Let's Read and also Play Baldur's Gate: Bhaal must be stopped!

[Khay]

Yeah, I don't know. The setup is really weird if this is meant to be a joke at Jaheira's expense. I could almost believe it was a joke on the audience; inviting us to laugh at the pseudo-intellectual Beuros for using a non-word, when it actually is a real word. The book isn't usually this subtle, though.

Also, we'll look at the character profiles when we're done with the book itself, because there's some fascinating stuff in there. Here's the short version, though: The book version of Jaheira is originally from Tethyr, but her accent and style of dress are Amnian for good reason. ... there is, however, no reason given for why she appears to be ethnically Amnian as well.

[Keltest]

Yeah, I don't know. The setup is really weird if this is meant to be a joke at Jaheira's expense. I could almost believe it was a joke on the audience; inviting us to laugh at the pseudo-intellectual Beuros for using a non-word, when it actually is a real word. The book isn't usually this subtle, though.

Also, we'll look at the character profiles when we're done with the book itself, because there's some fascinating stuff in there. Here's the short version, though: The book version of Jaheira is originally from Tethyr, but her accent and style of dress are Amnian for good reason. ... there is, however, no reason given for why she appears to be ethnically Amnian as well.

My familiarity with the sword coast isn't huge, but I don't recall Amn being ethnically distinct enough from Tethyr or anywhere to the north to be able to just say "yes, this is an amnian" the way you can identify, say, someone from calimshan. MAYBE if you were actually amnian yourself.

[hamishspence]

In Races of Faerun, "Tethyrians" are a mixture of other ethnic groups - with considerable variation. They're found from Calimshan all the way to the far north.

Given that Amn and Tethyr are right next to one another - any difference would be minimal, with considerable overlap.

[Wardog]

Someone not being able to tell the difference between foreigners from adjacent countries isn't uncommon in real life.

[Khay]

Hey thread! I'm very sorry, but I don't have an update for you today. I got in a little over my head with this one, and some unexpected personal stuff came up, so I didn't have the time to finish it. As such, I'm delaying this update until Wednesday to give myself some time to break what I've written into coherent chunks.

Someone not being able to tell the difference between foreigners from adjacent countries isn't uncommon in real life.

Yeah, that's probably the explanation, actually. Jaheira and Khalid have vaguely southern features, but their style of dress and their accents are Amnian; it'd be easy for the average Sword Coast bumpkin to assume they're from Amn. There is a throwaway line in Chapter Twelve where Xan eyes his companions' "Amnian features" - Xan is the one character in this book I'd expect to know better, but, well, it's just a throwaway line.

[Keltest]

Hey thread! I'm very sorry, but I don't have an update for you today. I got in a little over my head with this one, and some unexpected personal stuff came up, so I didn't have the time to finish it. As such, I'm delaying this update until Wednesday to give myself some time to break what I've written into coherent chunks.



Yeah, that's probably the explanation, actually. Jaheira and Khalid have vaguely southern features, but their style of dress and their accents are Amnian; it'd be easy for the average Sword Coast bumpkin to assume they're from Amn. There is a throwaway line in Chapter Twelve where Xan eyes his companions' "Amnian features" - Xan is the one character in this book I'd expect to know better, but, well, it's just a throwaway line.

Xan is from Evereska, in the greycloak hills well away from the Sword Coast. While he is intelligent, even in the book, he is not remotely local, so it could simply be a matter of inexperience.

Unless he was talking about the very non-amnian Khalid, in which case he is more of a twit than Abdel.

[Khay]

Fair point. Xan is clearly the smartest person in the book, but he's not a local. I guess "everyone assumes the pair is Amnian because of their dress and accent and they don't care enough to correct them" works as an explanation.

---

Alright, here we go! Chapter 24 contains our big plot twist. Sorry for the delay - I bet you can't wait to find out Abdel's (and CHARNAME's) deep dark secret. I'm still not sure I'm entirely happy with this one, but at least I managed to prune it back to something that approaches readable.

Spoiler: The book

Show

The chapter begins with Abdel reading Gorion's letter, out loud. The book shows us the whole document, pausing occasionally to show us Team Abdel's reactions. I won't reproduce the whole letter, as it's pretty long, but I'll pick out the most relevant sections.

Gorion opens with a fittingly personal greeting.

“ ‘Hello My Son,
“ ‘If you are reading this it means I have met an untimely death. I would tell you not to grieve for me, but I feel much better thinking that you might. If you can, it will mean I have done the best any father could hope to do.’ “

This might seems like an odd thing to say, but Jaheira quickly catches on. If the son of the god of murder can feel grief...

Abdel chokes up for a moment, then continues reading. Gorion soon confirms that Abdel is, indeed, a Bhaalspawn.

“ ‘As you have known all your life, I am not your true father, but you have never known your sire’s name. It is a name spoken only in fearful whispers, for so great was the terror of it that even though its power has fled the multiverse, it has meaning still. (...) Your father is the entity known as Bhaal, Lord of Murder. A thing of evil, so vile it’s nearly impossible to believe the multiverse itself could stand its hateful presence.”

Dun dunn dunnn! Bhaal (pronounced Beh-HAHL) was Lawful Evil, so I guess it's fair to call him a "hateful presence." I'll have some more to say about the way the Bhaalspawn issue is handled in the commentary section below.

Gorion proceeds to explains about the Time of Troubles. The Lord of Murder perished, but in his doom, he spawned a score of mortal progeny. So sayeth the wise Alaundo.

“He sought out women then, of every race, and forced himself upon them or seduced them. Your mother was one of these women, a mortal (...) ravaged by murder incarnate.’”
There was a silence then that hung in the air for what seemed to both of them like hours. Abdel looked at Jaheira with tear-blurred eyes and saw her cover her face with her hands. She sat on the corner of the rickety iron cot that had been Abdel’s bed since he was but a toddler. The scroll he’d made in the first year of his schooling hung on the wall above her like some kind of cruel reminder of the lie that had been his human life.

See, this is what you do instead of telling us a character is overcome by "a flood of emotions." Yes, the second half of that last sentence is over-egging, but I like this otherwise.

Abdel soldiers on.

“”Your mother died in childbirth. I had been her friend and knew the paladin who brought you to me. I felt obliged, at first, to raise you as my own. As the years went by and I saw in you — every day — the promise of a life beyond some divine destiny, I came to love you as only a father can love his son. I have but one hope now, and that is that you will always think of me as your father.’”
I do, Abdel thought, hoping Gorion could hear him.

That's kinda sweet.

The bit about Abdel's mother dying in childbirth is incorrect, but Gorion makes the same claim in the game. This is probably an example of canon moving on; same for Abdel being saved by a paladin and brought to Candlekeep. This part of CHARNAME's past wasn't settled until Throne of Bhaal. The crow dream does suggest Gorion was window-shopping for a place to raise CHARNAME before arriving at Candlekeep, but the dream is weird and ambiguous enough that we don't really know how much of it is literally true. Anyway, in-universe, I figure a comforting lie could make sense.

Gorion explains that Abdel has a lot of half-brothers and -sisters. Some organisations (including the Harpers and the paladins of Torm) were trying to keep an eye on them, with mixed results.

We’ve lost touch with some, we know some are dead, and we’ve rediscovered one. This one may be your half brother, and you may want to believe that he is family, that he can be a brother to you, but I beg you, do not. He means you only ill, and he was not raised in the calm, studious atmosphere of Candlekeep, but by a series of faceless cultists still clinging to the hopeless servitude of a dead god.
“ ‘This one calls himself Sarevok.’ “
Jaheira gasped, and Abdel looked at her.

Dun dun... dunn?

You may remember that Jaheira thought Reiltar was a Bhaalspawn, because Those Who Harp are pretty terrible at sharing intelligence. I haven't really commented on that, but I'll try to get around to doing that eventually. It barely qualifies as a plot point anyway.

Gorion's letter goes on to explain that Sarevok is dangerous, having studied at Candlekeep; he thus knows a lot about the prophecies and about Abdel. Gorion leaves Abdel with a pass stone and a description of a secret escape route out of Candlekeep if it ever becomes relevant.

“And he signed it, Your loving father, Gorion.’ “

Aww.

Abdel sits in silence for a while, lost in thought. Sadly, we have very little time to enjoy this moment, as the door bursts open. A group of men with staves bursts in, dressed in the chain mail and tabards of Candlekeep. Abdel's sword is out of reach, so he instead disarms one of the men, takes his staff, and smacks its former owner to the ground.

“Submit!” a commanding voice bellowed from somewhere just outside the narrow door as the guards continued to spill into the room. “Submit to the justice of Candlekeep, and it will all go that much—“
Abdel took another guard down with a fast, short jab to the temple with the rounded end of the staff.
“—easier for you both!” Abdel heard Jaheira grunt and looked to see her doubled over. The guard who’d hit her in the stomach with a staff was smiling, and Abdel didn’t like that smile one bit.

Abdel hits the owner of that smile in the knee. Jaheira gets back up, but not for long. Neither of them considers surrendering and asking what this is all about, although the guards are clearly fighting nonlethally.

Jaheira pulled back on the staff still pinned to her side, and the guard let go. She staggered back half a step, and the guard punched her squarely in the side of the jaw. It was a tight-fisted, full-out punch that men rarely, if ever, threw at women, and the sight of it made Abdel’s blood boil almost as much as the sight of Jaheira falling heavily to the ground, blinking, stunned, and rapidly losing consciousness.

Yeah! Nobody but Abdel is allowed to give Jaheira a black eye.

Abdel loses his temper, and swings the tip of his staff at the punch-thrower, smashing it through his chain mail and impaling him. The other watchers are briefly horrified, then resume their attacks. Notably, they still do not break out the lethal weapons. Two of them grab Abdel, a man and a woman. He easily shakes the man off, but the woman is a bit stronger. (It's nice to see an incidentally female mook, by the way.)

“It’s murder now, for certain,” the guard growled into Abdel’s ear, as if justifying to herself that he would have to kill this man she’d known all her life.
“Pilten!” Abdel gasped “What—?”

Pilten! We're not only getting a female mook, but she even has a name? Fancy.

The watchers' mage backup shows up at this point, and thus the brawl ends.

“Sleep!” the voice from the corridor shouted, and Abdel’s head spun.
He was trying to say, “No,” as he fell, but all that came out was a grunt. He could feel something rattle his throat that might have been a snore, but he didn’t feel his head hit the floorboards.

Abdel is out cold for a few minutes. He half-regains his consciousness a few times - the guards are handling him quite roughly - but doesn't resist.

Abdel realized he’d killed one of the guards and let his neck go limp. Something in him wanted to take the punishment the guards were meting out, but that something was very new in him.

Character development! This would probably work better if the development happened smoothly over a number of chapters, rather than in discrete steps, but at this point, I'm willing to take it.

Eventually, Abdel finds himself imprisoned once more.

“... and the guard makes nine,” Tethtoril said from the other side of the barred door. Once again Abdel and Jaheira were caged like animals. They were together this time — unusual even for the more humane dungeons of Candlekeep — and unchained. The bruise on Jaheira’s face was already starting to fade. Tethtoril had called on the power of Oghma to heal her as they were dragged to the dungeons. She was awake, horrified, and bemused.

Healing spell! It's a healing spell! They exist! See, I'm not mad - healing magic exists! Jaheira just doesn't get any.

Abdel asks if there's any hope for the guard he attacked, but Tethtoril, just shakes his head.

Tethtoril put a hand to his forehead and pretended to be thinking about the question. He obviously didn’t want the guards to see him cry.

Yeah, good job, Abdel.

Jaheira - now angry in addition to being awake, horrified and bemused - objects that they didn't kill those eight other men. Tethtoril is having none of it.

“Is this yours?” Tethtoril interrupted. She gasped when she saw the bracelet he was holding.
(...)
When he’d gathered himself, he pulled from the same leather bag from which he’d produced Jaheira’s bracelet a wide-bladed dagger. The blade sparkled in the lamplight, and the blood drying on it glistened around the edges where it met the
shiny silver.

“Before I was shown this,” the old monk said, fixing a stern, hurt, disapproving stare on Abdel, “I might have thought so.”

This one deserves a real dun dun dunn. The bracelet is the vines-and-gold jewelry Xan lost at the Bandit Camp, and the dagger is the one Xzar pickpocketed from Abdel. This explains why Sarevok was collecting these doodads; he was going to use them to frame Abdel for a series of murders. Athans even resisted the temptation of over-explaining the plan, instead letting it speak for itself. I like it. I am a little bit suspicious about the timeline. Tethtoril picked Abdel up at the gates of Candlekeep, they had tea, Tethtoril handed over the letter and then Abdel and Jaheira went to Abdel's old room to read the letter. The raid happened as soon as Abdel finished reading. I'm not sure if there was enough time for Abdel to plausibly find and kill these eight people. I don't know. Maybe.

Anyway, Sarevok probably needn't have bothered with quite this much setup, as it's very easy to goad Abdel into murdering someone. Abdel weakly pleads his innocence, but, well...

Abdel only now recognized the voice that had put him to sleep as Tethtoril’s. The old monk had seen him disembowel a guard for striking Jaheira a hard but recoverable blow. Of course Tethtoril could think him capable. He was capable.

It's hard to plead your innocence if you are not, in fact, innocent. "Okay well I did the guard but not the other guys" isn't a strong defense.

Tethtoril gathers all of Team Abdel's belongings into a leather bag (sword, letter, pass stone, dagger, bracelet) and hands it over to Pilten for safekeeping. He then sends the other watchers away.

“I will do what I can,” Tethtoril said to Abdel, sparing a glance at Jaheira, “but you’ve left me little to work with.”
“Send word to Baldur’s Gate, perhaps,” Abdel said, “to Eltan?”
Tethtoril nodded, though there was very little hope showing in the old monk’s face.
“I’ve disappointed you,” Abdel said quietly.
Tethtoril forced a weak smile and nodded.

Aww. :(

Spoiler: The game

Show

Last time, we left off at the stairs of the library.


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Today... we finally set foot inside.

This section - and Candlekeep in general - is something of an open-concept barn: There's only one destination, but you can take many different paths to get there. I'll be showing the "canonical" path in this section, but splice in alternate branches in spoiler tags where appropriate.

Candlekeep itself did not receive an intro movie, but the library itself gets a fancy camera pan.


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The movie lingers on this statue of Alaundo for a moment before moving on. You may recognise the scene - this specific shot serves as the background for the intro narration. We really have come full circle.

Once we step past the statue, our old teacher Karan hails us.


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We look worried, he tells us, and, well... there's definitely something wrong in Candlekeep. We don't know what, exactly, but there's never just one doppelganger.

We ask Karan to alert the Watchers, and to tell us if anything strange is happening. Let's see if he mentions the Iron Throne.


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Hmm. He doesn't call out the Iron Throne specifically, but this "Koveras" fellow sounds unusual alright. What a strange name.


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I assume it takes a lot of effort to stand out as an eccentric scholar if your competition consists of Candlekeep locals. We should try to track down Koveras if we can. For now, though, it's exploration time.

As befits a library, the fortress is full of bookshelves:


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Most of these shelves are filled with books that provide background information about the Forgotten Realms settings, but a few contain more interesting items. You can find a lot of random spell scrolls here.

The prophecies Karan mentioned use the letter icon, so they stand out against the fluff books.


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Ominous. I wonder what sort of person would know these specific prophecies by heart.

While we were reading, one of the priests of Oghma sneaked up to us.


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Oh! Oh, ahhh, hello, Theodon. Jessup. How are you?


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Oh no. Oh no no no. They're breaking out the childhood stories.


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Not just any childhood story, at that. Geez... do we have to discuss this in front of my party?


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Right. I'm pretty sure we agreed that the only part of this story we were ever going to tell to outsiders was that I got to meet Khelben Blackstaff.


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Well, that was... certainly something. They may not be related to us, but Jessup and Theodon certainly have the "horribly embarassing elderly relative" act down pat.

Let's just... continue exploring the library while we pretend we can't hear Imoen chuckling behind our back.


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There isn't much else to see on the level, actually. More bookshelves and a rather nice-looking eating area, but that's about it. Let's keep going.


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We should probably try to find Tethtoril - if something bad is happening at Candlekeep, he needs to know. Or Ulraunt, I guess. Their offices are on the top floor of the library.


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Another old friend is waiting on the second level. Bendalis, too, is feeling uneasy.


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He too has seen (and been confused by) the visiting sage Koveras. Everyone seems to feel vaguely uneasy in his presence, with the exception as young Shistal, which is worrying in itself.


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CHARNAME seems to think the bit about Koveras is more important, though. We'll see.

(Young Shistal. Canonically, CHARNAME is about twentyish. It's impossible to tell how old Bendalis is supposed to be, but CHARNAME calls him a "friend." I really have no idea how CHARNAME is thinking of the older priests and monks. Would they be mentally filed under "assorted uncles" or be regarded as "older friends?" CHARNAME does distinguish between "friends" and "teachers" - is that significant? In the first chapter, everyone seemed to treat us as one would treat a well-liked nephew. If Shistal is supposed to be the same age as CHARNAME, that would be highly significant.)

There are some monks and priests wandering around the area. We stop to talk to one.


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Yeah... this is the first time we've been in the library since he died. CHARNAME probably keeps half-expecting to turn a corner and find Gorion sitting at a desk.

Everyone here, even the nameless NPCs, knows CHARNAME. Last chapter's doppelganger also was a nameless "Priest of Oghma," and CHARNAME's diary entry noted CHARNAME didn't quite remember the man's name. This might be the same thing.

Oh hey, the Chanter is here as well!


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This isn't a case of CHARNAME forgetting a name - everyone just calls him Chanter.

As someone who occasionally goes outside, the Chanter has picked up on the tension in the air. We could ask him about the Iron Throne and Koveras, but we can learn that elsewhere. We've always had this suspicion about Candlekeep, though...


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Hmm. Secret tunnels, underground crypts... strange. Like going to a little-used room in your house and finding a door you've never noticed before.


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"Unless fate dictates otherwise." CHARNAME can tell where this is going.

We spend some more time wandering the level, idly browsing the bookshelves like we used to. I bet fighter!CHARNAME read just about everything in the adventure novel section.

An unfamiliar voice breaks us out of our reverie.


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Ah. Koveras. We have heard much of you.


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Koveras claims to be working with the Harpers. Strange... you'd think someone in Candlekeep would remember him if he came by regularly. He's really tall and has a lot more muscle mass than you'd expect from a scholar. Let's question him a little further, first.


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This... this is a lot of very specific knowledge, Koveras. Hull and Fuller probably found ogre shrapnel scattered in a half-mile radius around the site of the fight, but the bit about the woman and the armored figure...


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And with that, he walks off.

What an odd fellow.

Spoiler: Bonus: Trusting Koveras

Show

As suspicious as Koveras acts, you do have the option to trust him at least initially.

