Go to Part 1

In this penultimate section of the Remix, we’re going to use the principles of node-based scenario design to retrofit the campaign’s fundamental structure. This work can broadly be divided into three parts:

• Strengthening the Three Clue Rule for Finding Floon (Chapter 1)
• Heavily revising the Nimblewright Investigation that leads to the Gralhund Villa (Chapter 2)
• Linking together all of the elements of the Grand Game (primarily the faction outposts and lairs)

This will primarily consist of revelation lists, the use of which is discussed in the original Three Clue Rule essay.

Where the clues on these revelation lists can be integrated into the material we’ve treated at length in the Remix, I’ve done so. In these cases, the revelation lists can be used strictly for their normal function: As a reference for helping the GM to understand and track the structure of the scenario.

In some cases, however, clues are added to other sections of the campaign which we haven’t visited in detail as part of the Remix. (This is particularly true for the material in Part 5B: Finding Floon, for example.) These clues will be called out, and the GM will need to use the revelation lists to make sure that this material is properly incorporated into those sections of the campaign.

THE REFERENCE TIMELINE

Before diving into the revelation lists, however, we’re going to organize all of the back story of the campaign (revised and otherwise) into a single reference timeline. This partly exists in order to eliminate the myriad continuity errors found in the original campaign, but mostly to provide an easy reference for the GM while they’re actually running the campaign.

RISE AND FALL OF LORD NEVEREMBER

• 1451 DR: Neverwinter is destroyed when a small adventuring party (including Jarlaxle Baenre) awoke the primordial Maegera beneath Mount Hotenow.
• 1467 DR: Lord Dagult Neverember, Open Lord of Waterdeep, proclaims himself ruler of Neverwinter and begins the New Neverwinter movement to rebuild the city.
• Lord Neverember begins embezzling money from the Waterdeep treasury.
• Lord Neverember discovers the Stone of Golorr in Neverwinter.
• When Lady Alethea Brandath (Lord Neverember’s wife) dies, Lord Neverember learns of the existence of an ancient dwarven vault beneath the Brandath Mausoleum.
• Lord Neverember gains access to the old Melairkyn Vault beneath the Brandath Mausoleum. He begins storing the embezzled money (eventually totaling half a million gold dragons) in the Vault and uses the Stone of Golorr to hide its existence.
• As an additional security precaution, Lord Neverember blinds the Stone of Golorr: Leaving the Stone in Waterdeep Palace, he keeps one of the Eyes with him in Neverwinter, secretly gives one to his son (hidden inside a mourning locket), and hides the last within the Brandath Mausoleum.
• During this time, various factions become aware that Lord Neverember is engaged in some grand scheme, of which only the contours are known. The phrase “Neverember’s Enigma” is coined.
• 1489 DR: Laeral Silverhand returns to Waterdeep and Lord Neverember is deposed.
• In the confusion of the transition of power, Lord Neverember sends agents to retrieve the Stone of Golorr from the palace. As those agents leave the city, they are ambushed by Xanatharian agents who steal the Stone.

THE GRAND GAME

• The Cassalanters retrieve what they believe to be Neverember’s Enigma — but is actually just one of the Eyes — from the Brandath Mausoleum. Their research quickly reveals that it is part of the Stone of Golorr.
• Lord Neverember sends a network of agents into Waterdeep. Many of these agents are attempting to locate the Stone. One of them, Dalakhar, is assigned to keep a watchful eye on Dagult’s son, Renaer. (Dalakhar isn’t told this, but Lord Neverember’s primary concern is that the Eye unwittingly carried by Renaer is kept safe until he can regain the Stone.)
• Manshoonian Zhentarim steal the Eye from the Protector’s Enclave in Neverwinter.
• Laeral Silverhand’s auditors discover Lord Neverember’s embezzlement. The news soon leaks.
• Zhentarim go to Xanathar to propose an alliance. Xanathar kills the embassy and takes their Eye. A gang war breaks out between the Guild and the Black Network.
• Lord Neverember discovers that Xanathar stole the Stone. Dalakhar is sent to infiltrate Xanathar’s organization and steal the Stone back. (At this point Lord Neverember believes that Xanathar has the Stone and that the Zhentarim still have the Eye they stole from him. To maintain the original siloing of information, Dalakhar is not told about the Eyes and doesn’t know to look for the one Xanathar now holds.)
• Jarlaxle Baenre arrives in Waterdeep and begins selling nimblewrights.

