Part 7: The girls
This update will cover the side-stories of Charissa and Rinara. These are the last side-quests that will be covered in this LP, after that I'll focus on the main quest.
Also, this update is more dialog-heavy than most.
After returning from the Dark Dahlia, two events happened that promise to reveal more info about our female companions.
As we walked through the Harbor district, the party is greeted by an elf.
We head over to the Arena district and Rinara decides to share something also.
I've been waiting for an opportunity to tell you about it, but you've been busy working towards your own goals.
Is that really the reason?
Why else? What are you getting at, Code'Xia?
Maybe you weren't sure if I was skilled enough until now.
It doesn't hurt that we've both learned a few things since arriving in Westgate. Still, if all goes well, it won't take much skill at all to do this thing. Your presence is just... insurance.
You're a smart woman. You've probably figured out that I had to have a reason for risking my life by coming back to Westgate. Well, here it is...
I have a large stash of gold hidden right here in the Arena District. Unfortunately, i had to leave the city without it or else my ex-partner, Viglor, would have killed me. I won't bore you with the details.
It's ok - bore me. I'd like to hear the full story.
When I was with the Night Masks, I had a pretty clever hiding spot where I kept a very large stash of gold. My partner, Viglor, was the only one who knew about it, and even he didn't know where the stash was hidden... try as he might to get me to slip up and tell.
When the new bosses took over the Night Masks a few years ago, Viglor was nice enough to tip me off that I was about to be "let go". I didn't doubt what he was saying. I knew that a lot of street-level operatives were being eliminated from the ranks, even if I didn't know why.
What I did doubt was Viglor's motivation for telling me. No one would ever describe Viglor as "kind" or "loyal". If my head was on the block, I figured he would be the one volunteering to chop it off. There was nothing he liked better than carnage, except maybe gold.
So this was a trick to get you to lead him to your stash.
I suppose I should be thankful for his greed because it gave me an opening to escape. Still, the fact that I had to leave my stash behind has eaten me ever since. I've waited a long time to collect my fortune. I can't wait any longer.
So where exactly is this stash?
The stash is in the Vhammos family mausoleum here in the Arena District. The crypt's caretaker was a friend of mine named Greely. He supplied me with a copy of the key he used to get in.
So here's where we get to the deal. I'll give you 1000 gold for doing nothing more than backing me up when I go to retrieve the stash. What do you say?
If it's as simple as you make it sound, why do you need my help?
It's just insurance. You're in good with the Lathanderites and the City Watch. If someone happens to spot us entering the crypt, I could use your help smoothing things over.
Alright. Let's do it.
Nothing is ever that easy... Anyway, we'll check out Rinara's thing first.
We head over to the mausoleum, which is in a nearby park, in the southwest of the district.
Yes.
Very well.
So we're stuck only with the least combat capable party member. But that's not a problem, since this is an easy job, right?
We enter the building, which looks pretty much like any mausoleum in any RPG.
We barely walk two steps and complications start to show up.
Greely?! Is that you?
He summons a bunch of ghouls, which are actually the former "inhabitants" of the mausoleum.
Anyway, not a real problem, but wtf?
You think?
The Vhammos family employed Greely to preserve the corpses in the mausoleum, never suspecting he was using the bodies for his own experiments in mummification. Naturally, the family didn't pay him enough to finance this work. The obsessed fool had to borrow a lot of gold from the Night Masks to buy the components he needed.
When it came time for Greely to pay off his debt, I held some of his possessions as collateral while he collected the coin. Among those possessions was the key to this mausoleum. I made a copy of it so I could get back in whenever I wanted.
Greely was none the wiser... that is, until I led a group of Night Masks into the tomb and looted it. It was quite a scandal in Westgate. The City Watch had to find someone to hang for it, and naturally they honed in on the obvious suspect - Greely.
So you committed the crime and someone else paid for it. Very nice.
The handy thing was that no one ever suspected the existence of a second key. And of course, none of the criminals in town thought about robbing the mausoleum because it had already been plumbed. It was like having my own fortified vault.
Of course, I didn't count on Greely coming back to haunt this place. That could present a challenge.
OK, luckily, I have some invisibility potions, since I can't fucking hide in shadows...
With the potion and Rinara hiding, it's fairly easy to move around and avoid other encounters.
Eventually...
Where's the loot?
