Marcus

Flaming Fist Marcus
Level 6
Information
Title	Agent of the Absolute
Race	Aberration Human (former)
Faction	Cult of the Absolute
Stats
Size	Medium
Type	Aberration
Armour Class	17
Hit points	86
Movement speed	9 m (30 ft)
Weight	75 kg ( lb)
Initiative	+6
Ability scores
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 23 (+6) 16 (+3) 16 (+3) 10 (0) 10 (0) 10 (0)
Proficiency bonus	+3
Saving throws	Str +6 Dex +3 Con +3 Int 0 Wis 0 Cha 0
Features
Great Weapon Master: Bonus Attack	If you kill a target or land a critical hit with a melee weapon, use a bonus action to make another melee weapon attack.
Dark Devotion	Advantage on saving throws against Charmed and Frightened.
Extra Attack	Make an additional free attack after making an unarmed or weapon attack.
Feral Instinct	You gain a +3 to Initiative and can't be Surprised.
Opportunity Attack	Automatically attack an enemy moving out of your reach.
Improved Critical Hit Tactician	The number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1.
Tenacity (passive feature)	Apply Bludgeoning damage, even on a miss.

Flaming Fist Marcus is a former member of the Flaming Fist, now turned into an elite agent of the Followers of the Absolute.

Involvement

Last Light Inn

When the party reaches Last Light Inn, Jaheira is instantly wary of them and summons vines to stop them. She believes the party are True Souls. If Mol didn't survive Act One, Marcus comes to vouch for the party, telepathically revealing that he is an Absolutist spy.

Revealing that Marcus is tadpoled to Jaheira will trigger a fight against him. He will have a surprise round where he will summon 13 Crawling Claws and then disappear, returning to Moonrise Towers. He can however be defeated here if members of the party have the passive Alert or have the condition Elixir of Vigilance. Killing him here will prevent the abduction attempt when you first talk to Isobel.

If Marcus wasn't killed earlier, when the party first goes to speak with Isobel on how to traverse through the Shadow-Cursed Lands, Marcus will show up on the balcony much to her shock. He will quickly reveal his loyalty to the Absolute and Ketheric Thorm, urging Isobel to come with him to see the warlord. A critical choice is then made here:

• Fight against Marcus and his Winged Horrors who will focus on taking down Isobel.
• Turn against Isobel, making Marcus and the Winged Horrors allies. The rest of the inn won't be hostile at first though. Doing so will put a huge divide with Jaheira and the Harpers.
• If Isobel is defeated, the barrier protecting the Last Light Inn will fade, letting the shadow curse in. Everyone except Jaheira and the party will either die or become Shadow-Cursed Undead. This will make multiple questlines prematurely end along with losing merchants, some of who will no longer be active in Act Three.

Moonrise Towers

If the player failed to protect Isobel and Marcus survived the fight in the Last Light Inn, Marcus can be found inside Moonrise Towers, on the top floor near the door to Balthazar's room. If Isobel was knocked out and thus abducted alive, Marcus will also be alive. If, however, Isobel didn't survive the abduction, Marcus will be found dead, presumably killed by an angry Ketheric Thorm.

Speak with Dead

Marcus can be spoken to with Speak with Dead.

(If Isobel doesn't survive the abduction)

Player: Who were you before you became a True Soul?

• Marcus: Marcus Falgor... raised in... Baldur's Gate...

Player: What do you know of Ketheric Thorm?

• Marcus: Chosen of... the Absolute. Wants... the cleric... more than anything.

Player: Why were you after the cleric?

• Marcus: Orders... of the General... Absolute's... Chosen...

Player: Who is the Chosen?

• Marcus: Ketheric... Thorm...

Player: How did you come to follow the Absolute?

• Marcus: Squad... captured... enlightened...

Player: What is the Absolute's end game?

• Marcus: Enlightenment... love... power...

Player: Do you know the source of Ketheric's invulnerability?

• Narrator: *The corpse remains silent. It does not know.*

Player: Did you leave anything valuable behind?

• Marcus: Outside the inn... buried near graveyard... she found out...

Combat

Attacks and abilities

Main Hand Attack - Greatclub +1

Make a melee attack with your equipped weapon.

Action

Attack roll: +10

1d8 + 7 (8~15) Bludgeoning damage

Vampiric Shout

Vent a malevolent shout, wounding nearby foes and healing yourself provided they're neither Constructs or Undead.

2d8 (2~16) Necrotic damage

AoE: 8 m / 25 ft (Radius)

 Fly (Class Action)

 3 m / 10 ft movement Fly using movement at a  Range: 16 m / 60 ft.

Tactics

Marcus is an incredibly aggressive great weapon fighter, who in the case of the encounter at the Last Light Inn will focus on Isobel in trying to knock her out. The fight there can end very quickly if he and the Winged Horrors act first on Initiative. Being a dedicated Fighter, his extra attack along with a bonus attack he can gain through a Critical Hit thanks to his Great Weapon Master passive.

The key to besting Marcus is preparation. During the conversation with him, shifting your party around to avoid getting caught up in his Vampiric Shout is a good way to avoid losing Concentration on a spell. An easy approach is to use Banishment to put him out of the fight, sparing Isobel his wrath and allowing the group to clear out the Winged Horrors. By the time the spell ends, he will be no match against the full party and the Inn's defenders.

Alternatively adding barrels and other objects to block the entrances will help by confusing the enemies and limiting how many have to be fought at the same time. Some enemies will attack the blockades to gain access, using explosive barrels with torches or other effects can trick enemies into damaging themselves.

Notable loot

• Greatclub +1
• Half Plate Armour (Flaming Fist variant)
• Shifting Corpus Ring
• Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen

Gallery

• 

  Marcus with wings.

• 

  Marcus' model.

• 

  Marcus' winged model.

Notes

• If Marcus is killed while attempting to kidnap Isobel, his body can later be found in the grass to the north of the Last Light Inn, seemingly dumped there unceremoniously during the cleanup after the attack.
• Can be spoken to with Speak with Dead.