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

Entry 1

Baldur's Gate. You can't get much farther south along the sword coast than this. It's my next stop in my search for my sister. I figure that now is as good a time as any to start a journal. I have so much going on in my head that putting it down on paper might help to sort things out. I guess the best place to start is in the beginning...

My earliest memories are of my sister, Arianna, and I fending for ourselves in the slums of Neverwinter. We never knew our parents, have no memory of them, and neither did my sister. I was six and she was four. You might think that a six year old and a three year old wouldn't be able to survive in the slums of Neverwinter on their own, but somehow we did. When there's a will, there's a way. I just knew is that I had to do my best to survive, to take care of my sister. When we needed food we managed to sneak into the market and steal what we could to survive. So that's how my life begins, as a street rat in Neverwinter. Ari was the world to me, she was everything I had.

My life as a street rat would come to an end when I was about to turn seven. We tried not to frequent the marketplace too much lest we were caught by the guards and they locked us...or worse, we were separated and I was taken away from her. If I wasn't around I don't know what would have happen to her. That day, however, I wasn't as good at going un-noticed as I usually was. There was a vendor selling breads and cheeses that caught my eye...we sat back in the shadows and waited for our opportunity. A man and his wife approached the stand, and when he turned his back to deal with his new customers we made our move. We snuck up quietly as he was talking, paying no attention to what was being said, the only thing that caught my attention was that they were looking for children who would be about seven and three. We reached out our hands and wrapped our fingers around two fresh-baked loaves of bread... the next thing I knew, faster than I could blink, he turned and grabbed my wrist.

"You little thief!" He shouted, "you kids think you can just keep on stealing my food and get away with it? I've had it! That's the third time in two weeks that I've had stolen food from me and I'm sick of it!" He called out to two guards who were just passing by, "Guards! Come over here, I caught one these thieves stealing from met, and I have witnesses too!" He motioned to the man and his wife who were standing quietly, watching the proceedings. I noticed that the man seemed to be paying careful attention, and that he was particularly scrutinizing me. I got a look at the man, he was ruggedly handsom, and she was beautiful, slightly older than he was. As he watcehd me there seemed to almost be a look of recognition on his face.

Apparently we weren't the first to steal from this man. My heart pounded. What would happen? I couldn't let them take me away from Ari! She couldn't survive without me! The guards approached. "What seems to be the problem here, sir?"

"These pathetic kids tried to steal these loaves of bread from me! Three times in two weeks I've been stolen from! Do they think I'm just -giving- away my wares?"

I glanced between the shop owner, the man and his wife and the guard.

"Is this true?" The guard asked me. I swallowed. My stomach rumbled but the last thing I was thinking about right now was how hungry I was.

"Well, I..." I started, but before I could start the man interrupted me.

"Excuse me...I'm sorry sir, but I believe these may be the children we were asking you about. You see, our children were separated from us in the market and we've been looking for them all day."

"Jauffre, what are you doing?" His wife asked him. He whispered something to his wife and she frowned.

"They're probably hungry, having not had anything to eat all day. How much for the bread, sir?" I didn't know what to say. Nobody had ever bought anything for us before. I think the vendor was as dumbfounded as we were.

"Uh...ten gold coins for the two loaves. I'll...uh, even throw in some cheese for an extra two."

"Alright, we'll take it." The man counted out some coins and handed them to the vendor. "Will this cover it?"

"Yes. And if I were you, sir, I'd make sure that those kids learn to not steal. It'll get them in a lot of trouble one day."

"Oh, you can rest assured that I'll make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Is everything in order here, sir?" The guard asked.

"Uh...yes, I believe it is. You can forget this ever happened."

"Come on kids" The man, who I now knew was named Jauffre said he and his wife started to walk away. Ari looked to me, unsure of what to do. She tended to be shy and didn't say much. I wasn't quite sure what to do myself so I followed the Jauffre and his wife away from the vendor, eager to get away. As soon as we were out of earshot, Jauffre looked to me.

"What's your name, son?"

"G-garen, sir."

"And your sister? Does she talk?"

"S-she does...but she's quiet. Her name's Arianna...I call her Ari..T-thank you, sir, for what you did...nobody's ever bought us anything before."

The man frowned, "where are your parents, kids? Do you have a last name?"

