24. The Joker and the Thief

So I’ll tell you all the story, about the joker and the thief in the night…

Encounters

Summary

After their assault on Yellowspire Tower, the party rested up for the night and took the morning to do some shopping and generally mulling about. Grick took the opportunite to hand out more flyers for his nascent crime fighting/neighborhood watch organization. In the afternoon, they went down to the docks to find the ships mentioned in the letter from Captain Zord. Upon boarding the Heartbreaker they noticed a strange occurence - Veldrin looked like a human! They quickly realized it was an illusion, but it had them carefully eyeing the other human sailors aboard the ship. They were soon met by Captain Klarr Besham, a human with a large tarantula upon his shoulder, who arranged their transport upon a rowboat to the Eyecatcher, which was anchored far out in the bay.

Once off of the Heartbreaker and aboard the rowboat, Veldrin appeared as himself again - only to become human again when boarding the Eyecatcher. A mate of the ship led them to a dining room, where was laid out all sorts of fine foods and wine, and the rather underdressed Captain Zardoz Zord. He graciously asked the party to sup with him and told them they had much to discuss. The party was rather wary at this point, expecting some kind of subterfuge or pretence, and they waited impatiently for the axe to fall, making polite while picking at the food and wine.

Zardoz congratulated the party on figuring out the mystery behind the false treasure maps. He admitted that he was the one behind them - and had put them out in hopes of deluding the less serious treasure hunters from fouling up his own search for Neverember’s hidden cache. He had not expected anyone as competent as the party to stumble upon them, but said he was glad that they had now that they were here. He told them that the treasure everyone was seeking was actually a pile of gold that former Open Lord Dagult Neverember had embezzled from the city of Waterdeep and that he intended to find it in order to return it to its rightful owners - by way of the Open Lord. He thought the party would be amenable to such an outcome and asked for their assistance in finding the stone that would lead to the treasure.

Veldrin asked Zord about the glamour that had been cast upon him as he entered the ship. Zord was coy and avoided direct answers, but confirmed for Veldrin that there were other drow upon the ship and that his suspicions about his identity were in fact correct. He mostly directed this information at Veldrin, keeping the rest of the party guessing as to what he was referring. He said he understood that they party would be reluctant to trust him, but as a sign of his good faith he delivered to them a report on their recent benefactor, Lord Cassalanter. While the report itself did not point the finger directly at the Lord, Zord told them that it was him that report spoke about. A summary of the report follows:

The report is compiled from a number of different sources, mostly contemporary, but a few historical documents as well. The compiler has reason to believe that there is a well-established cult of Asmodeus in the city of Waterdeep, and that it has already infiltrated some of the highest levels of Waterdhavian society. Being that nobles were involved, information was difficult to ascertain, but they found that a particular house on Aveen Street in the Norht Ward seemed to be a secret front for one of the cult’s shrines. Noting the activity and worshippers present at the location, they determined that it must be a secondary place of worship and not the center of the cult’s activity. They believe that the center is in a much more ancient site that is referenced in some historical documents. Over a century ago, Asmodean cultists in the city were using an ancient site of worship somewhere below the Sea Ward. It’s location is currently a mystery, and the compiler suggests checking the Surveyors’, Map-, and Chart-makers’ Guild to help identify the location of this site, but they had not yet been able to narrow down its location in order to make this fruitful.

He told the party that he would pay them 5000 gp each for their help in finding the Stone and would aid them where he could in finding the treasure it led to. This was a lot of information to take in in such a short amount of time and the party decided they needed to talk amongst themselves. Zord got up to go, leaving the room to the party, but they decided it would be better if they went, and talked amongst themselves in the rowboat they’d taken to the ship, in order to ensure more privacy. Zord laughed and said they’d only make themselves cold, but allowed for their paranoia. Once settled into the rowboat they began to go over what they’d just learned and debate what course of action they should take.

Veldrin confirmed for the party that they were not, in fact, dealing with the human Captain, Zardoz Zord, but rather with the drow mercenary leader Jarlaxle Baenre, the head of the infamous Bregan D’aerthe. Grick was convinced that such a figure was obviously evil, but Veldrin persuaded him that his intentions were not always so clear. While he sometimes acted outside of the law, he was not so easily pinned down and often worked for the sake of good, but he always acted with his own agenda.

Veldrin said that while they didn’t know his full intentions, he trusted that Jarlaxle was telling the truth and that the stone would probably best be placed with him. Manshoon was on the loose somewhere, and with other unknown powers were also seeking it, it would best be out of their hands. Footsteps tended to agreement - they’d already learned what they needed from the stone, and as Zord/Jarlaxle had brought up, how would they even transport the gold were they to find it? Better that someone with the resources to protect it be given the helm. Hamidal had it in mind that Jarlaxle himself might be the ‘enemy of the city’ that the Stone had spoken of, but not he was unsure. He was wary of giving the Stone up to Jarlaxle, or anyone, but was undecided on what the best course of action would be. Aradaine suggested that Dagult Neverember himself might be the enemy, as he was ousted from the city and had obviously embezzled from it, and that his son Renaer might himself be the key they were seeking.

The party realized they had no master plan from here - they’d just been following threads along the way and weren’t quite sure of where they should go next. They all agreed that Jarlaxle’s plan of giving the gold back to the city was the best course of action, but Aradaine worried that perhaps Jarlaxle was just telling them what they wanted to hear and wouldn’t honor his side of the bargain when the time came. Veldrin noted that he believed Jarlaxle was truthful about that part and that he probably had some other ulterior motive for returning it, such as currying favor with the Open Lord. Grick against suggested they take the Stone to some authority - perhaps even the Masked Lord they had spoken with, but the others were paranoid about that, saying that if such a power wanted them out of the picture they could easily have them imprisoned or killed if they wished, and any attempts to contact the Open Lord herself, or some other Lord of the city could easily lead them into the hands of some spies or other nefarious agents that had infiltrated them.

