DavesGaming

This playthrough will be with the main characters from the TV Show “Chuck”, which ran on NBC from 2007 – 2012. The show was a spy-themed action-comedy (drama, adventure, romance). Really the balance of elements often struck me as perfect. It was funny, exciting, sweet with good heroic main characters and a number of eccentric supporting characters.
I was a pretty big fan and still love the main characters.

It is sort of a reach.  Spy-themed action is different from medieval fantasy!  And several skills won’t translate well into an AD&D based system. But I can see a pretty clear path for using Chuck and Sarah.  Chuck was portrayed as a brilliant computer programmer/hacker, who accidently got a top secret government computer program stuck in his head. Okay, so Chuck has a natural gift for magic and is Gorion’s Ward (with a bit of Bhaal stuck in his head!).
Sarah was his handler/protector. A very talented and dangerous government agent sent to keep him safe in his intense new world (actually, there was some expectation of manipulating him there too. But Sarah fell pretty quick and hard for Chuck, which left her with a juicy conflict of interest. I will mostly ignore that part for this tale).  The show gave her some significant thief skills too. Not only do I not need her as a thief, but thief skills would undermine her value as a tank/protector. So I think with AD&D rules it will be best to build her as a pure fighter.

Both are good heroic characters. I’ll call Chuck primarily a moral hero. More than anything, he wants to do right and help people. And he makes those around him better, or want to be better through example and encouragement. He’s the sort of hero who won’t seek out trouble, but will never shy away when a need emerges.
Sarah is the action hero.  She will jump in where angels fear to tread. If properly motivated. She wants to do right, but is a little burned out and cynical. At least at first. I’ve thought a few times, for a villain, picking on Sarah is the second most dangerous thing they can ever do. Because she will destroy them. Picking on Chuck is the most dangerous thing a villain can do, because then Sarah gets POed.  Part of Chuck the moral hero is that he completely redeems Sarah. She eventually buys into his world view entirely, and is better for it.
Baldur’s Gate starts our heroes pretty young, so Chuck and Sarah will start the game with a little less baggage than they had on the show.

Because these characters will be a different concept from what I’ve done before, that has led me to play around with a different AI art generator.  Actually, I will continue using Co-Pilot for a lot of renders, and I won’t be redoing a lot of the excellent renders I already have for NPCs.
But I switched to Meta’s OpenArt for many of the portraits and solo renders involving the two main characters. OpenArt allows for building a character model from imported photos. That means I can reproduce my Chuck and Sarah characters to look *a lot* like the characters/actors from the show. And consistently. Readers surely noticed during my lengthy “Psyche and Diomedes” playthrough there was a lot of “flex” for the characters. I could describe them in basic detail, but the AI did what it would do. And no character is completely consistent in their look, because to the AI each render is an independent event. That may or may not repeat some details from a previous render. 
As awesome as OpenArt sounds so far, I’ll follow up by saying I don’t like the fantasy look of OpenArt like I did Co-Pilot.  It is sharp, detailed and clean. So much so it often looks unreal, like plastic. Especially on fantastical things.  So its not ideal for how I see fantasy.
I may get better with it. I sure have with Co-Pilot.  But at this point, I will simply prefer Co-Pilot for certain things.  Don’t be surprised if you see a lot more solo renders in this playthrough though, those are amazing on OpenArt.

*****

Chuck has grown up in the great library of Candlekeep. He was raised by the mage and sage Gorion. From a young age Chuck discovered he had a gift, a passion, a natural understanding for all things magical.  Gorion has always been immensely proud of “his boy”, growing up to be a chip off the old block!

Yet Chuck has always known he was adopted. Apart from being told Gorion knew his mom long ago, Chuck knows nothing about his actual parents.  That hasn’t been a huge thing to him.  He’s well loved by his adopted father, and he has plenty of friends around Candlekeep. Especially Imoen, the only other child in Candlekeep for most of Chuck’s life. She was raised by Winthrop the innkeeper and is maybe a year younger than Chuck. Gorion goes back and forth if he thinks its great Chuck has a friend, and worrying that Imoen is a bit of a troublemaker. She’s not really bad, but she does love to prank the Monks who run the great library!

Chuck is a “good kid” in every sense.  Maybe Gorion should just be happy Imoen has such a good friend?

As Chuck as grown out of his teens he’s grown more serious about the study of magic.  This has meant Arcane studies of the sort many travelers come to Candlekeep for, but also learning about the “Mistress of Magic”. The Goddess Mystra is the keeper of all things arcane, and this intersect of arcane and divine sorts of magic is particularly intriguing to young Chuck. 

Learning has taken nearly all of Chuck’s time these last couple years. To the point it worries Gorion a little. Maybe it was a mistake to raise a child in such an isolated sort of place? Apart from that imp Imoen he’s hardly had any friends his own age, and has never shown much interest in girls. He is interested in talking with the various mages constantly coming and going, but he’s awkward with them too.

Now a concerning development. These last few days, strange men have been asking about Chuck.  Gorion went to the chief of the Watchers yesterday to inquire about hiring extra protection for his son. A new sergeant had just reported for duty this morning, and she isn’t on the schedule yet. So Gorion hired Sarah to help keep an eye on Chuck.

By the next day, Gorion was even more worried. He’d heard from several friends about visitors asking about Chuck. This could not be good. It was time to relocate himself and his son. He sent a messenger to friends in the area to meet up with himself and Chuck. He told Chuck to get whatever supplies he might need, they were leaving Candlekeep that afternoon. And he told Sarah to introduce herself to Chuck and to stick very close.

Chuck

As above, Chuck has a remarkable mind for magic. He’s enjoyed his life at Candlekeep, with Gorion and a few close friends he has always felt loved and content. Imoen has long been his best friend, more like a sister really. As Chuck has gotten older and pursued his passion for magic he’s dragged Imoen along in some ways. She’s always been more of a prankster than Chuck, but she’s plenty smart and has actually learned some about magic just by following along with Chuck.  But she really has always been a kid sister to him, and Chuck knows this because his heart skipped a beat and his jaw dropped to the ground when the new Watcher Sergeant, Sarah, introduced herself to him this morning.

This is also how Chuck knows his father is very worried about a number of strangers who’ve been visiting Candlekeep.  First he was told to get some gear together for a long term trip away from the library. Then later this morning when he met Sarah, she informed him she’d been hired by Gorion to stick close and keep an eye on him.
Chuck chatted briefly with Imoen too, about not knowing what was up or when he’d be home.  He got a look from his sister that suggested she would be right there with him. Sarah noticed too, she questioned how well Chuck knew this Imoen (!). He tried to explain what she was to him, Sarah seemed skeptical, like the idea didn’t quite register. 

Chuck is Neutral-Good Human male. 1^st Level Mage/1^st Level Cleric of Mystra
15/10/12/18/15/18

Sarah

Sarah has grown up around the Sword Coast area. She never knew her mom, and her dad was a bit of a scoundrel. She was often left with family, that she never quite believed was family (especially the Halfling couple). Dad would always come back for her after a few weeks and they’d head off on a new adventure. Finally, when she was not quite 17, a sympathetic guard woman in Waterdeep informed Sarah that her dad was in custody and wouldn’t be back for a while.  Briefly at a loss on what to do, the guard suggested Sarah could get a job with the Guard. Sarah was big and fit, probably no one would question her age.  So that’s what Sarah did, and she proved to be good at it. Over the next five years she took several guard positions around the Sword Coast. Most recently working as a guard in Beregost she was promoted to Sergeant for her overall competence and reliability.  That was when she saw a flier looking for Guard Sergeants, Watchers, at Candlekeep. For quite a bit more money than she was making now.  That seemed to good to pass up. Sarah had spent her life bouncing from place to place, so relocating again hardly bothered her.

Sarah has got along well with people wherever she wound up. But mostly in a professional sort of way. She’d been feeling a bit of an ache for something more permanent, but decided this was abnormal, unfamiliar territory. So she took the new job and moved on once again.

Sarah was just being welcomed by the Watcher Commander as a new Sergeant when an older man, a mage apparently, came by looking to hire some extra security for a few days.  He had some concerns about visitors to Candlekeep, especially that they’d been asking about his son.  This mage, Gorion, was well known to the commander who immediately offered since Sarah wasn’t on the schedule yet she was available for such work. Wow, bonus! Private contract while working for the Watch was a good way to up the salary.

Candlekeep seems to be a secure place. And its well known for being safe and stable. But its also an important destination for all sorts of research. Really, its all about the Great Library.  Bookish types by the cartload. 
When Gorion pointed out his son to her, Sarah almost laughed out loud. He was a stereotype of a bookish researcher. Awkward, but seemingly good natured.

The next day, Gorion informed her they would be traveling away from the Keep. He would appreciate the extra sword at least until they met up with friends at the nearby Friendly Arm Inn.  In the meantime, he wanted her to introduce herself to Chuck and not let him out of her sight until they left.
The introduction went well!  Chuck was still awkward and bookish. But he was also sweet and funny. This would not be a bad job for a couple days. She was just sorry at the end of it there would be no more Chuck at Candlekeep.
Chuck made one last run around home to gather some supplies. Sarah helped him with a list, as a mage he wouldn’t wear armor. But they got him some weapons he knew how to use, and a traveling spell book.  Sarah was impressed at how all the locals knew Chuck, and how eagerly willing he was to help them all with minor chores.  There was an assassination attempt when Chuck was looking for an older lady’s missing book.  The assassin was comically inept, but obviously this showed Gorion’s fears were well founded. Next Sarah met Imoen, apparently a long-time friend of Chuck’s.  Sarah bristled a little at noticing the younger girl was cute. And was not pleased with the suggestion that passed, that Imoen would follow along with this coming trip. She asked Chuck how well he knew this girl, and Chuck replied she was a little sister to him. Okay, she wouldn’t push it, if Chuck was okay that Imoen would likely follow along Sarah would accept this.

