Tavern Tales and Rumours

[danielmn]

Interestingly enough, an enormous Silver Dragon has also been sighted around The Gate itself, though it seemed to be flying from it.

Also of note, woodsmen of recent have reported being helped by an enormous ogre that goes by the name of Gurk.

Lastly, within The Gate itself, the murder of an apparent wanted man from Waterdeep is the recent talk in the taverns. The man was found with his throat slit on a side ally, a wanted poster pinned to his shirt as well as a black peice of coal upon his forehead.

[danielmn]

A known brigand and pirate, Hernlan Blackhand, was found stripped naked and tied up in an alleyway within Baldur's Gate itself. It is said the only thing he wore, beside the rope that bound him, is a gag. It is even said when the gag was removed, Hernlan spit out a black peice of jet stone. The Pirate is currently in custody...it is doubtful for how long.

[jmecha]

In recent nights sailors have been telling tales of seeing the sights of dancing lights and the glow of fires along the shores of the Cloak Woods.

[danielmn]

A local weapons dealer was found bound and gagged this morning behind a stall within the markets of Baldur's Gate. The merchant apparently made no claim to the Fist, as it is said he was glad to be releived of the only item taken from him from a hooded and cloaked human sized figure...a mean looking scythe he had aquired weeks before. In fact, the merchant seemed almost...relieved....

[Vendrin]

After sounds of battle erupted from the Helm and Cloak, a bald man in chain mail adorned with red erupted from the front door calling for guards saying that the Helm was under attack.
Shortly after guards entered, both the bald man in chain mail and a dark haired man with banite symbols adorning his dark armor were dragged away in chains by the Guard. The bald man looked injured and very sick.
Both were marched to the Palace by the guard, and it is said the guard struck both men repeatedly for protesting their arrest.

[danielmn]

Once again the Helm and Cloak is the scene of a mysterious happenstance....some say a bolt of lightning, though no imact mark or entryway into the inn can even be seen. Two figures were seen leaving the inn shortly after, a male and a female.

There is also talk of a disembowled man found just on his front step near the docks, still alive...though he died a short time after he was found. Upon investigation, It is said the man had numerous bodies and body parts, some identified as missing persons. The scene inside was said to be so gruesome that one of the Fist came out of the small living quarters, and immediately emptied his own stomach. It is also said a black opal was found within the man himself.

[oldgrayrogue]

Word spreads of strange happenings in and around Ulgoth's beard over the last ride.

It started with a pen full of pigs found dead over their half eaten evening slop.

Then, two young girls went missing after they left to pick strawberries just outside of town shortly before dusk.

Lastly, the body of a shepherd boy was found last night in a far pasture after his sheep returned home without him. It is said the body was ravaged by wolves, but that oddly the boy's half eaten head was found some distance away having been shorn cleanly from his shoulders.

[NickD]

Of mild interest to the patrons in the Helm and Cloak was a small gathering of Banites said to have entered the locked haunted room on the upper floor of the inn. Of slightly more interest was the later ascension of stairs and into the locked room of another banite accompanied by a green and brown clad half orc. Some suggested the half orc was the infamous Grull in disguise and on the run from elven rape accusations in Silverymoon, others suggested the half orc was, despite its size, a female who had been seen camping outside the city and making forays into the forest.

After some hours, it was noticed they had not left the room yet. A joke that perhaps there was an orgy going on in the room was meet with nervous and shocked silence, and the man, turning red, looked up the stairs in fear and quickly slinked out of the inn.

Even later, the group, much worse for wear, covered in their own blood, smelling like dust and rot and leaning on each other for support entered the inn from the front door. They stayed long enough to drop piles and sacks of books on the ground for one of the group to collect while the leader of the group expressed his extreme disappointment at the innkeep over the lack of available rooms. The Banites left in a group, the half orc leaving on her own after having a coughing fit, spitting large globules of phlegm onto the floor.

No one dared ask how they managed to leave the inn without anyone noticing them.

[Mick]

A woman named Sercia was found murdered in her home in the Western Harbor district. She had been stabbed 33 times and died apparently while lying in bed. Other than the incredible amount of blood on the bed and bedroom floor, the house appeared completely undisturbed.

The Flaming Fist is investigating. Understandably, they have particular interest in Sercia's husband Timon, who is no where to be found. Folk questioned thus far seemed very concerned for the mild-mannered man's well-being.

