Coast Way Crossing

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In addition to the services of Rayphus and Belegarm, Thaird will provide us with a place to rest at the camp. Mizhena provides temple services and our roving chest (bank) of goodies is beside the priest of Tempus.

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Recruitable NPCs

Viconia, Glint, and Corwin. Edwin can be found walking south past the burned inn, eventually stopping at the encampment. Baeloth and M’Khiin are north of the encampment.

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We first meet Edwin walking away from the Coast Way Crossing bridge talking to himself, his mind clearly occupied. Upon entering dialogue with him we learn he is being chased by Caelar Argent and that if she is our enemy then our interests align. He describes her as a deceiver, one whose mind is her worst enemy. She deceives herself as she deceives others. He also describes, “Reverend Brother” Hephernaan as a wolf in robes.

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Just west of the burned Sterling Silver Inn we encounter an announcer attempting to entice people to the area’s newest attraction.

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Baeloth can be found in the just north of the announcer where he has created a pitiful pit of puny unwilling players in his newest attempt at entertaining the clearly unamused gathered mass. He has M’Khiin imprisoned as a potential combatant until he releases her to fight and she sends her shaman spirits after the drow.

• Recruit Baeloth (-2 reputation)
• Recruit M’Khiin (-2 reputation)
  • Set M’Khiin free (3000 xp)
• Set the caged dog free
  • Follow it and it will dig up some misc loot to the east

We can also leave the two where they are or send them to the Flaming Fist encampment. Corwin will give M’Khiin a note so she is not instantly murdered upon entering the camp.

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Ancient Menhirs

I need to find and activate the six stones in the area by singing to them. There is a charisma check built into this. If we have someone in our party with a high score (i.e. Safana @ 17), we can activate the menhirs without any adverse reactions. If our charisma is not high enough the menhirs will electrocute, poison, or summon hostile creatures before activating.

Upon activating the 6th menhir we are given a riddle to solve. Although, it didn’t seem to matter if we got it correct or not. There is a correct answer. We also had an option to have a party member, Dynaheir, deduce the answer.

Crommus the bard is freed from his prison. He tells us how he became trapped inside the stones. He fell in love with a woman named Carline who’s father had sold her into marriage to the highest bidder, a mage named Artipheon. The two eloped but were caught by the mage who held Crommus and shattered his voice, binding each fragment to one of the six stone menhirs.

Now free and voice restored, Crommus sings out for Carline and they are reunited in death.

• Free Crommus (6000 xp)
  • Crommus mentions his grave is in the eastern part of the forest (located inside the first level of the Dwarven Dig site). We are free to take anything remaining.
• Tell Prin, the bard, the tale of Crommus & the stones (Reed of Echoes)

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Dwarves of Dumathoin

We run into Daran Highhammer exterminating a couple of undead zombies that found their way out of the Dwarven Dig Site. He was hired to deal with any monsters in the cave while Auchlin Deepvein and his dwarven clerics dug for an ore seen in a vision. Another dwarf, Gurn Coldhearth apparently bank rolled this expedition and his arrival coincided with the dwarves accidentally opening a passageway to a deeper tunnel infested with the undead. Highhamer believes Coldhearth was killed by the monsters as the clerics fell back to prevent any undead from reaching the surface.

We should enter the dig site and find out what happened to the dwarves.

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Halflings Treasures

Takos is the former owner of the nearby Sterling Silver Inn which is no more than coals and simmering ashes. Crusaders are to blame and he has lost three of his heirlooms in the fire. His wife has also left with their children for Baldur’s Gate. He will reward us if we’re able to find his mirror, cloak, & shield.

• The shield is with Isabella in the Coast Way Forest (Suncatcher +2)

Return to Takos with the items (or not, you can just keep them) and he will give you a magical dart he considered using to kill himself before we returned his items.

• Give the items back (3000 xp, Biter +2)
  • (Cha check) Request more of a reward and he’ll let you pick one of his items to keep.
    • [Bard?] Give him some poetry to win his wife back (Misc. potions)
• We can provoke Takos, refusing to give his belongings back, he turns hostile (50 xp, -reputation)

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The Vanished

Speak with Herod regarding the recent trouble of the refugees and he will tell you some have gone missing coinciding with the arrival of a mage Teleria. When we question Teleria, she says she will only speak in private in the clearing to the north-west.