"Well, I'm Jauffre Borina, and this is my wife Melanie." She nodded and smiled. We live in a small farming village to the east of Neverwinter. From now on, Garen, your last name will be Borina. You're going to come live with us...that is, if you don't want to live in the slums anymore."

I was shocked. I looked to Ari. There were tears in her eyes. Were these people really kind enough to take us in as their own children? Nobody had ever done anything like that for us before. I couldn't hold back the tears as I looked up to Jauffre, the man who had now apparently become my father.

We both nodded, eager to get off of the streets.

"Well then...from now on, you can call me father, and you can call Melanie mother. Come on, leads start out for home"

I didn't know what to say. Thank you didn't seem to come even close to this act of kindness. As we left the city and journeyed to our new home, Jauffre and

Melanie told us of their home, and of the people there. I was afraid that at any moment I'd wake up and this would all be a dream. Thankfully, it wasn't, and the next four years of my life were among the happiest years that any child could have...

Entry 2

My life took another turn when I turned eleven. Ari and I had had a wonderful four years, growing up with Jauffre and Melanie. Mealnie had been unable to have children, and not for lack of trying. That's why they decided to take us in. It was an opportunity to have the family that they couldn't on their own. And for us, it beat living on the streets stealing whatever we could to survive. Jauffre and Melanie became mother and father to us. The village where we lived was nice enough, I had a few friends there. Ari and I remained close and I was always protective of her, but as she was growing older, she became less shy. Home was not without its problems, however.

For a year or so orcs had been causing problems in nearby areas. Many of the men were decent fighters, so there were attempts to stop them, and for a while, they seemed to work. It wasn't long, however, before the raids started happening again. One night, after I turned eleven, I was woken up in the middle of the night by a commotion. I looked to Ari, she was still asleep. I slowly crept to the door and opened it a crack to see what was going on. Jauffre and Melanie were having what seemed like an argument. They rarely argued, and it seemed I caught the tail end of it.

"Melanie you have to! We can't argue about this."

"This is our home, Jauffre, I'm not going to leave it! We can defend it! And don't shout, you'll wake the children!"

"No we can't, not this time! They're to great in numbers. I met with some of the other men and we agreed, we'll fight them off as best we can and give you, the other women and the children time to get away from here!"

"What about you? You're staying behind! I want to stay with you and fight. You know I'm as good a fighter as you! And some of the other women are good fighters too!"

"We're only going to fight long enough for you to get out of here. As soon as we know that you're free, we'll join you if we can. You have to think about the children , Melanie! We have to get them out of here!"

"Where will we go? We have nowhere else to go but here!"

Jauffre thought for a moment. "Galen. He and Isabel live in the Spine of the World, in Icewind Dale. They'll help us out."

"Icewind Dale! That's such a wonderful place to raise children. And we haven't seen Galen in eleven years! For all we know they could have moved."

"It's the best we've got for now, but we can't argue about this anymore. I have to go gather up the rest of the men and you have to go get the children, pack what supplies you can, go get the horses and leave. I'll be back as soon as I've gathered the rest of the men who are able to fight."

I knew that mom would soon be coming into our room, so I quickly, quietly, closed the door and rushed back into bed. Sure enough, as soon as I got back in bed the door opened and she came in.

"Kids, wake up." Mom said quietly. Ari woke up, and I pretended to wake up, rubbing sleep out of my eyes.

"What's going on, mom? It's the middle of the night," Ari asked.

"Garen, Arianna, get your things together, we're leaving." She started rushing through the room, packing clothes and other things we needed into packs.

"Why? What's happening?" I asked, pretending not to know.

"Remember those orcs? The ones that have been causing problems? Your father says they're back, and this time we can't stop them. He says we have to leave."

"Where are we going?" We quickly got out of bed and started helping her, not wanting to argue with her. We both could tell she was really worried.

"I'll explain later. For now just help me pack these things."

We left our room and went out into the kitchen. Mom started packing food and supplies. Ari and I helped where we could. It didn't take long for us to pack what was needed for the journey. Dad returned, looking in a hurried mood.

"You have everything you need?" Dad asked. Mom nodded.

"Good. I need you to leave as soon as you can. I've already gathered the rest of the men and we're preparing our defenses. We should be able to hold them off long enough for you to make your escape un-noticed."

Mom couldn't hold back the tears. "I'm never going to see you again after tonight, am I?"

