A QUIET MORNING AT TROLLSKULL MANOR
Returning to Trollskull Manor, they found the ghost Lif overseeing the unseen servant mopping the floor of the tavern.
“Welcome home,” Lif said.
“How was everything last night?” Theren asked.
“We had a good crowd,” Lif said. “Master Floon was here and inquired after Kittisoth.”
“The one with the great jawline?” Kitti asked. “Did he say what he wanted?”
“Was his wife with him?” Edana asked.
“She was not,” Lif said. “And he simply said that he regretted missing Kittisoth.”
“Gross,” Kitti said. “I do not regret it. But thank you for telling me.”
They headed upstairs and checked in with the kids. Jenks was still asleep after staying up late working at Amara’s bakery, but Nat and Squiddly both excitedly regaled them with tales of their apprenticeships from the day before.
Theren actually headed over to Amara’s and found a well-sized crowd had gathered. She was just wrapping up a croissant for Fala Lefaliir, the herbalist from farther down Trollskull Alley, as he came in.
“How are things going?” Theren asked. “Do you need anything?”
“No,” Amara declared cheerfully. “We’re having a wonderful morning! And I’ll have the order for Trollskull Manor over in the mid-afternoon.”
Fala thanked Theren for his part in making this happen. “We used to have to walk over to the far side of the High Road for a decent bakery. It’s wonderful to have one right here in the alley.” Theren spent a few minutes chatting with her about his plans to convert the alley into greenspace. The whole alley was excited about that, too.
TEAM RESEARCH
Meanwhile, Pashar and Kora headed out to research more details about the Vault. Kora suggested they go to the Font of Knowledge, a Temple of Oghma, since their queries seemed to be primarily religious in nature. They split up, with Pashar researching the Maroon Brotherhood and Kora focusing on Dumathoin.
Kora learned little she did not already know: Dumathoin was one of the first members of the Mordinsamman, the council of dwarven gods. He was known as the Keeper of the Secrets and was the patron of the shield dwarves. Locally, he had been worshipped by Clan Melairkyn, the dwarves who had first begun excavating under what was now Waterdeep. The earliest portions of Undermountain were, in fact, the Underhalls in which the Melairkyn had made their homes and wrought their mithril-craft. The age of the construction they had found beneath the Brandath Crypts certainly suggested that it was likely built by the Melairkyn.
Kora also dug into the strange association of the holy symbols of Dumathoin, Laduguer, and Ilsensine. Here, however, she found little: A few scraps of legends referred obliquely to even older legends, now lost to the earliest mists of time, that suggested that, in the first days of the Mordinsamman, there was a great and bitter rivalry between Dumathoin and Ilsensine. And another reference to Laduguer “as the once-brother of the Secret Keeper.” But these explained little.
As for Laduguer himself, he had once been a member of the Mordinsamman. But when Moradin discovered that Ladueguer had created the duergar, he was cast out from the council.
Pashar’s research was a little more rewarding: The Maroon Brotherhood were a secret brotherhood, primarily centered in Waterdeep and most likely founded during the 12th century, although there are many sources suggesting that their true origins lay even earlier in history. In the early 14th century, the Brotherhood became caught up in the Shadow Thief Affairs: Their members were implicated in an assassination attempt and the group was broken up by then-Open Lord Lhestyn.
Rumors persisted for the better part of a century, however, that the Brotherhood of them Maroon Pin had actually survived the purge and were secretly controlling Waterdeep (or even all of the newly formed Lords’ Alliance). Some even claimed that every single Masked Lord was, in fact, a member of the Brotherhood — or perhaps that the Brotherhood and the Masked Lords were one and the same.
The rituals of the brotherhood largely remained secret even after their precipitous fall — or perhaps because of it. It was clear, however, that they had accumulated any number of ancient rituals, symbols, and the like. These included their namesake alexandrite pins, dwarven compasses (often hidden within works of art, leading many to conclude that any piece of art with a dwarven compass in it must also contain encrypted messages or secret truths of the Brotherhood), a serpent’s forked tongue (representing the telling of secrets), scarab beetles, and the like.
