Rose and the Troupe start exploring the Amnian border to see what they can find. After some chance encounters in the Fire Leaf Forest, the Troupe continue westward toward the Sword Coast. Towards a village Aegon visited once before. A village full of small blue humanoids.
25 Flamerule 1368
We travel to the west, leaving the Fire Leaf Forest. I take some time to talk to Rose as we travel along the border.
Aegon: Tell me, Rose, how did you start adventuring?
Rose: I was just bored, ya know. Same things, day after day. I just figured out that travelling would have proven to be much more fun.
Aegon: Must’ve been really tedious, living every day like the one before.
Rose: Yup. I couldn’t stand it, it was like being imprisoned. Not that I don’t miss my family, or my friends… But I have much more fun now, I don’t regret my decision.
Aegon: I understand that… But I don’t think I would have chosen to leave. A peaceful life is something most valuable, even more than excitement.
Rose: Seeing how you’re doing now, I would never’ve expected something like that from you. That’s quite… sad, growing old seeing always the same things, every day.
Well, I think we’re just a lot different. Should we move on now?
Maybe I’m hiding it too well. I would often try to get out of father’s teachings so I could go out and have some fun with Imoen or Aaron. Now I would give anything to hear him read an ancient tome in the depths of the Keep again.
I’m not out here for fun. I’m out here for vengeance.
I haven’t been initiating conversations with the NPCs a lot throughout this playthrough. I’m going to try and do it more going forward; the mods add a lot of new content to the NPCs, both old and new.
26 Flamerule 1368
We travel for another day and we reach a place Edwin, Verr’Sza, and I remember well. This is the Xvart Village where Valerie was killed. We went back to Nashkel were Nalin brought her back to the Realms, but we never came back here. Now is a good time for vengeance.
We climb up to the village carefully. A few xvarts are sitting around a campfire. Rose takes one of them out before they notice us.
Another falls to Khalid’s bow as they close the gap.
Rose and I cover the pass as the others provide cover for us.
Khalid takes out two more of the small blue humanoids.
Rose finishes the fight.
They weren’t carrying anything of value except for a Sunstone Gem, which we keep in our gem bag. Jaheira, impressed with her husband’s archery, asks him about their future together.
Khalid: I know you never cared for Calimshan. And neither d-do I, for that matter, since my father never c-cared for me as he cared for his true-born sons, and my m-mother is long dead. We can go visit Tethyr… for a short while… if you want.
Jaheira: Even if it had been – for lack of a proper word – my “home”, I’d be much happier to forget it’s existence altogether.
Khalid: I… I am s-sorry, my dear. I d-didn’t mean to bring back sad memories. W-we do not have to go anywhere in particular. We can continue to travel with Aegon… to keep an eye on him. For Gorion’s sake, of course.
Jaheira: Thank you for your understanding. I am afraid that neither your nor my childhood left us many pleasant memories.
But Khalid, my love, know that to me “home” is wherever you are.
Khalid: I f-feel the same way, Jaheira.
Verr’Sza says he is tired. I’m feeling weary as well. We decide to leave the village and set up camp until morning.
In the morning I ask the Weave to reveal what some of the weapons we acquired in the Fire Leaf Forest are capable of. The large axe is the axe of a minotaur. Maybe Kagain would like this weapon next time we come across him.
The spear is a Dragon Scepter. Rose takes a look at the spear, but she is getting good with the Chesley Crusher so decides to stick with the halberd.
The armour we recovered once belonged to a famous thief. Khalid tries it on and finds it is easier to move around when wearing it.
With this armour, Khalid’s Dexterity Penalty is reduced meaning that he has a higher THAC0 with his bow and still keeps the same AC. His Damage Resistance is lower, but he’s not a tank in this party, so hitting with his bow is more important.
We return to the Xvart Village and are once again attacked by the locals.
Khalid kills one as it charges toward us, inspiring panic in the others.
Through a hail of arrows and stones the close in on Rose and I.
Rose rips one of them in half with the Crusher.
They fall quickly to our weapons, and the only remaining survivor tries to flee.
They all carry short swords as well as a couple of sunstone and andar gems. We move further into the village where we encounter their leader.
Not nothing. They attacked us first. They didn’t need to do that…
Rose and Verr’Sza hit the xvart, almost killing them. They retreat as we hear a roar behind us. Ursa is a bear!
Edwin finishes the xvart with an arrow as the bear lumbers toward us.
Rose holds the bear at bay when another xvart spots us from across the pond.
The xvart rushes Khalid, who draws his Varscona. The bear slashes at Rose, cutting into her stomach. Luckily the wound isn’t too deep.
Edwin saves Khalid from the xvart.
Edwin only has 22 THAC0 due to lack of proficiency, but he’s still getting a decent number of kills with his bow.
Khalid turns his bow to the now wounded bear and manages to strike its heart with an enchanted arrow.
Jaheira says she has learned a lot by fighting a bear that was tamed away from nature.
She gets an extra weapon proficiency slot which I put into slings. She also gets improved Wand and Polymorph saves, as well as a bonus of 1 to THAC0 and 3 more Hit Points.
I heal Rose’s wounds and we are attacked by more xvarts.
Khalid kills one of them before they can get close.
The survivor attempts to cut down the rakshasha with its sword. It is no match for his reflexes.
Another xvart decides to join their friends in the afterlife.
