Baldur's Gate II (5e campaign log)

[J-H]

Session 23: 2/4/2024

Everyone is here. We pick up where we left off. Mergand casts Disguise Self as Montaron, who he had run in to back near Baldur’s Gate… 16+7 = 23. Success. He knocks on the door of the row house while the others wait just inside the door of the place they bribed their way into next door.

Terry is going “Are we sure this guy is evil? Why are we killing him again?”

Contrary to their expectations, Xzar doesn’t answer the door. Instead, it’s a young woman wearing low-key wizard robes. “Mr. Montaron!” Mergand staggers inside, mumbling something about being hurt (having disguised himself to be beat-up and with a fat lip to address any vocal differences). She tries to shut the door, and he collapses to the ground, rolling a nat20 on the disposal check. She (Sanasha, one of the apprentices) goes to get a healing potion, while the other apprentice goes to the stairs in the back of the room to call Xzar down. Mergand takes the healing potion and starts to stand up.

Also in the room are three figures in cloaks standing near the back (zombies), and a big crate or something covered in a piece of fabric (2 ghouls in a latched crate). The undead were created by Xzar, and have +10hp and +4 to hit. Xzar appears on the stairs. “Monty! How did you – “ (Player “Is that him?” me: “Yes” him: “Fireball!”)
It hits every single person in the room, starts some minor fires, and almost everyone fails their saving throw. Xzar did not prepare Absorb Elements, and besides, everyone’s Surprised and can’t take reactions yet. All those 30-ish HP undead now have about 10hp left.

The ka-boom of the fireball is the “go” signal for next door. Initiative is rolled. Two players get to go, then Xzar, then two more, then the apprentices, then Cormak, and only then the undead.

Nalia misses, Terry moves up but doesn’t do much because he’s still unsure about breaking into a house and fireballing everyone with no warning. Xzar hits Mergand with Bigby’s Crushing hand, grappling him. Ludwig runs into the room and misses (Shielded, I think), Mergand fires off a Fire Bolt or something that misses (don’t recall), then Sanasha and Prebek, the apprentices, pop Blur and Mirror Image respectively. Sanasha moves away, provoking an OA from Mergand, who rolls double 18s for his disadvantage and breaks her concentration with a thwack from his quarterstaff. Prebek moves over and opens the crate so the ghouls can escape. Cormak then enters the room and unleashes the 9d6 lightning bolt (DC 17 half) from his staff of thunder, frying one zombie, Prebek, and badly injuring Xzar down to low single digit HP. The 34 damage also ends Concentration on Bigby’s Hand.

The undead finally get to move up, but the zombies have to dash and only one ghoul scores a hit. Nalia and Terry attack the undead dropping two of them. Xzar then fireballs the entire group, retreating upstairs and out of sight. Sanasha Magic Missiles Mergand, dropping him to 0, and retreats up the stairs. The remaining ghoul is finished off, and Terry chases Sanasha, cutting her down on the stairs with his superior speed and battleaxe.

They search the top floor and don’t find Xzar. They do find documents marked with Zhentarim symbols that Ludwig the Harper recognizes, as well as a number of spell scrolls (Cause Fear, Summon Elemental, Dispel, Summon Undead, Danse Macabre, Animate Dead), a Quarterstaff +1, and 2 100gp pearls. Also, they put out the interior fires.

They head out of the house, disappointed that their quarry eluded them. I ask who’s leaving first and Mergand drinks a healing potion. Ludwig and Terry step off the porch and onto a patch of Grease. Terry falls. A fireball streaks down from the rooftop across the street, exploding in the doorway and hitting everyone. Terry goes to 0hp, having started the fight at not full HP and then having been Fireballed twice. Xzar had grabbed two greater healing potions, then Dimension Doored to the roof across the street, and while the party searched the house, had laid down Grease in front of the door and drunk the potions. Disadvantage from a prone target notwithstanding, Mergand tags him with a Fire Bolt, then Ludwig hits with an arrow (I think I remember that correctly). Terry’s the last one to go before Xzar gets to cast again. The player says he doesn’t have anything to do, and after some time and prompting, I remind him that he has Spider Climb. He gets up, runs across the street, Dashes up the wall, then Action Surges and chops Xzar to pieces with his axe.

They retrieve the body, help bystanders put out the fires, and leave.
Loot:
Bracers of Protection +1 (+1 AC, does not stack with other armor-type AC like actual armor or Mage Armor). Mergand takes these, as it boosts his AC by 1 when Mage Armor is down.
Namarra +1, Longsword that can cast Silence 2x/day. It made sense for Xzar to have it, as the Crypt King random thing was never going to happen.
1500gp statue of Xzar (material component for Contingency)

That fight had 3 fireballs and a lightning bolt! Unfortunately for Xzar, he did not have Absorb Elements, and his Contingency was pre-written as Stoneskin upon taking 10 points of B/P/S damage. He took no weapon damage until the final blow. Oops!

