Moving clockwise, we were now in northwest Baldur's Gate.
"This one's a little different," I explained to the party, "Folks in the tavern says two young girls have been having issues with some sort of stalker. There's probably not much in it for us, but we're close by. It's not really a job for adventurers, but we could pop in to check it out."
Imoen and Khalid were keen, as one might expect. Jaheira, Branwen and Neera didn't look to excited to spend time on such a insignificant concern, but they didn't argue.
The home of the two young girls, Laerta and Louise, was actually really nice. Their parents must be loaded.
"Hi! I'm Laerta," one of the girls said. "That's my twin sister, Louise. Mom and Dad don't believe us, but there's a bogeyman that comes and looks in our window every night. We're real glad we're twins because, if there were only one of us, then there'd be no one to hold on to when we get scared."
There were actually two suspects who appeared, a male mage named Gervisse and a female druid name Voltine. Both accused the other of lurking at night, disturbing the two girls.
Gervisse had said, "The two young girls within that fateful room face a dark and uncertain future. They have already come under the eye o a powerful druid who goes by the name of Voltine. She had polymorphed herself, into what I know not, in an effort to infiltrate the house and abduct the twins in the night. Please believe me. Voltine must be found or the twins are in grave danger, indeed."
Voltine had a different story. "There is a dirty old mage in these parts. His Name's Gervisse and he lurks around at night, peering in through people's windows."
To figure out the real culprit, I turned to Jaheira. "Will you do the honors?"
"I'm flattered, but I'm certain that both suspects have not given enough clues to determine the real culprit," Jaheira replied.
What, really? I sighed. "Jaheira, what spell did I ask you to memorise differently today?"
She blinked, then gave a nervous smile. "But of course! I was, uh, just testing you."
Jaheira cast Detect Evil with Gervisse and Voltine in view. Gervisse glowed red, marking him as evil. Voltine did not.
"That... that doesn't prove anything!" Gervisse protested.
"Not definite proof, sure, but we can turn him over to the Flaming Fist. I'm sure a search of his home is warranted at this point," I said.
"You'll not get the chance, puny halfling!" Gervisse cried out, and started incanting a defensive spell, Improved Invisibility.
Big mistake.
A one-sided butt-kicking later, and Voltine rewarded us with a Wand of Polymorph! This wand transforms a target into a squirrel if they fail a save vs wands. Yes, that's essentially a death sentence.
The two girls passed a scroll of Protection from Evil from their mum, "I think its supposed to protect you from other bogeypeople you find."
After we left their house, I said with my head shaking, "So many lecherous men in the city, now a paedophile. What's wrong with the people here?"
Neera gave me a look, and coughed. "I think you might want to know about something going on back in your world," she whispered to me.
She whispered to me about the leak of certain files, and my eyes widened in shock. "Okay, stop. I don't think I want to know more."
"That's fair."
---
We had ignored a bunch of adventurers in the Helm and Cloak earlier. This time we were going to introduce ourselves properly.
The leader of the group was a human warrior. "Ahoy, fellow adventurer! Come share a glass with Gorpel Hind and his Band of Merry Fools. Seated with me are Farluck the Fearless. Turpin the Roaring Ranger, and Nelik the Most Devious and Fiendish of Thieves! (We owe him money so he gets the good title…)"
Made perfect sense to me. I gave a thumbs up to Nelik, a fellow halfling. "I'm in charge of the party's funds too. You know how it is."
"That I do!" Nelik said with a big grin, raising a mug to me. We clinked our mugs together.
Gorpel Hind gave Nelik a quizzical look, not quite getting it. "But away with these meager introductions! Sidle up to the bar and tell us a tall tale of your latest adventures-"
"In a moment. Did your group deliver a Greater Basilisk to the docks recently?" I asked.
The tavern grew quieter. Not completely silent, just a tad quieter. The other patrons were stealing looks in our direction.
Nelik's eyes widened.
Gorpel, oblivious to his surroundings, pronounced loudly, "Why yes, it was we who brought the Greater Basilisk into the warehouse! We went through a great deal of trouble to catch it -mffff-"
Nelik had held his glorious leader's mouth shut from behind, shushing him. To me, he said. "Your party was the one that putting the basilisk down after it got free, correct?"
The whole tavern was giving the Band of Merry Fools death glares now. Only now did Gorpel Hind notice all the attention they were getting. He pulled down Nelik's hands. "It got loose? That's terrible! And I was so sure we had tied up the basilisk good and proper. We can't be sure if who was at fault for it getting free but we'll have to reconsider such a job in the future. Sorry about that, everyone."
