Session Timeline

Beginning of the Session

• The session began with the party discussing whether to venture into the Calimshan Desert or travel to Baldur's Gate. After some deliberation, they decided to head to Baldur's Gate to investigate the Zhentarim's connections with the Dragon Cult.
• The journey to Baldur's Gate took seven days by skyship and was uneventful, aside from seeing Elturel in the distance and being reminded of their war crimes
• Upon arriving, the skyship was intercepted and redirected to a separate section of the skyport. The city gates had been closed to refugees, and the atmosphere throughout Baldur's Gate was noticeably tense, with doom Sayers in parts of the city.
• The worst effects of the crisis were visible in the Lower City, where homelessness and drug abuse had become rampant.
• Gold disguised himself before the party began exploring the Lower City by gluing a beard to his face and dying his hair black with the assistance of a lower city barber. This eventually prompted an attack by jihadis, consisting of both adults and children. The party pursued most of the attackers, capturing one child and two adults. The adults were arrested by the Flaming Fist after Moore's griffon drew attention to the attack by carrying one of the assailants into the air.
• During this time, IG-11 and Gold cornered a local drug dealer and, through some excellent investigation, uncovered information regarding the Zhentarim fighting pits. This investigation led them to the Ragged Moonshine.

Enter the Ragged Moonshine

• With IG-11 translating the local Thieves' Cant, Gold successfully located the Ragged Moonshine after sending Me'Haka on a wild goose chase with a possibly reformed drug dealer and buying him a meal at the Silversong Tavern.
• The party regrouped at the Ragged Moonshine while THE IRON-ROD (Gold) intentionally kept his distance from the others and registered to fight in the underground arena.
• Uthal hired a group of bodyguards in case the party required additional protection.
• The fighters who registered were:
  • Me'Haka as Me'Haka
  • IG-11 as Eleven
  • Gold as IRON-ROD
  • Mycin as Mason
• After registration, some time passed before Damien welcomed the fighters and had his enforcers escort them beneath the tavern to the underground pit arena.

Enter the Pit Arena

• Upon entering, the party immediately noticed numerous wealthy spectators dressed in extravagant clothing. Nearly all of them concealed their identities behind elaborate masks.
• The party also witnessed extensive illegal activity, including the open trade of illicit substances and human trafficking.
• After placing several well-calculated bets, the evening's fights began.

Match Results

1st Match

• IRON-ROD vs. Feng Iron-Snake
• Winner: IRON-ROD

2nd Match

• Me'Haka vs. The Cyclops
• Winner: Me'Haka
• Loot: Cyclops Chain of understanding

3rd Match

• Mason vs. Zoro "The Human"
• Winner: Mason

4th Match

• Eleven vs. Serana the Erinyes
• Winner: Eleven

After the Matches

Following the fights, the crowd mingled and several notable interactions occurred:

• Moore's griffon received an offer of 75,000 gp from a wealthy patron.
• Eleven purchased a warforged slave who had previously served as a research assistant.
• The same noblewoman also attempted to purchase Me'Haka as a slave.

As the party prepared to leave, Serana intercepted them and informed them that Damien wished to speak with them.

The party followed her to Damien's office.

Damien's Office

• Damien welcomed the party into his office and invited them to sit.
• He immediately revealed that he knew IRON-ROD was actually Gold, explaining that Zhentarim agents had begun tailing the party the moment they entered Baldur's Gate. He even mentioned Gold's visit to a barber in the Lower City.
• Damien then presented a magical hologram crystal containing Azbara Jos, who now appeared significantly more undead than before.

Azbara's Proposal

The proposal was straightforward:

• The Red Wizards and the Zhentarim would secretly cooperate with the Fellowship.
• They would act as double agents.
• They would provide intelligence regarding the Dragon Cult while subtly disrupting its operations.

Gold's response was equally straightforward.

• He took the crystal...
• ...and threw it out the window.

Counteroffer

Instead, the party proposed that Damien work directly with them.

In exchange, they would offer him protection from the Dragon Cult.

After a lengthy negotiation filled with threats from both sides—and several hidden riflemen emerging from concealed doors—Gold jumped over the table table and grabbed Damien by his collar.
At that point, Damien smiled and admitted he was only stalling for time.

The Ragged Moonshine Attack

• Explosions rocked the city as the tavern came under attack.
• The party barricaded one of the hidden doors while Gold knocked Damien unconscious, escaped through a window, onto the streets saw 2 dragon souls approaching him turned round and climbed onto the roof the tavern
• Mycin, Uthal, and IG-11 also leapt from the window, spotting two Dragon Souls and engaging them before coming under fire from two hidden riflemen from a house nearby.
• Moore followed alongside Guardian, helping Gold transport Damien while Juan enthusiastically firebombed nearly every cultist and rifleman in sight.
• Meanwhile, Me'Haka convinced the remaining Zhentarim agents that the party was on their side, leading them downstairs where they encountered Cyanwrath, a Black Half-Dragon.