Sarah is a Neutral-Good Human Female. 3^rd Level Fighter
17/19/17/13/14/17

*****

A few changes to this build from my last run. I’ve added the “convenient NPCs” mod that let’s me decide which of the new EE NPCs will even be present in game, and if they’ll initiate contact or wait to be talked to. For the record I only left Neera and Rasaad in, both set to passive mode.
The biggest thing is adding SCS. That’s best known for adding difficulty in the form of better AI for most opponents. But it also includes a number of other adjustments, I have it replacing both “IWDification” and “Level 1 NPCs”. I currently have the improved AI at a low setting. In the past I’ve not liked such difficulty enhancers much, they often seem too meta and immersion breaking to me. But I know SCS is much improved over some earlier difficulty/tactical type mods, so I’ll give it a try.
To BG2 I’ve added “Wings”, which mostly adds story and minor quest to Aerie (expect this to be more important next time I follow her romance story). I also added Lava’s mod “Bloodied Stings of Barovia”. A quest mod involving the Ravenloft setting.
From CDTweaks, I’ve disabled the BG2 romances. Since Chuck is the lead character and Sarah is his gal, I wanted to able to (maybe) use Jaheira and Aerie without being rude to them to disable the romances!

Building characters from a TV show, especially such a different genre, involves choices.  Chuck’s skills were mostly about his smarts, so its obvious his mental scores will be high. Intelligence more obviously than wisdom!  He was occasionally shown as rash and foolish, usually in the context of wanting to help and trust someone.  We can maybe chalk much of that up to inexperience? Certainly as the show went he became “professionally” wiser. So maxing out his Intelligence was an easy choice. I chose to also give him a high Wisdom on the grounds he had a strong sense of morals and justice. Not to mention, its more advantageous for a cleric! 
His physical scores are mostly average. He’s actually a big guy (and the actor has since become quite buff, but he was still sort of wiry in 2007) and shows no significant physical strength until late in the show.
Chuck is often awkward, so I considered a more average Charisma for him. But the thing is, he always wins people over somehow. Even hardened spies seem to end up liking him. So endearingly awkward, to a high degree seems fitting. 
I did consider making him a straight mage. But I just ran one of those. Then I considered a straight Cleric of Mystra.  That’s *almost* a mage/cleric all on its own. But it would be lacking at the higher levels.  So a multi it is!  Of course that will leave him slower advancing, but with a huge variety of magic available to him. Somehow that seems right.
I think he could only be Neutral-Good, strong sense of righteousness and a balance between needs of the many/needs of the one sort of thing.

Sarah also required a little thought.  Score wise she would be above average in everything. She is shown as strong (for her size), and able to take a hit. And almost supernaturally quick and agile.  Intelligence and Wisdom are merely above average.
As mentioned above, she was often shown with thief skills. But she was Chuck’s protector first and foremost. And deadly warrior is her most defining trait.  Since adding thief would reduce her hit points, I thought it more important to maximize her tankiness.  So a single class fighter seems appropriate.
Her charisma is plainly high, in spite of the character being a bit of a loner.  She gets along very well with anyone she intends to.  Not quite as maxed out as Chuck is, there often is a bit of aloofness to her. But charming in most meaningful senses.
Her alignment is harder to peg. She cares about right and wrong, very much so. But (especially early on) she can be cowed with “legitimate orders”.  Of course in this situation, the source of those “legitimate orders” will disappear in the opening act. So we’ll have her (mostly) happily follow Chuck’s lead on such things.  Their areas of conflict will have largely to do with keeping Chuck safe vs taking action; and Chuck’s willingness to trust almost anyone.  Most of those conflicts will diminish in time as they become a good functioning team, and Sarah will be happy to take on a more gentle and loving sort of world view.

For those readers interested in this run from a more show centered perspective, be sure to check out the opening and end notes for this run through at chuckthisblog.wordpress.com as “Chuck and Sarah: A New Adventure“.

Update 1

Bonus! First update comes with the introduction. There will be more comments at the end.

*****

Chuck

I am really nervous to be leaving Candlekeep for the first time in my life! Father is worried about something, Sarah said it has to do with those thugs that tried to kill me. I haven’t had much time to think about that, she killed both men so fast I wasn’t even sure what was happening. But then I saw they had knives. This was two different times! Why are thugs trying to hurt me? They paid with their lives.

Sarah helped me buy a war hammer, a medium sized shield, and a sling with some bullets. These are all the weapons I’ve been trained to use. But I was never a great student of these things, weapons make me a little nervous. And Sarah makes me a little nervous, she wears armor and carries two swords. And she has shown she knows how to use them. I guess its good if dad hired a guard, that he hired a good one.

Soon, Sarah and I head back to the library and meet with father. He affirms we’re all ready, and that’s it. We head out on the road for the Friendly Arm Inn. I’ve never been there, but I know its about a day’s hike from Candlekeep. Almost all of our visitors stay there both coming and going. We are meeting a couple friends of his there, Khalid and Jaheira. I’ve not heard those names before.
A few hours out, just at dusk, a terrifying giant of a man in plate armor appears to block our path, with a couple ogres and a couple of men in armor. He calls my father by name, and demands he hand *me* over to him! Sarah grabs my arm and pulls me behind her. My dad yells to Sarah to get me away from here, and I hear him start casting a spell. As Sarah pushes me into the woods I’m aware several spells are being cast, there’s flame, and a few voices I don’t recognize shout in pain.
We run through the woods… for hours? I don’t know, its a while before Sarah stops and I collapse on the ground. I say we need to go back, see if we can help my dad!

I didn’t sleep much. I’ve never been so scared. Or slept on the ground. I think my life has just changed a lot. And if we can’t find dad in the morning, what will Sarah do without an employer? I’m pretty sure I would just die on my own.

As the sun comes up, I hear the familiar voice of my sister coming towards us. I’d never been so happy to see the little squirt! She’d bought some gear too before coming after us. We all set out in, what Sarah said, was the direction we’d come from. It was only about 20 minutes when we came to the clearing. My father was still there, what was left of him. It looks like most of the attackers had fallen with him. But the huge man was gone. Sarah wanted to move on quickly, but we went through Gorion’s things first. As we prepared to leave I heard a growl.

But she missed. Both the wolf and thankfully, me.

Among Gorion’s possessions we found a note, saying what we already knew about meeting Khalid and Jaheira at the Inn. I guess that’s the plan. I have no idea what will happen then, who we’re meeting, and if Sarah will stick around after. I hope so, so far she’s the only one who knows how to survive.
Not too much later we came across a signpost pointing the way to the Inn. A traveler, an eccentric mage in bright red robes was coming the other direction and gave us a friendly greeting. Poor guy, I sort of dumped all my worries on him. But he remained friendly and assured us we were heading in the right direction.
A little later, a goblin (a xvart maybe? I don’t remember all the types) came at us waving a sword, yelling something I couldn’t understand.

We finally made it to the Friendly Arms Inn. Its an unexpected sort of place, actually an old castle with an impressive stone keep at the center that was converted to an inn a decade or so back. I’d heard of it, and its impressive looking! Its sort of a sign of hope just now. We can maybe meet some friends and find some sort of refuge?

On the steps to the entrance a man, a mage of some sort, asked my name and where I was from. I answered as I heard Sarah yell something about telling him nothing. She was right behind me on the steps and did not look amused.

The mage started casting a spell and was looking at me, ignoring Sarah. That was his last mistake.

He was another assassin, with a notice of a bounty… for me. Sarah helped me breath again. Imoen seemed excited by the action, and was searching his packs and pockets.

We entered the Inn, I was still a little wobbly. I don’t know how Sarah recognized who we were looking for, but we were soon sharing introductions with Khalid and Jaheira.

Jaheira quickly understood Gorion had fallen and offered her condolences. “He was a great man, he will be missed by many. I am sorry for your loss”. It seemed sincere even if blunt in delivery.
But she then explained there was no plan beyond meeting with us here. She vaguely knew who Imoen was, and assessed Sarah saying “I’m glad he got you a guard, you may need it”. She said she and her husband had been heading south to the town of Nashkel. The iron mines there were having some problems, and their output was contaminated, tainted somehow. “I don’t know what Gorion intended, but perhaps we should all head south together. We can work on a known problem and maybe take you away from trouble?”
That sounded as good to me as anything was likely to. Sarah agreed this was a good idea, and gestured for me to have a seat with her.

Sarah just helped me sort through everything. I’ve noticed she has a knack for getting to the essentials. And for keeping my head attached to my body, I can’t imagine ever wanting her to leave. Did I mention she laughs at my dumb jokes?
In the morning, we will head south.

*****

And that takes us to the start of the adventure and the core of Chuck’s team.

I don’t know what level of detail I’ll present the rest of this in. I often end up writing more than I intended to, but the game is huge and I’ll likely skip many details. Feedback may determine how deep I go.

The AI art will remain a huge part of this. I have a reasonable ability to get what I want out of the Co-Pilot AI, and am learning about OpenArt. I’m even learning a little about working with them together, getting the styles to mesh some. As I said previously, I think Co-Pilot is *much* better at setting a scene and at the whole look of fantasy. Specifically its better at rendering a range of fantasy creatures, and having characters/creatures interact. But most Chuck and Sarah renders on Co-Pilot will hide their faces, because I cannot make it look like Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski.
Which leads to the biggest strength of OpenArt. I’ve built “Chuck” and “Sarah” models from photos of the characters and actors. Those character renders come out *very* nicely. But OpenArt really struggles with a fantasy context. If I say “medieval inn”, it will likely still put electric lights in the scene and men in business suits sitting behind my armored warrior. This is the sort of thing Co-Pilot is *much* better at. But then OpenArt has a much better editor. Too many wolves in the scene? Edit one out. Too many fingers on a hand? Fix it. Character was supposed to shut their eyes? Edit them shut. Its quite remarkable how flexible and powerful it is, even for editing renders from Co-Pilot. Amazing stuff.

