Family Troubles

8 Mirtul 1368

We come across a girl who is upset her parents are fighting. She seems scared to go into her own home, so we decide to go inside and see if we can help resolve their argument. Inside we meet her mother.

Aegon: I beg your pardon, my lady?

Mrs. Dudley: You heard me perfectly. At least have the decency to wipe your shoes before going upstairs.

We wipe our shoes and go upstairs to find the father.

Aegon: We just talked to your wife and she said…

Mr. Dudley: Oh, don’t try that one on me. We know all perfectly well that *she* is hiding it! Tell her it’s getting her nowhere. We have to sell it!

Aegon: You are missing something?

Mr. Dudley: Ha! Guess the whole street knows it already. Is it shameful to sell possessions because you don’t have enough gold? It’s not my fault the horse stepped on my foot. Now, please! I want to rest a bit. Goodbye.

Aegon: Could we help you in any way?

Mr. Dudley: Yes. Go down to her and tell her to stop hiding it! Goodbye.

We go back downstairs and talk to the mother again.

Aegon: You seem to be missing something. Can we help you in any way?

Mrs. Dudley: I won’t say anything further. Go back to him and leave me in peace.

We go outside. Maybe the girl can shed some light on what’s going on.

Aegon: I indeed did talk to your parents… Seems they are missing something?

Annie Dudley: Ye-es… Did they tell you that? What did they say?

Aegon: They didn’t tell me, to be honest. I figured it out from what they said. Do you know anything about it?

Annie Dudley: Mom said we need some gold to pay for the house… But we lost the necklace that could be sold.

Aegon: As, so it’s a *necklace*! Well, I have the impression that both your mom and dad think the other one is hiding it… Do you have an idea where it could be?

Annie Dudley: Me? No… no, why should I?

We’re not really getting anywhere. Maybe now we know what’s missing it might help.

Aegon: Your daughter mentioned you are missing a necklace.

Mrs. Dudley: Did she tell you that?

She sighs.

Mrs. Dudley: Poor girl. Her father doesn’t think of what he is doing to her. He doesn’t think of what he is doing to *us*, by hiding that pearl necklace!

Aegon: Can I help you in any way?

Mrs. Dudley: No, I don’t think so. I am sorry. I don’t mean to offend you, but even our friends couldn’t talk any sense into him… I do apologise for my unfriendly behaviour. I imagined you were his friends when you came in the first time. I thank you for your offer of help, but please leave us alone now.

Aegon: If it’s only gold that you miss, maybe I could give you some?

Mrs. Dudley: Ah… no, no, thank you. We have enough gold. At least we *would* have… Never mind. It’s not your problem.

It’s obvious now the father is hiding the necklace. Maybe we can talk some sense into him.

Aegon: From talking to your wife I got the impression that she thinks *you* are hiding the necklace!

Mr. Dudley: That’s ridiculous! Why should I do that? It is actually hers, to be precise, old family jewellery…

He sighs.

Mr. Dudley: It’s not easy for a man to admit that he is not capable of providing for his family any longer. She agreed to sell the pearls. Really brave woman she is, my Margareth! But…

He sighs again.

Mr. Dudley: …she somehow changed her mind, and now it’s gone. Haven’t talked to her for over a week now! This situation is unbearable. Please, leave an old man with his sorrow. Good day to you.

Aegon: If it’s only gold you are missing, maybe I could give you some?

Mr. Dudley: Ah? Oh, thank you for that… er, kind offer. But she would never accept that, my Margareth… No, she wouldn’t.

Something isn’t adding up. Someone is lying here. We go back to Margareth again.

Aegon: Your husband told us the missing necklace belongs to you.

Mrs. Dudley: Did he? Well, at least he seems to remember… Although that doesn’t help, if he doesn’t *give* it to me!

Aegon: But he said he has no reason to hide it… And that you agreed on selling it too, but then you changed your mind.

