Raoden went to the workshop and rushed to his brazier to try on some bras, and to try his ritual of Connection. He then noticed a white-yellowish powder. He did not know where it was from but assumed it was a sniffable drug. He searched for clues and found nothing so he scooped it up for later use.
He tried and failed to complete the ritual because he was missing the ingredients, so he summoned Max to tell him to be free until they reconnect. Then he hurled him at a window.

Sergor went to his uncle’s house. Borm chewed him out for missing his Parliament of Peers meeting. He then took him on one of his trademark Scold Walks. Borm asked him if he was excited for his wedding and ready for the responsibility of being a husband, to which Sergor answered yes and no respectively. They talked about possibly postponing the wedding to when he’s ready. He took him to a tower on the walls of Little Calimshan. While admiring the view of Baldur’s Gate, Borm told him the difference between patriars and commoners. He explained that patriars think in bloodlines and will sacrifice themselves to better their children’s life.
Sergor, however, is a short-minded adventurer. He said Sergor is in a unique position to advance his bloodline and make them leaders of Baldur’s Gate, but acts selfishly.

Sergor said they just saved the world by stopping an evil book from going into Zhent hands. Borm was unconvinced, and told him going to the Parliament of Peers is more important in the long run. Sergor saw his point and vowed to try harder. Borm went down the stairs, but not before telling Sergor he invited a guest from Waterdeep, Rollerend. He said that he is a warrior (in a way) and a follower of his faith (in a way). He left Sergor to stare at the city and think about the mysterious guest.

At night, Raoden looked for Toros. He found him performing in The Splurging Sturgeon. Toros finished performing and made the bar give Raoden a round of applause
Raoden bribed him to leave with him to sniff unidentified drugs. Toros agreed with some apprehension. Half an hour later they were both zonked out on the excellent drugs.
Evil Max appeared and asked him what took him so long (to take more drugs). Raoden told him to go away since he’s a drug induced owl.
E-Max offered him to do some research like the good ol days. Raoden said he wants to do the ritual for reconnecting with Max. He then quickly lost focus and left to get a snack with Toros. E-Max convinced him to go to Sorcerous Sundries for his snacks.

When they got there, the clerk was confused at Raoden’s request for earth apples.
Toros asked for snacks, and also cinnamon scented candles which E-Max asked for. Raoden recalled they are used in some binding or summoning rituals. He continued to get whatever E-Max asked for in order to restore Kitty’s soul. When he asked for a naga’s knuckle, another person in the shop rolled over to him and told him those are ingredients that could summon a demon. E-Max also requested dragon’s blood. Raoden realized through his drug stupor that this will in most likelihood summon something from the lower planes.
He realized he didn’t have enough money for all the ingredients and only got the cinnamon candle.
Meanwhile, Toros was munching on unknown leaves, so Raoden joined in and paid for that too. It was treant shit.
E-Max told him he has to get more money to buy the ingredients, but Raoden just wanted to go home and eat treant shit.
E-Max got frustrated and told him he’ll come back when he has money to rescue Kitty from the hells.

After a night with Nelly, Oliver got dressed. Nelly asked him why he lied to everyone about the fate of his crew, and why he stopped pirating.
He said it was more complicated than that, he’s not sure if it’s a lie or if the Bitch Queen forbade him like the priestess says. Nelly said she is worried that he made up a lie about the Bitch Queen and that drew her ire and she cursed him for real as punishment.
He said his vial of endless water protects him, but Nelly was doubtful. He told her that he revealed everything to Finley and asked him to help. She hugged him and told him to be careful if he is going after the ghost ship.
Oliver revealed to her that he was the one who gave Evie the money that got her killed.
Nelly got on her knees and asked him to not blame himself, that he couldn’t have known. She told him she was avenged and her spirit can rest, but he was not satisfied.
He said that she doesn’t have to worry about him, but she told him that’s what friends with benefits are for. He secretly left her a big tip if you know what I mean, then walked down the pier to The Steel Dragon. But just as he got out of the Coastal Paradise, he found the ocean waves drawing him in. He saw beneath the waves a small blackened model of a ship drifting towards him. He could hear the sound of the ship’s bell and echoes of distant screams of the crew members.
The ship swirled in the water, sucked in by black sands, then disappeared into the river. He felt the chill of a bad omen. He went back towards the Steel Dragon Inn and checked out the Umberlee statue on the way there, but saw nothing out of the ordinary because he rolled a 1. He then decided to pour some water from his vial to one of the bowls and continue to the Steel Dragon.

