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D&d - Murder In Baldurs blogger.com [2nvk19rlk]. AGE 12+ 4 MURDER IN BALDUR’S GATE CAMPAIGN GUIDE CREDITS Design Ed Greenwood, Matt Sernett, Alexander Winter, THE SUNDERING Murder in Baldur’s Gate is set during the time of the Sundering, a period of years after when many of the gods designate mortals to be their Chosen. These Murder in Baldurs Gate - Adventure Book Click the start the download DOWNLOAD PDF Report this file Description Download Murder in Baldurs Gate - Adventure Book Free in pdf 10/06/ · Murder in baldur’s gate 5e free pdf The only official D&D 5e tabletop products in which Baldur’s Gate has appeared are: Murder in Baldur’s Gate – this includes a page Dungeons & Dragons Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus Hardcover Book (D&D Adventure) [Wizards RPG Team] on download *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. View flipping ebook ... read more
The poor of the Outer City are being kept poor. She hopes to carry on his work. She implies that no action will be taken against the dwarf unless they do something. This is untrue, though. I help the Guild give people hope. People show her a level of deference that far exceeds her station as a shop owner. The rooms are clean, and the characters can use them for as long as they work for Rael. They notice that the Calim Jewel Emporium does little pawnshop business. As the Guild becomes more violent, characters who have cooperated with Rael might decide they would rather work for someone else or might balk at being involved in the unsavory activities the organization sponsors. The Guild kingpin argues that measured, judicious violence now could avert an open revolt by Outer City residents. By now the heroes either know too much about her operation and the Guild, or Rael suspects they do.
Rael does her best to part on good terms. She wishes the characters happy, prosperous lives wherever their roads take them. As soon as the adventurers are out of earshot, she orders their assassination through whatever means you devise. MEETING RAVENGARD If the characters have not gone to meet Rael, use the Nant Thangol encounter see the previous page as a precursor to their meeting with Ravengard, since they would have to leave the city through the same gate. He motions you over. Those slums and ghettos are breeding groundsfor a criminal cabal called the Guild. The Flaming Fist is charged with defrnding the Gate. It owns the Outer City. These monstersfind victims wherever the Fist is not.
They grow bolder daily. They infest our politics and businesses. Yet a Guild assassin attacked him in broad daylight. I will crush themfor it. If they decline, Ravengard offers them quarters in the barracks for the night. Working for Ravengard Ravengard is not a zealot or a fascist— not yet, anyway. Ravengard resents the characters only if they leave his service on poor terms or have access to very sensi tive information. He releases them from their Flaming Fist duties, provided they plan to leave town. The difficulty for the DM is that players can push events in any direction. In such a case, the most likely courses of action are described below, along with advice on how to handle them.
The first time the heroes try this, it might work. And any of the three antagonists would jump to the obvious conclusion if new allies were seen consorting with the enemy. Kill One of Them: Once the characters identi1j an agent as a villain, the urge to kill that antagonist could be strong. Despite the rampant corruption in the city, the Flaming Fist and the Watch are effective police forces when they choose to be. Both have extensive networks of spies. The characters might become convinced that Torlin Silvershield and Ulder Ravengard are involved in dirty deal- ings. But they are two of the most powerful people in the city, and killing either of them would unleash a firestorm of outrage among the thousands of their supporters among the Watch, the patriars, worshipers of Gond, the Flaming Fist, and the professional guilds, as well as the regular citizenry. Escaping from the city after committing such an act would be nearly impossible—if the killing could be carried out at all.
The characters should realize that fact when they privately meet with either leader. Similarly, Rilsa Rael is a beloved figure in the Outer City, and thousands would mourn her passing. Given her occupa tion, though, most would assume that Guild rivals had killed her. Kill Them All: lIf the heroes assassinate one or two of the antagonists, they push the survivor or survivors closer to Bhaal. If the adventurers assassinate all three, they dem onstrate great skill at murder—the exact qualification for becoming the Chosen of Bhaal. In that event, whichever character was the most prolific or effective killer becomes the Chosen of Bhaal. Her landlord, Entharl Danthelon, assures neighbors Brackrel is a harmless alchemist, and he sticks to that story if the characters ask. The young, dark-haired wizard has been known to speak out against the patriars from time to time. Char acters interviewing Brackrel notice pigment stains on her hands and face and that she smells of charcoal and essential salts, all signs pointing to alchemy.
If the char acters demand to search her room, Brackrel refuses to let them in without a writ. Nothing in her apart ment links her to the Guild or anything evil. That said, strange alchemy items do fill her shelves. If the characters take Brackrel into custody, she is released again in a few days. Target 2 is a middle-aged half-elf named Laraelra Thundreth. The mothballed ship is a festhall, tavern, and gambling house, but its chief service is providing a covert meeting spot for those who have illicit plans to discuss. Thundreth, who keeps her black hair in an intricate braid, is careful to observe the letter of the law, and she freely passes money under the table to ensure a smooth operation. Thundreth allows a search if a character presents the writ and makes a DC 10 Charisma check to persuade or intimidate him—a search that produces nothing incriminating.
They all know the rules, too; no one pulls a weapon unless a character draws first. While the characters are either negotiating with Thundreth or brawling with patrons, several Flam ing Fist mercenaries privates burst down the ladder and start turning the deck upside down. They pour out pitchers of ale, knock over games of chance, and try to herd patrons toward the exit, all while declaring the Low Lantern is being closed by order of the Flaming Fist and its proprietor, Thundreth, is under arrest. If the situation was not already an all-out, chair-throwing brawl, it becomes one now. Thundreth uses the chaos to flee. If characters move immediately, they can follow the proprietress to her cabin and see her lowering a rope ladder out the case ment to a dinghy. They can attempt to catch her or escape with her. At least the Guild is truthful about how it operates.
If they persist, she jumps out the window to the dinghy and tries to escape. Target 3 is the patriar Norold Dlusker Campaign Guide, page He has a stall in the Wide near the Beloved Ranger, a place his status secures for him despite his downturn in fortune. If the characters ques tion him, he sweats rivers of fear. But a search of his stall, his Lower City textile mill, and his Upper City home turns up nothing except a meager supply of bulk cloth. If a character thinks to ask Bailiff of the Wide Jedren Hiller for information, Hiller suggests they check the registry, a ledger he is responsible for that details all official transactions in the Wide. He offers to let the characters peruse it for a monitoring fee of 10 gp. He waives the fee if characters flash their searchand-seizure writ. If the characters ask Dlusker about Keene, he says only that she is his accountant.
Keeping the Writ If the characters are actively participating in this event, they have the writ that Duke Silvershield gave them. The heroes can hold onto the writ after this event. Tax Rebates Rael is targeting toll collectors. The Guild expects a 20 percent cut of the spoils, and Rael plans to take another 15 percent to cover her risk. The enterprising thief plans to hit Nant Thangol first, unless the characters choose a different target. Thangol habitually stays at his post until shortly before mid night. Then Flaming Fist soldiers and lamp lads escort him to his Lower City apartment next to the Blushing Mermaid. His route never varies. Rael knows it well, including the best place along it for an ambush. She cautions them not to kill anyone, explaining that many Lower City folk would delight in the Basilisk being robbed but would resort to mob justice if a Flam ing Fist soldier were killed.
So be ready to improvise. Otherwise, the ambush occurs along a steep, narrow Lower City street. Rael recommends that the characters split into two groups: one to halt the procession, and one to cut off its retreat. The to foot-wide street can easily be choked off. The caravan consists of Nant Thangol, two human bystanders carrying the locked cash box, two lamp lads also bystanders , and several Flaming Fist sol diers privates and lieutenants. Once the ambush is apparent, the panicked lamp lads drop their lanterns and scramble to safety leaving the area in darkness. Only the mercenaries fight.
Than gol and the cash-box carriers cower. When only two Flaming Fist members remain on their feet, they lay down their weapons. One minute 10 rounds after the fight starts, the heroes hear a lamp lad and a patrol consisting of a Flaming Fist lieutenant and several privates charg ing up the hill toward the fracas. They arrive 2 rounds later, and a new fight breaks out if the characters are still around. If the adventurers swipe the cash box and dash away, they escape easily If you want to play up the chase, use opposing ability checks. In the end, though, the soldiers have little chance of catching the charac ters in the dark, narrow, fog-shrouded streets.
Back in Little Calimshan, Rael takes charge of the cash box. She thanks the characters and assures them their action ivill relieve much suffering and send the Basilisk a message to rein in his greed. If the heroes seem up for it, the Guild kingpin asks them to rob other toll and tax collectors in scenarios you devise. The next day the city is abuzz about it. The bandits strike repeatedly in the following days and quickly gain reputations as heroes among the poor. Ravengard or Silvershield might ask the charac ters to catch the group of thieves human rogues and haifling rogues. In such a scenario, once half the gang is bested, the other half tries to escape. Closing the Vice Dens Ravengard wants two gambling dens shut down, the Oasis and the Low Lan tern.
He requires the establishments be emptied and boarded up, writs of clo sure be posted outside their entrances, and their owners be brought to the Seatower of Balduran for questioning. He offers a handful of mercenaries as backup. Vice Den 1: The Oasis is a dingy bungalow in Little Calimshan. Its proprietor, Ibiz, slathers his blotchy face in heavy, pale makeup. The effect is disturbing rather than pleasing to the eye. If you would please deliver this to your superior, I would be most grateful. Typically, Guild guards protect the premises. At this time, however, because Ibiz recently insulted Nine-Fin gers, the muscle and many regulars are staying away. Only a half-dozen old patrons puff listlessly at pipes as they sprawl on cushions beneath dingy curtains draped to hide the ceiling. Vice Den 2: The Low Lantern is another matter. If the heroes are working for both Silvershield and Ravengard, Silvershield sends Watch soldiers to assist them in the task—but the soldiers start a tavern brawl instead of waiting for the heroes.
Three intoxicated revelers swing at everything, and three others continue eating and gaming despite the pandemonium. The heroes should be tempted to intervene when they see common ruffians beating on Watch officers. At least one Watch soldier recognizes the characters from their heroics in the Wide and implores them for help. Each of the Watch soldiers has taken 5 damage. Earlier in the day, Guild informants had described the adventurers and their actions in the Wide to Thun dreth. They also had reported seeing the characters speak with Ravengard.