Mrs. Dudley: *I* changed my mind? *I* changed my mind? One evening we discussed the necessity of selling my…

She starts to cry.

Mrs. Dudley: …my grandmother’s necklace, and the next morning he hid it! We will lose the house because we can’t pay our last debt on it. I really don’t blame him that he’s no longer capable of earning as much as he did. I haven’t talked to that stubborn husband of mine for several days now. I… I can’t take this any longer…

She sobs.

Mrs. Dudley: Please leave me in peace…

Aegon: I have the impression we are running in circles here. There must be a different solution to this.

Mrs. Dudley: Poor Annie… What will become of her…

She continues to cry.

Maybe they’re both telling the truth. There’s only one other person involved in this. We go outside and find Annie again.

Aegon: Annie, from what your mom said, I have the strong impression “someone” took the necklace from its place that particular night… Don’t you think it’s time to give it back to your mom?

Annie Dudley: But I… I…

She sobs.

Annie Dudley: I don’t *want* the necklace to be sold! It’s the last piece we have from Grandma and I… I… I thought they would find another way and I…

She sobs again.

Annie Dudley: I took it when they were sleeping and now they are so angry and everything is so bad…

She continues to sob.

Aegon: Oh, poor child. Hush, everything will be all right. Hiding the necklace doesn’t help, Annie. Go inside and give it back. Some things have to be done, even if it hurts.

Annie Dudley: May…

She sobs.

Annie Dudley: Maybe you are right. Oh, I hope mom won’t be too angry!

She goes inside the house. We give them a moment, then follow her. We find the family together upstairs.

Mrs. Dudley: Indeed, it was Annie who had the necklace! My poor husband!

She gives him a guilty look.

Mrs. Dudley: Thank you very much for your help, dear stranger! You did a very good deed by us.

We are very grateful for your help.

Aegon: I really want to see you people happy. Do you have an honest buyer for your necklace?

Mr. Dudley: Well, we will go to someone we know in private… It’s always a risk to do gold business with people you know, but it’s…

Mrs. Dudley: Good gracious, do you want to tell every detail of our gold misery?

We are very grateful for what you did for us, but we need some time to discuss the proceedings further… I do apologise, but it was a very anxious time we had.

Aegon: Well, I surely hope everything will be alright. Good day to you.

You can actually offer to buy the necklace for 600gp here, but we don’t have enough gold for that.

We leave them to continue their lives.

Around the corner we find “Kagain’s Shop”. We go inside to see what goods they sell.

Aegon: Um, what kind of shop is this anyhow?

Kagain: I run an escort business. I hire mercenaries to escort caravans on route from Amn to Baldur’s Gate. Right now I’m lookin’ for some strong sword arms, and I’m willing to pay high. It seems that one of the caravans under my protection never arrived at Baldur’s Gate, and I need ta know what happened. You look like a strong group of warriors. Interested in a job?

Aegon: Sure, we always need more money, tell us more.

Kagain: That’s good. I’ve been having a lot of problems with bandit activity lately, but they’ve always only taken the cargo and let the caravan go afterward. I’ve been catching flak from the family of some of the passengers of the caravan, after all it was the job of my mercenaries to make sure everyone got safely to Baldur’s Gate. Normally I wouldn’t give one damn about some stupid whiner, but one of the passengers was the son of Entar Silvershield, and in this part of the world, his word is law. SO do you want the job or not?

Aegon: Well, there sure is trouble on the roads. I have seen some myself.

Kagain: Never is enough hirelings around t’ do the job proper. D’ya have any experience?

Aegon: We battled a bandit group that had just killed everyone in a caravan up North. Any chance this pin was from one of yours?

Kagain: Well, this is Silvershield’s son’s marker. Dead, y’ say? That was one of my caravans. Guess I’m in a lot of trouble now. With him dead, I’ll be a wanted dwarf. Well, since my reputation is now mud, how ’bout I help you regain revenge on those scum bags? P’rhaps you can put in a word for me with the Silvershields. Whadda ya say?