Hmm, that was it? No more dead people attacking? Quest over?
Of course not... There's someone waiting at the exit.
I don't know who you are or what you're doing her, half-orc, but you'd better get out of our way.
Don't insult me, Rinara. You think I'm going to fall for that pathetic disguise of yours? We worked together for two years.
Fine, Viglor... it's me. So what
are you doing here?
So, old acquaintances... Say, that's a nice sword you got there, Viglor... Would look good on Charissa, I think.
Don't play dumb, Shivs. You know exactly what I want. That's why you've gone back to such lengths to hide it from me.
I've been waiting a long time for this. Oh yes, I got quite a tickle in my belly when I heard Fulgrim Bonebreaker was cut down in the street by a half-elf woman swinging two magical blades. Very careless work, Shivs.
Still, I didn't believe it because the rumor of your return never grew. I admire you for your discretion. If anyone recognized you since that first blunder, I haven't caught wind of it. It was only dumb luck that one of my people spotted you a few hours ago.
Dumb luck? Is that what they call it when someone's too stupid to know it's not luck at all? You have no chance of stopping me and Code'Xia.
I wonder if your new partner knows you like I do. What do you say, Code'Xia? Do you know what sort of vicious murderer you're partnered up with?
Yes - that's what I like about her.
Oh? Well, it sounds like the two of you were made for each other then. Just make sure you sleep with one hand on your coin purse and the other on your weapon. Rinara is always looking for a better deal.
Shut your ugly maw, Viglor. You're just trying to drive a wedge between us because you think it will give you some advantage.
You're no fun anymore, Shivs. If you want to dispense with the small talk, I'll be blunt. Hand over the loot. Now.
Don't do it, Rinara. We can take him.
OK, enough chit-chat, let's end this already.
Eldritch Chain + Brimstone Blast FTW.
This ends pretty quickly.
Thanks for your help, Code'Xia. We've had our differences, but you've always backed me when it counted... and this one counted more than most.
I know the job turned out to be a little more difficult than I led you to believe it would be. I'll probably regret this, but... here's some more gold for your trouble.
Just put it away before I come to my sense, huh? Now let's get out of here.
OK, one down...
We go back to the Black Eye Tavern to get the rest of the party and then we go to the house of Brother Edens, the priest of Tyr.
Well, I hope that an old blind man does not disappoint.
No, but it is surprising to see one such as you who follows Tyr. He is such a vigorous god -
He is a maimed god, as I am maimed. I was not born blind but have become so in the service of Tyr.
Of course, brother...
Oh, I did not mean to chide you, sister. I simply say that we are all maimed... in our own way. Even you.
I most certainly am not! I'm fit as -
Oh, in body, there is no doubt, but there are more ways to be maimed than that. But this is neither the time nor place for this. I have called you here for another reason altogether.
As has been noted, I am physically blind, so my ability to directly battle the forces of evil is now greatly hampered.
Charissa, you see that our enclave is too weak to move against the evil Tyr torments me with in my mind's eye. Helplessly, I have meditated here day and night as I watched the forces of darkness grow ever stronger in this city.
But in you, dear sister, Tyr has granted us the chance - finally - to right a wrong committed so long ago. You have the youth, the strength... the god-given power to finish these evildoers once and for all!
Tell me of this evil, and if it is an abomination in the eyes of Tyr, so help me by all that is just, I shall destroy it!
I knew you would agree, and I know you shall succeed.
The people in question are slavers, a blight upon any city in Faerun, but they are especially vile here. They are headed by a Thayan, one of the infamous Red Wizards, who oversees the import of slaves from the east and their shipment to the west.
This group has been in operation for a decade or more, and the sheer volume of human traffic they have moved would boggle the mind of most.
Point the way, then. I will deliver Tyr's justice - Tyr's final justice - to this Red Wizard and any other slaver I find there.
Allow me to show you on your map. It is near the docks.
Excellent, then I'm on my way. I shall return when these vermin are dead. Code'Xia, I would appreciate it if you would aid me in this endeavor.
OK, to the docks again. We enter a small house and we are attacked by shadows, but it turns out they are illusions.
The house seems empty at first glance, but we find a hidden door in a wall.
The door leads to a basement and as we advance, we are attacked.
This fight can be a bit tricky, but not because the opponents are powerful. The path to the other side of the bridge is blocked, and even after destroying those crates, the rather stupid pathfinding of the NPCs complicates things.
