This is the first session of Dungeons & Dialogue, an RPG language exchange at Dice & Comics Cafe. When a disturbance in the space-time continuum causes the city of Baldur’s Gate to vanish from existence, six adventurers dream of the world as it should be. Together, they eat the fruit from the Tree of Time and travel into the distant past to restore their timeline, by seeking out young Balduran, the founder of Baldur’s Gate, and joining him on a voyage into the Trackless Sea.

In the year 1484, rumors of war in the distant north worried the townsfolk in the quiet town of Grey Harbor, nestled at the mouth of the River Chionthar. Near the harbor stood the rotting wooden gate and palisades of Elturgate. Years ago, the burgeoning kingdom of Elturgard claimed the harbor and the mouth of the river, which were plagued by brigands and pirates. From their comfortable seat of power in Elturel, the leaders of the kingdom saw fit to tax all those that made use of the harbor, but saw little need to improve their simple wooden gate or the lives of the townsfolk that made their home nearby.

It was in these times that six adventurers gathered around a table in a humble watering hole called the Elfsong Tavern, the only such establishment in Grey Harbor. Three among them were dwarves. Dragu the shield dwarf fighter was born with nocturnal blindness, which cost him dearly. When he was a guard on nighttime duty in his hometown, he had failed to alert his comrades of an attack by duergar, and many were slain. Dragu went into exile and found himself in Grey Harbor where he met his companions. Bor Mithrilhammer was a cleric and former soldier who also had a tale of woe. Having acquired an unusual taste for vegetables, he had shaved off his own beard to better serve his habits of mastication, and this affront to tradition led to his banishment from his clan. Durin Ironfist was a cleric of Moradin, a member of the Lords’ Alliance, and a guild jeweler. He had been stationed in Grey Harbor much to his dismay, for he longed for the chance to acquire greater wealth for his clan than could ever be attained in this small backwater town.

Across the table from Durin, there was Atorius the tiefling paladin and warlock, who was deeply in debt to the Lords’ Alliance and a fiendish patron thanks to his love of gambling. Beside Atorius, there was Ace the elven swashbuckler who had grown up an urchin and had likewise turned to gambling, but more often gambled his life as an adventurer, simply as a way to survive in the world. Finally, there was Sage the human diviner who had graduated from an arcane academy where she had studied the School of Anthomancy, the power to divine fortunes through flowers. She often sought rare flowers and plants on her expeditions, but the rarer finds were guarded by dangers, both natural or otherwise, so she had thrown in her lot with this group of adventurers in Grey Harbor to further her research, but to little avail. The nearby lands were oddly barren and had little in the way of biodiversity.

These six had been brought together on this night by strange dreams of a mighty city in the place where Grey Harbor should be. And peculiar though it seemed to each of them, when they shared the stories of the visions that they had seen, the more they were convinced that the city that haunted their dreams was real, or rather that it ought to be real, instead of the miserable plight that was their current condition. Where the pitiful wooden gate of Elturgard now stood, they dreamt of a great stone wall and gate that towered over the land, and an immense walled city that stretched across the northern banks of the river.

Dragu saw his dead comrades alive and well, serving in a mercenary company that guarded the city in the dream. Bor saw a floating airship built by his own designs and outfitted with a brewery, whereupon grand banquets full of green dishes were served along his own brew of dwarven ale. Durin and Atorius were both wealthy businessmen and members of an aristocratic parliament that ruled over the dream city. And Sage walked the busy city streets and markets where she saw a dizzying array of exotic flora shipped in from all across the continent. 

Only Ace reported that he dreamt of nothing, or remembered nothing of what he had seen.

More amazing still was the mutual figure that nearly all of them had seen in their dreams: a tall gentleman in a white robe, carrying fruits and seeds in his pockets and wearing an odd pair of goggles over his frazzled white hair. Was he a wizard, a druid, or perhaps an artificer? Some of the companions recalled that the man had introduced himself as “Delorean” in the dream. When Sage heard that name in her vision, she recalled a fellow academic from her institution by the same name who had studied the forbidden art of Chronomancy. And as if responding to her sudden recollection, the dream visitor handed her an apple-like fruit, and told her something that she would not forget: Everything in the dream was real, whereas her current reality was the wrong timeline, one that should never have come to pass. The city in her dream was called Baldur’s Gate, and the hero that should have founded it never did in the reality that Sage and her companions were now living in.

