First session Report
General Summary
The group is all at the Yawning Portal at once. They witness Yagra, a Zhentarim, getting assaulted by five Xanathar guild members, but do not intervene. Durnan sends the Xanathar off and some of the group berate Yagra for going in 5-to-1 with no plan.
To lighten the mood a dragonborn "dips" down the well in the Yawning Portal and returns 7 minutes later. Followed behind is a troll and a dozen stirges, three of whom attack. Durnan deals with the troll while the group deals with the three stirges. Despite some very sad attempts at combat, they manage to defeat two stirges and drop one back down the well. Durnan also dispatches the troll down the well.
Volothamp "Volo" Geddarm witnesses their actions and realizes one of them is Tala. He had been looking for Tala to help him find his missing friend, Floon Blaagmar, and insists that the five go together. He gives them each 10 gp and promises a special reward after they find Floon. Durnan fires Torrin, who had been working as a barkeep. Floon had been drinking with Volo at the Skewered Dragon the previous night.
The group heads to the Skewered Dragon, witnessing two Zhentarim who have been apprehended by the city watch and six Zhentarim and Xanathar members who were killed in a skirmish. They enter the Skewered Dragon and discover from the barkeep, Berca, that after Volo left Floon was joined by Renaer Neverember, the son of the previous Open Lord, Dagult Neverember. Renaer and Floon had left and been trailed by three Zhentarim. The team convinces the guards to let them question the captured Zhentarim and through bribery and trickery discover there is a Zhent warehouse on Candle Lane where Floon and Renaer were taken.
At the warehouse, the team debates what to do. Tala sends their familiar, Tisk, into the warehouse and discovers three kenku who had been hiding in wait. Vaeris enters the warehouse and is almost immediately shot and knocked unconscious due to blood loss and shock. Torrin attempts to surrender, and he and Nerali are ordered to take Vaeris’ body upstairs. Luckily, Renaer reveals he had been hiding in the closet beneath the stairs and attacks one of the kenku, which Youte manages to down. Tala thinks on their feet and uses minor illusion to make it sound as if a city watch patrol is about to enter the building, causing the kenku to flee through a window on the second floor. The group loots the building after the fight, finding some treasure and a paper bird — a magical item that will deliver itself to its intended recipient.
Renaer reveals he had been captured with Floon because the Zhentarim (and other powerful players in Waterdeep) believe he knows the whereabouts of whatever his father stole before being deposed three years prior. While he did not know anything, the Zhent did break a locket he had from his mother, which contained a green orb. Renaer says he was not aware the locket contained anything. The Xanathar Guild had raided the hideout a few hours before the party showed up, and Renaer had managed to sneak to the closet in the chaos, but the Xanathar had killed the Zhentarim, captured Floon and the stone, and left the kenku behind as guards.
The city watch does actually arrive shortly after and asks (to Renaer’s chagrin) if they will find Floon, as they do not have the resources to go right away and Renaer is in no position to help. They reveal the Xanathar Guild has many hideouts throughout the sewers, though they do not know the precise location of any of them.
The group bickers about if this is worth it before deciding they want to continue on. Youte has the idea to send the paper bird to Floon, and the group sprints to follow the bird, leading to a door in the sewer after 15 minutes of running. Guarding the door is a creature that looks like a beholder, which flees when it sees them.
The group has learned their lessons and enters the new room stealthily. Tisk scouts ahead and finds the hideout deserted from what it can see, though it does find a strange smell down a hall that leads south of the main room. The two also find two arrow-slits with goblins sleeping on the other side of them and sneak past them. They eventually reach a room containing Floon, and orc stepping on Floon, and a mind flayer who has the green orb that had been in Renaer’s locket. The mind flayer leaves and the orc attacks the team. The team does pretty sadly but, again, Tala uses an illusion of a giant slime to trick the orc, who runs away, threatening the team with siccing the mind flayer on them. Floon doesn’t have more information besides knowing the Xanathar Guild had thought he was Renaer, which is why he was captured (and maybe why he was alive).
The team returns the Yawning Portal. As a reward for their service, Volo provides them with a deed to Trollskull Manor.
Zendari Brightglen
Chaotic Neutral Eladrin (Clan Crafter)
Artificer 1
Artificer 1
11 / 11 HP
STR
10
10
DEX
13
13
CON
16
16
INT
16
16
WIS
12
12
CHA
8
8
Dezrionus Wayfire
Tala Amberdell
Neutral Half-Elf (Urban Bounty Hunter)
Wizard 4
Wizard 4
14 / 14 HP
STR
10
10
DEX
13
13
CON
8
8
INT
16
16
WIS
14
14
CHA
15
15
Nerali Hyden
Chaotic Neutral Tiefling (Far Traveler)
Bard 2
Bard 2
15 / 15 HP
STR
10
10
DEX
14
14
CON
13
13
INT
9
9
WIS
12
12
CHA
17
17
Youte Haire
Chaotic-Good Human (Criminal)
Rogue 2
Rogue 2
17 / 17 HP
STR
11
11
DEX
15
15
CON
14
14
INT
13
13
WIS
9
9
CHA
16
16
Report Date
07 Sep 2024
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