The bridge also becomes covered with noxious fumes.
After those guys are dead, we enter the next room, to find the Red Wizard and her guards.
Or not...
The wizard teleported away before we could kill her.
We find her in the next room though.
Quick, Code'Xia, let's go after her.
Yes, let's go.
Interesting that you gain influence with her if you leave the slaves to die...
I have no picture of the fight, it actually ended too quickly: Devour Magic from Code'Xia to remove the protections and a critical hit from Mantides...
Any good loot on her?
Oh, I'm sure. The Thayans are known for their extravagance, but I still need something to exonerate my parents. Let's see if the's got anything on her.
What's this? A journal of some kind? This might have something useful in it...
How convenient that she would carry her journal...
It says here she's a scumbag... who cares... who cares... Yes, she's an evil witch...
The Thayans are terrible people... Come on, get to the good stuff, Falucca...
Oh, here she's talking about Brother Edens' arrival in Westgate. This should be inter -
By Tyr's wrath! Brother Edens!
If what this says is true, Brother Edens was once Pharros Sneed!
Who?
I think we need to have another talk with "Brother Edens" very soon.
After collecting all the loot, we return to the Arena District, to Edens' house.
However, the point is moot. I could have come forward to exonerate them, and I didn't. For what it is worth, Charissa, and I know that is very little, I apologize.
Here, that this letter back to Waterdeep. It will prove that Falucca came with me without coercion. If I could rectify the situation any more than that, I would.
Even so, I should kill you now.
Your anger is understandable, but perhaps you would relieve yourself of it a bit easier if I told you what happened all those years ago.
I fail to see how it will make the downfall of my family any more acceptable, but divulge your secrets if you must.
The story goes on for a while, so I'll just sum it up.
Falucca joined up with the pirate Sneed when she was a teenager because she wanted to "escape" her noble lifestyle. Sneed fell in love with her, but after a few years, she lost interest and left him when she received an offer to join the Red Wizards. After that, Sneed started to become troubled by his crimes as a pirate. His crew mutinied and left him on some island. There Tyr reached out to him and promised to save him if Sneed would devote his life to him, which he did.
Sneed changed his name to Edens and settled in Westgate. After some years Falucca came also, as a Red Wizard to lead the slaving operations in the city. Sneed went to destroy her operation but he couldn't kill her. In that fight he lost his sight, after a blow to the head.
Or maybe it is a bit more complex, for you have clearly mended your ways, and that calls for lenience. Would killing you solve anything? Would it reverse the pain you have wrought?
But no, that is not the point! This is not about penance but justice. What do you deserve for your crimes, Sneed? What does twenty-five years without my parents warrant? What about the thousands of children who have likewise suffered?
But then that is the past, and I can only look to the present and future. Perhaps I should let you live...
This was really cool. If your influence is not high enough, she does exactly the opposite of what you say.
But there is still the matter of what to do with you, Sneed. Though you have turned from your ways of crime, you still have yet to pay for any of them.
You shall live to remember what you have done. Now that you have truly seen the error of your previous ways, the memory of your crimes will haunt you until your final breath. For any devotee of Tyr, that will be justice enough.
But I encourage you to continue to act now in the defense of the weak and the helpless, for though the past cannot be changed, the possibilities for the future are endless. Looking forward, I will be honored to call you my ally, my friend... my brother.
As we exit the house, Charissa ponders her decision.
Free.. That's funny. All my righteous indignation... might it have been a cover for anger? No, it couldn't have been, could it? And if so, what now? I feel so... so... empty.
You should after the way you botched the whole affair.
Come now! That man was so old... so decrepit! What purpose would his death have served? No, as empty as I feel now, I can only imagine how I would have felt had I killed him to avenge a wrong done so long ago. but where to go from here?
Alas, this I must ponder at a future date. For now the Night Masks - and that strange mask of yours - deserve our full attention. Onward then?
What I would have liked to see here, if she killed Sneed, it would have been interesting if she started to doubt her faith and maybe Mantides would start to mock her. Unfortunately, that is not the case. If Sneed dies, she says something similar, that she thinks she has done the wrong thing and that she must ponder about it later.
So this ends the stories of all our party members.
Next update we'll go to Kajeel's bar, to continue the main quest. This last part of the game is where the story really starts to shine.