That they and the Watch should show up on the same night tells the proprietress that this crackdown is more serious than usual and now would be a good time to disappear for a while. On any given day in the Wide, a person can see rich merchants dressed in furs, colorful silks, and jewels that rival those of lesser kings. The displays of wealth fill Silvershield and other patri ars with jealousy, so they resolve to bring the lesser classes to heel. Furs, silks, damask, velvet, samite, and satin areforbidden to all but those numbered among the patriars, as isjewelry incorporating inlaid gems or magical properties. Those who violate these terms are subject to fines or imprisonment. If they are arrested and get word to him, he can probably arrange their release. He is as good as his word. And the elf likes a little danger. Coran might be most useful as a way to move the story forward if the players get stuck. Coran knows much of what happens in the city and wants to know what the heroes are doing so he can help.
Politically, he is most closely aligned with the patriars. As an old adventurer, he empathizes with and has many con tacts among the Flaming Fist. He has almost no influence on or informers within the Guild. In his youth, Coran was a freelance thief in the city, and he has never wanted to alert the Guild to his activities. Defiant citizens tear down or deface the dec larations within an hour of their posting. That same day, however, the characters see Watch patrols ripping jewels from dresses, cutting lace collars, and slashing fine clothing merchants are wearing. These incidents begin in the Wide and spread outward. For the time being, they are confined to the Upper City, where the Flaming Fist lacks authority. If the adventurers comply quickly and politely, the soldiers move on. If the heroes resist, the soldiers match push for shove and blade for blade.
A change is quickly apparent across the city. Although the Watch strictly enforces the ordinance only in the Upper City, nearly everyone does business there in the course of a day. Upper City residents, in their rich, colorful clothing and glittering jewelry, stand out like never before. Outer City dwellers take on the color of mud and shiver without their heavy fur cloaks. The sumptuary laws remain in effect until the end of the adventure. As the city nears its boiling point in future stages, Watch soldiers brutally tear from their owners and instantly destroy any illegal items they see. Vandalism News about tax collectors being robbed stirs up the Outer City, and a rise in petty vandalism hints at the growing agitation of the poor. LU Gradually, the destructive activity spreads inside the walls and escalates as vandals smash windows, break streetlights, set trash afire, and perform similar acts.
This is largely a background event, but the characters could counter its impact by succeeding in apprehending a few groups of the vandals thugs and tough thugs. These rough, mostly foreign workers congregate at taverns and eateries after work. Raven gard, suspecting them ofbeing behind the vandalism and robbery of toll collectors, sends extra Flaming Fist patrols into the districts to encourage workers to move along home. That encouragement comes chiefly from the busi ness end of a club or the flat of a sword. Characters who spend much time in Brampton or Eastway are bound to witness incidents of Flaming Fist mercenaries Flaming Fist privates, Flaming Fist sergeants, crew members, human bystanders, thugs, or tough thugs roughing up Outer City resi dents. So if the adventurers step in to break up a violent encounter, the Flaming Fist soldiers back down as a show of respect.
If the charac — ters instead join in the harassment, the mercenaries let them strike most of the blows. Summoned: If the characters take action, their par ticipation is reported to Ravengard, and he summons the heroes to an interview. The tone of the meeting depends on what the char acters did. He offers them the rank of flame, or lieutenant, in the Flaming Fist. They would have all the authority of that rank but none of its usual administrative duties. Instead, the heroes would report directly to Ravengard and carry out missions he assigns. Merchants and civic leaders are furious, Upper City and Lower City residents are angry, and Outer City dwellers are largely amused.
None of the miss ing hands are found. All Baldurians cherish Minsc and Boo, and the deface ment of this statue upsets the whole city. The vandals who struck the Beloved Ranger are not the ones who damaged the other statues. When the young miscreants realize the outrage they have caused, they panic. Hadru takes in the adolescents to repay a favor to one of their families, hiding them in the hang ing cellar beneath his shop. Hadru, who knows the youths must be guilty of something and suspects the increasingly panicked. truth, is growing Involving the Heroes: For the characters to intervene, at least one of four persons would need to approach them, including Silvershield.
Ravengard, Rael, and Esgurl Nurthammas, the master of cobbles. The master of cobbles is responsible for roads, bridges, and other public stonework. Niirthammas is an up-and-coming scion of a patriar family who is eager to demonstrate that he is ready for bigger duties. The adventurers might find themselves in deep trouble if they take his words to heart. If the characters kill the noble vandals, both Ravengard and Silvershield are incensed. Ravengard and Nurthammas want the same thing, but the marshal has the force of law behind his instruc tions. Ravengard wants the culprits brought in alive for a public trial and punishment. This outcome would anger Silvershield and wrongly implicate the nobles in the defacement of the other statues rather than finger an angry populace, which is what Rael wants. When he heard about vandalism to the Beloved Ranger and about a missing group of youths from various patriar families, he put two and two together.
Silvershield wants the van dals quietly brought back to safety before an angry mob finds and lynches them. Because they are local heroes, Silvershield calculates, the characters can likely move around the city without interference from the Watch or the Flaming Fist, which are conducting their own wide spread, impassioned searches and interrogations. She wants them exposed and their families humiliated. Finding the Culprits: The characters can track the vandals of the Beloved Ranger, beginning at the Wide. A careful search of the area turns up a brooch and a broken dagger. The youths used the dagger as a hammer and a pry bar to break the statue. Marble flakes are stuck to its pommel, and its blade is severely gouged. The brooch fell from the cloak in which the culprits wrapped the hands. The brooch bears the Ravenshade family crest, and the dagger carries the mark of the Oberon family; both are well-placed patriar households.
If the heroes interview those families, they find that each one has young members who have gone missing and receive descriptions of the youths. From there, the heroes can talk with people who might have noticed the suspects: Guards at Heap Gate recognized the juveniles as patriars and opened the gate to them in the early-morning hours. A lamp lad who waits around Heap Gate for customers took them to Brampton and received a hefty tip. Hadru is nervous and evasive. He hands over the youths if the adventurers threaten him or bribe him with 10 gp or more. The potter had agreed to hide the group because he owed the Durinbold family a favor.
Getting past the soldiers is easy if the characters escort the vandals out unobtru sively. The heroes raise suspicions if they are discovered smuggling the youths in barrels or crates or the like. This is your chance to introduce Lotgeir Shortcloak, an unhappy and very vocal about it member of the Flaming Fist. While within earshot of the characters, he complains to his fellow guards about having to work so hard. STAGE 4 Sanitation Strike The Guild orchestrates waste-hauling slowdowns in the Upper and Lower cities. The Outer City is less affected, because garbage and unpleasant smells from tanneries, butcheries, and stables are ubiquitous in that area.
As long as the slowdown and the protests last, the Upper and Lower cities are incredibly unpleasant places, making their residents irritable. One gp apiece would do it, but the city has about such workers. A few might admit to already taking bribes to slow the work, although none gives a reliable description of who bribed them. Traditionally, someone who has strong ties to the Lower City in general and the Flam ing Fist in particular holds that seat. But dukes are not appointed; the Parliament of Peers elects them. And, according to rumor, the peers want to stack the council with a fourth patriar to keep the Fist out. Ravengard is both angry and concerned about this development. Involving the Heroes: Ravengard invites the char acters to meet him at the Hissing Stones, a Seatower bathhouse.
Ravengard visits the bathhouse to relax or engage in sensitive meetings, as did Adrian. Inside the Hissing Stones, patrons can literally hide nothing. At the meeting, Ravengard launches directly into the matter at hand—Wyllyck Caldwell. Ravengard knows an alchemist named Yssra Brack rel, who has no love for the patriars and a fresh grudge against Silvershield; the duke recently had her jailed for several days. Ravengard believes that leveling the threat privately would be enough to persuade the bookish Caldwell to stay out of politics. Caldwell is furious and presses hard to know who is behind the blackmail.
Regardless, he ultimately agrees to the proposition in order to avoid a scandal. PRELUDE TO DISASTER During the course of any event, as the characters pass yet another stinking trash heap preferably in Bloomridge , a hero knowledgeable about magic or alchemy spots a cracked ceramic bowl stained with residue that smells of sulfur and smoke. A wizard or someone skilled in alchemy realizes the substance is characteristic of a batch of smokepowder. Smokepowder is well known but not widely manufac tured. He can describe the individual, who was Imbralym Skoond, but Skoond was using a spell to disguise himself at the time. Regardless of the outcome, Duke Sih-ershield is manipulating Grand Duke Portyr and the Parliament of Peers handily without any other duke getting in the way.
So, for now, no new duke is elected. STAGE 5 Upper City Lockout The Upper City has always closed to nonresidents at dusk. The chief effect of this restriction is economic. Lower City and Outer City merchants must close their stalls in the Wide hours earlier than Upper City sellers. The residents of Blackgate who work unloading ships in the harbor or in many Lower City shops must leave their jobs hours early to reach the Black Dragon Gate before it is sealed. The alternatives are a long, tiring walk outside the city walls or a long, miserable night in a cold Citadel cell after being caught in the Upper City later than 3 bells. As a result, ships sit unloaded at the piers while outgoing cargo piles up qiiayside. Such passports are extremely valuable; an ambitious merchant or Guild member would pay up to gp for one but an open ing offer would be closer to 50 gp.
Not Working for the Duke: If the adventurers are not working for Silvershield, the Upper City closes to them, too. The Undercellar connects the Upper City and Lower City through secret, underground passages, making it a good, albeit illegal, route in or out—assum ing the characters hear about it. If the characters are in the Upper City after the gates close and do not have passports, they have a couple of options. Hiding and outrunning Watch patrols as they go about their business might be the best choice. They could attempt to pass themselves off as legitimate Upper City residents, but they would have to back up their claim with appropriate dress and behavior. Few patriars walk the streets armed and armored or in spattered traveling clothes, and Watch members pride themselves on knowing all patriars by face and name.
If the heroes want to reverse the curfew decision, they can try appealing to Silvershield. But marshaling the will of the other dukes and the patriars is a better option. The policy is costing people at all levels of soci ety. If the heroes somehow muster enough support for reversing the decision among the other dukes or the Parliament of Peers, Silvershield relents. Typically, such taxation is the purview of the harbormaster in consultation with the duke associated with the Flaming Fist. Namorran cooperates even though Ravengard does not yet have the title of duke, because he fully expects Ravengard to gain that post in the near future.
For Harbormaster Namorran to change his stance, he would need to first hear from Ravengard that the marshal had reversed his position. Appointing a new harbormaster would be the only other way to halt the taxation, but a new harbormaster would immediately make many enemies in the Lower City and among the Flaming Fist. If the Flaming Fist captures the heroes at some point in the adventure, you have options from which to choose. Perhaps they trick the guards, find a loose floor stone with a crawl space beneath it, or offer incriminating evidence to Raven gard against Silvershield or Rael in exchange for their freedom. Protectionism The sumptuary law stage 2 is a slap in the face to wealthy Lower City citi zens who aspire to noble station, and they are incensed about it.