Update 2

I wanted to start with a quick look at my last few Wards of Gorion. Over the course of a run I often get quite attached to these characters!

Goliath is someone I’d never done any AI art of before, and that Psyche is new. So yeah, I just wanted to play with my characters again…
Funny thing, I often run female characters because it effectively disables any issues I might run into with in game romances. Goliath courted and married Aerie in game. This time, I used the Tweaks mod to disable the romances in BG2. So Chuck will be free to pursue other interests.

*****

Sarah

We set out from the Friendly Arm Inn the next morning.

Our newest team-mates bring us a mission of investigating a problem with the iron mines south in Nashkell. This is useful, although I admit my real goal is in seeing Chuck (and Imoen) improve their ability to fight and survive. We’d been warned an ogre was prowling the area south of the Inn.

This worked as desired, Imoen put a couple arrows in him! Chuck hit with a sling bullet. And Khalid and Jaheira were right there helping out. This felt like an important battle for us. No one panicked, and we worked well together.

We got into Beregost, my home until just a few days ago. Here we met a young mage who was running from some sort of hit team.

It seems to have something to do with her being a “Wild Mage”. I’m not up on all the nuance of that, but I know its different from how Chuck is learning magic. I gather it has more to do with emotion and intuition, less rigorous study. That could potentially make it dangerous to be her friend. I don’t really mean the Red Wizard part either, we dealt with a team that was hot on her heals. Its more that her magic can malfunction in very unexpected ways. Chuck insisted we would protect her. So be it.

The area just south of Beregost gets a little wild if you get off the trail. I led us cross coutry, I’m not sure if Jaheira realizes I’m trying to get us more combat experience or not. But she gave me quite a look over that choice.

There is a swampy area around an old house there, that is often haunted by undead. We ran into a pair of ghouls.

Update 3

Chuck

The next morning we set off to finish our Journey to Nashkel. Sarah and Jaheira both seem so proficient at this process, getting a little meal, breaking camp, heading out. I suppose its a skill I will learn.

For some reason when the trail curved to our left ahead, Sarah took us around a bluff into the woods at right. After walking some distance we saw and smelled a camp ahead. Before I even realized what was happening Sarah and Jaheira were giving directions for an attack.

And how do we know how capable these different sorts are? There were six of us, three warriors. And yet Sarah knew in an instant we could easily handle eight hobgoblins. What’s the math on that?
I’m trying to pay attention and learn. We also battled a group of four human bandits and defeated them easily. I asked Sarah, she said man for man the hobgoblins and bandits were about equal. Obviously the Hobgoblins had more troops, but fewer bows. She said you can usually approximate threat level by equipment quality. Interesting.

We finally made it to Nashkel and talked with the mayor. He reports two issues, first the mines are over-run with some sort of beasties that are killing miners. And the ore itself is of poor quality. It didn’t use to be. Sarah thought the important thing was to recon the area first, then head into the mine. For now, our healers (that’s me and Jaheira!) are worn out so we call it a day.
Another Assassin attacked when we entered the Inn. We all killed the woman, she was some sort of spellcaster. Presumably a cleric since she wore armor. I explained to Imoen I’d now faced six such attempts starting back at Candlekeep. She was shocked, didn’t realize it had happened there.

The next morning, we were preparing to leave town when we came across a Ranger. He seemed desperate, and a little confused. But he said his “witch” had been abducted by Gnolls and taken somewhere west of here. He was a foreigner, a Rashami. I’m not sure I understood the importance of what he was saying? And he seemed to be talking to a hamster.
But clearly I thought, this should take precedence over some problem with a mine! Oof. This triggered quite a debate. We all finally agreed that Jaheira and her husband would stay here and start investigations, while the rest of us went off to rescue a woman from those carnivores.

We spent most of the day traveling west, almost to the coast where we came across a rather decrepit suspension bridge.

Sarah talked about going in quiet, trying to keep our small team from being overwhelmed by their numbers. So that’s what we did.

We’d killed over 20 Gnolls when we found Minsc’s witch.

She also had no gear, no weapons and no spell book. But we got her! Minsc was very happy. We secured the area, Sarah explained this was about eliminating or reducing any pursuit. When we left, we didn’t have to run.

We had to stop and set camp a little ways out, we’d never make it back to Nashkel in the dark.

In the morning Sarah complained we were too loud. It defeats the purpose of watch, she said, if the others can’t sleep. Wow is she grumpy today!

We got back to Nashkel and talked about what was next. Jaheira reported they fought Kobolds and some wolves yesterday. We had rescued Dynaheir but she was in really rough shape, so we drew lots and it was Khalid who would stay with her while the rest of us went to finish exploring the area and then get into the mines.

Update 4

Sarah

Today we are planning on doing a quick sweep around the area before we plunge into the iron mines south of town. I’ve been thinking hard about this team, and getting everyone ready for the possibility of some tough action in a confined space.

We set out to the east, there was a local carnival in progress. It was not busy but a number of businesses and entertainers were getting ready for the day. Chuck thought we should ask around to see if anyone had spotted trouble in the area. Several reported an unusual number of Kobolds. I suggested a sweep of the area, this could be bad if visitors, families and children were traveling from town out this way.
Chuck was the first to see one small group of Kobolds to the side and he reacted quickly with a Sleep spell.

By noon we were all satisfied we’d scoured the area. Since we were still so close to the carnival it seemed like it would be fun to get lunch from venders there.

Then we headed south towards the mine, and did another area search.

There were more Kobolds, and a strange moment with sculptor and a hostile bounty hunter. Small stuff. It was time to head into the mine. We talked to some miners who had a variety of interesting ideas about the source of their trouble! We didn’t get too far in when we encountered a group Kobolds.

We faced a couple larger groups of Kobolds too.

As we continued deeper we started seeing more natural caves, the mine had been dug into a pre-existing formation. This could be a source of trouble.

And we finally came to a cave that was fully decked out as an office and bed chamber. A half-orc in this cave suggested we were checking up on him. Interesting, there’s obviously another layer to this.

He called for help and a large number of Kobolds and skeletons responded. I charged the bossman while Chuck, Neera and Imoen all backed me up. Minsc and Jaheira protected the rear. We brought him (we later learned he was called Mullahey) down fairly quickly, then we all turned to clean out his small army.

Going through his papers revealed he had a mage, a contact back in Beregost. We hustled back to Nashkel for the night. We checked in with the mayor and showed all of our findings. Among them was a sample of the contaminant that was being used on the iron ore. He suggested the smith in Beregost might be able to counter its effects if we took the sample to him. We now had two reasons to head to Beregost in the morning, and decided that was what we’d do in the morning.
Then we were attacked by another assassin on our way to the inn. Right on the main street. Nervy and stupid. Especially since his bounty is for Chuck and he chose to face all six of us.

All I can figure is he didn’t expect us all to stick together?
The next day, in Beregost, we talked with the blacksmith Taerom and gave him the contaminant samples. He was sure he could counter it. Then we went over the Feldpost’s Inn where Mulahey’s contact was staying. He was a mage named Tranzig, apparently just an intermediary. He didn’t seem to know much and quickly started trouble. Afterwards, we searched him and found a map indicating a bandit camp well north of here was where he’d been getting his orders.

Update 5

Chuck

We’re in Beregost again. I like this town, its about the same size as Candlekeep, where I grew up. But its much livelier, busier. I guess that’s no surprise, its not a library run by monks.

I called a meeting this morning so we could talk about our plans. We were still in Feldpost’s Inn, definitely a comfortable place to spend the night!

Sarah affirmed that was a risky course. She was pleased with how we were all coming together as a team. But we still needed work. She was comfortable fighting along side Jaheira, but there was still room to improve that. And Minsc sure could hit hard, but he needed to trust the two women to block for him. “Minsc, think of us as your shield, don’t expose yourself. Strike hard as the opportunity presents. Imoen is becoming a very good archer, but keep working on hitting moving targets. Chuck and Neera have shown themselves to be brave and steady, but both have a ways to go to really maximize their magic.”
I’m pretty sure she was trying to encourage us with the “brave” part. This whole business still terrifies me.

Sarah suggested the bandit problem did not seem serious as yet. And we should head south and explore the area along the border with Amn. We could still do some good work of a law and order sort, but being so close to a major kingdom the major threats should be less. A good place to develop our skills.
This sounds like a good plan to me. I wish I knew how to get Sarah’s spirits up, she’s scary enough when she’s happy. She gave me an encouraging pat on the shoulder as we were heading out. Strange.
I chatted with Neera about that random fire-starting thing. Wild magic is odd, I don’t understand how you can wield arcane magic and not quite know what you’re doing. But from her, its all amusing.

We passed through Nashkel again and started exploring west from the mine, planning on going as far as the Gnoll Fortress, on the coast, then heading back.

Of course! We headed towards a large pine, that two rugged looking types were preparing to fell. I struck up conversation with them, but when I suggested they not do that they attacked us!
It wasn’t much of a fight.
Jaheira explained that the Dryad would die if her tree was killed. So I suppose we truly had no choice in the matter.

Continuing on we came across a small Xvart village. Their guards immediately attacked us! There were a lot of them! Xvarts aren’t tough, but I was intimidated by the numbers. But Sarah wasn’t. She, Jaheira and Minsc formed a solid wall that no Xvart was going to get by. I feared we’d kill the whole village, when the strangest thing happened. One, seemed to be a village elder, shouted out a prayer in the common tongue that the great bear would protect them!

