After getting shipwrecked on that blasted island and the aboard on the ship, we treated ourselves to a nice meal and rest at Feldepost's, far away from Ulgoth's Beard. We shared our tales of adventure with Xzar and Montaron, and toasted to another adventure.
The next morning however, the party had a discussion concerning a certain dagger in our possession which had the soul of a demon in it.
"So what do we actually do with it? Hurgan asked for it, but we don't know if Hurgan is aware of Soultaker's resident demon," I addressed the team.
"Even if he is, can Hurgan even handle such a dangerous artifact? He's not a mage by trade and may not have defenses prepared," Neera said, glancing towards me conspiratorially.
I had told Neera last night about what would happen as soon as we brought the dagger to Ulgoth's Beard. The dagger will be stolen by cultists, we fight the cultists, the cultists release Aec'Lectec, we defeat Aec'Lectec.
Thing is, defeating a demon here on the material plane means the demon will survive, sent back to the abyss temporarily weakened and eventually make its way back. Since we knew the demon was going to gain its freedom even in death, logically it would be better not to even let it get released in the first place.
"If not Hurgan, who should keep the dagger safe? Not us adventurers who are constantly on the road," Branwen said, then. "...The Dukes? One of the temples in Baldur's Gate?"
"Those are some pretty good suggestions," I said. "Though I'm not certain even the high priests of the temples in Baldur's Gate would be able to contain the demon if it escapes. Nor the Dukes. They could barely deal with dopplegangers as it is."
"But they be the biggest big shots in the region," Imoen protested. "If not the temples or the Dukes, who else could contain the demon in the dagger?"
I pursed my lips and looked towards Jaheira and Khalid.
Jaheira and Khalid exchanged glances. "The threat of a demon being let loose in the Sword Coast does sound like a job for the Harpers," Jaheira admitted. "Yet I am not certain even we have the resources to keep the demon sealed indefinitely."
"If there is none better, the Harpers. Please, try talking to your superiors," I urged them.
Superiors meaning Elminster, obviously. It would be totally unreasonable for him to leave a DEMON for us to deal with.
It's not that we couldn't beat it. It was just that beating the demon ourselves was ultimately futile since it eventually comes back.
I do admit it felt kind of unsporting not to actually fight Aec'Lectec though.
-
Seeing as how I had defeated Aec'Lectec plenty of times in the game, I had planned quite meticulously what we would have done IF we had really fought Aec'Lectec.
I could just imagine how it would have gone.
-
Carrying the dagger to Ulgoth's Beard to bring it to Hurgan, we would be beset by a mage in red robes. Not bald though, so not Thayan.
Cultist: "Heathen! You are those that have retrieved the dagger "Soultaker" from Durlag's Tower. You must give me the dagger now."
Jaheira: "Why should we give you the dagger?"
Cultist: "That dagger holds the focus of all our prayers. Our god may finally return. I must have it!"
Of course we wouldn't give it in, and we would be ambushed by cultists. Then the dagger would be stolen away from us during the chaos of the battle regardless, completely scripted.
Annoying, right?
-
There would be three battles with the cultists. Seeing as how these fights were the precursor to the final boss of the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion, they were pretty substantial.
Cultist battle #1 out of 3 had the following forces:
-One Cult Enforcer: 39 hit points, AC 6, Thac0 15, 3 attacks per round
In spite of looking like a mage, this is actually a subpar warrior. Strangely he is the only warrior armed with a magic weapon.
-2 Cult Guard: 71 hit points, AC 2, Thac0 9, 2.5 attacks per round
Here to waste the party's time.
-2 Cult archers: 46 hit points, AC 2, Thac0 9, 2 attacks per round
Lots of speciality arrows including Arrows of Biting, quite dangerous.
-2 cult assassins: 62 hit points, AC 2, Thac0 9, and an incredible 5 attacks per round!
If their super cheat-y five attacks per round wasn't bad enough, these guys start invisible and would backstab our back-liners for triple damage! Dealing with these assassins was the big priority in these fights.
-
Imoen cast invisibility on herself, and Neera cast another spell. Jaheira and Khalid pushed on to engage the archers. The Cult Guards moved to protect their archers, so Jaheira and Khalid were dealing with both archers and guards in melee.
Branwen, Imoen and I moved forward to engage the one Cult Enforcer.
In the back, Neera was left all alone.
Out of the shadows, one assassin thrust a shortsword right through Neera's back with a vicious backstab, then another did the same.
"Oh, noooo! It hurts so much!" Neera cried out melodramatically. "Save me, Sonny!"
I cringed. "Uh, hang in there Neera. We are all engaged with foes!" I responded.
The two assassins were rather surprised their target still lived, and stabbed again. The shortswords passed through Neera again.
"You're too cruel! You nearly killed me again!" Neera cried out, and she swung her Staff Spear +2 at the two assassins.
Branwen, Imoen and I didn't take long to put down the Enforcer. So we moved on to gang up on the archer that was engaged with Jaheira.
Khalid was tanking an archer and two guards just fine by the time we were done with that archer and moved to support him instead.
All this while, the two assassins stabbed at Neera in futility, uncertain what to do when their attacks were completely passing through her ethereal body harmlessly.
It didn't matter how many attacks per round the assassins had or how hard they hit if their strikes did nothing. One cast of Wraithform was all it took to take control of what could be a difficult fight. Everything else was tanked and spanked.
-
We made a quick stop in the inn before moving to find the remaining cultists, to report to Hurgan.
Hurgan: "Something went wrong. What is it?"
Us: "We retrieved the dagger but some sort of religious fanatic stole it. I don't know why he did."
Hurgan: "It is as I feared. Listen to me, we haven't much time. The ones who stole the dagger from you are the same that released the demon that killed me grada'. Me grada' was killed by a tanar'ri, a nabassu to be precise. The one who stole it from you is a member of a cult that worships this beast as a god. Many centuries ago, when me granda' adventured with Durlag, they fell foul of the tanar'ri, which had been released on our place by the cult. Durlag and me granda' defeated the tanar'ri, though granda' was mortally wounded, and they entrapped the demon's essense in a dagger. Me da' later found a way to destroy the dagger and the beast within, but tragedy befell Durlag before he could send the dagger to me clan."
So Hurgan DID know about the demon. He was hoping to contain it, but he would have been no match for the large group of cultists. He had the means to destroy the dagger, and possibly the demon within it.
It's a pity he was fated to never get the chance to do so before the demon was released. Or that would be the case if this wasn't an imagined scenario.
Hurgan: "Ye must find the cult. Ye must retrieve the dagger that I may destroy the beast. If the cult manages to free the demon, then it must be killed before it visits destruction upon our land. Go and get the dagger. Quickly!"
-
The house at the west end would be housing the cultists now, who were trying to free the demon. This was cultist fight #2 out of three.
Cultist: "You there! Where do you think you're going?"
us: "We know that the cult resides within and we have come to retrieve the dagger that was stolen from us."
Cultist: "You! The usefulness of your party is exhausted. Our god will suffer no more intrusions."
Two archers and a WHOLE lot of guards. Eh. Neera tanked one side while the rest of us cleared the archer and the two guards on top. One Greater Malison and Confusion from Imoen, and that was that.