We push through the village, fighting more xvarts as we go.
We don’t struggle anymore, and they fall quickly to our weapons.
We sweep the village, killing any more that attack us.
One gets the drop on Edwin, but he manages to hold his own and come out unscathed.
He’s a pretty decent fighter for a Red Wizard. We make our way up a valley to the north east of the village. There are still plenty of xvarts out here.
Their fate is the same as the others.
We learn that they have tamed more than one bear.
It manages to scratch me, but it is still not a match for the six of us.
We follow the trail and it leads to a cave. We suspect this must be where the xvarts keep their bears. We go inside.
Inside the gloomy cavern we find a bear waiting for us.
We draw arms and get close to find it is protecting a small group of xvarts. I attempt to put them to Sleep.
Many of the xvarts fall asleep. The bear is unaffected, so I draw Bashrik’s Hammer to engage the bear.
Jaheira summons some weasels to distract the shaman that is still awake.
Edwin also summons a couple of slimes to help. The bear’s claws start to hurt me.
The weasels prove a good distraction, and the slime’s acid melts away the bear’s tough skin.
The shaman fights for its life as we take aim with our missile weapons.
The slimes wake up one of the fighters who rushes at me.
Khalid kills the shaman just as the rest of the xvarts wake up again.
I show them the Horrors of the Weave.
They panic, running around the cave looking for a way out. We pick them off one by one.
After they are all dead we search the cave. We find a makeshift chest with some equipment inside. There is a Potion of Fire Resistance. This should help if we are ever hit by a Fireball.
There is also an enchanted bastard sword in the chest. This isn’t useful to anyone in the Troupe right now.
There is also a Mithral Ring. It’s just a trinket, but maybe it can be enchanted later.
Outside the cave we encounter some more xvarts, but they are quick to run into our arrows.
Apart from the occasional xvart or two, our only other encounter is with a tradesman who happens to be in the area.
Rose: How about the potion of extra healing?
Borda: This potion can be a lifesaver, trust me.
We give him the gold, he gives us the potion and immediately leaves. I wonder why he is in a hurry? A clue might be with the potion he gave us. It doesn’t look like a Potion of Extra Healing.
Did he…? Did we just get scammed? Damn, we need to be more careful out here in the wilderness.
Our only other encounter out here is a milestone, a small reminder of where we came from.
We aren’t going to travel eastward. For now, we will keep going west.
27 Flamerule 1368
We travel through the day and the night eventually arriving close to the Bear River. We are accosted by a bandit seemingly working alone.
Rose: Well, for starters, you could tell your men in the bushes to drop their bows and step out.
Neville: Did you find all five of them, then? Pity, I shall have to train them better. Anyhow, I’m afraid I can’t abide by your wishes: My men would think me a coward to surrender in the face of such paltry force. Truly, I see no other choice than to order them to fire at will and rob your sad corpses of any iron they may carry. Come men, I believe the choice before us is clear.
Rose’s perception is right. 5 hobgoblins start firing arrows into us from our right. I try and put them to Sleep.
The others make a pincushion out of Neville, while the Weave puts 4 of his archers to Sleep. Neville attempts to block our attacks with a potion.
This doesn’t stop Jaheira striking his skull with a sling bullet.
Khalid drops the only archer still awake. We kill the rest as they sleep.
So bandits are still active in the Coast, even if we did kill half of their leadership. Iron will still be a precious commodity for a while.
Neville carried an enchanted sword and a Scroll of Dispel Magic. Aside from their armour and bows, the hobgoblins don’t carry much.
As we pack away their equipment into our Bag of Holding, Jaheira asks her husband for help.
Khalid: Because th-that’s the only thing you allow me to carry for you.
Jaheira: Oh, yes. Thank you.
Khalid: My d-dear, you really should let me help with some of the heavier things we have to drag around.
Jaheira: My load is manageable, and my packing skills are such that it is distributed evenly. When I cannot carry anymore, I will let Aegon know.
Khalid: I d-do not doubt that, Jaheira. It’s just I w-want to take care of you.
As we wander the forest we encounter a bear and some wild dogs. We steer clear of them. If they get spooked and attack us, we’d have to kill them, and I’m sure our druid wouldn’t enjoy that.
We find a bridge over the river further south, with a rather distressed man keeping his eyes on the bridge.
Rose: What is he doin’ here all alone anyway? That’s a kinda stupid thing.
Jaheira: We will help you, of course. But if I find out that you have been teasing or throwing rocks at the animal… then prepare to face the ire of this protector of Nature. It will be nothing compared to a single bear, that I promise.
We decide on a plan. The bridge is thin, so Rose will lead us with her Crusher ready. We will support from behind. As we cross over to the other side a storm breaks out. Rain starts pouring down, and lightning strikes nearby. On the other side of the bridge we find a polar bear waiting for us.
Rose holds it at one end of the bridge, but she is hurt as one of its claws land on her.
I rush over to heal her.
Then Khalid delivers a final arrow.
We return to Jared, who is extremely happy to hear we’ve killed the bear.
With those words, he leaves. He doesn’t even cross the bridge! The boots he gave us look very comfortable. Rose tries them on and loves how warm they make her feel.
These mountains are cold, and may have other dangers ahead. The storm rages on. But we have almost reached the coast. So we press on toward the end of the border.
