35 Ch35 - Eventful night

Picking up the corpses for Wyll, we got the 'Stillmaker' and the flowery key from the bodies. Next I took the bodies of their victims, though they aren't for rituals, I believe they deserve proper burials.

The true curiosity her is the natural pit of cloudkill, a magical necromacy poison mist. Since it is natural, it means I can store it. I don't want it in the main bag, so I made a plan. Holding the bag of holding in one hand, I threw a void bulb right behind it, letting the cloudkill go straight for it and end up in the bag instead. If I want to use it properly, I'll have to bottle or jar it.

Finally, we set off again to see inspector Valeria. But to get past the guards we'll need disguises, I have perfect disguises but Wyll does not. I shifted into a musclebound half-orc, blue eyes and a barbaric demeanour. For Wyll, I persuaded him to allow me to polymorph him into a cat, it didn't take much convincing weirdly enough. I simply told him that the fists may be corrupt under Gortash and he agreed.

With that we strolled up confidently to the drawbridge, a steel watcher hovered over us and the fists stopped us from progressing.

"Hold on, let the watcher scan you first." The mercenary said, a stuck up serious woman with a deep nasty scar on her lips.

I nodded and looked up at the steel watcher, it leant over and I could see a red line bounce between the top and bottom of its vision. "Scan complete." It straightened up, "Unknown civilian, refugee likely." It continued.

"Head on in then, the woman said." Which confused me, I thought there was a toll of some kind. "I thought there was a toll?" I asked her. She looked me up and down, a smile creeped on her face, "If you wanna pay a toll that bad, come here tonight." She wrote down an address in Rivington on a scrap piece of paper before passing it to me.

"It's a deal." My half-orc voice grunted before I walked on through with cat Wyll. I'm not averse to a woman like that, obviously, quite frankly being stuck with a hag gets you a bit, stifled in what you can do. Besides, I wouldn't dare go for any party members, everyone there has a lot of baggage I don't think I'm ready for.

Past the gates, I shifted back into human and reverted the magic on Wyll. We activate the glyph like we have all over western Faerun, we still have access to all those glyphs, I can visit the emerald grove again if I wish. But the druids left are quite frankly just annoying, I might even visit the Shadowlands (now named Selûne's forest).

Just as we arrive, Gale, Shadowheart and Jaheira come flying up through the side. The rest of them walk past the guards using invisibility, an easy option. "Glad you all made it, what were you all doing?"

Halsin, Shadowheart, Karlach and Gale apparently found crates of explosives disguised as kid toys, they then assisted the guild against a group called the Stone Lord Thugs.

Durge, Jaheira, Lae'zel and Astarion had a revealing encounter with a changeling, specifically, Orin the Red. There, she expressed disgust and glee at seeing Durge, though she didn't expand on why, it's clear there is some relationship there.

Now, we look for supplies and somewhere to stay the night, Fraygo's Flophouse seemed like a good choice until a drop of blood hit the top of my head. Investigating further, I found the use for the floral key. Inside a hidden attic bedroom. lay a dead woman, a Bhaal murder list and an assortment of oddities. I took all the random empty or full bottles she had along with the Bhaal murder list.

I did carry her out, she deserved a burial at least. And from the sounds of how people describe her, it sounds like she was a very well known worker at Sharess Caress. "Murder! Murder!" I carried out her corpse, switching my appearance to a dusk elf, I'd rather not get questioned by guards. Using illusory appearance, I escaped, the rest of the group were picking which fish to have whilst I was doing all of this.

At long last, it was time to get the pass to the lower city. There's just a few more things I have to do, Wulbren Bongle. The man will die tonight, a slight against Barcus means death for the offender. But for now, I've rejoined my group and was picking my favourite vegetables from a stall with them.

Lae'zel was out searching for a shop that sold any kind of infinite bag, Orpheus is her number one motivator right now, a good one in my opinion. Absentmindedly, picking at aubergines and courgettes, I cycle through my knowledge and wonder what my next exam should be.

Dark souls1 is a weirdly strong contender, despite how irrelevant it may seem, the magic used is interesting. Additionally, dragons, golems and demons exist there so I could gain a crossover of abilities. However, I'm limited to lv4 as I can't experiment on it, nor do I know any substantial amount of creator names.

