DM Rumors of Baldur's Gate

[DM Golem]

The Flaming Fist Headquarters hosts yet another delegation: the Knights of the SIlver Rose attending Duke Eltan in closed counsel with him.

Meanwhile, a recruitment drive for the city watch seems to be underway - although Flaming Fist officers are present during inductions, and siphoning off the best recruits to the Fist.

Similarly, rumours abuzz in the Temples of Helm and Tempus, and in any tavern where off duty soldiers spend their time, of the recall of those Flaming Fist companies currently being hired out as mercenaries about the Heartlands, with bodies of troops arriving back every few days. Similarly, two fresh companies of Flaming Fist are being raised from new recruits from the Watch and the best of the Watch currently serving.

Its apparent that Baldur's Gate's preparations for war are accelerating.

[DM Arrakeen]

Baldur's Gate and Environs


In the early morning, the City Watch of Baldur's Gate traveled across the City, accompanied by Flaming Fist Captains, to oversee the posting of the changes to the Laws decreed by the Council of Four. Bold and easily read script replaced any previous documentation.

///The Laws of BG has changed. Please read them carefully here: viewtopic.php?p=547902#p547902///

[DM Chant]

A tall, stoic man who looks much too old for his age might be seen escorting a young lad of six or seven into the Palace District of Baldur's Gate. His clothes are tidy but threadbare; his expression is courteous but in a state of world-weariness. One of his calloused hands grips the small boy's fingers reassuringly. The boy, oddly clutching a fine fur cape around his frail body, tries to emulate the man's gait. However, he is wracked with coughing fits every so often, slowing down their progress through the streets toward the Halls of Inner Light.

[DM Golem]

The recall of the Flaming Fist troops being hired out to other cities usually means a flood of off duty, freshly paid mercenaries looking eagerly for some rest and recreation. Not this time, however. The recalled companies are kept under arms, in a camp outside the walls to the West of the city. There they drill and train.

The official reason given for this is "exercises".

(((There will be an event at 21:00 GMT / 16:00 EST on Saturday 2nd February 2019. It will be open to all characters who are in good standing with Baldur's Gate, thus no orcs, underdark races, or currently banished characters)))

[DM Golem]

News of the success of the Tymount Offensive spreads back to the city and leads to an outbreak of patriotism and merrymaking. The massed envelopment of the Devil's troll soldiers south of Tymount is already being referred to by poetic (or sycophantic) souls as "Eltan's Steel Fist"; wags add to that by suggesting that the only Duke with a Fist harder to escape from is Duke Entar and his "Fist of Taxes."

Both the city watch and the Flaming Fist are undertaking a recruitment drive. The Flaming Fist maintains its high standards and so some applicants are turned away. However, those who do not make the cut into the Fist are instead offered places in the watch. The recruitment officers make clear to any who are disappointed that even service in the Watch frees up a Flaming Fist from garrison duty, and thus protects the city. New recruit are promised high quality training, from both Flaming Fist trainers and the Bladestone Academy.

Specialist recruitment of engineers is also underway, in consultation with the Temple of Gond. This appears to be in order to replenish the crew for the city's siege engines. A large donation of siege machines by House Darius has been deployed to the front line on the Winding Water, meaning the city is short of trained engineering manpower currently.

[DM Golem]

Some may see Solomon adding a post to the board outside of the Elfsong Tavern. He tacks it in place with a half smile and heads inside to get a drink before leaving the City.

Before getting far, a rider in Duchal livery catches up with Solomon. A letter is handed over, a letter delivering a contract with a particular set of requirements attached.

[DM Chant]

A small group of well-groomed people sporting parasols and quills may have been spotted taking a turn around the Palace District in an excited gaggle. They toured various sites in the area; specifically, the war memorials of 1348 and 1352 that stand in various degrees of disrepair throughout the otherwise tidy lanes of the noble part of town. A Ducal representative hosted this brigade, chattering about some manner of future plans that may brighten the face of the district in due time.

[DM Chant]

In recent days, the clamor of demolition and woodwork begins to ring clearly throughout the Palace Disctrict of Baldur's Gate, accompanied by the busy murmur and cheerful calls of craftsmen plying their trade. Little mounds of rubble dot the area and raw materials of high value and fine quality may be spied as they are molded by expert hands. Though the process seems to be in its beginning stages, it is easy to tell that each facet of the construction is aimed to fit seamlessly into the sparkling locale of the noble district; that it is meant to bring liveliness to sites long-deserving of attention.

[DM Chant]

A warning poster is placed upon public bulletin boards within the Gate.

Beware of Drow!

A drow woman with long, white hair, near black skin, and red eyes has been spotted upon Ducal land. Her nose is slightly crooked, and her upper lip may be painted fully white and her lower lip painted with a white bar in the middle of it. She reportedly has a remarkable voice in that "it is husky and holds an odd echo to it, as though she is touched by something unholy." Be wary of this drow who calls herself Aunrae and report any sightings of her to the Flaming Fist.