KOVERAS: Ah, I thought I might find you somewhere around here. Allow me to introduce myself...
CHARNAME: Perhaps another time. There is some... research that I am currently working on which demands my attention.
KOVERAS: Research... Well, indeed, that makes two of us and I think I might know what you're looking for. Will you let me be of some small assistance?
CHARNAME: Tell me, what exactly is it that I am looking for?
KOVERAS: You are looking for the truth, as are we all... My name is Koveras. I used to work for your father, running messages to his Harper friends in Waterdeep. Before he passed on, he entrusted this ring to me and asked that I give it to you should evil ever befall him... Will you take it?
CHARNAME: Well, evil befell him, alright, but I want nothing of your baubles.
KOVERAS: Surely you are not blind to the Iron Throne presence in these halls! Don't be a fool... Your father knew this was no bauble, and if you have even an ounce of his wisdom, you would know the same! Now take it before I lose my patience with you!

Here it branches again. If you spurn Koveras, he does lose his patience.

CHARNAME: I have made up my mind and it will take more than your words to change it. Keep your ring, I want it not.
KOVERAS: Do not tempt me, wardling. If you refuse to take the ring, then at least listen to some advice. The people you deal with are very dangerous, and they guard themselves well. Right now they are at their weakest. If you strike at them now, while they least expect it, you might be able to end the threat that they pose to the Sword Coast. You can take this advice or discard it, I do not care. Goodbye <CHARNAME>.

Alternatively, you can accept the "gift:"

CHARNAME: Forgive me, Koveras. There are so few people to trust and so, in my foolishness, I spurn them all, friend and foe alike. Give me my father's ring that I might relieve you of its burden.
KOVERAS: Wear it with your father's pride about you, then. Before you go, listen to me well. The leaders of the Iron Throne are here in the keep even as we speak. They are at their weakest and most unprotected.....if you ever hope to kill them, now is the time. Now go, the Iron Throne awaits you.

(You can accept the ring at an earlier branch, but it doesn't change anything.)

This path results in a journal entry:

Koveras has suggested that I kill the leaders of the Iron Throne, while they're here at Candlekeep. The thought of bringing violence to such a place makes me queasy, but perhaps it's something that needs to be done. I wish Gorion was here to guide me.

The ring in question is a named Ring of Protection +1, which is actually pretty neat in the base game. Accepting or rejecting it is mostly a roleplaying decision.

Nothing else of interest on this level.


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The next level up is where the meeting rooms are, so... we'll have to come to a decision soon. We came here chasing the Iron Throne leadership, but what are we going to do when we catch up to them? Are we really going to break the library truce?


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Upstairs, the lighting is fittingly moody. This seems to mostly be an area for study and discussion, if the furniture is any indication.


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The leadership of the Iron Throne is currently occupying one of the meeting rooms, alongside two representatives of the Knights of the Shield. (They came here to negotiate a truce, remember.)

They also do not appreciate eavesdroppers at all. As soon as you step near the doorway, Rieltar starts shouting at you.


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There are a few different ways we could play this one. We could slink off and either go for a stealth assault or try to convince Tethtoril to act. Attacking them is still an option. We could provoke them into attacking us, but that'd still break the library truce. Do we really want to cause a bloodbath?

Or, as an alternative... hmm. See, Koveras is clearly not trustworthy at all, and he really pushed us hard in the direction of attacking Rieltar. So... how about we just thumb our noses at Rieltar and "accidentally" reveal the presence of Koveras?


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Hmm. Very interesting. We really were set up to take the fall for a crime, then. That's good to know.

Note that it takes Rieltar about two seconds to decipher that pseudonym. CHARNAME could figure it out at this point as well. Remember that we found a letter from Sarevok to Rieltar last chapter, in which Sarevok called Rieltar "father."

(I don't think it's actually possible to get this dialogue option if you didn't accept Koveras' ring, but eh, I'm not above splicing in screenshots from various different timelines.)

Well, if we don't want to outright attack Rieltar and company, there's little else we can do on this floor. Let's leave for now. We'll talk to Tethtoril first, and figure out what to do later. If we're lucky, Rieltar and Koveras will slit each others' throats.

Spoiler: Bonus: Messing with the bad guys

Show

Whether you spare the Iron Throne leadership makes little difference in the long run, but there are some interesting things to discover here.

Kestor and Tuth don't have Charm dialogue, but they do have their own "go away" lines, just in case.


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If you initiate dialogue a second time, all four go hostile.

Rieltar and Brunos do have Charm dialogue, but it's just an exposition dump. It's the same for both of them, so here's Brunos.


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"Exhorbirant." Really.

There's no new information in there, but it's one of the better summaries of "the plot so far" you can find. It's nice to have, considering we've been doing this for six months.

Spoiler: Bonus: Murdering Rieltar

Show

If you really want to, you can, in fact, attack the Iron Throne leadership - either by flinging a Fireball into the room or by provoking them through dialogue. Like this:


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The resulting combat is... well, it isn't easy, but it's nothing compared to Zhalimar and company. Rieltar tends to open combat by turning himself invisible, then flings lightning bolts. Tuth and Brunos are fighters, and fairly tough ones at that, but they don't really have any special tricks up their sleeves. Kestor carries Darts of Stunning, which are annoying, but... eh. The loot is pretty basic too, just some +1 weapons and a few potions.

Attacking the Iron Throne leadership does have some other consequences, though.


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Mostly, the Watchers to try to arrest you. If you resist arrest, you are plot-killed, so you have to go along quietly. This ends your Candlekeep exploration early, so if you do want to punch Rieltar yourself, wait until you're ready to move on.

Time to move on, I suppose. Where is Tethtoril, anyway?


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No way to go but up.


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Oh hey, it's Shistal! I would recognise those magnificient robes anywhere. What colour is that, anyway? Plum? Lavender? Fancy.

Anyway. Shistal has been acting strangely, we know there was at least one doppelganger in Candlekeep, and this guy shows no sign of recognising us. So... well, you know the drill.


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As expected, "Shistal" swiftly and decisively puts his foot into his mouth.


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CHARNAME actually keeps this one going for quite a while until "Shistal" decides he's had enough banter.


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Shistal... the real Shistal, I mean... is probably dead by now. Rest in peace, friend. :(

This is the first Greater Doppelganger we encounter. They're... well, doppelgangers, but tougher. More HP, more DPS, that sort of thing. They can also cast Haste and Mirror Image.


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Still, it's just one doppelganger against the six of us. Imoen levels up, and CHARNAME pens a quick paragraph.


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Once again, the locals are kind of... blasé about this. Yes, this is an optional encounter, so it can't really affect the plot, but it feels really weird that we can't anyone. Once again, this calls for something of a reaction. This place is crawling with clerics - can't we get a few True Seeing spells up in here? No? Sigh. I'll justify this by headcanon-ing that CHARNAME is looking for Tethtoril and move on.


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No other points of interest on this map. There are a lot of small rooms (guest rooms?) with locked containers you could loot, if you had the patience.

We're nearing the top of the library. Only two more floors to go. The local authority figures have to be hiding somewhere up there.


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Near the stairs, we meet Piato, another friend of Gorion's. We force a smile for his benefit. He points us to Gorion's room, which apparently hasn't been cleared out yet. Did... Gorion leave something for us?


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If you talk to Piato again, he tips his hand. It seems he knows perfectly well what Gorion left for us. He won't talk to us about it, though.


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Gorion's old room, just as he left it. Ahh, the austere comfort of Candlekeep. Gorion left us a little gold, as well as a letter. This looks important.


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... oh.


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... oh.


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Oh. :(


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We'll just... let that sink in for a while.

...

You know, by modern standards, this plot twist is handled very strangely. But we'll be talking about this below.

We really need to find Tethtoril. Maybe he can help us make sense of... of... of all this. He should be just up the stairs.


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The instant we move up the stairs, the Gatewarden initiates dialogue - or attempts to, at least. You can lead him on a chase for quite a while. We really don't want to be talking to that jerk right now.

Spoiler: Bonus: A slightly longer chase

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Actually, it's easily possible to outrun the Gatewarden with a Haste effect (or some judicious glitch exploitation), letting you explore the top floor.

Tethtoril really is here, but he just tells you to read Gorion's letter and come back later.


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This is, after all, not a branching point.


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Ulraunt is also here, but he's even less helpful. No Charm dialogue here, but Tethtoril and Ulraunt both have the "invincible" set of stats anyway.

You can pick up some loot on the top floor, too. Whatever you do, though, the plot won't continue until you let the Gatewarden catch up.

... well fine. Alright. What is it?


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Wait, what? What is this? We didn't do anything! I mean, yes, we came here to- but we didn't- what?

...

Rieltar, dammit! We told you Koveras was coming for you! Villains nowadays...


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We'll go along peacefully for now. The game gives you the option to resist, but if you do, the Gatewarden just plot-kills you. (He, too, has the "invincible" set of stats. This is not a branching point.)

We spend some time in an uncomfortable holding cell in the Candlekeep barracks. Eventually, Ulraunt shows up to sneer at us.


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We are formally accused of three murders. Note that the names "Tuth" and "Kestor" are absent, but that Costak is listed - you may remember we encountered him at the Iron Throne HQ in Baldur's Gate. This could suggest that further shapeshifters are involved. Or perhaps Ulraunt was fed this line and didn't care enough to double-check the validity of the information.

Being innocent, we demand to see some proof.


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... yeah, that's it. Ulraunt definitely has a chip on his shoulder if he considers this to be sufficient proof. The library is full of people and we were always talking to someone - I'm pretty sure we could find an alibi if Ulraunt let us. But he won't.

I guess he wants to preserve Candlekeep's reputation as a sanctuary, and is thus eager to produce a vaguely plausible guilty party. If the crow dream is trustworthy, he never did like CHARNAME or Gorion. Or maybe he's just a jerk.

Still, this... hurts quite badly. CHARNAME seems to still think of Candlekeep as his true home; being spat at like this must be a horrible experience.

Ulraunt takes his leave, and we are left alone with our thoughts for a while.

Spoiler: Bonus: Trial scenes

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We took the "maximum innocence" route during this playthrough - we didn't kill the Iron Throne leaders and we didn't take Koveras' ring. (We also didn't accuse the Throne of anything while in Candlekeep and killed the doppelgangers.)

This makes Ulraunt look really petty, because he has no real evidence of our involvement. He falls back on an eyewitness report from a guy nobody knows or trusts and a bunch of wild conspiracy theories. This helps to show that this conclusion is, in fact, inescapable. However, his rant does change a little depending on the actions you've taken or not taken. Here's what it looks like if you do kill the leaders and accept the ring:


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The accusations are much stronger in this scenario. Koveras' ring is a Shadow Thief assassin ring, which is why he was trying so hard to give it to us. (Allegedly. You can take it along to the sequel, but I don't think the actual Shadow Thieves react to it at all.)

So, yeah, this... was not the homecoming we were hoping for. Is this how it ends? We'll find out soon...

... in the next update, that is.

Spoiler: Comparison and commentary

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So now seems like a good time to try to talk about the way game and the book handle this plot twist. This is difficult to do, as we have to take a long view, but hey. If you're still with me at this point in the thread, I assume you've grown used to my text walls.

First of all, we have to consider the setup. Both the book and the game foreshadow CHARNAME's dark secret in various ways. The game mostly has the dreams. They're heavy on themes of death, blood and the notion that some vastly powerful force is trying to pull you in a certain direction; things that look confusing and unconnected at first, but which make perfect sense once you know the meaning behind them. There are some hints that point directly at Bhaal, too - there's some colour commentary in the manual, the Chanter at Candlekeep recites the appropriate prophecy, Bhaal's logo shows up just about everywhere... that sort of thing. Good or evil, CHARNAME always struggles against the push of the Bhaalspawn essence and eventually achieves a sort of independence.

The novel doesn't have the dreams. Its main way of foreshadowing that Abdel is a Bhaalspawn is Abdel's mostly-unexamined lust for blood. He enjoys killing, and he's very good at it. Abdel is a very shallow and brutish character, which can be quite frustrating, but it does work as a hint at his true nature. The novel also has several characters that constantly mention Abdel's true nature, which I found a little bit baffling, but so it goes. Athans is pretty heavy-handed about it in general, though there are a few subtler hints as well (Abdel instinctively knows how to kill a green slime.) Abdel never really struggles against the taint, not as such - he eventually loses most of his blood lust, but there's no inner fight and he doesn't really become any less violent.

Here's the thing: Abdel should be facing more of a struggle than this. Before chapter one, Bhaal's essence is sort of dormant in both Abdel and CHARNAME, but Abdel is much closer to behaving as it desires than CHARNAME. Abdel is all about petty violence. He's found a somewhat socially acceptable outlet for his violent tendencies - i. e. fighting for pay - but he's basically behaving like one of these minor unimportant Bhaalspawn you see all over the place come Throne of Bhaal. The essence of Bhaal doesn't really need to push him into anything, because he's willingly going down that path. The plot seemed to be hinting at a coming struggle when he spoke to Jaheira - i. e. "the voice that wants me to kill also wants you" - but that just sort of... dissipated? This whole thing is handled very strangely.

Then we have the circumstances of the return to Candlekeep. In the game, we're trying to find hard proof of the Iron Throne's involvement in the caravan raids, which we've been informed can only be found with Rieltar. Rieltar is currently at Candlekeep to negotiate a truce with Tuth. Candlekeep makes some degree of sense as a meeting point, since it's the closest thing to neutral ground you'll find on the Sword Coast. Sarevok probably had a hand in making sure Candlekeep would be chosen - remember, he's trying to get rid of the Iron Throne leadership so he can seize control. As such, he's made sure to move all of them into one place where they can easily be taken out, and by setting CHARNAME up as the fall guy, he gets rid of another opponent (and potential rival) at the same time. As we'll soon see, he knows about the secret catacombs and has been using them to get his minions in place. The whole thing is mainly a plot device, of course - the journey coming full circle - but Candlekeep works as a meeting place for in-universe reasons.

In the book, by contrast, the whole thing seems pretty forced. There seems to be no special significance attached to Candlekeep or to the Iron Throne members who are at Candlekeep. We never learn who died at Candlekeep, just that Sarevok did eight murders and Abdel did one. You also have to remember that the Iron Throne is not a legitimate merchant organisation in the book. CHARNAME can plausibly be made to look like an unhinged conspiracy theorist for attacking the Game Throne, but that just isn't true for Abdel and the Game Throne. If Sarevok just wanted to kill Abdel, he had plenty of opportunities to do so, so that can't be the reason. If we assume that Sarevok needed to frame Abdel for a crime or needed Abdel to be out of the city for a while, it didn't need to be Candlekeep, just somewhere Duke Eltan can't send troops without provoking a diplomatic incident. Also, Abdel just... doesn't have much of a connection to Candlekeep, and his journey didn't start there, so the return loses most of its punch. It's blatantly obvious that Candlekeep is only in the book because it was in the game.

Finally, we have the big revelation itself. This feels strange to write, but... I think some aspects of this plot point are handled a little better in the novel. The way the whole Bhaalspawn thing is dropped in the game... well, let's just say the game doesn't exactly linger on it, and that's pretty odd. This should be a big, pivotal moment. It casts a lot of the game's previous events in a new light, and it provides an explanation for some of the stranger things that have happened - the dreams, the powers, the involvement of major players like Elminster.

I'm going to point to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as a comparison, another ancient RPG by BioWare (this one is from 2003). The game contains a similar all-changing reveal. The game's big bad, for the most part, is one Darth Malak. In true Sith fashion, he achieved the role of big bad by killing the previous big bad - his old master, Darth Revan - and seizing control of his empire. In flashbacks, Revan is always wearing bulky robes and a face-concealing mask. You can probably guess where this one is going. About two thirds of our way through the game, we learn that (spoiler alert) the player character is Darth Revan, rescued and mind-wiped by the Jedi order. You can see the similarities to the whole Bhaalspawn thing.

The reveal is a suitably epic experience, including a cutscene, a lengthy conversation with Darth Malak and an rousing soundtrack. That is, I think, a better way to handle such a reveal. Yes, it's pretty melodramatic, and there's something said for understatement, but Baldur's Gate doesn't understate its big reveal as much as it just... kinda drops it on the floor and leaves? There'll be a little more related content later on, but this is kinda it, for now. I'd love to say it was "fair for its time," but... I don't actually know. By the time I played the games, the whole series had been released, and I started with Shadows of Amn. SoA spoils the first game's pivotal plot twist during its opening cutscene, and ToB spoils it on the back of the box. I have no idea what it was like to go into BG 1 without knowing the twist ahead of time, and neither has anyone else I've asked. It doesn't help that Let's Plays weren't really a thing in the late '90s, and the contemporary reviews I've checked don't tend to bring up the issue at all. So... I don't know. It doesn't seem great, looking back from 2017. (If you - yes, you, dear reader! - do remember your thoughts of your first playthrough, I'd love to hear them.)

By contrast, in the book, we do get to see Abdel's feelings. This is the one time Athans actually takes advantage of his medium. Abdel's emotional rawness feels somewhat real, at least. The environment in which Athans has placed the discussion also helps. Abdel and Jaheira are surrounded by items from his old life - a life Abdel mentally calls "a lie" now. Gorion's letter is a little warmer in the book, too. More personal, at least. In the game, it's very matter-of-fact. The Gorion of the books seems to take Abdel's feelings into account, which is something the Gorion of the book doesn't do.

This leaves the aftermath of the Big Reveal. We're nearing the home stretch - there are only five chapters left, now. Both CHARNAME and Abdel are in a very bad situation - reduced from conquering hero to desparate fugitive from justice. Things are about to go from bad to worse. The last few chapters should be quite fascinating.

[Keltest]

Being the young'n that I am, my first encounter with the BG series was the enhanced editions on steam. I started with the first one... and made the connection at about the time of the second dream. By the time the letter comes around, its less of a reveal and more putting a name to the crazy nonsense that you've known about since chapter 2, at least.

Maybe I'm just genre savvy, but the Chanter relating the Bhaalspawn prophecy in the beginning made it pretty abundantly clear where they were going with those hints and dreams.

[Spore]

Welcome back. I've waited in the wings.

As for the game not dwelling on the Bhaalspawn thing. It's a game first and foremost. And I feel CHARNAME is never able to catch a breath after the thing with the Iron Throne commences. To the point where I think the journal is some kind of highly magical thought-to-text device because he honestly has no time to write all of that down. Few games enforces that time constraint (and I distinctively remember Fallout's timer to get the Waterchip to be annoying) but before investigating the Iron Crisis CHARNAME's travels sort of meander on. It could be done in a few weeks. It could be done in several months (disregarding the maps' inability to show seasons). But then it speeds up.

Having proof your father is murder incarnate - as previously you only could guess as a player - doesn't REALLY change anything. CHARNAME is emotionally extremely resilient because his role as a placeholder for the player's choices (be it class, behaviour or alignment) and as a leader of a minor mercenary band (or however else you want to call his fellowship) has to be. I see CHARNAME as someone who represses his emotions during the day, channeling all of his or her memories towards the journal. Even if the canon group of Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, Dynaheir and Imoen seems pretty supportive, none of them - short of maybe Jaheira - is leadership material. CHARNAME has to keep it together for the sake of succeeding at the game's tasks.

