1351 Campaign - Act 2: Veiled Threats in Baldur's Gate

[DM Theophanies]

///This thread will focus on the ongoing conspiracy within Baldur's Gate and the opposition to Duchal rule. Feel free to post any relevant RP within this thread.

[Carski]

A man dressed in bardic fashion, wielding a drum has been heard at the docks of the harbor district, half-singing a spoken word, a tale...a potent outspokenness possibly once heard in another form, but now...his repetitive words traveling outward towards the City. As bards go...it is often wondered whether the song they speak or sing is of their own...or borrowed.

• The Rotting from Within...
  Bled the people from inside
  Internal organs turned sour
  Then poured out of orifice...liquified.
  
  The Rotting it is named
  For the rotting it has come
  Was first of adventurer born disease
  But still lingers...in the bosom of the kingdom.
  
  From those that seek power
  To trade favors and hearts
  To those that Lord the power
  Their non-action is but the start.
  
  The Rotting, the sickness
  Was a sign, and then more
  To show how the callous lords of the city
  Care they for the people, no more?
  
  The lowest of classes
  Those that horde fortune and fame
  To those that hold nobility and dress
  Lack a definition of soul, but an end they will gain.
  
  Yet the People...
  The horrifying death came to them
  Nausea and loss of senses gripped their bodies
  Out came the black-green ick...a death far worse than to become zombies.
  
  Many rejoice, now
  Crying "the sickness is cured"
  But the truth in the people lingers on...
  The Lords wish the people to remain immured.
  
  Look now how the people still come
  Not just those that make the sea their career
  The Queen is a mighty God
  They are humble to her...to the Lords, they no longer show fear.
  
  Days do pass by
  And every day that goes forth
  Without Lords giving their tribute
  The people's patience grows short.
  
  For surely he did
  This city's namesake knew well
  That to ignore the true Queen
  Was to place yourself in peril.
  
  The people of simple rank
  They are many, not just four
  A thousand raging fists can do nothing...
  Against a crashing wave filled with devote peoples...so many, many more.
  
  The Rotting from Within
  A sickness sent to remind the high-minded their role
  As captains to the ship...
  How they have failed, even when duly told.
  
  The Rotting...you see
  Was the tipping point, unknown
  The pious shall pray along with the damned
  For blood will flow and coat the streets...
  
  This...the many, sing...it is foretold.
  

From bard to tavern, from skipping, game playing child to dock worker loading barrels upon ship set out to Her sea...slight annotated versions are heard, yet...the metaphor carries.

[DM Theophanies]

As the bard travels along the docks a small band of three Flaming Fist patrolmen quickly pull the bard beside one of the warehouses. By their tone and mannerisms, these men do not act like regular patrolmen but hired thugs. Two of them stand back while the third draws close to the bard whispering something to the bard before turning and the three walk off down the docks, not bothering to look back.

///I'll send the whisper in a PM

A man dressed in bardic fashion, wielding a drum has been heard at the docks of the harbor district, half-singing a spoken word, a tale...a potent outspokenness possibly once heard in another form, but now...his repetitive words traveling outward towards the City. As bards go...it is often wondered whether the song they speak or sing is of their own...or borrowed.

[DM Theophanies]

Deep in the night, a series of handwritten notes, each written by a different hand, are distributed through the Gate. Although the Fist would take down the obviously placed ones, a few would remain around dark corners.

---

To once again reap the harvest
The bramble must be burned away,
The land fed by it's carcass
as it is restored from such decay.
Though we may strain and we may toil
We shall once again grow from the Virtuous Soil.

---

[Carski]

Two of them stand back while the third draws close to the bard whispering something to the bard ...

As the single soldier speaks low to the bard, the air in the immediate vicinity turns cold, and around nearby rooftops, chimneys...patches of fog, nearly dense clouds...start to swirl.

The face of the bard, hearing the low spoken words, is taut, blank of expression. A look of caution crosses the brow, but not fear. The bard holds his drum at the ready—it's form a wall between the single soldier, as what was whispered, ends, and the soldier walks on.

The bard grins, wildly.

He lifts up his drum, and continues with his calling...though the spoken-word does change:

• The twists and turns are through the ferns
  Of harvester villages that once had burned
  We walk up the path and through where the dead do rest
  And it is here we find our Winding Way.
  
  Upon godly ground the rubble is covered
  History is buried though someday uncovered
  In comfort we converse with plans we rest
  And it is here we find the Winding Way....

[DM Pun Pun]

A horrific sight greeted travelers to the city of Baldur's Gate as they came across the corpse of a Flaming Fist mercenary impaled on a stake in a corn field. It is said the Flaming Fist is looking for any information that may find the culprit responsible for this.

[Carski]

Rumor floats around the docks of a new song being played by a bard who periodically appears in the Blushing Mermaid—a bard that some may have witnessed his power derived from faith, knowing of the power in storm he brings. The patrons listen...oh, how they listen as ears are always open. Possibly the bard may reach them, touching in metaphors on a political wave....

Though the song is not heard outside the Blushing Mermaid, it's title is remembered by enough, and spread—The Peccant Purge.

Still, it is possible some verses are turned into idioms, quickly past onto others, mostly sailors, dock workers and the recently crushed rioters that still occupy the Harbor District....

///Edited at DM request so that nothing implied could be read as true or mis-interpreted as true.

[Azure]

Some of those passing through the Docks recently might have noticed that the feeling of being intensely watched had slightly subsided as of late. Still, the traces of a lingering presence within the area would clearly still be felt.

Subtle gestures are passed and inconspicuous whispers shared as various pairs of eyes peer from the more shrouded areas of the Docks towards the recent activities transpiring in the area and towards any future individuals leaving notes in dark corners...

