Drow vs. Zhents vs. Eyes vs Guards vs Eyes. Fight! (City of Splendors #11)

Zloton,
 
Flynn went to talk to his mother about the Vaulting Ambition perfume yesterday evening and he learned some interesting things.
 
Flynn’s mother knows the Gralhunds. Orand and Yalla Gralhund have 3 children. They live in North Ward. Yalla talks about becoming a masked lord, and has been vying for years. His mother thinks she's entitled and talks too much about herself. I certainly know the feeling. I’ve had customers like that.
 
…
 
Grisby returned this morning, waking Ristrien up.
 
He had hitched a ride on the hired carriage that Urstul Floxin, right side of his face still smoldering, had left on. It had led him down to Yellow Spire in Turnback Court in Castle Ward. So that's a lead.
 
Renear came by, and we went by the Dripping Dagger Inn which had been where Dalakar was staying. They serve excellent jam and waffles.
 
Dalakar's inn room on the other hand was scrubbed clean and there was ash in the room's oil lamp which appeared to be burned paper of Renears correspondence with him.
 
We didn't have to be confused over who did it. Laying on his pillow was a Xanathar Eye death mark.
 
This evening, Pete said he watched Yellow Spire all night. Less than half a dozen young men came in and out for meals. And there were no markers or sewer traffic.
 
I baked the Watch some lemon and lavender cookies to the delight of Barnabus Blastwind.
 
Ristrien and Nettie talked to him and through watchful order membership camaraderie, we learned that mercenaries connected to the Zhentarim had been chasing Dalakar. The gnome had known (he had his dagger drawn), but neither he nor his attackers saw the fire blast coming.
 
Which meant the Zhentarim are not connected to the fireball. The Gralhunds must be in league with someone else. The Xanathar perhaps?
 
In exchange for this information, we told the watch that the circus has nimblewright. It's not the right one of course, but no doubt they’ll figure that out in their own time.
 
 
 
Zloton,
 
Pete is precious. Example: he said of our establishment, "we're a fancy place! We cook it. We serve it warm!"
 
But that’s a random aside.
 
We needed to investigate the Gralhunds. If they directed the nimblewright than they caused a massacre.
 
And almost set fire to my restaurant.
 
We decided to snoop, as I once did to you, all those years ago. Let us hope it goes better for me than that time.
 
...
 
Vendors crowd the streets during the day and servants go home at sunset. Grisby and Baron just snuck into the Gralhund estate through a carriage
 
We’re waiting at a tavern nearby called A Maiden's Tears. I cataloged each flavor, but everyone was tense, a fear of death in the air.
 
A rat appeared on Ristrien's shoulder, whispering word from Pete's observation. Ristrien resoundingly said, "Never do that again,” but it bore interesting information.
 
As I write, there are 2 Figures on adjacent houses casing the estate.
 
There are also little beholder gazer guys on the neighbor's roof on the other side of the manor.
 
There are ALSO people in adjacent houses looking at it.
 
Three different groups are watching from three sides, and then there is us.
 
Splendid.
 
Ristrien just came out of a catatonic state. Apparently, Grisby just snuck past a mastiff to reach a 40 ft wide balcony that's attached to the master bedroom. There's an elegant lady going in and out of it.
 
While that’s happening, Pete reports Baron went to the building full of watchers who are clearly squatting in a building while the owners are out. They noticed the Baron, but because he's a *rat*, they ignored him.
 
Okay the Baron just went back into the mansion through the kitchen. He can see signs of fighting and blood. The cook and butler are dead, and Pete can hear the fight coming from deeper in the house.
 
Baron glanced in the guard's barrack. The guards clearly left in a hurry. Grisby can see the lady and two children and a big guy barring themselves in the master bedroom as we speak.
 
Pete says he's going through the open kitchen door. We're going to rush to join him before he gets himself killed.
 
I insisted that I would settle the bill, so I came slightly late, but I got there just in time to see everyone fighting incorporeal midnight black mastiffs and a ghostly groundskeeper.
 
I announced my presence with a missed ray of frost. As I had inspired them on what *not* to do, Ristrien’s spectral book and Nettie’s sling were far more successful.
 
One dog bit Nettie and the other tried to bite Flynn.
 
Groundskeepers are not known for lugging around a sword, but this one did. It swung at Ristrien's head.
 
I shot 3 magic missiles, one killed a dog and the other 2 hit the groundskeeper. My sudden success must have disrupted the balance of the universe because Nettie's rapier missed, Ristrien missed, the remaining dog missed Nettie, and the groundskeeper missed Ristrien.
 