They cart the body to the Harpers, who offer to dispose of it. They ask, and are told Montaron has been dead for days, but they were using him as bait. They depart with thanks to the house they “own” on the Bridge district.

They all level up to 7!
Ludwig gets Evasion, 2 2nd level slots, and Hold Person.
Cormak gets 4th level spells (Control Water & Ice Storm from his domain, and prepped Stone Shape)
Terry gets 2 maneuvers (Sweeping Attack and Trip Attack), Know Your Enemy, and Advantage on Death saves (houserule)
Mergand gets 4th level spells. From his subclass, he gets Locate Object and Phantasmal Killer, and then he picks Polymorph. More on that below to not disrupt the narrative.

The next morning, the locksmith comes and installs the new magic lock, freshly enchanted by Terrance.

They go to the Adventurer’s Mart and sell some stuff, and buy more potions. They mention being “out of jobs.” Bartermann lets them know that he’s heard Watcher’s Keep is looking for some experienced and well-equipped adventurers to renew some wards, and there was also a kid in last week looking for help with wolf attacks out at some place in the sticks called Umar Village. He sent the kid on to the government.

They consider both of those options. With some prompting, I remind them that they have other options in their notes… note-taking has apparently been spotty. Monster-hunting in the Windspear Hills, a cult of the Blind in the Temple district, and right now I don’t recall the other thing they had noted down.

Mergand orders a comfortable wooden reclining chair with ottoman to be delivered to their house, and Nalia gets a better bedroll. “It’s good to walk like the common people do, but the ground was so LUMPY last time!” Nalia is in favor of leaving town, as she doesn’t want Isaea to realize she’s here.
“Who?”
“My…fiancee. His daddy is nice, but he’s such a boor! And he’s a jerk. He works with the City Guard.”
“Oh, certainly.”
(guess who’s going to find them soon…like maybe if a description of them gets noised about as being involved in some paladins getting killed?)

As they walk out of Wakeen’s promenade, a hooded woman with a silky voice asks them to move to someplace a bit quieter with her. She tells them that, whether they know it or not, their contact Gaelan Bayle is with the Shadow Thieves. She represents someone who also has an interest in the person they are hunting down, but who can help them for a much lower price.
Valen: “The shadow thieves are using you, you know. They will.”
Player: “How do we know you won’t?”
Valen: “We will, we’re just honest about it.”
If they’re interested, they just have to visit the Graveyard district at night. Her boss will know they have come to see her.
Mergand asks if they’ve met the boss before. Valen says no, they’d know if they had.

I PM Terry’s character that the person they just met seems familiar. Pale, cool, and not a lot of blood, similar to him. Terry the character has a bit of a freak-out that she was a dhampir, and shows the group his fangs, his pale skin, and tells his tale of being a half-vampire – as though him walking up the wall earlier wasn’t a clue enough!
The other characters mostly take it in stride. Someone comments “Everybody we meet has something weird going on with them here.”

They head out for the Windspear Hills for some SIMPLE MONSTER HUNTING. Oh yes, that’s all that happens there. We leave off with them topping a hill and seeing a group of six ogres heading up the slope towards them.

DM Notes: We are on the slide towards Spellhold now. I want them to be around level 9-10 when they get there, so that they end up around 16-18 at Suldanesselar.

When they get back to town, Isaea will probably show up to “save” Nalia (I need to figure out the script for that), which will prompt them digging around, which will get Ludwig to the inn in the Docks where Baron Ployer is hanging out, so that’s two sidequests to run that are not as combat-focused. I’ve pre-seeded Terrance’s existence with the locksmith already.

I do need to figure out how to more convincingly fluff full-plate paladins as ogres. Maybe they’re ogres in armor, and they have bladed clubs? I fully expect a Fireball to be their opener, though.

Mergand wants to take Polymorph, and use it to turn into a melee character so he can fight and kill stuff in melee, then turn back to a spellcaster when he loses concentration or gets reduced to 0hp. The problem is that, at this level, he can turn into a Giant Ape (157hp, 2 attacks at +9 for 3d10+6 damage), which completely overshadows any two PCs in terms of HP and damage. We had an open discussion about how this was a balance issue. I think I’m going to settle on some sort of scaling form, similar to the “Generic Wildshape” statblock… and of course after spellhold, some Slayer is going to creep into the form. Open to other ideas!

I have also started another Bhaal dream by PM. “Life…is strength.”