Nearly two months later, Anser had returned to the place where it all began, but he could no longer walk openly beneath the sun.
Standing at the end of Wyrm's Crossing, he gazed at the broken span and the rushing waters below, momentarily lost in thought. The memories of his escape were still vivid in his mind.
In the middle of the River Chionthar, Wyrm's Rock still stood proudly. The fortress of the Flaming Fist atop it had already become a Duergar stronghold.
The southern section of the bridge had vanished entirely. A tributary now split what had once been Rivington in two before flowing southwest.
And after being reshaped by the Kuo-toa, Rivington had become a vast stretch of wetlands and mudflats—one of their new homelands.
'The land lies shattered, and the alien races rule.'
The phrase surfaced in Anser's mind unbidden, stirring a trace of anger within him.
With a long sigh, he followed the slopes of Dusthawk Hill westward at a leisurely pace, retracing the route of his old escape before entering the city proper.
After wandering around for more than an hour, he had a rough understanding of the current balance of power in Baldur's Gate.
The four Underdark races had carved out their territories with clear boundaries.
The Kuo-toa lived along the River Chionthar and throughout the transformed Rivington district. They enjoyed the most peaceful existence and had the fewest conflicts with the other three races.
Deep gnomes were rarely seen on the surface. Whether they had returned to the Underdark was unknown.
The Duergar controlled Wyrm's Crossing, most of the Outer City, and several Lower City districts east of the great crater. Their territory was by far the largest.
They were carrying out large-scale construction projects everywhere, remodeling human architecture beyond recognition.
The results were as ugly as could be.
What surprised him most, however, were the drow.
They held exclusive control over the entire Upper City, along with districts such as Seatower and several other prime locations in the Lower City. They had seized the finest parts of Baldur's Gate.
'Moranthis wasn't exaggerating after all,' Anser thought with a quiet sense of shock.
The drow should have been the last race to emerge onto the surface, and they were also the least numerous. Yet they had proven far more dominant than he had expected.
Whether by design or coincidence, however, all four races had produced a Chosen at the same time, and all within the same city. The original "harmony" had immediately fallen apart.
In truth, they had never been particularly harmonious to begin with.
Take the deep gnomes, for example.
They had slipped onto the surface after the Duergar and Kuo-toa, never participating in the siege or the slaughter.
Though they were hardly attractive, like their surface-dwelling cousins they were fundamentally a good-aligned race and held an intense hatred for the drow.
According to legend, long ago their kingdom's greatest city, Blingdenstone, had stood unconquered for over two thousand years before falling to the dark elves, leaving countless deep gnomes dead or homeless.
The fact that the deep gnomes had become involved at all likely meant that the great crater connected to their homeland below.
'Five Chosen gathered in a single Baldur's Gate. Three evil, two good. What a... wonderful place.'
A smile tugged at Anser's lips.
When he spotted a structure the Duergar were building that appeared to be a temple, he froze for a moment.
The symbol of a broken arrow looked strangely familiar.
After a moment's thought, realization dawned on him.
Laduguer!
Laduguer was the god of the Duergar, whose domains included death and forging. Not only was he opposed to Moradin, he was also one of the major forces standing against Lolth.
It went without saying that, even though both belonged to evil factions, this Chosen would never ally with Lolth.
'Now this is interesting.'
Upon reaching the Temples District, he found that the drow had not drastically altered the city's layout. Instead, they had mobilized large numbers of slaves to renovate the temples.
Judging by the scale of the work, they intended to construct a surface sanctuary for Lolth.
Security around the area was extremely tight. Rather than investigate further, Anser sank underground, intending to see whether the three archdukes had left behind any hidden vaults.
He found no secret vaults.
What he did find was a sprawling underground labyrinth—an intricate network of tunnels already beginning to take shape.
The deep gnomes were there as well, hard at work.
They had connected vast sewer networks, basements, secret passages, and their own excavated tunnels into a single sprawling underground maze.
The passageways were narrow, better suited to the stature of deep gnomes. Filled with mechanisms, traps, magic, and illusions, the labyrinth was so complex and winding that once you entered, getting back out was no easy task.
It was precisely because of this maze that they could calmly evade Duergar and drow hunting parties while occasionally carrying out acts of sabotage.
Their entire strategy revolved around a single word:
Dig.
The Duergar, however, were experts in that field as well. They were gradually widening the tunnels and slowly encroaching on the deep gnomes' underground domain.
Fortunately, most of their attention was focused on fighting the drow, so progress remained slow.
'No wonder I couldn't see them on the surface. They're all underground.'
Anser was thoroughly impressed.
They could really dig.
Remaining hidden within the Ethereal Plane, he followed the tunnels and made a full circuit, discovering several ongoing battles involving every race.
The surface appeared peaceful and quiet, yet beneath it, the three races were locked in fierce conflict, fighting each other tooth and nail.
'This is a perfect opportunity to fish in troubled waters.'
He deliberately headed toward an active combat zone and entered a basement being used as a transit point. There, he cast Disguise Self and transformed himself into a Duergar.
Then he followed a tunnel toward the other side and, unsurprisingly, soon "ran into" a drow.
"You upright black-skinned maggot..." (Elvish)
Without giving the other party time to react, Anser immediately launched into a string of insults. The Elvish he had recently picked up through the Adventuring Party finally came in handy. It was clumsy, but paired with the disguise, it was perfectly convincing.
The drow's face twisted with rage as he drew his sword and charged.
Anser put on an equally furious expression and rushed forward barehanded. As he closed the distance, a Mind Sliver pierced straight into the drow's mind.
[Target killed. Gained 45 experience points]
'Uh... so weak.'
Looking at the drow with blood flowing from his ears and nose, Anser dropped the act and silently lowered the fist he had raised.
After becoming a high-level adventurer, a single Mind Sliver could deal 3d6 (3–18) psychic damage. An ordinary drow had no chance of surviving it.
After a quick search of the corpse, he picked up the drow's shortsword and went looking for his next "enemy."
To create more opportunities for these "chance encounters," he cast Arcane Eye and scouted ahead.
Whenever he encountered a drow, he would disguise himself as a Duergar beforehand and fight using a stolen warhammer alongside Mind Sliver, one of the Duergar's signature methods.
Whenever he encountered a Duergar, he would disguise himself as a drow and deal with the target using only a shortsword.
If he encountered deep gnomes, he simply avoided them.
He didn't use the Ethereal Plane to launch sneak attacks.
He killed openly and directly.
After every few kills, he would move elsewhere. In short, he never stayed in one place for very long.
Not only did this allow him to steadily accumulate experience, but it also intensified the hostility between the Duergar and the drow while giving the deep gnomes a helping hand.
Ordinary Underdark creatures posed no threat to him whatsoever. With only a Paladin's melee abilities, he could quickly dispose of most opponents.
Like a ghost, he wandered throughout Baldur's Gate's underground passages, killing one Underdark creature after another and earning more than five thousand experience points.
With Ethereal Jaunt, nobody could track him down.
If he hadn't wasted so much time traveling, searching for targets, and avoiding pursuit, his efficiency would have been even higher.
By now, day outside had given way to night.
Large numbers of Underdark creatures emerged from below, while the already on-edge drow and Duergar began engaging in small-scale clashes.
In the past, they had still exercised a degree of restraint.
Now, however, there were clear signs that a full-scale war might break out at any moment.
'Baldur's Gate really is my lucky place.'