Grick didn’t like the idea of subterfuge - it only led to them being ensared in a net of even more subterfuge. He was for being open and transparent about their operations. Hamidal again warned that that could lead to their downfall should someone wish to silence them. He suggested perhaps delaying giving the Stone to Jarlaxle, giving them more time to debate their options, but Veldrin was for making a decision right there rather than delaying and putting themselves in more danger. The party all opted for giving it to Jarlaxle, but the majority wanted to question him on his motives first. They determined that they would not mention that they had the stone, but would ask Jarlaxle to agree to Grick casting his Zone of Truth so they could try to ascertain if his motives were in fact pure before they would agree to anything.

The party climbed back up the Rope of Listening to reboard the ship, Veldrin becoming human again as he came on deck, and went back to the dining room. Grick asks Jarlaxle if he would submit to a Zone of Truth so they could feel more comfortable with his motives. Jarlaxle agrees to this parley and tells Grick to ask his questions. After satisfying themselves on his motives, that he did indeed intend to return the gold to Laerel Silverhand. The Zone active, Veldrin used the opportunity to question Footsteps’ feelings towards Hamidal, and the party soon devolved into probing their inter-party politics. Jarlaxle laughed at this and admitted he had some of his own truths to reveal. He said that they were being sought by Captain Hyustus Staget of the City Watch in regards to a debt they owed to a Masked Lord. The party wasn’t sure they owed a debt to any Lord, but Jarlaxle assured them that the Lord did not see things that way.

After some consideration, they handed the stone over to Jarlaxle, figuring it safer in his hands than their own. He told them he’d give them the gold he’d promised for its delivery, but that they’d best deal with Staget and whatever it was the Lord wanted so that they could continue with their work on finding the treasure. He said it would probably keep them occupied for some time, but that laying low would probably be best for them, as it would keep them from the eyes of certain nefarious actors as well as giving Jarlaxle more time to find the information they’d need. He told them that he would give them the gold he’d promised for the stone - but that if they had the chance to spend it, they should.

Jarlaxle told them he did have some help for them - while cryptic, he told them they could look for his spy, Nar’l Xibrindas, when they got to where they were going. He also gave them 5 magic amulets that would prevent them from being noticed by divination magic. He warned them not to wear the amulets until after they’d entered the gates of their destination so as not to set off any alarms prematurely, and to be very careful about using such magic as their absence from view could be just as damning as their presence should they be caught using them in the wrong place. He refused to give any more details, however, and deferred to Staget on that. He made it known that for all of their distrust of him, he was in fact doing them a favor here, but didn’t want to further involve himself during such a crucial period, as he was still trying to fly below the radar. He did admit that the Open Lord was aware of his presence, although she didn’t have faith that he’d complete his mission.

The party felt satisfied that they’d learned all they could from Jarlaxle for the time being, so they boarded the rowboat to head back to the docks. Once there, conveniently enough, Staget and a number of guard were waiting on the piers. It was almost as if he knew exactly where and when to look for them… Grick was the first to climb up to the pier, loudly greeting Staget. This gave Veldrin time to jump from the boat to stealthily cling to the underside of the docks, hiding himself from view. Footsteps used his hat of disguise to play himself off as a dirty, old streewalker who loudly harassed Grick as he spoke with Staget (“once you’ve had gnome you can’t go home”).

Staget said that he had a mission for them - or rather, he was acting as messenger for a number of powerful bodies who had decided they were the ones to carry out this mission. On their agreement not to fight or flee, Staget called off most of his guards and led the (now dimished) party to the Ship’s Prow. Footsteps disguised himself as a commoner and snuck in to sit at a nearby table where he could eavesdrop, while Veldrin followed along the rooftops to watch from afar. Staget told them to drink up their ales, as some powerful interests, including the Harpers by way of Mirt the Moneylender, had determined that they needed to make a strike against the Xanathar Guild. He had no details, being nothing but an errand boy for his superiors in this matter, but he was instructed to guide them to Shava, a Harper spy, who they would find on a specific pier by the waterfront.

After his briefing on the situation he quickly led the team out to an avenue and pointed them towards Shava. Shava was a half-orc female dressed as a sailor who stood surveilling the pier. Grick approached her to tell her of his mission to help her, where she shushed him and told the team of their immediate mission. She had been working undercover to insinuate herself into the local gangs and was currently working for the Xanathar’s Guild. She pointed out some dockworkers who were seemingly loading boxes much like many other sailors on the docks, but the destination for these boxes was not a ship or cart, but rather a sewer entrance. The Guild members were transporting contraband by way of the sewers. Shava was helping to make sure this operation went off smoothly, and the party’s cover was that they are all muscle hired by Shava to keep the Watch from interfering. She warned the party that they had better follow her lead and not mess up her large investment of time in getting in good with these people by blowing her cover. She also said they should try their best not to kill anyone. Staget had said he would overlook any minor crimes the party had to commit in helping Shava, but his oversight had limits.

Before the party had much chance to ask Shava anything, they heard the shrill whistle of the Watch - a patrol was headed their way, shouting for the Guild members to stop what they were doing…

photo: rachel doyle