In response, he uses his friendship with Harbormaster Erl Namorran to raise tar iffs on fine goods shipped into the city. If the adventurers ask for help or advice, Coran suggests they ask Har bormaster Namorran for permission to examine the Harbor Manifest. He knows that someone is importing large amounts of smokepowder ingredients. Before Coran moves on to mingle with other guests, he offers the adventurers one more message. Adjusting to my new lf in this labyrinth ofgossip and intrigue was no easyfeat. But do me afavor; use the back door. The huge, ancient door lock on the place is more ceremonial than practi cal. The manifest is another matter—it is a potent magic item. Someone who wants to open the book successfully must trace a magic pattern embedded in its cover. The manifest has been opened so many times that the tracing marks are clearly visible, but the pattern is so complex that following it properly requires a DC 15 Intelligence check.
The loud cry repeats endlessly until the symbol is traced correctly. If the characters open the manifest correctly, they find a copy of every bill of lading for every cargo that has moved legally through the harbor since the mani fest has been in use, which is a very long time. XVith a DC 15 Intelligence check every 30 minutes, a search ing character finds something notevorthv. Only one character can read the manifest at a time. The characters uncover a few irregularities, but only one jumps out at them. Anyone knowl edgeable about magic or alchemy recognizes the items as key ingredients in the manufacture of smokepowder.
Two similar shipments preceded it. He is happy to discuss his shipments, but swears he never made or took possession of the larger orders. Months ago, a man Imbralym Skoond in dis guise came to the shop and placed a huge order for fireworks. He bought everything Sonshal had in stock, plus all the raw materials the shopkeeper had on hand. All have already been picked up. The warehouse managers were paid in cash and have no information about where the goods went when they left their care. The characters have no access to that information yet.
STAGE 6 Arson The state of the city spirals further downward as the Guild launches a campaign of targeted destruction on behalf of the Outer City against important Lower City and Upper City locations. The targets are businesses that draw money away from the Outer City, guild halls that exclude Outer City residents from membership or compete with Outer City guilds, and the homes of individuals who are particularly disliked. Because of the frequent rains, near-constant damp ness, and prevalence of stone construction in the city, structure fires seldom rage out of control.
She would be more likely to ask the adventurers to scout potential locations, so she could call in profes sional arsonists when no one is home. His clothing is smeared with mud. is interested in sending a message through property damage, not in burning people to death. In the company of this female half-elf, the characters can move around the streets of the Lower City easily and accomplish whatever they set out to do. Fighting a Fire: Characters who respond to a fire alarm have three options. They can help fight the fire, passing buckets and pitchers of water for 30 to 60 min utes until the fire is extinguished. They can enter the building to rescue anyone trapped inside. Or they can try to spot and catch the arsonists, if the fire-setters are still in the area. Fighting the Fire-Setters: lithe heroes try to stop the arsonists, catching or killing the arsonists from two fire-setting teams is sufficient to do so.
The Guild mem bers work in five-person teams. Two arsonists tough thugs set a fire, while three urchins human bystand ers watch for patrols or potential witnesses. The children will lead the characters away from the scene if they can. The fire-setters fight only if they have the benefit of surprise or are cornered. Rael chose these individuals because they have been toughened against physical and psychological pressure. The fire-setter reveals that a shadowy figure known as Fruward the Nail hired the two-person team. Fruward is not well known outside a small circle of criminals. He works directly for Nine-Fingers, arrang ing jobs and payments with which she does not want to be directly associated.
Track ing down Fruward, however, is next to impossible. The Nail goes into deep hiding the moment he suspects the adventurers are after him. According to the old law, any person can demand immediate redress in the form of a one-on-one duel for any perceived wrong another person commits against that individual. The law was based on the notion that the gods would bless and preserve duelists who were in the right. In actuality, the law heavily tilts the odds in a duel toward people who have military training or who own magic armor and weapons. Traditionally, duels are fought to first blood, but the combatant who suffers the first wound can choose not to yield. Against a skilled duelist, first blood could mean a lethal wound. Additionally, a better fighter could allow himself or herself to be lightly wounded and then press the battle to the death.
Strutting Duelists: Shortly after the law goes into effect, a handful of patriars and Watch soldiers who believe the new rules give them an edge take to prowl ing the Lower and Outer cities looking for opportunities to duel with anyone they find a reason to dislike. The characters can witness such an encounter at any time. In one case, a patriar duelist wearing leather armor and wielding a fine rapier squares off against a lamp lad human bystander armed with a dagger. Spectators watch, their expressions revealing disgust or excitement.
The noble accuses the lamp lad of dis gracing his sister by leading her to vice dens against her will. The lad objects, saying he guided the girl only to places she told him to take her. Unless the heroes intervene, the youth is cut down in the first exchange of blows and dies in the street. The city becomes an increasingly tense and bloody place. Gate residents, who carry knives for eating or the odd task, begin bearing daggers, meat cleavers, hatchets, billhooks, and clubs as everyone from Guild members to shopkeepers use the law to settle old scores. If the adventurers have made enemies or if they anger a stranger, they could be challenged to duels as well. Opposing the Law: Convincing Parliament of Peers members and Grand Duke Dillard Portyr to oppose the law is the only way to end the slaughter.
Impassioned LU speeches could do it, hut the adventurers might need to defeat more than a few patriar duelists to persuade the rest of them to hack off. For all its quirks, the system functions reasonably well. The rarity of convictions for Guild members infuri ates Ravengard. In response, he creates the Court of the Fist, an impromptu military tribunal that can convene anywhere, hear evidence, and pass judgment. The pre siding officer must be of flame rank or higher. These trials are illegal. Only the peers and the dukes are in a position to stop the marshal. These kangaroo courts begin operating immediately, with Flaming Fist members capturing suspected Guild members and sympathizers and hearing cases involv ing everything from theft and libel to confidence games and murder. Sometimes the verdicts are proper and practical, such as when petty thieves are forced to pay restitution or slanderers are forced to publicly recant their lies.
Some rulings are barbarous, such as when breakers of verbal contracts have their tongues cut out. If the characters are in his good graces, he tasks them with investigating his suspicion. Indeed, the Guild has been using the news outlet to coordinate actions between its many cells. Informa tion about Guild meetings is coded into some of the broadsheets. When the sheet is folded in a particular way, a person can read the time and place of a gather ing. Folded in a different way, it serves as a pass to gain admittance into the meeting. Not all copies of an edition contain the code. Most of the papers reveal no secret information, even when folded correctly. A few trained mouthers lamp lads and lamp lasses who distribute broadsheets during the day hand out special copies to operatives they know and to people who look like Guild recruits—anyone accou tered like a rogue, thief, assassin, or bard.
With a DC 10 Wisdom check, a character can spot a paper deliverer handling two separate stacks of papers. Even with a coded version of the broadsheet in hand, a character still needs to figure out its puzzle. With a DC 15 Intelligence check, someone who is experiment ing with ways to fold the broadsheet hits on the secret. Once a character knows the technique, folding the paper into the meeting-pass configuration is simple. Getting Inside: At Hamhocks Slaughterhouse, tough thug guards the door. He gives everyone a thorough be slid inspection and is suspicious of anyone who looks visual or a soldier. At the first sign that spies or like a wizard compromised the meeting, the door informants have guard bars the entrance, and everyone inside dashes out a side exit and scatters. The discussion relies heavily on slang terms that have meaning to rogues and similar individ uals but sound like gibberish to most other people. Now that Fist soldiers know what to watch for, they have a better chance of identifying Guild collaborators.
The victims are not city leaders or other figures of importance. Typically, kidnappers demand relatively low ransoms, which are paid, and the victims are set free. No kidnapping victims in the Gate have been harmed, beyond the loss of a finger, for at least a generation. Rael, however, is beginning to feel bloodthirsty. She unleashes kidnappers on a handful of targets, setting high ransoms and offering murky payment instruc tions that seriously limit the length of time families are given to pay. The adolescent son of Valaith Chadur, a well-known Lower City stonecarver, is the first kidnapping victim to die. The second slain hostage is Lara Alreven, the wife ofAlraner Alreven, the owner of an artistic glassblowing shop. Her bludgeoned body is dumped near Elfsong Tavern. The third murdered victim is Harali Avir, the daughter of Aurayaun, owner of the Blade and Stars. Her body is found in an alley behind Sorcerous Sundries.
Working for Ravengard: When the son of Darsh Nyach, a prominent merchant of sailcloth, is snatched, Ravengard might summon the characters. He is certain to if they work for him at the time. He wants these mur derers brought to justice—any justice. Darsh Nyach is one of the few members of the Parlia ment of Peers who lives outside the Upper City. His son, Omdarsh, is 15 years old and often goes fishing along the docks in Brampton. No one who lives along the most direct route between the Nyach home and the harbor admits to hearing an alter cation that morning. Bring the ransom to the roost. A bird flies out and begins circling in the air. The pigeon needs a short time to get its bearings before it can head home.
The characters lose sight of the bird as soon as it passes over the nearby rooftops. Within the next minute or two, one of them has to dash to the top of the wall and watch where the pigeon flies. Any delay means losing the bird. But the vigilar on duty will want an explana tion when they come back down. If the heroes and the Watch are at odds, the characters might need to force their way through the gate and up the tower. The top of the wall affords a panoramic view of the Lower City. By noting details about that structure and its surroundings, the heroes should be able to find it from the street. Blind Darcaryn knows only that someone came to him earlier and gave him 1 gp, the note, the basket, and verbal instructions to hand over the note and open the basket if he heard 2 pp drop into his cup. But her flunkies are tired of killing hostages for wages. They want the ransom. The abductors wait 30 minutes after the bird returns.
Run for It: To reach the right structure within 30 minutes, the characters need to push hard through the crowded, rain-slick streets. Each adventurer must make a DC 10 Strength check or a DC 10 Dexterity check in each district along the route, including the Steeps, Heapside, and Eastway. With a successful check in the Steeps, a charac ter crosses the remaining portion of the district in 8 minutes. On a failure, the crowds, cargo handlers, a wedding procession, or Guild agents slow the character, and the trip takes 10 minutes. With a successful check in Heapside, a character crosses the whole district in 10 minutes. On a failure, the trip takes 12 minutes. With a successful check in Eastway, a character crosses about a quarter of the way into the district, reaching the correct neighborhood in 4 minutes.