[rorax]

A group of four adventures was seen arriving to the friendly arms tavern. The group sat away from the rest of the visitors, at one of the dark corners of the inn. Some rumors claim they were discussing in hushed tones about the dark history of a certain tower, in which many secrets await to be revealed. Other hearsay suggests they were discussing on some underground complex, or compound, controlled by a family of vampires, and on some unpaid debt.

[Brother Humphrey]

Word in the taverns and alehouses from Ulgoths Beard to Beregost has it that recently an oddly assorted group of adventurers, having heard reports of increased Malarite acitivities as well as drownings by water creatures, set out to investigate. The trio, a pair of human men and a human woman, left The Gate and headed south to the ruins of Old Carlisle. Sounds of battle were heard by stragglers making their way north to the the safety of the walls of Baldurs Gate. Reports tell of half a dozen bodies of what were determined to be werewolves were found the next day by a Flaming Fist patrol. Oddly, on the other side of the road a large area of ground which was unseasonally drenched while the ground surrounding it was still bone dry, bore witness to yet more deaths to drowning far from any river or shoreline. A drowned half-elf in simple clothing and bootless was found nearby the corpses of three drowned wolves. The company later reported sighting a large mass of water, shaped like a mobile wave, which disolved into a large puddle several moments before they discovered the drowning victims.

As the small group continued their trek south, now bolstered by a hin male, they were seen to turn west at the walls of the Friendly Arms Inn and disappeared into the Cloakwood. Nearly a day had gone by before the group, now five in number (a hin female seems to have joined them at some point), all covered in blood, guts, hunks of matted fur and other assorted forms of gore, made their weary way back to the Friendly Arms, leaving one heavilly armed and severely bloodied companion in the care of priestess Mirrorshades. Rumour has it that the man, a fairly well-known Helmite with blond hair and mustache, had fallen victim of the dread Lycanthropy spread by the dozens of werewolves they reported slaying in a nearby cave complex. Others say he did not contract the disease, owing to timely consumption of a rather unappetising herb, belladona, but that his wounds, complicated by secondary infections, left him colorfully scarred across the left cheek, possibly permanantly.

Despite their own valiant efforts in combat, ranged, melee and arcane, they say they came to realise their efforts would be insufficent without greater numbers and better suited weaponry and so performed a strategic withdrawal, out of the cave and back toward the Friendly Arms to recover and seek divine healingfor their gravely wounded companion. The other members of the band of would-be heros, though also bloodied to some extent, appeared to have weathered the battles they waged with considerably fewer wounds, owing to the efforts of their more heavilly wounded companion.

[Brother Humphrey]

Reports have been coming in of Gargoyle attacks, from Ulgoth's Beard on down to the very shores east of the great Candlekeep. Travellers are warned to take precautions and go in groups, for the great stone beasts are fast and difficult to penetrate with piercing or slashing weapons. Some pundits urge both banites and aurilians to live up to their false sense of superiority by travelling alone with rapiers and daggers, so they can prove their points to the gargoyles.

[johnlewismcleod]

There are rumours of a disturbance at the Elf Song Inn. It seems a red haired woman, most agree to be the well known bardess Gwenevere, was accosted by an invisible assailant of some sort. Details are sketchy and in dispute, but it seems the Flaming Fist guard was called and that persons were seen rushing about, some armed.

Some might say a dark clad man was taken into custody by the guard, some say Gwenevere herself was detained.

It is generally agreed that Xavier, the Elf Song host, was quite annoyed that the normally sedate Inn was disrupted by these odd goings-on.

[Revanche]

Word has begun to circulate in the docks regarding an underground gambling ring being run in one of the alleys behind the Mermaid. It is said that truly desperate individuals can make some quick coin fighting against a variety of summoned beasts for the amusement of spectators, though the events have been known to be bloody, and even lethal.

Unscrupulous gamblers and other shady types have often been seen gathering for impromptu fights, then quickly dispersing before the Fist arrive to investigate.

[danielmn]

The citezenry of Baldur's Gate is gripped in fear, as last night great beings of shadow and mist swept the streets. Flaming fist reports at least twenty five of their own dead, as battle raged until around the first bell, when the order came down not to attack the beings. The beings dissappeared with the morning light, leaving behind bodies in the streets and in abodes. Duke Eltan has issued a proclamation of cerfew at Dusk, and that no attack should be given to the beings.

The forms themselves seem to go through any barriers erected. Over two hundred bodies are lined up outside of the walls under Fist guard, and FIst posts have doubled in size. Reports of a fire in the docks ring true, as dawn showed a once full warehouse now burnt asunder. It is unclear at this time where these creatures have come from, nor what they want...but rumors say they seem to scour the city for something.