Baldur's Gate [Plot]

[Renegade Paladin]

Baldur's Gate is a bustling metropolis port on Faerun's Sword Coast. Trade is the city's lifeblood, and almost anything barring slaves can be found for sale within its walls.

Black-helmeted guards heavily patrol the streets, on the lookout for members of the city's well-organized thieves' guild. A chapter of Gaheris' Vara'Dome operates here as well, though their agents are generally not conspicuous at all.

The Temple of Umberlee, one of the few public temples to the evil Queen of the Depths in Faerun, looms over the docks, reminding sailors of the everpresent potential of the Bitch Queen's wrath should they fail to pay her their proper due.
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Gaheris descended from the Liza Jane's gangplank and walked down the long shipping pier. He knew where he needed to go, and how he needed to get there.

[Renegade Paladin]

Gaheris continued into the city as no one else emerged from the ship.

[El Jaspero, the Pirate King]

Some time after Gaheris leaves, a small boat filled with a half-dozen halflings pulls away from the Liza Jane and makes its silent way to the wharf. In the blink of an eye the have tied up the boat and slipped into the city streets.

[Renegade Paladin]

"Erek," Gaheris said to the half-elf's back as he ducked through the back entrance of the safehouse.

The bard jumped and went for his rapier before seeing who it was. "Gaheris! What in Hades are you doing here? Last I'd heard, you'd vanished fighting the Night King in Westgate; everyone thinks you're dead."

Gaheris gave a concerned look. "What happened? I was shoved onto the teleportation circle that the vampires were using for an escape route by one of the blasts; I'm not sure what went wrong, but it misfired somehow. Too much power being tossed around or something; I wound up in a town on some other plane. I have no idea how the rest of the fight went."

Erek smiled broadly. "Then this should please you. Justice has been enacted at last; the Night King is destroyed. Your disappearance put Astinius in a right state, I can tell you that."

Gaheris gave a weak smile. "He's in a right state half the time."

"Ain't it the truth?" The Knight of Song chuckled before his facial expression altered slightly. "After all, you know what they say about young archmages and marbles..."

"You've gotta have 'em before you can lose 'em. Yes, Erek, it really is me."

He chuckled again. "Just had to make sure. You know that. How'd you get back?"

"The Town I wound up in is highly magical. May explain why the circle redirected there when it misfired, but anyway. I managed to hire a ship capable of sailing from one world's oceans to another's. I'm not entirely comfortable with it; she's evidently occasionally engaged in piracy. But I didn't have many other alternatives."

"So they're on their way, then?" Sune's favored paladin frowned at the mention.

"No. I'm going back." He held up his hand to ward off Erek Fletcher's inevitable objections. "I'm going to look to set up a portal. The Town needs us, needs Tyr's justice. And Sune's beauty too," he continued with an impish grin as his trusted lieutenant raised a hand for a good-natured objection. "Ilmater's mercy and Torm's courage couldn't hurt either. So the Night Masks are leaderless?"

"Crushed and breaking up into their component guilds, as far as we can tell."

"Good. I'll be taking some agents with me; might as well draw them from Westgate. I'll still leave most of the chapter; there's no telling what might come out of that hellhole next," he said, grimacing as he reminded himself of his home city's nature.

"All right. What do you need from me?"

"If you know a trusty wayfarer guide to take me to Westgate and come back with whoever's willing to come along, it'd be a great help. Other than that, just hold down the fort here while I'm gone," he instructed with a meaningful eyebrow twitch.

The bard nodded. "I'll do that. Ydreth Grinske is in town at the moment; I'm sure she could be hired on. You'll find her at the Guild."

"Thanks, old friend. If we can get that portal built, I'll be sure to come back often."

"I look forward to it," Erek responded as Gaheris stood and turned to leave the way he came. The crafty senior operative watched the door for a few moments after Gaheris left before standing up from his chair while humming a snatch of an old traveling ballad.


* * *


In another safehouse across the city, Dresafar suddenly sat up straight from the table he had been leaning over to play cards with the other men of his cell. The native of Calimshan seemed to listen to thin air for a few moments before putting his hand facedown on the table.

"We'll have to continue this another time, gentlemen," he said in his lilting accent. "Erek has a job for us." He briefly explained the magical message he'd just received before he and the other four men stood and grabbed weapons and tools before going out the door and heading towards the docks.

[Sorry El J. Would hate for you to have absolutely nothing to do. It's not that Gaheris doesn't like you; he just doesn't trust you. :smallbiggrin:]

[El Jaspero, the Pirate King]

The squad of halflings calmly meanders back to their rowboat and heads back to the Liza Jane with smooth, even casual, carelessness. Only a keen observer would note their relief upon reaching the frigate's safety, the fact that two of them are limping, the cloaks worn over ragged and bandaged clothing even in the midday heat.

They skulk off to head for cabins and clerics, but are pulled up short by the Pirate King himself standing in the aft causeway.

"Gentlemen."

The halflings shift uneasily under his gaze, and he nods to them. "Gaelon, to my cabin. The rest of you, go get cleaned up and tell Adania I said no scars." The captain and his second mate head within as the rest of the team heads nervously below.