We just backed away as the xvarts were occupied. We did kill a few more that came our way, but most of the trouble was over. They may need to rethink their religion…

We continued on the the coast, and set camp just north of the Gnoll Fortress. During the night, there was a terrible roar on Sarah and Imoen’s watch. I awoke to see a pretty stunning sight.

We then worked our way back to Neshkel to enjoy a night in an Inn. Tomorrow we’ll strike out to the East.

Update 6

Chuck

We left Nashkel this morning and set out for the areas east of town along the border with Amn.

Neera wondered what advice and insight such a man could offer. Especially if anything could be done to lessen some of the more dire malfunctions. She’d showed me where she thought he might be on our map and I mentioned to everyone that this looked like something we could do.

Early in the afternoon we were attacked by a small group of “ogrillons”. They’re ogres mixed with something?! Smaller than most full blood ogres. Somehow, while the fighting was happening at our front one came around from behind.

I thought I was dead. The Ogrillon swung at me a few times and I blocked with my shield, but I felt some of those hits rattle my bones.

But I had been struck pretty hard, and in a moment things kind of went all fuzzy.

We traveled up towards where Neera expected we’d find Adoy. We saw a barricade manned by some Goblins. To our surprise, they were friendly. A spokesman said they were guarding their chief and their god. That is, Bargrivyek, the Goblin God of Cooperation. I’ve read a lot about the deities of Faerun, but that was a new one to me! Nothing about Goblins usually has to do with “Cooperation”. I said I’d like to meet this god! The spokesmen seemed pleased, and offered to take us to him. He was a talkative guide!

We were led to a cave and told the chief and the god were inside. Well, first thing, the cave was more what you’d expect. We were attacked by a dozen or so Goblins led by a big Hobgoblin.
We entered a small chamber to the rear of the cave and met Bargrivyek, AKA Adoy. He claimed it was all an innocent misunderstanding that led to him becoming a Goblin deity. We introduced Neera. She was soon disappointed with his pronouncement there was no such thing as controlling wild magic. I’ve read enough about such things to know that isn’t strictly true. But if the point was that there were no easy answers, I’d buy that.

Regardless, Neera was not pleased. Even more so when a couple of Red Mages and a three flunkies teleported into our midst. Adoy disappeared and we defeated the Reds. Adoy returned when it was all clear. He was all apologies, and offered Neera a Belt that could provide some nominal protection against certain common spell misfires.

With not much to show for the detour we resumed our exploring.

I don’t know what that was about? Imoen’s been spending time with Sarah, maybe she would know?

And, I don’t know what that was about either? I thought we were making a good team? I’m very confused by the women on this team. Maybe I need to spend more time with Minsc?

As we set off, Imoen said something I definitely DID understand. She’d been studying a spellbook we recovered a few weeks back, and it affirmed something she’d been considering for years. Back to being a study partner for me as I was learning magic. But she decided she was going to become a mage herself. This is awesome!
Sarah chimed in that we’d need a new scout, at least temporarily while Imoen was learning.
Jaheira mentioned there was a Halfling village not too far north of here. That would probably be a good place to find a decent “scout”.

Late in the day we got to Gullykin, the small Halfling village. We didn’t have to ask much before we met Alora. She is from the City of Baldur’s Gate and is here visiting family. She was cagey about it, but she does have the skills we need. And she’s an archer, bonus!

From here we were almost back to Beregost. Sarah suggested we head back there for the night, then we’ll resume exploring the area west to the coast, south of Candlekeep.
Sounds like a plan!

*****

Finally, about a month into the adventure, the team is set for the rest of “Baldur’s Gate 1”. Imoen just dualled to mage so she will be less useful for a while. Alora is a good replacement for her as a thief. Chuck is very slow advancing as a multi-class, but he can cast a broad range of spells! I suppose I’d say balance-wise, this is a very conventional party.
Sarah is the dominant damage dealer (and tank) with around 40% of party kills. Next would be Minsc at around 30%. Sarah should remain dominant, at least through the first game. As a single class fighter she has some advantages in pure combat. As we get into the second game effectiveness is harder to rate.

Update 7

Sarah

We spent another night together relaxing in Feldpost’s Inn before heading out the next morning. Chuck insisted we needed time getting to know our newest team member. But I think more than that, he couldn’t bear to separate Khalid and Jaheira again. they hadn’t complained! But they sure were happy to have the time together.

Everyone was in good spirits.

Soon enough we were exploring again.

We traveled on towards the coast. Jaheira and Minsc both were of the opinion there were Sirens in the area. They are a sort of water spirit that can bewitch, charm people with the sound of their voice. I’d heard Men were most susceptible to them, but Jaheira didn’t think that was true.
We came across an abandoned lighthouse right on the coast. A villager from nearby asked for our help, her son was cornered by some wolves at the lighthouse.

After taking out the dogs, well we didn’t see a little boy! We went back to mother, and she was pretty sure she knew right where he was hiding and our deed was done.

There was also a cave, maybe a smuggler or pirate’s hideout?

The cave also had several traps, so Alora earned her keep again. This was all protecting a nice little stash of loot. We couldn’t tell how long this had been here, but we made out pretty well.
Working our way north we were attacked by a number of ogres.

This was an interesting fight, the largest number of ogres I’ve ever faced all at once. Just a few weeks ago they would have done us in. But we are becoming a good team.

So we’ll head out for the Ulcaster School next, then work our way north.

*****

Yeah I like where this team is at. They remain a little weak on Arcane magic, Chuck and Imoen will hit 5th level mage at about the same time.

I’m trying to do a little more with OpenArt, its the only way to actually show Chuck and Sarah with teammates. But wow, it is painfully limited. A big thing, if I put ANY other woman in frame with Sarah, they both become Sarah! And I had a terrible time on that last render convincing the AI that Minsc and Sarah were not being romantic. And its still not a great Minsc. At least it got Boo right!
I may have to accept that showing Chuck or Sarah with teammates will mean hiding their faces (so I can use Co-Pilot).

Update 8

Chuck

We set off for the old Ulcaster Mage School the next day. I was very excited to see it. I’ve read a fair amount about it, for many years it was the premier school of the Arcane in the area. It will be a ruin now, but still a significant site to me. A lot more dry dusty country to get there, but the plateau where the school is located is lush. But ruined and inhabited now mostly by undead.

We spoke to a spirit, presumably Ulcaster himself, who was still grieving the loss of the school. We found stairs heading to the cellars. Uncertain of what we’d find, we cautiously entered.
We encountered spiders and a lot of wolves.

This fight was a first for us, our warriors could not hit him with any reliability. But Imoen and I could effect him with magic. So this was all on us. Fortunately this wasn’t difficult, but it was educational that we all bring different things to this team.
Most of the cellar was rot and ruin. We did find a small number of intact books that we returned to the Ghost on the surface. This seemed to give him some sort of peace.

We continued exploring to the north and came across a perverse sort of sculpture garden. Jaheira immediately warned of Basilisks in the area. Imoen knew the spell “Protection from Petrification” that she cast on Sarah, she then did a run through the area.

There was also a wacko Gnome wizard here who seemed to be keeping the basilisks as pets and took some pride in “his” sculptures. Once the area was clear we inspected the sculptures and found only one, a young woman, we were able to return to a living person.

To the northeast of here we saw a an ancient ruined temple on top of a small hill, so we set out to explore that area. There were numerous oversized spiders in the area and a few Ettercaps, those vaguely humanoid spider-men. When we went up the hillside towards the temple we discovered a coven of Red Wizards were performing some sort of unholy rite.

There wasn’t much left to clear out. I won’t loose sleep over killing Red Wizards, but it rattled me how destructive I can be at times.

I love this whole team. Imoen is my sister, and always good for a laugh. Jaheira is like a parent, I respect her strength and worldly wisdom. Minsc and Alora are fun and funny. But there’s a gentle strength to Sarah I am strongly drawn to. And she seems attuned to my feelings, that are still sort of topsy turvy on this epic adventure.

We continued north and started battling more groups of bandits. They were generally not too dangerous, maybe more prepared for groups of lightly protected merchants? We encountered three different groups with about as many as we had.
We also came across a stone circle, and were approached by a druid. He seemed extremely agitated, Jaheira tried to talk some sense to him. But he attacked us with a sickly glowing spear.

Another druid stepped forward and helped us with the fight. After, he said his friend had been erratic lately. We examined his spear and I detected a Curse, it caused the berserk attacking.

As we continued exploring, we encountered more bandits, including some groups that were better equipped and far more dangerous.

Finally, we came to the Bandit Camp. This all led to a really large scale battle.

Before long we had dozens of bandits converging on us. The bulk of them we not very skilled, but one large armored guy with a war hammer seemed to be running their defense.

It was just about cleaning up from here. We searched the huts and a cave full of Gnolls that seemed to part of the camp. The largest tent was clearly the headquarters. We fought several better quality troops within, then it was truly over.
There was a single prisoner named Ender Sai. He had been spying on this crew when he was captured. He reports that the head man here, a warrior named Tazok, is not in camp. He had been directing an operation in the Nashkel mines to destroy the area’s iron supply. We told Ender we had shut that down, and the mine was again being run by the locals.
That pleased him. But this thing continues getting bigger. They have their own mine deep in the Cloakwood Forest, the area northwest of the Friendly Arms Inn. I guess we all know where we’re heading next.

*****

Most of this part of the game is pretty easy. Especially, with both Chuck and Imoen being 5th level mages we can start unloading a lot of Fireballs. Sarah will probably hit 7th level fighter in the Cloakwood, which is another milestone for the team.

Update 9

Sarah

We set off for the Cloakwood Forest the next morning. This is a large, thick wood. It should take us several days to reach our destination, and this area is not well traveled. So hazards are likely many.