Maybe I'm just genre savvy

The prophesied hero was a stereotype in the 80/90s too. The actual twist is that you are related to an evil dude this time. But then again, overcoming your evil nature isn't exactly fresh material either :D

[ZeltArruin]

In regards to the reveal, I remember playing BG1 before the sequel came out, and I'm pretty sure even then someone spoiled for me that I was Sarevok's brother and a bhaalspawn, but I never beat the game (or made it to the bandit camp). However when 2 came out, I played a ton of that, and of course the reveal was spoiled in the intro as you said. Hell, I can't remember not knowing that Imoen was a bhaalspawn either, and for the longest time when I played BG1 (which I never beat until last year) I always had her with me because I knew she turned out to be one. It wasn't until I started delving into the game deeper when the enhanced editions came out that I even realized that she was barely in 1 or 2 in any fashion, and her bhaalspawn status was a last minute addition. I think it's more of a pre-internet kinda thing to spoil **** like that with your friends, it happened all the time for me and my group of people anyways, partially because gaming back then was a lot more limited with no steam and tons of console exclusives, spoiling a game for someone was common because the odds were you weren't going to have a chance to play the game anyway.

[JadedDM]

I did play the game back when it was first released.

From what I remember, I had just recently read the Avatar trilogy from the Forgotten Realms series before playing (the books that detail the events of the Time of Troubles). So when I heard Alaundo's prophecy, spoken by the chanters, way in the beginning of the game, it really stuck with me as something important. (Otherwise, I might have just ignored it or brushed it off as unimportant world building or something.)

So because of that, I quickly deduced that the villain was a bhaalspawn. Over time, mostly due to the dreams, I started to suspect CHARNAME was one, too.

Thus, when the big reveal did appear, it wasn't much of a reveal at all. I had all but figured it out by that point, so it was more just a confirmation of what I already suspected. So for me, all of the gasping and 'dun-dun-duuuunnnn' stuff had already happened. I can't remember at what point in the game it actually dawned on me, sadly. (I mean, to be fair, it was nearly 20 years ago, after all.)

[Kish]

It is worth noting that if you attack the Iron Throne leaders when you meet them, you'll be arrested as soon as you leave the floor, and unless you evade the Gatewarden you'll never see Gorion's letter.

Just in general, I think they expect you to have figured out that you're the child of Bhaal before either Gorion's letter or the next dream you have spells it out.

[Spore]

So because of that, I quickly deduced that the villain was a bhaalspawn. Over time, mostly due to the dreams, I started to suspect CHARNAME was one, too.

I am not sure if it was that easy. Reading background books mean you had an advantage anyway. I distinctly remember thinking to myself that Sarevok was a badass (and had something to do with murder after killing someone on the roof of the Iron Throne area. I think I figured him out to be a Bhaal Spawn waaaaay before knowing of the status of the hero.

After all, this was my first RPG and I was used to squeaky clean (cartoon) heroes before. That is probably why I chose an Archer Ranger (after playing a Leather Armor wearing Fighter thinking negative AC is bad and getting decimated).

[Wardog]

CHARNAME must have been a very precocious infant if he could run around pestering people while wearing swaddling clothes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaddling

[Khay]

Very interesting, thank you all for the feedback! The impression I'm getting is that it's quite possible to guess the plot twist ahead of time, though it does require at least a little genre savviness. (In particular, realising that it's probably not a coincidence that the Chanter is chanting that specific prophecy.) In that case, the letter... well, sort of works, since it just confirms your suspicions. It's probably pretty awful if you don't or can't guess it, though. I wouldn't know, since I was in the "pre-spoiled by friends" camp.

---

Chapter 25 is mercifully short, and I had the game commentary already half-written from last week's disaster. So as of this update, we're back on schedule. Hooray!

Spoiler: The book

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Abdel touched his nose and, like the rest of him, it had turned to glass.

This thing right here? This is a good opening line.

Abdel forces his eyes open, and finds himself on a tower overlooking a forest. It is a very, very high tower, but Abdel still can't see where the forest ends. He can make out people in rough black robes, though, and they are chanting his name. He turns to look.

He took a step back and was surprised when it seemed like whatever structure he was standing on moved back with him. This made his head spin all the more, and a sigh escaped his crystal lips. He put one foot forward to try to balance himself but couldn’t. It was then that he realized he wasn’t standing on a tower—he was the tower.

Abdel loses his balance almost immediately and starts falling. He is hundreds of feet tall, though, and it takes him a long time to reach the ground.

When his center of gravity shifted enough, his shins started to crack. The sound of it was loud and would still have been disturbing even if it wasn’t his legs. As his face rushed toward the ground and he came closer and closer to her, he saw Jaheira.

Ouch. Abdel screams, but he can't exactly stop himself from falling. Jaheira screams, but she seems anchored to the spot. So they both just scream for a while.

She held up her hands, and Abdel tried to scream out her name, but his voice caught in his glass throat and shattered it. His head fell off and hit Jaheira hard enough to drive her into the ground as it shattered into a trillion screeching fragments.

And that was Baldur's Gate: Bhaal must be stopped! by Philip Athans. A fitting conclusion for the novel if I do say so myself. Let's just wrap things up real quick. I hope you'll join me in the next thread, when we'll be talking about the action-packed-

Hm?

Alright, alright, it was a dream.

Abdel came awake with a start, and Jaheira was holding his shoulders, her face close to his. She looked angry and smelled awful.

We only get the one Bhaal dream in this book, so I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. I actually sort of did. As with the game's dreams, it's unsettling and confusing, but the symbolism is really obvious if you think about it for a while. (I don't think I'd describe Abdel as a "shattering glass titan," but if he was undergoing a character arc, I guess he'd be at this point right now.)

Abdel reluctantly wakes up, sorting through his memories to figure out where he is and why. Tethtoril left a while ago, promising to help, and they decided to rest while they were waiting for him to return. The Candlekeep dungeons have surprisingly comfortable cots, but not much in the way of personal hygiene devices, so there is... something of an odor.

“You don’t smell very good,” he said, forcing a weak smile.
Jaheira sighed impatiently and said, “It’s not me.”
She turned to the bars, and there was the ghoul, Korak.
“Abdel,” he said in the voice of the chanting people of Abdel’s nightmare. “Abdel, I help you.”

I'll be honest: This made me laugh. Yes, it's that ghoul again. Korak has been a running gag throughout the book, but we haven't seen him since the Cloakwood, giving us juuuuust enough time to forget about the guy.

The ghoul, for his part, has acquired Abdel's and Jaheira's equipment (carried in a precarious bundle) and a heavy iron ring. A good dozen keys are hanging from the ring, as well as a severed hand. Oh, Korak, you cad. He opens the door, but Abdel hesitates, as he's quite done trusting Korak after the whole spider hell thing.

“Abdel,” Jaheira said, ignoring the ghoul, “if they could get to Scar—with doppelgangers—if they could get into the ducal palace in Baldur’s Gate... they could get in here.”
“Tethtoril will help us,” Abdel protested. “I’ve known him all my life. He’s a good man, and he won’t hang either of us.” “If he isn’t already dead,” Jaheira said sternly. Korak hovered in the open doorway and said, “Coming now?”
“That was Tethtoril who locked us in here last night,” Abdel assured her. “If it was a doppelganger why wouldn’t he just kill us?”

Jaheira argues that, well, it could be a doppelganger who is acting like the real Tethtoril for now, to achieve some other purpose - like finding more crimes to pin on Team Abdel. They discuss this for a while, but eventually Abdel backs down, and they exit the cell.

“So we can’t trust anyone,” he said simply.
“I don’t think we can,” she replied as simply. “We can trust Gorion’s letter, though. You have a half brother named Sarevok, who I’m guessing is Reiltar’s—the Iron Throne’s— ‘man’ in Baldur’s Gate.”

... but the letter was given to you by Tethtoril. He was the one who informed you it even exists. If you assume that Tethtoril was replaced by a doppelganger, how do you know the document handed over by Tethtoril is trustworthy? Abdel would be familiar with Gorion's handwriting, so maybe an outright fake is out of the question, but if you assume that Tethtoril is a doppelganger working for the evil guys, then the evil guys wanted you to see the letter. What if this is Rieltar trying to frame Sarevok?

That said, I'm gettting the impression that Jaheira doesn't actually believe that. She was probably just looking for an argument that would get Abdel to move.

Korak hands them their stuff, and Abdel finds it all in order (armor, sword, pass-stone and dagger). They leave.

Even in the most curious summer afternoons of Abdel’s youth, he’d never seen this side of Candlekeep. Under the monastery, for what seemed like endless layer upon endless layer, was a series of catacombs and sewers that was like an infinite labyrinth. It didn’t take Abdel long, who didn’t have much of a sense of direction underground, to get lost completely, and he and Jaheira soon found themselves in a position they’d both promised themselves and each other they’d never be in again. They were blindly following the vile-smelling Korak.

Being led through a confusing and dangerous place by an untrustwrothy ghoul. Really takes you back, doesn't it? Jaheira occasionally stops to read an inscription or to look at an especially fancy casket, but Korak keeps hurrying them on.

“Eventually this should lead out to the sea,” Abdel said, ignoring her observation.
She smiled at him in the flickering torchlight and was about to say something when the ghoul’s voice echoed back at them, “No time to stop.” Korak sounded nervous. “No time at all!”
The zombies fell on him from all sides at once.
Jaheira breathed in sharply as if she were about to scream, and Abdel’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of the ghoul being torn to pieces by a good half-dozen walking corpses who each looked worse off than even the rotting ghoul.

Oh no, zombies! I guess you can't have a crypt-themend dungeon without some zombies. Would be a waste, you know.

Poor Korak is torn apart by the reanimated corpses. I'd say that's a bad way to die, but, uh, he was an undead abomination already, so... a bad way to re-die? Anyway, Abdel and Jaheira leg it.

They turned a corner in the dark, damp, musty, narrow corridor, and their way was blocked by a rusted iron gate. Abdel swore loudly, and the echoes momentarily drowned out the loud, reverberating hiss of the zombies dragging their desiccated feet along the stone floor.

Abdel pulls on the gate, but it doesn't budge. The zombies close in, so our heroes spend some time fighting the undead. Eventually, Jaheira manages to kick in the rusted metal grate.

The half-elf screamed and pushed back with both legs, coming into the rusted gate hard in an attempt to avoid the zombie’s second scraping set of claws. The zombie fell away as Jaheira hit the gate and continued through when the bars, which had rusted through after centuries of neglect, gave way behind her.
Jaheira had expected the gate to hold her so was surprised enough at finding herself landing rump-first on the damp stone floor that she didn’t see Abdel cut in half the zombie that had scratched her.

Okay so it's not quite that dignified but come on give me a break.

Now that Jaheira's iron butt has removed the obstacle, Abdel and Jaheira continue down the corridor.

“The whole thing,” Abdel said as he ran, “is full of secret doors. It’s practically made of secret doors. I’ve never been down here, but I see no reason why—“
He stopped at the sound of grinding stone, and Jaheira collided with his back with a grunt. A doorway slid open in the stone wall to their left. Abdel winked and stepped through into the soft, damp breeze that carried on it the scent of the sea.

And with that, our heroes make it to the surface. I assume the zombies remain behind, because this is the last time they're mentioned. Freedom! Well, except for the part where they are wanted fugitives now. But hey.

Spoiler: The game

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Sorry about the slightly weird cropping in this one. It turns out that, when you tell ActivePresenter to lock on to a given window, it treats that as more of a suggestion than anything else.

We spend some time rotting in what appears to be Candlekeep's only jail cell. (Fun fact: This is just a lockable area in the Candlekeep barracks.) I guess Candlekeep doesn't really keep prisoners. Presumably, for most crimes, they fine you if you're a resident and throw you out if you're a guest.

Hey, I can hear footsteps. Is someone approaching?


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Tethtoril! At least someone still believes in us. Thank you, Tethtoril.


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Tethtoril offers us an escape route: He'll teleport us to the catacombs the Chanter mentioned, and we'll have to find our way out from there. Apparently the catacombs are connected to a natural cave system of sorts. If we stay, we'll certainly be shipped off to Baldur's Gate to be executed. I don't think Duke Eltan or Scar could protect us - not if we return without proof of the Iron Throne's malfeasance.

Spoiler: Bonus: Inncoent until proven guilty

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Tethtoril's reaction changes a little bit if you aren't actually innocent.


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He's not mad, and he still frees you, but he's clearly disappointed. He even drops the thees and thous. How sad.

We accept Tethtoril's offer. We might be fugitives from justice now, but hey, no big deal, we're Chaotic. Also, what Ulraunt did was like the textbook definition of a kangaroo court.


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For some reason, there's no cutscene here, not even a spellcasting animation. We just kind of... go to a loading sceen. At least the loading screen is unique, I think?


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Once the loading screen is done, we're standing at the entrace to the secret catacombs. Make sure to raid the shelves here, because they hold some nice spell scrolls.

While we're here, CHARNAME takes a moment to scribble something baffling in their journal.


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We're not even going to mention the Bhaalspawn stuff, are we? We aren't. Right. Gotcha.

Well, only one way to go.


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The catacombs are appropriately dark and dusty. I assume these are magic self-lighting fires. Well, we should have an easy way out from here to-

...

Phlydia?


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No, remember, we returned that book to you, Phlydia. What are you doing down here anyway?


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Oh.


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What the hell was that? There's no way the doppelgangers should've been able to follow us down here, not if the catacombs are as heavily warded as Tethtoril implied.

We could continue down that corridor - it leads to the next part of the catacombs - but let's explore a little while we're here. We're probably never coming back this way, so let's make sure we're not missing anything important.


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This section is a twisty little maze of passages, all alike, and all heavily trapped. We give Imoen a Potion of Perception and have her scout ahead. Let's see what's down these corridors.


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Dead end.


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Empty sarcophagus.


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... giant spiders? Well, I expected the first two, but this one, not so much. This section repeats the "web trap and Phase Spiders" trick we all know and hate from the Cloakwood, but luckily, we have ways of evening the odds.


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Like this!


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The 1.4k EXP aren't worth as much to us anymore, but Imoen is still only level three. She should catch up quickly, though.


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Having defeated the spiders, we are entitled to the contents of their spider hoard. The treasure includes a lot of valuable items - a Manual of Gainful Exercise (+1 STR for Abdel), a Cloak of Protection +2 (AC bonus for Jaheira) and a Rogue Stone (ca$h yo).


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The next corridor contains another locked-and-trapped sarcophagus, but this one holds some nice potions and a scroll of protection against magic.


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All the containers here are locked and trapped, and all the corridors have at least two traps in them as well. If you're going to explore this place, bring a rogue. Seriously.

If you do go exploring, though, the rewards are well worth it. In this case, the loot includes a ring of Fire Resistance, and a Tome of Understanding. Abdel finally masters basic shapes and colours. (Again, +1 WIS is pretty wasted on that guy, but there's no point giving the bonus to anyone else because it won't carry over into the sequel and this game is almost over.)

Well, this one started out freaky, but it looks like a pretty normal dungeon crawl right now.


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... or not, I guess! That's a lot of corpses, enough to attract several ghasts.


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Another room like that. Smaller, but still disturbing. Up ahead is... oh. Oh dear.


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Yep, gonna be sick forever. There is a huge corpse pile here, which carries some disturbing implications. A haphazard mass grave like this either means the ghasts raided the catacombs and dragged the bodies here for feeding, or someone had to dump a lot of bodies in a hurry. (You can loot the bodies for a Wand of Fire and some vendor trash including a War Hammer +1 if you're so inclined.)


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That about does it for this section of the catacombs.


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Not-Phlydia tried to flee down this corridor earlier, so I suppose we'll find the exit in that direction.

The corridor soon opens into a big chamber, which...


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... D-Dreppin?


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Oh no, not you as well, Dreppin...


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Chamber after chamber, one of our childhood friends shows up, says something hurtful, turns into a doppelganger, and attacks, forcing us to kill them.


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Parda offers us the comfort of death.


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Reevor accuses us of working for the rats. (Okay, this isn't hurtful as much as it is baffling.)


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Arkanis and Deder... uhm...


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Arkanis and Deder join you? Okay then.

In case you've forgotten about them (how could you?): Arkanis and Deder are temporary party members from the combat tutorial we skipped. Obe, who sent them, is the illusionist who runs said tutorial. I have no idea whether Arkanis, Deder, Canderous (not that one), Osprey and Mordaine are meant to be real. They have no dialogue, their biographies are blank, and their equipment vanishes when the tutorial ends.

Whatever they are, they aren't doppelgangers. If you accept their help, then they'll assist you in combat while you're in the catacombs (they follow you as non-controllable NPCs). If you send them away, then they'll leave. Yeah. I don't know either. I guess it's fitting that the only people down here who aren't doppelgangers are people who may or may not actually be real.

Anyway:


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Fuller regrets giving us the time of day, let alone a fetch quest.


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Karan calls us stupid. A nothing.


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Hull accuses us of stealing his antidote.


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Finally, Jondalar mocks us for thinking we could ever beat him.


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For some reason, Jondalar is the only one who gets a proper room, not just a small cranny. The shelf just contains a Dispel Magic scroll, but the corpses here, again, carry some disturbing implications. These were definitely not transported by the ghasts.

Well, that was nice and horribly traumatising, but we have to move on.


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Once again, there's only one way to go. Deep breaths, everyone.


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Ready? Well, no, but we don't have much of a choice.


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Elminster, Gorion and Tethtoril. Right. I suppose that's the next logical step. Nice try, mirror-kin!


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I- well, alright, you sound like Elminster. But that doesn't prove anything, mirror-kin. Even if you were Elminster, what about "Gorion" there? We saw him die, you know.


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...

Could it be? We - CHARNAME, that is - we never actually saw the killing blow. We fled before then. Poison kind of makes sense, right? We never really checked for vital signs, we just assumed...

...


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I have questions.


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I- I guess that would be the implication...


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So there it is: The moment of truth. Do we believe this person? Do we accept that we've been trapped in a phantasm of some sort, and trust them to lead us out of it? ... or is this just another lie, and if we follow them, they'll lead us into an ambush? This is our red pill/blue pill moment, except we don't know which pill is which. (Well, Baldur's Gate was released a few months before Matrix, so I guess it's more of a sweaty scientist/cyanide capsule moment.)

The world they propose is... well, quite frightening. They're suggesting we're wandering around in a waking nightmare of some sort, killing our friends because they look like monsters to us, but... it would be nice to believe that Gorion is still alive. It would be nice to believe that Elminster is intervening directly on our behalf. It would be nice to just be able to... stop... and leave this all to someone else to untangle.

There are some things that don't add up here. What were Phlydia and Dreppin and the others doing down here anyway? Why did Tethtoril teleport us down here and why did he tell us to flee? How did Tethtoril even get down here before us if you can't teleport past the wards?

I guess these three would have answers to these questions. Perhaps that Tethtoril was another doppelganger, and this is the real one. And besides, if we assume this is reality, how did Arkanis and Deder get down here? (Seriously, are they real? Is anyone else seeing them? Anyone? Minsc?) Perhaps Elminster is right. Perhaps.

I have another objection, though:


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If you really are Elminster, we have no hope of defeating you, but you should easily be able to subdue us. Draw steel, old man! And please, for the sake of Mystra, please be real and win this fight.


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"Gorion" and "Tethtoril" turn into doppelgangers and attack. "Elminster" is a Greater Doppelganger, and hangs back to cast a few buffs first.


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The resulting fight isn't easy, but if we really had a combined 38 levels of Wizard and 18 levels of Cleric against us, Jaheira wouldn't be wounded, she would be a greasy smear on the floor. So I'm pretty sure we got that one right.