Soon after Sage held the fruit in her hand, she had awoken from her dream. And in the waking world, she was still holding the fruit, which she now showed to her companions. 

Atorius reported a similar encounter as he produced a map of a vast riverside city with the name “Baldur’s Gate” emblazoned on top. He too had received the map in his dream, but he was careful to avoid mentioning the whole truth. It had come from his fiendish patron with a promise that bringing the city in the map into existence in his own reality would wipe out his worldly debts and make him a very wealthy man.

As the adventurers excitedly compared their dreams and discussed what they could mean, Sage was already dividing up the fruit into equal pieces and handing them to her companions, while putting the seeds in her pouch for safe keeping and further study. It was then that the table was joined by an acquaintance Durin Ironfist. He was a mercenary named Ulder Ravengard who worked for the Lords’ Alliance. Ulder reported that he too had experienced a vivid dream where he was a great leader in the city that they had all seen together in their dreams. When he caught sight of Atorius’s map, he became excited and agitated. 

Ulder Ravengard insisted that the adventurers must do all that they could to make the dream city real.

As the adventurers slowly understood what they needed to accomplish, they began to ponder how to begin their quest. Then it came into the mind of Atorius to bite into his piece of fruit while thinking of the name and face of Delorean the Chronomancer whom he had seen in his dream. 

A blinding light engulfed the adventurers. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a strange new place.

The Plane of Fire

A fiery landscape stretched before the adventurers as far as their eyes could see. Hills of molten lava undulated around them, and flames filled the skies overhead. Not far away, they saw two men engaged in an argument. One was the white-haired chronomancer whom the adventurers had seen in their dreams. The other looked like a youthful enforcer or mercenary of sorts, and it was this younger man who now spoke.

“Master Delorean, when I asked you to settle your debts to the Lords’ Alliance for financing your fanciful research, transporting us to the Elemental Plane of Fire was not what I had in mind!”

Delorean answered, “Where better to acquire profitable sources of fuel than the plane that fuels all fires in existence?”

Suddenly, an elemental of pure fire manifested from the essence of the plane itself, threatening the hapless chronomaster. Seeing this, the dwarf Dragu bravely lunged forward and took the brunt of the fiery assault. His companions stood with him, and one by one they hurled their weapons and missiles at the elemental, until at last the icy magic of Sage the wizard drove the creature back and forced it to flee into the burning ether from whence it came.

When Delorean met the adventurers at last, he did not look surprised to meet them, though he had no knowledge of the encounters in their dreams. Yet he seemed to recognize them anyway, as if he had met them at some other point in time which the adventurers had not yet reached.

The adventurers asked the chronomancer about the city from their dreams, to which he answered:

“Baldur’s Gate is the name of the city you have seen. It is the city that ought to exist in your timeline, but something has changed the past and now it no longer exists. But it appears that you have somehow acquired a fruit from the Tree of Time, which I have dubbed the Delorean Tree. Your dreams and the Delorean fruit have led you to me, which means fate has chosen you for an important task. You must set right what went wrong in order for your true world to exist.”

Bor Mithrilminer had heard enough. In order for his dream of an airship brewery to be realized, he knew what had to be done. Swiftly, he bit into his piece of the magical fruit, and with another flash of light, he and his companions were whisked away to another point in history. 

However, Delorean had omitted an important truth. Not all of them would remain should they accomplish their task. For one among them had not dreamt of the city of Baldur’s Gate. Ace the rogue was not from that timeline but was a manifestation of this alternate stream of time. Therefore, if the adventurers set history right, then Ace would cease to exist.

But the adventurers knew nothing of that yet as they hurtled through time and space.

Grey Harbor, centuries ago

When the light subsided, the adventurers found themselves in a small harbor town. The dwarves recognized the layout of the streets and buildings, which resembled places that were familiar to them, but newer and cleaner, as though everything had only recently been built. This was Grey Harbor when it was still an up-and-coming settlement. Yet despite the neat exterior, there was an ominous sense of gloom in the community. 

The adventurers had arrived in the midst of a farmer’s market, but all the vendors had brought wares that did not look particularly fresh or appetizing, save one. A single vendor at the far end of the market was selling fresh, tasty-looking vegetables. He was a middle-aged man who alone was dressed in finer clothes than the others, and even wore exotic jewelry the likes of which had surely come from faraway lands. One might mistake him for an adventurer were it not for his full belly and flabby appearance. Yet the most striking thing about him was not the man himself, but rather the large dragon that sat beside him. And strangely, no one at the market appeared to pay this duo any mind at all.