One of the first things to come up was an encounter with hunter, who begged our protection from “savages” of some sort who’d been threatening him.

The savages in question turned out to be Druids, which did not surprise Jaheira!

Most of our fighting in this part of the woods had been Tasloi (small savage humanoids that are often violent with no explanation), wolves and a few big spiders. Things were about to get a little tougher!

This included a few bigger spiders and some of those twisted humanoid spider beings known as Ettercaps. They like to set traps, and this area became quite tough. Fortunately Alora is great with finding the traps. We also went through a lot of poison anti-dote! These things get nasty! The climax for the spiders came when we stumbled across a large cave.

After, I asked Chuck about the mage she named, the name seemed to mean something to him. He said Irenicus was a very powerful, very evil mage; whom he hoped not to ever meet!

The next thing we found in these woods was an enclave of shadow druids. The druids we’d met earlier had warned Jaheira this group was out here. They are a particularly anti-civilization off-shoot of that faith. So militantly anti-human I can only call them evil, even though they seem to escape that taint for some bizarre meta-physical reason that must make sense to some god somewhere.

They were holding an unfortunate young druidess captive too, soon to be sacrificed. We put an end to this barbarism.
I was thankful to be done with these fruits and nuts.

It was all I could do not to bust out laughing. Imoen was so sincere! Sure she was raised in a great monastery. By the Inn and Tavern keeper who was host to travelers from all over. And she’s almost 20! I think Jaheira’s concerns are misplaced. But kudos to Imoen for stringing her along!

We came across a few immature Wyverns in this part of the woods. I’d seen a notice back in Beregost that a reward offered for “proof of death” of Wyverns that had been preying on livestock. So we thought it important to poke around a little, and did find a cave with several cattle and pig carcasses.

Not too much later we started encountering guard patrols, of the sort that were immediately hostile to us. We weren’t sure if they were looking for us or just any intruders. But it was clear we were on the right path. And soon enough we saw a wooden stockade around a large mining building. The greeting inside was not too friendly. There was a small group of armored warriors and spellcasters waiting for us, I told Chuck and Imoen to hold back while we parlayed.

Arrogant jerk, went down easy. And he had nice boots, the magic sort that will fit me just fine.

We let ourselves into the mine. No shock, it was all run by slaves.

There were a number of guards on the levels below, a mix of humans and hobgoblins. I think we were driven by a pretty righteous wrath, and we cleared this place out.
There was a mage who’d set up a posh headquarters on the lowest level. He had a name, that I think Chuck noted down somewhere. More to the point, he seemed to be taking orders from a trade association called “The Iron Throne”. From their office in the City of Baldur’s Gate.
So I guess next, we’re heading into town.

*****

This run continues to go quite well! Its a good team. I definitely was aware during the fight with Davaeorn that he had a few tricks and cast a few spells I’ve not seen him use before (again, my first run with the SCS mod). But on this difficulty setting it posed no particular problems.

I continue to try and use OpenArt for more renders, so I can get *more* of Chuck and Sarah into these pictures. But getting good fantasy renders from it remains elusive to me, Co-Pilot is simply far better at the look I want. I’m trying a few things to get just a few shots of Chuck and Sarah really *together*, so far my attempts have all been pretty poor. You will know here if I ever figure it out!

Update 10

Chuck

We spent a couple days at the Friendly Arms Inn resting up, and it was good to have the whole “extended team”, including Khalid and Dynaheir around. Jaheira seemed particularly happy about this.

This seems like a good moment to catch up on where we’re at, so here goes.
There are two major things going on, that increasingly look connected. The first, what started this whole life on the go, is continued attempts on my life. Someone is offering increasingly large chunks of money to end me. I still have no idea what that is all about. The attempts started before I’d ever hurt anyone in my life. My late father Gorion had once been an adventurer, and he may have had a number of dangerous enemies. But he died protecting *me*. Which suggests I was always the target. For now, this situation remains opaque.
In the meantime, the team I’ve joined with has taken to stamping out banditry and ending the so-called “iron crisis” in these parts. This seems to be one thing, someone is looking to increase demand for iron weapons while simultaneously controlling the supply of good metal. We’ve followed this from the iron mines south of Nashkel, to a Bandit Camp northeast of here, to a covert iron mine deep in the Cloakwood Forest. And the people behind all of this *are* offering a contract on my head. This may be because I’m starting to cause them grief. But I think if that was all there was to it, they would have named Jaheira or Sarah as our team leader. The fact I’m prominently mentioned leads me to guess this is a common cause with earlier attempts on my life.
So the “iron crisis” remains the focus of our investigations. Our latest information indicates a trade group located in the city of Baldur’s Gate is responsible for this. Tomorrow, we will set out and see if we can learn anything about the “Iron Throne”.

I am proud of the team I’ve been working with.

Imoen has even followed me into the study of magic. She’s actually more focused on Arcane magic than I am and has advanced beyond me in that regard.

I would have never survived any of this without Sarah. She is easily the greatest warrior among us. And she’s been good-natured and easy to talk to. I’d even say I think she likes me (!). She also still scares me a little, she is so capable of massive violent action I’m not sure what she would want with me?

Jaheira provided us with our mission, or as I think of it, something to keep me distracted from the attempts on my life. She most often fights side by side with Sarah controlling our fighting front. She has a snarky sense of humor and acts like she will respect no leadership but her own. But she’s actually been cooperative and helpful, in spite of herself.

No doubt, Minsc is huge and strong, and provides us with a sort of brute force we’d otherwise be lacking. He fights with a Great Sword and mostly keeps behind Sarah and Jaheira, striking for maximum effect. He may be confused about many things, but he’s a solid friend for us.

Its funny, Sarah is so careful to always say “Alora is our scout”. To which Alora says “oh I’m a thief”. As far as I know she hasn’t stolen from any of us? But she’s pretty “in your face” about her role with us! I’d also add, she’s more of an imp and prankster than even Imoen ever was.

We’ve also got a pair of associate members.

I trust all of these people and we get along well together.

In the morning we set out. Just north of the Inn we came across a number of Ankheg in a frenzy.

Continuing on we came to the great bridge that was entrance to Baldur’s Gate. Sarah suggested we should continue past it to the coast, just to be familiar with possible routes of flight. She really worries about security! But then, I’m still alive.

Just past Baldur’s Gate is the small fishing village of Ulgoth’s Beard. We came across a mage, Shandalar, who commanded us to retrieve his missing cloak. And we found ourselves on some frozen rock in the middle of the ocean.

We found a cave entrance that led to a finished stone facility of some sort.

We encountered several, they were all hostile and a little bonkers. After a half dozen such combats we found a worn wizard’s robe, and were teleported back to Ulgoth’s Beard and stood before Shandalar again.
“What was that place?”
“An anomaly of sorts. A place I had no desire to return to. Thank you for my cloak…”

Well that was odd. This small town had a nice inn and we found a few interesting folks. There was much talk about Durlag’s Tower, a haunted ruin to the south of here. Also, a scholar of sorts asked if while in Baldur’s Gate we could locate sea charts. There had been reports of an ancient ship wreck he wanted to investigate.
So we came up with a few chores. And finally, it was off for the big city.

*****

I seem to have picked up a nasty bit of winter crud (Bronchitis). Funny thing, its easier to play a game I’ve played a hundred times than it is to do these write-ups just now. Just to say, I’m well in to the city game-wise right now. Expect I’ll catch that up over the next few days.

Update 11

Sarah

We finally approached the City of Baldur’s Gate. I’ve been here before, but getting a fresh look through Chuck’s eyes this is an amazing place.

At the far end of the bridge was the toll collector, a Flaming Fist mercenary (the company is wholly in the employ of the City of Baldur’s Gate and is their quasi-official military force). After collecting our toll he asked our origin. When Chuck answered Candlekeep he asked us to wait up, his superior needed to talk with us. I’ve heard of Scar, but this was my first time to make his acquaintance. He’s the operational head of the Flaming Fist, no mere Sergeant.
He asked if we were the ones who’d liberated the Nashkel Mines. Chuck has no game in him, and he plainly answered yes. He told Scar what all we’d learned about the Iron Crisis and bandit activity, and our suspicions about the Iron Throne. Honestly, I would have played this a little tighter. But Chuck is so forthright, he inspires trust with his conviction. And Scar was fascinated with our findings.
Scar swore he’d look into this. He struck me as a man who appreciated Chuck’s directness. He asked, if in the meantime we could investigate another trade group, the Seven Suns trading coaster was owned by a close friend of his, but they’d been making odd decisions recently and he could get no information from anyone connected with them.
I guess we’re on the job! I think, first order of business is exploring the city. Neither Chuck nor Imoen have see anything like it.

“Chuck I’ve not grown up in a family where words meant much”

We spent the next couple days exploring. We found a number of people in need of our sort of skills. This proved to be a good way of getting to know the city, getting ourselves known, and earning a fair amount of coin.

As a child of Candlekeep, Chuck was immediately moved to look into this. We were led into the sewers where we found a pack of wererats had been hired to contaminate these books.

This turned into the biggest of these little quests. In a sealed off portion of the sewers was a Temple of Mondar, the God of Rot, Corruption and Decay. Apart from the obvious dark magic of the place, we found a small group of Illithids. These are always dangerous beings, alien and twisted. The seek aggressively to destroy human knowledge. Fortunately we stamped this group out before it grew too large.

All told, we stayed a couple nights at the Blade and Stars Inn. Its time to check out the Seven Suns before Scar thinks we’ve forgotten.

Update 12

Chuck

We made our way into the district where the trading coaster, that Scar asked us to look into was located. This was a business district of sorts, and not far from the Flaming Fist headquarters.

From the outside nothing seemed unusual. Seven Suns was in a classic, sturdy looking stone building. On entry, things quickly seemed different. We encountered one merchant, who almost pushed past us in a hurry to get out the door.

