Treacherous roads between Baldur's Gate and Rashemen?

TethorilofLathander

Which would be the most bandit/wolf/demonic giant kobold with cherry icing cake infested road between these two places?

I know the Anauroch would be deadly but is there anywhere around Vaasa or Damara that would be especially difficult?

KidCarnival

All roads are perfectly safe. Source: Both Edwin and Dynaheir made it to Nashkel as level 1 mages. Impossible there are any kobolds or as much as a rabid squirrel.

Sceptenar

It's unlikely that you would travel that enormous distance by road. They would most likely have boarded a ship in Telflamm or Bezantur and sailed the Sea of Fallen Stars to Westgate or Suzail and travelled overland from there west by the Trader's Road to Berdusk and then the Uldoon trail to Nashkel. Or possibly by riverboat from Berdusk to Baldur's Gate.

TethorilofLathander

Where do you suspect the confrontation between Edwin and Dynaheir (and Minsc) took place?

Eudaemonium

TethorilofLathander said:

Where do you suspect the confrontation between Edwin and Dynaheir (and Minsc) took place?

At the Gnoll Fortress?

KidCarnival

Not in Nashkel. That would require all involved parties to either be incredibly stupid (doesn't apply to the mages) or to avoid the other party by accident. Nashkel is really small and there is a single tavern, and guards won't allow you to rest outside. Considering there isn't a vast time zone difference between Thay and Rashemen, we have to assume that at least Minsc and Edwin rested at the same time. To avoid each other by accident means they must have rested elsewhere and just arrived in Nashkel, on their respective places, when you meet them. Minsc has probably approached Nashkel from where you enter the map; he is by the garrison, likely because he too was welcomed by the guard's captain and hopes they'll spare some soldiers to help him find Dynaheir, or at least provide clues where she might be held. This means Edwin has to have arrived from a different direction to not run into Minsc (who has no reason to not kill him; if Edwin knew Minsc was this close by, he would not stand around on the bridge). Edwin has more gold with him than Minsc, which suggests Minsc rested in the Nashkel Inn after arriving, and Edwin didn't waste gold and slept outside.

So, where does it take place? On the first wilderness map. Minsc has no reason to stand around and wait in Nashkel for very long; if you don't approach him and the guards can't spare any men, he will likely run into Rasaad sooner or later, who is more than willing to kick butt for goodness. On their way to the Gnoll Stronghold, they will run into Edwin - who does have a reason to wait, because unlike the two fighters, he knows he can't go against a bunch of melee gnolls alone. There are no NPCs who would let him hire them for this task, and even if he decided to move on to Beregost to hire a mercenary, he would come across Minsc and Rasaad on the way. Being outnumbered, Edwin would run - likely toward the wilderness, since Minsc and Rasaad are likely on the guards' good side, where Rasaad with his speed would catch up and confront him. Then Minsc would berzerk, and voila.

booinyoureyes

hmmm... Edwin would hire Kagain, making it an interesting fight at that point

Flashburn

I'm not familiar with much of the lore outside the Sword Coast, since that's where most of the D&D cRPGs take place. But one area of interest is Zhentil Keep in 1368DR. If Minsc and Dynaheir started from Rasheman and traveled west in the areas south of the Moonsea, they may have had encounters with some Cyricists. BG starts in Mirtul, which is the D&D equivalent of May, and the following happened in Hammer (January):

At this time, the Second Banedeath was occurring and Cyric wanted all non-Cyricist priests in the area expunged. He suspected traitors in his own church because he wanted to try to find Kelemvor's soul (who isn't a god yet) to get Mystra to surrender her portfolio of magic. The problem was that every divination he tried ended up failing. It's a long story.

They may have also ran away from dragons on the way to Baldur's Gate in Cormyr.
Source: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/1368_DR

Map of Faerun

TethorilofLathander

@Flashburn, I thought BG started on Eleint 20? Or is that from the unfavoured 'canon' pages in a binding that I shall not directly speak of? xD

Flashburn

@TethorilofLathander
In the game it starts on Mirtul 1. As for the books, I have no idea since I've (thankfully) never read them.

KidCarnival

booinyoureyes said:

hmmm... Edwin would hire Kagain, making it an interesting fight at that point

Indeed. It would be pretty balanced - Rasaad and Edwin being the physically weak links. Neither has a ranged weapon, Edwin has Armor as one of the default spells, Rasaad better strength and THAC0 - HP, I think they are about equal, but Rasaad has higher dex. In the end, it comes down to mage with quarterstaff in chain mail vs. fighter without armor and weapon.
Minsc and Kagain are equals; Kagain has more HP and a helm (!), Minsc has higher strength and berzerk.

It would probably depend a lot on Edwin and if he can use his other default spell effectively... Considering that is Color Spray, this could go either way. The other wild card is - does Minsc's or Kagain's weapon break? If Edwin can put one of Team Good to sleep with Color Spray (at least, his team mate stands a better chance to save...), they have a chance. If both iron weapons break, Team Good would be left without any weapons and have lost at that point. Team Evil would at least have a quarterstaff (but awful THAC0, even if we assume Edwin would be smart enough to hand the weapon to the fighter) and win after a long, boring fight because they'd have the only weapon.

TONIGHT ON CELEBRITY DEATH MATCH...