The adventurers went straight to the wealthy-looking vendor and his dragon. Bor Mithrilminer was the first to speak.

“Are you Balduran, the great adventurer?”

Startled but pleased to be approached by a visitor, the vendor replied, “Why yes, I am Balduran, but I am no adventurer. I am merely a humble vegetable farmer. And this dragon is my friend Ansur. He helps me with my farming. Would you like to browse our produce?”

The adventurers spoke at length with Balduran and learned that he had always been a farmer at Grey Harbor, at least as far as he could remember. When they asked him about his childhood or other recollections, he hesitated and could not tell them much. The adventurers suspected that Balduran was under some kind of charm or compulsion that affected his memory, or his willingness to speak of it. 

Atorius tried to show Balduran the map that he possessed, but he was startled by the dragon who tried to discretely burn it with his fiery breath when Balduran was not looking! Fortunately, Atorius’s hand was faster and he was able to preserve the map. But the incident led him and his companions to suspect the dragon of being the culprit behind Balduran’s condition and the changes to the timeline.

But why? What motivation did Ansur have to place Balduran under a spell and alter history? Did he have a grudge against the city of Baldur’s Gate and wish for the place to never have existed at all? Or was there another reason for his dastardly deeds against the timeline?

The adventurers pressed on and tried to convince Balduran of his potential to become a great adventurer who could bring back wealth to invest in his community. But Balduran was not interested. He was content with his life as a farmer in Grey Harbor. His daily existence was simple and predictable. Thanks to his best friend Ansur, whose magical powers brought him comfort and prosperity, he had all that he could ever wish for.

The adventurers realized that they had come too late in Balduran’s life to convince him of any sort of change. They knew that they would need to travel through time once again. This time, Durin Ironfist bit into his piece of magical fruit, and the party was transported decades into the past.

Aboard the Wandering Eye

The adventurers opened their eyes and saw that everything had changed. Where there once was a market, they now found themselves aboard a ship at sea. They were standing before a young boy who was mopping the deck. He looked no older than six, but he appeared strong and eager in his work. And he had a striking resemblance to Balduran the farmer whom they had met in Grey Harbor.

Durin approached the boy and asked for his name. He answered confidently that he was Balduran, a boy of Lok’s Fist. Atorius knew that Lok’s Fist was the name of a settlement that had existed in this region, long before Grey Harbor was founded. Due to his gambling debts, he had made a pact with a fiend to further feed his habits. A byproduct of this pact was that he could draw upon eldritch knowledge, which granted him memories of the true timeline that ought to have been. Yet he was not eager to summon all the knowledge at his disposal, for doing so would put him even deeper in debt to his fiendish patron. Therefore, he recognized the name of Lok’s Fist but did not know its origins or anything else of its history.

The adventurers tried to continue their conversation with Balduran in the hopes of inspiring the boy to become an adventurer, but the captain of the ship intervened and told Balduran to get back to work, so else the boy’s master “Big Lok” would be displeased. The adventurers understood that Balduran in this timeline must have been an orphan or ward under Big Lok’s charge, or a servant in bondage to him. This Big Lok must have been a powerful and frightful individual in this area, for all the other passengers aboard the ship seemed to fear the mere mention of his name. 

The adventurers resolved to follow Balduran home to Lok’s Fist so that they might set him free and take him out on a grand adventure.

Lok’s Fist

The Wandering Eye dropped anchor at a small harbor upon the mouth of the River Chionthar. A short distance from the docks, there was a ramshackle village of primitive tents and pavilions. At the far end of the village, the largest of the pavilions towered over the rest. It was far bigger than any pavilion the adventurers had ever seen!

When Balduran approached the entrance, a booming voice called out to him.

“Boy! Where is my gold?”

“I have the gold that I got from the captain right here, Boss!”

Durin Ironfist could not stand idly by as the owner of that voice, whoever he might be, took Balduran’s hard-earned coin away from him. Using his powers of Thaumaturgy, Durin cried out a call of challenge.

“How dare you steal money from a child!”

His words were followed by a brief silence which was broken by the bellowing voice, thundering even louder than before.

“Who said that?! Nobody dares to defy Big Lok!”

Under the terms of his fiendish contract, Atorius had access to forgotten lore from his otherworldly patron. He seldom exercised that access, due to the excessive fees attached. When the party arrived at Lok’s Fist, Atorius somewhat regretted that decision. Otherwise, he might have known in advance that Lok was an enormous hill giant that ruled over this land in the days before Grey Harbor was established.