On a failure, the character gets lost and takes 8 minutes to reach the right area. If a hero knocks on the door and the home is still occupied, one of the kidnappers calls for the visitor to enter. If the characters enter before the kidnappers leave, they encounter the abductors haifling rogues and thugs , as well as a Flaming Fist corporal a friend of one of the thugs who heard about the ransom and switched allegiances. The abductors surround a youth who is lashed to a chair. The heroes can negotiate or fight their way through the situation. The abductors want money, and they want to leave. After hearing about the botched job, Rael goes into hiding long before anyone comes looking for her. In contrast, Rael or Silvershield would pay handsomely for that tidbit. The duke would use the information as leverage against Ravengard in the coun cil, and Rael would plaster the news on handbills to turn the city against the Fist.
Massacre A small crowd of workers kept away from their jobs by the turmoil in the city gather in Norchapel. This is a peaceful assembly con cerned about the escalation of violence against Outer City residents. If Guild agitators were to get involved, the group might become hostile. As the protesters head toward the High Hall, their numbers swell from about two hundred to two thou sand. When the protesters arrive at the gate, they find three hundred Flaming Fist soldiers blocking the street. In addition, about a hundred retainers from patriar families and several High House of Wonders priests line the Old Wall along both sides of the gate. Every one on the wall is holding a crossbow. The Watch, responsible for guarding the gate, is conspicuously absent.
If the characters do not intervene to forestall or interrupt this event, it unfolds as follows. Ulder Ravengard ascends a platform of barrels and commands the crowd of unarmed commoners to dis perse and return home immediately. Ravengard declares that no one will negotiate with a mob and repeats his demand that crowd members return home. He adds that anyone who does not leave voluntarily will be driven back by force. The marshal glances uneasily at the people on the wall several times and twice dispatches officers in their direction on unknown errands. The crowd breaks out into shouting and chanting, making further communication impossible. Ravengard climbs down from the barrels, speaks a few words to his second-in-command, and then dis appears into a press ofjunior officers. The patriar retainers and the acolytes of Gond launch a volley of crossbow bolts into the crowd, kill ing dozens and injuring many more.
In moments, screaming protesters run in every direction. Armed retainers released the first bolts, and the aco lytes of Gond followed suit. The Flaming Fist mercenaries privates, corporals. sergeants, or lieutenants and the armed retainers advance into the panicked mob, striking at unarmed people who are scrambling to get away. The next five minutes are a wild, scrambling panic of people pressing into packed streets as they try to escape. The House has several huge wings, each devoted to a type of work or a scholarly pursuit related to invention and artifice. Silversmiths toil alongside those who cast in bronze, architects draft beside engineers, and car penters build cranes next to woodcarvers working on jewelry boxes. Everything from ships to siege weap ons is built at full size in the great halls of the High House of Wonders and then is disassembled for trans port.
Of course, the faithful of Gond work on repairs. The High House of Wonders hosts about one hun dred priests and acolytes in its residential wing. By day, up to five times that many faithful fill the temple as people who live in other parts of the city arrive to work and learn. Some are would-be apprentices hoping to make con nections and show off their talents to prospective masters. A few are individuals of great talent but small means. Too poor to afford the entrance and class fees, such people can sometimes find a patron to pay for their tutelage in return for future indentureship. All these folk are counted among the faithful, and they are literally counted as they enter and exit the House. The many fascinating items in the High House of Wonders are theoretical experiments, early-stage prototypes, or specially commissioned works—not for the eyes of the public. Thus, Gondar door guards politely turn away the curious and those who do not have explicit business in the temple, directing them across the square to the Hall of Wonders.
For S cp, a visitor can enter to view—in long aisles and even hanging from the ceiling—a gallery of holy relics ranging from the prag matic, such as ordinary locks and mechanical lock boxes disguised as furniture and other household goods, to the scholarly, such as preci sion water clocks and orreries. More impressive inventions loom large amid the collection, such as a steam dragon a steam-operated engine for moving heavy objects , a steam-operated mechanical orchestra, and mechanical scribes that can be linked in sequence to make many copies of exactly what a person writes as he or she pens it. One of the most popular displays among seafaring Baldurians is the collection of nautical tools, such as a gold filigreed, coral-carved astrolabe and one of the first farseers telescopes.
Small signs indicate the purposes and ways to use the items. To exit the museum, a visitor must leave through a shop filled with devices for sale. Printed catalogues of additional items and larger devices that can be ordered for later delivery are also on display. Locks, strongboxes, objects with hidden storage compartments, steam dragons, water pumps, and more can he had for the prices listed. Because the Gondsmen are given to ostentatious displays of wealth, rumors persist of a treasure vault hidden beneath the temple and guarded by mechani cal monstrosities. The rumors are mostly true. Behind the grand altar in the High House of Wonders is a complex pressure-plate system that opens a secret passageway leading beneath the temple. Numerous chambers and storerooms into which the public is never invited exist beneath the site. Whether golems or other automatons guard the rooms is known only to the priests.
Power has afforded luxury to the Silvershield family. Its estate, roughly the size of a city block, attests to that. It was built up over several generations on land the Silvershields purchased or were gifted as a show of gratitude or to solicit the discreet Silvershield touch. The estate is located in Manorborns western corner. When Silvershield hosts a revel, sounds of music and laugh ter can seldom be heard beyond the walls of the behemoth estate. Deserved or not, the place has a rep utation for unfriendliness. Armed guards are stationed at the gate of the com plex. This self-refueling oil candelabra is designed to appear as eight miniature geysers spewing gold and silver flames. Silvershield seldom rides in such conveyances, but he strives to provide ever- courtesy and comfort to his guests.
The duke is fond of strolling as he meditates, and he often fusses over his garden as though it were a fourth child. The lush gardens have been designed with the cool cli mate and damp weather in mind so that they display splashes of color regardless of the season. Over the years, the Silvershields have imported flowering plants and colorful shrubs from as far north as the High Forest and sent master gardeners as far out as the Moonshae Isles to collect specimens. Newly arrived plants and those that need special care grow in a glass-walled greenhouse with mirrors set around its exterior to catch and concentrate the meager sunlight. Although few in the city know it, Silvershield uses the greenhouse to grow his own supply of sable moonflower. i The garden has green lawns with a white-gravel path that meanders past exquisite statuary, through flower beds, and around trees and bushes. Peacocks strut freely across the property, and songbirds roost in the trees.
Around back, near the kitchens built against the outer vall, the path wends past a small gazebo that houses a shrine to Gond, then leads to vegetable and herb gardens set amid lines of blueberry bushes. He commissioned master crafters at the High House of Wonders to make several modified, steam-dragonpowered miniature cranes. They are arranged and camouflaged within the topiary, making the necks and tails of the animalshaped shrubbery move. The level hums with the soft, whirring sounds of dozens of fragile, intricate clockwork inven tions brought here from the High House of Wonders.
A ball room and a performance stage dominate the rear of the building, and a handful of sitting rooms and salons complements them. In the western wing, a spacious feasting hail easily seats forty while providing plenty of room for servants and entertainers to move about. The estate is in a constant flurry of action, especially down here. The floors above the main house contain a private parlor, a nursery for Alana and Entar III, a bedroom and play room for Skie II, and other rooms reserved for the children when they outgrow the nursery. The round tower has three upper floors and is composed of a small dining room, a halfdozen guest bedrooms, a guest parlor, a library, and the master suite.
Silvershield also maintains a home office in the tower, but he seldom uses it. Atop the roof, Silvershield has a work shop and study within a small solarium. LOWER CITY The Lower City, a great crescent of steep slopes descending to the docks, is packed tight with conjoined, slate-roofed buildings that are made of stone and fea ture window boxes and stout shutters in vibrant hues. Stone buttresses often span its roadways, literally holding apart the upper floors of structures that face each other. Even though some of these narrow supports act as pedestrian bridges, they are most often used by pigeons, gulls, rats, and cats. Lower City citizens are accustomed to their noisy, cramped existence. Craftwork, repairs, and buying and selling consume the lives of the tradesfolk, shopkeepers, and day servants who dwell here.
Commerce in shops and crowded streets begins before sunrise and continues until after dark. Oil-andwick copper bowls, whose copper wing reflectors direct radiance, partially illuminate the Lower Citvs nicer districts. Glassless, tin candle lanterns throw light into its rougher neighborhoods. Both types of lighting are solidly constructed and mounted. Citi zens who live near the lanterns light them at dusk and, if wind or rain have not yet extinguished them, blow them out at sunrise. The open doors of inns, taverns, and late-to-close cafes spill some light into the streets, but most folk carry lamps or hire lamp lads and lamp lasses. These youths carry many-candled lanterns on long poles and, for a few coppers, guide customers through the streets at night. sea captains, who settle their families in Lower City homes. As a result, the Gate handles a wide variety of cargoes.
Many pirates looking to fence their latest prizes also regularly tie up in the Gate. but the priests of Gond devised and built it. It dominates the end of a pier and descends on one side into the harbor. Waves have lapped against this temple of Umberlee for generations. Bloomridge: Lower City citizens generally lead a working-class existence, but successful merchants, ship captains, landlords, and others who have access to wealth try to live as much like patriars as they can. Rich folk sometimes purchase several Lower City buildings, or even small blocks, and either raze the structures or modify and con nect them to form a palatial home.
Slightly less prosperous folk typically rent expensive, upper-floor apartments, pre ferring locations that feature rooftop terraces or balconies that offer fine views. These impressive homes are mostly found in Bloomridge, a fashionable Lower City district dotted with cafes, flower shops, and artisan boutiques. Numerous structures have exterior staircases and open terraces built into or against the wall. This structure appeared out of nowhere. fully built and staffed, overnight on a vacant lot. For several tendavs afterward, citizens gos siped about Mandorcai, the eccentric, magic-wielding builder of the place, and influential residents courted him, eager to retain the services of such a powerful wizard. Mandorcai then vanished from public life. No one heard from him except through invitations he sent to various individuals. These peculiar missives were written in silver atop black paper folded into the shape of a pentagon. Those who entered the mansion to keep their appointments were never seen again.
After a handful of such disappearances, a Flam ing Fist squad invaded the building. Only two of its members emerged, and they spoke of shifting rooms, oppressive chants, and blood-soaked chambers. The Council of Four would like to have the mansion torn down, but no laborers are willing to touch the place. Since the building does not appear to be dangerous as long as no one goes inside it, the dukes have not pressed the issue. At any given time, about three thousand of its six thousand members are out on campaign. Their presence, both on and off duty, deters bold crimes.
The Seatower serves the Flaming Fist as headquar ters, barracks, naval base, prison, and fortress. The marshal and most of the officers responsible for day-to day Fist operations typically work from the Seatower. A stone flung from atop the Seatower, with the added impetus ofgravity behind it, is almost guaranteed to crash clean through any wooden-hulled ship it strikes. A capstan at ground level in the tower can raise a mas sive chain from the riverbed and stretch it taut across the harbor mouth from the Seatower to deep pilings under the easternmost wharf in Brampton. When the chain is raised, nothing bigger than a rowboat can sail into or out of the harbor. Except for drills and maintenance checks, the chain has not been raised for decades. The last time the chain was raised for defense was to protect against a veritable fleet of Calishite ships.
