Funnily enough, the lift which we took earlier from the surface to level 1 of the base was also here on level 4. Right next to the room with the four-post bed, in fact.
"Did we not notice this lift goes all the way down to level 4?" I asked the rest. "Who was in charge of handling the lift?"
Khalid shakily put up his hand.
Jaheira stepped in front of him, and said, "I don't think the lift can go to level 4 without knowing how. I watched Khalid use it, and I couldn't see the option to go all the way to level four either."
This time, the whole party looked at the controls of the lift. Eh, settings for ground and level 1 were clearly marked, but that was it. How does the lift even go to level 4? In the end, I gave up. I looked to our two most intelligent party members, Neera and Imoen, and they shrugged as well.
"I supposed Davaeron wouldn't have wanted people to know how to use it to get to his private chambers so easily," I said. "We're going to flood the place anyway, so it doesn't matter anymore."
Or rather, the lift was placed there by the developers so that players could leave the base easily without having to trudge all the way back. Level design, folks.
Rather than ground, we chose to go to level one with the lift which brought us close to where the slave near the plug was. He was the only slave around, by then.
I showed him the key to the plug. "I trust Rill got out everyone else out already?"
He grinned back at us. "Yes, I'm the only one left. You all ready? Because as soon as I open the plug, we're going to have to run for our lives, 'cause otherwise we'll be washed away just like the Orothiar dwarves."
Imoen stuck a hand up. "Can't we head to the surface first, so that only one person needs to face this peril at all? We already faced mortal peril in battle, you know. Repeatedly."
If she didn't say it, I certainly would have.
The slave gave her a dirty look at first, then his expression softened. "Well, fine. Don't stay and face this final hurdle with me. It's fair to you and makes sense."
And we did exactly that! Nope, I don't care how it happens in the game, we were NOT going to stay and risk getting washed away for no good reason.
We did however wait above the lift, and waited to see if the slave made it. We had told him to make sure to wait until we had sent the lift down to his level before unsealing the plug, and we did send the lift back down immediately after we arrived on the ground floor.
And then it was a matter of waiting.
And waiting some more.
Khalid was biting the nails on both his teeth, so Jaheira held his hands.
There was a sudden roar from below, echoing up the lift shaft.
Crap, that's loud! Can anyone actually survive that calamity which wiped out Yeslick's clan?
We clenched our fists, watching for the ropes of the lift to start turning.
Come on…
All the while, the sound of roaring water was getting louder and louder.
Come on…
And then, there was silence. No more roaring water. But no lift or slave either.
We looked to the lift ropes. No movement.
We hung our heads low. Branwen started saying a prayer to Tempus for the bravery of the soul that was lost. Jaheira and Khalid held each other, and Imoen and Neera cried on my shoulders.
I held a fist to my head. Crap. Crap, crap, crap basket. Did we need to be there to help him survive? Was this my fault? Or was he bound to drown either way?
And then the ropes suddenly sprung into action. The pulleys spun, and the lift was coming up!
We looked at the ropes with cheer in our hearts. When the lift finally emerged, it also brought a slew of water which poured all over the ground. Looking like a drenched cat, the slave from earlier crawled out of the lift.
"Welp. I do think you guys made the right decision after all," he said weakly. "Wouldn't recommend anyone try that."
Cheering, we helped him up to his feet and got him some warm clothes.
We went to see the remaining slaves to see how we could help them get back on their feet. As promised, Yeslick was there too. Again, that's rather different from the game.
Just like in the original game, getting back out of Cloakwood required passing through the wyvern area, Shadow Druid territory, spiders and lodge all over again. Considering the dangers involved, as a party, we decided that we should escort the survivors safely back out of Cloakwood. That's not something we needed to do in the original game, but it felt right. We would have to work hard to keep so many survivors warm and fed for the days it took to get out safely out of Cloakwood. Once out of the woods, getting to Friendly Arm Inn wouldn't be too hard.
Thankfully, in spite of their weakness, the survivors didn't stand on their laurels waiting to be fed and protected. While our party handled the true horrors like giant spiders and ettercaps, Rill organised the survivors to use the arms and armor they scavenged from the guards to help defend, hunt and clothe themselves. It was slow going, and what would have taken us 3 days to get out by ourselves instead took a whole week. But we managed to get everyone to the Friendly Arm Inn, alive. The guards of the inn were very surprised to spot our contingent or sorry-looking peasants escorted by party of adventurers.
