Chaos in Mantol-Derith S02E05 Report
General Summary
As the the day begins and the heroes are gathered around the breakfast table, one of the Zhentarim thugs, Granor, approaches. He's been vocal with the others and its easy to assume that he has charge over some of them under other circumstances.
He informs the heroes that he will be leading them into the city and gives them a quick rundown of what they should know:
Peebles is still in hiding and Richter grabs him so he won't escape and separates him from his bag. Confused and afraid, Peebles says that he would have gladly let him look in his bag had they asked. Seaching the bag, they find a pair of sharpened flint knives, a spool of thread made from some sort of gut, a thin needle, barrelstalk flesh, a a canteen with water. Unsatisfied, they dump the contents and turn the bag inside out to make sure there is no hidden compartments. As Peebles begins to collect his things, the embarrassed party apologizes. Peebles, knowing the protection they can offer, accepts the apology and agains requests their protection. They accept and ask him to introduce them to the deep gnome leaders. Peebles doesn't know them well, but takes them past the gnome fungus garden and to the warehouse of the Svirfneblin. As they cross the garden they see that more than a dozen of the deep gnome have lost their lives as have a couple of duegar. Inside the warehouse are approximately 2 dozen terrified gnomes. The heroes talk to the leader, hearing their side of what has happened with the gem. They do not know where Flink has gone but they too are willing to work toward peace and hope that Yantha can return home. It's possible that Flink went to trade the gem for a spell component from the drow. As the party leaves, they talk about who to visit next, the Drow or the Zhentarim. They order their spies to search for Flink. One should reach the drow area, one the Zhentarim area and one should remain on this side of the trench looking for him. The others will go with the heroes as they talk to the Zhentarim. As they work their way past the eastern market, the spy who was searching the Drow area catches up with them. He believes he has found Flink sitting under a large mushroom near the drow warehouse. Mr. Garrick rewards the spies with a silver and they all change course to talk to Flink. Following the path, they pass by a male drow sitting on a bench who gets up and begins following them. Gunther realizes that the man, while not harmful, does seek to rob them. He'll get closer to the party, they'll turn, letting him know he's spotted. He'll retreat just a bit, then repeat the sequence. As the party approaches the giant mushroom, Flink spots them and hurries over, hoping that they will help protect him. Flink is terrified. And he does not have the gem. As they talk to Flink and begin to work their way to the Zhentarim enclave, the drow pickpockets Richter but does a terrible job doing so. Richter grabs the wouldbe thief who returns the item. Richter threatens the man while the drow continues to attempt to pickpocket him while in his grasp. Richter tosses the man aside and the conversation with Flink continues. Flink did have the stone and was headed to the drow enclave in search of an eyelash encased in gum arabic that he could give to his master. As he approached the drow area a gargoyle swooped down and stole the gem from him. He's been watching for the gargoyle in hopes of getting the gem back. Approaching the Zhentarim enclave they immediately notice a pavilion has been set up and inside is a covered table set with wine and covered with food. Gunther immediately begins sneaking toward the tent. A few feet away from the table stand a female drow, flanked by 3 female drow guard. Presuming a meeting is about to take place, the party - save Gunther - stand back, spying on what is happening. As Gunther dashes under the table and begins to slyly remove its contents piece by piece, 7 Zhentherim make their way from the warehouse toward the meeting tent. Granor points out that the one in the center, surrounded by the 6 guards is the chief negotiator, Ghazrim DuLoc, the one with whom the characters are to make contact. He knows the way to Gravenhollow. As they near the tent, a beholder leaves the Zhentarim warehouse and begins making its way toward the tent. The Zhents do not seem alarmed and it is assumed that the beholder is with them. Richter mentions that he has no intention of fighting a beholder this day as Peebles is visibly excited by the turn of events. The zhentarim party enters the tent followed by the beholder. As the beholder crosses the threshold, one of the drow guards breaks formation, raises her crossbow and fires a direct hit on the beholder. Everyone is surprised as she readies her next shot. Before getting the shot off, the beholder fires one of its eye beams toward her, but misses, instead injuring the drow leader. This brings response from her guards. Firing again, the beholder paralyzes his original attacker as he is hit again and again by the drow guard. Gunter continues to enjoy his feast as he watches the Zhenterim guard attempt to protect their leader and be slowly drawn into the fray. Flink points skyward and informs Richter and Mr. Garrick that he is sure that the gargoyle, which is quickly depending on the tent, is the one who stole his gem. The party watches as the beholder and gargoyle begin to fight. All the while, the drow and zhentarim also trade fire. In the end, only the paralyzed drow remains - all others have fallen to their wounds. As the beholder dies, the paralyzation on the guard fails and she complies to the ground. Just as quickly, she tries to muster up the energy to rise and flee, but by then the heroes and their party have made their way to the tent and are able to restrain her with ease. Peeples immediately rushes to the beholder, pulls one of his knives and begins cutting eyestalks from the fallen beholder.
