There is no doubt that defeat is absolutely a very terrible thing for any city-state or even country in Faerûn.
Many seemingly powerful and arrogant forces often disappear forever in the long river of history just because of a single defeat.
So when the Nelanthel Islands fleet appeared at the dock, all the residents of Baldur's Gate thought they were in danger.
Many smart people even wanted to take their valuables with them and flee overland to other cities in horse-drawn carriages.
As for the emergency recruitment order issued by Duke Bert and Grand Duchess Lila Jeannes, not many people responded at all, and everyone was busy running for their lives.
After all, there must be a prerequisite for the forced recruitment of young adults, that is, there must be an army under your command, which can be used as a force to intimidate and maintain order.
But now, only the few people guarding the Flame Fist Fortress are left in Baldur's Gate, and the rest have been taken away by Duke Iltan.
There is still a group of soldiers stationed outside the city, but the problem is that now too many people want to escape, and all kinds of carriages and trucks have blocked the only road leading to the city gate.
People inside can’t get out, and people outside can’t get in.
Many chambers of commerce that hired guards even fought over the way to escape, fully demonstrating the selfish nature of businessmen.
Of course, ordinary people are not much better off, and they are also scrambling to escape.
The situation has been developing towards uncontrollable chaos from the beginning.
Fortunately, all this eventually calmed down after a few hours as the Nelanser Islands Fleet showed no intention of landing.
Immediately afterwards, Silver Shield and Duke Iltan, who were under the influence of psychic powers, "self-destructed" in public, instantly causing the entire Baldur's Gate people to be in an uproar.
You must know that they have always believed that Duke Iltan is an upright and selfless man. For many years, he has diligently directed the Flame Fist mercenaries to eliminate threats and provide protection for the city.
But who would have thought that such a person would actually collude with Duke Silver Shield and use his power to embezzle countless taxes.
As for Anta Silver Shield, who controls maritime trade, he uses various coercion and inducement methods to drive away competitors, allowing his family and allies to control the most profitable trade routes.
Therefore, in a very short period of time, the people of Baldur's Gate turned from initial panic to anger. They gathered in the port area and roared that they wanted to hang and burn these two sinners.
If it weren't for the sailors led by the hobgoblin who stopped them, they might have been beaten to death.
However, as the influence of the psychic powers disappeared, when Iltan and Anta Silver Shield realized what they had just done, they seemed to have fallen into an extremely cold ice cave, and their whole bodies trembled slightly involuntarily.
Full of panic and fear.
Especially the latter, who tried to explain to the onlookers that he had just been affected by magical power.
But unfortunately, no matter how he explained, no one believed it.
In contrast, Iltan quickly understood that the enemy's intention was to undermine the huge personal prestige he had built up in Baldur's Gate over the years.
He did not defend himself like his allies, but just watched all of this indifferently.
Because he understands that as long as he still controls the Flame Fist mercenaries, no one can dislodge him from the position of Grand Duke.
As for the angry people and businessmen, they are just a bunch of rabble in front of the powerful violent machine army.
At that time, if you suppress it a little and kill a few of the leaders, everything will be calm again.
The top priority right now is to negotiate with the fleet behind the Nelanthel Islands and ask them to release themselves and all the captured Flame Fist mercenaries. This is the most important thing.
But Iltan did not realize that his thoughts had left the lawful neutral camp and began to get closer and closer to lawful evil.
And because his memory was modified, he completely forgot what happened before, and there was only one thing on his mind, which was to protect the power in his hands at all costs and not be taken away by anyone.
Compared to the two dukes who became prisoners, the other two fell into ecstasy after a brief panic.
Duke Belt, who controls the guild and land merchants, and Grand Duchess Lila Janus, who was almost ignored by Anta Silver Shield, suddenly discovered that this defeat did not seem to be a bad thing.
At least the power I lost is back.
Especially after experiencing "self-destruction", both Iltan and Anta Silver Shield seemed to be completely finished.
Therefore, they did not hesitate and quickly sent envoys to negotiate with the Nelanser Islands Fleet and strive to quickly conclude an armistice agreement that was satisfactory to both parties, even if it cost a little more.
As for the responsibility and blame for the defeat...
Of course, all of them were pinned on the heads of Anta Silver Shield and Iltan, and they were completely nailed to the pillar of shame in history and will never be able to recover.