Fishermen and merchants arrived in the evefling warning of a flotilla heading upriver, many of the ships flying Calishite flags. When the ships arrived just after sunset, the chain had been pulled up across the harbor, and ships full of Flaming Fist soldiers floated just beyond it with catapults and flaming arrows at the ready. The ships held no Calishite warriors,just refugees from the war. The Seatower is an impressive architectural work looming over the bay. A foot-long causeway connects the Seatower to shore. No gate or drawbridge along the span exists; its length alone is considered sufficient defense, since attackers would be exposed to archers and missile fire along their entire approach. The Seatower houses about a hundred Flaming Fist soldiers on a rotating basis, billeting them in levels of the towers not given over to the prison and in the two buildings within the bailey.
The underground rooms beneath the armory are a virtual museum of every conflict in which the Flaming Fist has engaged. Everything from elephant barding to snowshoes can be found somewhere in the depths of the armory, all of the items carefully cata logued and regularly maintained. A small section on the first floor is set aside as a gallery. There, the marshal frequently speaks with the officers of current events or plans campaigns. In addition to meeting areas and private rooms, it holds a collection of books and scrolls in a library that the offi cers can use to study tactics, consult maps, and review contracts. None but the highest-ranking officers knows exactly where the door to the vault can be found and what the secret is to opening it.
Three levels of dungeon extend beneath the Seatower. The uppermost dungeon level is divided into small cells that hold one to five prisoners each. The lower levels consist of two large cells apiece. Under normal conditions, no more than twenty-five prison ers are housed together in a large cell. If the situation calls for it, however, up to ten times that many can be crammed cheek by jowl into each of those chambers. The tower affects nearly every aspect of district life. Many of its residents are Flaming Fist members who prefer the comfort of apartments or family homes ashore to the spartan barracks of the Seatower.
The high population of soldiers in the Seatower district has inspired its thick concentration of taverns, festhalls, and gambling parlors. These businesses are clustered along the river, as far from the Old Wall and the trendy streets of Bloomridge as possible. Neither the Watch nor the Flaming Fist patrols these povertystricken districts. Thus, even though crime and open violence are commonplace in the Outer City, people are still able to do business. The Outer City sprawls without rhyme or reason, its muddy streets a tangle of shanties, forges, tanneries, dye works, slaughterhouses, stables, stockyards, paddocks, and dung heaps. Its layout and architecture are a mess of unregulated construction and styles. Many buildings are made of wood or wattle. On any given day, a passerby could encounter packs of stray dogs, people hawking wares, stable hands fighting over potential customers, braying animals penned near the road, flocks of chickens and geese, beg gars raising their hands and mumbling in unknown tongues, and a riot of pungent scents.
Patriars who need to run this gauntlet do so inside closed and curtained car riages filled with fresh-cut flowers or perfumed cushions. Other visitors carry a handkerchiefdipped in rosewater or a cut citrus fruit shipped in from Calimshan. Folk who live in the Outer City just get used to it. People live in shifts and sleep when they can, so their filthy sur roundings are always bustling. For instance, although Hulthar the swordmaker might be unavailable at a particular time of day or night, several of her competi tors will be open for business then. The most successful tradespeople have Lower City shops to which they bring their goods; the rest end up selling their wares in the Wide. Despite the reduced costs of operating in the Outer City, merchants still take their best wares inside the walls, leaving the poorest districts to serve as mar ketplaces for substandard, defective, or stolen goods. The beasts most often seen in the city are cats, both domesticated and feral ones.
This ban on large animals means that Outer City establishments are responsible for receiving caravans, unloading goods into xvarehouses for later portage into the city, and stabling horses and beasts of burden. In addition, flocks of sheep and goats and herds of horses, pigs. and cattle available for purchase are penned in paddocks along the Trade Way. This policy of noninvolvement has earned the city a not-quite-deserved reputation for tolerance and has made it a magnet for refugees looking to escape wars and other disasters. In fact, the Calishite immigrant population has built a walled-in village in the tradi tional Calishite style.
Baldurians took to calling it Little Calimshan, and the residents eventually adopted the name for themselves. Similar but smaller communities dot the Outer City, giving immigrants of different sorts pockets of their homeland in which to rest their heads and weary souls. Many Outer City businesses and residents pay pro tection money to the Guild. In return, these cooperative establishments and people are marked with a special sign as offlimits to would-be burglars or vandals, and the Guild makes an effort to hunt down anyone who flouts its decrees. Pleading ignorance earns offenders nothing. Tenements, taverns, and shops heap up on both sides of these stone spans. The fort leaves both drawbridges lowered until dusk, unless an enormous merchant ship in need of quick passage pays a hefty fee to have the northern drawbridge raised.
A stone-lined tunnel, replete with arrow-slits, port cullises. and murder holes, passes through the fort. Before travelers can enter it, they must pay a toll. Folk on foot pay 2 cp apiece, and people traveling with a cart or wagon pay 1 sp. For 1 gp, an individual can buy a writ of passage that allows an unlimited number of crossings for a month. To decrease the chance of fraud, both a court official and the purchaser must sign the document at the time of purchase so the writ holder can be identified. The scent of cinnamon and the sounds of exotic, reeded instruments often slip over its encircling walls and draw the curious toward adventure and mystery. Little Calimshan is an exception. Its brick-and-plaster. mm aret-topped walls, measuring 15 feet high and 3 to 5 feet thick at the ridge, clearly mark its extent. People move along the wall tops as though they were streets, which they effectively have become. Little Calimshan is built in the Calishite style, meaning it is organized as a sabban district , com posed of multiple drudachs neighborhoods.
Each drudach is walled off, creating compartmentalized hamlets within the district. From atop the walls, it is rel atively easy to spot an intended destination and choose a path to reach it. Calishite buildings and drudach walls are typically composed of plastercovered brick. Someone familiar with drudach architectural styles would know that Little Calimshan looks ramshackle when compared to Calimshan proper. Individual drudachs are fairly uniform in their contents, if not their layouts. Most contain at least one religious area, such as a shrine, temple. or other holy site; a place for refreshment, usually a well or fountain but sometimes a tavern, inn, or festhall; a bazaar or a tent market; a handful of service buildings. Spending time as an amlakkhan has become a de facto path to Guild membership. The center of a drudach is either its most affluent site or an open courtyard featuring a well or tempo rary market.
Finally, a drudach always contains the abode of its druzir, or leader. And the Calishites keep to themselves, treating their domain like a for tress and rarely entering the city proper. Hustled through the city and taxed for the privi lege of being kicked out in the middle of the night, the refugees found their way to the only place that wel comed them: a long-standing Calishite caravanserai on the outskirts of the city. With every last copper of the wealth the travelers had brought, they paid the inflated prices of the guilds to construct their homes, building up from the cara vanserai as has been Calishite custom for generations. They reside behind the walls still, and few non-Calishites are welcome. The people of Little Calirnshan stand out amid other Baldurians because most continue to wear the fashions of the south regardless of the local weather.
Speaking their own breathy tongue, Alzhedo, is a point of pride, although nearly all of them can communi cate in Common and Chondathan well enough to be understood. This commercial route started with the fortuitous sale of a few things the traders just happened to have, but now caravans are bringing such goods in as much bulk as they can manage. Such a structure sometimes pulls its neigh bors down with it. Anyone trapped inside a falling building cannot expect any aid. The Fist requires that all buildings on the bridge be constructed from light timber or wattle and daub, lest one of the spans collapses under the weight of the structures it holds. However, the trade-off is that fire is a constant concern. The best time to make this passage is at night, when both drawbridges are raised, but ship captains in a hurry can request daytime passage.
This special ser vice requires paying a fee to the Flaming Fist, which the mercenary company splits with the city. For captains seeking to meet a deadline for a high-capacity trade mission, the inconvenience is often worth it. Arrowslits dot its foot-thick granite walls, promising a stiff challenge to anyone foolhardy enough to assauh the structure from the water. The fortress occupies most of the islet, leaving only the narrowest shelf between its sheer walls and a plunge into the river below. spotting its tiny jetty, which is set below a long, steep, and exposed set of stairs, is a challenge at a distance.
The tunnel dominates the forts first floor and is one long gauntlet of murder holes and arrow-slits. Guests on their fi way to the second floor are warned to watch their step, lest they break an ankle stepping into a murder hole. This warning is just entertainment for bored guards; all the murder holes are kept covered under normal circumstances to prevent such accidents and to keep travelers from dropping trash through them. A shooting gallery encircles each level of barracks. Typ ically, between twenty-five and fifty mercenaries are present here. It holds L I. The dungeons have a holding area for prison ers that use wall-attached manacles. The only reason someone might be held in this location would be in the case of a riot or fire making travel across the bridge too dangerous. Dis guised patriar sympathizers were captured as they tried to leave the city. The mist lingers until the sun rises high, keeping the Lower City shrouded long after the Upper City has cleared.
First light finds the Upper City almost in silence. Only a few black-clad Watch patrols sidle along the streets, moving as soundlessly as drifting ghosts. Kitchens in the grand homes have been bustling through the night. Servants use hand pumps to draw water from cisterns in cellars and on roofs, heat it using coal or wood hauled in the previous day, and then pump the heated water into bath and kitchen basins. Downspouts and underground drainpipes, rarely large enough to be thought of as sewers, drain away used water. They hold their carts, covered trays, and cloak-bundled warm foods, and they wear carry sacks and folding stools slung on harnesses. These merchants and assistants have been awake for hours, preparing and loading their wares in the Lower City.
They stay gloomy until the sun climbs high enough to lance over the bluff and shine down into the steep-sided crescent of crammed-together, motley buildings that descend to the tall and narrow dockside warehouses, which the mists surrender last of all. As merchants set up their stalls in the Wide, ser vants of the wealthy mingle among them to purchase the choicest products and freshest food. These servants shop in the Wide throughout the morning. Their mas ters rise late and rarely emerge out of doors before highsun, when their working days begin—if they work, that is. Entrepreneurs among them wake early and dine on sideboard meals of hot, smoked flaked fish or eels and fresh-baked nut buns slathered in flavored butter. Then they set out to see to their investments and make deals, often in Lower City trad ing houses or small upscale taverns, where outsiders come to negotiate. In the afternoon, the late-rising patriars leave their homes to shop, make business deals, and inspect new wares or hear proposals.
