulder Ravengard, Grand Duke and member of the Council of Four.
  • He may or may not have known less about Baldur’s Gate by the time they found their inn.
• Pliny expressed some… discomfort… with being back to Baldur’s Gate.
• Pliny tried to suggest the Mooseknuckle Motel, a nice single-story, half-timbered building of nice reinforced wood, but apparently not to Aegar’s taste.
• They settled upon Baldur’s Burrow, a nice stone-walled building with several stained glass windows.
  • Inside, it had a nice mosaic tile floor that made Aegar feel a bit at home.
  • As they entered, they were greeted by a smiling overweight male human, “Good afternoon, how can I help you fellows?”
    • (With a Deception 21 check) Pliny reminded the innkeeper of the Looting Luters band and their fabulous shows.
    • The innkeeper showed them to Pliny’s “usual rooms” that overlooked the main street that bisected the Steeps and led straight to the main Baldur’s Gate.
• Aegar and Pliny spent some time discussing how they might reconnect with Zoyana, and decided on leaving a note in Brampton for her.
• They traversed the bustling city from the Steeps through Heapside then Eastway and finally to the Brampton docks.
  • They asked around about weird happenings in the town, including giant crocodiles and dark-skinned silver-haired halflings.
    • All they found was a fisherman who started telling them a tale of harpies, and it didn’t take long to realize that he was making up the story as he went.
• They discussed that they might be going about their search the wrong way. The only thing they all knew was their need to search out and find Ackyn Selebon.
  • On their way through Eastway, a dock with a lone boat caught his eye, being the only one in sight that wasn’t at capacity. The Patience of the Waves bounced as gently as its name implied while tied to the dock.
• They made their way back through Eastway, Heapside, and the Steeps, entering the Upper City through Baldur’s Gate proper.
• They paid their silver pieces and wound their way to the Black Gate.

Zoyana’s entrance

• After her on-foot travels, Zoyana circled as far around the Outer City as possible, only leaving the wilderness to enter in Stonyeyes.
• She made a bee-line for the nearest pub, with the intent on finding Ackyn Selebon.
  • The one she found had a sign so worn she couldn’t make out the image or words. Inside was filled with dark wood, and stunk like piss and beer.
  • Inside were a handful of rough-looking customers: a female dwarf with curly brown hair wearing what might have been chainmail, a wretched-looking male dwarf, and behind the bar a much nicer-looking female dwarf.
  • Zoyana placed a silver piece on the bar and ordered an ale. She asked for Ackyn Selebon, but just got ale for her coin.
  • For the price of a second silver piece, she learned that outfitters like Ackyn operated at both ends of the city, and she was likely north of the city in the Blackgate and got directions to the East Gate and roughly from through the city to the Blackgate.
    • “Down a bit you’ll see the big road. Take a right.”
    • “In front of you, you’ll see the gates a couple blocks down.”
    • “Pay the guards, be polite to them, and walk inside.”
    • “Then them follow those trekking, because if you’re paying attention you’ll see that just about everyone is either heading down to the docks or they’re heading to the Wide or they’re heading to the Black Gate.”
    • “And if they’re heading to the Wide the Black Gate, they’re heading your way.”
    • “Once you get to Baldur’s Gate in the middle of the city, ask the guards, pay them, and they will point you to the Blackgate.”
• Walking through the crowd toward the East Gate, Zoyana clutched her gear close, and completely missed the ordered queue of people lining up to enter.
  • She was stopped by the guards
  • The guards were polite but firm, questioning her about her intentions and needs.
  • She started talking to herself about Pliny Melvin Pan and hopefully Ackyn Selebon, and (Persuasion double Nat 1) convinced the guards that she needed some intervention. Her attempts to talk her way out just dug herself in deeper.
    • She was saved by a young guard, Thorey who was familiar with the ministrations of the Church of Selune.
    • He politely discussed with Zoyana what she was doing in Baldur’s Gate (never been here, searching for Ackyn Selebon a seller of wares.)
    • He escorted her through the Lower City, through Baldur’s Gate, and into the Temples District.

Ackyn Selebon & Skeleton Skull-Skin

• Pliny and Aegar talked up the guards at the Black Gate, and got directions to Ackyn Selebon’s shop on the main road, just a couple blocks up.
• What they found was a walled compound with a wide-open gate.
  • In it were a number of buildings buildings set up to maintain and sell all the material needed for long-distance freight hauling: wagons, rope, netting, grease, chains, wheels, and so on. There was a roofed holding pen for horses and livestock, and a large barn with wide open doors that was their workshop.
    
