Once we were done resting at Beregost, it was time to nail down the final items on my bucket list. There was the Protection from Magic scroll with Bentan at Firewine, and the Ring of Free Action at Ulgoth's Beard.
---
Finding Bentan in the vicinity of the Firewine Ruins didn't turn out to be too difficult. A man in priest robes stuck out quite a lot in the wild.
"Ho there! I am Bentan, most devout follower of the great, broken Ilmater. I wonder if any of you follow the path of the Crying God?" he asked.
I looked to the rest of the party. Obviously not Branwen, but I wasn't entire sure for the others. Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Neera, all shook their heads. Upon reflection, Neera and Imoen were obviously not followers of Ilmater. I turned back to Bentan, saying, "That's a no."
"Well then, we must rectify this at once. Listen closely while I tell you the wonders that will come once you have converted to Ilmater's faith," Bentan replied, and cleared his throat. "Now, as you've probably heard, Ilmater is the god of suffering. Most people immediately perceive this as the suffering one must endure themselves, but trust me, the stories you have heard are most likely wild and unrealistic. BLAH-BLAH-BLAH-BLAH"
Ye gads! Where's the skip button when I need it?!?
"I'm sorry, but can you give us the short version?"
"Ah, but you have not been paying attention! Listening through the whole sermon is the start of your journey into the worship of Ilmater, BLAH-BLAH-BLAH-BLAH."
In turn, Imoen, Neera, Khalid, Jaheira and even Branwen started nodding off.
"I'm sorry, but we can't spend all day here. We need to go," I told the priest.
We started walking away, towards Ulgoth's Beard, yet the priest continued to hound us.
64 hours later, we arrived at Ulgoth's Beard.
"…All you have to do to become a faithful of Ilmater, is to cast off your worldy possessions. You will wander the world, and suffer in the place of others. You will spread the word as I have spread it to you," Bentan concluded. "Well, what think you? Will you cast off your possessions and become a faithful of Ilmater?"
There was a long moment of silence.
Imoen looked towards Bentan in surprise. "He… he actually stopped talking."
"He asked us a question, right? He did, didn't he?" Neera said, her eyes full of bags.
Bentan's shoulders drooped. "You… you weren't listening?" He sighed, then straightened back up. "Well, then I shall have to give you the sermon again. Listen carefully-"
"NO! We are not interested!" I screamed at Bentan. "Stop lecturing us and learn to take a hint!"
Bentan sniffed. "No need to be rude! 'm leaving."
And he finally left us in a huff.
I had Bentan donate to us the Protection from Magic scroll sometime along the trip to Ulgoth's Beard, but at this point it didn't feel worth it.
---
Thankfully the donation drive at Ulgoth's Beard was quick and fruitful.
Dushai donated a Ring of Free Action, very nice when combined with spells like Web.
Shandalar donated 2 Potions of Heroism and scrolls of Feeblemind, Emotion: Hopelessness, Greater Malison, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Remove Curse, Spirit Armor. Very nice.
Hurgan donated a diamond and that magical hammer of his, the Kneecapper +1 (+4 vs giants including ogres) which went to Branwen. I didn't feel too bad about relieving him of the Kneecapper since we fully intended to complete his quest in the first place, we were just loaning it early so we can get actual use out of it while there were ogres still to use it on.
Mendas gave us 3k gold for the sea charts, but we weren't ready to follow him on a journey to the Isle of the Balduran. That would come only after we finished clearing Durlag's Tower, so really much later in the game.
---
From Halbazzer at Sorcerous Sundries, I bought the Protection from Magic scroll, Protection from Fire scrolls, 3 Potions of Fire Resistance, 1 Potion of Mind-focusing and 3 Potions of Cloud Giant Strength, leaving me with 8.7k gold.
… and that was it, I think? All the major items on my bucket list that was available at this point were marked off. Was it time to progress the main storyline?
I felt a tugging at my heart. What was this feeling? I couldn't really tell just yet.
I considered the city of Baldur's Gate. Wasn't there some other quests that were calling for my attention, even if the rewards were not unique? Experience is superfluous for us right now, but money and resources are always welcome.
There was no rush. The Grand Dukes are handling the Iron Throne, leaving us to our own devices a bit longer. Scar and the Iron Throne base can wait.
---
We went around the city in a clockwise fashion, looking for interesting things to do. Nothing really struck my fancy in the southeast district had been cleared, so we moved to the south district.
The South district where the docks were actually had quite a few interesting quests and encounters I left undone.
For one, we stopped by Ghorak's house.