Aegon: Sure, we could use your skills.

Kagain picks up his axe and starts to gather his things.

Like the people he employs, he is a mercenary.

He likes to use some dirty fighting techniques.

He wears leather armour and a black helmet, and wields a medium shield with his battle axe. He collects some gold he has around his shop, as well as some fire agate gems he says he’s been saving for a rainy day.

Outside the town crier is announcing the bounty on Bassilus’ head.

We move past him, and find the farmer’s home just south of Feldepost’s Inn.

Aegon: I have not figured it out yet. Farewell.

Farmer: Please search behind my house at night.

We “acquire” some more gold and a short sword, then leave. We enter his neighbour’s home and at first I think they have a dog.

I remember my promise to the others and we retreat from the home. We aren’t equipped to fight a werewolf.

I did try and fight it, but it led to a party wipe. Werewolves are level 7, and can only be hurt by magical weapons. Only Sirene could do any damage to a werewolf at the moment, and she can’t take it down by herself.

What on Toril is a werewolf doing in Beregost anyway? It’s not even a full moon – I read that they couldn’t appear if it wasn’t.

We take a look behind the farmer’s home even though it’s daytime, but we don’t find anything.

We will have to come back tonight.

We pay a visit to Firebead’s neighbours. They aren’t happy to see us.

She’s right, her mother does not like it.

We go upstairs anyway. It turns out she has a son who also not happy.

We’ve been in this situation before. We make a quick retreat back to the street. We decide to pay Firebead a visit. We can at least say we got the wrong house if the guards come now.

Rose uses her sleight of hand skills to get into Firebead’s robes. She manages to pickpocket two potions of extra healing, as well as a potion of invisibility.

Rose has a pickpocket skill of 70, so I want to take advantage. There’s a mod that changes the repercussions of pickpocketing so you can talk your way out of it, which makes it a bit safer. You won’t have guards charging in and trying to kill you right away if you fail once, but I believe it can still happen after repeated failures.

We pay a visit to Firebead’s other neighbour, and meet their butler.

We bother him anyway.

We leave them to their troubles, but not before acquiring the eighth volume of the History of Shadowdale.

Colquetle’s neighbour is just as unpleased with adventurers in her home.

Aegon: There is no need for that. You are obviously experienced at taking care of yourself, and I wouldn’t dream of attacking you.

Malicia: For someone who goes about breaking into houses, you certainly “appear” to have half a brain. Best that you use it and leave.

Kagain has some issues with my size.

Aegon: One must start somewhere. The troubles that plague the Coast have become mine, and I shall pursue them as I may.

Kagain: I may as well stick to ye, then. Them bandits be bidding fair to hem me in as well.

We “acquire” some gold and a gem from the home. Rose attempts to pickpocket the former adventurer, but she gets spotted.

Rose: I assure you, that wasn’t my doing. However, I did see a hooded woman pass nearby mere moments ago. Perhaps that was the real culprit?

Malicia: Hmm… I will let you off with a warning, this time.

However, know that you will be watched much more carefully from now on!

That’s what happens if you fail at pickpocketing now. I chose this dialogue option since Rose has 17 Charisma. I believe it’s now harder to pickpocket Malicia, and if she catches Rose again it will be harder to convince her not to call the guards.

The owner of the next home is surprised to see us.

Aegon: Just a curious passerby. It’s a lovely home that

you have here.

Dath: Aye, it is at that. It’s well maintained, though I fail to see how that gives you leave to enter as you will. Better leave soon lest the guards be called.

We talk to his partner.

Aegon: I am no thief. My apologies for having scared you.

Solgen: Then what possible reason do you have for being in my home? The door was closed. There is no “accidental” way to bypass it. Please, if you have no business here then leave.

People don’t like strangers entering their homes in this town. I wonder why? We steal a short sword as we leave.

The occupant of the last home on the street tries not to be rude to us.