Finley was dropping a shipment of potions to Holly, and as usual she force fed him dinner. As he was eating he noticed Kanen Barrow standing on a table telling a story. He told the tale of him sneaking on a guarded ship to steal shit, but his other crew members were discovered.
Kanen’s ship was called The Blazing Sword. And the ship he robbed was The Golden Plank, a very famous and well-defended ship.
The captain was a master swordsman, but Kanen beat him and then stole all the stuff from the ship and captain. The best thing he found was a perfect pearl on the captain’s finger. Kanen made it into an earring and gave it to Finley. He told Finley that the most beautiful man deserves the most beautiful pearl. Finley tried rejecting it, but Kanen persisted.
Finley relents and tells Kanen that he is willing to take it if he insists but he will give it back if he asks for it, Kanen whispers that he will never and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Finley, embarrassed, kept the pearl and excused himself home.

12th of Hammer

Raoden woke up with a craving for more drugs.
Toros asked him why he had a shit aftertaste. Raoden told him it was a treant shit aftertaste, then asked him for more drugs and more shit. Raoden hesitated. He gave Toros a handful and took just a sprinkle as a pick-me-up. Raoden went to the Dock and fed the drug to the fishes. E-Max tried to stop him, but Raoden said he can’t boss him around anymore.
E-Max argued that he just wanted to release Kitty. Raoden didn’t trust him and said he’s off to find the real Max. E-Max told him he’ll just tell Kitty that Raoden forgot about her. Raoden tried to slap him, causing him to disappear.

Whilst Oliver was in the Steel Dragon, a stranger asked to sit next to him. He introduced himself as Damien Broadleaf, and said he represented a group of business owners in the lower city. Their businesses were being extorted by the Guild, and the Iron Throne is too expensive. They wanted the Baldur’s Gate five to ambush the Guild when they came to burn down his store.
Oliver told him that it will just make the Guild angrier, and that they can’t be around to protect them forever.
Damien responded that the Guild will back off if they know the Baldur’s Gate Five are protecting them, and that he can’t afford to pay the Guild anymore.

Finley got to his lab and saw a stoned Toros. He made small talk with him and took his treant shit while he waited for Raoden to return to work on the potion. He also noticed Gebbert is still absent from his usual spot.
Oliver joined up with Sergor to go to Finley and discussed the Guild situation on the way. They figured Rilsa will never help Aria if they interfere with her business, so they can’t help Damien until then.
Oliver went back to tell Damien they can’t help him, and offered him 15 gold to feed his children. Damien refused the charity.
They all met back Finley’s workshop.

Raoden announced that he just made a bunch of fish’s day and they’re more important than Toros, because fish are many and he is few. Toros found that very deep. Sergor said he can’t take them to Little Calimshan, so Toros decided to go to Little Calimshan, then fainted.
Raoden asked Sergor to remove the drugs from his system, then when he did Raoden got pissed at him for harshing his vibe.
Sergor explained the Guild situation to Finley and Raoden. Raoden explained the drug and Max situation to the party. Finley checked for signs of break-ins but found none.
Sergor said this might be related to him being haunted by a creature in his dreams a while ago. This caused Raoden to break down crying. Overall the party was proud of Raoden’s progress.
Finley woke Toros up with smelling salts and immediately got depressed. Sergor asked Toros what his day job was and Toros cried that he’s a bard. Raoden hugged him and said through tears that Toros is a bard. Raoden got Max to follow Toros and make sure he doesn’t die.

Finley tried to get him to work on the potion but Raoden decided he wanted Finley to ask the fish if they had fun with the drugs so they went to the bay.

The non-idiots went to Little Calimshan to talk to Rilsa, but someone else was there in her stead. They asked for a delivery from Rilsa. The replacement told them the person they’re looking for is not in the city. He is known as the Black Leaf, and is one of the top agents in his organization.
After he did his job, the person who hired him tried to kill him, so he relocated to Nashkel.
The replacement said that with this information the debt is paid and the So Far Group and the Guild are Even Stevens.
Sergor tried to confront him regarding the Guild extortion but he didn’t budge and insisted it’s just protection.
Sergor said perhaps a group of adventurers could open their own security service, but Replacement said it’s a very bad idea to go against an established powerful organization who knows where they live.

Sergor said they won’t break the truce, but if the Guild does they will pay the consequences.
Oliver left a note for Rilsa saying they should talk. As they left, the Replacement told them to send regards to Nelly and Kaylein

As Raoden and Fin got out of the house, Raoden decided there’s no time and went back to the lab to work on the potion.
They made preparations and waited for Aria to guide them, then made the potion. All seemed to go well, then Gilad got a work call.
In between tending to the potion, Raoden tried to reconnect with Max. He went to Azaka for advice. He asked for help while mimicking her accent for some reason. She asked if his parents taught him to dance while scribbling on his scroll. She returned it and said it will be much easier now. He saw there are dancing instructions to do ritual with. He paid her with 300 year old socks and asked her if she could kill his shrink. She said she would think about it.