The leisurely lives of the wealthy take place in the eye of a storm. Around the patriars, servants bustle continually. By dawn, kitchen fires have been burning for hours. In the Lower City, shops and cafes open their doors for business while other Baldurians begin their daily routines. The city clogs with people climbing and descending the steep streets. In the harbor, the docks never sleep, but daylight brings with it increased ship traffic and movement of goods between ships, ware houses, shops, and the Wide. Just as merchants wait for dawn to enter the Wide, peddlers, travelers, and day laborers pack the north ern road outside Black Dragon Gate, awaiting entry into the Upper City. Most merchants traveling the Trade Way or the Coast Way use the city as the end point of their jour neys, unloading goods and picking up new cargo for their return treks.
They leave their horses or mules in Blackgate or the Outer City, have their goods hauled through town, and pick up new animals on the other side. By the time the land routes into the city are opened at dawn, business in the port has been roaring for hours. Patriars living their lives of leisure, however, do dine at midday, drinking cordials, or watered-down wine or fruit brandy, and nibbling on handtarts. These small pas tries have either sweet or savory fillings. Baldurians who have time to spare typically frequent cafes and relax with a cup of tea or coffee and a bit of sweet bread. City happenings reach a frantic peak just before dusk. Bakers who first threw open their shutters to sell steaming pork buns or dusky rolls the latter are filled with chicken, turkey, or game bird, such as pigeon to fellow Lower City folk in the foredawn are preparing to close up shop.
Their runners bring the last deliveries of rolls and loaves to cafes, inns, and taverns as bakers wrap up leftover merchandise to sell at discounted rates the next day. Patriars dine again near dusk. Then they either go out to feasts or revels or engage in leisure pursuits, such as reading, acting, listening to music, gaming, and wooing. If the latter, Watch soldiers later escort sober visitors home while drunken ones typi cally sleep over. Drunkenness and debauchery, considered scandalous at other times and occasions, are perfectly acceptable at such fetes. In contrast, strict etiquette prevails at patriar feasts, which involve political conversations, business proposals, metaphysical discussions, and entertainments featuring bards, musicians, or actors. Sunset sees the closing of most shops. Stiff drinks, large bowls of hearty stew, bread and apples, and fried fish are staples in such establishments.
Echoes of soft footfalls and the sharper, heavier sounds ofbarrels and crates being unloaded or doors slammed rebound eerily in the night. They seem to come from everywhere, including the barely seen night sky above, where a few bright stars wink through the mist. And always, the soft scurrying of countless rats can be heard. It gets quieter than by day and a trifle more private, in part because the bustle of shipping and shopping in the streets dies down, but primarily due to the fog. Through this damp world of muffled smells and hampered vision, Baldurians move cautiously, often resorting to lanterns and traveling in groups. The Watch and the Flaming Fist patrol heavily, and many folk are out on the streets, some engaging in legitimate business and others in illicit pursuits.
Some residents of strategically located buildings, such as those on sharp bends along the steepest Lower City streets, along narrow alleys, or near city gates, make a living from such fees. The betrayer instantly becomes ineli gible for guild or coster membership, unacceptable as a signatory to any contract, and unworthy of receiv ing hurl in the future. So, those who violate this code must leave no survivors and be seen by no one who can identify them. Anyone seen wearing a mask who is not patron izing a festhall or attending an Upper City revel arouses instant suspicion. On a typical night, when the Lower City is shrouded in fog, the mists are lighter in the Outer City and lighter still in the Upper City, where moonlight makes the thin fog glow milky white, outlining the figures of moving or standing people within feet or more. Watch-escorted apprentice wizards make rounds to recast any failed or dispelled light spells.
ensuring that the Upper City is always well lit and Watch patrols can see anyone they encounter out of doors. Usually, locked chains control the angle of the booni. so the lamp can be lowered for refilling and raised to various heights to light specific spots. Most of the oil used in such lamps comes from fish or whales and is both smoky and reeking. The waters of the harbor and the river are apt to be as busy as the docks by night. Large shipping ves sels rarely arrive to moor in the hours after sunset, but rowboats take sailors to and from ships anchored in open water, and fishing vessels set out downriver in hopes of reaching the sea before dawn to make a good catch and return by dawn the following day. It could be a tavern, an eatery, or a festhall. Such groups often engage in low-stakes gam bling over cards or dice.
A lot of informal face-to-face business, whether outside the law or legal, goes on in these places. Day laborers dominate the traffic of the first half of any night when they visit such places to get their main meal of the day, indulge in gossip or flirtations, and look for someone to hire them for the day to follow. As the night wears on, lowlier Baldurians who rise in the evening to work the dark hours arrive for their break fast. The din of their indoor work can be heard for the latter half of every night in the Outer City, but laws limit noisy dark-hours labor in the Lower City and ban it altogether in the Upper City. Other individuals gather for meetings and meals throughout the night— hard drinkers, criminals of all sorts, the dejected, and anyone looking for a dry spot on a wet or cold night end up being the last patrons of any place of business still open in the hours between midnight and dawn.
Timid shop keepers and those who have the most valuable and vulnerable wares—notably jewelry, perishables, and weapons—close at sunset, typically clearing their shops aided by loaded crossbows or Flaming Fist assistance, if suspicious individuals seem unwilling to leave. They lock their doors, chain the handles of any double doors together, shoot bolts, and drop stout wooden or metal bars into place inside cradles, thus barring cross hinges and door frames as well as doors. Windows, which rarely contain glass except in the Upper City, are covered with stout, swinging shutters and then barred on the inside in the same way as the doors. In the most dangerous areas of the Outer City, grates of welded bars are then affixed into place inside the windows.
By evening, the Upper City is at its social height indoors. The streets are deserted except for frequent Watch patrols and the occasional patriar entourage trav eling from house to house with livened servants and a respectful Watch escort. Anyone who shouts while out in the Upper City at night is likely to be clubbed silent by the Watch for failing to pipe down when ordered to do so. Of course, if the boisterous one is a patriar, that worthy will be hustled indoors instead. This ability affords them the opportunity to rest for only a few hours at night and still get up in the predawn darkness to prepare for the next day. Others retreat to their homes and apartments, often sleeping in crowded rooms occupied by an extended family, multiple fami lies, or multiple renters.
Those who have no bed for the night will seek out any dry spot where Flaming Fist patrols are unlikely to notice them. As the night wears on, different Baldiirians rise in their separate but linked cycles of waking, working, playing, and resting, and the whole machine of a living city runs on for another day. It controls the mouth of the River Chionthar, which the heartland kingdoms of Cormyr and Sembia depend on to quickly and reli ably reach Waterdeep and Amn. Baldurians have done very well hosteling. resupplying, and taxing such trav elers and traders. Had any histories been written, they would have told of dastardly pirates, daring smugglers, and heroic farmers struggling to survive while fending off barbaric orcs and raiders. The great city that the Gate has become was made possible through the philan thropy of its namesake, Balduran.
When Balduran returned from Anchorome, he freely and equitably gave away his wealth, request ing only that a portion of it be used to construct a great wall to protect his hometown, then called Gray Harbor. the great explorer was not one to drop anchor for long, and he set sail on a second voyage to Anchorome from which he never returned. The hamlet of Gray Harbor swelled as people flocked to its safety. The harborage was good, and the site proved an excellent crossroads for trade between the North. South, and central Heartlands. Wealth flowed in with the people. New buildings were erected until the city spilled over its wall and spread down the steep, crescent-shaped hill toward the harbor below.
Those left out side the wall, including sailors, peasants, and crafters, supported the growing city. Tax Revolt As the influx of outsiders grew, Old Town began taxing all the goods and people that passed between the harbor and the town. The conflict played out in the court of war. Sailors, pirates, and hardy Heapsiders battled farmers and merchants. The latter group would have crumpled immediately if not for the wall, a fact that later led to the formation of the Watch. The first dukes became known as the Council of Four and served life time terms in which they discussed city affairs and made decisions jointly. When one died, a citywide vote elected a new duke. Although the issue of taxation was put to rest for a while, the dukes came to see its necessity, especially when raids on the growing Heapside community necessitated the construction of additional protec tive walls.
Fighters eagerly enlisted, expanding the fledg ling group to almost two thousand members. In one ofhis first acts as duke, Eltan quickly put Flaming Fist soldiers on police duty, making the unpatrolled Lower City his top priority. He used a portion of the taxes the dukes collected to pay the mercenaries. Other than tripling in size to its current member ship of nearly six thousand, the mercenary company has not changed much since its early years. The Lord of Murder is in darkness, but he waits only for two vic tims—the last victims—to reclaim his throne of blood.
Bhaalspawn and the Iron Throne During the Time of Troubles, when Ao the overgod forced the gods to walk among their mortal fol lowers, Bhaal foresaw his own death. So the god of assassins enacted a plan to escape his doom. After adopting mortal form, Bhaal mated with many females throughout Toni. The offspring were gifted with unusual powers and unnaturally long lives and were behaviorally inclined toward violence and murder. Such feelings xvere particularly strong when the spawn were around each other, as Bhaal had envisioned. Sarevok, the adopted son of an Iron Throne leader and one of the Bhaalspawn, took over the organization and sought to assassinate the dukes.
Wars and other cataclys mic events left the city unscathed, and its reputation as a safe harbor in the storm of the times drew many to it. They succeeding in kill ing two dukes and nearly slew Grand Duke Dillard Portyr. But the Flaming Fist and the Watch banded together to save the young duke and drive Valarken and the surviving lycanthropes out of the city. Of course, until the new dukes were elected, the new Parliament of Peers would help carry the burden of decision-making and maintaining the rule of law. The patriars also suggested to the young leader that he should serve in the role of grand duke, in effect relegating the other three dukes to advisory roles unless all of them united to oppose him.
New dukes were chosen to once more fill out the Council of Four, but the Parliament of Peers has yet to relinquish its extraordinary powers. The last census indicated a staggering pop ulation, even without accounting for the people living in the outlying villages and miles of farmland that spread beyond the city. Many Baldurians make their liv ings as sailors; shipwrights; harborhands, who unload river boats and stow goods in sea galleons; merchants, who outfit trade vessels and their crews; bankers, who ftind trade missions; and accessory servicers, who supply the suppliers, including the farmers, woodcarv ers, coopers, brewers, millers, and smiths that are part of urban life. The influx of immigrants to the Gate has greatly augmented the traditional Baldurian lifestyle.