From out of the pavilion stepped the largest hill giant that any of the adventurers had ever laid eyes on!

Quickly, Atorius tried to smooth things over, explaining that his overeager companion merely wanted to talk and meet the master of young Balduran whom they had met aboard the Wandering Eye. They wished to learn who had trained such a precocious young lad. Moreover, Atorius offered to pay for the boy’s service on a quest, from which the party expected to acquire much treasure, and could offer a portion of that treasure to Big Lok as payment.

Lok looked intrigued and asked for more details. 

“Do go on, my good sir. Surely, you do not expect me to trust you on your word alone. What might you offer as collateral for the boy’s service? In his absence, I will be without one of my best workers and the wages he would earn.”

Atorius and the others were taken aback by Lok’s intelligence and demeanor. This was no ordinary hill giant. Perhaps some magical intervention had caused his intellect to grow. The tiefling tried to ascertain whether the giant was under the effects of an enchantment or a magical device. He could discover none, though he did notice a particularly splendid-looking headband adorning the giant’s brow.

A voice in his mind told Atorius that something was amiss. Big Lok should not still be the master of this region. Something had changed the timeline and also made Lok more intelligent than he ought to be. Perhaps the dragon Ansur had meddled with the time stream in more ways than one.

While looking on at this difficult parley, Dragu wished that he had a treasure map with which to convince or entice the giant. Then he was struck by sudden inspiration. What if his future self were to acquire such a map after long years of adventuring and then used his piece of Delorean fruit to travel back in time to this very moment to deliver that map to his past self? As the plan took shape in his mind, his piece of Delorean fruit vanished from existence, and in its place he indeed held a treasure map! To all those present, including Big Lok himself, the map appeared authentic and promised to lead to ancient treasures beyond imagining.

Big Lok was impressed, but he still wanted some sort of assurance in exchange for the boy’s release. When Atorius assured him that the party had their own unique means of achieving their goal, the giant made a startling demand.

“I would like that ‘means’ as payment for the boy.”

Then the giant laid his eyes upon Sage, as though knowing that the most quiet member of the party held the true means of which Atorius had spoken.

“I suspect you are the one best able to provide what I ask. Is that not true?”

Sage fidgeted uncomfortably and did not realize that her hand was already in her pouch, holding the seeds of the Delorean fruit as if to make sure they were still there.

The giant continued courteously and yet menacingly.

“It would behoove you to follow through with this transaction before I lose my patience.”

Lok whistled loudly, summoning a pair of enormous dire wolves from the shadows of his pavilion. The adventurers knew they were in a dire situation. Sage could eat her piece of Delorean fruit to transport the party to another point in time. But doing so would mean leaving young Balduran behind. What fate would befall him if the party were to abandon him to the tyranny of Big Lok?

In that moment, Sage made a fateful choice. She gave her piece of Delorean fruit to young Balduran and urged him to eat it. Balduran did as she said, and soon a bright light engulfed the boy and the party, moments before Lok and his dire wolves descended upon them.

The Isle on the Trackless Sea

The adventurers had arrived on a lonely isle somewhere in the middle of the ocean. With them was Balduran, but he had grown into a young man. What mysterious effects did the Delorean fruit have that the adventurers arrived no older than they had been, yet Balduran was much older than the boy they had first encountered at aboard the Wandering Eye?

Whatever had happened, the party was now far from Grey Harbor, Lok’s Fist, and the rest of the Sword Coast. They stood at the entrance to a dungeon, built by an ancient dragon long ago. Runes were etched in the Draconic language upon entrance of the dungeon, warning intruders against entry and urging them to return across the Trackless Sea from whence they came.

Yet this dragon was not of the ancient world, but a time traveler from the future! This was the tomb of Ansur the ancient dragon who had traveled back in time to the distant past and buried his hoard upon this remote island.

The adventurers and Balduran were not deterred. Together, they bravely entered the dungeon and found that it was filled with enchanted rooms, guarded by ancient riddles. 

“Two statues guard the doors to life and death. One tells only truths and the other tells only lies. You may ask one question of either, but only one. What question will you ask to find the safe passage?”

“Three paths lie ahead. One is filled with fire, one contains a ravenous monster, and one contains lions that have not eaten for three years. Which do you choose?”