So, Mantol-Derith is a great up for making money and getting the things that people need, but there are a few things you should know: There isn’t a ‘government’ so to speak.They set off down a narrow tunnel and soon reach a T intersection with an option to continue forward or turn left. Granor, the thug turns right, toward the wall and quietly speaks a word,
There are 4 factions that work together, drow, duergar, svirfneblin, and zhentarim. Each sells their own types of good.The whole place is self policing - that’s what makes it work. Follow the rules, every thing works. Don’t and you get punished both are simple:
- Drow focus on Rare perfumes, potions, distilled beverages, alchemical products, art, exotic spices
- Duergar (dwarves) focus mostly armor and weapons. Other metal work, raw ore, gemstones
- Svirfneblin (gnomes) sell anything others don’t. Gemstones, rare minerals
- Zhentarim bring in surface items: sugar, fresh spices. You know, things that are impossible to find in the Underdark. Fine fabrics, leather, wood, as well as perfume, alcoholic beverages, confectionery, paper, and clothing.
Punishment for any of these is the same - you get wrapped in chains and tossed into the Darklake. Simple. Let me know when you're ready and we'll head in.
- Don’t steal from fellow merchants
- Don’t disguise your goods
- No use of magic during negotiations or haggling
Show spoiler
As the passage opens, they are greated by a guard that informs them that large parties are not permitted. Richter suggest an even dozen and is told to get it down to a single digit. He, Mr. Garrick, Gunther, the 3 spies, Granor and 2 other zhents enter. Bug & Alan head back with the rest to set up an outpost.
Once inside they find themselves in a 20’ wide 50’ deep trench running north to south. They can hear dripping water and the sound of a quieted city coming from above. The sides of the trench look to have sufficient handholds for climbing, if needed. In front of them is a shattered crystal platform.
As they approach the broken platform, they also see that there are four mechanical lifts for taking caravans to the city level.
Using one, they rise to see an enormous cavern with 30' high ceilings. Stone lampposts reflect off crystals embedded in the walls to light the area. To the east lies a marketplace that looks like it has closed for the day.
To the west, the side of the trench that they are on, is another marketplace - this one lies in ruin. Tables overturned, stalls collapsed and good scattered about. A booming sound of metal against stone rings out and they see 2 scirrfneblin running from an 8 foot duergar.
They choose to remain neutral allowing the trio to move off to the north. Granor lets the heroes know that things are not as they should be.
Spotting a few gemstones lying in the rubble, Richter distracts the Zhents and spies as Gunter and Mr. Garrick pick up 10 gemstones between them.
Searching around, they find a deep gnome hiding among the rubble. As they help him out, they notice that he is carrying a bag made from the hide of a quaggoth. A few quick questions and they learn that his name is Peebles and that he is visiting Mantol-Derith and is looking for aberrations, specifically beholders - he finds them fascinating. The heroes, wanting to find out what's going on, say that they will protect him, but they are headed to the Duergar stronghold to talk to them first. With the current violence that the deep dwarves have had toward his kind Peebles opts to stay hidden among the rubble.
Approaching the Duergar area, they see a fungal garden ahead surrounded by wrought iron fence. As Richter approaches, 4 invisible duergar appear around him and attack. He manages to dodge almost every blow but the party realizes that he is outnumbered and could be in trouble. Mr. Garrick, believing that Richter will be hurt either way casts fireball, centered on Richter, injuring him but killing all 4 Duegar.
Before moving closer to the fence Mr. Garrick casts disguise self to look like one of the former guards and then escorts Richter and Gunther past the fence and to the doors of the warehouse.
Approaching the warehouse, the 4 guards greet 'Mr. Garrick' who waves in return as the 3 of them pass into the warehouse.
Inside they discover that the marketplace was shutdown because a battle has broken out between the two factions. According to the duegar it started when Krimgol, a merchant, asked a Svirfnblin mage, Yantha, to appraise a gem. Yantha stole the gem claiming it was hers.
Since this violates the rule of the land, the duegar stormed the deep gnome enclave and captured Yantha. They now have her captive and are trying to find the location of the stone.
Richter talks to the dwarves leader and proposes that they allow the mage to live and his party will seek to settle the matter, find the stone, and restore peace to the city.
Reluctantly, they accept, hoping to retire business operations as soon as possible.
Having talked a little with Yantha, but getting what they believed were crazed ramblings, they decide to track down her apprentice, Flink who she said last had the stone.
Believing that Peebles was actually Flink and has the gem in his bag, they return to the marketplace.which Gunther overhears.
