Walking around Nashkel provided more on and more talk about the mad Commander Brage. In the northwest of town, a large temple dedicated to Helm stood before a graveyard. There, the priest, Nalin offered his own thoughts on Brage without us asking. "Helm watch over you and our poor lost brother, Brage. A finer captain of the guard could nary be found this side of Amn."
"Strange sentiment to have for one who murdered his wife, children and innocent bystanders," I said to him.
"Stranger still for one so devout as to commit so heinous an act. So drastic a change does not usually happen without nefarious help," Nalin insisted. "If there be an evil influence on him, perhaps the harsh justice of the military should be stayed. He'll find no quarter at the garrison, but if he came to the temple… Well, his restitution need not be his life."
When we were outside, I asked my companions what they thought about the situation with Brage.
"He-he-he sounds like a good man. The old Brage, I mean. Before he started killing," Khalid spoke up first. His face was full of sadness.
"Khalid has the right of it. It's because of the sudden change that it's the talk of the town. Not because the man was evil to begin with," Jaheira concurred.
"Think wild magic could be at fault?" Imoen asked Neera with a slight smirk.
"Don't even joke about that!" Neera pouted. "Anything's possible with wild magic, but such a terrible act seems more deliberately evil than random."
It's not that I didn't already know, but I didn't want my companions to think I didn't value their input and I had all the answers. "There's another tavern in town. Folks there will be still talking as well. Maybe we could get a kernel of truth from all the unverified rumors."
As soon as we took a step into the Belching Dragon Tavern, Jaheira clicked her tongue. "Well, if you wanted a source of unverified rumors, you've found your man."
Jaheira pointed at a finely-dressed gentleman right in the middle of the tavern with a well-kept beard, who was busy regaling locals around him with some fanciful tale. "That right there is none other than Volothamp Geddarm, otherwise known by his pen name, Volo."
At the sound of his name, Volo turned to us with a large smile on his face. He took a bow. "That I am. Volo, traveller and author, extraordinaire. But I must object to any assertion that my tales are anything less than the whole truth. Why, I take a great deal of trouble to chronicle events and research facts as accurately as possible!"
"Your co-writer, Elminster, seems to think otherwise," Jaheira muttered under her breath.
Volo was indeed a very popular writer, so much so that somehow his works even appear in the real world outside the Forgotten Realms. As to the authenticity of what he writes, well, that's a bit more disputed.
"I don't know," Imoen said aloud, "Can this baffle head really help us figure Commander Brage out?"
"Ah, a more tragic tale is rare to see!" Volo started immediately, "Where once was a well-thought-of family man, was replaced by senseless mayhem, a rampage of violence of the like which even I have never heard afore!"
"Even we know that much," Neera muttered.
"Oh ho!" Volo pointed at Neera, "But did you know that prior to his mad rampage, the good Commander Brage had procured a new sword, in spite of the shortage of iron? Though, admittedly the relevance of this bit of information, I have no way of verifying."
We had pretty much joined the small crowd surrounding Volo by this point, which was keeping him talking with a steady supply of drink. "What have you heard about the troubles in the mines?" I asked.
Here, he didn't have anything new to add that we didn't already know. Iron shortage throughout the Sword Coast, bandits both human and demihuman (hobgoblin) raiding caravans for iron, and much of the raw iron ore available is brittle. All of this made worse by the disappearing miners at the Nashkel mines.
We took a quick walk around the carnival, on condition that we didn't engage with all the sights and shops.
"But it's a carnival!" I protested. "We don't' get those in Candlekeep!"
"If you don't want to be treated like a child, don't act like one. We have more important things to do," Jaheira said, with Khalid and Neera nodding in agreement. "The pouting isn't helping either!"
Imoen gave an 'awwwww' as well, but said nothing to support me.
Thankfully, I got exactly what I wanted. I didn't actually want to go into the tents until we recruited our last member of the team.
Speaking of which, a dwarf in front of a stone statue was calling for us. "This way sir, over here!"
The dwarf referred to the statue as a stone warrior maiden, and indeed it did look the part. He wanted to sell us a magic scroll to release the maiden from her stone prison for a whopping 500 gold.
"Check if it's like the ones in Mutamin's garden," I whispered to Imoen and Neera, in spite of knowing the answer.
Imoen and Neera nodded, went forward and soon came back. "Definitely a petrified adventurer. Detail and clothes check out."
I pulled the party aside. "Alright. The list of matters around town which beg our attention is starting to pile up. This is one we can solve quickly and for much less than the 500 gold that the con artist in the carnival demands. Any complaints?"
There was none. We made a quick trip back to the Temple of Helm. Nalin the priest raised an eye when we told him what we wanted to buy. "A single Stone to Flesh scroll? Word of your gracious deed in aiding a woman petrified by a basilisk has reached even this side of Amn. Is this scroll meant for the same purpose?"
"Aye, you have the right of it," I replied, "The petrified woman in question is in the carnival right now, if you can believe it."
Nalin lifted his hand. "Say no more. I'll fetch a scroll immediately. With a significant discount, of course."