Spoiler: Blue pill

Show

You can, if you wish, trust Elminster...


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... and he promises to lead you to safety.


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The three of them turn around and walk off, forcing you to run after them as doppelgangers appear. (Right-clicking on them yields a voice line from Gorion, Tethtoril or Elminster as expected.)

Eventually, you reach the end of the corridor, and... well...


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Yeah, I think we all saw this one coming.

There is one more disturbing line of dialogue buried in the assets, so before you get too complacent that this is proof they are mirror-kin, consider this:

ELMINSTER: Calm yourself, <CHARNAME>, and hold firm. This fragile bubble of reality about us weakens! ...Curses! Whate'er thou doest, do not resist them. They are merely phantasmal illusions and can do no true harm!

ActionOverride("GORION3",ApplySpell(Myself,DOPPLEG ANGER_CHANGE_DEFAULT_LESSER))
ActionOverride("TETHTO3",ApplySpell(Myself,DOPPLEG ANGER_CHANGE_DEFAULT_LESSER))
ActionOverride("ELMINS4",ApplySpell(Myself,DOPPLEG ANGER_CHANGE_DEFAULT))

Hmm.

We step over their corpses, and continue down the corridor.


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Ah. Yeah, that's nice and all, but it really doesn't stack up to what we just saw. Sorry, mirror-kin.


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A few doppelgangers remain, but they don't even bother with disguises. They die as easily as the other ones.


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Time to leave. Arkanis and Deder stay behind, as previously discussed. (Actually, they sometimes come along and sometimes wander off relatively early, but nevermind.)


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The corridor, eventually, leads to a natural cave system. We must be getting close to the surface now.


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... really?


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Really.

Prat. Buddy. Friend. We just had our beliefs in the fundamental nature of reality shaken. We just stabbed something wearing the face of our foster father to death. Do we really have to do this?


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Sigh.

Prat (Fighter/Mage), Sakul (Fighter/Mage), Tam (Fighter) and Bor (Fighter) serve as this chapter's boss battle. Eh... well, sort of. They're honestly not that challenging. I mean, it can be a tough fight, but I just don't respect them. At least they're standing close to each other, so... Stinking Cloud time.


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Stinking Cloud and ranged weapons make short work of the party. They carry a Throwing Axe +2 (Returning), which is pretty nice, plus a bunch of stuff that's honestly just vendor trash at this point. Prat does have an interesting letter with him, though:


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This sheds some light on Sarevok's plans, and confirms he was basically killing two birds with one stone here: By murdering Rieltar and framing CHARNAME, he gets rid of two problems at once. ... huh, the idiom usually isn't that literal.


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A few more obstacles stand between us and our freedom, including another miniature version of spider hell. (Really just a sword spider, a phase spider and a web trap, but that's bad enough.)

One more obstacle to go, and this is a really nasty one.


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This is the universal warning sign for Basilisk Ahead. Look at the map - the paths all lead to this chamber, which contains two Greater Basilisks. If you still have a Potion of Mirrored Eyes or a spare scroll of Protection from Petrification, congratulations on your free 14,000 XP. If you don't... well, sucks to be you.

Sucks to be us.


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Thankfully, there are a few more or less cheesy ways to deal with the basilisks. We'll be using a scroll of Summon Monster II to create some meatshields, then sword the basilisks while they're distracted.


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Two of the wolves are turned to stone, but the remaining four engage the basilisks in melee. You see, Greater Basilisks have a poisonous bite. It's still nasty, but at least it's not an instakill like the gaze attack.


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Just to make sure, we expend some spell slots on debuffs and attack support.


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Nice. Imoen caught up pretty quickly.

I don't think there's any way to get through this chamber without encountering the basilisks. It's entirely possible to have a party just be unrepared to face them, and this is after not one but two points of no return. So yeah, this encounter is a real jerk move.

Still, we got past the lizards. We're almost at the exit, but there's one last encounter to get through.


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Prat's buddy, Diarmid. He doesn't recognise us, so let's try to get some information out of him while we can. (His introduction confirms that Sarevok knows about the secret route, but so did Prat's presence.)


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The Iron Throne base... we'll have to make our way back to the Gate, then. It won't be easy, since we are now a wanted criminal, but it seems that's our next stop.


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So Sarevok did have a backup plan - and, like most of his plans, it involves doppelgangers. Interesting that Ulraunt still named Koveras as the only witness of the crime. Did we mess up the doppelganger plan by killing the ones in Candlekeep? Probably not, but I'm headcanon-ing that.

This, at last, gets a journal entry out of CHARNAME.


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("(...) His end goal seems to be war with Amn, but his reasons are still not clear to me.")

I would've guessed that the bit with the doppelgangers would've been worth talking about, but... sure. It's your journal, CHARNAME.


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We follow the guy outside.


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Freedom at last.

Assuming any of this was real.

Spoiler: Comparison and commentary

Show

The Candlekeep catacombs are one hell of a trip. This is one of the most ambiguous, disorienting and just plain weird sections in the game. As short as it is, it's quite memorable. (If you've played Mother 3, it might remind you of Tanetane Island.)

Let's get one thing out of the way first: The game doesn't support the interpretation that "Elminster" is telling the truth, and his story is full of holes. How did all these people get down here if the catacombs are meant to be secret? Why did Tethtoril teleport us here only to intercept us later? What was Sarevok trying to achieve by not finishing off Gorion? Wouldn't Gorion have died of dehydration after a few days of paralysis? If Sarevok has the means to place us in an illusion this powerful, why are we still alive? If that really was Elminster, how did he not turn our whole party into chunky salsa within four rounds? That sort of thing. I was honestly giving that reading a little more credibility than it deserves.

Also... well, the sequels exist. That kind of kills that whole argument. (Unless you want to go full postmodern, and man, you never go full postmodern.)

That said, if we assume that our perceptions can be trusted, we are still left with a lot of open questions. Most importantly, what happened to the surface dwellers? We know the killing-and-replacing was in progress, as we encounter two doppelgangers above ground and there's at least one more in the barracks. Was the real Dreppin killed and replaced before we got to Candlekeep? Did we talk to Not-Dreppin during the last update? Or was that the real Dreppin, and Not-Dreppin didn't get around to killing Real-Dreppin yet? We know from Jhasso that doppelgangers can impersonate living people without killing them. The Dreppin, Phlydia, Hull etc. we met on the surface seemed normal enough. All the other doppelgangers we've seen have been utterly terrible actors, including the ones actually in Candlekeep. That would seem to suggest they haven't gotten around to doing the kill-and-replace thing yet.

The ones in the catacombs do something weird, though: They reference specific events that happened back in the first chapter. We don't really know how much plot-time passed since then, but it has to have been at least a couple of weeks. So how do the doppelgangers know about the business with Dreppin's cow, or Fuller's fetch quest? Did they kill-and-replace the Candlekeep residents weeks ago, before the game started? Is that the limited doppelganger telepathy at play, which exists in the lore but is never mentioned in the game? Were they just spying on the place for a long time? Is CHARNAME suffering a mental breakdown?

What about all the corpses we saw? These would seem to hint at a recent massacre. If the doppelgangers are killing and replacing surface dwellers, they have a lot of bodies to get rid to, and feeding them to ghasts is a clean solution. It's not the only possible explanation, though. It could also be that the ghasts wandered in here on their own (the caves don't seem to be warded), so these could be old bodies that were piled up by the undead scavengers. Hey, ants build food chambers too - why not ghouls? Or maybe the Candlekeep residents dumped the bodies there, just like that, after or during some long-ago calamity. So this doesn't prove anything either.

There's also the question of what Sarevok would actually gain by killing and replacing Candlekeep's population. He needs a few doppelgangers in the keep to make sure Rieltar dies and CHARNAME is arrested, and perhaps a few more for various contingencies, but Candlekeep isn't really his target. Baldur's Gate is. Amn is. Candlekeep isn't really able to affect Sword Coast politics one way or another.

None of these questions have answers, as far as I know.

Also, what in the blazes is up with Arkanis and Deder? Why are they here? It can't be a pure gameplay thing, can it? The game rarely gives you that kind of NPC assistance, and when it does, there's a very good reason for it. (The guards at the Friendly Arm can kill Tarnesh for you, who is way too difficult for the stage of the game where you encounter him. Korax in Mutamin's Garden is immune to the petrification attacks of the local basilisks. That kind of thing.) That just isn't the case here. If you can make it past Zhalimar Cloudwulfe, you can definitely deal with a bunch of doppelgangers. Arkanis and Deder aren't even helpful in combat thanks to their tendency to wander off. Their placement has to mean something. As mentioned above, Arkanis and Deder are tutorial characters, and as such receive even less characterisation than the random Candlekeep NPCs. None of them have any lines of dialogue and their biographies are blank. Nobody mentions them, and you never see them outside the tutorial cellars. The tutorial is hosted by an illusionist who can somehow make "hard light" illusions of kobolds and gibberlings, so it's not clear that Osprey and Canderous and Mordaine and Arkanis and Deder are even real. I'm pretty sure the entire purpose of this meeting is to mess with the player. If so, mission achieved.

This is one of those sections that is strongly affected by the fact that your party members never say anything.* Yes, there are six people here, sort of, but CHARNAME is the only one with agency and dialogue. Are CHARNAME's perceptions trustworthy? No idea, and there's no information coming from the rest of the party.

(* The "hi we're in a dungeon" interjection does not count.)

Anyway, this would be a great opportunity for the book to answer some lingering questions. A book adaptation of a videogame needn't be a straight translation. It can be a sort of companion work, especially for a game like Baldur's Gate, whose writing is a little thin in places.

So how does the book handle this section? Well, it doesn't. There aren't any doppelgangers down in the catacombs, just some generic zombies our heroes easily outrun. I guess that makes sense. Abdel isn't one for introspection and he doesn't have much of a connection to Candlekeep, so the section wouldn't have worked very well. This is why the book is so deeply disappointing, not just as a work of fiction but as an adaptation and as a part of the Baldur's Gate universe. It's just... superfluous.

At least we got to see Korak again, so that was fun.

Only four chapters left now. They tend to run long, but still: Only four chapters left. I have a little more bonus material after that, but we should finish things up by the end of summer. Exciting, isn't it?

[Spore]

The game catacombs aren't really that difficult. They are the route in which Sarevok sets up his doppelganger crew to get into Candlekeep. As he has to remove NPCs to be replaced the surplus amount is waiting "in the wings". I feel with their superficial psychic powers they just happen to pick up CHARNAME's thoughts about all the friends he possibly never sees again and transform. And the game's writers use this as a way to reinforce the thought that you are not a hero anymore but a wanted fugitive but that you are actually innocent as all doppelgangers drop their act. It is so formulaic (emulation of NPC, inversion of quest solved, attack) - and the build up to the Elminster fake-out done so well - that it has to be some kind of stylistic device. I was never good in literary analysis but I love Candlekeep plus Catacombs. It is the game's climax after all. I know the final battle is awesome too. But the arc of suspense it peaking here imho. Why? Because you don't know if the rest of the game is continued as a fugitive. Do you even get to Sarevok? Do you flee the land? Will you be forced to kill even more to finally erupt in murdery god-ness? At the point of the final battle, the gameplay tension is higher. But you already know that you will succeed (in any one save where you don't get splattered to the walls by Sarevok). Also I never played past the Catacombs and my Orc Berserker save is right up with you here now. And I still got another week of holidays to kill.

The book part is kind of underwhelming and weird. Korak is a weird WEIRD Deus Ex Machina.

[Keltest]

I'm somewhat amused by the fact that Abdel apparently just attracts undead to him like a magnet. remind me, did they ever say how Korak died?

[Khay]

TIt is so formulaic (emulation of NPC, inversion of quest solved, attack) - and the build up to the Elminster fake-out done so well - that it has to be some kind of stylistic device. I was never good in literary analysis but I love Candlekeep plus Catacombs. It is the game's climax after all. I know the final battle is awesome too. But the arc of suspense it peaking here imho. Why? Because you don't know if the rest of the game is continued as a fugitive.

Yeah, this is a good point, actually. This is the game's big dramatic turning point, because it interrupts the smooth arc of heroism we've been on so far. It works quite well. (The content that remains is still interesting, but this section represents the final upping of stakes, or something close to it.)

The book part is kind of underwhelming and weird. Korak is a weird WEIRD Deus Ex Machina.

I'm somewhat amused by the fact that Abdel apparently just attracts undead to him like a magnet. remind me, did they ever say how Korak died?

Korak is something of a mystery. Here's what we know about him:

• Korak died "three years ago." It's not clear whether this was before or after Abdel moved out of Candlekeep, because the narrative will only say that Abdel has been a sellsword for "several years."
• Abdel was at Korak's funeral, which "didn't take."
• Abdel knew Korak when they were children, so Korak probably didn't die of old age.
• Abdel never trusted Korak when he was alive.

My headcanon is that Korak is pulling a reverse Morte, i. e. Abdel got him killed and he's trying to save Abdel from something in the hopes that'll demonstrate forgiveness and allow his soul to move on beyond undeath.

[Spore]

Korak's name is maybe pulled from corvus corax, or the common raven. The animal is often associated with death, which fits both his status as undead and some kind of clumsy foreshadowing (murder is intended death). If the FR wiki is correct then ghouls tend to raise from people who performed cannibalism when they were alive too.

I am probably overinterpreting but maybe Korak is the remnant of some kind of half-bottomed try of a metaphor.

[Wardog]

On my first playthrough, I did fall for the fake Elminster trick, because I had assumed that doppelganger had to kill someone to impersonate them. Also because unlike all the other 'gangers encountered, Fakeminster and co didn't break character the moment you asked awkward questions.

[Khay]

On my first playthrough, I did fall for the fake Elminster trick, because I had assumed that doppelganger had to kill someone to impersonate them. Also because unlike all the other 'gangers encountered, Fakeminster and co didn't break character the moment you asked awkward questions.

When I was a kid, there was this persistent rumor that they were actually real and you could get a secret ending from there. The methods were elaborate - you had to say X thing to Elminster during his previous appearances, you had to have Protection from Evil on CHARNAME before meeting Koveras, and so on. It really is notable that Fakeminster has acting skills, unlike all the other doppelgangers.

Korak's name is maybe pulled from corvus corax, or the common raven.

Heh. You know, I didn't actually spot that one. Athans actually made the pun a little subtler (Korax -> Korak), but I guess it's still pretty blatant, yeah. Abdel's dialogue implies Korak already had that name while alive. I think that's called "pulling a Remus Lupin" in the industry.

This is neither here nor there, but in the games, it's actually CHARNAME who gets the crow symbolism. There's the dream we talked about, and Haer'Dalis (who can safely be assumed to Know Things) instantly nicknames them "raven."

---

We're officially approaching the endgame. The book really gets serious about cutting and reshuffling events at this point. Since this is mostly a Let's Read, I'll try to replicate the book's order of events in the game whenever possible.

Chapter Twenty-Six is, therefore, our last breather episode. The next three chapters are going to drop a lot of events in rapid succession, so... enjoy the slow(ish) pace while it lasts.

Spoiler: The book

Show

Having escaped the dungeons of Candlekeep, Abdel and Jaheira are now on the way back to Baldur's Gate. It'll take them a while to get there, though. Let's check in with Team Evil in the meantime.

“Candlekeep will take care of them for you,” Duke Angelo said, handing the semicircular glass to Sarevok. “They will never be seen again.”
Sarevok smiled, and Angelo looked away. As one of the dukes of Baldur’s Gate, an experienced mercenary commander, and a half-elf who’d already lived longer than most humans would ever dream of, Angelo had met all kinds—but no one like Sarevok.

Note that our viewpoint character for this scene is not Tamoko but Angelo, a fantastically wealthly ex-mercenary who has recently gained command of the Flaming Fist. This is something of a social call, but the half-elf finds Sarevok unnerving, and thus soon turns the conversation from brandy to politics.

“This Abdel of yours, and his woman, are known and wanted in this city. I don’t suppose you can tell me how you got this information?”
“Oh,” Sarevok laughed, “of course not, but I assure you they are indeed working in the employ of the Shadow Thieves.”

The Shadow Thieves, Sarevok explains, are technically outlaws, but Amn likes to use them as privateers. He isn't wrong.

“This is not to be tolerated,” Angelo said, as if looking for agreement from Sarevok.
“Indeed,” the imposing man said, “it is not.”
“So what does it mean?” Angelo asked. “War with Amn, then?”
“Do you fear war?”
Angelo looked at Sarevok sharply, and a cold sweat broke out under his fine clothing.

Angelo finds he can't really meet Sarevok's eyes. To distract himself, he pokes at his fireplace for a while. With a mithral poker. Imported, at great expense, from the dwarven mines of the Great Rift. Angelo has a lot of money.

He turned away and looked at the portrait of himself that hung above the fireplace. The artist had done an admirable job with Angelo’s long, thin, vertical features. The duke kept his goatee trimmed to match the portrait, though current fashions were passing it by. The painting, unlike the man, still showed a trace of the warrior he once was.

This is a surprisingly neat bit of characterisation. Not particularly subtle, yes, but gosh darnit, it works.

The half-elf does have reservations, but he doesn't say it out loud. Instead, he brings up the morale of the Flaming Fist. Men need a reason to fight, Angelo states. Sarevok smiles and tells him not to worry about that part.

“When I am named grand duke,” Sarevok said, “there will be no more Amnian cutthroats defiling our great city... if we have to kill every man, woman, and child in that cursed realm to ensure it.”
Angelo swallowed in a throat turned dry.

I feel like I've been overusing "dun dun dunnn" lately, but this does call for one, I feel.

Well, that was interesting. Let's see what Team Abdel is doing. (Skulking, mostly.)

It wasn’t even a whole shadow that caught Abdel’s eye but the edge of a shadow. It was the third time he’d caught a glimpse of it since they’d returned to Baldur’s Gate, sneaking into the city at night, unsure of their status in that city or any other on the Sword Coast. They were considered murderers in Candlekeep. Now they were being followed.

Abdel and Jaheira are trying to report to Eltan, which means they have to get to the ducal palace. They're sticking to the side alleys due to their unclear legal status. Someone is following our heroes. They try to shake their stalker, but it doesn't really work.

Most of the time Abdel was the one who noticed their tail. He couldn’t explain it even to himself, but it was as if he could smell her. Her? Abdel shook the thoughts out of his head[.]

That is indeed rather inexplicable. I don't think Abdel has a Spot check worth mentioning.

Eventually, they make it to the ducal palace. They consider infiltration for a moment, then decide against it. The area is heavily fortified, including a good half-dozen guards at the front gate.

Abdel held his hands out next to him and walked up the little incline to the gate slowly. “I seek an audience with Grand Duke Eltan,” he said simply.
(...)
“And who are you?” the guard asked.
“A friend,” Abdel answered.
“Eltan—“ Jaheira said, “Grand Duke Eltan knows us. He sent us to... on a mission, and we need to report back.”
“The grand duke is dying,” the guard said. “You can make your report to the captain of the watch in the morning.”

Abdel huffs about this for a while. They turn to leave, but then... well, remember our beloved side characters?