That was unexpected! No doubt, many of the “men” on this main floor suddenly changed shape into grey skinned humanoids with claws and sharp teeth. Dopplegangers. There were a dozen or so, they were foolish to expose themselves so. Not really very fearsome once we were on to them. We cleared the building, and found Scar’s friend Jhasso locked in a cell.
Dopplegangers could be a dangerous problem. They can mimic virtually any human they contact and its hard to know where all they may have penetrated in town. The best sorts of detection magic for them (A spell like True Sight) are currently above our abilities to cast. Presumably a city the size of Baldur’s Gate has some access to such magic? Fortunately, they are often impossibly arrogant and can often be tricked with a simple naive/dumb act.
With Jhasso back trying to restore his business we set off for the Flaming Fist headquarters, and came across our old friend Aldeth Sashenstar. Whom we’d saved from a druidic death sentence back in the Cloakwood Forest. He had a very familiar story for us! His business partners, at the Merchant’s League, had been acting oddly. He asked us to poke around in some offices while he distracted his “friends”. We had a pretty good idea what we’d find. Indeed, Aldeth’s friends had also been replaced by dopplegangers. This was actually a bigger infestation than the Seven Suns. We killed many more dopplegangers.
THEN, it was off to see Scar.

We were given immediate access to the building and met Scar just inside the doors. He was horrified to hear what we’d found, but pleased his friend Jhasso had been rescued. He told us he needed to talk to his superior tomorrow about the Iron Throne. In the meantime, there had been some disappearances reported near the City entrance. Some clues indicated trouble coming up from the sewers. If we wouldn’t mind looking into that?
Um, okay? This is unexpected.

We found a nest of Carrion Crawlers, those disgusting scavengers were pets to an Ogre Mage. A brief and odorific fight. We found the remains of several victims.
The next morning we checked back in with Scar and reported our findings. Again, he was relieved, if not pleased with the news.
He took us to meet Duke Eltan, head of the Flaming Fist. We were tasked with entering the Iron Throne building and learning what we could about the group and their business.
The building was open for business. A busy and chaotic place. There seemed to be a lot of grumbling about recent operations. And a big meeting was about to begin upstairs. Obviously this demanded our attention.

I think the Iron Throne wasn’t expecting us? But we were quickly recognized and attacked. But senior leadership was not present, and any documents of interest to what was going on were likely with them. They’d gone off to my old haunt, Candlekeep.

Update 13

Sarah

After three months, our adventure takes us back to Chuck’s home, Candlekeep. I expect this will be a heavy burden for him, Chuck is a sensitive soul. He’ll be seeing many friends for the first time since the death of his father. I will need to be aware of his mood, although I’ve seen Chuck in enough tough situations to know he’s stronger than he first seems.

Actually, there’s probably more exceptions to that rule than books ever collected. When I was here last as a guard I paid no book toll. Residents and workers are not generally expected to pay. I expect we could have gained entrance between Chuck, Imoen and I. But due to the nature of our investigation we accepted a book from Duke Eltan to use for an admission, kept as quiet as possible.

I told Chuck I’d quit my job today! The Watchers had already concluded I wasn’t coming back.

The next day we entered the library itself. Seeing some of the monks was entertaining, they loved telling stories about Chuck the precocious child. There is still so much of that child in the man.

They made threats, but there was nothing happening for now. We will need to see if we can confront them and get something more interesting than threats.

Back in the main room a monk informed Chuck there were some valuables, and a sealed scroll for him in Gorion’s old room.

Gorion’s scroll said Chuck was a child of Bhaal. That is, the murdered God of Murder. Bhaal had known he was about to be slain, and spread his seed in the world in some scheme to ensure his survival. No one knows how many Bhaalspawn there are. But they are prophesied to bring chaos and destruction. I don’t know all the details, but I know Chuck is a good man, the best. I will stand on that fact.
The letter also said Sarevok, the man who had killed Gorion, was a half-sibling of Chuck’s.
We were all coming to terms with this, when a number of Watchers arrived to inform us we were under arrest for murdering the Iron Throne representatives.
I believe in Chuck, but there’s no doubt chaos has ensued. We saw them all less than half an hour ago. That doesn’t help our case.
We spent a couple hours in a cell, when the head librarian, a monk named Tethtoril helped us escape into the catacombs beneath the Keep. It is interesting to me that *most* of the monks (not all!) clearly believe in Chuck regardless of events and circumstance.

The last part of our escape was through natural caverns.

We’re wanted for murder, and still don’t have any actual evidence against the Iron Throne. Sarevok may be the main villain of the story? That seems likely. But no proof of anything.
Chuck suggests it might be a good time to keep away from the city for a while. We’d been asked to look for a missing dagger at Durlag’s Tower. And we have some Sea Charts to deliver to a scholar in Ulgoth’s Beard. Not sure how long this distraction will last, but maybe things will cool off in a couple weeks?

Update 14

Chuck

We set off for Durlag’s Tower the next day. This is a well known ruin, it was a great fortress built over a hundred years ago. But a tragedy overtook the residents, and the owner had the place rebuilt as a maze of traps before his death from madness and grief. And we’re looking for a dagger. The dwarf, Hourgan, whom we met in Ulgoth’s Beard, reports a family heirloom known as the Soultaker Dagger was lost at the site. This is a well known artifact with a significant ability to imprison victims in itself.
That makes it a powerful item that may play a role in the greater tragedy of the tower. So seeking it out may be no small thing.

Getting by two of these constructs was not a hard fight for us now, but a couple months ago we would have been stuck.

Next we cleared the outer walls. There were several skeletons, and a couple of less powerful constructs.

We entered the tower, and found of all things, a tour in progress. We had met the tour guide, Ike, back in Ulgoth’s Beard. He claimed he had a magic ward for access. May be the reason he could bypass the outer guards with a tour group? This is the height of dangerous foley, which was soon proven. A Demon Knight entered the room with the tour group and threw a couple of Fireballs! This killed everyone but us. Okay, no goofing around.
We worked our way up floors exploring and killing undead. We were surprised on the top floor of the Tower to encounter a bit of plush luxury.

The young woman seemed aggressively friendly towards me. Sarah was not amused. She showed her true colors soon enough, she was some sort of imprisoned minor demon. When we refused to help her escape we were forced to kill her.

We continued exploring by heading into the cellars. We first came to an ordinary sort of large storage space. There were crates all about.

We found a hidden door with stairs heading down. From here, everything is about tricks and traps.

Imoen could help too, and often both women were working overtime to disable all the nefarious things that could hurt or kill.
And there were more powerful things down here than just Ghasts. Skeletal Warriors, Flesh Golems, all sorts of deadly threats.

Deeper down we started encountering more, and more powerful sorts of Dopplegangers too. We learned these played a big role in Durlag’s loss of home and family. They remained as a reminder of danger and tragedy.

On the lowest sub-level we found the Demon Knight who had appeared briefly upstairs. He made some big boasts, but he actually fell pretty quickly in combat. Perhaps he’d spent too much time slaying tourists and forgotten what actual combat involved.
Among the Demon Knight’s items we found the Soultaker Dagger. With this prize, we set for Ulgoth’s Beard to return Hourgan’s trinket.

Minsc came back to help us while Sarah and Jaheira battled those in front. We defeated them easily enough, but who was this new group?
Hourgan knew. They were cultists of a sort, seeking to free a Demon imprisoned in the blade. Fortunately, he also knew where they hid in town. We set out at once for them. We entered a room where some dark ritual was being performed, the dagger was broken and a Demon came at us!

We won, but in the end I don’t know what happened to the dagger. Maybe that’s for the best?

*****

The team is now at peak power as they come towards the climax of the first game. I really enjoy this part of the game. Chuck, Sarah and their friends have gone from being careful around wolves, to being able to face great and epic threats.
Probably two more updates will get us to the end of the first campaign. But of course, there’s still a lot more story to come with an add-on adventure (Seige of Dragonspear) and the whole epic of Baldur’s Gate 2.

Update 15

Sarah

When we returned to talk with Mendes, he asked if we’d be willing to lead an expedition to explore the island where the shipwreck was located.
Funny thing, a week ago we would have said no. But for now we’re still looking to be absent from Baldur’s Gate, so this seems like a good opportunity. I’ve been on boats enough times to say they’re of no particular interest to me, but Chuck was thrilled. Something about exploring for the wreck of Balduran himself, the man who founded Baldur’s Gate, seemed to heighten everything about it. He’d seen boats many times from the walls of Candlekeep, but had never been on one before. His excitement was contagious and I think we all enjoyed a couple weeks off. As we neared our destination a terrible storm came up. Soon, it was obvious would follow the fate of Balduran. Our ship was coming apart at the seams, and finally came to a grinding halt on a reef.
I’m not even sure what became of the crew? In the morning it was just the six of us, who had all stuck close to where we came ashore.

But we all made it. We found ourselves near a small village. It seemed to be a village of castaways, hopefully we won’t be here as long as they seem to have been!

Their base is from an old shipwreck. I guess we know where we’re heading!

We cleared it all out. We gathered a number of things that had been taken from the villagers.

The hike back to the village went far easier, we went first to Maralee and returned her son.
Then to Kaishas. I’d call this encounter shocking, but Jaheira had already puzzled some of this out. The villagers and “beasts” were more rival packs. We’d ended a civil war between werewolves. Kaishas boasted we were now a part of her pack because we’d been infected with lycanthropy. We suggested we knew how to break the curse. Kaishas immediately fled.

After all we’d faced, ending her was not that hard.

Jaheira had expressed concern that she felt the taint of the curse in her body after defeating Kaishas. Chuck offered up that our scholar friend Mendes had a similar accent to the islanders.
Indeed, Mendes proved to be the end of that bloodline and we felt a certain peace return to our bodies.

