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Friday Night Pathfinder: Baldur's Gate and Candlekeep

The Shadowrunners left off outside the gates of Baldur's Gate.  A minister exited the gate and put up a new wanted poster with pictures of the Human Bard "Don the Magnificent", the Elvan Ranger Corrail, the Gnome Sorceress Ally, and Felix the Half-elf Druid / Rogue.  A Paladin Roday is also metnioned as an accessory to their crime.  The posters states "Wanted: Dead or Alive".

The wanted quickly shuffle away.  River, the female instantiation of Rodar, walked up and checked out the poster.  The bard quickly shaves his mustache using a dagger and shuffles his appearance.  The Human Half-elf Cleric Zirul takes up the tiger, after talking to Corrail, and heads into the city to look for reasons for this poster.  Don has to talk his way through a quick interrogation by the guard.  After gathering loot, he heads into the city with Zirul and River.

The Elfsong tavern greats the crew with table and table of drunken locals.  Zirul approaches the table of guards and claims to be a bounty hunter.  He asks about the crimes of the wanted.  One not so drunk guard calls him out, knowing that bounty hunters do not delve into the stories of why their prey are wanted.  Zirul heads to the bar and after bribing the bartender with buying a round for the house, he learns that word was sent through the Alliance for these criminals from Innsbruck.

The crew gets some new supplies and Don disappears to the docks district.  He looks at the one ship in harbor damage from fire from above and strikes it up to a dragon attack.  No sign of the Cthulu worshippers he is looking for.  He trips across a sewer cover with an intricate carving.  He tries to climb down in and a guard stops him.

"You can't go in there. You need a permit to go in there."  There is a brief discussion and after a reminder from the GM, Don recites a verse of Cthulu lore and the guards tells him to come back after midnight.  The guards walks away cursing about permits, covering for Don and his unorthodox religion.

After dark Don returns to find a Cthululian sacrifice underway.  He participates in it until sunrise we he catches back up with Zirul and River.

Don negotiates nearly 2000 gold pieces for the bows and spears from the loot.  No one witnesses his negotiation and there is much ado as he returns claiming to have gotten only a few measley coins.  The party sees through his bluff and he finally agrees to split 1500 gp, "including some from his own pockets", with the rest of the party.

While in the city, the rogue sits outside the gate, portraying a beggar, showing his thieves guild coin in hopes that someone will recognize it and point him in the right direction.  Instead a large kobold-halfling army arrives from the direction of Corm Orp with a familiar winged kobold in the lead.

The guards of Baldur's Gate are alarmed, but the kobold only asks first the rogue and then the guards directions to Candlekeep and then marches on their merry way.

The group decides to go to Candlekeep and buy horses from the journey.  The bard finds instead a war camel in white.  The group arrives to a quiet Candlekeep under normal circumstance.

Upon entry they find the castle and go into the library.  The monks greet them amongst the shelves and shelves of books.  The group heads towards the tower but is stopped by the priest.  The name of ELminster does not open the way for them and the priest locks the door which they cannot pick.

Finally Ally realizes that Marqua is the name she needs to give and they are given a key to the tower.  Elminster's letter gives them directions:

  • Corrail is told to gather his allies in Waterdeep.
  • Zirul is given a magical book that gives him +2 to riding.

  • Don is given a single word in Cthulian that translates to "Palarandusk", the name of a gold dragon in the sword mountains.

  • Ally is told to gather allies and head to the sword mountains.
  • Felix is told to finish his mission (in Secomber).
  • River is pointed to a chest across the room that contains a magical double-ended sword.
As the finish the letter and digging through the room filled with books of Psion, the group hears trumpets and, looking out the window, see that the army has arrived.  Candlekeep is quickly under attack.  The priets urge the party to hide in the dungeon of the castle, but instead the group flees the castle, dodging siege weapon fire, grbars their mounts and heads to the closed gate.

They cannot leave, but luck strikes and a section of outer wall is destroyed, leaving them a gap.

The group flees to face the lines of the army.  The group gives their name to the commander as River contemplates taking on the whole army of hundreds herself.  The line parts and they are allowed to escape.

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