Pashar found one particular example of this sort of thing. Beneath the picture of a broken arrow was an enigmatic phrase: “In beam of sun, strike dragon’s scale with mithril true upon the anvil sun.” Mid-14th century scholars had exhausted great amounts of work trying to puzzle out what the imagery of “anvil sun” alluded to, with most concluding that it must refer cryptically to a site somewhere within Calimshan, possibly dating back to the lost empire of Coramshan. Debates raged endlessly about exactly which site (or sites) the passage might refer to, until the Maroon Brotherhood conspiracy scholarship slowly faded away by the end of the 14th century.
SHOPPING AT THE MARKET
A little later in the morning, Edana, Theren, and Kitti headed to the Market. Edana tracked down Nardis, the fish seller Ott Steeltoes had told her about. Nardis was a merman. His entire stall was a pool of water. It took a fair bit of haggling, but Edana was able to convince him to sell her the Sylgar look-a-like he was holding for Ott.
As they walked way, Kitti leaned over. “What’s the plan here, exactly?”
“If we get caught,” Edana said. “We threaten the goldfish.”
“Just pretend it’s actually Sylgar?”
“Exactly.”
Theren, meanwhile, was scouring the stalls looking for a very particular item and, when it proved quite expensive, asked Edana and Kitti, who were just walking up, to pool their money with him to purchase it. Then they returned to Trollskull Manor.
They found Kora and Pashar waiting in their sitting room. Theren walked over to Kora. “Here,” he said. “These are goggles of the night. They’ll grant you darkvision. Just like the rest of us.”
Pashar gasped with glee and then applauded. Kora blushed. “Thank you.
“Now you have a soul,” Pashar said.
“What?”
“Oh, yes,” Pashar said. “Elves believe that only those with souls can see in the absence of light.”
It took them all a moment to notice the small smirk on Pashar’s face and realize he was joking. They collapsed in general merriment.
LETTERS OF THE MORNING
A letter arrived by messenger. It was written in silver ink upon black parchment:
“He’s so nice to us,” Theren said. “I don’t understand. We should buy him a thank you gift.”
“How can we shore up defenses here?” Kittisoth asked. “Especially when we’re gone. She’ll target us here. At home.”
“That makes sense,” Kora said.
“We could send her a letter,” Theren said. “’We’re letting all of our contacts know that doppelgangers have been appearing as us. And, just in case you’ve been had interactions with us, that that was not use.’”
They laughed. But quickly sobered once more.
“We need to hire someone to guard the house,” Edana said. “On short notice.”
“What about the Zhents?” Pashar suggested.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Kora said.
“I thought we told them to stay out of our neighborhood,” Theren objected.
“No, he’s right,” Kittisoth said. “I trust them more than just about anybody else we’ve met in this town.”
They quickly agreed that it was, in fact, their best option. As they were about to leave for Kolat Towers, however, there was another knock on the door. Another letter had arrived.
Kora sighed. Her Harper contact had the worst timing.
They needed to split up, but Kora didn’t want to go entirely by herself, so Theren agreed to accompany here, while Edana and Kittisoth headed to Kolat Towers to negotiate with the Zhents. Pashar would stay at Trollskull to watch over things there.
AN UNHAPPY HARPER
Kora and Theren found Dain in his usual spot at the far end of the narrow, dockside bar.
“Dain,” Kora said.
“I’m glad you could come,” Dain said. “We need a strike team with some muscle behind it that can strike fast, and I knew you already had some history with the Zhents. We have reports that the Zhents are moving into a place called Yellowspire on Turnback Court. I don’t think you’re aware of this, but directly behind the north side of Turnback Court — just beyond Yellowspire Tower — the Harpers have a supply cache. It has magic items and other resources. We believe that the Zhents are moving into Yellowspire in order to make a move on this cache.”
“You want us to attack the Zhents?” Kora said. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
“We need them out of Yellowspire. However you can make that happen.”
“All right,” Theren said. “The good news is that the cache is perfectly safe. The Zhents don’t even know it’s there.”
Dain frowned. “What do you mean?”
Kora sighed. “You remember when I told you that we killed Manshoon? It was the Doom Raider Zhentarim who helped us do that. And in the process of attacking Manshoon, we discovered a magical conduit between Yellowspire and the Zhentarim headquarters. Our allies — the Doom Raiders — now control Yellowspire.”