“Two sailors stand on opposite ends of a ship. One faces west, the other east. Yet both face each other. How is this so?”

“There are gorgon’s heads in a basket, one for each of you. You must each take one head and keep one in the basket. How can you achieve this?”

With their combined intellect and powers of deduction, the adventurers swiftly solved the riddles and made their way through the rooms of the dungeon, which magically shifted around them. Along the way, they discovered a stowaway. Ulder Ravengard had been following them all along! He wore a ring of invisibility, which the adventurers took from him. He had wanted to let the adventurers do all the dirty work and then swoop in to take the gold and the credit. But things did not transpire the way he had hoped, and he was taken prisoner by the adventurers as they continued through the maze.

Each room that they passed led to another, and another, until finally they arrived at the heart of the labyrinth.

The final chamber was roughly hewn from a natural cavern. It was here that they discovered the creator and master of this place. Upon a tremendous pile of gold, gems, artifacts and other relics, there slept a gargantuan dragon! It resembled Ansur whom they had met at the market of Grey Harbor. However, this was bigger than any dragon the adventurers had ever seen before. Its vast wings were wrapped around its body, which lay stiff and motionless. Beneath its silent exterior, the adventurers could sense that the dragon was very much alive and waiting for something, or someone. They called to the dragon, but received no response.

Only when Balduran took a step forward and spoke did the dragon stir. But the great wyrm did not wake completely. Instead, there was a bright flash of light, and another Ansur appeared out of time and space!

This Ansur was younger than the ancient wyrm that slumbered in the dungeon. But he still towered above the adventurers when he raised himself to his full height. The party prepared for the worst, but to their surprise Ansur looked at young Balduran and spoke with sadness in his voice.

“Look at what has become of you, my old friend… Alas, it is the result of my meddling with time. In the true timeline, Balduran was a great seafarer who brought wealth and prosperity to the mouth of the River Chionthar, giving birth to Baldur’s Gate. But when he embarked upon his final adventure, Balduran never returned. I had regretted not joining him on his final voyage and wished to turn back time. Then after centuries of research, I discovered the art of chronomancy which allowed me to do just that. Finally, I had the means with which to save my best friend! Even if it meant that we would never go on adventures together, and the city of Baldur’s Gate would never exist. Balduran would have only the life of a simple farmer, but he would live… Tell me, mortal adventurers. What would you have done in my place?”

When they had all heard the dragon’s words, the adventurers became thoughtful. At last, Ace spoke up and beseeched the dragon to ask what Balduran himself would have wanted. Would not the young seafarer have wished to choose his own destiny, whether to live the long and mundane life of an ordinary farmer, or the short and eventful life of an adventurer? As the adventurers had hoped, Balduran himself wanted the latter. He wished for a life of wonder and excitement, to make a name for himself, and to bring change to his community with the wealth acquired on his adventures.

When Ansur heard Balduran’s words, he could not bring himself to follow through with his plans. With that decision made in the dragon’s mind, both of the Ansurs vanished from existence, but their treasure hoard remained. For that was the treasure which Balduran should have acquired on his voyage across the Trackless Sea. This was the fortune that would give rise to Baldur’s Gate.

Having set history right again, the adventurers used their final piece of magical fruit to return to the present day. With a bright flash of light, they arrived in the mighty city of Baldur’s Gate, where their fates had changed.

Atorius and Durin were both wealthy members of the Parliament of Peers. Bor was the owner of a grand airship brewery that plied the skies. Sage walked the city streets whose markets were filled with more exotic plants and flowers than she could ever wish to see. Dragu and his comrades were all alive and well, as members of the Flaming Fist mercenaries, and their leader, Ulder Ravengard, was no scoundrel but rather a great leader among men.

All of them had returned to their rightful place, save for Ace. For he was a product of the alternate timeline that was created when Ansur had stopped Balduran from becoming an adventurer. He realized as much when all the others had visions of Baldur’s Gate, but he alone had seen nothing at all in his dreams. He was aware that should the right timeline be restored, he would cease to exist. And yet, he still made the choice to urge Balduran and Ansur to set history right again, knowing it would be his undoing, for he wanted the world to be restored for everyone else in Baldur’s Gate.

Sadly, Ace’s companions would not remember his sacrifice, for they had no memory left of him at all. Only Sage the diviner, alone among adventurers that had traveled into the past, caught glimpses of him and their lives in the alternate timeline… within the blossoms that grew from the seeds of the Tree of Time.