*****

A couple of these werewolf fights can maybe be a little difficult, if you’re not prepared. The pack leaders, the one on Balduran’s ship and Mendes, both require special weapon types to harm them. There’s only four such weapons in the game.
But I always come to these fights last, before I get to the endgame. So the party is at the peak of its power. And damage causing spells work, even if you don’t have any of those weapons! So seriously, this is usually all just a fast paced romp to me. An endgame party at the peak of their abilities will tear through this adventure quite easily. The climax of Durlag’s Tower is actually a harder couple of fights.

Update 16

Chuck

Several weeks had passed when we returned to Ulgoth’s Beard. Rumors we picked up regarding happenings in Baldur’s Gate were concerning. There had been assassinations, there were threats of war with Amn to the south, and Sarevok was increasing his influence. We needed to return, if for no other reason than to stop his rise to power.

But as far as we knew, we were still wanted for murder.

It turns out, navigating a crowd when you are all invisible is a bit of challenge.

I didn’t mention to her that I was pretty sure Imoen was doing it too. Those two are not a great influence on each other!

We got to Duke Eltan, and saw an immediate problem. He’d been poisoned, by a “healer” who was really a doppleganger. After a whispered conversation, we decided Sarah would take out the poisoner. We had to do it with just one of us, because it would dispel the invisibility, and we wanted to conserve potions.

I needlessly worried, Sarah destroyed that doppleganger in seconds. We learned from Duke Eltan that Scar and one of the Dukes had been murdered. Duke Eltan suggested a friend of his in town we should get him to for better actual care.

We took the Duke to the Harbormaster’s office, which was right across from the Iron Throne headquarters. Then we went into the Iron Throne, there must be papers somewhere showing Sarevok’s plans. We found a courtesan of his there, who was not pleased to see us! But we were able to find some correspondence on her, with a couple of assassins. These discussed political killings. But we also learned Sarevok was to be appointed as a new Duke this afternoon.
We had a little time yet, so we tracked down the assassins and found a specific hit list on them, and invitations to the coronation.

But we finally got the hearing we wanted, and showed the Dukes what we had. Sarevok was not pleased! and suddenly we were fighting a number of dopplegangers who were there among the attendees. Sarevok gated out. After the brief fight Duke Liia Jannath divined Where Sarevok had fled to, and transported us right after him.
This led to a bit of chase.

Once he was cornered this was not a hard fight. After, we found ourselves back at the Ducal Palace. We were told we’d earned some leisure! Stay at the palace while recuperating.

The thing is, Imoen and I have always been study partners. But she has advanced beyond me on pure arcane magic, specifically really struggling to understand some principles with spells of the fifth level and beyond. Basically, she needs a mentor. I’m just not there at all yet, so she had questions I can’t help her with.

Duke Jannath agreed to teach Imoen for several weeks of study. So we were going to be at the Palace for a while. After a few days we were asked to round up some of Sarevok’s followers who had fled into the catacombs. It seemed a little odd with just the five of us, no Imoen. Fortunately it wasn’t hard, most of this crew actually surrendered! What a pleasant surprise.
Over the next few days we said goodbye to our friends. Alora had not been happy around the Palace, so she was the first to go. Khalid met up with us, then he and Jaheira went off for some “time to themselves”. And Dynaheir also arrived, and she and Minsc left to continue their explorations. It looked like Sarah and I would have some time to ourselves while Imoen studied.

*****

This brings us to the end of the base game of Baldur’s Gate. The “Siege of Dragonspear” supplement will continue for a few days yet, I’ll be back with a reformed party, probably tomorrow.

I played the entire base game of Baldur’s Gate with the SCS mod, that boasts an enhanced AI for the villains. I do have it on a low setting, but so far I’ve seen very little difference from the original game. I think I’ll keep it where it is for the rest of this run (through BG2). I already have ideas for a new party, a new run, that I’ll dial it up a little higher for.

Update 17

Sarah

We had been at the Ducal Palace a couple weeks, the crowds were increasing. Mostly refugees coming into the city to escape Caelar’s Crusade. She was a warrior of some renown along the Sword Coast, but recently had been raising an army, for currently unknown reasons.

One night, Imoen came into Chuck’s and my room, saying she’d heard footsteps, like someone creeping around our part of the Palace.

Suddenly we were attacked by four dark cloaked figures. Thieves, assassins. We killed them quickly enough, but Imoen was down. Stabbed, apparently by a poisoned blade.

Chuck cast Neutralize Poison and a Heling spell, but Imoen was still down. Alive, but out. Duke Jannath was running up the stairs towards us and said the Palace was being invaded. I sent the Duke and a couple guards over to Chuck while I ran downstairs where I could hear fighting.

Once I was sure we were secure, I ran back to Chuck and Imoen. Imoen’s wounds had closed, and she was breathing fine. But the poison must have been exotic, she remained unconscious.
We had an immediate conference with all the nobles in residence. The intruders had been in several teams, in each team, someone had the symbol of Caelar’s Crusade and a reasonable portrait of Chuck.
“Where is Caelar now? We owe her a social visit”.

The Duke’s agreed. A fresh body of troops were heading up North in two days to join allied forces that had found her main base at Dragonspear Castle. And we’d be going with them.
For now our team was just Chuck and I. We didn’t yet know how long Imoen’s recovery might be. And no one knew the whereabouts of Jaheira, Khalid or Alora. But Minsc and Dynaheir were apparently in town at the Three Kegs Inn. A few known rogues/scouts were at the Elfsong Tavern. So we set off to build a team. A Flaming Fist officer, Shael Corwin, would accompany us as additional protection.

At the Elfsong, we saw Safana. She has a contract with the Fists, but I don’t like her and steered Chuck elsewhere. Coran was there, we’d met him earlier and he would be agreeable to me, but he was not interested. We met a refugee woman, a half-elf named Erato who was a cleric of Sune and said she had some scouting experience.

We can help with that. Next we went to Three Kegs and met our old friends Minsc and Dynaheir. They joined us before we even explained the whole threat. Its nice to have such true friends.

We loaded up on supplies, and were ready for our trip the next day. On return to the Palace we had a brief encounter with another intruder, a hooded man who seemed interested in Chuck, and spoke in riddles. This doesn’t bode well.
We were more pleased to find Imoen was conscious. Able to talk with us. She wouldn’t be coming along, but she should be able to resume her studies in a few days and will rejoin with us when she can.
During the night, I chatted with a Skie Silvershield, the daughter of Duke Silvershield. She “covertly” told me she’d joined the Flaming Fist and would be with us on the expedition. Honestly, we’d met her before, and suppose she was pleasant enough. But she always struck me as a bored and spoiled noble. Now she’s anonymously joined the Army, during a war. Well, this should be interesting.

The day was uneventful, and we set camp near the Coastway Crossing, a bridge on our journey north. I suggested we scout the area, and checked in with Shael. She offered to join us, I had no doubt she would be a big help and quickly agreed.

We came across a cave complex that was being explored by a group of dwarves. They reported one of their friends had disappeared deeper in, but they were now beat up and worn down by relentless undead attacks. We agreed to head in and look for him.

I believe that made him a Lich? I’ve heard of such things but never seen one before. Fortunately this was a rookie Lich. We were able to put him down and destroy his phylactory (?). You know, his soul box thingy. You can quote me on that.
We gave our condolences to the other Dwarves, and asked if they would us against the Crusade. They agreed and joined us at camp later.

Next day we set out to scout the bridge, it was defended by Crusaders.

We fought a few surviving guards, but soon Caelar herself stood across the river from us. She shouted for Chuck.
She talked about fighting for the fallen, those who were in the Nine Hells since the Dragonspear Wars. And that she needed Chuck’s cooperation, insisting we were on the same side…
Sort of the ravings of a mad-woman.

We parted from the crazy lady and went back to camp. The Bridge was down, we’d need to head to the next one up river, the massive Boareskyr Bridge.

Update 18

Chuck

We set out ahead of the army towards the Boareskyr Bridge. We were making a small detour towards where Jaheira had mentioned a Temple of the Mad God was located. Apparently a ward stone, that could grant access to the besieged Bridge Fort, was thought to be there.

In the area of the temple we were attacked by a group of several Wyverns.

We also faced a Hill Giant. Then, near a small cave, a mass of large spiders.

We followed a trail up a hillside, and fought some Bugbears along the way. We came to a large cave, and heard the rumbles of something large within.

We found the Temple we sought further into this cave. From the markings it had obviously once been a Temple of Bhaal, but followers of Cyric had taken over at some point in the last decade. We battled them, and even freed a few Crusaders who’d been locked up. I wanted to tell them it was time to quit the Crusade! But I didn’t, it could cause us trouble later if we were too recognizable to the Crusaders.
We fought a high priestess, who seemed more out of her mind than you expect from a follower of the Mad God. Hearing voices kind of bonkers.
Which made it, not completely shocking when we found another group was taking over the site.

We cleared out a large number of Cultists and troublemakers. And, found the Ward stone we wanted.
So off we went to the Bridge Fort.

The defense was led by Jaheira’s husband Khalid. He seemed to be doing a commendable job keeping things all together. The attackers had not damaged the walls significantly, and didn’t seem very close to gaining access. So I told Khalid to hang on just a few hours, we’d be back with the army from Baldur’s Gate and route these guys out of here. Sally out when heard the fighting start.

So that’s what we did. This was by far the largest fight I’ve seen. But we all did well. Sarah is a force of nature.

After, I looked over the Boareskyr Bridge. It is massive! I was told to lead the way, so we all set out.

