The Fate of Bhaalspawn Was Always Tragic

At the top floor of the Friendly Arm Inn, the gnome proprietor had specifically set aside a "royal-class" suite for everyone to discuss their next move.

"Mr. Mirror Image, Mr. Rodhart, you know I've never liked tedious paperwork. But what happened beneath the Friendly Arm Inn involves mind flayers and Bhaal, the God of Murder. It's far too important not to report every detail to Flaming Fist headquarters..."

As her plate-armored boots made heavy, muffled thuds against the floor, Lianna paced back and forth and explained the purpose of this small meeting.

A Flaming Fist clerk sat beside the desk, with paper, ink, and a quill already laid out before him. Once his superior had finished deliberating, he would begin writing.

Lianna Portyr's reputation for strict discipline and valor in battle had long spread throughout the Flaming Fist. The clerk maintained perfect military posture throughout, not daring to slack off for even a moment.

Marvin, by contrast, had thrown himself into a soft armchair and sprawled however he found most comfortable.

"Mr. Mirror Image, what do you think?" Lianna looked first to the gnome proprietor.

If he were merely the owner of the Friendly Arm Inn, the gnome proprietor would not have been qualified to attend this meeting.

But the great reputation the Mirror Image Family had built since the Time of Troubles, along with its good relationship with the Harpers' Alliance, were factors Lianna had to consider.

If she could use the mind flayers' conspiracy to draw this faction to her side, it would greatly improve the Portyr Family's current circumstances.

The young gnome, not yet sixty, failed to see through the political calculations of this human officer in her forties.

Clenching both fists, he said indignantly, "The mind flayers and their lackeys must die! Whatever their reasons, if they dare set their sights on the Friendly Arm Inn, then they are enemies of me—and more importantly, of my parents!

"And I already promised Marvin that I would ask my father for aid and have several capable friends come guard the Friendly Arm Inn.

"Colonel, just state the facts in the report. Of course, you can choose your wording more carefully, so those noble lords of Baldur's Gate understand the urgency of the matter.

"The mind flayers sent their most loyal, secretive, and terrifying servants—the Cranium Rats—to lurk beneath the Friendly Arm Inn. They must be plotting something enormous!"

Marvin added from the side, "This conspiracy may very well involve Bhaal's legacy. The Friendly Arm Inn used to be a stronghold of Bhaal's followers. That absolutely must be made clear in the report.

"I suspect the mind flayers want to make use of Bhaal's power, or perhaps something worse—these two evil forces may have formed an alliance."

In truth, Marvin did not believe the mind flayers had anything to do with the God of Murder.

He was simply exaggerating the danger.

If these purple-skinned, octopus-headed creatures from other planes wanted to expand their population, they needed to implant mind flayer larvae into intelligent humanoids.

As these fat, oversized evil tadpoles devoured their hosts' brains and gradually transformed, they would also completely erase the hosts' personalities and souls.

As everyone knew, in the multiverse containing Faerûn, those higher beings who wielded divine power—whether gods or fiends—had a tremendous need for the souls of intelligent beings.

Mind flayers propagated their race by consuming souls. That was practically digging up the foundations of Faerûn's gods.

Even if the gods were too busy fighting one another to deal with the mind flayers, no deity would be willing to cooperate with them.

The only reason Marvin had dragged Bhaal into this was to exploit Baldur's Gate's fear of the God of Murder.

More than a century ago, during the Time of Troubles, the gods had been cast down to the Prime Material Plane by [Ao], the Overgod, after the Tablets of Fate were stolen, and had walked the world in the forms of avatars.

Bhaal foresaw his own death and began making preparations. He sired children across the mortal world, planning for his many divine offspring to carry out his portfolio of slaughter in the future, accumulating divine power through mutual slaughter until he could finally be resurrected.

Later, Bhaal died beneath the blade of Cyric, the Dark Sun.

Bhaal's resurrection plan through his bloodline officially began.

Among Bhaal's many children was a young man named Charname Adrian, who chose to resist the fate his divine father had arranged for him.

In the end, Charname defeated Sarevok and the other Bhaalspawn, then destroyed the Throne of Bhaal, bringing his father's evil plan to an end.

Charname became the great hero who saved Baldur's Gate. He lived for more than a century as a legendary warrior and even became Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate in 1450.

Yet this heroic figure still died in 1482 at the hands of the last Bhaalspawn.

At that point, all of the God of Murder's divine power scattered across the mortal world had been gathered, and Bhaal was resurrected once more.

In the story of Charname, a Bhaalspawn, Marvin saw a classic Greek-style tragedy: mortal heroes ultimately could not change fate or defy the arrangements of the gods.

But Baldur's Gate's rulers had more practical concerns.

Bhaal, the God of Murder, was undoubtedly Baldur's Gate's greatest current threat.

The city was a breeding ground for conspiracies and crime. No one knew whether those outwardly respectable noble elites might cooperate with Bhaal's followers in order to physically eliminate political rivals—or even secretly worship the God of Murder themselves.

Ulder Ravengard, Baldur's Gate's current Grand Duke, had risen to power precisely because he had promised to avenge Charname and completely purge Bhaal's influence.

Opposing Bhaal was the political foundation of the Ravengard faction.

If Lianna could seize upon this and make the Grand Duke an ally, the Portyr Family's situation would improve greatly.

After all, their rivals, the Vanthampur Family, were the first family in half a century to claw their way up from the Lower City and ultimately join the noble class, taking up residence in the Upper City.

In Baldur's Gate, where class barriers were rigid, such a leap in status would have been impossible without formidable ability and the favor of the goddess of luck.

"...The incident beneath the Friendly Arm Inn suggests that some mind flayer colony hidden in the Underdark has already set its sights on Baldur's Gate.

"They likely intend to exploit the chaos caused by the surge of refugees after the Second Sundering to carry out some enormous conspiracy. The abduction of House Stelmane's young lady is probably connected to this as well.

"That so-called goblin tribe should merely be servants of the mind flayers.

"Furthermore, based on the information currently available, the mind flayers have most likely begun cooperating with Bhaal's followers. The evidence is as follows...

"Helm watches all! Lianna Portyr. 17th of Kythorn, 1890 DR."

Following Lianna's dictation, the clerk wrote furiously and quickly completed the report without a single typo or blot of ink.

It had to be said that his professional standards were excellent.

But the clerk had no time to feel proud of his work. He only hoped that, once the colonel had reviewed the document, he could hurry up and get the hell out.

"Mind flayers and Bhaal again... This quiet little town is really as dangerous as the colonel says?"

He glanced at Marvin, who was curled up in the armchair in utter boredom, and felt a surge of admiration.

"No wonder he made such a major contribution to this mission and caught the colonel's eye. If I ever face a crisis myself, I hope I can be like this mage, always able to deal with it calmly."

The clerk did not know that Marvin was only considering how to run away and find somewhere safe to lie low.