[Renegade Paladin]

"Rowboat returning to the ship. They must have come ashore before we were in place," Dresafar mumbled into his hand as he pretended to stifle a yawn. He slipped the listening coin back into his money pouch as he went back to shifting crates around, acting like any other dockworker.

[Amiria]

The two drow and Earin Duskwalker appear on some plaza in Baldur's Gate. If he was in Baldur's Gate before he can tell that it is somewhere in the lower part of the town near the harbor. "Where now ?", asks Vhroom.

[Renegade Paladin]

"This way," Earin said after taking a moment to gain his bearings. He set off at a walk into the warehouse district.

[Amiria]

Vhroom and his daughter follow Earin through the streets.

[Renegade Paladin]

After a few minutes of walking, the three arrived in an alley behind a row of warehouses. Earin took a moment to examine the back wall of one of them, surreptitiously touching certain slats as he did so, all the while acting like he was simply searching for a switch. He did "find" the switch after a few seconds, and a section of the wall slid away.

"Who goes there?" A wary voice rasped out the question in a low tone.

"A friend," Earin answered.

"Ah. I'm having trouble striking the flint in my lantern; do you know how to dispel this damnable darkness?"

"The way to destroy the shadow is to increase the light," the bard answered, giving the correct response phrase to the coded demand for a password.

"Yep, that's the way," the lookout answered, and took the hood off of the lantern he was carrying. "Get in."

Earin nodded his thanks and motioned to his two followers.

[Amiria]

Vhroom and his daughter follow Earin through the wall.

[Renegade Paladin]

The back rooms of the warehouse were outfitted in a rather spartan manner. A few men and women of various races tended to business, ignoring the newcomers. It was not long before Earin stopped in front of a half-elf.

"Erek," the bard said to the Knight of Song with a smile. "Gaheris sends me. These good people have agreed to construct a portal for us to the Town. We will soon have need of help there, he feels."

Erek Fletcher turned and regarded the visitors. "I am Sir Erek Fletcher, the Knight of Song. And you are not all you seem to be, though none of us are here," he said with a knowing look.

[Raistlin1040]

Ozzy rides his horse to the port, with "Erin" (His Guisarme) in hand.

[Renegade Paladin]

[ Amazing how he can just ride to another plane when everyone else has to go to extraordinary magical effort...]

[Raistlin1040]

((...Teleporting horse? Would that work?))

[Amiria]

"My name is Vhroom. This is my daughter Iliamue. She will stay here to work on this side of the connection.", says Vhroom. "Where would that be ?"

[Renegade Paladin]

"Gaheris and I discussed the possibility of a portal, though I hadn't expected him to rush it along so soon. Things must be more dire than I thought on that end," the half-elf said. "The portal terminus we'd discussed is back here," he continued, and escorted them through a couple of other rooms to open a second secret door, this one revealing stairs leading down. "This is left over from when we used this as a bolthole, before the warehouse was abandoned to us and we took over entirely," he explained as he descended, producing a torch and lighting it on one of the burning lanterns in the hallway. "It's probably the most secure place available to us, and that's where we want it."

The room presently contained stores of emergency rations, as well as a vault similar to the one in Borin's hidden basement.

[Raistlin1040]

The elf and his horse get sucked into a portal.

[Amiria]

"Excellent, we'll begin immediately. Iliamue will stay here with you. My other daughter Alystra will commute between the two locations to ensure that everything stays straight.", says Vhroom and turns to leave. Iliamue opens a Portable Hole and begins to set up a magical workshop in the cellar.

[Renegade Paladin]

Erek smiled. "Of course," he said. He turned and went back up the stairs.

[Renegade Paladin]

Erek and Gaheris emerged through the portal in the safehouse's secure room, startling the young man who was dozing on guard duty. Seeing his absentee chapter leader and the head of his order suddenly standing before him, the young man awkwardly leapt to his feet.

"Now now, son, no reason to panic. Just passing through," Gaheris said with a mischievous smile to the mortified-looking young rogue. Erek simply chuckled.

"Come on, Yefim. You know better than that, he said, an amused grin on his face.

"Y... Yessir," the young man said. "I'll pay more attention next..."

"Not that," Erek said with a laugh, cutting him off. "You know we'll not hurt you; there's no need to hit the ceiling. You almost knocked over the stove," he said with a slightly more serious expression. Indeed, a small woodstove was burning near where Yefim had been sitting, ready to produce the key to the portal on a few minutes' notice.

"Sorry, sir," he said sheepishly.

"Right, just try to stay awake. I know it's boring duty, but if something happens, it's important that whoever's here is alert and ready to activate the portal," Gaheris admonished him. "We're in a hurry, though, so if you'll excuse us," he said as he resumed his grin.

Yefim nodded and opened the door for them. They emerged through the safehouse, greeting the various surprised-looking agents that they met on the way out, and proceeded to the wizards' guild to hire a wayfarer guide to teleport them to Silverymoon.
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After several hours, they returned to the safehouse, Amargein Ross in tow. The three men returned to the portal and, after boiling a pot of tea, passed through to the Town.

[Renegade Paladin]

Three people came out of the portal. Six walked back through, after having spread out through the city and then returning to the safehouse.

[I really don't feel like typing out one of my long, involved narratives at the moment, so we'll leave it at that for tonight.]