Baldur's Gate II (5e campaign log)

[J-H]

Session 9: 9/10/2023

Having just completed a knock-down, drag-out fight with a pair of Rakshasas, the party rests for a bit and then travels back to Trademeet. When they approach the genies, Khan Zahraa immediately senses that they have the head of his quarry, Ihtafeer. He talks to the head briefly, telling Ihtafeer that she was very naughty. As promised, the genies leave Trademeet, but Zahraa also rewards the group with a scimitar from his personal armory… Belm +1, Scimitar of Speed.

The BG2 Rashad’s Talon sword has nothing special to recommend it, and seems duplicative. Ludwig the rogue takes the scimitar, and now is attuned to the Helm of Balduran, the Tuigan Bow of Speed, and the Scimitar of Speed. He doesn’t need Steady Aim, as he can always make two attacks per round. Too bad his AC is still just 15 because his Strength and Dex are at 14.

They go on to visit the mayor, and are asked to stick around as things are put in motion for a ceremony the following day. Representatives of the druid grove have already been in communication about reparations.

Before the ceremony, the Guildmistress of the merchant guilds approaches them and gives them a bag with a reward from some of the traders:
2x 1500gp emeralds
5x 100gp pearls
1x 500gp diamond
1x 300gp diamond
All of these are spell components for various spells, including material components for Revivify and Raise Dead.
And a Shield of Harmony +1: Attunement, wearer is immune to Confusion and the Paralyzed and Charmed conditions.
Cormak the cleric, the only shield-user, claims it. Since his attunement slots are full, he retains the Girdle of Piercing and Staff of Thunder & Lightning, and hands off the Ring of Protection to Mergand. No net change in his AC, but he wants the immunities. This is when I find out that he never increased his saves by the +1 of the RoP.

They stay and are recognized at a ceremony attended by the town notables, and asked to pose for statues that have been commissioned to adorn the city center. They get 12,000gp. Two different noble families approach them to do “a job” for them, acknowledging that both want the same thing, and that both claim to be the founding family. The Mayor tells them to step carefully, and they end up deciding that they just don’t want to get involved.

They look through the stores list and have 26,000gp + items to sell, but buy nothing. I think they are having trouble with goal-setting for items.

The group leaves for Athkatla, traveling for a couple of days. As they head into the slums, they realize they’re being tailed. As there is some discussion instead of an immediate reaction, they end up with a half-elf ranger named Suna Seni in front of them, backed up by an armored fighter and a low-level Cleric of Cyric, and three thugs behind them. Suna references Lehtinan and that she’s been hired to take them down for what they’ve done.

Ludwig basically challenges her to a sword fight. Cormak drops Spiritual Weapon, which doesn’t do a lot. Eldarin uses the Interception style to block damage done by Ludwig to Suna, while she scores at least one hit per round with Hunter’s Mark up. The Cyricist hits Mergand with Bane, then trades Toll the Deads with Cormak. It doesn’t look great for the party for a bit, until they start casting spells. Mergand uses Dragon’s Breath on himself, catching two thugs in the AOE for 20 damage, then Cernd knocks them back with Thunderwave. Cormak uses his Staff of Thunder and Lightning, triggering its daily 9d6 DC 17 Lightning Bolt. Eldarin (the fighter) and the Cleric of Cyric both fail their save and are instantly killed by 36ish points of lightning damage. Two of the three thugs break and run when reduced to single digit HP (morale check, low D20 result = run away). They try to get Suna to surrender, but she says she holds to her contracts and has already paid off the priests anyway.

Loot:
Splint +1 (AC 18, equivalent to full plate)
Longsword +1
1350gp
Arbane’s Sword +1 (Attunement, immune to paralysis, 2x/day can haste for 1 round with no downside – Suna used both charges for today).

Late in the fight, a Cowled Wizard shows up and gives the group their one warning about arcane magic use. Mergand replies that he understands and he’ll just use Daddy’s Magic. The wizard isn’t happy about this, but Dimension Doors off after a final warning. Enforcing the rest of the law isn’t his job, and the fight in the alley isn’t killing a lot of people who aren’t involved.

Having finally encountered their warning, the party heads off to the Government district. En route, on the bridge across the river, they encounter some people standing around at a scene where some bodies were recently removed, and hear rumors of a guild war taking place in the shadows.