“Abdel?” the approaching guard asked, “Jaheira? Is that you?”
The first guard tensed visibly and shifted the weight of his halberd.
“Julius?” Jaheira said, her half-elf eyes allowing her to see the second guard’s face.
“Torm save us,” the first guard exclaimed, “it’s the Shadow Thieves!”
“No—“ Jaheira started to say, but Julius rushed at her with his halberd out in front of him.

Jaheira handles Julius (by breaking his nose) while the other guards charge Abdel. He disarms the first soldier, punches out the second, and is stabbed in the gut by the third. His chainmail saves him from being disembowled, but just barely. A fourth guard calls for backup, and Abdel decides to leg it.

Abdel threw the halberd sideways at the approaching guards and turned to see Jaheira already running for the safety of the dark alleys. The guards chased him only halfheartedly, and Abdel wondered if it was that they didn’t want to abandon the gates, or if the dark alleys of their own city frightened them. Maybe it was a bit of both.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the gate thing. Having all six guards chase after some dude in a chainmail tunic is an excellent way to invite another assassination attempt. Remember, there's always one more Shadow Thief than you think there is.

The two run for a while, even after the guards stop chasing them. They don't seem to be going anywhere in particular, just trying to gain some distance. That seems like a good idea - the Flaming Fist will probably start combing through the alleys once their backup arrives.

Abdel passed rats, garbage in piles, sleeping houses, and shops closed for the night. (...) He passed through an alley between two expensive looking townhouses. There was a beggar asleep in the alley who looked like nothing more than a pile of rags, snoring softly. Abdel held his breath, as he’d learned to do when passing beggars. He’d been walking a long time though, and he breathed in just slightly as he passed. The smell wasn’t right.

Throwaway lines like this are part of why I think of Abdel as being from Baldur's Gate, not as being from Candlekeep. He has clearly internalised the lessons of big city living, and I doubt Candlekeep has beggars in the traditional sense.

Abdel walks to the end of the alley, pretending he didn't notice anything. He then suddenly turns around and grabs at the air, hoping to catch the stranger. He succeeds, but almost immediately starts wishing he hadn't.

He caught half a handful of smooth, cool fabric then his arm was batted away, the blow making his wrist tingle though it came so quickly he didn’t see it. He felt something on his shoulder, and his vision went dark for the briefest moment. He stepped back and spun around at the sound of a voice from above.
“I am not your enemy.”
The voice was quiet, precise, and the accent was unrecognizable.

Jaheira bumps into Abdel, because she's totally still in this book.

The stranger moved up onto the stone rail and stepped off, falling what must have been fifteen feet and landing as softly as if it had been an inch.
It was a woman, short and thin of frame, dressed in a close-fitting black garment unlike any Abdel had ever seen. Her face was hidden behind a mask that showed only her eyes, eyes the sellsword thought must have been eastern — Shou, or maybe Kozakuran.

You may have guessed it already: This is, in fact, Tamoko. She introduces herself after hopping down from the balcony. (Note that she was at street level a paragraph ago, so it seems she climbed up there just so she could jump down for a dramatic entrance.)

“Why are you following us?” Abdel asked.
“I know you are not Shadow Thieves,” Tamoko said quietly. “I know you are not attempting to start this war, but avoid it.”
“What war?” Jaheira asked. “War with Amn?”
“Grand Duke Eltan is dying,” Tamoko said, still ignoring Jaheira. “The healer is not what he seems.”
With that Tamoko stepped back into the shadows. Abdel rushed forward with Jaheira at his side and though they were at the entrance to the alley in less than a second, the dark woman was gone.

Note that we almost passed the Bechdel test there. Had Tamoko answered Jaheira's question before dropping the plot hook, that would've been a pass, but she doesn't, so it isn't.

We'll get another shot at the test in the next chapter, though. So... stay tuned! Yeah. Excitement.

Spoiler: The game

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A few seconds after we exit the Candlekeep dungeons, the chapter transition plays. We open up with something of an understatement.


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"Quite the challenge," indeed. It's probably not a coincidence that this narration plays over an interior shot of the Iron Throne's headquarters. This is one of the parts of the game where it's not quite clear what you're supposed to do next, and this is a pretty blatant hint.

Anyway, I don't think we're welcome in Candlekeep anymore.


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It's time to leave our old home behind... and probably for good this time.

We're not going to the Gate, though. Not right away, at least.


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As you can tell by the various blue icons and blank spots on the map, we haven't exactly explored all of the Sword Coast. This playthrough is more about replicating Abdel's journey, less about 100% completion, but there is something we need to pick up in this area.


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Safana is hanging out here in case you need a chaotic neutral thief. Her stats are alright and Charm Person is a very useful special ability, but she suffers from a bad case of Not Being Imoen. She has higher STR and CHA, which is nice, but lower DEX and CON, and these stats are far more important. Her INT is also one point too low, so Safana can't dual-class into a mage.

Safana also has an extremely sexual voice pack, which... probably contributed to her popularity, back in the day. She has her fans, and she can do a decent Imoen impression in an evil party, but we won't pick her up during this playthrough.


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Most of the monsters in this area aren't all that threatening. It's all hobgoblins and stuff. There is an exception, though: The sirines.


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Sirines are highly annoying monsters that have access to Improved Invisibility and three castings of Dire Charm each. Since this is Baldur's Gate 1, each Dire Charm lasts for like two minutes and nobody has saving throws worth mentioning, so if they target your fighter, things will go downhill rather quickly. (Also, if all your party members get charmed, it's an instant game over. If you're doing a solo run... well... be careful.)

Their actual attacks are super weak, though. They are a little bit like the basilisks in that they turn from challenging encounters to XP pinatas if you brought the right item - in this case, a Scroll of Protection against magic. Abdel chops them to pieces, with a little backup from Jaheira. (Invisibility Purge has a pretty good area of effect.)

There's a cave in this corner of the map, guarded by the sirines.


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It's rather bothersome to find, but well worth exploring.


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The place, for obvious reasons, is known as the Flesh Golem cave. There's no real trick to fighting these guys - they hit for a lot of damage and they can take a beating, so sword them down before they can punch you out.

Their treasure is pretty exciting:


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Some potions, a Wand of Paralyzation, a sweet wolf cloak and, most importantly...


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A Manual of Bodily Health. Probably one of the most universally useful ones, after the DEX manual. As with all the stat tomes, the bonus goes to Abdel.

While we're in the area, let's take a look at some delicious flavour text:


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I suspect a diviner would be banned from the gambling tables, actually.

If you ask nicely, Pallonia will drop some foreshadowing:


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This is one of several nods towards the then-upcoming Neverwinter Nights. The mention of "troubles brewing in great Amn" probably refers to the sequel. The bit about the archmage "Jon Icarus" implies that they were already setting down some basic plot points for SoA.

There's more delicious flavour text in this area, but we should probably get back to the plot. It'll take us several days of travel to reach Baldur's Gate - we don't need to give Sarevok even more of a headstart.


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Let's hope we can make it over Wyrm's Crossing. We're wanted criminals, yes, but not "put the city on lockdown" levels of wanted, right?


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Also, the locals would be happy to help us for a nominal fee! Tomlin here offers you safe passage for 100 gold. It's interesting that there are wanted posters all over the city if Sarevok expected us to be safely contained in Candlekeep. I guess it makes sense, though. You know, just to make absolutely sure everyone is aware that we (allegedly) killed the Iron Throne leadership.

You can pay him if you want, but...


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There aren't any guards on the bridge, so it's kind of a waste of gold. Well, better safe than sorry, right?


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We make it into the city proper without getting stopped by a guard, so... knock on wood.

Spoiler: Bonus: Getting arrested

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If a Flaming Fist Enforcer spots you, they run up to you and initiate dialogue. As with the Gatewarden, you can avoid them with a haste effect, glitch exploitation or by going through the sewers. If one catches up to you, you are arrested.


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If you go along with them, they take you to the compound for a "trial" overseen by Angelo. We'll look at that in a later update.

This time, resisting arrest won't lead to an instant game over. It does turn the Flaming Fist mooks hostile, though.


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The game drops a few really unsubtle hints that you shouldn't fight the guards. There's a good reason for this - killing an innocent or a guard carries a massive Reputation penalty, which is not lifted after the Flaming Fist turns hostile.

The citizens here have some new dialogue. Some of it is plot-related:


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Sarevok isn't really a new guy, but he's been happy to remain somewhat in the background until now. Seems that's about to change.


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Also, all the levelheaded dukes are dead or dying, including Eltan. Ahh, politics.


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Poor Eltan. He's still clinging on to life, but it's not looking good.

(I have no idea why he'd be bothering with a healer when Cure Disease, Cure Critical Wounds, Remove Curse and Neutralize Poison are readily available Cleric spells. That package should deal with most health issues. Hell, he's a duke - if the spells existed in the game, he could spring for Heal or Greater Restoration. But so it goes.)


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Some of the rumors are about us. I liked it better when we were considered heroes.

We explore the area for a while, dodging guards and chatting up citizens. After a while, a man named Delthyr stops us.


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The Harpers really are stepping up their activity. They seem to be considering us their ally, and Delthyr here is happy to provide some exposition.


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Scar is dead and Eltan is dying. Sarevok has made sure that everyone "knows" we killed the leaders of the Iron Throne. That's... not ideal.


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Sarevok has seized control of the Iron Throne and is planning to use it to take over the city as well.


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Also, it seems he switched from blaming everything on the Zhentarim to blaming everything on the Shadow Thieves. I can't imagine Sarevok's reign would be tranquil and uncontested, since he's systematically pissing off every influential secret society on the Sword Coast, but somehow I don't think he minds the conflict...

Anyway, for some reason, you can only ask Delthyr one follow-up question before he takes his leave. He asks you to meet him at the Three Old Kegs Inn later, though, and you can get all the information he provides from other sources.

... I feel I need to mention his Charm dialogue.

I am an agent of the Harpers. I was sent to the city of Baldur's Gate to find out what has been happening to you, <<players name>>. We know that you have something to do with Alaundo's prophecies on the death of Bhaal. Some of the Harpers feel that you are one of the spawn of Bhaal, which is one of the reasons why I'm down here. I don't think I have any other information for you, my friend.

Journal entry:
When we charmed Delthyr, he told us that the Harpers think that I am the offspring of the dead god Bhaal! This information is most unsettling.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Aaaaaanyway. Do you see this unassuming building behind us?


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There's something important in there. The door is unlocked, but there's a guard inside.


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This is the Thieves' Guild of Baldur's Gate. It's tied to a series of side quests, which - if you start them legitimately - also get you the password. We didn't, but it's not that hard to remember, since it's the only obvious nonsense word in the list. ("Bodi." Hmm.)


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There is a reason we came here, and it can be found in this barrel next to Black Lily:


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The Manual of Quickness of Action, probably the most universally useful stat-book.


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Abdel's stats are looking pretty good. Notably, 17 DEX is enough to dual-class into a Rogue, which I might do in Shadows of Amn. (Use Any Item is so good.) The mental stats are pretty bad, but, well... this is still Abdel we're talking about.

That about does it for the Thieves' Guild. I don't think we're coming back here, as we have no real interest in doing their quests. We resume our exploration of the city, and -

Hey, who's this?


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A strange woman named Tamoko hails us. She has a name and an unusual sprite, so you know she's important.


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She's a little circumspect, but given the kind of situation we're in... I don't think we can afford to refuse anyone's help.


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Hmm. This matches the rumors we've heard. We should investigate Eltan's alleged healer, if we can make it to-

...

How do you know about Gorion?


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Okay, see, this definitely isn't public knowledge.


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Hmm.


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CHARNAME calls Tamoko out on this: She knows much more than she's saying, and she seems to be taking a personal interest in us. (Remember that you, the player, don't know who Tamoko is yet. Unless you read the combat log after the cutscene in which Gorion dies, and somehow remember the name days or weeks later.)

Anyway, she has a point. With Scar dead, the other merchant cartels destroyed and the city's power structure mostly in the Iron Throne's pocket, Eltan is just about our only hope of stopping Sarevok and getting our names cleared. If his healer is poisoning him, we need to get him out of there ASAP.

... in the next update, that is.

Spoiler: Comparison and commentary

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As I hinted above, this is something of a breather chapter. If this book is a rollercoaster, we're approaching the high point, we've slowed almost to a stop and in a few moments, we'll take something of a plunge.

That said, there are a few things we can talk about here. You may have noticed that most of the characters from the game lost something in the transition to the book. Abdel is a shallow thug; Jaheira is a damsel in distress; Gorion is just some old guy. Even Xan lacks his trademark fatalism. That sort of thing. This chapter shows us two of the more notable exceptions: Angelo and Tamoko.

As in the game, Tamoko is allowed to be the one who drops the hints about Eltan's healer. The narrative even spends some time talking up her abilities in this chapter, which is normally reserved for Abdel. This wouldn't normally be all that notably, but this book usually treats its female characters worse than this, so it's nice to see Tamoko got to keep some measure of agency and dignity. We actually get to see more of her personal arc in the book than in the game, which is pretty neat.

We'll talk about Angelo after we meet him in the game, which should be in Chapter Twenty-Eight, but keep his book characterisation in mind for later.

Right. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the problems with this section, shall we? First of all, I don't think the setup with Team Abdel as Public Enemy #1 and Public Enemy #2 actually... works.

See, in the game, CHARNAME being framed for the murders of the Iron Throne leadership is a whole thing because the Iron Throne is still considered to be a real trading coster. Yes, nobody actually seems to trust them, but they're still seen as a legitimate organisation that provides a valuable service. The scandal here isn't that the Iron Throne exists or that they use sleazy business practices, it's that they're doing outright illegal stuff in addition to that (and that they're also responsible for the recent tensions with Amn.) That's the whole reason Eltan couldn't do anything official without solid evidence tying them to the bandit raids. This veneer of legality and respectability is important. It's because of this that Sarevok's claims about CHARNAME being a foreign agent can sort of make sense.
In the novel, on the other hand, the Iron Throne is a much smaller, much more obscure and much less legal operation. It's essentially a small conspiracy that manages a kobold cult, a group of bandits and a secret ore extraction operation. The Iron Throne of the game also does all that, but they do it in addition to (and under the cover of) their legal operations. The Iron Throne of the book lacks the legal part entirely. In fact, come to think of it, I have no idea how they're actually selling the iron from the Cloakwood mine. Through the subverted Seven Suns, maybe? I don't know.

Anyway, my point is this: "CHARNAME is a foreign agent in the employ of Amn and has murdered local job creators to sabotage the war effort" works. The event is shocking enough to stir up the sort of patriotic outrage Sarevok wants. "Abdel has murdered these randos who belong to some kind of secret cabal that uses a really complicated method to manipulate the price of iron" on the other hand... ehhh? I mean, Abdel is wanted for nine murders (despite only committing like 11% of them) but it's pretty hard to get to "therefore war with Amn" from there. We aren't shown how exactly Sarevok convinced Angelo in the first place, and I suspect that's not a coincidence.

The problem is neatly illustrated by the way Julius reacts to seeing Abdel and Jaheira. Remember that Julius was actually present during their raid on the Iron Throne - a raid which, I should emphasize, involved killing everyone in the Iron Throne’s "subterranean lair." That's something Eltan had the Flaming Fist do. If that doesn't constitute proof that the Iron Throne is generally considered fair game, I don't know what does. Abdel and Jaheira were then sent to Candlekeep specifically because the surviving Iron Throne members were hiding there. We never learn what their mission was supposed to be, but I imagine the idea wasn't to have a cordial discussion over a spot of tea. Yes, Sarevok has since been busy spreading lies about Abdel, but the Flaming Fist in general and Julius in particular really should know better.

In short: Events in this chapter seem to happen because they happened in the game, not because they logically follow from previous events in the book. That isn't great.

I should also note that Book!Sarevok's previously perfect intelligence network is rather conveniently failing here. Game!Sarevok actually placed some mooks at the exit of the Candlekeep dungeons, which Book!Sarevok neglected to do. That's odd, since Book!Sarevok is normally more of a long-term planner than Game!Sarevok, and has access to that magic mirror thing as well. Book!Sarevok also deliberately spared Abdel's life and has laid out a trail of breadcrumbs for him to follow, presumably specifically so Sarevok could then pin these murders on Abdel, which makes it odd that he'd then fail to follow up on it. In all honesty, Book!Sarevok's entire plan gets sort of weird at this point. But ... well, you'll see.

Soon.

[Spore]

Now that you showed me both Tamokos: Is it intentional that book Tamoko feels like she should be a thief and game Tamoko is a cleric? I mean it is probably much more believable that game Gorion was cut down after a cleric dispelled his defenses. But both characters have holes in their backstory.

Who is book Tamoko? How did she and Sarevok meet? Why is she supporting him?

Which god does game Tamoko serve? It cannot be Bhaal since he is unable to grant spells. If you don't want to specify, why not make her a mage in the game? they could've even merged Semaj and Tamoko for the final fight as the arcane caster.

This is neither here nor there, but in the games, it's actually CHARNAME who gets the crow symbolism

I vaguely remember that, yes. Also ravens are usually seen as a bad omen. And if the story of BG 1+2 isn't bad for the everyman then I don't know what would qualify.

[Khay]

Yep - the Tamoko of the book lost her spellcasting powers in the transition. She's not technically a rogue, but acts like one. According to her profile in Dragon #262, she's an 11th-level Ninja (Shadow Warrior) with 95% scores in Move Silently and Hide in Shadows. (We'll talk about the profiles in a bit, don't worry.)

I don't think the game ever establishes her patron deity. She's Neutral Evil in the game, so there are plenty of options. Most of the Iron Throne's middle management worshipped Cyric, but I can't imagine he'd be okay with her (knowingly and directly) aiding Sarevok in becoming a direct competitor to him.

[Khay]

In the previous chapter, Abdel and CHARNAME both learned of a dastardly plan to poison Duke Eltan. In Chapter 27, we get to see how they handle it. Let's dive right in!

(You may notice that some of the screenshots look different. Or are oddly timed. And there's less of them. Somehow, the recording software I was using suddenly decided it would be appropriate to start interfering with the game, and the framerate kept dipping into the single digits. I eventually found a workaround - disabling sound in-game of all things - but only after finishing the update. That's a known bug with Baldur's Gate, but for some reason, it didn't pop up until now. Ahh, timing.)

Spoiler: The book

Show

Last chapter ended with a warning from the enigmatic Tamoko: Eltan's healer is not what he seems, and Eltan is dying.

Our heroes have spent the night hiding under some rusting garbage bins in the alley behind the Blushing Mermaid.

Jaheira held a hand over her mouth, but Abdel could still hear her say, “Well, I guess the longer they’re in there, the more thorough a search they give the place, the less likely they’ll be to think they missed us and come back again. Besides, the reek is the only thing keeping me awake right now.”

Her logic turns out to be sound. A long time later, a frustrated Flaming Fist patrol exits the tavern, passing by the garbage bins without a glance. Our heroes wait a little longer, then enter the tavern through the kitchen entrance as dawn is breaking.

One table was occupied by a group of nearly a dozen sailors, still singing some sea shanty and clapping while a woman, who looked so tired she might have been the Goddess of Tired, danced for their amusement and the odd tossed silver piece.
Not even the sailors noticed Jaheira slip into the room, so Abdel followed her to a table far away from the loud group.

