𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒂𝒕𝒆'𝒔 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉丨𝔅𝔊3𝔛𝙷𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗!𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝚋𝚒𝚐 𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑

𝑰𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔. You walked along the Outer City, mindlessly. Heapside Strand, Central Wall, Basilisk Gate. Shelter. This is not an active survival instinct of yours. You felt too nervous because of your lacking native-ness among Faerun, and too exhausted to be picky. The combination made you grumpy.

As dusk broke, you felt too tired to walk any further. You had reached a dark corner near Bloombridge Park.This was away from important government infrastructure like the Grey Harbour, which you'd surely get kicked out of, you thought. There were plenty of people already living on the streets. Hands turned upwards towards the heavens, palms sweeping with sweat and dirt. Housing didn't look like an option. You sat yourself against a wall, looking up at the cracked and uneven brick wall in front of you.

May 6 minutes went by, maybe 30, 40, even an hour. You fell asleep against the tall stone wall. The heavy backpack wrapped in your scrunched up lap, safely swaddled in your arms. Your rested head on it, it was cold but softly sound asleep.

♥

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, a calm stiff back-aching night, led to trouble the next day. You were wandering among the heart of the Lower City, by Sorceries Sundries, Bonecloak's Apothecary, and Highberry Townhouse. Some wizards were doing a little showcase of their talents out front of 'Sundries. You were watching from a stone bench, you hadn't much else to do with your time here.

Everyone's attention suddenly changed, frantic, cheering, booing. You turned your gaze towards the gathering crowd. Grand Duke Ravenguard. Ah-hah. He must've returned from Elturel. Its descent would bring an increasing amount of tieflings, you saw on the streets in your day-to-day life as of now.

You slowly stood up from the bench and tried your best to peer over the crowd, from a distance. You saw his bald shiny head and a stern look, and a hint of pride. You heard shouting like "𝘌𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯'𝘴" and "𝘞𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴!" Baldurian's were certainly.. creative.. with their words. Duke Ravenguard must've sent troops into Avernus to help the citizens escape and fend of fiends for some time. The Blood War desimated Elturel's structure. Bound in the skies of Avernus by chains, hovering over the River Styx.

To come back to your district and receive criticism after doing the right thing. That sounded shitty. Though, you did harbor some bad feelings for the Grand Duke. His own son was still cast out from home, because of his pact with a fiend. Yet helping humans and tieflings from Elturel, Baldur's Gate's rival, was in his best interest. It's different when it's your child, but not when it's anothers. You understood that point-of-view, mostly because your parents did not always approve of your decisions but couldn't care but judge, if another person made the choices you had.

This was your chance to yell too, be a part of the crowd, show the political side of you. It was an invigorating feeling, the thought of shouting at a Grand Duke. You'd had your share in political awareness. It was a civic duty.

"𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨, 𝙒𝙮𝙡𝙡 𝙍𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙪𝙠𝙚??" The Duke's head shot in your direction. No one else's did. His nostrils slightly flared and his mouth slanted open a bit, showing his bottom row of teeth.