We can discover that it is Teleria who has turned the refugees to stone. She is inspired by the stone menhirs in the area and is knowledgeable of mage Artipheon who created them. She wants to be known similarly.

• Tell Teleria we released Crommus’s trapped voice from the menhirs and she will turn hostile for defacing them.
• Kill Teleria (800 xp, Stone Ally, Stone to Flesh Scroll x6), Lesser Stone Golem (2000 xp).
• Marvel at the Lesser Stone Golem, buy it for 1000 gold to fight on our side against the crusade (300 xp, -1000 gold)
• Comment on the Lesser Stone Golem, then say to Teleria we are more interested in the statues. At this point, you can either fight her or let her go.
• [Mage/Sorc.] Speak to Teleria and reveal her statues are too detailed and someone will try and revert them, ruining her work. She will realize the truth and decide she needs to rethink her plan…
  • Ask if there’s a way to turn them back (Stone to Flesh Scroll x6).
  • Tell her not to let us see her ever again.
  • Kill her (800 xp, Stone Ally, Stone to Flesh Scroll x6), Lesser Stone Golem (2000 xp).
• [Elf?] Speak with Teleria with a single-race character (she will not deal with my half-elf & turn hostile), solve the mystery of the missing refugees, she will threaten to turn hostile Instead, propose helping her finish her tableau by finding an armored soldier (Brielle, just outside the encampment) and a handsome noble (Vessanal, by the burned inn) to lure back to the grove (Stone Ally).

Free Soulla, Manny, Untbril, Qelbelther, and Neroha from their stone imprisonment. Some of them will give minor rewards. Then speak with Herod after freeing the vanished refugees.

• Take the money (1000 gold)
• Decline the money (+1 reputation)

Editor’s note: Teleria won’t be able to bring herself to turn another elf into stone, instead she will destroy us if it comes down to it. 

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Herod’s Traveling Shop

A vendor with a few notable items.

• Mosela’s Cudgel +2
• Savage Shortbow +2
• Ring of Lock Picks

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Zaviak’s Vision Quest

I called forth a gauth by the stone statues in the woods near Coast Way Crossing

• It wouldn’t listen to reason. I killed it… (6000 xp)
• [Mage/Sorc.] Convince the mini-beholder there’s a camp to the north filled with magic weapons and magic-users for it to feast on. It will wander off in the direction of the bridge.

Editor’s Note: It is not worth using a charge of our spectacles here. 

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Important Events –  We have to reroute to Boareskyr Bridge.

At the Coast Way Crossing, Caelar’s followers panic at the sight of the Hero of Baldur’s Gate. Knowing their elite assassins failed in their plot, they blow up the bridge to prevent our crossing.

The battle that ensues is short, no more than a single turn (60 seconds). Caelar will arrive and instruct her crusaders to stand down so we can parley. Any remaining crusaders on our side of the bridge will be taken into custody by the Flaming Fist. We can speak with them and there is a potential of them turning hostile.

Seed carries the Festering Spear +1, make sure he falls as it is the only unique weapon to be gained from this encounter.

It is here we find out Caelar’s objective. She literally intends to march on Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells, to return the souls that were lost during the Dragonspear Wars. She truly believes she can restore these souls taken by fiends by entering hell and this has allowed her to amass such an army; the promise of returning loved ones long gone, but not forgotten. And of course…lots of gold for mercenaries.

Editor’s note: I am bummed out about two things; first, I fully expected the gauth to come and attack the crusaders with us. Second, there are no options to stay, “You know what Caelar? I think your cause is just, let’s go get those souls!”

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My Missed Fortune

Back at the camp, we run into Ophyllis, who has a gold bust (300 gold) he’s given us in attempt to make up for the gold he lost. He seems hellbent on returning our lost gold even if we consider his debt paid with this lovely bust in our likeness.

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When we are finished with this region we need to speak with Corporal Bence Duncan at the Flaming Fist camp who will mark the path to Boareskyr Bridge on our maps.

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Chapter Eight Intro

• Coast Way Crossing
  • Dwarven Dig Site
    • Repository of Undeath
• Coast Way Forest
• Orc vs. Troll Waylay

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