Pete and Flynn had better success, and soon the groundskeeper dissipated.
 
My frost blast hit the final dog. Unlike magic missile, I actually had to aim and again my success was followed by Nettie and Ristrien missing.
 
The dog attacked Nettie, but Flynn protected her with his strange force magic.
 
Pete struck the final dog, Flynn missed it, and my ice just grazed it. Naturally, Ristrien finished the dog off.
 
Ristrien and Pete heard a boom
 
Ristrien recognized it as something called smoke powder. It comes from Lantan and is *very* illegal in Waterdeep.
 
Grisby was on the roof. He could see combat in master bedroom and the Baron knew combat was still going on inside on the stairs leading up.
 
We decided to skip it all. Flynn moved Nettie up to the Master bedroom balcony with his force powers and she tied rope down for everyone else.
 
Pete decided to skip the rope and climb the ivy. Even Grisby was impressed
 
The next minute was chaos, bandoliers, smoking bombs, for we weren't the only ones that had infiltrated the master bedroom. Lady Gralhund had barricaded herself in what I guess was her closet?
 
A half orc gralhund guard was there, but just as soon as I had seen him, he fell to the rapier of a thin five foot tall hooded figure with white hair and just like that, a dashing drow stood before us.
 
Ristrien switched to undercommon to say, "Are you zhents or the guild?"
 
"Neither, my lady," he said in the same tongue.
 
"Good," I piped up in undercommon and you should have seen his look of surprise that I, a creature he had scarcely seen before could speak it.
 
There was something comical in the conversation that followed. It became clear to both us and the drow that neither of us knew precisely what item we all were fighting over. I could almost say we bonded over our mutual ignorance. There was an honor to this drow that struck me.
 
Flynn announced his name and he gave his in return: Fel'Rekt formerly of house Lafeen.
He very politely, while Zhents, Gralhunds and Xanathar men were fighting just beyond the room, offered to duel Flynn one on one for it. There was honesty in the offer that shook me.
 
Nettie stood up very straight. “Why not me?” she demanded.
 
He replied that he "knew better than to challenge a woman" or something like that so smoothly that Nettie’s annoyance vanished. The exact wording escapes me, but coming from a drow, it holds extra weight.
 
Still we hesitated, which led to this lovely exchange between them and Pete. “Our mistrust has nothing to do with the color of your skin”
 
“Likewise.”
 
Pete proudly told them that "we represent the Deep," which seemed to stay the drow’s hand.
 
Then he changed his terms. He told us that he was willing to let us take the item, whatever it was, if he took some incriminating letters of the Gralhunds that some of our associates would want.
 
We agreed.
 
They held Lord Orun Gralhund hostage. He was a bundle of shouts. ”Drow in my house!” and "Unhand me!" and so on.
 
The lady was still hiding in the locked closet. "Abraz! Abraz! Is that you?" you could hear her call, but the drow had expended their patience.
 
"My lady, Open the door or I’ll kill—”
 
A small voice piped up behind everyone. “Can I just pick the lock?” Nettie got the door open without the lady’s assistance.
 
"You can live,” they told her 'graciously.'
 
Through all that, eventually Flynn and then Nettie got their hands on what the Zentarim and Xanathar are apparently fighting over.
 
The item was a stone of some kind. It looked more like a potato than something to blow up a city street for.
 
My restaurant was almost blown up over something that looks like a potato. I’d be madder if my last one hadn’t been destroyed in an even dumber way.
 
The drow took the papers that are apparently important and as promised, Fel'Rekt gave the stone to Flynn who gave it to Nettie. With that transaction complete, we escaped from the roof. I could hear the city watch coming just beyond the wall and it would be terribly awkward if we were caught.
 
Everything was a blur of panic. We were on the top of the wall or maybe it was still the room. The point is we were almost out when one of those floating eye creatures blocked our path.
 
Flynn threw a knife at it with supernatural force, but missed. Nettie fired her sling, but was pulled off the roof by the eye's force.
 
She threw the potato to Pete, but it slipped though his fingers and instead hit the roof, rolling away. Ristrien, in a display of arcane mastery I could only dream of, teleported to the potato and grabbed it. She whacked the eye with a spectral stamp for good measure.
 
Flynn threw a second knife and this time, it hit, causing the whole eye to pop.
 
We all hopped down from the roof right before the watch would have seen.
 
We intentionally got lost in the city, hiding from eyes and *Eyes*. Ha! I'll leave you on that joke, our cab is slowing.