If possible, it would be best to liquidate all the families and allies behind them.
However, the families and allies behind Anta Silver Shield and Iltan were not fools, and they also sent envoys to try to redeem the two.
Under Vanessa's control, what was originally an invasion by a foreign enemy turned into an internal fight between the four dukes of Baldur's Gate and two political forces.
"My old friend, your way of playing with power and people's hearts is still as scary as ever."
Looking at the two groups of messengers not far away who were deliberately arranged together, Jeffrey couldn't help but sigh.
Obviously, the nature of the negotiation has completely changed since the two groups met and understood each other's intentions.
Duke Belt and Grand Duchess Lila Janus, who had just regained power, would never allow Anta Silvershield and Iltan to come back at this time, so they had to prevent them from returning by paying a ransom at all costs.
Be free.
At least not until the reckoning with his family, allies and political forces is complete.
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On the other side, the latter's family, allies and political forces are not fools and know the huge crisis they are facing.
If Iltan and Anta Silver Shield cannot be redeemed, then the other two dukes will inevitably put themselves to death after completely stabilizing the situation and taking over power.
The final result is that the two sides can only continue to increase the price in exchange for the support of the Nelanthel Islands fleet, which is supposed to be the enemy.
Most people would not believe such a magical scene if they had not seen it with their own eyes.
Vanessa responded with a meaningful smile: "No, it's not that my methods are brilliant, but that the enemy is too stupid.
To be honest, I really can't think of how Baldur's Gate can survive crisis after crisis with idiots like Iltan and Antar Silvershield ruling the city.
If I were the mastermind behind the scenes, I would have turned them all into manipulated puppets.
Moreover, there is no decent magical power in Baldur's Gate. The person with the highest level of spellcasting should be the owner of the witchcraft grocery store - Habatha Delin.
If I remember correctly, his spellcasting level should be between LV13 and LV15."
"I've heard of Habaser Delin. He has a good level of alchemy, and is very good at squeezing apprentices to make various low-level magic items. He should have monopolized almost 50% of the arcane magic resources in the surrounding areas. Only those who live in Bell
Tyrantir of High Barrier Castle to the west of Gost can barely compete with it."
Jeffrey touched his chin and told the story of the only two high-level spellcasters near Baldur's Gate.
In fact, the lichs had already regarded the two high-level mages as potential threats when they made the plan.
Not only did he collect a large amount of information about them, but he also used prophecy magic to conduct a series of explorations on their spell list.
This is also the reason why Vanessa has gathered so many core members of the organization.
Although mages of the same level as Tyrantir and Habathur Delin are basically unlikely to be hired by the Duke of Baldur's Gate.
But he still prepared for the worst.
However, judging from the current situation, the two of them do not seem to be involved in these messy things.
"Don't worry, my friend.
According to Lord Soth, now is not the best time to reach into Baldur's Gate.
All we have to do is weaken it and then develop it into a trade node subordinate to the Nelanthel Islands.
Only when the city's upper-class rulers and the chamber of commerce engaged in maritime trade have completely turned into vassals will it be truly brought under control.
As for Habatha Delin and Tyrantir, I will find an opportunity to invite them out to talk at the appropriate time.
I believe they will not refuse to cooperate with us.
Of course, if these two guys are ignorant, I wouldn’t mind letting them understand the consequences of being our enemy.”
When saying these words, Vanessa's eyes flashed with a fierce light.
Since he was originally a specialized mage of the necromancy system, he adapted to his identity as a lich faster than other members of the organization, and he had absolutely no mental barriers to things like destruction, destruction, and killing.
You won't show mercy just because the other party is a mage like yourself.
Jeffrey obviously knew very well what kind of person his old friend was, so he couldn't help but shook his head with a wry smile: "Don't go too far. Don't forget that Mr. Soth has emphasized more than once that our principle is that no one will offend us.
I don’t offend anyone. Unless the other party takes the initiative to provoke you, it’s best not to use force.”
Vanessa chuckled and responded: "Don't worry, I have a sense of proportion. And the current goal is to get the Duke of Baldur's Gate to publicly admit his defeat and then sign a treaty with us."
"Haha, I think the two groups of messengers outside should be more anxious than you." Jeffrey couldn't help but joke.
To be continued...