  • At the back, there was a building that looked more like a tavern or merchant shop, with a bunch of hustle and bustle surrounding it.
• As they turned the corner into the compound, Aegar in the lead, a little boy wearing black clothes with white chalk drawn onto it making a skeleton jumped out: “I’m Skeleton Skull-Skin! Fear me!”

• Aegar jumped in “fright” and told the boy that he was so scared that he wasn’t sure he could come in.
  • They boy jumped around in frightening poses: “Hey! Of course you can come in! Everybody can come in!”
  • Aegar thanked him, and the boy yelled out “You can’t see me!” and jumped and turned around, exposing his all-black clothes.
  • Aegar, quite “confused”, had a jovial conversation with the boy about looking like a dragon and coming from far away where “Everyone looks like a dragon”
    • Boy: “Everyone looks like a dragon? Then what do I look like?”
    • Aegar: “You look like a skeleton.”
    • Boy: “Yes I do! I like you. You’re my friend.”
    • Aegar: “And I you.”
    • The boy ran away.
• After the encounter with Skeleton Skull Skin, Pliny wondered aloud “Aegar, do you want kids? Do you have kids?”
  • A: “Uh, it does not quite work that way, where I am from. We are raised as a village and so I have had many people around me who were not of my brood. But I enjoy kids. I think that they are wonderful. They bring out the the best.”
  • A: “But I myself. Do not have a brood no.”
  • They then bonded over the loss of Pliny’s relationship with Widow Swift.
• Aegar and Pliny were pointed to the building in the back. Inside, they saw the public office space of this facility, including a group of merchants in travel worn cloaks and hats.
  • There was a silver haired lady sitting on the lone desk, facing out towards the room and engaging the merchants in pretty active conversation. She was fit and trim, and could clearly toss a hay bale.
  • Aegar and Pliny stopped to wait at the entrance, next to a small bar that seemed to hold a variety of liquors and drinks.
  • Pliny stepped back out and cast Unseen Servant, failing miserably to hide his ministrations (Stealth 3), sending it to the entrance with a message to find Pliny if it sees Zoyana.
• It only took a moment for the lady to look over as Pliny returned and hold up a finger to the guys that she had been talking to as she addressed Aegar and Pliny: “Hello, how can I help you?”
  • Aegar: “We are looking for Ackyn Selebon. We bring word from Ontharr Frume.”
    • When Aegar said her name, she said “That’s me, welcome…” and then as he mentioned Frume, she frowned briefly and then turned to the merchants: “Gentlemen, I really look forward to doing business with you further. The guys outside will take care of you is there anything else you need.” And then she pointed Aegar and Pliny over to the table and chairs on the other side of the room.
• The merchants looked over at Aegar and Pliny and squinted at them a little bit and then walked out.
  • The lady followed them slightly smiling as they left and then closed the door.
• She turned back to Aegar and Pliny: “What are you doing throwing around a name like that?”
  • She sighed “Who are you and what did he sent me?”
  • Aegar shared that he sent the party to her and that they brought word of the Cult of the Dragon.
    • She seemed familiar: “What are those dead-lovers doing now?”
  • Aegar shared what they knew: they planned to come through the city and up to the Mere of the Dead Men, that they were bringing a cargo of a dangerous nature, and that the party planned to stop them in there in Baldur’s Gate.
    • Ackyn: “Find them yes, stop then no.”
• Ackyn walked over and poured a drink, offering some to the two (Pliny declined, Aegar accepted some wine)
• Aegar continued sharing:
  • They expected the caravan to be small-to-mid sized, 3 or 4 carts led by the Cult of the Dragon.
  • They would be heading North and so should be coming through the Black Gate.
• Pliny mindfully and ostentatiously opened the Journal of the Five Leaf Clover and guided her through the things they had see and what they knew.
• She pulled the book out of his hands and began paging through as she grilled them for more information
  • What are they carrying? Dragon eggs? How many? Where did they come from?
  • They were also shipping a substantial amount of loot and were led by a black half-dragon.
  • The party was pretty certain that there was a dragon nested in the Mere of Dead Men and it would make sense that they were taking the loot there via the Trade Way through Waterdeep and then north toward Neverwinter.
    • “Not by sail?” “We are not sure, but with the winter Leosin and Frume did not seem to think so.”
• Ackyn: “That asshole. So… you’re searching for a load that you don’t really know what is, you know that they’re headed a long way away, you don’t know whether they’re headed by road or by sail, and presumably the Cult of the Dragon has a giant sign on the wagon saying ‘Cult of the Dragon’?”
  • Aegar: “You see why we need your help.”
  • Ackyn shared her thoughts: she hadn’t see anything interesting lately coming through the dark channels, and she hadn’t seen anything that was custom or discreet in that way. She sat back thinking for a while, “Dragon eggs… How would I carry dragon eggs? So you’re talking about closed boxes, hidden or not.”
    • They then had a more detailed discussion about how (un)sophisticated the Cult caravan was likely to be, that they were smart enough to split up the cargo, but most of them were probably either monks of the Cult of the Dragon or mercenaries, so neither practiced smugglers, and were led by a black half-dragon who usually seemed to wear purple regalia (not exactly subtle).
      • “Half dragon? That’s the kind of thing you’re supposed to lead with…” She confirmed that they were talking about a half-dragon, not a dragonborn like Aegar, and that a half-dragon was something they could put the word out for.
  • The party renewed their plan to get hired on as guards and follow/investigate rather than hijack them and steal the cargo. To find out what the Cult’s plans were, and go find “El Chapo”, and ambush them or investigate or whatever is appropriate at the time.
  • They remembered that the Cult had split their caravan to better hide the exit from the Greenfields, and that Rezmir planned to meet up and regroup in Baldur’s Gate before heading North.
• Aegar asked Ackyn whether it would be possible for her to delay the caravan a day or two. “Sure. Probably. Are they here and leaving tomorrow?”
• Aegar and Pliny finished up with Ackyn by making a plan:
  • Ackyn was going to put her feelers out for groups and caravans meeting the description the party had provided, including her contacts on the Crossing who see all of the caravans and good coming up from the South.
    • If she found them, she would try to subtly delay the caravan for the party.
  • Aegar and Pliny gave Ackyn Zoyana’s description, and then headed back to Baldur’s Burrow to regroup
  • If no messages were passed before, they would touch base in the next couple days and see if anyone had learned anything.

