Baldur's Gate¶
The eponymous port city is shelter and lifeline for the folk of the Sword Coast. It offers the discerning shopper a wide selection of goods — six major inns, six main taverns, seven general stores, six primary temples, and a full-service magic store, along with hundreds of lesser buildings.
Baldur's Gate is a tolerant but well-policed city of merchants, and quiet trade and business are the general order of each day.
The Flaming Fist¶
The Flaming Fist Mercenary Company, over a thousand strong, is based in the city. Every tenth person or so is a member of the Fist or a watch agent (well, spy), skilled in battle and within a breath or two of numerous armed allies. The visitor can freely stroll and shop.
The city has a system of magical lamps that provide light to its inhabitants in the evening and the night hours — one reason the crime rate is so low, keeping the merchants and storekeepers happy.
History — Balduran and the founding¶
The city is named for the legendary seafaring explorer Balduran, who long ago sailed past the elven homeland Evermeet in search of the rich, fabled isles of Anchoromè (Ang-kor-OH-may). Balduran returned with tales of strange, vast lands across the seas. He also brought back great wealth and scattered it about his sparsely settled home harbour, commanding that some of it be spent on a wall to protect against tribal orc and barbarian raids. Then he set sail again for the wondrous lands he had found.
Balduran never returned.
His money was spent on a splendid city wall. Within its protection, building went on at a great pace, soon expanding beyond its confines. The wall was built by farmers who put it around their own holdings, excluding the actual harbour from its protection. This allowed them to tax all carts coming up from the docks to the protection of the walled city.
The colleagues of Balduran — sea captains to whom the harbour was home — angrily insisted that the gate by which southern trade and the harbour traffic entered the city was "Baldur's Gate", and they refused to pay for entering. The strife ended in the overthrow of the enriched farmers and the seizure of the city by the sea captains.
The Council of Four¶
The four oldest captains, their days at sea drawing to a close, turned over their ships to younger sailors who in turn supported their installation as rulers of the fledgling city. The four called themselves "dukes" as a joke, but the titles proved useful when dealing with other rulers, and they were later glorified by the appellation "grand".
Now called the Council of Four, elected by the populace for life (or until resignation), the present grand dukes are:
- Entar Silvershield — a talented warrior.
- Liia Jannath — a powerful wizard.
- Belt — an adventurer (known only by that name); a strong fighter.
- Eltan — the commander of the Flaming Fist Mercenary Company.
Layout¶
Buildings in Baldur's Gate tend to be tall and narrow with slit windows located high and covered with shutters to block out winter winds and nesting seabirds.
Among them rises:
- The High Hall — the grand spired palace of the four ruling grand dukes — a place for feasts, court hearings, and administrative business.
- The High House of Wonders — consecrated to the deity Gond. By far the largest of the Gate's three temples.
- The Hall of Wonders (also on Windspell Street, opposite the High House) — a museum/shop where Gond's more successful inventions are displayed to the public. The Hall is dimly lit by enchanted glowing globes, staffed by ever-watchful priests of Gond. It is crowded with mechanisms — locks and strongboxes shaped like goblets, statues, and chairs; larger pieces include a mechanical scribe, a steam dragon, a pump of Gond, an everlight, a fan chair, and a farseer.
- The Wide — near the Black Dragon Gate. The Gate's huge open-air market, which bustles day and night with stalls, bins, sale tables, and shoppers thronging shoulder to shoulder.
Outside the Wide, Baldur's Gate lacks colourful landmarks — the ever-present damp discourages banners and open shops.
Notable taverns and inns¶
Elfsong Tavern¶
The local watering hole, meeting place, and hiring fair for adventurers. A popular destination for pirates and outlaws on the loose in the Coastlands — a place to which the watch turns a blind eye unless rowdiness and battle erupt.
Named for an unusual haunting: a ghostly female elven voice heard from time to time all over the establishment, singing a lament for a lover lost at sea. No one is sure just who the singer is or how the haunting came to be. No other music is permitted in the Elfsong.
The bartender has a predilection to spread potentially useful gossip and rumours, but only when his palm is weighted and some drinks are quaffed.
The Blade and Stars¶
Named for its enchanted signboard, looted from a ruined village in Amn after a long-ago trade war. A large black sign displays a curved sabre held by a delicate, long-fingered female human hand; the sign is enchanted so that stars wink and slowly drift around the blade.
The inn itself is less exciting but still a good, safe, clean, pleasant place to stay. Long, tall, with attached stables and balconies. Vigilant stair-watchers keep track of guests' comings and goings, discouraging street thieves and even doppelgangers (a growing problem). Run by Aundegul Shawn, who's happy to talk on cold nights — but only when his palm is liberally greased with gold.
The Blushing Mermaid¶
Known up and down the Coast lands as a meeting place to conduct illicit business for folk who are dangerous or criminal. A noisy, brawling establishment recommended only to those who go well armed, know how to use their weapons, and bring lots of loyal friends.
A long, low, ramshackle place with a confusing maze of wings, outbuildings, stockade enclosures, and stables — the better to give cover to those trying to approach or leave unseen. At least four levels of cellars, with rumours of secret passages or even connections to an underground stream running to the harbour.
"Maybe Volo means the sewers? Not a stream I would much fancy crossing." — Elminster
The visitor will find an astonishing collection of smooth-tongued old sea dogs nursing drinks at all hours — each a contact for some cabal, thieving brotherhood, smuggler, mercenary band, fence, panderer, or other shady professional interest.
Beer at the Mermaid is sea ale, stout, and a light golden-hued lager from Mintarn. No wines — but whisky strong and smoky enough to strip paint or tar from wood.
The Helm and Cloak¶
A grand inn, rooming, and feasting house favoured by those who have lots of coins to spare. There's a floor of long-term rental rooms — most currently occupied by members of the Knights of the Unicorn, romantic adventurers described by a regular patron as "elegant buffoons". Many important business deals and alliances have been negotiated in its luxurious alcoves.
The Helm avoids the haughty and gaudy, unerringly choosing the best of informal good taste. Warmed robe and slippers are brought to your room when you're heard to rise in the morn. There's mead (very ordinary) and cinnamon-spiced milk (hot or cold) but no beer of any sort — "We're not running a tavern here, m'lord."
Three Old Kegs¶
This cosy timber-and-stone inn has three old kegs hanging from a roof pole in place of a signboard. One of the best inns in all Faerûn. Everything is comfortable and a little shabby; the staff is quite friendly. Bookshelves hold old diaries, travel books, ballads, and grand and overblown histories of heroes.
The Kegs is a quiet place — a haven against the bustle of business or adventure. Patrons are asked to keep their weapons in their rooms, and excessive rowdiness is not permitted. Drunks often awaken in the morning to find themselves sleeping out back in the hay pile by the kitchen door.
The innkeeper is a tall, quiet man with a mane of long curly black hair and a sword scar that runs from his nose diagonally across one cheek. His name is Nantrin Bellowglyn, a Tethyrian noble's retired guard who fled that land when civil strife erupted and his lord was slain.
The Undercellar¶
Those wishing to overindulge in drink and in the company of attractive strangers are directed to the Undercellar — a little-known, damp, dark warren of linked cellars entered just off the Wide.
Source: bgee/original_manuals/baldurs_gate_1_ee_sword_coast_survival_guide.pdf — "Baldur's Gate" and its sub-locations.