Visitors can now hear traditional Halruaan drinking songs in the taverns, taste spicy Calimshan food at a fullbucket eatery, and purchase a water clock as good as any crafted in Neverwinter. At the same time, the rush of exciting, enjoy able new ideas has also brought with it cultures and practices that many Baldurians find distasteful or frightening. This reaction led to the founding of Little Calimshan, a neighborhood literally walled off from its neighbors. The Outer City also hosts the district of Twin Songs, a sprawl of tiny temples and shrines, where sites dedicated to dark entities such as Loviatar, Hoar, and Beshaba stand unchallenged. Meanwhile, the huge sprawl that is the Outer City, which includes the long string of settlements running north and south on the Trade Way, goes tinpoliced since the Parliament of Peers and the Council of Four will not provide the funds to expand either the Flaming Fist or the Watch. Bolstered by new tactics, ideas, and victims on which to prey, the Guild now reaches its tendrils into every Gate enterprise, lowly and vaunted alike.
The rich are tempted to sin, and the righteous dare not leave their homes for fear of robbery and harm. After no more than a tenday, during which candidates would make speeches on city streets and at various guildballs and manors, votes were tallied in polling stations. The four dukes, holding lifetime posts, would then debate proposed new laws, vote on them, and issue, or not, decrees based on majority opinion. Today, the government looks much different. Those in the Parliament of Peers would say it is more effec tive and efficient. Composed of the heirs of the first peers, Parliament meets most afternoons in the High Hall to oversee the business of governance and justice. Each member of the Council of Four has one vote. Duke Abdel Adrian, on the other hand, is a frequent dissenter. Various patriars and Upper City barristers also retain backup copies.
In practice, the legal code gives the most rights and protections to the patriars and Watch. All other citizens receive far less deference. Thus, any Fist soldier can be charged and arrested for civil crimes, such as breach of contract. Meanwhile, the code grants Watch and Flaming Fist sol diers the authority to mete out immediate punishment, up to and including execution, to criminals caught in the act. However, soldiers avoid doing so when patriars or politically connected individuals are the ones nabbed. Anyone caught in the commission ofa lesser crime can expect swift punish ment without a trial. Thievery or violence typically earns a public maiming, such as a whipping or the loss of a finger.
Breach of contract earns forced labor, such as working as a rower or for a guild. Which duke or peer depends on the clout of the accused and his or her enemies. The accused can speak in his or her own defense or have someone else do so. Although professional barristers operate in the city, only the wealthiest citizens can afford to hire them. defeated Sarevok. As such, he takes great pains with his appearance to present a proud example for others to follow. The duke fasts for long stretches and exercises daily, giving him a gaunt but fit phy sique.
His black hair has grayed at the temples, and he wears a well-trimmed salt-and-pepper beard. The high artificer resides in the traditional Silvershield estate in the southwestern corner of the Manorborn district with Evelyn, his wife; their two daughters, Skie 11 and Alana; arid their son, Entar III. Torlin Silvershield believes that his nobility and birth right give him a divine obligation to rule with justice. So Silvershield never appears in public without displaying excellently crafted High House ofWonders items and jewelry. Additionally, the Silvershield estate is adorned in fine art and technological marvels. He sees no hypocrisy in this outlook. To Silvershield, the ends always justify the means. He is fearless and clear-headed in a crisis, and he is always thinking at least three steps ahead. In recent months, Silvershield has grown increas ingly grim and unscrupulous in his scheming. He knows the Guild has wormed its way into every aspect of city life, arranging matters for its profit and daily convenience.
Silvershield appreciates the Watch but resists turning its full force against the Guild, because he believes that doing so would only drive the Guild to strike at innocent civilians in retaliation. Instead, he believes it is time to fight fire with fire. He is on the lookout for suitable adventurers to hire to battle the Guild. Such a group, provided with covert aid from the dukes and an understanding that, if necessary, the courts would find in their favor, could accomplish far more than the Watch or the Flaming Fist. Duke Belynne Stelmane Once a vigorous and formidable politician, Belynne Stelmane recently suffered a seizure and a long period of unconsciousness, after which she awoke a changed woman. Half of her handsome face is paralyzed now, and an uncertain gait and a constant tremor in her left arm have replaced her once legendary grace.
Even though she continues to perform her ducal duties and jealously guards her privileges, her thinking seems slow, and her words come even more slowly. She has managed to hold onto that posi tion because, in the privacy of her home, she remains a skilled negotiator when it comes to commerce and continues to effectively influence city businesses and acquire more wealth and property. The duke is conservative and unimaginative in all matters except for trade strategies and financial maneuvers. She has made few pronouncements or controversial court judgments since her illness. Due to her wealth and business connections, most Gate power players consider her a valuable ally or a pawn rather than a target. She is indeed a pawn. Since she awakened, her mind has been a constant battleground between her own psyche and the illithid—except when she conducts business on behalf of the Knights of the Shield.
Nor has she found a way to break its grip on her sufficiently to signal for aid. She has learned that the more she attempts to exercise her will, the less capable she appears to others, a perception that ultimately threaten her status. So, behind her distant expression and stuttering words, the duke is ever watchful for something that might break the stalemate with the evil entity inside her. Grand Duke Dillard Portyr Dillard Portyr is a short, portly man in his sixties. His once black hair is now gray and sparse, and he wears a shabby wig out of habit rather than vanity. A vet eran investor, shipping-fleet owner, and trader, Portyr recently pulled back from the business world follow ing a string of sour deals. Now he is using his time to enjoy the comforts that his wealth and title have pro vided him. Having outlived two wives and three sons, Duke Portyr now lives quietly in a relatively unassum ing manor in the Temples district that a handful of devoted servants maintain.
In social situations, the grand duke is likable and enter taining, spending much of his energy to make sure others feel good and are having fun. As a leader, Grand Duke Portyr is a weathercock, turning whichever way the wind blows. He is known for listening with concern, showing an earnest desire to help, making promises to look into things—and then doing nothing, if doing something would mean facing conflict. The wizard Gorion raised Adrian in Candlekeep, but Adrian, a child of Bhaal, was swept up in a series of deadly events orchestrated by his half-siblings, the Bhaalspawn. Afterward, Adrian fought countless battles against people seeking to use his Bhaalspawn blood for nefarious purposes.
Following his adventuring days, Adrian lived for a time in contemplation in Candlekeep. Lower City citizens respected his courage and dashing ways, and Outer City residents loved him for his charitable works. He originally tried to turn down his ducal nomination, but public acclaim was too strong, and the military leader reluctantly accepted the post. Adrian is more than a century old, and his divine heritage has kept him well preserved. He appears to be in his sixties, and his body retains the strength of youth. At nearly 7 feet in height, Adrian towers over most Baldurians. Black hair frames his unrelenting eyes and slightly wizened face. Unlike other dukes, he wears comfortable, plain garments and shuns jewelry.
The only time he dresses as a state official is for parades. Adrian rarely speaks at council meetings. But when he does, his voice for moderation carries tremendous weight. He sometimes seems grim and lost in thoughts, perhaps of days past, but the Flaming Fist marshal and Council of Four duke is also known to break out in great guffaws when the occasion arises. OFFICERS OF THE CITY The Council of Four appoints deputies to oversee important city functions. These five officers in turn employ all the civic bureaucrats, negotiate with the guilds for labor, and oversee the needs of the city. The current titles of these deputies, which speak to their responsibilities, are Harbormaster; High Constable and Master of Walls; Master of Drains and Underways; Master of Cobbles; and Purse Master. Shortly thereafter, at the next Council of Four meeting, Adrian recommended Namorran to fill the open position of harbormaster.
Namorran is highly intelligent and a capable accountant, which makes him well suited for the post. At the same time, he lacks social polish and willingly sacrifices common sense when it contradicts the rules. He also ensures that the Citadel is provisioned, that pay from the purse master is distributed correctly, and that Citadel and Old Wall maintenance needs are assigned and completed. In addition, High Constable Havanack acts as warden for the few cells in the Watch Citadel that are used to temporarily hold those awaiting trial in the High Hall or the occasional Watch soldier or patriar servant who needs to be quietly disciplined.
Havanack is stolid, wary, and always prepared. Master of Drains and Underways Thalamra Vanthampur Master Thalamra Vanthampur is an acid-tongued, shrewd, aggressive old woman, the matriarch of the Vanthampur family. Her office oversees all sewer, water pump, pipe, and cellar maintenance in the city. The master of drains and underways, however, typically does very little work other than appointing knowledgeable underlings from the ranks ofher family to keep things running. Of course, if those subordinates fail in their duties, the repercussions could be disastrous. Esgurl Nurthammas is young, nervous, and eager to please. He belongs to one of the poorest patriar fami lies and hopes to parlay a good record as master of cobbles into a Parliament of Peers seat. Purse Master Haxilion Trood Haxilion Trood is a world-weary, jaded, cynical, sarcastic-to-the-point-of-cruelty, sour-faced, and sourthinking man.
He never forgets a face or a detail, and his reputation for rudeness is born from his blunt, hon est-to-the-core observations. The dukes unanimously appointed Trood as purse master. Purse Master Trood manages tax and toll collection and records; investment of city funds; and distribution of pay to all city offices and officials, including the Watch. The purse master is also respon sible for ensuring that the Flaming Fist takes no more than its proper share of the taxes it collects. Unsurprisingly, the purse master wields incred ible power, is hated by many, and is under constant scrutiny for signs of graft and Guild influence. A dozen or so powerful Lower City representatives, including guild leaders and other wealthy individuals, are also peers.
Only the least successful patriar families do not have at least one member among the peers. So far, parliamentary seats have been mostly hereditary. By unanimous decree, the peers have created and filled a few additional seats. City law does not address how to fill these seats, so the peers do as they like. Parliament officially meets every day. Attendance is not mandatory, though, so only about twenty or thirty peers show up unless a session is scheduled on important political or monetary concerns. Although the Council of Four officially controls the city, the Par liament of Peers first discusses and then recommends a course of action for virtually every city decision.
In other words, every topic from toll rates to Flaming Fist contracts is argued on the floor of the parliament chamber in the High Hall. Two important members of parliament who are not from patriar families are described here. Coran The elf-adventurer-turned-upstanding-citizen known as Coran, formerly a bold fighter and thief, currently occupies himself as a merchant and an information broker, and is well known as an infamous celebrity at patriar revels. Coran relishes being in the know and playing the sardonic, world-wise observer.
He appears at all the choicest fetes with wineglass in hand and a dazzling young companion on his arm. He typically wears bright and gaudy garments, elegant jewelry, and exotic costumes. Coran is now too old—or, more to the point, too closely monitored by the Watch and Fist—to take part in daring robberies, but he still craves excitement. Coran makes and takes bets on the outcomes of lawless activities, and he covertly invests in goods that he knows will experience nearterm shortages. These wagers and schemes provide him with the income to support his pampered lifestyle. The former adventurer enjoys playing puppet master just as much as, if not more than, he delighted in executing his own escapades. Now he serves as the witty voice of experience, dispensing advice and point ing the clueless toward clues, the stumped toward solutions, and the in-over-their-heads toward local experts.