"I..I'm not going to make any promises. But we've been in worse situations than this, haven't we?" He then looked to us, "Come here kids." We both approached him. He gave us both big hugs and looked to me, "You're going to need to be the man of the family for a while, son, at least until I can rejoin you." I slowly nodded, through tears. This was a man who had been kind enough to take my sister and I off the streets, to raise us as his own children when he could have none of his own, "I need you to look after you mother and sister, protect them and take care of them like you did with your sister when you were little." I nodded again.

Dad reached into his pack and pulled out one of his sword shorts. "I want you to have this. I've taught you some basics of sword fighting, so if something happens, you can help your mom out in a fight." I nodded. He then stood up and kissed mom, a kiss that said 'I'm probably never going to see you again.'

"Now, you three need to leave while you can. I don't know how much time we have until the battle reaches here, so you have to go as quickly and quietly as you can." He rushed the three of us, with our packs full of supplies and clothes, to the door. Mom turned and gave him another long kiss.

"Goodbye, my love." She said through tears. He said he would rejoin us, but she knew that she was never going to see him again. We went to where our horses were kept. They were prepared. Other families were saying their goodbyes, where they were leaving for, we don't know, some would see their fathers and husbands returned to them, others would not. All we knew is that time was short, and if we were to live and avoid being captured by the orc raiding parties, we needed to get out of there as fast as we could.

I had had a little experience with riding a horse. I mounted one horse, mom another. Dad helped lift Arianna onto the horse I was on and she grabbed hold of my waist. We all took one last look at dad. We knew, in our hearts, we wouldn't see him again after tonight. We waved goodbye to us, and with that, we were off into the night...

Entry 3

Mom explained to us that we were going to Icewind Dale, where some old friends of theirs, Galen and Isabel, lived. It was the only place they could go to where anybody they truly trusted lived. We rode as fast as we could. We could already hear the sounds of battle beginning far off to the distance. The journey to Icewind Dale was long and hard and took many days, and the fact that my father wasn't there to help us made it even harder. We kept on expecting him to show up at any moment, wouldn't believe that he was dead, but after several days of no word, we knew that he had not survived. If anybody else had survived, we didn't know.

We made few stops, only enough to keep our supplies going. After many more days, we knew we were in the right spot when it started to get much more cold and snowy. We had the feeling that the end of our journey was near. One cold night, however, as we made camp, we were ambushed by orcs (why does this sort of thing have to happen to us at night and not day, when we can see properly?) Mom and I wasted no time in drawing our weapons. Arianna couldn't fight, so we had to make sure to keep her safe. Mom fought brilliantly, almost as good as I had seen dad with a sword. I managed to take out a couple myself, but there were too many. I never saw them run the blade through my mom, nor did I see what happened to my sister, because the next thing I knew was being stabbed by one of their blades myself. I barely had time to register the sharp pain before everything went black...

...I could have been unconscious for hours, days even, for all I know, but the next thing I remember after that is waking up in a warm house, in a cozy, comfortable bed. My mind was a blur as to what was going on. Was the entire thing...my father, leaving home, the battles, was it all a dream? My mind cleared more and I was able to take in my surroundings better. No. This was not home, nor was I in my bed. Mom and Arianna were nowhere to be seen. I then realized that my side was wrapped in bandages. I sat up and winced in pain...at least it didn't hurt as much as when I was stabbed. The question remained, where was I? And who had taken care of my wounds?

"Good, you're up!" The sound of a female voice. A woman came over to my bed. I don't know who she was but she was beautiful, an elf. "You shouldn't be moving yet, you'll be a couple days before you're fully healed and able to move normally. You're lucky to even be alive."

"Who are you...where am I? Where's my mother and sister?"

"Shhhh, not to fast now. You're not a prisoner. I'm Isabel, and this is my home. I live here with my husband Galen. He found you after a group of orcs attacked you and your mother. I...I'm sorry to say that your mother didn't make it...and as for your sister, there was nobody else with you, it was just you and your mother." I choked through tears as the news hit me hard...I had lost another set of parents, and my sister...wait, realization came to me! My sister hadn't been found with my mother, she could still be alive!

"Y-you s-said that m-my sister wasn't with us? She could still be alive!"

