1351 Campaign - Act 3: The Bold Soil

[DM Dialectic]

Rumor spreads among Baldurians of two significant events related to the violent component of the Virtuous Soil movement as of late.

Sinister Gardening



Allegedly, some members of the Sword Coast Commercial Exchange helped the Flaming Fist to uncover that the personal gardener of the Dukes was in fact a Lady Vernosa traitor. Apparently, the gardener had a sinister plan to use gardening magics to grow obedient and twisted plant creature copies of Flaming Fist soldiers and leadership, and even the Dukes themselves, to secretly kill and replace the Duchal leadership and its military in a silent coup.

After this plot was revealed and the rebel gardener killed, a fireball eager and Flaming Fist battlecaster veteran of the Beregost campaign of the Amn-Gate War, said to have fireballed a score of Amnian soldiers to fiery deaths, was said to be called for by the Sword Coast Commercial Exchange and Captain Beluarion to burn down the plant creatures still remaining, which the dying gardener referred to as "his children". The burnt plant people let out piercing and creepy shrieks as they fried to their doom some Flaming Fist may have been overheard gossiping.

Explosive Events



It is said that a troop of Baldurian loyalist adventurers, including allies and members of the Order of the Radiant Heart and the crew of the Whistling Wandress, thwarted a daring and potentially catastrophic scheme of Lady Vernosa's Virtuous Soil cell to explosively annihilate Duke Eltan, Lady Moruene, and General Scar, as well as a few score of Flaming Fist soldiers and a good portion of the Baldur's Gate Harbor District. The scheme involved the use of a cargo vessel with a false-flag of the Flaming Fist and sent onto a course to impact and detonate at a commissioning ceremony being held for the new Flaming Fist warship "The Flame of Balduran" in the Baldur's Gate Harbor District. The explosive ship and two others, one being the vessel Whistling Wandress, are said to have been seen doing battle incoming into the Baldur's Gate Harbor, where the explosive laden ship then detonated, sending a blast and shock wave close enough to the Harbor District to cause damage, but not witnessed by many beyond violent shaking and some broken glass. In the chaos of these events, it is not yet publicly known if any of the Flaming Fist VIPs attending the commissioning ceremony were harmed.

Rumor also spreads that Lady Katherine Vernosa, of Virtuous Soil infamy and a rebel leader against the Grand Dukes of Baldur's Gate, was finally slain in the melee at sea by the Order of the Radiant Heart paladin Arkaine HalfOrken, with assistance from others present, as what appears to be a lifeless body matching her infamous description was allegedly seen by some brought by adventurers into Flaming Fist custody. An official announcement of her death may not be made until an autopsy is performed, it is gossiped. If true, what her death means for the Virtuous Soil movement against the Grand Dukes of Baldur's Gate and for the state of the city in general over time remains to be seen.

[DM Dialectic]

Long Live Duke Eltan, The End of the Violent Soil

Rumor spreads again and again over the past tenday that in fact very few were harmed in the Baldur's Gate Harbor District from the explosive ship attack on the Baldur's Gate harbor by the Virtuous Soil. It is also said that three loyal Baldurians aided the Flaming Fist in thwarting a multi-layered Virtuous Soil assassination attempt on Duke Eltan, Lady Moruene, and General Scar at the harbor during the commissioning ceremony of the new Flaming Fist warship known as the Flame of Balduran before and during the chaos of the explosive ship attack on the harbor. After the failed attempts, which apparently were stopped by Lady Moruene fireballing someone in a guard tower and three Baldurans shooting and pushing people into the harbor as well as chasing and tackling a man in the harbor area, cheers broke out among those present chanting patriotic slogans such as "Long Live the Dukes!", "Long Live Baldur's Gate", and "Long Live the Flaming Fist!".

With Lady Vernosa dead and this assassination attempt foiled, it is spoken by many in Baldur's Gate that the violent elements of the Virtuous Soil political movement are perhaps destroyed and thwarted beyond repair, although sympathy remains in some quarters of Baldurian society for a movement of opposition to Duchal rule given dire events in the city of the past year. Some gossip that with a leader to rally around and perhaps less controversial methods as tactics that the movement could still cause serious problems for the rulers of the port city-state.

[Snarfy]

Sometime after the assassination attempt was made, and the ruckus in the Docks had calmed down, a slender looking male wearing rather fancy looking attire, complete with a dark blue sash and matching hooded cloak, meanders towards the Fist compound wearing a rather wry and reluctant expression.

The well dressed male, possibly an elf, silently weaves his way past any broken glass from whatever blown out windows littered the streets, his hooded gaze fixated on his destination and his demeanor decidedly indifferent towards any potential rumors uttered by the locals towards him(some of whom might even suggest that the finely dressed male was the one who raced to kick a bomb wielding, arrow riddled fisherman man into the harbor, then trip up and subdue one of the other assailants as they fled the calamitous scene... although others might scoff at such a notion, perhaps even commenting that the slender male looked more likely to get blown away by a strong breeze than subdue anyone).

Once at the entrance to the Fist Compound, the slender looking blue cloaked and hooded male would emit a faint sigh and mutter to himself in elven before proceeding into the compound and approach Beluarion to quietly converse with the Captain about what had transpired...

[paw]

It is many days later before the yellow clad figure who shot the fisherman just as he was about to cast a bomb at the duke is seen again.

It would seem his back is still quite sore from the many bolts he took from fist guards seeing him brandish his weapon.