[DM Chant]

In the deep of the night, two women may have been seen at the construction site of one of the war memorials in the Palace District, enacting a combination of divine spell and ritual while a member of the City Watch acts as guard.

Azalea Starglow, a priestess and Silverstar of Selûne, would have been seen after moonrise, setting up a ritual space with a ring of candles around the memorial, and intoning prayers in celestial, some whispered under her breath, others sung aloud in a bright, gentle singing voice while looking up to the moon. She would have poured milk and wine over the ritual space and sprinkled it with holy water, asking in the celestial tongue for the Moonmaiden's blessing upon the ground that any evil might be warded away and cleansed. The whole Consecration ritual would take a few hours, and a pale silver glow would surround the area for about half an hour afterward.

About midway through the ritual, Sylvia Brightleaf would arrive, an iron pot in one hand, and a potions bag in the other. She would set them down and wait, offering Azalea some stew from the pot once she’d finished. Taking a spot near the construction site, Sylvia would spend the next 8 or so hours, casting the more ritualistic version of Plant Growth to enrich the land for the long term, focusing on the area with stunted growth, and maybe a few fruit trees.

[DM Chant]

Word out of Ulgoth's Beard spreads to the Farmlands of Baldur's Gate and into the city of strange occurrences in the last evening, where talk of doppelgangers and kidnap and cursed rope are sputtered in conjunction with a series of confused hypotheses. A large group converged at the culmination of the night in the Palace District of Baldur's Gate, filling the Halls of Inner Light to capacity in relief of an elven woman's discovered reappearance.

[DM Chant]

A group of confused and alarmed individuals might have been spied gathering in the road of the eastern farmlands of Baldur's Gate, deciding with haste to Teleport elsewhere once several disjointed threads of understanding managed to come together. Not long after their departure, sounds of a strange occurrence within the Greenest Inn some distance away shook the rafters of the place with roared words and splintering wood.

The next morning, an annoyed innkeep sends correspondence to Baldur's Gate via courier.

[DM Arrakeen]

After the recent disruption of the smuggling ring operating in the Northern Farmlands by local adventurers Carrie, Yohann Lawstar, and Zeeta Thulkist, the Zhentarim wasted no time in raising a pavilion in the very same area. Advertisement of a Zhentarim recruitment drive came by criers in the Harbor district and posters near taverns and sewer entrances throughout the city at large. Travelers might have noticed identical posters recently nailed to trees on the Trade Way.

Zhentarim agents, quills at ready, sat at desks with printed contracts. They primed their tongues in small-talk among themselves, readying to recite expectations and persuade prospective interest into commitments of service. Handpicked foot-soldiers of matching height in impeccably polished steel armor were present. Some stood guard of the agents, and others patrolled to keep order, prevent any interruptions by dissenters and, most importantly, keep orderly lines of interest.

Seen to be seated within the pavilion itself was the herculean knight Bueroza - a wolf among dogs - clearly in command of the initiative. He poured over several scrolls on a table, preoccupied by writing letters.

As quickly as the fliers appeared, they began disappearing. Some torn, their pieces floating in the air; others swiped and tossed into the sewers or rolled-up for a smoke by the workmen of the Docks. They are gone with the trash, as the locals would say. Besides, those in the Docks knew better than to show even a glimmer of interest in Zhentarim business.

In one particularly shabby and shaded corner of the district, a crier sustained a swift blow to the head from behind, and a shiv to the shoulder blade that pinned a note to his tunic, where written in the man's blood was a straightforward sentiment.

"HELLS no."

The other messengers quickly gathered that their presence was not welcomed and dipped out with tails between their legs, making the Docks great again.

[Ghost]

Diplomatic tensions

According to rumours, courtiers have seen stern-faced ambassadors from several Lord's Alliance members meeting with the Grand Dukes for private audiences. After these audiences, the moods of the Grand Dukes have been increasingly sour, and there are many whispers among the nobility and other courtiers about what these meetings might have been about. Some claim that even a furious-looking Khelben Arunsun have been seen through the door to the audience chamber, berating the Grand Dukes.

[DM Golem]

Security Council

Behind closed doors, Duke Eltan consulted with trusted advisors and a number of paladins of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart who had traveled all the way from the High Hall in Athkatla. The meeting was long and concerned an evidently serious matter.

Following the meeting, Commander Di'Corvi had a private interview with General Scar, after which a statement was issued.

Commander Wren Di'Corvi of the Nothern Watch has been reprimanded following reports of overly close relations with criminal elements. However, the Council of Four is satisfied these relations were born of naivety rather than malicious intent, and she has undertaken to honour her oath to the city more strictly in the future.

On behalf of the Council of Four
The Grand Narlhelm

Questions as to the above proclamation are met simply with statements that this is all the Dukes have to say on the matter. However, rumours give more detail. Some say she has had too close a relationship with local criminals, others that she has treated with pirates and other outlaws in Roaringshore. A third set of rumours say the proclamation relates to a business deal, variously either with an Amnian merchant interest or one from her home city of Everlund, that was a cover for smuggled goods. Either way, all agree that the former Zhentarim clearly has to be on her best behaviour in the future.