"Goddess of Tired" is mildly amusing, but I think it needs to be less on the nose. I don't know about a Goddess of Tired, but Sehanine Moonbow is also known as the Lady of Dreams. Does Morpheus exist? Perhaps "... so tired she might have been an avatar of Morpheus" would be better.

... anyway, noisy room full of sailors. Nobody really notices the two. Well... almost nobody.

When he passed the bar a young man in loose-fitting ring mail looked up at Abdel with bleary eyes.
“Julius,” Abdel said[.]
(...)
“ ‘Ey,” Julius slurred weakly. He reeked of stale beer and sweat. Abdel dragged Julius to the table where Jaheira was staring at them both expectantly.

Julius' nose is broken, his face is bruised and he appears to have been up all night drowning his sorrows. Abdel tries to ask what's happening to Eltan, but Julius is in no condition to answer.

Julius sat swaying gently for a few moments, trying to choose one of the Abdels he saw. Abdel glanced over his own right shoulder to try to see what Julius was looking at.
“To the Abyss with ‘em all, my big, giant friend. They busted me, d’you believe that? They busted me to footman,” the young guard said.
(...)
“Julius,” Abdel said, but the young guard didn’t look up, he just snored loudly.
“Julius!” Abdel shouted, and the sailors all looked at him. The dancing woman sat down and sighed.
“Hey, swabby,” one of the sailors called, “keep it down.”
Abdel ignored the sailor and shook Julius awake. The guard smiled and said, “They busted me to footman, so now I gotta wear this damned ring mail. I hate ring mail. It—“

They do the "funny drunk" routine for a while. Well, it's not all that funny. I think it's probably not supposed to be, since Jaheira and Abdel are directly responsible for the poor guy's condition, so... eh. You be the judge of that.

... I'm not sure about the timeline here. This seems a little... fast? Team Abdel met Julius somewhere after dark, Jaheira punched Julius out. Abdel and Jaheira then spent some time running around the city, talking to Tamoko and sleeping under garbage until dawn. Julius managed to get demoted (... for no apparent reason?), had his equipment exchanged, wandered over to the Blushing Mermaid and got black-out drunk in the same timespan. I guess the Flaming Fist values efficiency.

Say... Abdel, Jaheira... weren't you forgetting something?

The door to the street burst open, and an enormously fat woman surged into the tavern, panting and sweating. (...) The woman crossed to the bartender and told him something Abdel couldn’t hear[.] (...)
“Dawn breaks over a sad city,” the bartender said, his voice gravelly and loud, “for Grand Duke Eltan is dead!”
The woman who’d been dancing for the sailors gasped and began to cry. The sailors regarded her for a few seconds, some seeming legitimately worried, then they all shrugged in turn and started talking about what a bastard their first mate was.
Abdel turned to look at Jaheira. Her face was a stone mask—as hopeless as he’d ever seen her.

Wow. If only you had some warning about that. You might've tried to, I don't know, do something about it. Imagine that.

Now that they've thoroughly fouled up this quest, Julius reluctantly provides the hook for the next one.

“Angelo,” Julius murmured. “I have to take orders from Angelo.”
“Angelo?” Abdel asked, “The half-elf?”
Julius nodded loosely and said, “Aye, sir. He’s taken over the Flaming Fist. Now there’ll be nobody to stop the ducal election from going to whatsisname.”
“Who?” Jaheira asked.
“Sarevok,” Julius said sluggishly. “It’ll be Grand Duke Sarevok.”

Oh snap!

This looks like a chapter-ending "dun dun dunn" moment, but it isn't. There is a little mid-chapter cut - one of these five-asterisk ones - but the chapter continues for some reason. We've been talking about this book for half a year, and I still don't understand why the chapters end when they do.

Off-screen, Julius recovers enough that he's able to give Abdel and Jaheira directions to the (apparently unguarded) servant's entrance of the ducal palace. They settle in again, waiting for the healer to emerge.

Abdel forced himself not to think about what else Julius had to say. If it was true that his half brother Sarevok was here in Baldur’s Gate, was Reiltar’s man on the Sword Coast, was responsible for the whole bloody mess, what was he going to do? If Sarevok became grand duke, if Eltan was dead and even Tethtoril had turned against him, what could the two of them do[?]

Wow. If only you could've somehow tried to prevent about Eltan's death.

Eventually, the healer does emerge. Our heroes follow. Kendal wanders around for quite a while, seemingly with no specific goal in mind.

It was with some relief that they saw Kendal ditch into a dark, thin alleyway. They followed him into the shadows and stopped when they saw him change.
By the time Kendal reached the end of the alley — less than a dozen yards at most — he’d blurred around the edges and faded into a new form altogether. What came out the other end of the alley was a young woman, carrying not a bag of medicines, potions, and such but a basket of fresh cut flowers.

So, Sarevok was wrong in Chapter Twenty-Two when he said he wouldn't need the doppelgangers anymore. Somehow, the True Sight-spamming priest patrols managed to miss Kendal. I did complain that covering the city should be impossible, but you'd think Eltan would at least make sure to check on everyone who works in the palace. Oh well.

The doppelganger sells a few flowers, then slips into another alley, shapeshifting into a burly laborer that time. Abdel and Jaheira try to cut Kendal off by heading to the other end of the alley, but lose him instead.

The street was all but empty. The sun had barely peeked over the city wall.
“Damn them all,” Abdel whispered.
“I hate those damned doppelgangers,” Jaheira said.
“As do I,” replied a voice from behind them.

Tamoko is so much better at stalking people than Jaheira and Abdel are. Abdel, being able to see Tamoko's face for the first time, notes that she looks a little like Jaheira - her features are "strangely sylvan." The assassin is dressed in shimmering black silk and carrying an elaborately curved sword.

“It is a katana,” Tamoko said, noticing Abdel noticing her weapon.
Abdel nodded once and said, “And you’re a doppelganger.”
Tamoko smiled sadly. “I understand that that possibility would exist,” she said, “but I am not.”
“Who are you?” Jaheira asked, her brow furrowed.
Tamoko nodded in the direction of an alley and stepped in, this time making no attempt to hide herself. Abdel and Jaheira reluctantly followed.

Doppelgangers can't lie about being doppelgangers if you ask them directly, right? Like cops.

Jaheira draws her dagger, but it turns out she needn't have worried. This actually is Tamoko, and she has an offer.

“I can take you to the Iron Throne,” Tamoko said simply.
Jaheira laughed in response and said, “Can you really? And will they wait to kill us there or pounce on us in the street?”
“They will not expect anyone to be coming in from this entrance. You will be able to kill them all and—“
“This is ludicrous,” Jaheira interrupted. “Abdel...”
The sellsword held up a hand, and Jaheira’s look all but burned into his flesh.

Hey, did you notice? We just passed all three criteria of the Bechdel test. Barely, yes, and in the last chapters of the book, but we did pass. (For the record, the reverse Bechdel test was passed in the book's fourth paragraph.)

Also, the "talk to the hand" thing immediately after that neatly illustrates why the Bechdel test is neccessary but not sufficient.

Anyway, Abdel asks how exactly they're supposed to trust her, given that Baldur's Gate is crawling with shapeshifters and conspirators.

“I am your brother’s lover,” she said, locking her eyes onto his. Abdel felt the truth radiate from them. She was speaking so simply, so plainly, and never wavering. He had no real reason to, but he believed her.

Dear author: If one of your characters objects to something, and you don't really have an answer for them, consider not having them bring up the objection. A weak handwave is not, generally speaking, a good idea.

... anyway.

Tamoko repeats that she can get them to the Iron Throne, but asks them to spare Sarevok. Jaheira considers this to be a somewhat unrealistic demand.

“This is madness,” Jaheira scoffed. “This lover of yours is going to start a war. Thousands of people are going to die. He’s already killed two of the most powerful men in Baldur’s Gate, and others...”
Jaheira stepped forward and bent the elbow of her sword arm just slightly. Tamoko fixed her gaze on the tip of Jaheira’s blade. Abdel could feel what was about to happen and didn’t like the feeling one bit.

Abdel points out that all of their allies and contacts are dead, and that they'll need written proof tying Sarevok to something criminal if they want to stop him from becoming Grand Duke. (And, Abdel thinks, if they want to redeem themselves in Tethtoril's eyes.)

Tamoko restates her demand, and explains that she'll reform Sarevok, turning him away from Bhaal's path.

“If the Iron Throne is revealed,” Tamoko said, her gaze coming off Jaheira’s blade and over to Abdel’s eyes, “Sarevok will have to flee the city. I will go with him.”
(...)
“And you will reform this brother of mine?” Abdel asked. “You’ll turn him away from... from our father’s...”
“I will,” Tamoko said flatly.
“Abdel,” Jaheira said, “he’s not you.”
Abdel looked at her and smiled, “No,” he said, “Sarevok is not me. I had a chance. I had you.”

I have absolutely no idea how Jaheira became Abdel's morality anchor. This is a topic we'll leave for the review of the book as a whole, since the "romance" is so interwoven with the narrative, but... keep this in mind.

As for Jaheira, she backs down after this. Abdel decides to go ahead and make the promise.

“I will not kill Sarevok,” Abdel said to Tamoko.
The assassin bowed deeply, forming nearly a ninety-degree angle at her waist.
She stood and said, “You will have your evidence.”

... so we're just going to drop the Kendal sideplot, huh. I... sure. Alright. That certainly was worthwhile.

This time, the chapter actually does end. Well, fair enough.

Spoiler: The game

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Since returning to the Gate, we've heard a lot of bad news. Scar and Entar Silvershield are dead, and Duke Eltan is dying. We've heard rumors and conspiracy theories about this, which were confirmed by an enigmatic woman named Tamoko. Eltan's healer is not what he seems, and we should probably investigate him.

This won't be easy - the Flaming Fist is after us, and Eltan's chambers are located inside their headquarters.


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But what choice do we have? Eltan is the least terrible of the dukes, by far. The city needs him. We'll just... have to try.

We go through a back alley to reduce the risk of running into a patrol, and encounter a rather upset noblewoman along the way.


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Interesting. Is Sarevok setting himself up as a Champion of the People? I assume that "soaring popularity" + "Kaella hates him" means he's been pandering to the masses.


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He seems to be draining the Iron Throne of resources along the way. Clearly, he has greater ambitions than manipulating the price of iron.


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CHARNAME notes this as something to investigate later. A lot of citizens have similar things to say, and CHARNAME insists on writing them down. We'll be seeing more of that during the next update. For now, though, we have more urgent business than chatting to the locals.


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As imposing as it looks, nobody is actually guarding the compound, so we walk right now.


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A guard named Benjy stops us as soon as we set foot inside. There's a large group of mercenaries waiting in the main hall, but, well...


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They aren't even speed bumps. Most of the mercenaries give around 15 XP - yes, fifteen. As in, two kobolds. A few of them can cast Cleric spells, but they're mildly annoying at worst. It's strange to be on the inflicting side of a tragic execution scene, but so it goes. Killing the mercenaries doesn't even cause your reputation to drop. Perhaps these are Angelo's men, not actual members of the Flaming Fist?

Whoever they were, they're dead now and we can go upstairs.


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There's a proper Flaming Fist member upstairs, but he realises where this plot thread is going. Kent here isn't willing to die for Angelo or Sarevok. He's also noticed something fishy about Rashad, and decides to fill us in before leaving.


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I could think of a few reasons, actually. Most of them involve the, well, whores. (Yes, the Undercellar is also a mafia den, which actually would be worrying, but Kent was complaining about the whorehouse bit.)

We head off to confront Rashad while Kent goes ahead and deserts.


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Rashad, somehow, manages to be an even worse actor than the other doppelgangers. I guess they're getting a little overconfident with Sarevok's triumph so close at hand. Or... something. You know the drill by now - he turns into a Greater Doppelganger, we punch him until experience points fall out.


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Eltan is still alive and conscious, though he's not doing particularly well. I have no idea why Rashad took so long to finish him off - Sarevok had no trouble having Entar Silvershield killed, and Entar was a lot more useless than Eltan. I guess Sarevok just needs to be in power for a little bit, long enough to start a war, but... still. He did succeed in taking Eltan out of the picture for the time being, so now it's just Liia and Belt standing between Sarevok and the presidency dukedom.

The letter Eltan mentioned spells this out:

Kizska,
I must commend you for a job well done. Without your careful ministrations, Eltan would have remained my most potent foe. I must now ask for another favor. Some of your brethren are gathering at the sewer entrance to the palace; they are preparing to assassinate Grand Duchess Liia Jannath, and Grand Duke Belt. I need you to assist them in their efforts, for you are the craftiest of your kind. This is the moment I have long waited for, as I hope you have as well. The bloodshed that will result when I declare war on Amn will be most glorious. Meet Krystin and Slythe at the Undercellars, they are my best assassins. There are many access points to the Undercellars through the sewers.

Sarevok.

Wow. That guy was the craftiest of their kind? Really? Geez. I guess Kizska did really well during the job interview.

Duke Eltan then appears in your inventory, so you can take him to the harbormaster. He won't recover in time to stop Sarevok, but if the city survives this crisis, it'll be in dire need of Eltan's leadership, so we should probably help him. (This quest is technically optional. So if you desire and don't mind a little glitch exploitation, you can take him along to the sequel. We won't be doing that, because that would be silly and this is a serious playthrough for serious people.)

We stuff Eltan into Abdel's backpack and head back outside. Tamoko is waiting for us. (Technically we talked to her before saving Eltan, but the narrative works better this way.)


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She's standing right outside the Flaming Fist compound in broad daylight. Tamoko is a brave woman. She hints that she has some information for us, but asks a promise of us first.


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Specifically, she wants us to stop Sarevok's plans - without killing him. That... seems like it's going to be difficult. I mean, he's been pretty insistent on wanting to kill us. I don't think he'd agree to a peaceful surrender at this point.


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Tamoko sheds some light on Sarevok's motives. It's never been about the price of iron, or the money, or about control of the Iron Throne, or even about becoming Grand Duke...


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No, this is about war. Increasing tensions with Amn wasn't a means to drive up demand for iron - it's been the main goal all along. A great war, so Sarevok's theory goes, will attract Bhaalspawn like a candle attracts moths, and by slaughtering them all, he can prove himself worthy.

So... what's your role in all of this, Tamoko?


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Ah yes, the power of love. I don't think Sarevok would be swayed by such an appeal - he's all will to power all the time. This feels like wishful thinking. Still... Tamoko probably knows him better than we do, and she did help us out with Eltan. And besides, killing Sarevok will stop his ascension, but it might not prevent war with Amn. Not with public opinion being what it is at the moment. We need to discredit Sarevok; killing alone won't be enough, as that'll just make him a martyr. And... well, we owe it to Tamoko to at least try.

We agree to your terms, ma'am.


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She thanks us for the promise, and points us at Slythe and Krystin in the Undercellar. That seems to be our next stop.


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... hmm. Perhaps not. We should check out the Iron Throne headquarters anyway. If that is where this Cythandria can be found, we could talk to her along the way, see what she has to say.

CHARNAME pens a quick summary of this conversation, which manages to be roughly as long as the conversation itself.

Journal entry:

I have met Tamoko once again, and agreed to a promise she has requested. She has asked that I defeat Sarevok and crush his plans, but spare his life in the end. She would try to reclaim Sarevok the man, once Sarevok the would-be god is destroyed. In exchange for this she has confirmed my suspicions of Slythe and Kristen, the underlings of Sarevok that killed Duke Entar Silvershield, and indicated that they can be found at their base in the Undercellar. She has also directed me towards someone named Cythandria in the Iron throne base (who seems to be more her rival than mine). Tamoko has also given me much to think about. Sarevok and I are of the same blood; a god's blood. Sarevok thinks he was created to assume the mantle of the dead lord of murder Bhaal, ascending to godhood by causing slaughter on a god-like scale. Tamoko doubts such a thing can happen, claiming that a dead god would not create such children to effect his replacement, rather his resurrection. She seems to think that Sarevok's death will serve Bhaal more than a grand sacrifice in his name. Sarevok has made his beliefs known, but what am I to take from this? What will eventually become of me?

This journal entry is notable in that it is, I think, the first time CHARNAME thinks about their destiny. They took the initial revelation in stride - to a rather worrying degree - but this is an important question. What will eventually become of us?

Let's deal with the future as it happens. First, we must get Eltan to safety.


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The harbormaster's building is in the lower right part of the harbor district - you can see it on the map if you squint a bit.

Along the way, we're stopped by a guard, but it's alright - he doesn't seem to recognise us.


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I think the named guards are safe to talk to while the nameless Enforcers aren't, but I'm not entirely sure. Jonavin, for his part, is happy to confirm that the Fist is mobilizing and that Sarevok is just done with this "iron crisis" business.

We reach the harbormaster without further disruption.


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He may or may not be a follower of Umberlee, but maybe that's just how harbormasters talk. He seems to be in the know about our less-than-legal activities, so he probably is a friend of Eltan's. He takes the unconscious body off our hands and walks off, yielding some XP but no other rewards or further dialogue. Well, that was... something of an anticlimax. Oh well.

Now that Eltan is safe(ish), the next steps are
a) stopping Slythe and Kristen so they can't kill the remaining dukes, and
b) gathering evidence on Sarevok to present to the aforementioned dukes.

We'll do the second one first, as that's what the Abdel of the book will end up doing.

I know just the place. We didn't find much last time, but we didn't exactly turn the place upside down then. We won't make this mistake again.


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I can't imagine the reception will be too warm, since we're currently wanted for killing their leaders, but we'll just have to deal with that. We will have our evidence.

... next time.

Spoiler: Comparison and commentary

Show

This chapter contains a rather interesting divergence between book and game. In the game, CHARNAME succeeds in saving Eltan. It takes a foolhardy raid on the Flaming Fist compound, and the nobleman is still on death's door, but he does survive. In the book, Abdel fails and Eltan dies. Or rather, he and Jaheira don't really try to save the duke in the first place. They seem to outright forget about Kendal/Kizska/Rashad as soon as Tamoko moves out of view and they find a comfortable garbage bag to snooze under.

I say "interesting" because, oddly enough, nothing actually comes out of this divergence. In fact, the entire sub-plot is pointless in the book, and, well... I'm not sure why this chapter exists. You could've cut the whole healer business and it wouldn't have changed anything. Abdel and Jaheira were trying to talk to Eltan before learning he was being poisoned, and don't do anything to stop the poisoning afterwards. Eltan could've just been dead to begin with, and it wouldn't have changed anything. You could argue that this showed our protagonists that Tamoko can be trusted, but the characters never bring this up. Abdel ultimately trusts Tamoko because of author fiat, not for any actual reason.

This book is a rather indecisive adapatation, and chapters such as this one illustrate that quite nicely. When you adapt a work to a different medium, you have to make a decision - how closely do you follow the source material? How much of the source material do you keep, what do you cut, what do you expand upon?
In an interactive medium (such as a videogame) with a high degree of player freedom (such as a western RPG), the rate at which the plot advances is determined by the player. There's still a main plot, but it can be interrupted at any time by a player deciding to go faffing about a bit. (I've been trying to keep some narrative structure in the game sections, but it hasn't always worked.) A novel, on the other hand, is linear and non-interactive. A story told like that can have much better pacing. Events can advance at a controlled rate, avoiding the stop-and-go you sometimes see in a videogame.