Illithids used to be a strong one, but ever since I got my ring, I don't need any other parts. The psionics are useless to me and I don't want their form or passives. The only use is using the form to use the Netherstones at the end myself, but I'll have Orpheus do that.

A new one that I can't help but consider more and more is crafting, it includes rituals, blacksmithing and crafts of all kinds. The mainstream rituals I'll struggle with getting a firm grasp on in time, but I can also learn knitting in an hour, followed by crocheting. The main reason for this is for Karlach's internal engine, she is technically an experimental warforged, former humanoids that had their form changed to be metal based through blacksmithing and rituals. I want to help her as i helped Durge.

But in the end, I still have time, I'll think about it tomorrow.

***

Throughout the night:

-A very 'active' night was spent with Alice the fire fist. Unfortunately, I had to leave to get a few things sorted by dawn.

-For Wyll I made:

[Shifting garb-

Ritual infused shirt. Designed specifically for Wyll Ravenguard, the abilities focus on him and his sense of style.

3 face-painting kits - Change clothing colour at will.

4 doppelgängers - Can change the article of clothing with any other, at will.

4 vampire eyes - Cloak always has a gentle breeze billowing it. Shifting clothing types appears as a dark flap of the cloak covering you before revealing the new outfit.]

I specifically grew some vampire eyes to throw in out of curiosity.

-I learnt knitting, crocheting and whittling.

-I whittled some wood into the shape of a small book, it floats and acts as the handle of my cane (closed book, floats on its side, long side facing down). Turns into sword pommel.

With my gear in check and the night already enjoyed, I set off to finish it with a climax. The death of Wulbren Bongle, a domestic terrorist and a shit person. I fly over to the caves he hides in with his iron hand gnomes, activating [Illusory presence] I fly around the base, finally finding his resting place. Looking upon him, I dread to waste his knowledge, I cast [Read mind] and give telepathic whispers uttering runepowder. With mention of runepowder, his brain goes into to overdrive and produces the recipe, history and use.

Useless and cruel, I cannot deny his intelligence. The runepowder is something revolutionary, not able to kill gods though, that's an exaggeration. With his main use over, I extend my arm over him and activate [Amorphous], suffocating him immediately. His eyes widen in panic, seeing my face looking down at his smothered face sets of an existential dread within him. I gave him no respite to cause a riot and used [Devour mind]. The flood of memories was impressive, but not overwhelming like The Emperor's. Tips and tricks, tinkering and the subjugation of Baldur's Gate was the only thing this man had even thought since he was 10. Impressive but creepy. On that note, I shall vanish from here, leaving a brain dead Wulbren behind.

**** [23 days]

The morning started as usual, the screeching sound of sword grinding, Wyll changing outfits constantly and everyone else just eating their breakfast. "So what's the plans for today?" I ask, chewing on some salmon.

"Well you got the murder stuff to report and we have to find the owner of the bomb filled toys, we think he's in Sharess' Caress." Astarion answered.

"That's convenient, Valeria is there too. Anyone who doesn't want to go into a brothel can do something else I guess, your choice." Unsurprisingly, Halsin, Astarion, Shadowheart, Karlach and Wyll followed me in. Going up the steps I had to ask Wyll why he was coming, this isn't exactly his scene.

"An odd setting for you Wyll" I nudged him and pointed out a halfling woman taking a half-colossus man into a separate room.

"Once I start a job, I have to see it through, no matter the patrons of the establishment." He nearly took it back once he had a good look at what I pointed out.

Nevertheless, we split up in halves to go to our designated weirdo. Me, Wyll and Shadowheart all walked up the stairs to see a violently hungover hollyphant collapsed on the table. I pinched my eyebrows and asked Shadowheart to cast lesser restoration on him.

She rolled her eyes and hovered her hand over his back, a blue light encompassing it. With a start, Valeria jumped back in surprise, "Oh sweet Tyr, I felt dreadful. Thank you for that…oh you're with the wannabe investigator eh?" Her tone immediately dropped afterwards into its usual dreary boredom tone.

Wasting no time, I slapped the Bhaal murder list on the table. "Eh what's this?" She begun muttering the names of the to-be victims under her breath, sighing after at least every five. "A bhaal plot, of course it is. Right, go visit my assistant in Elfsong, she'll take it from there. And here, the lower city pass." Extending a trunk to pass us a slip of paper, we took it and left. Now we just have to wait for the others and head out to kill a duke.