“Legally,” Theren added. “They have a deed.”
Dain was stone-faced.
“If you’re still concerned, I’d suggest simply moving the cache,” Kora said. “
Dain shook his head. “It would be a security risk, no matter what short term alliances your may have made. And moving the cache would potentially expose it.”
Kora shook her head, too. “We can’t do it.”
Theren was exasperated. “You can’t just attack people in a building they legally own!”
“You’re new to the Harpers, stripling,” Dain said dismissively. “But we do what’s necessary, whether it’s legal or not.”
“I understand that,” Kora said. “But we can say with absolute certainty that they are not there for the cache! There’s no risk to it!”
“Fine,” Dain said. “If your team isn’t up to handling this, then we’ll find someone who can.”
“I don’t think you—”
“It’s fine,” Dain said acidly. “Leave.”
Kora shoved her stool back from the bar and left.
RETURN TO KOLAT TOWERS
Edana and Kittisoth arrived at Kolat Towers. From the edge of the energy field protecting the grounds, they waved to two Zhentarim guards standing at the front door of the towers. One of them jogged over and, with their pass-amulet, ushered them through.
While they waited near the door, one of the Zhents — a man they recognized from their raid on Manshoon’s inner sanctum —ran up the stairs. A few minutes later he returned with Ziraj, who greeted them with a friendly (and toothy) grin. After a few pleasantries, he led them back up the stairs.
“Yes,” he said, responding to a question from Edana. “We staged a raid into the upper levels of the tower yesterday. It looks like Manshoon didn’t go up there very much. We mostly found a bunch of crap belonging to the Kolat brothers who originally owned the tower and a few of their old wards.”
They came to a chamber that was in the middle of being refurbished into an office or operations center or something of the like for Tashlyn Yafeera. She looked up and smiled as they came in.
“It’s good to see you again,” Kittisoth said.
“And you!” Tashlyn said. “What brings you by?”
“We’re having some trouble at Trollskull,” Edana said. “We’ve upset a powerful figure and we have cause to believe they’re going to come in the next few days to attack us. We need someone to guard the manor — and our children — when we can’t be there.”
Tashlyn threw herself back into her chair. “That shouldn’t be a problem. We’d be happy to do you a favor. Istrid should be available and… Ziraj, you’re probably free to head over with a few of your boys tonight, too, right?’
Ziraj nodded.
“Of course, diverting that kind of manpower will slow down our efforts to hunt down the rest of Manshoon’s loyalists. What would help,” Tashlyn said suggestively, “is if we had a powerful spellcaster to call upon. But with Davil out of action… Well, you see the problem. Now, a little birdie on the street has told me—”
“Was it a raven?” Edana asked.
Kittisoth nodded sagely. “Or an owl?”
Tashlyn blinked. “It’s a metaphorical bird.” She took a second to regroup her thoughts. “Let’s say a voice on the wind. A voice on the wind told me that you’ve gotten friendly with the Blackstaff. And I’m sure that the Blackstaff would be able to free Davil.”
Edana thought it over. “I can’t speak on behalf of the Blackstaff. And I’m sure that the Blackstaff herself would want payment for such a service.”
“You can broker a meeting?” Tashlyn said. “That’s enough.” She clapped her hands and stood up. “It’s settled.”
They spent a few more minutes working out the details and then headed home.
THE THIRD LETTER
Back at Trollskull Manor, there was a knock on the door.
Pashar nervously answered it. It was another messenger. With another note. This one from the Gralhunds.
Pashar told the kids to stay in their room and then rushed out to Gralhund Villa. An ashen-faced servant led him upstairs to the Gralhunds’ bedchamber. Entering, Pashar saw that the glass doors leading out to the balcony had been smashed in. Broken glass glittered from the plush rugs.
Lady Yalah was sobbing on the bed. Lord Orond was standing over her trying to comfort her, but seeing Pashar come in her walked over to him. “Pashar! Everything Kora and Edana said! It was true! We weren’t able to protect them! The dark elves came! They took Zartan!”
“And your other son?” Pashar said quickly.
“Greth is in the next room. He’s all right.”
“What happened?”
