Session 3: Finding Floon

General Summary

The adventurers meet back up at the Yawning Portal. Deciding to start where Volo said he last saw Floon the head quickly down to the Dock Ward to the Skewered Dragon. As the adventurers reach the dock ward the are about to make a turn onto Fillet lane near the tavern when you see part of the street has been cordoned off by the City Watch. Lying on the cobblestones are a half dozen corpses, seemingly victims of some terrible skirmish. Watch officers have disarmed and arrested three blood drenched humans and are in the midst of questioning witnesses. One of the officers sees the adventurers "Get on" she says "Nothing to see here."   Tall densely packed tenements leave most of the neighborhood in shadow at ground level. Most of the street lamps have had their glass smashed. Their candles stolen, and the air smells of salt and excrement that lingers as you pass by rows of run down buildings.   As the adventurers pass the corner of Zastrow Street a shop with a particular window display catches your eye. It has a deep purple facade, and in its window hangs a stuffed beholder. Above the door hangs a sign whose elaborate letters spell out "Old Xoblob Shop"   An odd sense of strangeness emits from this shop. As you enter a cloud of lavender-scented purple smoke trails out of the shop's door as you peer inside. Every wall is painted purple, and every dusty knick knack on the shelves is dyed deep violet. The hairless old gnome sitting cross legged on the counter wears plum colored robes. His cheeks are decorated with nine purple face painted eyes.   The gnome lowers a pipe and exhales a cloud of lavender smoke before raising a hand. "Hail and well met! Come browse the shelves of the most curious curiosity shop in the world!"   The adventurers browse through the shop asking questions of the old gnome as casually as possible. Aden insists on purchasing the stuffed beholder in the window convinced it is some sort of spying mechanism of Xanathars Guild.   The gnome doesn't recognize Floon by name but does recognize his description. He is reluctant to give the adventurers I formation at first but the adventurers bribe him with multiple purchases from his shop. He finally tells them that Floon a well dressed fellow of similar appearance and bearing were jumped outside the shop by rough looking men in black leather armor, but none of them looked familiar. One of them had a black tattoo of a winged snake on his neck.   The adventurers then head to the Skewered Dragon it's not far from the Old Xoblob Shop. The Skewered Dragon looks like a ruin. Both of its forward facing windows are smashed, and a ships anchor is lodged in its roof. Through its window you can see a group of haggard patrons drinking from huge tankards. The patrons are not eager to talk to strangers. Feng eventually is able to bribe the tavernkeeper Solomil Silverfingers into giving him information. He tells them that several of the regulars remember seeing Volo and Floon drinking together a couple of nights ago. After Volo left, Floon stuck around long enough to meet another friend: Reanar Neverember, the son of Waterdeeps previous Open Lord, Dagult Neverember. "Chip off the old block, that one!" Sneers the innkeeper. "Just another spoiled rich noble who likes to run our noses in it" says a patron.   The two drank a couple rounds and played a few rounds of Dragon Ante before leaving around midnight. Five men followed them out, he doesn't know what happened after that. The men who followed them out haven't been back to the bar, but with some furthur questions the adventurers are told that they frequent a warehouse on Candle Lane "Look for the snake symbol on the door" one of the tavern regulars tells them.   Even though it is getting late the adventurers press on eager to follow the trail and finish the task set before them. Candle Lane isn't far from the Skewered Dragon. Gloom envelops a narrow dark alley as dark as a dungeon - and as odorous as one too. Nearly all the streetlights have been smashed. The only light that pierces the darkness is a faint flickering from down the lane, like a distant candle.   The warehouse described to the adventurers is accross the street from the streetlamp which clearly illuminates a black winged snake painted above the doors handle. The building on Candle Lane is a two story warehouse. It stands in the back of an outer yard behind a high fence. The gate on the fence isn't locked.   The adventurers approach the door cautiously and try the handle, Locked! Aden is able to unlock the door. Inside the main room tables and chairs have been carelessly tossed across the floor. The corpses of a dozen men lie along the walls, their rapiers and daggers lying nearby. On the north side of the area, stairs rise to an open level above.   Four short, avian creatures with long beaks and black feathers look over in surprise from where they stand in the middle of the warehouse. Each wears a hooded cloak and wields a shortsword. Following the escape of the remaining kenku the adventurers find a circular metal cover insert in the pavement. Lifting the metal cover they reveal a ladder down into the sewers. The adventurers decide to head down in search of Floon. The putrid stream flows along this tunnel, which leads in two directions. In one direction, you see a tiny symbol drawn on the wall in yellow chalk: a palm sized circle with ten equidistant spokes radiating out from it circumference.     After an hour of following signs through the tunnels, they came to a three way intersection where a ladder leads up into a stone shaft capped by a circular metal cover. One of the familiar chalk symbols is marked on the wall nearby, and floating near the symbol is a spherical, grapefruit sized creature with a bulging central eye and four stumpy eyestalks. It bears its teeth at the adventurers and attacks. The adventurers make quick work of the strange creature.     The main sewer tunnel expanded out into a circular hub and the adventurers take two goblins by surprise! The goblins shoot at the group with bows but are no match for the adventurers. Continuing to search the Detalosi found a door set into the back wall of the stone ledge to the west. Moving into the secret hideout they find goblin sleeping quarters and they again see the same human they had seen fighting the half orc at the yawning portal. Krentz tried to negotiate with the adventurers to get them to leave but when they refuse he calls for help and he and a duergar fight to the death to defend the hide out.     Moving through the hideout the adventurers then came to a room with threadbare curtains hanging on the east wall of the long hall, in the middle of which a muscular half-orc in dingy robes stood with his foot on the chest of a male human with wavy red-blond hair. Fire burned around the orc’s clenched fist, as his victim cried and squirmed helplessly beneath him.     Seated on a raised platform to the south is a nightmarish figure that wore black robes. It had a large white eyes and rubbery purple skin, four tentacles encircling its inhuman mouth. It cradled and gently caressed what looked to be a disembodied brain with feet. The adventurers seeing Floon in dire need jump to the rescue! Once the adventurers attack the strange looking creature releases the disembodied brain looking creature and heads to the stone pillar carved with a small symbol: a perfect circle with ten equidistant spokes radiating outward from its circumference. In the middle of this circle is a smaller circular indentation that bears a passing resemblance to a lidless eye. It pressed a stone to the indentation and a doorway opens and the creature disappears. The adventurers fight the Half-orc and the strange creature and eventually are able to kill them and rescue Floon.     Shortly after finding Renear, a captain of the city watch named Hyustus Staget leads dozens of guards to the warehouse after receiving reports of suspicious activity at the warehouse. No one is able to leave while the Watch is investigating the scene. It doesn’t take them long for the city watch to determine that the dead men are members of the Zhentarim and the Xanathar guild. Captain Staget is an uptight man who is charged with keeping the peace in the dock ward. While most in the dock ward respect him, regardless of how they feel about the watch. Staget had been having the warehouse under surveillance until the unrest had picked up and had elected to bolster patrols. Renear helps convince the captain that the adventurers had the best of intentions and any crimes they had committed while they searched for him would be overlooked.     Bruised and battered the adventurers returned to the Yawning Portal. There they find Volo and let him know that they have successfully found Floon. Volo was very happy at the news and gladly rewards the adventurers. Volo tells them “ I confess that I have few coins to spare. But never let it be said that Volo reneges on a promise. Allow me to present something much more valuable.” He held up a scroll tube. “ the deed to a remarkable property here in Waterdeep! We’ll need a magistrate to witness the transfer of ownership. I’ll arrange a meeting with one after you’ve inspected the estate and deemed it satisfactory.”