After a prolonged battle:

• Mycin
• IG-11
• Juan
• Uthal

defeated the riflemen and Dragon Souls before regrouping with the rest of the party to confront Cyanwrath.

After forcing Cyanwrath into his "second phase", he attempted to flee upon noticing a group of Griffon Riders and a Skyship approaching the lower city.

The party refused to let him escape.

• The monks pursued Cyanwrath.
• Gold successfully trapped him inside a Bead of Force.
• Gold held onto the bead until the rest of the monks arrived and then Cyanwrath peacefully surrendered.

Shortly afterward, skyship and griffon reinforcements arrived.

Outside the Tavern – Aftermath

• Cyanwrath was restrained by Gold and the rest of the party.
• Meanwhile, Me'Haka, Kapp, Juan, and Uthal descended into the fighting pits to investigate further.
• While Cyanwrath was restrained, Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun arrived and asked what had happened.
• The monks provided a brief explanation, and Khelben informed them that William Marshal had already spoken of the Fellowship.
• Khelben agreed to oversee the cleanup, took Cyanwrath into custody, and instructed the Flaming Fist to investigate the tavern.

The monks accompanied Blackstaff back toward the Ragged Moonshine.

Meanwhile:

• Kapp
• Moore
• Juan

returned from below with the rescued slaves.

At the same time, Me'Haka and Uthal were already flying off into the distance to loot a Zhentarim ship in what would become a series of increasingly ridiculous shenanigans.

The Flaming Fist and Blackstaff accepted custody of the rescued slaves and promised them protection and aid.

Khelben then invited the party to meet him privately at Blackstaff Tower.

Before leaving, Moore handed Blackstaff a torn piece of cloth and asked him to give it to IG-11 while Moore walked away holding the hands of two rescued children, one of whom was riding Guardian.

The Jew Tunnels Beneath the Pits

While the monks pursued Cyanwrath, Me'Haka, Uthal, Moore, Kapp, and Juan searched the fighting pits to recover as much of their money as possible.

With a natural 20 from Uthal and several excellent investigation rolls, the group located tunnels connected to Baldur's Gate's sewer system.

After Uthal and Me'Haka spent an alarming amount of time punching suspicious-looking walls, they discovered two hidden doors.

Hidden Door One

• A prison area containing trafficked victims alongside numerous corpses.
• After confirming the area was secure, Juan and Kapp escorted the rescued victims upstairs to reunite with the rest of the party and Blackstaff.

Hidden Door Two

• A hidden dock containing several skiff posts.
• Concluding that the fleeing Zhentarim could not have gotten far, Uthal cast Fly on both himself and Me'Haka before they took off in pursuit.

The Great Lootening of the Zhent Ship

• After flying for some time, Uthal spotted the fleeing skiffs alongside a much larger Zhentarim cargo ship.
• Me'Haka landed first while Uthal approached under Greater Invisibility.
• Through a series of Dumb and Dumber conversations, Me'Haka managed to convince the Zhentarim crew that everything was perfectly normal and that they were actually here sent by Damien to get the cargo back to Baldur's gate in their totally legit bags of holding.
• The crew summoned their wizard Archie in an attempt to contact Damien, but Damien was, unsurprisingly, unavailable.
• After even more absurd conversation, Uthal dramatically appeared "out of thin air" with his draconic wings spread, successfully convincing the crew that Damien had personally sent them.

Thus began...

The Great Lootening™

• Me'Haka and Uthal looted roughly 1,000 lbs. of cargo.
• The Zhentarim ship eventually returned to Baldur's Gate, where it was immediately surrounded by Griffon Riders and seized.
• Me'Haka and Uthal even convinced the Flaming Fist captain to "rehabilitate" Archie, the Zhentarim wizard.
• Kapp later contacted them via Sending, informing them that Khelben had arranged rooms for the party at the Citadel.

Blackstaff Tower

• Khelben briefed the party on the growing alliance between the Zhentarim and the Dragon Cult within Baldur's Gate.
• The Fellowship gave him a summary of everything that had transpired, including their suspicions regarding Patriar involvement.
• Gold woke Damien up with a nice cup of water, and together with the rest of the party, "persuaded" him to provide information regarding Zhentarim operations and the nobles involved.
• Khelben formally took Damien Heatle and Cyanwrath into custody.
• He promised to question them regarding:
  • Zhentarim trade routes
  • Dragon Cult shipments
  • Shipment destinations
  • The ten most influential Patriars and nobles involved with the Zhentarim inside Baldurs Gate
• Khelben also promised to present his findings during a private audience with Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard, while having the party present.
• Khelben granted them magically warded rooms within the Citadel, protected from divination and unwanted magical intrusion.
• Before ending the night, the party finalized their plans.
• IG-11 received Moore's torn piece of cloth from Blackstaff
• Finally, IG-11 pulled out the deck of many things and questioned the party if they should use it to even the odds before they ended the night.