Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

A Quiet Harvest?



Gossip spreads that either out of respect to Chauntea for the coming harvest or for other reasons that the more violent elements of the Virtuous Soil have seemingly not been active for a few tenday. Some are hopeful that they have given up their campaign of violent resistance to Duchal rule as adventurers and the Flaming Fist have assailed it over time, but it remains to be seen whether this is the case. Regardless, the violent leaders of the Virtuous Soil are still the most wanted people in Baldur's Gate.

The Flame of Balduran



Rumor spreads in Baldur's Gate that high ranking members of the Flaming Fist Mercenary Company may soon attend a re-commissioning ceremony for a Flaming Fist warship that was heavily damaged in a large naval battle against assumingly Virtuous Soil backed pirate vessels earlier in the year, then rehabilitated into a new ship at war named "The Flame of Balduran". The commissioning ceremony it is said is likely to be held in the Docks District of Baldur's Gate within a few tenday. It is said that General Scar and Lady Moruene will attend as well as possibly even Grand Duke Eltan, the commander-in-chief of the Flaming Fist himself.

Chiontar Commerce



Some Western Heartlands traders speak of unusual commercial activity along the Chiontar River in recent days, alleging that large ships were seen to have been loaded with large quantities of what seemed to be crated trade goods in areas of the river east of Baldur's Gate that do not have any port infrastructure. Some merchants familiar with watercraft trade call such commercial happenings as "bold and aggressive" and conjecture they may have been done by regional merchants to legally avoid port fees and taxes in Western Heartlands cities. Some more cynical merchants propose that such activity may have happened for more nefarious reasons such as smuggling of illegal goods.

Mysterious Blackened Soil



Some other travelers along the Chiontar closer to Elturel may report that they heard a tremendous booming noise and then discovered a large burned and charred area along the north shoreline of the river with various wooden planks floating nearby in the river. The cause is purely conjectured about.

((PM or post here if you would IC look into any of these rumors.))

Oddly there has been speak recently of cats and dogs going strangely missing throughout Baldur's Gate, with their owners not knowing why. Occasionally, a twig or leave or vine seems to be left behind at the last place such animals were allegedly seen by their owners.

Rumor spreads among Baldurians of two significant events related to the violent component of the Virtuous Soil movement as of late.

Sinister Gardening



Allegedly, some members of the Sword Coast Commercial Exchange helped the Flaming Fist to uncover that the personal gardener of the Dukes was in fact a Lady Vernosa traitor. Apparently, the gardener had a sinister plan to use gardening magics to grow obedient and twisted plant creature copies of Flaming Fist soldiers and leadership, and even the Dukes themselves, to secretly kill and replace the Duchal leadership and its military in a silent coup.

After this plot was revealed and the rebel gardener killed, a fireball eager and Flaming Fist battlecaster veteran of the Beregost campaign of the Amn-Gate War, said to have fireballed a score of Amnian soldiers to fiery deaths, was said to be called for by the Sword Coast Commercial Exchange and Captain Beluarion to burn down the plant creatures still remaining, which the dying gardener referred to as "his children". The burnt plant people let out piercing and creepy shrieks as they fried to their doom some Flaming Fist may have been overheard gossiping.

Explosive Events



It is said that a troop of Baldurian loyalist adventurers, including allies and members of the Order of the Radiant Heart and the crew of the Whistling Wandress, thwarted a daring and potentially catastrophic scheme of Lady Vernosa's Virtuous Soil cell to explosively annihilate Duke Eltan, Lady Moruene, and General Scar, as well as a few score of Flaming Fist soldiers and a good portion of the Baldur's Gate Harbor District. The scheme involved the use of a cargo vessel with a false-flag of the Flaming Fist and sent onto a course to impact and detonate at a commissioning ceremony being held for the new Flaming Fist warship "The Flame of Balduran" in the Baldur's Gate Harbor District. The explosive ship and two others, one being the vessel Whistling Wandress, are said to have been seen doing battle incoming into the Baldur's Gate Harbor, where the explosive laden ship then detonated, sending a blast and shock wave close enough to the Harbor District to cause damage, but not witnessed by many beyond violent shaking and some broken glass. In the chaos of these events, it is not yet publicly known if any of the Flaming Fist VIPs attending the commissioning ceremony were harmed.

Rumor also spreads that Lady Katherine Vernosa, of Virtuous Soil infamy and a rebel leader against the Grand Dukes of Baldur's Gate, was finally slain in the melee at sea by the Order of the Radiant Heart paladin Arkaine HalfOrken, with assistance from others present, as what appears to be a lifeless body matching her infamous description was allegedly seen by some brought by adventurers into Flaming Fist custody. An official announcement of her death may not be made until an autopsy is performed, it is gossiped. If true, what her death means for the Virtuous Soil movement against the Grand Dukes of Baldur's Gate and for the state of the city in general over time remains to be seen.

Long Live Duke Eltan, The End of the Violent Soil

Rumor spreads again and again over the past tenday that in fact very few were harmed in the Baldur's Gate Harbor District from the explosive ship attack on the Baldur's Gate harbor by the Virtuous Soil. It is also said that three loyal Baldurians aided the Flaming Fist in thwarting a multi-layered Virtuous Soil assassination attempt on Duke Eltan, Lady Moruene, and General Scar at the harbor during the commissioning ceremony of the new Flaming Fist warship known as the Flame of Balduran before and during the chaos of the explosive ship attack on the harbor. After the failed attempts, which apparently were stopped by Lady Moruene fireballing someone in a guard tower and three Baldurans shooting and pushing people into the harbor as well as chasing and tackling a man in the harbor area, cheers broke out among those present chanting patriotic slogans such as "Long Live the Dukes!", "Long Live Baldur's Gate", and "Long Live the Flaming Fist!".

With Lady Vernosa dead and this assassination attempt foiled, it is spoken by many in Baldur's Gate that the violent elements of the Virtuous Soil political movement are perhaps destroyed and thwarted beyond repair, although sympathy remains in some quarters of Baldurian society for a movement of opposition to Duchal rule given dire events in the city of the past year. Some gossip that with a leader to rally around and perhaps less controversial methods as tactics that the movement could still cause serious problems for the rulers of the port city-state.

It is many days later before the yellow clad figure who shot the fisherman just as he was about to cast a bomb at the duke is seen again.

It would seem his back is still quite sore from the many bolts he took from fist guards seeing him brandish his weapon.