It was some sort of echo from the events that occurred here a decade ago. When the God Bhaal was murdered here, some sort of energy marked this place. And my blood triggered it. When I came back to the real world Sarah was holding me up, my other friends were all nearby. And a large symbol of Bhaal had been burned into the bridge. I guess the whole army can guess my lineage now.

Update 19

Chuck

The trip from the Boareskyr Bridge to the Coalition Camp took over a week. The strange incident on the Bridge had an impact on the troops with us. I was pleased my own team remained close, Sarah stayed very close and supportive in every way. Khalid and Jaheira stayed with us the whole time. Even Neera was friendly and spent a couple nights near our camp. But many of the soldiers were disturbed to learn of my Bhaal connection.

Even so, I was not made to feel unwanted. This army seems well motivated and optimistic about finishing things off quickly.
At the main camp I was immediately summoned to a meeting of the leaders. I offered what I knew of Caelar and her purpose. This seemed to be news to some of them, and in spite of saying it plainly I think they missed the significance of Caelar wanting my blood. Naturally, they had a plan that involved my team locating and entering the secret caverns under the castle. oof.

So true. In the morning we set out reconnoitering the area.

In another part of the woods we battled a lot of wyverns. Or at least Sarah did! We came around a bend and a couple of adult wyverns charged right at us, presumably to protect their young that were also with them.

She had killed all except one of the little ones by the time we all caught up to her.

Soon we came to a depression, a small stone canyon, with a fortified gate built at the mouth. We found something interesting!
Checking the area we found some Druids entangled by a berserk tree, and a small group of ogres in a heated political debate. Just normal stuff.
We didn’t find any alternate way past the gate, so we’d need to take it by storm.

There were several human guards behind the giant who also attacked. It was quite a big fight for a few minutes.

Surprisingly no one had heard anything. Nor did they pay us much attention! We walked to the rear of the cavern where there was an underground river, a network of caves and paths branched in a few directions. We needed to find our way to the castle. It seemed we’d be exploring a lot of caves.

We finally came to a guarded gate allowing access to the basement of Dragonspear Castle. The guards here were quite relaxed, and bluffing our way passed them was easy. We entered a large cavern, full of Crusaders, soldiers training. Again, no one paid us much attention.

There was a rather frightening looking ogre-powered elevator. This seemed to be the only way on from here, so we rode the contraption.

Finally we were in the cellar of the Castle! We needed to see what we could learn about the Crusade. Fortunately for us, this seemed to be the domain of Hephernaan. Caelar’s top adviser, we had learned in our exploring of the caves he was up to some sort of powerful *evil* magical research.

Whatever it was, it sensed our presence. Our sneaking was over.

That sounds awfully tidy for something that means everyone was fighting. Sarah always takes point and hits everything first. Of course that means she takes hits first too. I was casting every spell I had, but I was terrified out of my mind that I’d loose Sarah today. Never mind, if she fell we’d all fall.

Amazingly, we cleared the castle basement, and got back to the ogre powered elevator. We tugged the rope as they’d earlier directed and we were lowed back down. They asked about the noise up above. I told them I’d been clumsy and knocked some stuff off a shelf. The ogres believed it!

But we needed to move! And we did. We cleared the main cavern and got back to the path along the river when someone sounded the alarm. There was a lot of noise and confusion, suddenly the Crusaders all seemed to notice that none of them knew us. More “general” sort of fighting as we made for the exit.
After what seemed like hours we saw the big warehouse cavern and daylight beyond that.

I know Sarah and Minsc both were downing a lot of Healing Potions the whole time. I normally keep the box for those, and I think we used over 30 during our escape.

We got some distance away before we stopped for a rest.

*****

A couple comments, I think there will be only one more update for the expansion. Then I’ll do a new post to kick off Baldur’s Gate 2.

The first render here of Chuck, was done sort of as a test. I’ve been a little annoyed at how little reaction I can coax out his model sometimes. But I thought this came out well enough! It may partly be a problem of choosing and prioritizing the right descriptors, the AI is sensitive to the order you present things. It remains true that its easier to get expression and reaction from the Sarah model, but maybe Chuck isn’t hopeless?

The scene with the Wyverns was inspired by a sloppy moment on my part. I was retracing a long area I’d previously covered, and just zoomed out to do a large area movement. As I indicated in the caption, Sarah has the boots that get her anywhere fast, so she was well ahead of the team when she saw the Wyverns. The statement is true, she pretty much slew them all single handed.
For fans of the show Chuck this seems fitting! Quick and deadly.

The last render was a little frustrating though. I made sure to include several training pictures when I built my “Sarah” model, of Sarah beat up and battered. We saw cut, bruised and bloody Sarah many times on the show. She can take a hit, but she’s not impervious. And this was exactly the sort of occasion I did that for, Sarah was crunched hard several times during all that fighting and expended A LOT of healing magic on her. But OpenArt just won’t do much of that. Seriously, this is one of the few with any blood showing at all. I think this is one of the things they need to do better with. Some sensitivities are silly by their extreme.

Update 20

We hustled back to the camp with the news of our recon. We had some good information about the Crusade. Especially how corrupt Haphernaan was. That and their need for Chuck’s blood.
The next morning we had a parlay with Caelar, funny, she insisted she would end her crusade if they would just turn over Chuck to her.

Fortunately our fearless leaders saw the folly of this, so the parlay soon ended. We had no sooner started back to camp when we heard trumpets and drums, battle was joined. We were told to get back to camp and lead the last line of defense, while Marshall Nederlock and the others would lead our main armies.

It proved fortunate we were there. Several small groups of Crusaders penetrated our main lines and had to fought back. I had another very active day.

This was a good day for us. We shattered the main forces of the Crusade. The next day we launched our attack against Dragonspear Castle.

In less than an hour there was not much more left than gathering prisoners. When we got to the Castle, our own forces had already entered. The upper levels seemed completely empty. Chuck and I led our team downstairs, back to where we’d fought Haphernaan and his goons two days ago. We breached a large door, and found ourselves face to face with Haphernaan and Caelar. Some sort of spell went off, and we were all briefly immobilized. Haphernaan struck Chuck with a small blade, and sprinkled a small amount of blood back where he’d been performing some sort of ritual.

Something about this really upset Caelar. She seemed shocked that this was about opening a gate to bring Devils into our world. It would seem, she was a true believer in her bonkers plan.

When we regained control of ourselves, there was a Gate open to Hell. Caelar had already taken some troops through, we followed immediately. It was, what can I say, it was Hell. We set out to follow the others. We came across a group of Devils battling Crusaders. We destroyed the Devils easily enough and ordered the surviving Crusaders back to the Gate. Hold it, and wait for us. I guess they’d already seen enough and we got no arguments. We chased Caelar and Haphernaan across the Hellscape. There was a riddling Devil guarding a bridge. Chuck had the presence of mind to solve the riddles, so we crossed with no unnecessary bloodshed.

Soon enough we came to the end, what this was all about. Haphernaan stood before a giant Devil. We learned he went by Belifet [Chuck later explained the lore, this was some damaged fiend looking to make a new power play, that we could now put an end to]. Haphernaan was his stooge. Caelar was nearly mad with rage, she had an uncle here in Hell she wished to rescue. And she’d been played by these devils to open the Gate.

Chuck discerned she did not need to be our foe in this, and easily enough she joined with us to destroy these devils.

Caelar, Minsc and I met the evil with swords. Chuck led the others with magic and missiles. The fight ended quickly.

We met Caelar’s Uncle, Aun was a decent man who was trapped here due to his rescue of his niece several years back. Sort of a mess. But he knew the Gate could be closed with a Devil’s blood (which we happened to have a lot of at the moment), but only from *this* side. That meant someone had to stay behind. Caelar immediately declared it should be her. Chuck tried to find an alternative, but truly that was a just answer. If we returned with her, well her crimes would see her back in this place anyway.

That was really the end of the Crusade’s story. We went back through the Gate with the surviving Crusaders. Chuck spoke of a pardon for them, they’d fought by our side in Hell. I’m not sure how all the legal matters were resolved. There was a wild party celebrating our final victory. It went late into the night, later than any of us stayed awake for.

Chuck had been having nightmares. He was visited by some unknown hooded man in his dreams. This same man had appeared in person a few times too, like to witness the odd events at the Boareskyr Bridge.
He had another nightmare this night.

I’m not clear on the details, and I don’t think Chuck was either. But I heard shouting in the morning, and Chuck wasn’t at my side! I ran to where the yelling was, and Chuck was just waking up from a spot on the floor. With a bloody dagger, next to the murdered body of Skie.

We were given no choice about returning with the army to Baldur’s Gate.

There was a hearing. It was acknowledged by most that we were heroes who’d fought hard to win the latest Dragonspear War and kept Devils from spilling into this World. But there was no denying Chuck looked guilty of murdering a Duke’s daughter. The Duke would see him hang.
Apparently the [missing] murder weapon was the Soultaker Dagger. And Skie could not be Raised without that weapon. So we could not know her view of the strange events.
Chuck regained his memories, and told me he saw the Hooded Man kill Skie. But you can guess what that vague memory would be worth as evidence.

Fortunately, our other actions decided things favorably for Chuck. At least, there would be no punishment beyond immediate exile from the City. We were led out, by an underground route to avoid public attention. And reunited with Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Khalid, Jaheira. Our closest friends.

Now to find a nameless hooded man…

*****

I like were the whole team is at this point in the game. They are powerful and capable mid-level adventurers. Sarah is a force of destruction, but all characters are dangerous.

I tried to do a couple renders this time to capture the highly kinetic and acrobatic way Sarah fights on the show “Chuck”. Look at the YouTube link I included a couple days ago, that’s what Sarah should move like. An armored cannonball in a villain’s face.

I’ve already (barely) started Baldur’s Gate 2. I will launch into that with a new post, and Updates continuing from right here. Probably in a day or two.