You probably wouldn't write an adaptation of Baldur’s Gate where CHARNAME does each and every single sidequest as soon as they pop up, because that would absolutely bury the plot. No, you cut the stuff that isn't needed and keep the important parts, the ones that advance the plot or develop a character.

The book does try to streamline the meandering endgame a little - as we'll see in the next chapter, the romantic rivalry and Undercellar assassin subplots were both cut. Some of these changes are for the better, arguably. But the "Eltan's healer" plot-thread was kinda but not really cut in the transition to novel form, which leaves it rather pointless. It happens in the novel because it happened in the game, but it serves no purpose. Eltan's death means that the novel-world will be markedly different from the game-world at the end of the plot, but nothing comes of that either.

We'll see more of that in the chapters to come.

[Keltest]

As far as the harbormaster goes, everybody who works on or near the ocean worships respects Lives in constant fear of the wrath of Umberlee. She isn't called the "Bitch Queen" for nothing.

[Spore]

Eltan could've just been dead to begin with, and it wouldn't have changed anything

It's another round of Spore's theoretical hour of how Baldur's Gate the Novel came to pass" I guess Athans had to stick to main pointers of the game. Combined with a deadline, a number of chapters or pages needed, the book was extended for that useless subplot.

Ugh, it's like you've never written a paper for school on a subject you wanted to be different. And as Baldur's Gate is written as a dark fantasy novel, I feel a student would write a book report on Fifty Shades of Grey instead of a paper on volcano formation for geography. So at least he made kinky innuendos and as many corny eruption jokes as possible.

[Khay]

There's definitely something odd going on. It really is interesting that the author has no trouble diverging from the script in other places, but rigidly sticks to having the same events happen in the same order (regardless of whether they still make sense in context).

[Keltest]

There's definitely something odd going on. It really is interesting that the author has no trouble diverging from the script in other places, but rigidly sticks to having the same events happen in the same order (regardless of whether they still make sense in context).

Doesn't seem that odd to me. He's working with an alpha script, he probably hasn't even seen the final product to know where it diverges. He probably had a list of "these events need to happen, fill in the gaps however you like."

[Nerd-o-rama]

There's definitely something odd going on. It really is interesting that the author has no trouble diverging from the script in other places, but rigidly sticks to having the same events happen in the same order (regardless of whether they still make sense in context).

Hi I'm a lurker who finally feels like chiming in: the only other place I've seen something like that happen is in another favorite sporking target of mine, Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Without going into anything that violates rules, let's just say they got their major event outline from a different work and aren't terrific at tying things together, instead just moving from plot point to plot point in order because that's how the story's supposed to go. I suppose they're both adaptations, in a way, so the similarity makes sense, and supposedly each LB novel was written in about the same amount of time that Athans had to create his...work.

[Khay]

Post trimmed to get below the 50k limit

-----

So: Here we are. This is it. This is Chapter Twenty-Eight. We are eleven pages from the end, and a lot of plot is about to happen all at once. The game update section in particular is very long, but this is an important update. (Fun fact: This post had to be trimmed repeatedly to get below the 50k character limit.)

Spoiler: The game

Show

Last time, we were winding up to kick down the door of the Iron Throne's headquarters (again), planning to search the place for hard evidence of their crimes (for real this time). Today, we'll do just that.

As is quickly becoming tradition, we are greeted by a panicking merchant. (Fifth-level thief, actually, according to the CRE file.)


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Dhanial is happy to drop some exposition, explaining that Sarevok has indeed risen to prominence by rallying the masses against Amn. That makes sense. Presenting yourself as the only one able to solve a crisis you caused yourself has a long tradition.


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She also explains that Sarevok is essentially discarding the Iron Throne now that he no longer needs it. That fits well with what Tamoko told us.


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Also, he's super popular with the commoners. Dhanial has little interest in war with Amn, so she's seeking refuge before it starts. That's probably smart. Putting that 13 INT + 13 WIS combo to good work. (Did I mention that Dhanial has non-generic stats for some reason? Because she does. And she is True Neutral. I have no idea.)


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CHARNAME notes that, yeah, it's probably a good idea to look for some dirt on Sarevok.

A little further down the hall, we encounter another unhappy merchant.


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Note that the iron shortage "became Sarevok's pet project." I think it was originally Reiltar (Rieltar?) who came up with the scheme, but Sarevok bent it to his own purposes.


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This is starting to look like a pattern.

Nothing else on the first floor, so we continue up the stairs.


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Gregor here is the son of Bruno, one of the Iron Throne leaders Sarevok killed. He isn't buying the official story at all, and is here to place a knife in Sarevok's guts. He doesn't stand much of a chance, but... points for trying.


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CHARNAME gradually connects the dots for you if you haven't figured it out yet. War with Amn has been Sarevok's actual goal all along. Or rather, it's the means to his ascension to godhood, not a means to making money.

A rather confused representative of the mainline Iron Throne is waiting for us upstairs.


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Kalessia washes her hands of the whole business. The regional base is now officially considered a rogue operation and can expect no more support out of Sembia. She recognises you, but frankly, she has no interest in what happens on the Sword Coast anymore, so go ahead and tell her.

The few remaining merchants share her opinion.


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At least inside the Iron Throne, few seem to believe Sarevok's claims. Also, his coronation is immiment. We need to act fast.


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I really hope there's concrete proof to be found here, because wow, the future isn't looking particularly bright right now.

Once again, we arrive at the building's top floor.


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Fun fact: The semi-hidden roof map also has a night-time variant!


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Super fancy.

Cythandria waits for us back inside, near the entrance of the rest area to the south. She hails you as soon as she spots you, so if you want to prepare, do it in the chamber to the north.


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Interesting. Tamoko believed that Cythandria was being a bad influence on Sarevok, but Cythandria implies that Sarevok was already headed down his current path before they met. She, too, seems to have fallen out of favour.


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Combat cannot be avoided here - Cythandria is desparate to regain Sarevok's attention.


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By "beasties," she means two ogres named "Arghh" and "Ughh," who act as meatshields. Cythandria herself is a mage. Like most mid-to-high level mages, she opens with Shadow Door and then pelts you with damaging spells. It takes some time to chew through the ogres, so she can inflict quite a bit of damage.

We brought an Invisibility Purge, though, and hit her with ranged weapons until she gives up.

CYTHANDRIA: Wait! DO not kill me...please. I....I will tell you where to go to find my lord. The Under.....the Undercellars are where you wish to go. It is there that you will find Sarevok. You can reach the Undercellars through the sewers... Please let me go now......I am shamed by my lack of courage.

CHARNAME: Give us all of your possesions and then get out of our sight!

CYTHANDRIA: Take everything! It matters little......my life is forfeit.

We already knew about the Undercellars. The two letters Cythandria hands over were both written by Slythe, are addressed to Sarevok, and talk about the planned assassination of the remaining dukes.


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The game wants to make really, really sure that you know you have to go to the Undercellars. Fair enough.

Cythandria hands over a third item, though - a book. And that one... that one is a real treasure trove of background information.


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It's Sarevok's diary! I can't actually put it here because it'll break the character limit on the post, but you can find a text dump here or here.

Spoiler: The diary of Sarevok

Show

Digressing a little (and thus keeping it in this spoiler tag): Attempts to write a timeline of this game often center on Sarevok's diary. The attack on Gorion and CHARNAME has to have happened some time after the 28th of Tarsahk, 1370. This fits the Basillus encounter, as Zhentil Keep fell in 1369. It also fits the rumors about Maztica, as it was 'discovered' (invaded, rather) in 1361 DR and vanished in 1385 DR (literally, it was kind of a strange time).

Furthermore, we learn that the meeting between Rieltar and the Knights of the Shield happened some time in "Myrtle." These months are consecutive on the calendar of Harptos. CHARNAME's journal, for some reason, starts on 1 Mirtul 1368, but if we assume that's meant to be 1370, it fits the timeline. We can probably establish that the events of the game canonically take place sometime around 1370, anyway.

The diary implies that the events of the game have taken less than a month - or more than a year. Note that no date is given. Sarevok could also plausibly be wrong about the month if spring is especially cold that year, so I guess our options are "1-2 months" or "12 months." Both options seem a little odd, which is why making a timeline of in-game events is so frustrating. (Revisionist works like the BG1NPC Mod Project or the Enhanced Edition have a tendency to mess with this diary so as to "fix" the timeline.)

... anyway, back to the plot: This is a highly important item and we should hang on to it, the game informs us.

You should give this book to CHARNAME and keep it in their inventory. That reduces the risk of losing it. This is a lot of evidence tying Sarevok to the whole iron crisis business - in his own handwriting no less - so the dukes will probably want to see this one.

We need to prepare a little more, though, and it is already late at night. We stop in the Elfsong for a rest. Once again, we dream.


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For once, we don't wake up screaming, which is a nice change. CHARNAME refuses to be ruled by the whispers of a dead god. They are... much more willful than that. The will to keep living... the resolve to change fate. Let's call this power... determination.

So what's the plan? Well, we have a lot of dirt on Sarevok now. Mostly, his diary and some documents tying him to the assassination of Entar Silvershield and the attempted poisoning of Duke Eltan. Yes, there's still the assassins, but this should be damning enough, right? We can probably take a shortcut and see if we can present our evidence to the authorities right away. How are we going to do that?


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By finding a guard and surrendering, of course. Angelo isn't in the Flaming Fist HQ if you break in - sorry about that, by the way - so this is the only way to meet him.

Spoiler: With a little help from my friends

Show

Originally I was planning to take a different route here, for narrative reasons, but I messed it up.

Here was the plan: There's a noble who owes us a favour, in Aldeth Sashenstar. Well, more than just one favour. We saved his life twice, and we retrieved his family's signet ring from that ogre mage in the sewer. He can probably arrange a meeting with the remaining grand dukes, and he ought to be grateful, right?

ALDETH: Salutations, my dear fellows. It has been some time since I've seen you last. Troubled times have descended upon our beautiful city, perhaps we should retire to the antechamber and discuss things.

CHARNAME: Sounds good to us.

ALDETH: So tell me about this rumor that you murdered the leaders of the Iron Throne.

CHARNAME: We were framed. Someone else killed them.

FLAMING FIST LIEUTENANT: Stop where you are! You're wanted for the murders of three citizens of this city. Surrender and you'll be given a fair trial.

ALDETH: I'm sorry, but a gentleman cannot harbor known criminals. It would have been a smear upon my honor.

CHARNAME: You back stabbing excuse for a manure pile, your honor is the least of your concerns.

CHARNAME: We surrender.

FLAMING FIST LIEUTENANT: Thank you Aldeth, you've done an important service for your city.

Aldeth, you suck.

We are then taken to meet Angelo, as above.

The game warps us to the Flaming Fist compound with little fanfare.


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This is another unique loading screen. The pencil sketches always show the same generic adventuring party, usually performing vaguely travel-related activities. This does look like them getting cornered by the Flaming Fist.

Our trial will take place in the building's main hall.


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The man on the left is the Angelo we've heard so much about. He'll listen to reason, right?


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... CHARNAME what are you doing.

Right. There's no option to actually present evidence here. (Mostly because you weren't intended to do these things in this order, but Angelo wouldn't listen anyway - we'll see why in a moment).

Instead we're given a choice between Insult, Bribe, Intimidate and Beg. Choosing Insult just has Angelo insta-kill one of your party members and then repeats the conversation, so... don't do that. Intimidate has him send you off to the dungeons right away. Bribe or Beg continue the dialogue.


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If you go for Bribe, then Angelo outright admits that he's in Sarevok's pocket, and that this is a kangaroo court. (Would you be surprised to learn that Angelo isn't even Lawful?)


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Yeah. Angelo is one of Sarevok's more loyal toadies, so we're not getting out of this one.


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And just like that, we are once again dumped in a dungeon. This is becoming something of a pattern. This is still in the Flaming Fist headquarters - you can just barely see the door leading here in the upper right corner of some of the screenshots above.


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Most of these cells are empty, but it turns out we're not alone:


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Neb seems... nice. Yeah.

There's nothing you can really do here. The door can't be interacted with at all - there's no hotspot there - and there are no exits. (I think.) To get out of here, you have to talk to Neb a few times:

NEB: Heh, heh, you're getting impatient in here, are ye?

NEB: I've got a way out of here, you know... Heh, hidden it well, haven't I? Search all you want and you won't find it, heh heh.

NEB: Heh, good thing ol Neb decided to mix a little bit of illusioncraft with his thievery, eh? Sure, sure... I'll tell you what. Murderer to murderer, now, monster to monster, are you wanting out?

At this point, you have the option of playing along ("Please, we'll do whatever it takes... It's very important that we get out of here.") or blowing him off ("I'd rather rot in this cell than be indebted to the likes of you.")

No matter which option you end up choosing, he poses a riddle to you. Here's the one you get for playing along:


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Iiiiiii guess these are the "high security" cells.


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Yes, let the solars come. In fact, you should go seek out a Solar (challenge rating 23, always Lawful Good) and explain your views to them.

As soon as we end the dialogue, our party uses Neb's tunnel to exit the dungeons.


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This transition receives another unique loading screen. These go by in half a second on a reasonably modern system, which is a shame because some of the pencil sketches are pretty sweet.


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We emerge behind the Flaming Fist headquarters. Neb is nowhere to be seen, which is a shame, because wow does that guy need a sword to the face. (Don't worry, he'll get his comeuppance eventually.)

Spoiler: Justice may be blind...

Show

... but Angelo isn't.

This all works out a little different if Shar-Teel is in your party. I've deliberately avoided Shar-Teel because she's a horrible, horrible character. Not so much in terms of stats - yes, her CON is awful, but her damage output is pretty good. She's a plausible archer. Alternatively, if you already have someone to hold The Dead Shot, you can dual-class her to Thief for some highly effective backstabbing. If your CHARNAME is evil, and you can pick Shar-Teel up early in the game, you can build her into a plausible replacement for Coran/Kivan.

No, the real problem is with her writing. (Seriously, check out her wiki page.) Basically, she's what you get when you ask YouTube comments to write a feminist. She's... she's a really awful character. This is where it becomes really obvious that this game is from the late '90s.

Anyway. If Shar-Teel is in your party (for some reason), then this one changes a little.

ANGELO: So these are the infamous murderers, finally brought to justice. I am Angelo, commander of the Flaming Fist. I will be your judge, jury and executioner, please pardon the cliche.

CHARNAME: Couldn't you just let us go? Oh pleaseohpleaseohplease? We won't tell anyone. Honest. Pretty Please? Just think about it.

ANGELO: Now that we are done with all of these pleasantries, I will make my decision. I had thought hard and long on what sentence I should give if you should be delivered into my hands. The choice is an obvious one. For the charges of murder, theft, arson, rape and many other assorted crimes I declare that each of you shall be taken to the Bazaar where you shall hang by the neck until you are dead.

SHAR-TEEL: Why are you doing this Angelo?

ANGELO: Who is this who interrupts me?

SHAR-TEEL: Your daughter is who speaks to you Angelo, or have you somehow forgotten?

ANGELO: I know no such person, you have either confused me with someone else, or you are addled in the mind. Guards! Take them to the dungeons.

<Transition to dungeons>

ANGELO: Good evening Shar-Teel, it seems that you have finally found friends that share tastes similar to your own. I won't answer any questions that you give me; the only reason I do this now is for what we have shared in the past Shar. You will be blamed for the death of the guards, so I would hurry. The basement is where the armory is to be found. There you can take back your equipment. Goodbye Shar, I hope to never see you again.

JOURNAL ENTRY: It would seem that Shar-Teel is the daughter of commander Angelo Dosan. He has released us because of this, though I fear that this will be the only time he does us a favor. We will have to be careful not to be caught again.

<Escape>

Well. If Angelo really is Shar-Teel's father, that... explains something. I take back about 20% of the bad things I just said about Shar-Teel.

Right. If we want to stop Sarevok, we'll have to do so without the aid of the Flaming Fist. All the Enforcers are hostile now, but you really shouldn't engage them in combat - killing one incurs a massive reputation penalty.

As noted above, the game repeatedly pushes you towards the Undercellars, where two of Sarevok's mercenaries are lairing. I guess it's time to finally go and actually talk to them. The Undercellars can be accessed through the sewers.


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We'll use the entrance behind the Sorcerous Sundires (after doing some quick shopping there). Remember the chamber where we "fought" the Ogre Mage? There's a long tunnel leading from that room to the Undercellar.


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The Undercellar has been accessible from the beginning (well, since we came to Baldur's Gate), but there hasn't been much of a reason to come here yet. (Unless you're doing the Searching for Balduran's Helmet subquest, which you should, because it's a really sweet helmet.)

Anyway, this is a sort of combination brothel/opium den/hotel for wealthy criminals, full of nameless Nobles and Courtesans. It does have a sort of gloomy grandeur to it, but I have no idea how they're dealing with the sewer smell.

Slythe and Krystin are resting in the central chamber.


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The two of them receive a lot of introductory dialogue, which ends up looking rather weird...


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... because Slythe is a vague blur and Krystin is invisible. Remember, this is Baldur's Gate 1: Invisible characters aren't half-transparent, they're just not there at all.

Anyway, this goes on for a while.

SLYTHE: Well, well, well, dear. What have we here... blade fodder?

KRYSTIN: I don't know, Slythe. They're so big and threatening... Oh, my mistake, I was thinking of someone else.

SLYTHE: Ooh, she's got a tongue of steel and a heart of gold, my Krystin does... And she's so pretty that she makes herself all invisible so guys don't give her hassle. Not that they would with a tough guy like me looking after her, of course...

KRYSTIN: Slythie-baby, you tell them honey...

SLYTHE: Oh Baby, you know me. You know your Slythie... Hey you, don't you go watchin' us go all mushy, alright? It ain't none of your business... What's that you whispering, sweetheart? ...Hey, now my girl Krystin tells me that yous all have a soft spot for the Grand Dukes. Sure is a shame about Entar Silvershield, isn't it?

KRYSTIN: One down and two to go. Poor Dukes... Wouldn't it have been better if they had all died together?

SLYTHE: Bah, Krystin, don't give it all away like that, now. It's on... what do they call that again, the silver bladder? ...Ah, enough of this cat and mouse stuff, anyhow. I ain't cut out for it. We'll kill 'em now and do the Dukes after lunch like Sarevok said us to.

KRYSTIN: Mmm, I love you for your mind, Slythe.

<Both turn hostile.>

Geez. Get a room, you two.


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This battle is quick and brutal. Slythe is a 13th-level Fighter/Thief who starts out with Blur and Free Action active. He's fast, hits hard and has enough HP and a good enough AC that he isn't that easy to kill. If he makes a beeline for your CHARNAME and your CHARNAME has bad hit dice, then there's a very good chance he'll kill CHARNAME and force you to re-load.

Krystin is pretty dangerous herself, providing magic support, but she wastes her first few turns casting Mirror Image and Minor Globe of Invulnerability. By the time she starts casting offensive spells, Slythe is either dead or has already devastated your party.


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You shouldn't use area-of-effect spells like Fireball because of all the civilians down here. Invisibility Purge and Dispel Magic are okay, though.