DRAGON HEIST BEGINS (1492 DR)

• With Dalakhar’s network removed from watching over Renaer, he’s exposed. The Zhentarim kidnap Renaer and take the Eye hidden in his mourning locket. (The PCs then presumably rescue Renaer.)
• Ches 20^th: Dalakhar successfully steals the Stone from Xanathar.
• Ches 22^nd: Dalakhar’s attempts to leave town are unsuccessful. (Xanathar tracked down and killed his extraction team before he could rendezvous with them, and he has agents surrounding Renaer Neverember’s house.) Dalakhar attempts to meet Renaer at Trollskull Manor, but by this time he’s being actively tracked by the Gralhund, Zhentarim, Cassalanters, and possibly others. Dalakhar is killed by the Gralhund Nimblewright. (See Part 2 and Part 5C.)

REVELATION LIST: THE STONE OF GOLORR

The first part of Dragon Heist is procedurally driven by investigations which are, structurally, unrelated to the Stone of Golorr: The PCs can solve the mysteries of Floon’s kidnapping and Dalakhar’s assassination without necessarily understanding what the ultimate motivation behind those crimes was.

Thus, the key turning point in the campaign is when the PCs realize what’s truly at stake and, importantly, begin to proactively drive the Grand Game.

REVELATION: DALAKHAR WAS CARRYING THE STONE OF GOLORR

• Casting speak with dead on Dalakhar or the dead Zhentarim (see Dragon Heist, p. 46, but note that we’re specifically adding that the Zhentarim knew that Dalakhar was carrying the “Stone of Golorr”).
• Questioning any number of people involved in the Grand Game (Urstul Floxin, the Gralhunds most likely, but also members of Xanathar’s Crime Guild or, later, Bregan D’Aerthe lieutenants).
• Observing Jarlaxle’s nimblewright recordsings. (Sea Maidens Faire)
• A Directive from Jarlaxle (Gralhund Villa – Arthen Manor)

REVELATION: WHAT IS THE STONE OF GOLORR?

• Researching the Stone of Golorr (see Part 6A)
• Any significant player in the Grand Game (lieutenant or up within any faction) will know that the Stone of Golorr is they key to finding Lord Neverember’s Enigma
• Faction Reports on the Grande Game (see Part 6D)

REVELATION LIST: THE THREE EYES

The PCs need to figure out that (a) the Stone of Golorr is missing three Eyes and (b) where those Eyes are being held, so that (c) they can go steal them. This is basically the core structure of the campaign.

REVELATION: THERE ARE THREE MISSING EYES

• Studying the Stone of Golorr
• Gralhund Study of the Grand Game (Gralhund Villa)
• Jarlaxle’s Report on the Grand Game (Sea Maidens Faire)
• Cassalanter Report on the Grand Game (Cassalanter Villa)
• Xanathar’s Report on the Grand Game (Xanathar Lair)
• Manshoon’s Report on the Grand Game (Kolat Tower)
• Letter to Lord Neverember (Kalain)

REVELATION: CASSALANTERS’ EYE

• If the PCs are working for them, the Cassalanters provide their Eye once they have the other two.
• Jarlaxle’s Report on the Grand Game (Sea Maidens Faire)
• Manshoon’s Report on the Grand Game (Kolat Tower)
• Seffia’s Ritual & Seffia’s Note (Converted Windmill / Response Team: Seffia)

REVELATION: XANATHAR’S EYE

• Gralhund Report on the Grand Game (Gralhund Villa)
• Jarlaxle’s Report on the Grand Game (Sea Maidens Faire)
• Cassalanter Report on the Grand Game (Cassalanter Villa)
• Manshoon’s Report on the Grand Game (Kolat Tower)

REVELATION: ZHENTARIM’S EYE

• Gralhund Report on the Grand Game (Gralhund Villa)
• Jarlaxle’s Report on the Grand Game (Sea Maiden’s Faire)
• Xanathar’s Report on the Grand Game (Xanathar’s Lair)
• Questioning Samara (Xanathar’s Lair)