"This guy is in dire need of help. Some sort of wasting disease, according to folks in the thieves' guild," I explained to the party. "Not a big priority for us, but I figured if we were passing by we may as well see if we can do anything about it."
The more kind-hearted members of the party, Imoen and Khalid, readily agreed.
Ghorak was quite a sight. Shrivelled and covered head to toe in open sores, he almost looked like a zombie. "For your own health and that of your children, come no closer. I was cursed with this fell disease as punishment for my wickedness... Diseased! Diseased! Stand well back," he said.
"I can cast spells which remove disease," Branwen offered. "All I need is time to prepare-"
"No, your potions and magics are of little use. The only way to cure this sickness is to right the wrongs of the past. Behind a painting at the Three Old Kegs, you will find the skull of my brother, Kereph. Take it to Agnasia in The Lady's Hall. She will know what to do with it."
The Three Old Kegs was located in the northern district. We promised to stop by later.
---
Like I said earlier, we were moving in a clockwise manner around the city. For the sake of continuity however, I'll now describe what we did in the northern district later to help Ghorak.
As we promised to Ghorak, we dropped by the Three Old Kegs here and grabbed a skull hidden behind a portrait.
"Ya know, I didn't question it at the time but I gotta wonder now. What was his brother's skull doing here in the first place?" Imoen asked.
"Some kind of odd arrangement with the Three Old Kegs?" Branwen suggested doubtfully. "Dare we ask the proprietor?"
We decided not to, after all. We doubled back to the west district for the Lady's Hall. There we asked for the Lady Agnasia.
It was strange how many different quests we had with the priests of Tymora, considering how many other temples were in the region. There we no quests in connection to the temple to Gond and Helm, for example.
When Agnasia arrived, we tried our best to explain the situation before showing her a human skull, lest she be shocked and call the Flaming Fist to arrest us for having it in our possession. It turned out, we need not have bothered. "Allow me to explain. This skull you've retrieved is the skull of Kereph. He was a priest here long ago, and Tymora blessed him greatly. Too greatly, perhaps. Made some people jealous, made him some enemies," Agnasia said.
"I don't like where this is going," Imoen said, cringing.
"I imagine most decent folk would not," Agnasia said, sympathetically. "One night we found Kereph dead, his body torn and broken, his head gone. No one ever found the killer. No one ever asked."
I slapped my own forehead. "Yet Ghorak knew where the skull was hidden and was cursed with a wasting disease that couldn't be cured by normal means."
Imoen made a face. "Did we just help a murderer?"
"Apparently so. Someone who murdered their own brother out of jealousy and mutilated the corpse, no less," Jaheira muttered, unamused.
Agnasia bowed her head. "It is best to leave that sort of justice to Tymora. Perhaps this is her forgiveness, no? Go well in the luck of Tymora, stranger. Find Ghorak, for he should now be cured of his affliction."
As we left, Branwen muttered aloud, "Sometimes, even I can't tell what gods are thinking."
Finally, back in the south district, we paid Ghorak a visit. The sores were gone, though he was still shriveled up. I suppose his condition will improve in time. He was beside himself in joy when we met him. "I, I am cured. After all these long years of rotting away, an end has come. Blessed by Tymora and may my brother at last have peace. You are kinder than you'll ever know."
"It really wasn't our call," Jahiera said. "You are fortunate that Tymora has deemed it appropriate to forgive you."
"I doubt Tymora would have been satisfied with just your brother's head being returned if your brother was still angry with you," I said. "No doubt he is advocating redemption for you even now, all the way in Tymora's heavenly realm. You, who murdered him and mutilated him. And for what? Because people looked up to him more than you?"
Ghorak started to wail and sob, uncontrollably. "Kereph, oh, Kereph. I'm so sorry. I'm so very sorry…"
Imoen looked at me with pity in her eyes. "Sonny…"
"He should wail louder! He should do at least that much for murdering his own brother in such a fashion," I snapped, "I would not be so merciful if I were in Kereph's shoes. But if it is Kereph and Tymora's choice, so I'll not intervene."
Branwen advised Ghorak to make better use of his life in restitution, and led the man in prayer. I didn't want to stay to hear it all, and stomped out of the house to wait. Jaheira and Neera joined me outside.
Jaheira was pensive. She was quite vocal about punishing fools who deserve it, but she seemed to have some hesitation in this matter.
Neera was neither cruel nor the retributive sort, but she wasn't exactly the benevolent type either. She looked more concerned for me.
I didn't want to talk about it.