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Without Slythe to back her up, Krystin dies quickly. Well, at least they get to be together again. The loot here is pretty good, including a short sword +3 (it doesn't get stronger than that in low-level campaigns.)

They also carry a note from Sarevok that explains the next step of his plans:


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Sarevok's coronation? Oh no, but that's today! We may have stopped Slythe and Krystin, but Sarevok, as always, has a backup plan that involves doppelgangers. If we want to save Belt and Liia - i. e. the remaining half of the Council of Four - we'll have to stop the coronation.


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No time to lose!


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Bill here doesn't get paid enough to cross-reference guests against wanted posters, so he lets us into the palace after we show him the invitation.

The invitation is also an item, which carries the "wow absolutely don't lose this" reminder text. If you do misplace it, well, that's too bad, because you can then no longer finish the game without cheating. (The game assets do contain a forger named Ignatio Phleed who can sell you another copy for 150/200/250 gold, but I think he might have been dummied out.)

Anyway, we have an invitation to show to Bill, so we get into the palace through legitimate means.


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As an important location, it receives its own intro movie. Presumably, none of these ceremonial guards recognise CHARNAME either.


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The palace is pretty small. There are two antechambers, as well as the main hall, where the coronation takes place. We can explore a little and chat with the locals before moving on, but there's not much to be seen here.


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Most of the nobles seem to have warmed up to Sarevok by now - the ones who were invited to the ceremony, anyway.

Right. Time to crash this party.


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That's Sarevok in full Armored Figure getup, which... seems like it should be a little offputting? He has spikes on his shoulderpads. He might be a baddie.


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Liia Jannath and Belt, who are in charge of the ceremony, are standing next to him. The coronation itself seems to be little more than a formality; everyone knows Sarevok is getting the title.


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Of course, there's still a lot of bickering to be done. The audience consists of a few Flaming Fist mercenaries, as well as a lot of palette swap noblemen. They act as a sort of peanut gallery throughout the ceremony.


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A lot of the bickering is about Amn, and what will be done regarding the death of Entar and probable death of Eltan.

Belt eventually manages to shut them down, though, and Sarevok is appointed Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate.


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He holds a brief speech to outline his agenda.


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I... I mean, he's certainly efficient. You can't accuse Sarevok of dragging his feet, here.


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The crowd shouts Belt down, and Sarevok continues explaining his plans for the war. Time to crash this party... for real this time.

A lot of things happend very quickly.


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The "nobles" in the room drop their disguises and turn into Greater Doppelgangers. All of them immediately target Belt and Liia, and you have to protect them. That's easier said than done, because Greater Doppelgangers are pretty quick and the two dukes have a habit of wading into melee combat themselves. (You can use the Cure Light Wounds power to help them survive a little longer.)

There are many ways to cheese this fight, such as killing the nobles before Belt's speech. We'll opt for the good old Fear / Haste / Summon Monster II combo.


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Fear keeps the doppelgangers from grouping up, and can also get the dukes to stay out of combat. Summon Monster II gives us meat shields to place around the dukes, and Haste lets us kill the monsters before they can do too much damage. Fear does take the Flaming Fist mercenaries out of the fight as well, but let's be honest, they wouldn't have helped much. Sarevok, thankfully, doesn't participate in this fight.


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Belt hails us when all the doppelgangers are dead. We shove a bunch of scrolls in his face and start screaming about iron poison.


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Sarevok tries to get Angelo to arrest us, but Belt insists on reading the documents first. Sarevok... disagrees.


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Strongly.

He turns hostile and starts attacking. As you can see, even on his own, Sarevok is a dangerous enemy. It's entirely possible for him to kill Belt and Liia here - or some of your party members, for that matter. Fortunately, you only have to last a certain number of rounds.

With Flaming Fist reinforcements inbound, his treachery revealed and the Grand Dukes still alive, Sarevok has to admit defeat.

He throws a final taunt our way...


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... and is bailed out by a wizard.


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We can't allow Sarevok to get away like this. We've seen how dangerous he can be - we might've stopped his plans for war at the last minute, but he came way too close to success.


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Belt, by the grace of his god, divines Sarevok's location and dimension folds us after them.

This ends now.

... well, next in the next update.

Spoiler: Bonus: Non-standard game overs

Show

This section has quite a few bad endings.

First of all, you really do have to protect Belt and Liia. If they die, this happens:

SAREVOK: The Grand Dukes are dead, killed by assassins in our midst. Look there! The killers accused of murdering the leaders of the Iron Throne! They must be part of the plot. I don't want them alive! Kill them! Kill them all!!! You have FAILED <CHARNAME>!!

... and then you are struck by a pillar of fire and die.

Alternatively, if you have no evidence to present to Belt...

BELT: It was lucky that such brave men as yourselves intervened on our behalf. Is there anything that I can do for you in return.

CHARNAME: Sarevok's the one who set you up to be killed. You have to kill him, now!

BELT: You can't just randomly shout accusations at a Grand Duke. Do you have any documents to back up these allegations?

CHARNAME: No, we don't.

SAREVOK: Accuse me of high treason! You will die for your insolence! Grand Dukes, let us make short work of these trespassers. Use your most powerful magics to strike them down!

... you are struck by a pillar of fire and die. You may be noticing a pattern here.

Spoiler: The book

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As before, we skip the actual exploration of the Iron Throne's place. We get a little more scene setting this time: The cellar of an abandoned manor house on Windspell Street. I guess that makes sense. In the game, the doppelgangers were hiding in plain sight (i. e. with the Iron Throne), but in the novel, they have to resort to traditional spy stuff like abandoned cellars full of rotten firewood.

Abdel stood over the doppelganger he’d just killed and watched Tamoko fight. He was in awe of her skill, her speed, her agility, and her detached, pristine calm. He couldn’t imagine having to fight the woman. Abdel knew he was good — knew now that a god’s blood ran in his veins even — but he was a bumbling novice next to this woman.

Tamoko, unlike Jaheira, is allowed to actually do badass things now and then. She swiftly beheads her opponent mid-transformation, then nods towards Abdel.

“That is all that we will find here,” she said, sparing the transforming doppelganger not the slightest emotion. “The rest are elsewhere in the city.”
“Where?” Jaheira said, wiping doppelganger blood from her own blade.
“You wanted proof,” Tamoko said.

Tamoko waves off the question about other doppelgangers, instead pointing to a stout wooden chest in a corner of the cellar.

Tamoko fished about in the doppelganger’s mouth for a moment and produced a wet, slimy iron key. Jaheira shook her head in amazement, and Tamoko flashed an almost imperceptible smile.
The assassin tossed the key to Abdel, who used it to open the chest.
“What is it?” Jaheira asked him, still keeping her eyes on Tamoko. “What’s in there?”
“Scrolls,” Abdel replied.
Jaheira looked at him. He was kneeling in front of the chest, his back to her.
“Scrolls?” she asked.
“Evidence,” he answered, turning to face her.

Abdel and Jaheira exchange a quick smile. Tamoko vanishes into thin air, and with that, our scene ends.

The chest was heavy, and Abdel was tired. He carried it a long way through the streets of Baldur’s Gate and brushed aside Jaheira’s offers to help.

We are informed that Jaheira and Abdel have a plan, but we do not learn what that plan is. They make some nervous small talk along the way, and briefly rest next to a sweet-smelling bakery.

“She’s something, isn’t she?” Jaheira asked conversationally, watching the midday crowds go by as they walked.
“Tamoko?” Abdel asked unnecessarily.
Jaheira nodded and said, “I’ve never seen a fighting style like that before. It was... beautiful.”
“I think she’s from Kozakura,” Abdel offered.
“She’s beautiful,” Jaheira said, her voice quavering ever so slightly.

This one's for you, slashfic writers.

Abdel thinks that Tamoko might succeed in reforming Sarevok. Jaheira is skeptical, and wonders out loud if she really loves him, and if it'll make a difference.

“I love you,” he said, not sure why he thought he needed to say that just then, but he needed to.
She smiled a strangely sad smile, but her eyes sparkled. “I love you,” she said.
He smiled, but not at her. He smiled at the feeling that washed over him then. It was like the feeling he used to get before a particularly threatening fight or just before a kill.
(...)
[T]he love he felt for her was pushing the Bhaal out of him, replacing his need to kill with his need for her.

Yeah, that's... yeah. There's... there's a lot to unpack here. I'll get around to this during the final update, don't worry.

Abdel picks up the chest again, and after a short while, they reach their goal: The only named guard in all of Baldur's Gate.

“Oh no,” Julius breathed. “Get away from me!” The young footman waved his halberd weakly at Abdel and Jaheira. The bruises under his eyes were a livid purple, but he’d taken the cloth out of his nose. His eyes were bright red, and his face was pale. He didn’t look well, and now he was scared on top of it all.

“Why,” he asked the heavens, “on my watch?”

Jaheira and Abdel surrender to Julius. Or at least they try. It takes some theatrics, but eventually, they manage.

Abdel put his hands on top of his head, smiled, and fell to his knees.
“Footman Julius,” he called in a voice loud enough for everyone within a block of the palace to hear, “I, outlaw Abdel, surrender to you.”
Jaheira followed suit, saying, “And I, outlaw Jaheira, do the same.”
“Why,” Julius asked the other guards, “is it always my watch?”

Heh. You know, this isn't a particularly funny or original joke, but it's repeated often enough that it goes from vaguely funny to annoying to funny again. I like it.

Anyway, as enemies of the state, Abdel and Jaheira are to be brought before Duke Angelo immediately. Julius and the other guards frog-march them off to the ducal palace.

They pulled open the doors, and Jaheira gasped at the sight of the chamber within. It was an enormous room filled with ornate furnishings and artifacts that simply oozed wealth. It was like some exotic museum. Abdel had seen some things similar to the pieces here inside Candlekeep but not all in one room.

Angelo is very, very, very rich.

The duke is presently entertaining guests - two well-dressed women, two middle-aged bureaucrats and a stone-faced mercenary. Angelo stands up as the guards enter the room, and everyone bows.

“These are the...” Julius said, “... them, m’lord.”
Angelo smiled at Julius and said, “Footman...”
“Julius, m’lord.”
“Julius,” Angelo said, nodding, “you’ll make corporal for this.”
Julius looked relieved, but didn’t smile. “Th-tha-thank you, m’lord,” he stammered.
“Abdel Adrian,” Angelo said, “I have heard a great deal about you.”
“Duke Angelo,” Abdel said with a nod.

If you've been following the game updates, you should be a little bit confused about Angelo's portrayal as a reasonable authority figure. Don't worry, it's about to get worse.

Two guards haul in the chest of evidence and place it in the room, and Angelo talks to the guards for a while. Abdel takes a moment to look at the other guests. He quickly dismisses the women and the politicians, but the mercenary catches his eye.

He was dressed in simple, utilitarian clothes, and there was no sign of jewelry. (...) Though he was seated, Abdel could tell this man was tall, easily as tall as Abdel himself, and solidly muscled. (...) This man never looked at anyone or anything but Abdel.

Hmm.

Having been brought up to speed by a rather flustered Julius, Angelo has several questions.

“I have it on good authority” — and he glanced at the big man — “that you are both members of the Shadow Thieves, and spies of Amn here to incite war through sabotage and—“
“We’re none of those things,” Abdel said, “and the contents of this chest will prove that.”

Wow, rude. Don't interrupt the man, he'll be the one deciding whether you get to live or die.

The mercenary gives Abdel a rather meancing glare. Jaheira explains that the chest contains, among other things, mining schematics and a recipe for iron poison. It holds, in short:

“Evidence of a Faerun-spanning conspiracy,” Duke Angelo finished for her, “that only you two Amnian agents are aware of, is that it? Did I get that right?”

Duke Angelo does get some good lines.

Abdel points out that they did throw themselves at his mercy when they didn't really need to. He steps forward, in front of Jaheira, and starts to explain that there is an evil organization known as the Iron Throne behind all of this.

“The Iron Throne is responsible for the troubles with the iron supply, not Amn. These men, if men they are, use doppelgangers to kill the very best of us — Captain Scar and Grand Duke Eltan among them.”
Angelo seemed ready with another quip, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away from Abdel’s.
“And this man in Baldur’s Gate?” he asked.
“This man is named Sarevok,” Abdel answered.
Then things started happening too quickly for all but two of the people in the room to really follow.

So, obviously, following one of the universal laws of cosmic timing, Sarevok is in the room. He's the yellow-eyed mercenary, as I hope you all saw coming.

The first thing that happens is this:

Angelo looked sharply over his shoulder at the big mercenary, whose eyes did flash with a distinct yellow light. Duke Angelo said, “Sarevok?”

Let's take a minute to look at this situation, shall we? This is what Sarevok has been preparing for. He has almost reached his goal. (Of starting war with Amn, that is, but that's an important step along the way of ascending to godhood.) All of his enemies are dead - except for Abdel, his half-divine half-brother, who has unexpectedly shown up with a chest full of (alleged) evidence against him.

This is a crisis moment, and thus, this is Sarevok's moment to shine. Remember: Sarevok is a Moriarty-type villain, and we know he keeps a close eye on his operations with that magic mirror thingy. Hell, he's deliberately passed on opportunities to kill Abdel before. Sarevok must have planned for this eventuality.

So, let's see how that sentence continues, shall we?

Duke Angelo said, “Sarevok?” at the same time that the mercenary’s hand
flashed forward, and there was a lightning bolt of energy, thin and blue-white.
(...)
There was a scream behind Abdel, followed quickly by a thud and Angelo’s voice asking, “Sarevok?” again.

Ah.

Abdel reached for his sword, but of course it wasn’t there. The big man twisted his fingers and muttered something Abdel couldn’t understand, and Abdel realized two things at the same instant: This man was Sarevok, and he was casting a spell.
Abdel leaped forward and brushed Sarevok’s hands aside as he went for his half brother’s neck.

Okay then.

Sarevok managed to push him away and to the side, almost breaking Abdel’s neck in the process.
As he rolled onto his back, Abdel could see two guards—one of them Julius—rushing to put out a fire. The fire was burning on Jaheira’s chest.
“Jaheira!” Abdel screamed, and he spun at the movement next to him, though at that instant he cared about nothing more than the half-elf woman who lay sprawled and burning on the floor. Sarevok stood and bounded toward the big glass window. Abdel let him go.

In short: Sarevok loses his nerve, throws a lightning bolt at Jaheira and jumps out a window. (Also, he's a mage. But that's almost certainly because of the unfinished script, as there's evidence Sarevok was originally meant to be a spellcaster.)

Abdel shouts Jaheira's name, Angelo shouts for a cleric, and I'm about to spend a lot of time shouting about writing.

Spoiler: Comparison and commentary

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This... this is where the book goes off a cliff for me. I know that on first glance, the basic events taking place in the book and the game look quite similar. In both cases, an authority figure is confronted with evidence of Sarevok's crimes, followed by Sarevok attacking and being fought off. So why am I so upset about this? Well, context is very important here.

Let's step back for a moment. I've already rambled about this in the book section, but... what sort of villain is Book!Sarevok, really? To quote myself from a few months ago:

We've established that Sarevok wanted Abdel to investigate the Iron Throne's scheme for some reason or another. He intentionally sent a weak party of assassins after Abdel and Gorion - a very well-calibrated weak party of assassins at that, as they were just strong enough to kill Gorion but not strong enough to kill Abdel.

Sarevok then hired Xzar and Montaron to point Abdel towards the mines and make sure the sellsword meets Mulahey. He had the people running the bandit camp replaced with dopplegangers. Abdel has perfectly followed the trail of crumbs left for him to disover. Just according to keikaku.

When you introduce a villain like that into your plot - one who strings the hero along - you form a sort of pact with the reader. "Sure, the behaviour of the villain might look strange," the author says. "I know it seems like the hero's victories are coming a bit too easily. Trust me, it'll make sense in a bit. Look, I'll even hint that the villain is tracking the hero's progress. See if you can figure out his goal before the hero does!"

We've seen, repeatedly, that Book!Sarevok was helping Abdel. He deliberately hired too few assassins. He sent Xzar and Montaron to point Abdel in the right direction. He replaced both Tazok and Tranzig with doppelgangers to make absolutely sure Abdel would stumble over the bandit camp. He left clues in the Iron Throne hideout for Abdel to find. That sort of thing. If Book!Sarevok wanted stop (or kill) Abdel, he had many opportunities to arrange for that. Book!Sarevok even has a magic mirror/communications network, which we've seen him use to keep track of Abdel's movements.

This kind of plot really hinges on the villain's hidden agenda. If the villain is using the hero, the villain needs to be using the hero for something - there has to be soem sort of double-secret true scheme that is being advanced by the hero's efforts to disrupt the villain. If the antagonist refuses to stop the hero despite given the opportunity, well, there has to be a reason for that. The "plan all along" can't have been to (for example) lure Abdel to Candlekeep and pin a bunch of murders on him because, if Sarevok wanted Abdel out of the way, then he could've done that much more easily. Sarevok has to have had a goal above and beyond "getting Abdel out of the way."

Look at the game for comparison. Game!Sarevok is not this kind of villain. As his diary illustrates, he wasn't planning all of this from the beginning. He was involved with "the operation" for years, that's true, but he only formulated his ascension plans (and learned of CHARNAME's existence) in 1367-1368. He wasn't pushing CHARNAME into investigating anything, and he didn't spare CHARNAME intentionally.
However, in late 1370, Game!Sarevok was facing two problems. One, there was the aforementioned trouble with CHARNAME. Two, Rieltar was blocking his attempts to escalate the hostilities between Amn and Baldur's Gate. Game!Sarevok recognised this as a solution neatly divided into two problems: He used doppelgangers to murder Rieltar and pinned the crime on CHARNAME. He then seized control of the Iron Throne, had two dukes murdered, and made a bid for Grand Duke in the resulting power vacuum, immediately trading in his newly-gained wealth.
Game!Sarevok is an opportunist. He's good at setting up things that could become useful in the future, and at exploiting opportunities when they arise. That's it. He uses CHARNAME, briefly, and there's a reason for it that makes sense.

Book!Sarevok's plan is much greater, and makes much less sense. See, in the book, the Iron Throne consists mostly of non-entities. If there is such a thing as the "Iron Throen leadership" apart from Sarevok, we never get to meet them (Reiltar is entirely off-screen). We have no idea whose deaths were blamed on Abdel at Candlekeep, or if they even were with the Iron Throne in the first place. If Sarevok needed to get rid of some of his rivals, the narrative doesn't tell us. But that's just a specific example - there seems to be no reason he's leaving Abdel alive in general. Tamoko, in her first appearance, asks why she can't just kill Abdel. We never get an answer.

Until now, we were able to pretend the big revelation was still coming up, because Abdel and Sarevok hadn't met yet. This chapter is where that goes out the window. This moment right here, when Sarevok and Abdel meet, is when Sarevok's scheme should fire off. But it doesn't. There never has been a plan of any kind. Abdel drops a chest in the room and say it contains "evidence," and Book!Sarevok loses it completely. That's not how the "puppetmaster" type of villain works. But in order for the book's plot to function, Sarevok has to be that sort of villain. Alas, he isn't, and thus, the whole narrative collapses like a soufflé in a 1990s sitcom.