From here, we went our separate ways with Duke Eltan. Scar and the Flaming Fist soldiers accompanied him to keep him safe, of course. With both Scar and Duke Eltan back at the helm, sorting out the issues of command over the Flaming Fist should proceed much faster. I had to wonder why it was necessary for me to sneak the good Duke out in the first place, but whatever.
With Duke Eltan's safety secured, we were no longer racing against the clock. That meant we had time to make another stop to make before we checked back with Duke Belt and Liia Jannath at the Ducak Palace.
Just outside the Sorcerous Sundries, we were hailed by an Asian-looking woman (which means she was from Kara-Tur). She wore black plate mail and was armed with a flail. A cleric by my guess.
"I apologize for not being more open, but these are troubling times. If I could be permitted to speak for a moment, I believe I have something you would want to hear. Perhaps we could hep each other?"
My eyes narrowed and I peered at the woman. Admittedly, back when I first played the game, I didn't recognise her at all. I've played the game so many times however, that it's a bit hard not to notice her role in this whole story.
"We've met before, haven't we?" I asked. My voice was quiet, nothing indicated malice in my tone. But perhaps it was the look in my face which made the woman shudder and take a step back.
Seeing my reaction, my party reached for their weapons but I put my hand up to gesture it wasn't necessary. Yet.
Imoen looked at the woman carefully. "She IS awfully familiar looking. But where- ah!" Imoen exclaimed and covered her mouth. "The day Gorion died! You were there! You fought alongside Sarevok in the ambush!"
Again, Jaheira and Khalid reached for their weapons. I kept my hand up, and shook my head to them. Jaheira scowled, but held her peace. For now.
"You have a lot of gall to appear before me. You may speak, but you'll need to work hard to explain yourself if you're expecting any help from me," I told her.
I knew what she had to say. But in the original game, she never so much as apologized for her role in Gorion's death. Perhaps she had thought if she brought it up, she would have been killed.
The Kara-Tur woman bowed your head. "You are most gracious, considering. You may call me Tamoko. I do not presume to be your friend, or even someone you should trust, but fate demands that I place myself at your disposal. Before I ask for a favour, I shall endevour to help your cause first. The one who claims to heal Duke Eltan's sickness is also the one who breeds it. Likely there have been signs that suggested this to you, but none have said it so plain. No doubt you have the wherewithal to follow through on it. Your very nature gives you above average competence. Gorion's tutelage could only have enhanced this."
"Hah, too late! We have already rescued Duke Eltan from the clutches of the one who would cause his sickness!" Neera exclaimed. "Your tip for us is useless!"
Tamoko's eyes opened in shock. "What, already? You've been back in the city for barely a day!"
To be fair, we practically speed run-ed the whole crisis as soon as we stepped foot into Baldur's Gate. So Tamoko's reaction was quite understandable.
Jaheira, Khalid and I glared at Neera. You're not supposed to give away what we know to a potential enemy!
Neera didn't get the message. She just shot us back a look of 'What did I do wrong?'.
Neera then turned away and pouted.
Urgh. "She couldn't have known that since we just only did it. There is sincerity in the intent to aid us, at least. Duke Eltan's welfare is of great significance, so I wouldn't be so quick to discount any attempt to secure his safety," I remarked to Neera.
Neera made a point of pretending not to hear.
UUUURGH.
To Tamoko, I said, "I won't say you are forgiven for your role in Gorion's death. But you have at least given us reason to listen to your further."
Tamoko, gulped, clearly not expecting her important information for us to be so. "I have things that must be said, things that are important to us both. I have but one condition to my discourse, and you must agree before I speak. A promise I seek, and I will accept no less," she said. She was shaking, but clenching her fists for nerves.
I crossed my arms. "You have yet to prove your usefulness, and I have reason to distrust. Why should I make promises for information unheard? My word is not so easily gained."
"My promise will not harm you though ignoring it can. Indeed, my information can only benefit. You will gain if you did not know it before, and you will gain if you knew it but needed it confirmed. The choice I pose is the only option. Are you in agreement or not?" Tamoko said.
"Outrageous! You are in no position to make demands of us!" Branwen exclaimed. "What use do we have of your information? We have already-"
I put up my hand and glared at Branwen. Jaheira and Khalid glared at her as well. Branwen looked confused for a moment, then pursed her lips and backed of.
