#very document-heavy liveblogging night tonight

[blackjackkent]

All right, we know where Bhaal's temple is, so it is time to FLATTEN ORIN LIKE A PANCAKE. >:| We're heading back to the sewers, and on to the temple where once Caden fought Sarevok.

This dude is wandering around in the entry hall of the Murder Tribunal:

I can't interact with him but he's wandering around grumbling about the Lord of Murder. I had to do some googling - this is Ffion Goldgrind's son, the one I assumed had been replaced by a doppelganger. Apparently he just went down the Bhaalist rabbit hole instead, so I'm guessing he killed his mom. Apparently we could have run into him in a couple different places as part of the "Solve the Murders" questline (which I guess is shut down now that we've faced the tribunal), or if we had taken the evil route here, we would have had to fight him as a "professional rival" (according to the wiki).

Interesting. Let's get the hell out of here.

Back into the sewers from the Basilisk Gate, and following the quest icon, we're going way the fuck off to the north in an area of the sewers we haven't been yet. We run almost immediately into a couple of "Night Blades" and a "Death's Head of Bhaal," who are busy taking potshots at a camp of innocent refugees nearby, but all of whom are not happy to see us and immediately turn their attention to Hector instead.

"What's this? A heretic in our midst? Your death in the Dread Lord's name!"

I actually stumbled past these guys earlier in the sewers but then backed up when I realized it might trigger Orin's wrath early; at the time, though, they didn't actively get angry (presumably because we were still on some level allied with Orin because Gortash was still alive). Now, however, they're ready to jump. I'm assuming this is because Orin knows we killed Sarevok and is Not Happy.

...I hope killing Sarevok didn't get Lae'zel killed. :(

Not a difficult fight but does seem to indicate we're going in the right direction.

While searching for the path northward, I land in a place called "Heapside Barracks Cells" which appears to be a prison managed by the Flaming Fist. It's not what I'm looking for but I'll take a look around in the interest of thoroughness.

Surprisingly, the Fist didn't seem to mind me being there. So I set Hector into sneak mode and robbed them blind of anything useful and enjoyed the satisfying sight of the dead Steel Watcher lying on the floor.

Pretty much the only interesting stuff here is a bunch of documents in a back office, most of which deal with the rise of the Bhaalist cult in the city. There's a note from Devella indicating she requested more resources from the Fist to look into the situation and was denied. Florrick's sentence to death and information about the Stone Lord are also here, which thankfully are no longer relevant but would presumably have been alternate entrances into those quests. Also some notes about the rise of the Absolute, and a message from Ravengard (post-tadpole) ordering a complete lockdown of the Upper City.

There's definitely some documents here indicating the presence of decent Flaming Fist, also:

Hard to say if any such people remain in the force, though, or if they've all been tadpoled into submission.

A fun little note locked in a chest:

XD Yes he really is a [REDACTED]. Jury is out on whether [REDACTED] was [REDACTED] although I'm guessing she died fully human.

The Emperor is still a bit of a mystery to me. He does a very good job of pulling my heartstrings, but there are also definitely plenty of documents around reminding that mind flayers are capable of incredibly manipulative behavior so who knows. Maybe I am not immune to squid propaganda. I want to believe he's telling the truth about Stelmane but who knows.

Probably not a very relevant sidetrack but I always appreciate some lore flavor. :D

#bjk plays baldur's gate 3 #hector carlisle #very document-heavy liveblogging night tonight #i think i'm probably going to leave actually confronting orin for Saturday but going to at least try to get to the temple tonight