I guess that's how one goes about getting a discount in-person. From the base price of 225gp, I purchased a Stone to Flesh scroll for 180gp. A 20% price cut is pretty substantial, and we will get better discounts soon enough.
The magic from the scroll took hold on the statue, and once again stone was replaced by a warrior woman with honey blonde hair. I made sure to step back in case I get clobbered again.
We gave her some time to rest from her ordeal before she introduced herself. "I am Branwen, a war-priest from the Norheim Isles."
"Well met, noble warrior. What happened to you, that you be trapped in stone?"
Branwen explained in detail. She had come into the employ of what was ostensibly an adventuring troupe in the Nashkel area, which unfortunately turned out to be a bandit group. Branwen had rebelled during a raid on a caravan of unarmed merchants.
Branwen grit her teeth. "Tranzig, that DOG! He was the one that turned me to stone."
Unfortunately, Branwen couldn't give us a name for the group. But she would recognise Tranzig on sight.
"You have saved me, and for that I owe you my life. I am indebted to you, and by Tempus , I leave no debt unpaid!" Branwen said, "Let me join whichever cause you're fighting for, I should make a valuable ally and bring the favour of the Lord of Battles upon us."
I conferred with the rest of the party. "Honorable, recognises a significant member of the bandit group, and she's a priest. We shouldn't let this one go."
I said the last bit with my eye on Imoen and Neera, who looked to the ground sheepishly. There was no disagreement, so we gave Branwen the good news.
In spite of her exhausted state, Branwen was thrilled to join our 'war party'. "I will not make you regret your decision," she said.
Considering Branwen's poor health post de-petrification, we settled on cutting short any other recon and resting at the inn.
Oh frabjous day, callooh callay! We finally have a CLERIC in the party! Remember that Command spell I kept moaning about over and over, wishing we had access to it ourselves to cheese through the early game? Now we did! Even the boss of the current chapter, the guy waiting for us in the Nashkel mines, was guaranteed to be put to sleep for a round by Command. Our victory against him was guaranteed!
Outside of being a cleric oneself, clerics were surprisingly hard to come by in the early game of Baldur's Gate 1. The only other cleric available in chapter 1 was evil, and a drow. If you've played Baldur's Gate 3, I am talking about Viconia DeVir.
I am holding on to Branwen, and I am NEVER letting her go. I'm never doing without a cleric on the team again!
As we were walking to the Nashkel Inn, we passed by another local celebrity, though at the present time he was not yet famous. The man was a warrior with imposing stature, bald with purple face-paint, holding a sword in one hand and a hamster in other.
We had passed him earlier, but I purposely locked eyes with him this time, knowing our party was full. The man held up a hamster and said, "Stand and deliver, that my hamster might have a better look at you!"
Imoen and the rest looked at each other, confused.
This was Minsc, probably the most popular of the companions due to his might, enthusiasm and, uh, eccentricities. His face is plastered all over promotional materials for D&D products.
Minsc pulled his hamster back, and spoke to it conspiratorially. "I agree Boo, they look to be friendly."
Minsc wanted help with rescuing his charge, Dynaheir, who was captured by gnolls and held in their fortress to the west. Dynaheir was a she, by the way.
"And who is this cutey?" Imoen asked, reaching to pet the hamster. Minsc pulled it away before she got the chance.
"Boo is the only miniature giant space hamster in the realms! Boo has been my friend and companion ever since my h-h-head injury!"
"Ahhhhh, that explains a lot," Neera said.
"A damsel in distress. How can any man resist?" I said. My remark turned the heads the heads of Neera, Imoen, Jaheira, Branwen and even Khalid… wait, that's my whole party.
"Then the quest is joined! We shall leave IMMEDIATELY! Tarry not-"
I put up my hand. "But we too have our own damsel who was just saved from distress. Stricken by a mage most foul!" I said, pointing at Branwen, who shuffled uncomfortably at the sudden attention on her. "She is our charge now, and we must see that she be allowed to recover from her ordeal."
"But-but-but-"
"All damsels in distress must be saved! Though we mortal adventurers can but save one damsel at a time, Dynaheir shall be saved!"
With that, Minsc let us go. Thank goodness too, because the valiant warrior was in the habit of attacking people who refused to aid him. I had to agree yet move on without him.
Okay, I should get this out of the way. Why did I leave out the ever popular, most beloved Minsc, when I was running a good reputation campaign? The reason was one of party composition. In Baldur's Gate 1, just like Xzar and Montaron, Minsc must be paired with Dynaheir once rescued. Dynaheir is a mage. We already have mage, Neera. That's the reason.
With my current party set up, we now had access to the whole line of spells available; wizard, cleric, and druid. This increased the options our party had considerably. My only regret was that Jaheira was a multi-class druid and not full druid, so she would not learn certain key spells that would make certain fights a breeze.
Another companion we skipped in Nashkel is arguably the best mage in the game, Edwin. Edwin is a conjurer who gain an additional spell per level. That's huge. No mage has as much raw number of spells at their fingertips. Conjurer means he casts conjurations spells better, and is restricted from Divination spells (which most folks consider a minor drawback). Unfortunately, Edwin is evil, so I'm not using him.