It's been some time now since our failed coup against the nefarious wizard Harad Zake, was a shame we didn't succeed. S'not good for the ol' profile if another wizard is strolling around in my limelight, wouldn't have hurt none either if I'd got my hands on some of his relics... Anyways we figured enough time had passed that we could head back to the homestead. Seems we'd been out of the loop a bit, as when we got there we found a host of refugees camped outside of Baldur's Gate. They say that Elthurial has fallen, though somehow none of them knew what had actually happened there. Some of the folks have talked about these ... Hellrider's? Some kinda knightly order or some such, seems to have gone to Elthurial to sort things out.
As we was hanging around outside Baldur's Gate Gate, we heard that Captain Zodge of the Flaming Fist wanted to speak to us. Turns out they're currently the lucky sods bein' paid to protect the city. We headed his way, to the Basilisk Gate. As we get there some kinda ruckus starts up between the Fist guards and the refugees who seemed pretty desperate like. Was planning to leave 'em to it but Arrok, bless her cotton socks, tried to break it up. 'Course she ended up getting dragged into the damn mess so I figured I'd let them sleep it off. Couldn't have Arrok getting killed in this petty squablin', good muscle is hard to find and I don't have time to find another meathead I can trust.
Once that mess had been sorted, the old Captain invited us into his office to propose a job. Not a big fan working with the guards, matter of principal, but the Flaming Fist Fist has some very deep pockets. Seems theres these 3 gods, the Dead Three or some such nonsense, whose followers are using the mess with the refugees and the missing city to commit murders abouts Baldur's Gate. Murder's all well in good when its in service of some kinda plan or heist, but killing for the sake of it makes me kinda queazy. Captain Zodge recruits us to deal with these cults, and tells us to go meet with his spy friend in the Elfsong Tavern to get brought up to speed.
After a cheery hello with Alan, always liked the man, we headed upstairs to where Tarena was gambling. Tarena being Captain Zodge's spy friend, also a friend of the Guild so ya can trust hers about as far as you can throw her. A lesson her gambling pals had clearly taken too long to learn as she sat on their lost fortunes. Seems she decided that owing Captain Zodge a favour wasn't enough for her to comply, as she demanded we deal with some old friends of hers who she had a disagreement with. Some reason going to some kinda safe house to let things cool off a bit didn't sit well with Tarena, who'd rather it seems be dead. As we was convincing her to leave with us for safer turf her friends came round for a visit. Did my best to convince them that she'd left the tavern already but the boss wasn't buying it. Didn't help matters much when Skadi came up behind me and turned the stairs into a damned glacier. She's real handy in a fight but I dunno that she's all there. There were a lot of pirates and I'd really have preferred we didn't pick a fight with the scurvy fools.
My caution may have been unwarranted mind, as by all accounts we got off pretty easy. As we started, the ever sensible Ehnir started spiriting Tarena into one of the bedrooms and out of sight. Arrok and Skadi held firm at the top of the stairs making it hard for the pirates to reach us as the three of us dealt with them one at a time. The icy stairs and narrow passage made it hard to use their numbers to overwhelm us. Something seems to have gone wrong with Ehnir's plan as we hear a loud smash come from the bedroom they retreated into. Eventually we run out of henchmen and directly confront their boss, who seemed to have taken some hurt already judging by the chairs scattered about him. I should make an effort to make it up to Alan later, 'course fights are normal round here but throwing his chairs out the window is a bit much.
We learn from Tarena that the cult seems to have something to do with a bathhouse in the north western part of the City. If we head there, we should be able to find a secret door that'll lead us to a secret dungeon where the killers will be. Seems pretty convenient that they're all in one location. We then have to tidy up a bit, in case we ever want to head to the Elf Song again. The muscle grabs their boss while Ehnir and I find a local storekeep who has a use for a collection of second hand swords. I quickly silenced the last few pirates, we don't want them on our case later, and take them round the back where the trash gets cleared up. At this point its been a long 'ol day so we go our separate ways to get some shut eye before we meet up the next day to continue our hunt.