6. The Creepy Place

The Creepy Place at Trollskull Manor (where all the bodies know your true name).

Encounters

Summary

After receiving an invitation to the opera, The Fall of Tiamat, and a montage of an uncomfortable looking cat in various fancy suits, the party visited Mirt in his private box at Lightsinger Theater during intermission. Mirt asked the party to find a talking horse - a spy for certain powerful figures in the city working on the side of peace and order. He delivered a pin in the shape of a crescent moon and harp - a seal of the Harpers, as an identifying mark.

Footsteps, impatient to get out of the itchy clothes, left the opera to ascertain the location of this talking horse. Once the rest of the party caught up, they rode the dray to the end of its line and questioned the horse as she… walked home alone. The horse saw two passengers that she suspects are Zhent agents, and dropped them off at the Yawning Portal. Once matched the description of Yagra Stonefist - the half-orc woman many in the party helped rescue from some unsavory Xanathar thugs.

Without further word from Mirt or his envoys, the party decided to investigate on their own, speaking with Yagra at the Yawning Portal, who took them to meet her boss, Davil Starsong. Davil knows about the war between the Zhentarim and the Xanathar Guild, but told the party that the Zhentarim themselves are actually split within as well. There is a gang within the Zhentarim of Waterdeep that wish to try to take over the Xanathar Guild, but they are themselves outsiders in the organization. Unfortunately, their actions have spilled over to harm the legitimate business of the Zhentarim, and muddy their names.

Davil tells the party that the Zhents often take care of things that slip through the cracks of the City Watch - and urges the party to look into a series of murders taking place down in the Dock Ward of elf and half-elf sailors. Being transients, and non-humans, the Watch has mostly turned a blind eye to the murders, seeing them as business as usual for unsavory types in the Docks. But the locals know something isn’t right - and have asked the Zhents to look into it.

Upon investigation, the party finds that a local bar, Muleskull Tavern, seems to be the source of all of the victims, so they stake out a half-elf sailor who spends the day there tying one on. Once he finally leaves, the party interrupts him being ambushed by a drow. With a well-placed spell and some handy rope, the party disarms the lone would-be assassin, turning him over to Davil and Yagra instead of the Watch, knowing that his fate either way is probably death. Before letting him go, the party is sure to strip him of his pistol as well as his fancy drow boots.

Back at The Creepy Place at Trollskull Manor, the party was visited by Remallia Haventree, a member of the Council of Waterdeep, who identifies herself as a Harper and asks for a report on the Zhent agents, as well as offering some advice on opening the bar for business. The party is circumspect and doesn’t inform her of the split in the Zhentarim, or their dealings with the agents they found at the Yawning Portal. Remallia told the party that she might be able to connect them with some investors who would be willing to front a loan to the party to help get their business back on its feet.

While going about his business, Aradaine was approached by a gentleman named Jalester Silvermane who said he represented the Lords’ Alliance. He said he had some work for the party if they were truly interested in helping out the city. The gang war on the streets as of late has required the Alliance to promise protection to members of the Dungsweepers’ Guild, but they have a hole in their schedule that they ask the party to fill. It’s not a glamorous job, but a vital one. They’ve been told to meet Morton at the Muleskull Tavern, which doubles as their Guildhall to see about work.

Footsteps decided to buy himself a bow, and while navigating the market found a new friend in the form of a white male cat. While scratching the cat’s chin, it said in a human voice, “Join the Emerald Enclave! Come meet us at Phaulkonmere in the Southern Ward,” before running off.

Grick, while making a tour of local temples, bumped into a human female knight of Tyr named Savra Belabranta. She invited Grick to join an organization she called the Order of the Gauntlet - sworn defenders of good who find and destroy evil in all its forms. The swearing in ceremony takes place at the Halls of Justice in the Temple of Tyr (West of Market in Castle Ward).

Over the next few days, the manor was visited by a number of people asking about the tavern, asking to take a look around to see what work my be required to reopen it. Many said they had been sent at the request of Remalia Haventree. After all of this, she had a courier deliver an estimate of the work required and who would be responible for which tasks:

Costs To Repair Trollskull Manor