Mission 6 - Journey To Candlekeep

[!abstract] The Job
Get out of Baldur's Gate, get to Candlekeep, and find out what Thavius Kreeg's puzzle box is hiding. Then find a way into Elturel.

Getting Out of Town

The stink of Vanthampur Villa is still in my nose when we report the whole mess to Darmin Zodge (Captain). We're interrupted halfway through by the arrival of Commander Liara Portyr at the Black Gate. A veteran of Fort Beluarian in Chult, summoned home by her uncle to run The Flaming Fist while Ulder Ravengard is missing. A brass hat. I put my hand on my wallet by reflex.

We tell her we need to leave the city. Our hunch: Thavius Kreeg had a hand in the fall of Elturel. Porter, to my surprise, is reasonable. She gives us horses, provisions, and a squad of guards to escort us to the northwest gate. The price: she confiscates our Flaming Fist badges. Fine by me. I never liked wearing a leash.

A Bookworm Joins the Party

Next stop: Falaster Fisk. When he hears we have the puzzle box, he nearly bursts. He packs in a hurry, wanting to come along to Candlekeep, and he's brought a book called Tastes of Callamshite. I hope it's a cookbook. It is not.

We cross the great bridges to the tall rocky island in the middle of the Chionthar. They're so clogged with shops and stalls that you can't even see the river. A narrow channel of road wiggles through the middle. Drawbridges lead to a stout keep on the island flying the flags of the city and the Fist. I'd love to burn the lot.

Highway Robbery (Theirs)

We catch a couple of pickpockets. One of them I send on his way with a ration and a suggestion to take the day off. A hungry thief is just a man who needs lunch.

Further on, a wagon driven by an ordinary farmer. Iliran Tilorri - Mike spots the glint of a weapon moving in the hay and, without a word, sets the hay on fire. The farmer is a fiend in disguise, red wings and all. I ride alongside and sink my shortsword in. It doesn't care. Baktha Tassup - Ryan's arrow misses. Salah Secumber - Hal's magical mace is what bothers it, and it takes to the sky, sixty feet up, hurling firebolts back at us.

A long, patient fight, but we put it and its buddies in the dirt. On the fiend's corpse, a magical spear: a flashfire spear. Spoils.

The Road

That first night we camp under stars so thick they look spilled. Reya Mantlemorn tells us a tale of her people.

West of Elturel, fiends used to steal women and children. In desperation, the High Rider told his people to pray for divine help. Their prayers were answered: the goddess Zariel herself appeared, found the fiendish portal and led the Highriders through to Avernus. The portal buckled and collapsed under the weight of so many brave souls. Thus the Hellriders were born.

Day two: nothing. I almost enjoyed it.

Day three: smoke on the horizon. Two burning wagons and two ogres smashing around them. We charge. I hit one with my shortsword. Baktha and Thomus - Thomas each fire a firebolt. Reya's hammer cracks bone. Salah's guiding bolt shines on the ogre's hide. I land a crit. Mike's firebolt misses its target but singes close enough to finish the beast. Baktha takes the second ogre and I deliver the last blow.

We find strange tribal armbands on the bodies and take them, hoping Sylvira Savikas knows what they mean. A few survivors tell us they're refugees from Elturel, turned away at the gates of Baldur's Gate, harassed on the road, then ambushed by the ogres. Another reason I have no use for gates.

Day four: rain. Heavy, steady and miserable, just like the refugees.

Day five: a crossroads. One sign says "The Way of the Lion." The other, "Candlekeep." Fisk assures us that The Way of the Lion is the fastest way to Candlekeep, which makes no sense whatsoever, but he's the scholar, so we follow.

Candlekeep

At the gate, three monks greet us: a human, an elf and a dwarf. The elf demands a gift for entry. Fisk grins and hands over Tastes of Callamshite. They accept it with surprising grace, and we're in.

Salah shows the monks the ogre armbands. They recognize the markings: an infernal cult. We find the inn where, in the corner, sits a lone ogre reading The Sum of Theology by Saint Visera. He's wearing an ornate headband. Thomas, in a fit of audacious curiosity, walks over and asks him about the armbands. He doesn't recognize them but finds them tribal and charming, then tells a tale about his headband: taken from a halfling he slew in his brutish days. Ever since wearing it, he's been a hungry student of knowledge and goes by Little One in the halfling's honor. Candlekeep. Where even the ogres read.

Sylvira Savikas

The next morning we find Sylvira Savikas in a chamber of the keep, in wizard's robes, standing on a huge nine-pointed star on the floor with a spiny quasit at her side: her familiar, Jezebel. "I can't tell you how pleased I am to meet you. What have you brought me?"

I hand over the puzzle box. She studies it a good long while and tells us she's long suspected Kreeg conspired with devils in the fall of Elturel, and that the proof is in the box. Jezebel fetches a flask of liquid, which Sylvira pours over the box. It crawls over the surface in defiance of gravity like a halo, then, with a soft click, the box falls open.

Inside: nine chain-linked plates, three inches a side, stamped with infernal runes. Reya reads them aloud.

Be it known to all that I, Thavius Kreeg, High Overseer of Elturel, have sworn to my master, Zariel, lord of Avernus, to keep the agreements contained in this oath.

I hereby submit to Zariel in all matters and for all time. I will place Her above all creatures, living and dead. I will obey Her all my days and beyond with fear and servility.

I recognize the dispensation of the device called the Solar Insidiator, hereafter called the Companion. In my capacity as High Overseer of Elturel and its vassal territories, I acknowledge that all lands falling under the light of the Companion are forfeit to Zariel. All persons bound by oath to defend Elturel are also considered forfeit. I further recognize that this dispensation will last fifty years, after which the Companion will return whence it came, taking Elturel and its oath-bound defenders with it, if that is Zariel's wish.

All this is my everlasting pledge.

Halfway through, Reya starts to weep. When she took the oath of the Hell Knights, she pledged her soul to Zariel without knowing it. I don't have words for that. For once.

The Shield

We ask Sylvira about the Shield of the Hidden Lord. It's a symbol of good triumphing over evil, she says, but the thing inside, Gargauth, is a pit fiend sent by Asmodeus to corrupt mortals, and has grown into a sort of demigod. The shield corrupts everything near it. The Hhune family has guarded it for centuries and should not get it back. Better to keep it in an extradimensional space, or carry it into the fiery pits of Avernus.

As she speaks, Gargauth's voice rolls through my mind, begging me to do exactly that, promising to serve as my guide and counselor. I reply with a mental image of me slapping it silly and holding a finger to my lips: shush.

Sylvira tells us a dragon named Traxigor can get us to Elturel, where we can make our descent. We should also speak to a creature named Lulu at Traxigor's tower. She leads us to some saddled griffins and sends us flying.

With a final word of warning, she leads us to a row of saddled griffins. Up we go, toward Traxigor's tower. At last, a clear purpose. I don't trust it one bit.

Previous: Mission 5 - Beneath Vanthampur Villa · Next: Mission 7 - The Streets of Elturel

#session #mission