They reach the government district and notice someone preparing to get burned at the stake near the prison. They approach, and find that it’s a female drow. There is some substantial discussion about intervening or not. At one point, it’s 2:1 in favor of walking off because it’s just a drow and they’re pretty much all evil anyway. I do put them under some time pressure of not taking too long to decide. Cormak uses Detect Thoughts and verifies that she was just shopping and not doing anything malicious, and is really iffy about leaving her alone. Finally, Ludwig decides to use his invisible Mage Hand to untie her. She jumps down and the Cleric of Beshaba and his two minions move to attack her.

There is a crowd around, represented as cover and difficult terrain.
Mergand cast Shield of Faith (Bhaal spell) on Cormak.
Cormak cast Blindness on one of the Beshabans.
Ludwig slipped through the crowd, shoved the blinded Beshaban prone, and then the next round, did the same thing to the leader… shove and withdraw/Hide in the crowd.
The blinded Beshaban got up ready to fight. Due to the noise, I rolled a d12 for direction, and then an attack roll at disadvantage, and he brained someone in the crowd for 5 points of damage, at which point people start running away.
Viconia (the drow) took a couple of hits and cast Sanctuary on herself. After an entire round of the Beshabans failing to hit her, she Dashed off without disengaging. The group is iffy about helping her. Cormak is very wary of being obvious with all the guards around. I do have to clarify for the player that, as a cleric of Mask, he is quite aware that City Guards have specific things they are supposed to do, and things that they are sometimes paid to not do, and that the stuff in between depends on who their immediate boss is. Breaking into a noble’s house? They’re all over it. Pickpockets knifing each other in an alley? Who cares. They are not a modern professional police force.

She is the only drow running around the city, and she has no disguise, so she’ll be easy to track.

The party follows and ends up giving her a cloak, gloves, the Leather Armor +1 they took off a druid, and an escort back to the Copper Coronet.

Mergand and Ludwig go to the government building, and get pointed to the room containing the Cowled Wizard representative. He mentions that Rayic Geythras, another CW, needs someone to chase down a murderer for him. Ludwig says they’re good at that… they will probably get a message from him soon 
They inquire about the magic license and are told that they need to prove that they will use magic responsibly. How do you prove this? With a suitable financial investment of 5,000gp.

They are warned to use magic responsibly, not endanger large groups of people, etc., and that violations can result in their license being revoked. They say they only use magic in self defense, and the CW brings up that guy last week who blew up a chunk of Waukeen’s Promenade…. After a bit of inter-party discussion, they decide to ask what happened to him.

“How curious are you?”
“Very curious.”
“Do you have any extra money left?”
“Sure, like 1,000 gold?”
The wizard walks across the room, opens a cabinet, pulls some papers out, and then sets them on his desk before announcing that he needs to leave the room for a couple of minutes to stretch his legs.

Reviewing the papers, I give them a brief version of the transcript of the “trial.” Irenicus is in Spellhold. The documents don’t say what that is… but given the size of their bribe, they ask when the wizard gets back, and are told that it’s a secure location far away – you can’t walk there - where they put deviants, crazy people, those who won’t go along to get along, etc., and that nobody has ever escaped.”

Ludwig’s player, OOC goes: “Until now. I bet he gets a message right now that Irenicus has escaped.”
I laugh internally.

They return to the Copper Coronet without event (it’s still in the afternoon – I want to start having the vampire/shadow thief interactions, but those have to be night-time) and level up to 5! Leveling up goes a bit better this time as I know to babysit it a bit. I ask if everyone’s happy with their character.
Mergand isn’t sure what spell he’ll take yet.
Ludwig picks up 10 more HP and Uncanny Dodge.
As I expected, Cormak’s player isn’t. He’s tried the Trickster cleric thing and it just doesn’t fit him well. He’s looking at options and will get back to me, but is thinking Light cleric looks appealing.

No game next week. I reminded Mergand’s player to check his Discord DMs, with the goal of getting the first Bhaal dream rolling.

Thoughts on how to build Viconia? Trickery doesn't fit, and I don't feel like Twilight, Grave, or Death do either. Life? Some sort of custom hybrid for Shar?
I think they are more likely to pick up Hendak or Korgan.