Look Me in the Eyes When You Fondle That Goose

I never realized how much fun I'd have with gambling.
 
The lights, the sounds, the smells, even the people are exciting here. Jean-Guy and I have been playing card games and I've won tons of these Goose Coins. Then I see Zug on the flying carpet. Out the window. Dangling a screaming riverboat captain by a leg as he is taken higher and higher into the sky. Mouth agape I stare in sublime awe as our companion has clearly abducted the owner of the casino boat. I distract Pao Ming, the manager we have been gambling with, to give Zug some time to ascend further into the sky. Innes eventually stumbles down from the top deck and feints fright and dismay and inform the manager about the sudden capture of the captain. Looking stern, Pao Ming searches the boat and soon later we are ordered up to the 2nd floor the Lord Dryland's room (the captured captain).
 
This interrogation isn't going well. Innes is trying to bluff her way through what was happening and then Pao Ming cast a spell. She was staring intently and I realized that I needed to do something to shake things up.
 
"See here!" I say to everyone in the room, "let us review the evidence." I walk about the room looking at the scene of the crime. "So the alleged half-orc crashed through the wall here," pointing at the debris, "Then past through this hall here," as I walk out onto the deck. "Then, they flew into the sky through here," and I jump through the window diving into the lazy river below. Innes and Jean-Guy follow my lead and dive through the window following me through the river. The boat continues on it's journey, Pao Ming and her guards stare jaw agape at our brazen escape.
 
We meet up with Zug who now has a very dead, melted face, Lord Dryland. Zug says she didn't do it, but something possessed him and cursed him to death. There were some odd things on his body, keeping whatever belongings worth taking, we dump the remains. Shunty Rivets did us justice by the way. He created some kind of lotus flower, clockwork contraption, and it opens up producing some kind of flashy globe that's pulsing strange but compelling phat beats. It's an out of body experience. Suddenly there's a smash and Jean-Guy is thrashing this beautiful machine. How long have I been staring at this? Nevermind we need to get out of town. Gathering our things and heading to the Harper's portal as our next destination is the Trackless Sea. We decide to go to Waterdeep, however it is tempting to head to Neverwinter to catch a ship; I still have unfinished business there.
 
Zug hands me a bonbon. It's caramel.
 
Although I'm not a fan of the idea, we are heading in search to find members of the Zantarim. Naturally we head to the most notorious and famous tavern in Waterdeep; the Yawning Portal. After waiting till dawn to head out into the city. It is a 3 story, massive tavern, and I finally have a chance to see the famous portal itself; a massive well leading straight to the underdark. The food here is surprisingly half decent. Don't get me wrong, for arguably the most famous tavern on the coast, you'd expect the food to be exceptionally good, or regrettably terrible; this is not the case though. The food is above average; not great, not terrible, not average. Above average. It's the strangest degree of taste for a tavern to have. Anyway, Zug went down the Yawning Portal before and mentions there are dozens of levels to explore below. That's interesting.
 
Innes and Zug are butting heads a little. With immense wisdom, Innes has stepped aside to let Zug handle the negotiations. Shockingly, Zug manages to get us a meeting with a person named Davil who looks a lot like the actor Fobey Maguisir who was the lead actor in a series of three plays starting the lead character "Sir Arachnid". The third play was a little weird.. I hear the director didn't really want to make this one and went a little wild with the script. Regardless, Davil is really acting slimy. We discuss that we are looking for a specific person, our "assassin" friend Phoenix, and he's agreed to find her for us for a price. 325 Gold pieces promised and a handshake later we make a deal with the Davil and make plans at our next steps.