REVELATION LIST: THE VAULT KEYS

• Examining and researching the vault entrance (The Vault)
• Cassalanter’s Report on the Grand Game (Cassalanter Villa)
• Vision of the Vault (Stone of Golorr)
• Questioning Kalain (Backtracking Dalakhar)

Go to Part 5B: Finding Floon

WRITING & DESIGN: Justin Alexander

It takes just over a full day for one of the massive climbers to claw its way up the ‘stalk from the peaks of Kilimanjaro fifty thousand kilometers below. Steiner Technology keeps twelve of them in rotation, but you’ve got to space ‘em out to control the oscillations and with only one ‘stalk in operation they all have to arrive before you can turn them around. That means ten days of backbreaking labor for the orbitmen on Kepler Station, followed by two days off while Kilimanjaro does its turn-around.

Try to steer clear of the machinations of the Methuselah Families — cryo-preserved scions overseeing vast corporate wealth from beyond a frozen almost-grave — and dance through the back-corridors 30,000 miles up with Patthar Black Baggers and the Over-Under Gang.

This is Kepler Station. Where diamonds are cheap, but oxygen is the price of life.

MORE TECHNOIR @ THE ALEXANDRIAN
Technoir System Cheat Sheet
Untested Technoir: Fleeting Relationships
Technoir: The Untouched Core
Technoir and PvP
Technoir and the Three Clue Rule
Technoir: Sequences vs. Skill Challenges

Go to Part 1

Although Manshoon lost the original Eye he had obtained, as Dragon Heist begins the Zhentarim seize possession of the Eye unwittingly carried by Renaer Neverember. This Eye is then immediately taken back to Kolat Towers and secured.

Unlike the other lairs in Dragon Heist, Kolat Towers operates more like a fortified bunker. This creates a very non-typical heist scenario which, in some respects, will play more like a raid or dungeoncrawl scenario. The primary heist-like aspect of the scenario, in fact, is simply gaining access to the Towers in the first place.

Kolat Towers is structured like an onion:

• You need to obtain a pass-amulet in order to pass through the force field surrounding Kolat Tower. A pass-amulet is a silver disc with the initials “DK” (for Duhlark Kolat) written in Espruaran runes on either side of a small, central blue gemstone. Someone holding a pass-amulet, or touching someone holding a pass-amulet, can simply walk through the force field as if it wasn’t there. (Other methods for bypassing the force field are described on pages 148-149 of Dragon Heist.)
• You need to obtain a teleporter signet ring in order to reach the inner sanctum., as described on page 157 of Dragon Heist. These brass signet rings have a stylized M. written upon them.

SURVEILLANCE OPPORTUNITY

Barring unusual circumstances or out of the box thinking, the PCs are unlikely to have a surveillance opportunity inside Kolat Towers.

More traditional surveillance (i.e., simply watching the Towers from a nearby building) reveals the crucial point of data required, however: The use of pass-amulets by anyone entering or leaving the tower. (They may glimpse some taking them out from their shirts and holding them aloft, although that’s not strictly necessary. They may also note the strange habit of those accompanying pass-amulet holders of touching them as they move through the force field.)

In addition, most of the Towers’ inhabitants will simply assume that anyone who has bypassed the force field must have a pass-amulet and, therefore, must have legitimate business there. Their incredible security system has, ultimately, made them somewhat lax when it comes to actual security, and PCs who are smart enough to lean into that assumption can effectively seize a surveillance opportunity for themselves mid-heist.

BLUEPRINT NOTES

The original tower which stood on this site was a small library owned by the Watchful Order of Magists & Protectors. The Kolat brothers purchased the site, altered the original tower, and built a second tower. Buried deep in its records, the Watchful Order still has copies of the original plans drawn up when they acquired the tower as part of a deceased wizard’s estate. These plans, however, only show the Tower as it existed before the Kolat brothers began their renovations. It:

• Consists of only of the Main Tower.
• Does not include areas K7, K8, K12, K13, or K14.
• Level 6 is a single room.

It should be noted that Xanathar has a superior set of blueprints for the Towers, obtained by his agents (see Part 4D).

THE TOWERS

Area K14 – Servants’ Quarters: Sidra Romeir also bunks in this room (in a larger bed opposite the four bunk beds used by the thugs she bunks with). She keeps her teleporter signet ring in the locked drawer in the bedside table.