Baldur’s Burrow

• Aegar returned to Baldur’s Burrow for a nice bath and reminiscence about being under water.
• Pliny (Performance 24) put together a strong evening singing Wonderwall, making the innkeeper happy with the drinking customers. Throughout the night, he regularly dedicated songs to a friend lost in the city, and he described Zoyana to the crowd and asked for anyone who saw here to tell her that they had heard about her at Baldur’s Burrow.

The next morning

• As Pliny and Aegar were finishing their (not continental) breakfast, a messenger from Ackyn arrived with a note saying that Ackyn had news for them and to stop by when they had a chance.
• The boys headed through the city to Ackyn’s compound. Pliny heckled Aegar for his visit to the bathhouse the whole way, including “I’ve always considered you a WAP Aegar: a Wet Assed Paladin.”, pheromones, and splashing water.
• Aegar noticed a little head sticking out and then disappear behind the gate as they approached.

• As he rounded the corner, Aegar felt a engulfed in magic and felt himself start to hunch over in an urge to end up on all fours, and then he snapped out of it.
  • He looked around and saw a pleasant sight: Zoyana raising her arms and yelling "My friends!"
  • She ran over and hugged Aegar about the knees. He responded by patting here awkwardly on the shoulder.
• From across the yard, Ackyn raised an arm to the party: "Aye, I found her!" before returning to her work.
• Zoyana sidled up and snuggled a bit against Pliny (while holding her nose from the imagined smell).
  • And then got barreled over by an invisible Fang, who the others had basically forgotten about.
• With hugs all around, the session ended…

Loot

+

NPCs Interacted With

• Krusk, the Paladin
• Boat captain
• Dockmaster
• Innkeeper at Baldur’s Burrow
• Thorey the Flaming Fist guard
• Ackyn Selebon
• Skeleton Skull-Skin

Locations Visited

• River Chionthar
• Baldur’s Gate
• Steeps docks
• Eastway docks
• Baldur’s Burrow
• Unnamed pub in the Stonyeyes District
• Blackgate
• Selebon’s Outfitters
• Temple of Selune

Experience Per Character