Tamoko doesn't know Sarevok had already failed to be assassinate the Dukes and escaped for his life. Word hadn't gotten out on the streets yet. If we want to make some sense of the events that had happened which led to Gorion's death however, we would need to gather information from this woman.
Jaheira and Khalid, in spite of their rage at the murder of their friend and my foster father, knew this well. Harper agents are trained in information warfare, after all.
"What? What have you already done?" Tamoko asked.
"Are you willing to replace your request of me with one for information? An exchange, perhaps?" I asked Tamoko.
She did not, of course.
"Then, IF your request from me is as you say, one that will not harm me yet ignoring it can, I shall offer my promise to follow your request as best I can," I told Tamoko.
I know what the request is already, after all.
"I thank you. Here is my request, though it may seem quite odd. I charge you to defeat Sarevok, the man behind all your woes. You must destroy his plans and stop his scheme in its tracks. You must strip him of the belief that he can succeed in this path he follows. You must do this for me, and you must also leave him his life. I will… I will help him to live his life as a man, not as the god he thinks he can be."
Jaheira had been scowling the whole time, finally chose to speak. "And already you have broken the terms of your request, that it will not bring us harm. We will not stand by and let Sarevok destroy us to fulfill our promise to you, foolish woman."
"Sarevok seeks to destroy everyone, not just you. You are of particular interest because of your shared origins with him. You are a possible rival, one of the few that are worthy of his personal attention. Above all else, you are family. I see this is startling news, though likely you have suspected as much. Does this disturb you? It should not. Monsters are often closer to us than we like to think. You are siblings, and the paths open to him are yours as well, though he has been racing down his from his earliest days. You had Gorion to guide you, did you not? Sarevok had no one. He draws his strength from his hatred, from the thought of rising above those he knows to be inferior. His divine blood hungers for conquest, and that is why he must be defeated, but not killed. He serves another, but does not know it."
"So, you know of his divine lineage."
"The child becomes the father, or desperately wishes so. The blood pulls, calls, and demands. The wise Alaundo did say unto the ages, that the Lord of Murder would perish and his doom would spawn his mortal progeny. Chaos would be sown in their passage, but to what purpose? You have felt the hunger and heard the offerings of power? Sarevok thinks they are true and so he seeks a senseless war, a slaughter of a scale so grand as to defy description. He thinks it will launch him to… to what? Possibly he is right, but I cannot lose him to this."
"He isn't right. The Lord of Murder's machinations are undoubtedly for the purpose of his own resurrection, not the ascension of his children. Sarevok's actions are indeed tantamount to suicide," I pronounced. "But why do you oppose him when you so clearly care for his life?"
"Sarevok is… I share Sarevok's company, and would do so until I die, given the choice. That is all you need to know. I would save the man within the beast he wishes to be. I do not believe he will survive his plan either, it is all based on conjecture at best. He feels that he has been chosen, and that he will become… more than he is. I do not share this belief. As you say, gods are not know for bequeathing their powers, especially if they have foreseen their deaths. Whatever he is, I would keep him here, grounded firmly among those of us that are all flesh."
I sighed. "I shall strive to stop him. And with the gods as my witness, he deserves death for all that he has done, yet I will do what I can to see that he lives."
"I thank you. Sarevok can be redeemed, as could you should you one day purse the same path. For now, I shall speak of secrets to aid you. Duke Eltan may be saved, but Duke Entar Silvershield has been killed outright. The murderers have acted with anonymity, but I know who and where they are. You must go to the Undercellar; return if you have already been. There you will find Slythe and Krystin, two unsavory beings that revel in the violence Sarevok allows them to commit. They are no more than animals in human guise, even by the standards of the company they keep. Kill them and you shall know much of the plan. If you do not know where the Underellar is located, then go to the sewers, you will find an entrance there."
I preemptively glared at the rest of the party. Don't any of you DARE to mention we've already defeated Slythe and Krystin.
Branwen and Neera had the decency to blush out of embarrassment, at least.
Satisfied, I looked back to Tamoko. "I thank you for your help. I shall seek them out."
But Tamoko wasn't done. "There is… another. Atop the Iron Throne base is a woman whose… whose influene is a poison in Sarevok's soul. If she were removed I know he would listen to reason, to my pleading. Cythandria is her name, and she holds much power in this matter. She seeks Sarevok's favor as well, though she is content if he self-destructs, so long as she profits in the deed."
And THAT is what I was going through all this for. Now we had reason to revisit the Iron Throne base. Cythandria awaits.