Coran always knows where someone can obtain a sleep poison, a love potion, an impersonator, or a kidnapper. What some call manipulation, he calls guidance. Everything he does is geared toward his own amusement and profit. Imbralym Skoond This greedy, amoral, young wizard is graceful, charm ing, and darkly handsome. He was a dancing master in Athkatla until he discovered his aptitude for the magical arts and began dreaming about the immense wealth that a successful wizard could amass. With the first earnings he received from Silver shield, Imbralym bought the leaky, drafty Seskergates mansion in the Bloomridge district. Most reside in grand Upper City manors that their families have lived in for generations.
All such homes have beautifully maintained facades, even if a floundering family must strip its insides bare. No one among the gossipy patriars is fooled, but they all believe that keeping up appearances is a civic duty. Virtually all patri ars are compulsive bettors. They wager on races, such as those featuring snakes or weasels; fighting, includ ing arm wrestling, full-body wrestling, and matches between animals; and duels. Two types of duels are legal, buff-pole and bluntsword contests. In the former, youths joust without saddles or reins, using blunted and padded buff-poles. In the latter, adults use blunted swords to score hits against their opponents while dueling in a small, bare room or enclosure. The victor is the opponent who scores the most hits. The duel begins when an unlit lantern filled with fireflies is opened and ends when the last firefly exits the lantern.
Below are descriptions of two patriar families from opposite ends of the Upper City social spectrum. He has ties to the peers, the Flaming Fist, and the Guild, but has the respect of none of them. Most patriars snub the Dlusker family because they were prominent support ers of Duke Valarken before the attempted coup. He is deeply in debt; his meager income derives from sheep folds beyond the city, a Lower City textile mill, and a handful of Outer City slaughterhouses.
This document was uploaded by user and they confirmed that they have the permission to share it. If you are author or own the copyright of this book, please report to us by using this DMCA report form. Report DMCA. Home current Explore. Home Murder In Baldur's Gate - Adventure. pdf Murder In Baldur's Gate - Adventure. pdf 0 0 October PDF Bookmark Embed Share Print Download. pdf as PDF for free. Words: 26, Pages: The rich live atop bluffs protected from the bourgeoisie. Their homes cling to the slopes that literally prevent member of the middle class from rising above their stations. In this powder keg, an old threat flickers to new life.
The plot of a murdered deity finally comes to frui tion, resurrecting the god of assassins. Bhaal vilI live again. And in the city that once thwarted his rebirth, three prominent figures unwittingly compete to herald his return. As the bodies clog the streets, can the heroes keep the city from tearing itself apart? Only one thing is certain: There will be blood. Instead, the adventure is about the experi ence the players create as the drama of events unfolds. As the adventure plays out, it pushes those events out of the PCs control. The players should increasingly feel pulled in different directions, with too many fires to put out and too little time. If you or they get stuck for what to do, consider using a neutral party such as Coran Campaign Guide, page 38 to give the players a hint or an idea of what to do next.
You will need to improvise details as you run vari ous events and encounters. You might need to produce tactical maps on the spur of the moment, create minor nonplayer characters on the fly, or decide what happens when the characters try something unexpected. Instead, use the opportunity to complicate their plans right back. Game Rules and Statistics You can use the rules for 3rd Edition v. Few game rules and no monster statistics are included in this book. You can find that material online at Dun geonsandDragons. Throughout the adventure, a monster name in bold indicates a monster that is available in the statis tics packet. In addition, the adventure usually does not specify the number of adversaries the heroes might face.
This adventure calls for ability checks rather than skill checks. replace the ability checks with skill checks that are appropriate for the task being attempted. During the Sundering, gods that were thought lost or dead return, and age-old alliances and hierarchies of the deities are thrown into upheaval. Others play out in the Legacy of the Ciystal Shard adventure and the Sundering novel series, starting with R. the overgod, in punishment for their arrogance. Bhaal, the Lord of Murder and god of assassins, was himself murdered during this time.
Yet he had foreseen his demise. In preparation, Bhaal took mortal form arLd coupled with many mortal creatures, spreading his divine essence ever thinner as each child was born. After his death, the children of Bhaal—the so-called Bhaalspawn—grew up haunted by dreams of death and found themselves imbued with strange powers. One Bhaalspawn named Abdel Adrian resisted the murderous nature imparted to him by his father. When he grew to adulthood, he set out to right the wrongs com mitted by his siblings and those who sought to control the rebirth of Bhaal or tap that power. Adrian eventually settled down in the city, was inducted as a leader among its mercenary military, the Flaming Fist, and was elected a duke for life.
Thanks to his divine heritage, Adrian has lived a long time, but so has his one remaining half-sibling, Viekang. Abdel believes that since he is the last Bhaalspawn alive to the best of his knowledge and Bhaal has not arisen, the god of murder is well and truly dead. STRUCTURE This adventure starts when Viekang and Adrian face off. Afterward, three prominent locals one of whom might become the Chosen of Bhaal separately approach the characters. Sadly, there is no good guy among them. Whichever faction the charac ters associate with is just as violent and corrupt as any other one, as the players will learn in time.
As the Dungeon Master, you determine how the events of a stage play out and whether it makes sense for the heroes to get involved. To keep the tension high, you might have the characters hear about two events of a stage in quick succession, so they have to run from one location to another without rest. If the story arcs become unwieldy, you could space out events over the course of a day or more, or have the heroes hear about certain events after they have occurred, preventing the characters from getting involved. At that point, the characters might attempt to kill one or more of the agents to solve the problem. If the characters kill all three antagonists, one of them becomes the Chosen of Bhaal. GETTING AROUND The Gate is a crowded, bustling city, so moving within it is time-consuming. Walking across a district to the next takes 15 minutes under normal circum stances or 10 minutes if characters push. This is a slow pace, about one mile per hour.
On any given day, thick crowds are full of street perform ers, sticky-fingered urchins, Flaming Fist and Watch patrols, sailors, and travelers and traders. Stacks of cargo clog up intersections, traffic jams halt passage, and steep and drizzle-slick roads put unlucky passersby on their backsides. But darkness, fog, and patrols might still slow them. Because of the crowds, the peddlers, the bureaucrats, the toll collectors, and the air of tension over the city, every action and transaction takes longer than it would in a less congested and perilous place.
Capitalize on your opportunities to describe the tightly packed stalls of the Wide; the steep, narrow streets of Bloomridge; the teeming alleys of Blackgate; and the maze-like, walled environs of Little Calimshan. The ele ments that characters do not take part in are as important to the story as the intrigues in which they become entangled. The adventurers should hear news about all events that happen in the city, even those in which they do not take an active hand. Attacks from razor-wielding maniacs and other unexpected sources make for exciting, unsettling news, regard less of their targets. Also keep in mind that word of mouth is rarely wholly accu rate. Have some fun with the news as it circles the city. But if they act, they might prevent a catastrophe and save lives. Each event in the adventure is connected to at least one of these individuals; a small portrait in the text of an event indi cates which one is directly associated with that event.
The finale of the adventure is tied to whoever has the highest rank. This initial event takes place in the Wide. Moments later, the throng erupts in wild cheers as an older, surprisingly muscular man takes center stage. The ovation continuesfor minutes unabated. The duke, smiling broadly, bows to the crowd and then ges tures for quiet. As he talks, you notice a disturbance to your right. Some one is pushing roughly toward the platform. A cloaked and hoodedfigure emerges from the crowd, scrambles onto the podium, and strides toward Adrian, short sword in hand. The other officials scatter, leaving Adrian alone on the podium with Viekang, the only other living Bhaal spawn. Watch guards move toward the stage, but the panicking crowd impedes their progress and prevents them from using their crossbows effectively.
As mentioned earlier, the statistics for nonplayer characters and monsters in this adventure can be found online at DungeonsandDragons. To resolve matters quickly, roll a d6 for Adrian and a dlO for Viekang each round. When one of them rolls 2 or more higher than his opponent, the winner has struck a killing blow. If the characters inter vene, assume Viekang and Abdel Adrian have half their hit points remaining. The victor morphs into the hulking, bloodsoaked, corpse-like form of the Bhaalspawn Slayer. Pandemonium and panic reign in the Wide as the adventurers fight the Bhaalspavn Slayer. The Bhaal spawn Slaver fights to the death. After the fiend has fallen, the Watch swiftly sets out to restore order.
Thus, he cannot yet do more than subtly influence people who harbor murderous intentions. Bhaal swiftly fixates on the three antagonists and begins calculating ways to use them to whip the tendrils of fear drifting through the Gate into a tempest. If the adventurers ask about the transformation, most folk are ignorant. None of them suspect that Bhaal has returned. They assume that a ritual or something grander than the fight in the Wide would be necessary. If he is asked, Duke Silvershield does link the assassin to the mysterious cults he is concerned about and sug gests that the attacker might have been a deranged follower of the dead god Bhaal. the other person is using hand signals common among underworld types. The figure is helping to straighten a toppled fruit stall. All three set out to recruit the characters. The first to reach out is Duke Torlin Silvershield.
Among them is a young man, darkly hand some and graceful, who is dressed in a sumptuous robe. I ivill be there witilfour bells. The crowd parts as he approaches. Emblazoned on his tabard is a clenched gauntlet wreathed in fire—the symbol of the Flaming Fist.
Murder In Baldur's Gate - Adventure.pdf,Recent Comments
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Much about Blanthe remains secret. Anyone caught in the commission ofa lesser crime can expect swift punish ment without a trial. In its heyday, it was an ugly, powerful, and functional fortification. The characters already know that Duke Adrian was a wildly popular figure. Silvershield also maintains a home office in the tower, but he seldom uses it. If the heroes are working with Samulkin or Burifist, that person escorts the characters and their team across the causeway under the guise of a supply delivery. Attendance is not mandatory, though, so only about twenty or thirty peers show up unless a session is scheduled on important political or monetary concerns.
She prefers anonymity, so her bodyguards accompany her invisibly, sometimes in disguise and sometimes at a distance. This is a slow pace, about one mile per hour, murder in baldurs gate 5e pdf download. Downspouts and underground drainpipes, rarely large enough to be thought of as sewers, drain away used water. It burst its original hounds, consum ing Gray Harbor as it grew up and down the bluffs. The caravan consists of Nant Thangol, two human bystanders carrying the locked cash box, two lamp lads also bystandersand several Flaming Fist sol diers privates and lieutenants. Skoond Denies it All The characters might corner and interrogate Skoond as this plot unravels. Rael and NineFingers know the Guild had nothing to do with it, but they are itching to know who did.
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