He went back to the workshop to perform the ritual. As he danced, he felt a presence returning to his mind. The brazier exploded in a bright light and he felt Max was there. Raoden excitedly told him everything he did to get him back. Max told him that they lost connection once Raoden talked to E-Max and took his advice rather than real Max’s.
He summoned Max back and held him close, apologizing to him for abandoning him. Max said that he doesn’t mean that, and he takes everything for granted. He just restored the connection because it was what he decided to fixate on at the time, not caring why he lost it in the first place.
Raoden said he just wanted to talk to him again because he’s his best friend and he was tricked by a demon because he was fucked up on drugs, but he hasn’t been on fucked up on drugs for a whole day. Also before that he did a whole adventure sober. And he gave the drugs to fishes yesterday.
Max said that being influenced by a demon did count as extenuating circumstances, but he didn’t know if he could forgive him yet. Raoden said it was okay. Then they talked about bird sex.

Sergor and Gang met Finley and Co. They updated each other. Sergor told Raoden E-Max might have scared him with the nightmares so he would take drugs to cope, because he’s more susceptible while drugged.
They talked about Raoden’s fiendish heritage and somehow got to discussing Sergor’s red eyes. He said that they turned red from an experiment conducted on him as a child to make him stronger, but refused to elaborate further in fear of a copyright claim from Andrzej Sapkowski.

Raoden left to talk to Rusty. He asked to buy opium, then decided to sell opium instead. He then realized it was actually cocaine, and sold it for 50 gold. He asked Rusty if he is the one who put drugs in his house, and Rusty says he doesn’t even know where he lives.
He told him the drugs are called Vorndoir and are incredibly addictive and hard to quit. Rusty told Raoden that he is not ready for the big league of drugs and shouldn’t do that shit. But, it’s 10 gold / gram if he wanted some.
Raoden asked where it came from, who his distributor is. When Rusty refused, he Suggested he do it. But he didn’t have Suggestion so Rusty suggested he fucked off. They then agreed on a referral program.

The rest went to Gerald of Nvidia in the Temples to ask about The Preacher. Gerald said it was same ol, same ol. Sergor asked if he knew something about the markings on his followers’ arms and Gerald said this isn’t the time nor place to discuss that, and that he will talk to them in the Three Old Kegs.
They continued over to Coran to ask about Hawke. Hawke was willing to meet in eight days at noon.
Sergor asked about the diamonds and Coran said they’re not from the same mine as Aria’s, which led Sergor to ask how he knew Aria is a Ravenshade.
Coran replies that there are many families interested in Aria’s brother.
The Whitburns are keeping the mine shut, saying no one can buy it until everyone in the Ravenshade family is confirmed dead.
Finley asked about the favor they owed and asked if he could give him the pearl he got in exchange. Coran was more interested in where he got it from and was intrigued by the story about Kanen, and Sergor was interested in why Kanen gave it to Finley.
Oliver remembered that Waterdavian captains wore pearls to signify their rank, and based on the size and quality of this one, he was extremely high ranking. Oliver was doubtful that The Blazing Sword could take on the Golden Plank.

Sergor wanted to know what was wrong with the lighthouse in Ulgoth’s Beard, and Coran told him the citizens are disturbing it on purpose as a form of protest, and that he already knew that.
Oliver asked about sightings of the ghost ship, and Coran said the last attack was ten miles west of Ulgoth’s Beard.
Sergor asked if Coran knew a code cracker who speaks Gith. They paid him 50 gold and he referred them to Keinder in the outer city in Sow’s Foot. He warned them not to comment on his appearance.

Raoden picked up the gilded petal. Then he sat down and cast Comprehend Languages to try and crack the encoded diary. He realized maybe it wasn’t Gith, but another language written phonetically in Gith.
They filled Raoden in on everything and made sure he knew not to comment on Keinder’s appearance, which he did not seem to internalize.

They went to the Three Old Kegs. Gerald arrived later and sat down with them. He told them in so many words that it’s a secret hush hush meeting.
They captured some of the followers of The Preacher, and after two days of unsuccessful interrogation they were found dead with two piercing marks on their necks.
The mark on their arms was burnt into their flesh in the shape of an 8 with two dots inside. He added that patriar children are still disappearing.
Raoden showed Gerald an illusion of the vampire he saw back then on that fateful night.
Once he created it the fear came rushing back. He recreated his dream where Finley was massacred to everyone’s shock.
After theorizing some more, Gerald noticed someone and left. A young patriar with black hair and a talisman of Amaunator and a cane joined their table. He introduced himself as Arcabus Caldwell, and said they will talk next session.

But what does he want? What does Evil Max want? Did the fishes enjoy the drugs? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z!!!