---
"Cheers!" everyone at Friendly Arm Inn cried out while holding mugs of beverage. It was evening, and the regular patrons and survivors alike had gathered to celebrate our victory over food and drinks.
Jaheira's eyes flashed at one of the gaunt survivors, and she snatched a mug of beer out of his hands. "Hey! I said, no alcohol for survivors! Fruit juice only!" she yelled, drowning out the cheer. "Eat slowly and don't overeat! Focus on recovery."
"Awwwwwww," the survivors said. A few of them tried to hide their mugs from Jaheira's sharp eyes. It was to no avail, for soon she was upon them and passing them mugs of juice instead.
All the survivors had been allocated a healthy diet of fruit juices, fresh vegetables, and easy to digest oats, soups and porridges of all kinds. No oily, fatty, milky or other difficult to digest foods. For a whole WEEK.
Chicken soup was ideal, if only we could afford it. We couldn't, so they would have to suffer during this recovery period for now.
The one who was in the most despair however, was me. I was sitting in a corner of Friendly Arm Inn, crying my heart out.
"My money! My precious money," I sniffed, drowning my sorrows while hunched over my mug.
"Ye're damned rich! Stop complaining!" Imoen yelled at me.
The whole inn (other than survivors) roared with laughter. Surprisingly, even Dorn the half-orc blackguard laughed at my predicament (He was in this inn the whole time).
"Am I ever so glad I didn't join you losers," he said, poking me in the ribs with a finger. "How's it feel, huh? Forking out all this gold for no reward? In the end, all you get is a pet on the head."
"Shove off!" I yelled at him, drawing only more laughter from him and the rest of the inn. The survivors thankfully had the decency to look embarrassed for being a burden on their saviours.
What happened to being stoic and farming aura! Gimme me back that walking stereotype half-orc blackguard!
"After all the trouble we took to save you all, you'd better live good long lives!" Neera yelled at the top of her lungs while holding up her own mug. "Tell them, Branwen!"
"Yes, you must live," Branwen declared, "Live, so that you may die in battle with honor! Die for the glory of Tempus-"
"Staaaahp. Focus on the living part, please," Neera said, face-palming, eliciting more laughter all around.
Even Branwen laughed, in spite of herself. It was just the mood, I guess.
One by one, people raised their mugs.
"To life!"
"To bravery!"
"To cookies!"
"To the fallen!"
"What she said!"
"To making back my money!"
"Shut up! Ye already made more than enough to cover it this adventure!"
The inn roared with laughter again.
---
That night however, I did have something to discuss with Neera. I didn't really want to give people the wrong idea, so we chatted in an empty table and shooed away folks that got too close.
"So. This about your world, or what's happening here?" Neera asked. "I've got questions of my own, by the way. It's weird knowing we're in a made-up world, or at least your world thinks this one is fake. We just have been rushing around so we haven't had time to ourselves to discuss any of it yet."
"Tell me about it. I've got so many things to sort through with you. For the record I don't know for a fact this world is the fake one even though I could name the writer who created the Forgotten Realms," I said.
"You know who the writer is?"
"Yeah, Forgotten Realms was created by a guy named Ed Greenwood. Look, let's not get side-tracked or we'll take all week. We really need to prioritise our immediate dilemmas first," I told Neera. "Listen. There is a sure, definite path to victory following the original narrative presented in the game. However, we have to suffer and not take actions that would make more sense to me. Should we do things more smartly, and risk messing up the sure path to victory laid out in the original game? Or just follow that original path?"
I already chose the off-beaten path in my first dream. But that was pertaining to other decisions. So far, we had been following the original narrative pretty closely, even if the flavor of how we got there deviated somewhat. But what I was considering now was really drastic in comparison.
"You're asking me?" Neera pointed to herself. "Since when do you value my opinion?"
I frowned at her. "I've been making decisions with consultation of the whole group, including you. Anyway, in this case, I can't really talk to anyone else, can I?"
She nodded while making a duck lips (what does that expression mean exactly?). "True enough. I really want to tell ya what's what, but gosh be darned I haven't the foggiest either. Maybe if you give more specifics? Don't see the point of being coy with me seeing as how I know the important bits already anyway."
I explained what course of action I was considering in regards to the Iron Throne and the slaves we had just rescued.
"That makes sense. Yeah, of course you should. Wait, what normally happens if you do that back in the game?" Neera asked.
"That course of action simply wasn't available. We've deviated from the events in the game by escorting the survivors here already."
