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.

I talked with one businessman who seemed to want to discuss loneliness. He was probing maybe to see if I would be missed?!
Minsc suddenly erupted “they want to eat us!”

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 Indeed, Aldeth’s friends had also been replaced by dopplegangers.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.

Sarah is a most intriguing enigma. She is fierce and fearless. I think she’s invincible sometimes. Yet she is always so gentle and warm towards me.
As we neared the Flaming Fist building, Alora went into an amusing act. She started hiding behind Sarah, and whispered “I’m not here, just ignore me”. I can guess she’s had some run ins with the Fist.

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.

“What a lovely smell we’ve discovered. This doesn’t exactly help my impression of city life.”

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.

The meeting was a trap of sorts.
Little sister has grown quite capable and dangerous!

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.

2 responses to “Chuck: Update 12”

  1. Zeno Avatar

    Those are fun! I love Jaheira’s expression at the sewer. Minsc going berserk looks great. That “bodybuilder” tag seems to be working as well for you as it did for me. Too bad I didn’t catch on to that one until late in the Keira/Kord run. Alora has a very “anime” look there – but it actually works for her. I love the rendition of the plus-size traders you see all over BG. You’ve even got a stroll through town where nobody has elf ears. πŸ˜‰

    Did any of these require Editing?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. atcDave Avatar
      atcDave

      The one of Alora behind Sarah did, Sarah had big pointy ears to edit out!

      And the stroll through town worked easily, since Chuck and Sarah are human. Of course, a few elves would have been fine, but Co-Pilot doesn’t understand moderation!

      Like

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