A single silhouette slips silently from his vantage point now. The hooded figure, one who is clearly no stranger to the Docks, clucks his tongue in silent disapproval behind his mask and proceeds to begin flitting from one shadow to the next, moving to seek out the thug-like patrolmen who so carelessly neglected to look back...

[Hitman Hard]

A horrific sight greeted travelers to the city of Baldur's Gate as they came across the corpse of a Flaming Fist mercenary impaled on a stake in a corn field. It is said the Flaming Fist is looking for any information that may find the culprit responsible for this.

Soon as morning comes... intervening the darkness, and not only endeavoring but exposing the truth of the many pedestrians adorning the duke-carved streets. A fifty year old looking man wielding a limp that pervades his every every movement with a vibrating agony... wearing upper-echelon garb proclaims in a fiery, judgement-carrying voice (a deep political-professional tone) throughout the East Gate District and Harbor: "A man who is chronically tired, the fist who cannot solve this murder should be fired, is it not hard to see a guard was set on a sharpened stake like a vampire? Quickly to be incompetently hidden by a man with long white hair and sleeveless gray monk-ish clothing who malevolently practiced the use of his fists like he were in a pyre? His name is Kit, he is often seen around Ulgoths Beard Fishing and he has no loyalty for his fellow man! Be it they wear the badge of justice (though one can certainly hide behind it) or a wayward road hedonist out for a tan! He killed a fist in cold blood simply out of a misunderstanding. My names is Charles Sun, and everyone should be aware The Tribune will not tolerate criminal mischief or the needless favortism given to the privileged to spread misinformation as fact! It's a shame when the truth can be misinterpreted as a prohibitive work of fantasy. Damn those who pretend to support the art when their designs do not carry weight!"

[DM Pun Pun]

"A man who is chronically tired, the fist who cannot solve this murder should be fired, is it not hard to see a guard was set on a sharpened stake like a vampire? Quickly to be incompetently hidden by a man with long white hair and sleeveless gray monk-ish clothing who malevolently practiced the use of his fists like he were in a pyre? His name is Kit, he is often seen around Ulgoths Beard Fishing and he has no loyalty for his fellow man! Be it they wear the badge of justice (though one can certainly hide behind it) or a wayward road hedonist out for a tan! He killed a fist in cold blood simply out of a misunderstanding. My names is Charles Sun, and everyone should be aware The Tribune will not tolerate criminal mischief or the needless favortism given to the privileged to spread misinformation as fact! It's a shame when the truth can be misinterpreted as a prohibitive work of fantasy. Damn those who pretend to support the art when their designs do not carry weight!"

Word spreads that the Flaming Fist are seeking man named Charles Sun. There is also word that they are asking about a man named Kit who fits the description.

[DM Theophanies]

Kidnapping



Rumors spread around Baldur's Gate of a kidnapping out of the East Gate District. A notable and capable alchemist was taken from his home, as well as some of his supplies. Anyone with information is asked to contact Captain Beluarion at the Flaming Fist Headquarters in the Docks District.

[Carski]

A small rhyme is shared through the streets of Baldur's Gate. Some children from the Harbor District seem to be the most adept at knowing the entirety of the rhyme, while others may suffer from the ear worm and possibly chant or sing in their working moments a line or two.

• Nurtuous foil
  Courteous toil
  Disasterous boil
  Incestuous royal
  
  Oh! How I hear so many things...
  
  Cantenkerous moral
  Obsequies turmoil
  Religious snake oil
  Erroneous portrayal
  
  Oh! How I hear so many things...
  
  Lascivious entoil
  Devious uncoil
  Preposturous roil
  Venomous betrayal
  
  There are so many things I hear....
  

One never knows how far such rhymes travel.....

[DM Theophanies]

Current State of Baldur's Gate:

Although food is still a bit stretched within Baldur's Gate, the refugees from Kheldrivver are indeed doing well thanks to the outreach of the community and donations made through the Temple of Ilmater. Although they find themselves in a very hard situation, leaving their homes and all that they know at the threat of an undead horde, they make the best of the situation. Being a hardy folk, some find work in the farmer's fields working the crops while others try their hand at fishing (albeit not successfully at first). Food is still stretched in the city in a post-plague economy though, as well as medical supplies.

Other news in the economics, the cost of alchemist fire and other such reagents including quicksilver and beetle glands including the bombardier and fire beetle species. The rumor of a kidnapped alchemist also circulate wildly. Looking forward, major losses to yield due to the lack of laborers to manage them indicate the harvest will be small for the remaining time this year. Losses to the population have hit the fishing trade as well, with small caches coming in.

[Darkcloud777]

Kidnapping



Rumors spread around Baldur's Gate of a kidnapping out of the East Gate District. A notable and capable alchemist was taken from his home, as well as some of his supplies. Anyone with information is asked to contact Captain Beluarion at the Flaming Fist Headquarters in the Docks District.

*This letter is delivered Directly to Captain Belurion's office and sealed magically and keyed only for him to be able to open it*

Captain Belurion,

If the name of the alchemist is named Badubadop then I know of his location. I would prefer to not mention where on paper. If you would like to meet with me then i can give a detail of what he is about. Know that at the moment he appears in good health. Apparently he is being held to further his studies in a fire that doesn't stop.

Signed,


Terri Lalani

[Tsidkenu]

A blue-robed elf hastily entered the foyer of the Duchal palace and approached Quincy the receptionist, asking for an urgent meeting with Duke Entar Silvershield, and only him. When asked for the reason of such an urgent meeting she would lean over and whisper something to Quincy and produce a folded letter and a small book, probably a journal of some sort, and place them on the reception desk. All her body signals testify to her earnestness and seriousness regarding the matter she wishes to speak of.