"Huh. Game writers didn't think of it?" Neera pondered. "You've been saying to me you had to do things differently from the game because the world pushes back if your course of action doesn't make sense, right?"
"Correct. I can't just click on Firebead over and over to talk until he gives me money, and my party members give me soooo much lip back over the smallest things I take for granted in the game."
She rolled her eyes at that last sentiment. "Anyway, I think this is one of those moments. You don't have to purposely do things in a stupid way just because that's how it was in the game. Just do what makes sense. At least you'll know you tried."
Yeah, I was leaning in that direction too. Looks like I was taking the less certain, more interesting path after all.
---
The next day, we talked through with Rill about the survivor's plans moving forward over breakfast.
"Most of us come from Baldur's Gate, so after spending a week recovering here we should head there. Even for those who hail from elsewhere, it'll be easier to organise transport back from Baldur's Gate. We'll need to wait 'til the roads are safer however, so we'll need jobs in the meantime. Again, Baldur's Gate is the place to be," Rill explained between spoonfuls of oats.
"And if you get jobs you can pay us-mffff!"
Imoen was covering my mouth. "Let's escort the survivors to Baldur's Gate ourselves in a week's time. Wouldn't want another ruin with bandits to undo the trouble we went through to save ye all," she suggested.
"We are already greatly indebted to all of you. But we should not turn down that offer," Rill said with a smile. "Thank you."
"MFFF- If you feel so indebted you should give me back-MFFFF!"
"Think of nothing of it. We're just doing our part for the realms," Jaheira said to Rill while helping to hold me down.
Khalid was looking on, amused. He reached past his wife to put a hand on my shoulder. "Let it go."
As if! There's nothing more important than MONEY!
…oh yeah, right now there is something else. I stopped struggling and tapped out gently. My gaze was serious enough that Jaheira and Imoen understood and let me back up.
"There's the issue of the organisation that enslaved you folks. The Iron Throne is based in Baldur's Gate too," I told Rill.
"Surely they cannot kidnap us in the middle of the city under the watch of the Flaming Fist!" Rill exclaimed, the fear in his eyes evident in spite of his statement. "We were captured in bandit raids, mostly. Some slaves were imported through the port and smuggled out, but again they were not taken as slaves in Baldur's Gate itself."
"I don't think your safety in Baldur's Gate is a concern as long as you all stay low. However, I have to ask if any are willing to risk testifying against the Iron Throne. Otherwise, the injustices committed against you may go unpunished for their crimes and the Iron Throne will be able to do the same to others like you."
---
This is a part of the game which made no sense. There's no way a merchant consortium could get away with enslaving so many innocent people, and after the innocent people are rescued the consortium suffers no consequences. We've got incriminating letters from the leaders of the Iron Throne to Davaeron, and we had just gotten a huge number of witnesses to their crimes who could testify. At the very least, the reputation of the Iron Throne should be mired in dirt since the former slaves were free to talk about what happened to everyone they met. There were too many people to silence.
It would have been different if the Iron Throne was a group of nobles, but the influence of the merchant consortium did not place them above the law or challenge the power of the Dukes. The only leverage the Iron Throne had over the Dukes was to save the Dukes from the iron crisis and perceived threat from Amn, but we could prove even that was instigated by the Iron Throne in the first place. The Dukes would not stand for it.
In the original game, we had no option to do anything with all this evidence we collected so far and the Iron Throne is only found guilty in the very last chapter.
No hate to the writers. It's hard to plug every plot-hole when trying to craft a thrilling tale of intrigue and adventure. All the same, we who are living in the story they created have to consider what they may have missed.
I know this was a huge deviation from the game and it's possible the world may not allow the Iron Throne to be found guilty before the original timeline. It could be what some series would call a 'Canon event'. But I figured it had to be worth a shot. The world always made sense so far, and punished me when I blindly tried to follow what happened in-game to a fault. I had gotten some experience in managing the in-game events vs doing it in-person, and this course of action seemed consistent with what my knowledge of how things work so far.
---
On their part, for the survivors this wasn't a light decision to make. Going up against the organisation which captured them in the first place carried some risks. But at least some of them were bound to want to demand justice and restitution. We gave them a week to consider their decision while they rested in the relative safety of the Friendly Arm Inn, and made sure to tell Bentley about the possible threats from the Iron Throne. Bentley is a former adventurer surrounded by his own personal guard, and he called in his former adventuring party to help with security.
All that was left was to make good use of our time while we waited.