"It's possible...Galen is out hunting the orcs right now...if they have her he'll find her." As if on cue, the door to the house opened and Galen came in. Galen was human, middle-age and looked like he knew how to handle himself, as well, if not better than my parents. A torrent of snow rushed in with him...apparently he had come in just as a blizzard was starting up.

"Good thing we got the supplies we need, because we'll be stuck here for a couple days at least," he said.

"How'd it go?" Isabel asked.

"I managed to track down those filthy beasts back to their lair and took care of them."

"E-excuse me," I said, managing to take control of my tears. Galen looked to me.

"Ah, you're finally awake lad, you had us worried."

"Did...you find anybody with the orcs? A girl, a couple years younger than me?"

"No, son, I'm sorry. Was she your sister? I found no bodies with them...and...I'm sorry about your mother...she was a good woman."

"You didn't find a body...she could still be alive!"

"I searched the surrounding area. There were no footprints of any kind. It had already started snowing by the time I found you and your mother, so it's possible she could have been killed and her body buried by the snow." It was a cruel reality for an eleven year old boy to realize, but it was yet another cruel reality in a long line of cruel realities in my life.

"Can't you go back out and look for her again?"

"I can try, but not until the blizzard's calmed down. Visibility is quickly going to become zero out there and it'll be too dangerous. Where's your father, son? Perhaps you had better tell me what's going on, and why you're here. Isabel, he's sure to be starving, while he tells us his story, why don't you get us some dinner?"

She nodded and started preparing dinner. I started my tale at the beginning, telling him everything that happened up until now. Galen listened silently, nodding as I went along.

"That's quite a tale lad. I'm sorry to hear about your parents, they were good people. I know that you don't have any place to go right now...so you can stay with us for as long as you want. We have plenty of room. As soon as the blizzard calms down, I'll go out again and look for your sister, but I'm not making any promises that I'll find her." I nodded. I wanted to run out there right now and go look for her, but he was right. He's lived up here and knows how to survive up here, and if he says that it's too dangerous to go out then he's probably right...and I was still wounded. But I was worried for my sister. She was nine years old, she couldn't survive out there on her own!

After a couple days the weather calmed and Galen went back out on the hunt for my sister. I was not quite well enough to join him, so Isabel took care of me. Galen returned from his search with the grim news that he found no sign of my sister, no bodies or footprints that could have lead him to her location. He said that it would be a miracle that anybody could survive the past couple days, and that it was a miracle that I had survived that ambush at all. I slowly nodded, my mind numb to the thought that my true family, the only blood relative I knew of who existed, was gone.

I was alone now. My parents were gone. My adoptive parents were gone, and now my sister was gone. Galen said that since I had no home that I could call their house home, if I wanted to stay with them. I agreed to, and began the next part of my life living with Galen and his wife Isabel.

I lived with them for the next fifteen years of my life. Galen and Isabel, like Jauffre and Melanie, became as parents to me. As I grew, Galen, a master swordsman, taught me what I needed to properly know to defend myself with a sword. When it came time for me to choose which blade to fight with, I picked the bastard sword. It was a little large, yes, but I found I liked the power that came with such a sword. Isabel, being an elf, taught me the elvish language. While I wasn't perfect at speaking it, I could at least speak it and understand it.

As time passed, the pain of the loss of my parents and my sister slowly dimmed. It would always be there, but I began to get on with my life. As I got older, though, I became restless. I would sometimes go out in search of my sister's body, and would return with no results. I couldn't shake the feeling that she was alive, and that I had to go out beyond Icewind Dale to find her. Then, there was the matter of my true parents. Who were they? Why were they dead, and why couldn't I remember them? Those questions had always lingered in the back of my mine.

Finally, when I was 26, I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take the doubts and restlessness anymore. I had to leave. I told Galen and Isabel of my plans, that I was leaving Icewind Dale and traveling south. I was going to look for my sister. Galen told me that I was my own man, and was free to leave whenever I wanted. I packed my supplies, hugged them both goodbye, and thanked them for everything they had done for me. I couldn't stay here anymore.
I left, and began my journey south. I stopped at many cities along the way, including Neverwinter and Waterdeep, but so far have been unable to find any sign of my sister, anybody who knew who she was or could tell me where to find her.

This is where my true journey begins, here in Baldur's Gate. I don't know if I'll find my sister here, but I think I'll stay here for a while and see what happens...it's a large area. Anything could be possible. Maybe she's here, maybe she's not. All I can do is hope...