Recap / High Rollers 2016 Shadows Of Atkathla

Description:

A promotional tie-in two-parter for the game Baldurs Gate 3, with the original voice actors reprising their roles from the game itself. When their party member Tav is possessed by strange magic, Shadowheart (Half-Elf Cleric), Lae'zel (Githyanki Warrior), Tim Downie as Gale (Human Wizard), Astarion (High Elf/Vampire Rogue), Theo Solomon as Wyll (Human Warlock), and Samantha Béart as Karlach (Tiefling Barbarian) must travel to The City of Coin to try and locate the source of the magic and save their friend.

Episode 1:

The party are resting at camp one morning when strange things start to happen: Tav is possessed by magic that seems to glitch in and out of existence, causing their bones to crack horribly. After a fight with a mysterious glass knight, Gale's grandfather Elminster comes to rescue Tav, and indicates that the source of magic is most likely Atkathla, The City of Coin, a mercantile city where certain types of magic are banned, and people have gone missing due to lack of intervention from the wizards.

Using Volo's map as a guide, the team splits up into twos for information gathering: Astarion and Karlach head to the docks to interrogate the city's criminal underbelly, Shadowheart and Lae'zel head to the trading market (picking up an imp named Bing Bong as a companion on the way), while Wyll and Gale stay at the gates to do some magical sleuthing.

Episode 2:

Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Bing Bong explore a broken down "Bhaalspawn Experience" tourist trap filled with broken-down clockwork animatronics and a long trail of blood. Astarion and Karlach help hide a young injured Shadow Thief girl from the cops in exchange for entrance to their hideout, some drinks, and some information on who (or what) might have targeted Tav. Gale has a lovely spa day at an Elvish temple dedicated to beauty, until he's recognized by wizards who want to arrest him for using magic at the city gates, and has to escape with help from Wyll and an Elven priestess. The party reconvenes underneath the Bhaalspawn Experience, where an injured Drizzt Do'Urden explains to them that clones of the long-dead Jon Irenicus and Bodhi are keeping Tav and many others captive, attempting to drain them of their power. Astarion squares off against Bodhi with some help from Shadowheart, Lae'zel uses (a fire-coated, thanks to Karlach) Bing Bong as a projectile which kills Bing Bong, while (with some guidance from Drizzt) Gale blows up the power-draining machinery with a Magic Missile.

This campaign contains the following tropes:

• And Now for Someone Completely Different: The regular cast is replaced by the actors playing the party (as well as the narrator, Amelia Tyler) from the game.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: When asking for information about who might have hurt Tav, both prickly Lae'zel and Jerkass Astarion almost refer to Tav as "our friend" before doing a Verbal Backspace to something more neutral, like "work colleague".
• Big Bad: A clone of the long-dead Jon Irenicus and his sister, Bodhi, are trying to manipulate Tav's body for the immense power they radiate.
• Blatant Lies: At the Five Flagons, the fanged bartender offers Astarion a "nighttime drink, ethically sourced from willing donors"...in a bottle that says "Wine" in massive air quotes.
• Brains and Brawn: Each duo is divided up into these for safety reasons.
• Buffy Speak: Gale at one point refers to Karlach as "Melty McMetalhands" to explain why he's not lending her any money.
• Continuity Nod: To various other parts of D&D lore:
  • This isn't the first time Gale's met Elminster. The last time they met, Elminster wanted Gale to sacrifice himself to defeat the Netherbrain, and he's still bitter about it.
  Gale [to Elminster]: "You arsehole."
  • Karlach compares working with Astarion to scrumping with Gortash.
  • Thieves' Cant is represented as a form of sign language, similar to how it's portrayed in Legends of Baldur's Gate.
  • It's fitting that Drizzt Do'Urden would show up here, since he's also had run-ins with Mind Flayers.
• Defends Against Their Own Kind: Astarion squares off against Bodhi, another legendary Elf Thief-turned-Vampire.
• Every Man Has His Price: Because they're in a mercantile city, Astarion's plan is to grease as many palms as possible for information about who might have targeted Tav.
• Foe Romance Subtext: Astarion and Bodhi alternate between being In Love with Your Carnage and trying to murder each other.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Guenhwyvar, Drizzt Do'Urden's panther accompanies the party for the final act.
• Holy Burns Evil: Shadowheart refuses to use "Bless" on Astarion, as it uses holy water. She later risks singing him with another holy spell to save him from Bodhi.
• Interspecies Adoption: Shadowheart adopts Bing Bong, an imp who works at the Adventurer's Mart.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: True to how many play the game, Tav's bag is full of books (so many books...), candles (still on fire, despite being in their bag), scrolls, arrows, cups...and a yo-yo, apparently.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Astarion being a vampire is an early-game spoiler. Here, they don't even try to hide it.
• Patchwork Fic: Several characters from other Forgotten Realms stories make cameos here, with their stories tied to the cast of the most recent game: Elminister is apparently Gale's grandfather, while Imoen has become the leader of the Thieve's Guild.
• Public Secret Message: In a rare moment of Pet the Dog for Astarion, he uses his Thieves' Cant skill to help an injured young Dwarven thief evade the cops. Or at least, as much of this as is possible for Astarion:
  Astarion: [using hand signals indicating that the girl can trust Karlach]
  Thief Girl: [signals 'I don't really know you, but I don't really have a choice']
  Astarion: [gives her the symbol for 'well, good luck', which is apparently Flipping the Bird]
• Psychic Powers: The characters initially met in game after all having survived having Mind Flayer "tadpoles" forcibly inserted into their eyes. This gives them a sort of short-wave private psychic communication with each other.
• Put on a Bus: Tav is deliberately described as vaguely as possible & almost immediately incapacitated. Justified, as Tav is supposed to be you, so you're supposed to imagine them whatever species/gender/class you chose when playing the game.
• Sniff Sniff Nom: Instead of rolling a Medicine check, Astarion tests to see if his "organic vintage red" is pure by...sticking his tongue audibly in the glass like a cat.
• Team Pet: Scratch, the team's pet dog, has a brief cameo in the beginning and even gets to engage in a little combat, but is almost immediately left in Elminster's care so he doesn't get hurt or in the way.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Astarion immediately recognizes a certain lavender-eyed Drow in the caverns of the Bhaalspawn Experience:

Astarion: [shrieking] "OH MY GOD, YOU'RE DRIZZT DO'URDEN!"

• Vitriolic Best Buds: Like in the game, Shadowheart and Lae'zel don't always get along (Shadowheart has a bias against Githyanki), but are united in their common goal to save Tav.
  Lae'zel: "We need to go to the marketplace."
  Shadowheart: "...I'm actually with Lae'zel." [Beat] "I know, I know. Disgusting."
  • Astarion teeters between teasing Gale and almost referring to him as his friend.
  Neil Newbon (Astarion), about Gale: "Can I use the power of friendship? ...We're not really friends."