Part 22: What the hell is a Doppleganger?

Update 19: What the hell is a Doppleganger?





The next morning, we heard that The Iron Throne are benefiting from the Seven Suns' mistakes. Why didn't Scar say so straight away? Being a pain for the Iron Throne is our personal hobby.



It was time we went to see what was happening at the Seven Suns



Fortunately, we didn't have to dig too deeply. Looks like shapeshifters have infiltrated the Seven Suns. We weren't paid to get rid of them, so it's time to report to Scar.



Y'know...I wonder if the Flaming Fist is compensating for anything?



Double the wage to take out the shapeshifters? He's starting to figure out how to talk to us.



We went to the basement first. The shapeshifters weren't prepared to reveal themselves yet so we could have a good snoop before throwing around Magic Missiles.



An un-changed Shapeshifter was in the basement. The Doppleganger attacked, but we had the benefit of suprise and we quickly killed it.



We found the owner of the Seven Suns. I assumed he would've been killed and had his identity stolen by one of the Dopplegangers.



He confirmed much of what we already figured out. He was going to call the Flaming Fist to deal with the remaining Dopplegangers.



But where's the fun in that? We can do that ourselves.



As it turns out, EVERY merchant was a Doppleganger. I'm not too certain on the prospect of the Seven Suns recovering from this.

Right, so to summarise the Iron Throne so far. They took over both the Iron Ore mines in this region. They tampered with the main one in Nashkell with the assistance of Mulahey and his Kobolds so that all the iron was faulty. Any working peice of equipment was suddenly highly valuable. Meanwhile, they controlled the main bandit parties using the muscle of Tazok and ensured that the roads were not safe to travel. Meanwhile, Davaeorn managed the Cloakwood mines until they had enough Ore to ride in like knights in shining armour and save the day. Then with the Dopplegangers in the Seven Suns trading company, they could control the Iron distribution, prices and all that jazz without anybody realising. That's a mighty fine package right there, but for such an elaborate plot, a collossal amount of money doesn't seem to be a fitting conclusion. Especially considering they hold all the trade routes. I suspect they have a hand in the politics of this region, but at the moment: I dont know who, what or where.



Anyways, when we left the Seven Suns, we were summoned to go see Scar. I think we should be prepared.



Scar gave us triple the wage for clearing out the Dopplegangers. It seems Elminster was right, this Scar fellow is very trustworthy.



Right, so the next thing Scar wants us to do is check out the Sewers and to find out why people have been dissapearing at night. "Many Legged Creatures" sound like Carrion Crawlers which you wouldn't really expect to find out here. It's strange, so I doubt that there's anything "natural" about this. However, since this has all been happening at night, it'd probably be the best time to start looking.

So we had some time to kill. Let's explore Baldur's Gate a bit more.



We thought we'd go to the Merchant's League to visit Aldeth who we saved back in Cloakwood. He seemed stressed and started telling us a vaguely familiar story.



It sounds like the Merchant's League has a Doppleganger infestation. So not only did the Iron Throne seek to control the Seven Suns, but the Merchant League as well. The Iron Throne have been setting up for something big.



Irlentree didn't seem too strange. Perhaps Aldeth is barking up the wrong tree?



The guard however gave me a different story. Things were definately not looking good. I think we should do as he suggests and find Brandilar. Hopefully he's not a shapeshifter either.



We met Zorl and went along with what he said. He didn't seem too convinced however, but then again: Neither were we. He seemed tense and not sure of himself, qualities a merchant leader wouldn't have.



We didn't fool Brandilar for an instant however. He seemed very sure of himself so it was clear he wasn't a Doppleganger. It was safe to quietly explain who we were.



Looks like we had another ally. He's basically confirmed our suspicions that the Merchant's League has been infiltrated by Dopplegangers. Now to find some hard evidence.



Imoen snuck into the back office and picked the lock on the desk drawers.



This letter is pretty drat condemning. There were two others in this drawer which indicated that Dopplegangers kiled the original Zorl and Irlentree. Looks like we found the proof Brandilar wanted.



Imoen also snuck up the stairs to the third floor to see what "Surprise" they had planned for us. She surprised them by finding a large group of Dopplegangers.

In other words: The Iron Throne had set themselves up to control the Seven Suns AND the Merchant League. Not only did they control all the iron and the bandits, they also made sure that they had all the distribution channels as well. Yet once again, the question is: "Why stop there?"



We gave the letters to Brandilar.



Knowing that he had been discovered, Zorl instantly transformed but was quickly put down by Brandilar. Imoen lead us up the stairs...



...where we made short work of the Dopplegangers.



Then on the bottom floor, we took out the remaining stragglers. They may be clever, but they're not too brilliant in combat.



Aldeth offered us to go to his estate, but considering how THIS invitation turned out, I politely declined.



I also like that he gave us this sword AFTER we had dealt with all the shapeshifters. What's worrying though is how many shapeshifters there actually ARE. We're probably going to need this.

Night fell. It was time to investigate those sewers.