Huh, good save. And so honest to admit his party bore some responsibility too. This was quite the swell guy.
We traded some stories with each other.
"That was YOUR party who had freed the slaves in the Cloakwood mines! We are truly honored to be in the presense of such great heroes!" Gorpel Hind said in surprise. "Your tales are tall indeed, and we are richer for the telling. Considered yourselves honorary members of the Merry Fools and may ale and friendships always flow within these hallowed halls! A toast, you drunkards, to Sonny and the winsome souls that surround us now!"
Another group of armed men trudged into the Helm and Cloak. They made their way to the bar, but all the spaces at the bar was filled by our party and the band of Merry Fools. A large man in plate mail took one look us and sneered. "Clear the way for Gretek and the Maulers of Undermountain."
Undermountain! That's the original mega-dungeon of Dungeons and Dragons, a huge sprawling dungeon beneath the depths of Waterdeep. If these adventurers had truly been to the Undermountain, they were far from it now.
EVERY dungeon in the isekai genre was based on the dungeon from the game called Wizardry. The dungeon featured in Wizardry was inspired by Undermountain. In other words, EVERY dungeon we see in isekai and Japanese medium was inspired by Undermountain. That's how much cultural impact Undermountain has had on the way we see dungeon crawling adventures.
Back to the present, were all Waterdhavian's so rude?
Jahiera was doing the talking. "If you truly be Maulers of Undermountain, you can clear your own way. I don't clear the streets before common braggarts."
Gretek gave a cruel smile and unsheathed a gorgeous battleaxe. "No one stands between the Maulers and their ale! Ready your weapons, men. We have some garbage to pick up."
Whoa, it's the FIRST party of six enemies! EVERY other party of adventurers we've come across until now was a group of four at most. I've always had the suspicion that Baldur's Gate was originally designed for a party of four because of that fact, with two flexible slots for temporary guest stars.
Gretek was a level 9 fighter armed with a Battleaxe+2. He had Grandmaster proficiency with that Battleaxe and decent 18/50 strength.
Pargus was a 5/5 fighter/mage.
Wilf is a 7/6 Fighter/cleric.
Nader is a level 7 thief armed with a bow.
Arlin is a level 7 mage.
Caturak is a level 6 ranger armed with a bow.
In spite of our party being level-capped the Maulers of the Undermountain was actually a decent fight for us. Maybe even a sort of fair fight? Or it would have been if the Merry Band of Fools had not joined our side of the battle.
Pargus took an arrow from Farluck and a slash from Khalid, terribly wounding him but unfortunately their attacks didn't manage to stop Pargus from casting his opening defensive spell, Mirror Image.
Caturak was trying to nail Khalid with arrows, which bounced of his Large Shield +1 (+4 vs missiles).
Imoen hit Arlin with an Arrow of Biting, but unfortunately Arlin managed to resist the poison. He didn't however resist Neera's Magic Missile, and fell to the spell. Then Imoen started casting Greater Malison.
Neera then threw a Dart of Wounding at Wilf, who failed to resist the poison. No more spells from the fighter/cleric. Well, the whole Maulers team got hit by Branwen's Silence after that anyway so I guess it didn't matter.
Of course, I had slipped into the shadows the moment the Maulers had stepped into the tavern. With all the combatants occupied, I now made the decision to smash Caturak over the head from behind instead of Wilf. The ranger took the hit well but was badly hurt.
Imoen's Greater Malison completed, which connected on the whole Mauler party, followed by Neera's Slow, which also connected thanks to Greater Malison. Branwen's next spell, Hold Person, then connected on Gretek, Caturak and Pargus. Only Nader was left. He didn't last long, taking a hit from my quarterstaff+3 then walking right into Imoen's Arrow of Flame.
And that was that for the Maulers of the Undermountain.
The Gorpel Hind were quite happy to let us take whatever we wanted from the loot. Which was fair, considering we did most of the work. They didn't even need to join in, really. "We are honored by your presence tonight and awed by your prowess. I beg your leave, however, for some of my men are wounded and must seek attention elsewhere. May the houses of Sonny and Gorpel Hind be ever graced by each other's friendship. Come men, and carry your wounds gravely."
Loot: Battleaxe+2, Long Sword +1, Arrows of Fire x6, Arrows of Ice x8,
Adventurer's Robe, 2 plate mail,
Bracers of Defense AC 7