Lord Orond ran his hand through his disheveled hair. “The dark elves attacked. We weren’t expecting them during the day. They broke in through these doors. They children were in here playing. The guards weren’t able to come quickly enough. They couldn’t get here before… they… They took my boy! They took…” He sobbed.
“Did they leave anything?”
“Yes,” Lady Yalah said, swallowing her own sobs. She held up a slip of black paper. Black paper with silver ink on it.
Pashar gingerly stepped over to her, took the note from her hand, and read.
“We just don’t know what to do,” Lord Orond said.
“Are there any unique objects that we could use to perhaps magically trace Zartan?” Pashar asked.
“He had a stuffed unicorn,” Lord Orond said.
“Did you see which way they went?”
“They crossed the roof,” Orond said. “But they had snipers and they kept us pinned down until they were gone.”
“We’ll do whatever we can,” Pashar reassured them.
“Whatever you can do,” Lady Yalah pleaded. “We’ll do anything! Please! Just save my son!”
Pashar excused himself.
PLANNING BETRAYALS WITH THE BEST INTENTIONS
The others arrived back to find that Pashar was missing.
“He’ll be back,” Kittisoth said with confidence. “What did Dain have to say?”
Kora quickly explained.
“Can we just talk to the Zhents and ask them to leave?” Kittisoth asked.
Edana shook her head. “I don’t think we’ll be able to convince the Zhents to leave when there’s no good reason for them to do so.”
“The Harpers are in the wrong here,” Theren said bluntly.
“I actually agree with you,” Kora said. “They’re valuing property over people because they don’t want to deal with someone finding out their secrets.” She paused and thought about it for a moment. “I think we should move the cache ourselves.”
Kittisoth grinned. “Sure. Why not? We just do it and tell them later. Didn’t they just make you a Harpshadow?”
“That’s right,” Edana said. “You’re empowered to make these kinds of decisions.”
“That’s true,” Kora said. “I’m supposed to use my initiative and my discretion. And using my discretion, we’re going to solve this problem. They’ll thank me later.”
“Where do we put it?”
“I think we can move it to Thunderstaff Manor,” Kora said.
That’s when Pashar walked in. “I have great news! The ruse continues! They have no idea that we were responsible for taking the Stone of Golorr! Also, Jarlaxle has stolen one of their children.”
“Oh my god,” Kittisoth murmured.
“Who?” Kora said.
“The Gralhunds.”
Pashar quickly filled them in on everything he’d learned from the Gralhunds.
“Didn’t we convince them that Jarlaxle had taken the Stone?” Theren said.
“We convinced them that Jarlaxle took their nimblewright,” Edana said. “So, from their perspective, he must not know what he has.”
“Or he’s trying to figure out how to open the nimblewright and access it.” Theren nodded.
“And what does Jarlaxle actually know?” Kittisoth asked. “Does he know we have the Stone?”
“I don’t think so,” Kora said. “Some people might know that Vajra took it, but I think only Vajra — and Renaer — knows that she gave it to us.”
But what now? They could tell Jarlaxle the truth. They could cut a deal to give him credit for helping to recover the stolen gold (if they could convince Vajra and Laeral to go along with it). They could use the Stone, empty the vaults, then pluck the Eyes back out of it and turn the blinded Stone over to him.
The truth was that they sympathized with him. He’d helped them several times despite having every reason not to. “And he’s just trying to gain protection and leverage for his city,” Kora said. “Just like any ruler would for his people. Even if his people are a bunch of pirates.” (“Pirates are not bad,” Kittisoth said. “Well…” Edana said. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”) His motivations seemed honorable.
“But he took a child,” Edana said. “He crossed a line.”
“Either way we need to do something right now,” Pashar said. “The child is already in danger.”
“We just need to reassure him,” Kittisoth said. “We just need enough time to get the third Eye from Xanathar and then access Vault. After that, we’ll have all the leverage. This whole thing can be done by tomorrow morning.”
“All right,” Kora said, “then we need to seek a meeting with Jarlaxle at the Seven Masks Theater. We’ll reassure him that we’re all working for the same ends, and that we just need a little more time to ‘find him what he needs.’”
“Perfect,” Theren said. “Even if he later finds out everything we’ve been up to, we’ll still be able to honestly say that we didn’t lie to him. I think he’ll respect that.”
This is great stuff. Looking forward to the next entry.