12. The Gang Starts A Casino

The Episode Where The Gang Starts A Casino

Treasure

Summary

Potions for the Purple Patron

Istrid had asked the party to complete a favor for her - picking up and delivering some potions of mind reading that an alchemist friend had made to a mysterious client. Istrid told them they could keep the money the client gave in payment for the potions, and the party decided money sounded good and took her up on the offer. Skeemo Weirdbottle, the alchemist, was a strange little gnome, as might be expected with such a name as his. When he realized the purpose for the party’s visit, he closed up his shop and pulled a silk lined box containing four potions from under his counter. The party then went off to meet the client near The God Catcher, one of the Walking Statue of Waterdeep.

The client was not hard to find - a woman in a deep purple cloak wandering the street in search of someone. Footsteps had a brief exchange with her before Hamidal handed over the potions. Hamidal recognized the perfume she wore as the same as that worn by someone at the Cassalanter’s Midwinter event. She handed him a leather purse containing 50pp, and the deed was done.

Back at the tavern, While talking over their recent exploits, a tiefling servant entered and handed Hamidal a formal invitation to the Cassalanter Villa from Lord Cassalanter. The servant said he had need of their services once more and asked them to visit to discuss it. Having no other immediately pressing business, the party decided to see what the Lord had in mind.

Upon arrival, the party found the Lord in his library, full of leather-bound tomes, and containing a set of shelves containing what Hamidal determined were magical bottles of trapped sounds. The Lord led them back into his smoking lounge, where they’d previously met with him when they’d come by to check up on Elzerina.

Verbal Spooning with Lord Cassalanter Lord Cassalanter pressed upon them that the thing he required and appreciated most from the party was their discretion. They’d proven themselves trustworthy in the way they’d twice helped with his daughter’s ‘troubles’, and so he sought their help once again. He told the party that he’d run into some more trouble, but the kind that’d require a large sum of money to solve. He has a large amount of money himself, but fears that the money required would possibly hurt his business, and thus his family, if he were to use it to directly solve the problem.

Desperate to find the money his family needed, Lord Cassalanter has procured a treasure map from a trusted cartographer friend. The Lord was worried that a wealthy noble spending his time and money on a treasure hunt would worry some of his business partners, and so he’s seeking to do it quietly - via the party. He told the party he could hire a group of unknown mercenaries (to which the party chuckled to themselves) but would rather entrust someone he knew would be discrete with the matter.

The party worked out a deal with the Lord. He agreed to pay the party 2500 gp up front for their promise to investigate the map. He said he was not interested in any small treasures that they might find, but only in the very large payout rumored to be at the map’s end. If they were to find that treasure, he promised to pay the party 10,000 gp each. If the treasure were significantly smaller, but still sizable, he’d agree to reach a similarly beneficent arrangement with the party, but would otherwise still pay them 2500 gp for their troubles if the map turned out not to lead to the promised treasure.

Out of the doordinary in Trollskull Alley

The deal map, the map procured, the party immediately recognized the first clue on the map to be pointing to somewhere in Trollskull Alley. Using the map as guide, they found an abandoned house in the alley that matched the map’s description. Knocking loudly on the door, a nervous teenaged street thug greeted them and asked them to leave. Thinking him a squatter, the party entreated him and attempted to convince him to allow them to enter. But they soon heard noises from beyond the doorway that tipped them off to him not being alone. Pushing their way past the teen, the party entered the domicile to investigate.

Hearing noises and voices coming from beyond a doorway in the kitchen, the party planned to enter and investigate. Taking the lead, Kael rushed through the door only to find himself plunging down a set of stairs into the basement, and into a crowd of mercenaries lounging in their basement hideout. Thinking the Watch was upon them, the mercenaries began to attempt to flee. Kael, his onward rush unabated, began swinging.

By the time the rest of the party were able to catch up, they saw Kael in the midst of a battle and joined the fray. Kael took out a number of the thugs as they attempted to flee, but then knocked out a few of the members when the party decided to try to take prisoners for interrogation.

In the aftermath of the fight the party wasn’t quite sure what to make of things. Partway through the battle they started to realize that the thugs they were fighting were far below their own abilities, and what they thought was a fight against criminals was turning into a slaughter. Questioning the thug they’d tied up, he told them the group was working for a thief who laired somewhere down in the sewers and just wanted to get back the wedding ring he’d lost while gambling.

Grick felt that the only way to make sure gambling under control was to literally control it - making the Ghost Bar the only source of gambling in the neighborhood, and thus keeping it under his own watchful eye. He told the thug in no uncertain terms that other forms of gambling was now forbidden and that he should let the others know of this new development.

And so we fade to black in the basement of a run down tenement in Trollskull Alley, our heroes conversing amongst the corpses of the people they’ve just slaughtered, Grick sternly warning the survivors not to cross the party.