Peebles is still in hiding and Richter grabs him so he won't escape and separates him from his bag. Confused and afraid, Peebles says that he would have gladly let him look in his bag had they asked. Seaching the bag, they find a pair of sharpened flint knives, a spool of thread made from some sort of gut, a thin needle, barrelstalk flesh, a a canteen with water. Unsatisfied, they dump the contents and turn the bag inside out to make sure there is no hidden compartments. As Peebles begins to collect his things, the embarrassed party apologizes. Peebles, knowing the protection they can offer, accepts the apology and agains requests their protection. They accept and ask him to introduce them to the deep gnome leaders. Peebles doesn't know them well, but takes them past the gnome fungus garden and to the warehouse of the Svirfneblin. As they cross the garden they see that more than a dozen of the deep gnome have lost their lives as have a couple of duegar. Inside the warehouse are approximately 2 dozen terrified gnomes. The heroes talk to the leader, hearing their side of what has happened with the gem. They do not know where Flink has gone but they too are willing to work toward peace and hope that Yantha can return home. It's possible that Flink went to trade the gem for a spell component from the drow. As the party leaves, they talk about who to visit next, the Drow or the Zhentarim. They order their spies to search for Flink. One should reach the drow area, one the Zhentarim area and one should remain on this side of the trench looking for him. The others will go with the heroes as they talk to the Zhentarim. As they work their way past the eastern market, the spy who was searching the Drow area catches up with them. He believes he has found Flink sitting under a large mushroom near the drow warehouse. Mr. Garrick rewards the spies with a silver and they all change course to talk to Flink. Following the path, they pass by a male drow sitting on a bench who gets up and begins following them. Gunther realizes that the man, while not harmful, does seek to rob them. He'll get closer to the party, they'll turn, letting him know he's spotted. He'll retreat just a bit, then repeat the sequence. As the party approaches the giant mushroom, Flink spots them and hurries over, hoping that they will help protect him. Flink is terrified. And he does not have the gem. As they talk to Flink and begin to work their way to the Zhentarim enclave, the drow pickpockets Richter but does a terrible job doing so. Richter grabs the wouldbe thief who returns the item. Richter threatens the man while the drow continues to attempt to pickpocket him while in his grasp. Richter tosses the man aside and the conversation with Flink continues. Flink did have the stone and was headed to the drow enclave in search of an eyelash encased in gum arabic that he could give to his master. As he approached the drow area a gargoyle swooped down and stole the gem from him. He's been watching for the gargoyle in hopes of getting the gem back. Approaching the Zhentarim enclave they immediately notice a pavilion has been set up and inside is a covered table set with wine and covered with food. Gunther immediately begins sneaking toward the tent. A few feet away from the table stand a female drow, flanked by 3 female drow guard. Presuming a meeting is about to take place, the party - save Gunther - stand back, spying on what is happening. As Gunther dashes under the table and begins to slyly remove its contents piece by piece, 7 Zhentherim make their way from the warehouse toward the meeting tent. Granor points out that the one in the center, surrounded by the 6 guards is the chief negotiator, Ghazrim DuLoc, the one with whom the characters are to make contact. He knows the way to Gravenhollow. As they near the tent, a beholder leaves the Zhentarim warehouse and begins making its way toward the tent. The Zhents do not seem alarmed and it is assumed that the beholder is with them. Richter mentions that he has no intention of fighting a beholder this day as Peebles is visibly excited by the turn of events. The zhentarim party enters the tent followed by the beholder. As the beholder crosses the threshold, one of the drow guards breaks formation, raises her crossbow and fires a direct hit on the beholder. Everyone is surprised as she readies her next shot. Before getting the shot off, the beholder fires one of its eye beams toward her, but misses, instead injuring the drow leader. This brings response from her guards. Firing again, the beholder paralyzes his original attacker as he is hit again and again by the drow guard. Gunter continues to enjoy his feast as he watches the Zhenterim guard attempt to protect their leader and be slowly drawn into the fray. Flink points skyward and informs Richter and Mr. Garrick that he is sure that the gargoyle, which is quickly depending on the tent, is the one who stole his gem. The party watches as the beholder and gargoyle begin to fight. All the while, the drow and zhentarim also trade fire. In the end, only the paralyzed drow remains - all others have fallen to their wounds. As the beholder dies, the paralyzation on the guard fails and she complies to the ground. Just as quickly, she tries to muster up the energy to rise and flee, but by then the heroes and their party have made their way to the tent and are able to restrain her with ease. Peeples immediately rushes to the beholder, pulls one of his knives and begins cutting eyestalks from the fallen beholder.
Rewards Granted
10 gem stones (6 Gunther and 4 Garrick) worth 50gp each.
Character(s) interacted with
- Peebles
- Flink Thunderbonk (svirfneblin mage apprentice)
- Krimgol (duergar merchant)
- Yantha (svirfneblin mage)
- In Attendance
- Korey (Richter)
- Kevin ( Mr. Garrick)
- Carson (Gunther)
Previously when the group meet with the ?Lord's Alliance? representative, they were warned about killing drow as they had a deep cover operative. A side conversation drew our attention and we never returned to that conversation. The characters would have been given a name, so players were updated at the start of this session. Her name is Khelessa Draga and she uses magic to disguise herself. Rules update:
The DM will ask for some skill and ability checks before the session begins. These may or may not be used for the session and will not roll over to the next session. They will be used for things like perception checks where a particular character or group might do something, but it would be meta-gaming to allow the whole table to check or even know about the roll.
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