DavesGaming

We set off pretty quickly for where we thought the Bandit Camp had to be. We battled our way through the usual variety of beasties, and an increasing number of bandits.
As we came up to the edge of a semi-permanent encampment we were quickly noticed and a large number of bandit archers and hobgoblins set on us. Bull, Jaheira and I joined in melee…

Much of Kivan’s motivation in joining with us had been that the leader of these bandits, a half-ogre named Tazok, had murdered his beloved years ago. So it was anti-climactic when we entered the bosses tent and Tazok was not present. The lieutenants who were present were not a major threat.
We freed a prisoner named Ender Sai, who reported the bandits would seem to be getting orders from a hidden iron mine in the Cloakwood Forest. Possibly all at the direction of the Iron Throne? A merchant association I know little about.

We headed back towards the Friendly Arms Inn to prepare for our trek into the Cloakwood. But I felt some anxiety over a personal/personnel issue I had to deal with. Kivan may be flirting with me? Weird because he is motivated so much by the loss of his love? Oof. My sense on such things may be off. Growing up in Candlekeep I had little experience with potential interesting young males. But for the second time in a few days I find myself uncomfortable with the attention. Now I’m a big girl (Hah! “Not very…” Bull would say!), I could deal with this. But combine this with Kivan being so driven by anger, revenge, hatred. It all feels toxic to me. I suggested to Kivan he needs to go spend some time with clerical council, and get away from the killing for a time. That didn’t go over so well.

We were briefly down a body, but of course Minsc was still at the Inn.

The Cloakwood Forest was a long journey. It would take us several day to reach the deepest part where the Iron Mine was supposed to be. And it was a journey that involved a lot of fighting. We had to deal with several sorts of threats, Wyverns being the most dramatic. But giant spiders, bears, wolves and a twisted dryad were all challenges. Most fascinating were encounters with shadow druids.

We finally got to the mine. It was a surprisingly large installation for something so deep in the woods. We fought our way down into its depths, looking for their command and control. (If the bandits were getting orders from here, there has to be senior leadership here).
So we kept clearing the mine as we descended. Four layers down the construction changed. It was extravagently styled stone archetecture. Obviously magical in origin, likely the abode of a powerful mage.

No sooner had she finished than we heard the sound of a mage casting a spell. It was fast! Contingency or Trigger or something? I’m not really up on Arcane magic. But suddenly the whole corridor around us erupted in tangling vines and a noxious vapor cloud. All at once.

I hit him as hard as I could as quick as I could, very glad I’d drunk a Giant Strength potion a few minutes back. I was fully expecting Bull or Jaheira to come up right beside, or Imoen to launch an arrow over my head. My next swipe, with my off hand, connected solidly and seperated essential parts from the evil mage.
I took a deep breath as he dropped silently to the floor and turned around. My entire team was incapacitated in that vile cloud behind me. He held my breath and started helping them get free. In a moment the spells ran out and we were all free.
I looked at my friends, coughing, or untangling themselves, slowly getting to their feet. And I looked at the body of “Davaeorn”, the mage who nearly destroyed us.

We began the long trip back out of the woods. It took us several days, but it all seemed much easier now. We all enjoyed the time together as friends and companions. We talked about heading up to Baldur’s Gate next. That was where the Iron Throne was located, and that seemed to be our next point to investigate.

When we got back to the Friendly Arms Inn we spent a few days relaxing together. Jaheira appreciated time with her husband. We laughed some with Neera who was still recovering from being briefly dead. And I had some things on my mind…

Yeah, we’ll be talking more often.

*****

A bit of serendipity there towards the end. SCS is still comparatively new to me. Davaeorn surprised me when he fired that spell trigger. No joke, it took out the whole party except Gabby. But she cut him up fast, before he could cast another spell. Really WOW!
Now I fudged the narrative a shade, it was while clearing out Dave’s quarters Gabby gained the last experience that kicked her up to 7th level fighter. As I said at the start, she immediately dualed to Cleric. And yes, I used EEKeeper to give her the Cleric of Lathander kit. Cheating, don’t care. She will be able to pick up her swords again when she reaches 8th level cleric (a CDTweaks adjustment).

I could also mention I skip over a lot of details in this write up. The southern part of the map (except Durlag’s Tower) has been cleared. I had once considered drawing out some Bull/Gabby tension for a while. But the thing is, apart from observing it matters to me that my characters are loved and have good friends/family relationships, I’m not really much good at writing a romance. Add to that, what seemed like a lot of flirting coming from NPC Project characters (did I read that right?) got me thinking Gabby had been pushed into making a decision. And Bull was never “not interested”. He was just concerned his young friend was more likely to prefer younger company. And speaking as a guy with a younger wife, I’d say the perception of an age difference can change a lot based on other issues in the relationship (what once seems like a big deal, can become not a big deal when the time is right).

And I should mention, the render of Minsc hugging Gabby is the new AI at Co-Pilot, MAI-Image-1.