Area E9 – Library: Alabaster shelves line the porphyry walls and jut out into the center of the room. On one wall, an arcane rune has been carved into the porphyry and filled with some form of bright green metal.

• Books: 10 particularly rare books have bookplates identifying them as belonging to Duhlark Kolat are laid out on a small table with a notebook nearby showing that someone has been studying them and taking notes; they are worth 50 gp each. The entire collection is worth 5,000 gp.
• Rune: This rune is the keymark for an astral vault bloodlocked to Manshoon. By design, Manshoon (and only Manshoon) can trace a specific set of patterns on the rune, causing the wall to temporarily phase out of existence and grant access to a small astral vault. In practice, dispel magic can disable the bloodlock or a disguise self (or similar illusion) can fool it, while an Intelligence (Arcana) or Dexterity check can figure out the pattern (defeating it like any other lock).
• Inside the Astral Vault: The vault contains the Eye, 5 pass-amulets, a dozen teleporter signet rings, and Manshoon’s Report on the Grand Game (see Part 6D).

Area E10 – Audience Chamber: This room is lit by a sunglobe which levitates in midair near the ceiling. (On command, a sunglobe glows with the light of the sun itself. It can be commanded to maintain its current position, levitating in mid-air until grasped.)

ADVERSARY ROSTER

* Has a teleporter signet ring.

STAT REFERENCE

Sidra Romeir (LE female Callishite human) – veteran, MM p. 350
Manafret Cherryport – lightfoot halfling mage, MM p. 347; see DH p. 149
Yorn the Terror – half-orc thug, MM p. 350; see DH p. 150
Lady Gondafrey – gargoyle, MM p. 140; see DH p. 152
Kaejva Cynavern (female Mulan human) – mage, MM p. 347; see DH p. 158
Urstul Floxin – assassin, MM p. 343; see DH p. 216
Vevette Blackwater (CE female Tethyrian human) – swashbuckler, DH p. 216
Agorn Fuoco (NE male Turami human) – bard, DH p. 195

Havia Quickknife / Mookie Plush (LE lightfoot halfling) – martial arts adepts, DH p. 209

• Lawful Evil
• 49 (11d6+11) hit points
• Racial Traits: Small, walking speed 25 ft., move through the space of a Medium or larger creature, advantage on saving throws vs. being frightened.
• Speak Common and Halfling.

Manshoon Simulacrum – DH p. 209
Manshoon – DH p. 209

Thugs – MM p. 350
Apprentice Wizards – DH p. 194

Animated Armor – MM p. 19
Barlgura – MM p. 56
Spectator – MM p. 30
Flying Snakes – MM p. 322

QUESTIONING THE ZHENTARIM

Thugs know the general layout of the tower:

• They’ve been told not to enter the Outer Tower or go above the third level of the Main Tower.
• Manshoon’s lieutenants wear special rings that let them access Manshoon’s sanctuary atop the Outer Tower (although they don’t know that this is actually an extradimensional space; they think he just lives up there).

Apprentice wizards know the same, but also know:

• That Manshoon lives in an extradimensional sanctum.
• He protects his valuables in an astral vault hidden somewhere in the sanctum. His former fourth apprentice tried to gain access to it and was disintegrated when Manshoon caught him.
• That the Stone of Golorr was blinded and Manshoon is attempting to find its three Eyes. He already has one. He once had another that was stolen by Xanathar. And he has recently identified that a local noble family has the third. (They don’t know the identity of the noble family.)

Manshoon’s lieutenants know what the apprentice wizards know, but also:

• The layout of the extradimensional sanctum, including the location of the astral vault.
• That the Cassalanters are the noble family who possess the third Eye.

THE DEMON

If the PCs encounter the summoning ritual in Area K15 and don’t disrupt it, then eventually the apprentice wizards succeed in binding the barlgura and Manshoon is able to send it on a mission. Options to consider might include:

• Attacking the PCs at Trollskull Manor.
• Sending it as part of an operation to steal back “his” Eye from Xanathar, possibly inflicting damage in Xanathar’s Lair. (This could easily happen in the middle of the PCs attempting their heist there.)

Go to Part 5: Clues and Timelines