Mission 1 - Kill The Dead Three's Acolytes
[!abstract] The Job
Reward: 200 gp each, plus Darmin Zodge (Captain)'s gratitude. (I'll take the gold. The gratitude I can't eat.)
Target: Every last acolyte of the Dead Three in Baldur's Gate. Collateral damage: fine.
Background
Baldur's Gate has been crawling with Dead Three fanatics for years. The Fist can't be bothered to scrape them out themselves, so naturally the job lands on us. Kill the acolytes, kill anyone who gets in the way, and don't lose sleep over the mess.
Zodge points us at Tarina (Spy), who drinks at the Elfsong Tavern and knows where the rats nest. His advice: be nice to her, she has dangerous friends. I'm always nice. To people with dangerous friends.
Reconnaissance
We walk into the tavern and take a table near the bar. There's an empty suit of armor standing in the corner, listening. Nobody seems bothered by it, so neither am I.
The whole room is buzzing about who will be the next Grand Duke. Thalamra Vanthampur is the name on every lip. Born in the sewers, vicious as a cornered rat, and one of the four dukes on the The Council of Four. Politicians. Of course.
Falten (Barkeep) takes our order. When Salah Secumber - Hal asks after Tarina (Spy), Falten goes a little pale, grabs our drinks, and tells us she's upstairs in the loft playing Baldur's Bones.
She looks relieved when we ask about the Dead Three. Information will cost us, though. She robbed her former crewmates aboard the Uncivil Serpent, and her comeuppance is on its way. She needs bodyguards.
Fine. A trap, then. We rent a room above the bay window, next to the biggest suite in the house, where Oshalla is staying.
That night the tavern's famous ghostly elven song floats through the rafters, but the words are wrong. Not a love ballad. A lament for Elturel.
[!quote]- The Lyrics
O sing a song of Elturel
Of water, woods, and hill
The sun dawns on her ruddy cliffs
And fields green and still.
This land of long-abiding joy
Home of the strong and brave
Renowned by all, across the realms,
And never once a slave.O sing a song of Elturel
When foes are at her door
Her fields torn by cloven feet
From some infernal shore.
Arise the mighty Hellriders
Take up your swift, keen swords
Then charge into the hellish fray
And scatter devil hordes.O sing a song of Elturel
And when the night does fall
Sleep safe beneath Companion's light
Until the dawn does call.
We're bound by mortal covenant
That only ends with death
And so we'll sing of Elturel
Until our final breath.
The Hellriders in that song were paladins sworn to guard Elturel. Some say they rode right into Hell itself. Hell has a funny way of coming around to collect.
The Fight for Tarina's Life
Shouting downstairs. We steel ourselves.
[!info]- The Stats
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Murosko Sessprin (Captain), "Deadeye" to his friends, tramps up the stairs with a gaggle of hired swords and growls for Tarina (Spy). I point helpfully at the room where we've tucked her away with Thomus - Thomas, while the rest of ==Umbra Contundens== pretends to play bones like a bunch of harmless drunks.
He kicks the door in and walks straight into our trap. For a beat, he just stands there, stunned.
Baktha Tassup - Ryan draws first blood, flattening one goon with a single blow. Iliran Tilorri - Mike takes the second, and the rest of Sessprin's crew drop their weapons and run. Sessprin himself doesn't last long. Cowards and captains: the same thing, in the end.
The Aftermath
Thomus - Thomas took a nasty blow and went down, so we spend a while patching him up and wrapping the rest of our scrapes.
The barkeep is not happy about the mess. He bans Tarina (Spy) for life but lets her sleep it off tonight. Generous.
The Intel
The Dead Three acolytes are holed up in a public bathhouse a few blocks north, marked by frolicking nymphs carved into its gates. Rumor says there's a secret door inside leading down to a dungeon. The place is owned by the family of Thalamra Vanthampur. Mortlock Vanthampur runs it day to day.
A nobody's bathhouse, hiding a death cult, belonging to the woman who wants the Grand Duke's chair. I don't believe in coincidence. I believe in swords.
Next: Mission 2 - The Acolyte's Hideout
#session #mission