Ethelred Beranhond:
"Awake, Ethelred," a faint female voice calls to you in your sleep.
"Arise. The time has come for you to truly begin your journey," The voice is more persistent, now, and a bit louder.
What journey? What does that mean?
Suddenly, the world comes crashing in upon you in your sleep. Your tent seems to be drunkenly waving, your bedroll seems to toss you off the ground, and your armor seems to have a mind of its own, jumping and rolling around on the ground next to you. Attempting to stand, you notice that the ground itself is undulating underneath you. Once you are able to stand, you rush out of the tent, falling down several times before you can catch a glimpse of Baldur's Gate in the light of the dawn that is only now breaking. What you see catches your breath, as the light glow from the city lights starts to twinkle and get brighter, until you can see several large flames crowning the city walls.
As the rumbling and tremors start to die down, they are subtly replaced by a roaring sound, slowly building to the west. You look, and in the faint light, you see a wall slowly growing in the sea. A massive tidal wave is coming, and it is time for you to pack your things and move to higher ground in case the wave reaches you before giving out.
Your goddess has called you. Now it is up to you to do what can be done.
Grumbleshanks:
On the docks, you pace in the early dawn light. There have been a lot of rumors flocking to the islands of late, like a school of piranhas flocking to fresh meat, and it has you worried enough that you are unable to sleep tonight. As you pace, you feel a sudden uncertain movement. The sea seems to have not noticed, but there has been a violent upheaval to the east of you. An earthquake or some other violent earthly disaster has struck, and something about it feels slightly unnatural, as if the earth wasn't quite ready to be up yet, and is angry at being awoken. As if to further enhance this image, seconds later the sea brings you the sound of distant grumbling. I can't believe they are actually following through with their threats. This is madness!
You know that following the earthquake, there will be a tsunami, but that by the time it reaches this island, you'll be far away, far enough out to sea that you'll barely feel it. It's the people on the coast that will feel the full brunt of the wave's anger. No, it won't bother you and your ship at all. The sea and her wild moods have been your mistress for quite some time now, and you know you will weather this storm like any other. With that thought, you dive into the sea with Squiggles, and begin the swim to Baldur's Gate, where your help will be needed.
Gurkirat Kaleo:
After a long day of traveling yesterday, you collapsed in a heap, barely managing to wrap yourself in your bedroll before collapsing on the ground just out of sight of the road. Now what is this? Who is trying to wake me, and why? I was having the most wonderful dream! As you wake you realize that there is nobody there to wake you, that what you are feeling is not someone shaking you, but an earthquake somewhere nearby. After the initial shock wears off, you think to yourself, Most intriguing. I've always wondered what an earthquake would feel like. Oh, Master Ais would be jealous! This is incredible!
You continue to lie still and just revel in being tossed about for a while, and as the rolling subsides, you take out a pen and piece of parchment, and pen a letter to Master Ais, letting him know what a wonderful experience an earthquake could be. Baldur's Gate should be easily reachable this morning, and I should be able to find someone to send this letter for me there. And with that, you roll over, and catch a couple more hours of sleep.
5:26 AM
Talathel Braegen:
Being an elf, you do not need sleep like other races of Faerun, and are awake when the men on watch begin yelling and waking the other members of the crew. You hastily wake Darvin, and the two of you stumble up to the deck, only slightly hung over from the night before. Generally, your ship has been staying close enough to shore and the sea has been calm enough that you've had no problems with seasickness or problems walking on board, but this morning it seems that for every 2 steps you take forward, you take 1 sideways, and you very narrowly miss knocking a sailor over as you lurch to the deck. Once on deck, you notice everyone is madly running around tying things down and battening down the ship. You turn to Darvin and ask, "Hey, what's going..." before you notice that he isn't paying any attention to you. You follow his line of vision and see a line along the horizon that seems to be roaring and growing as you watch.
"SHIT!!!"
Darvin Amblecrown:
As you hear Talathel begin swearing, you spring into action, and start making preparations to make sure that not only will you not be swept overboard, but the ship will survive as well. Listening at the taverns as sailors tell stories, you've heard about these giant waves before, called Tsunamis, and how destructive they can be.
You run to the helm, and start yelling directions. "Our only chance is to get farther to sea! See how small it is farther out! It will only get bigger as it gets closer to shore! Hurry!"
~7:00 AM
The waves have died down, and the water seems to be less threatening. It appears it is safe to enter Baldur's Gate now, though it is anyone's guess what you'll find there.
Ethelred, you are closest to the eastern gates of the city, though it will most likely be an hour's journey at a normal walking pace, from the higher ground you took cover at.
Grumbleshanks, you arrive in the Cloak Wood at about this time, stepping onto the shore and beginning the trip from there. From what you know of the area, the Coast Way should be 30 minutes of travel through the wood directly east of you, and then you shouldn't be much more than half an hour from Baldur's Gate, though the state of the bridge remains to be seen.
Gurkirat, you are just waking up and finishing up your breakfast at this time, ready to continue your journey to Baldur's Gate. The journey there should take around an hour, should all go according to plan.
Talathel and Darvin, you are both back to roughly where you were when the whole affair began at 5:30. The ship will arrive in Baldur's Gate at around 8, as long as the river isn't too badly damaged by the earthquake or the tsunami.
The city of Baldur's Gate:
In case that was unclear to anyone, that post was the beginning of the adventure. Please feel free to begin playing by posting your actions in 3rd person omniscient perspective.
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