WDDH #3: Home Away From Home
Hello! After a hiatus for the holidays, my Waterdeep: Dragon Heist group is back together for another session, so I've got the recap for your reading pleasure! Obviously there will be spoilers, so keep that in mind. If you're reading for the first time and want to start with the first session, you can find that recap HERE.
Ready? Here we go!
The Party:
Jabin Co Aldo — Tiefling aethermage noble (my character), one of the sons of Marco Volo.
Ion Marko — Half-orc bard entertainer, one of the sons of Marco Volo.
Scritch — Kenku monk urchin, long-time friend of Ion.
Agar — Human monk acolyte, one of the sons of Marco Volo.
Skystone Bloodlake — Tabaxi ranger guild artisan (jeweler), goes by "Sky" for short, friend and traveling companion of Agar.
The Session:
The previous session had ended with the survivors meeting up with Volo for the promised payment, only to have him pull a bait-and-switch and instead transfer ownership of Trollskull Manor to Jabin in lieu of monetary compensation. Tired and injured, Jabin then went home for the night, and offered to let Scritch stay in a guest room. (He would have made the same offer to Sky, but her player couldn't make it, so she's off running around the city somewhere this session.)
The next morning, Jabin and Scritch are awakened by the sounds of moving furniture, and come downstairs to discover that Jabin's arrangement with his noble family only allows his residence in this house as long as he owns no private property himself; now that he owns Trollskull Manor, he's being evicted. Thus, the lives of Jabin and his retainers are abruptly uprooted, and in minutes they find themselves outside with nothing but their personal effects and about one room's worth of furniture sitting in amoving van cart.
Guessing that the manor is probably not in good shape, Jabin books rooms at an inn for his retainers while he and Scritch go a bit across town to investigate Jabin's (and possibly Scritch's) new home. They arrive to find two strangers, each holding a "maybe I'm your dad" letter like those featured in Session #1, except with Trollskull Manor's address as the meeting place. But again, no sign of Marco Volo. Introductions are made: one of the half-brothers is a human named Dirk Septime, and the other is a half-orc named Clothar Mitre. Jabin unloads the furniture and pays the mover, then the Brady Bunch investigates the manor.
It's a three-story building (plus a wine cellar) that clearly hasn't been used in a while. It's mostly unremarkable, except for a few things. One, there's a hole in the roof. Two, there's some sort of ghost at the bar of the first-floor receiving room, who taunts Jabin and throws dishes over his head every time he comes in. Finally, there's a staff that Scritch found in the cellar which radiates powerful abjuration magic but has yet to be identified.
After the manor is thoroughly inspected, late in the afternoon, Jabin receives an invitation to meet someone named Mert during the intermission of an opera that night, and is given tickets enough for himself and the party he had brought down into the sewers the previous day. After reassigning a couple of those tickets and letting the non-nobles buy some fancy clothes, the party heads to the opera.
The first half of the opera is recorded by Scritch, and we have a bit of table chatter about fantasy IP laws and how kenku might fit into that. At the intermission, the group meets Mert, and it turns out that he (along with Dirk and Clothar) are members of the Harpers, a sort of secret coalition of do-gooders. Mert has been told that we're "a good bet" and asks us to perform a task for him: find a talking horse named Maxine and ask her if she knows the identity of any Zhentarim operatives.
Everyone but Dirk heads back to their seats, but Dirk finishes out the intermission by randomly stealing some noble lady's fancy opera mask. After the opera (which Scritch finishes recording), Dirk decides a fancy silk mask isn't good enough and returns it to the lady, using her gratitude as an opportunity to get close and grab her necklace. Unsurprisingly, he gets caught, and she cries out. He yanks the necklace off of her and runs, disappearing into the streets before any guards or security can catch him.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group leaves the opera peacefully, wondering where Dirk ran off to. Suddenly, Jabin receives a magical message in his head, telling him to head to Blackstaff Tower immediately, and to bring his friends. The group complies (and Dirk spots them and catches up), and the next thing they know they're standing in a great hall of the tower, being addressed by the Blackstaff herself, a pretty significant arcane caster of the city. She says she wants them to find a reclusive monk who lives in a cave near the city and ask him if he has any information about the gang war that seems to be on everybody's minds these days.
With a growing to-do list, the party goes back out into the street and runs into Flune Blagmar, who is very grateful for having been rescued yesterday and now insists that they all go drinking together. The party agrees, although Jabin asserts that they should start at the inn where his retainers are staying, so that he can get them up to speed on their new life situation. Jabin then has a quiet drink and retires while Clothar, Dirk, and Scritch go carousing with Flune.
Scritch did a bit of bar-hopping and had a very successful night of gambling: by the time he crashed back at the manor, he was more than 100 gold pieces richer. Dirk had a mind to do the same, but was far less successful. He woke up the next morning in an alley with no memory of how he got there, and the necklace he'd stolen was gone (he was already broke, too). Clothar's evening was perhaps the most colorful, as after a bit too much drinking he staggered into a tavern across the street from Trollskull Manor and told the owner it was crap and that he'd open a better place next door. Then he barfed on the man and staggered out. Enemy acquired: Emmick Frune, owner of Frune's Brews. Did I mention that Clothar is a paladin?
The next day arrives, and the party sets about their tasks, starting with the talking horse. It takes most of the day, but they eventually find Maxine. Turns out she's a Harper too, and after flashing their emblems, Clothar and Dirk get a dialogue going. She mentions a male sun elf and his female half-orc bodyguard. Based on Maxine's description, it would seem that the bodyguard is Yagra, the one who was attacked by some Xanathar thugs in the Yawning Portal a couple of days earlier.
The group thanks Maxine for her help and reports back to Mert, who is quite pleased, but doesn't say much else. Nonetheless, the group begins to gain a bit of renown with the Harpers for their help. The session ended there, and presumably next time we'll pick up with the Blackstaff's request. (And maybe also getting some contractors lined up to renovate the manor. And hopefully meet up with Sky again.)
That's it for this week. Hope you enjoyed the story, and until next time, take care of each other, okay?
Ready? Here we go!
The Party:
Jabin Co Aldo — Tiefling aethermage noble (my character), one of the sons of Marco Volo.
Scritch — Kenku monk urchin, long-time friend of Ion.
Skystone Bloodlake — Tabaxi ranger guild artisan (jeweler), goes by "Sky" for short, friend and traveling companion of Agar.
The Session:
The previous session had ended with the survivors meeting up with Volo for the promised payment, only to have him pull a bait-and-switch and instead transfer ownership of Trollskull Manor to Jabin in lieu of monetary compensation. Tired and injured, Jabin then went home for the night, and offered to let Scritch stay in a guest room. (He would have made the same offer to Sky, but her player couldn't make it, so she's off running around the city somewhere this session.)
The next morning, Jabin and Scritch are awakened by the sounds of moving furniture, and come downstairs to discover that Jabin's arrangement with his noble family only allows his residence in this house as long as he owns no private property himself; now that he owns Trollskull Manor, he's being evicted. Thus, the lives of Jabin and his retainers are abruptly uprooted, and in minutes they find themselves outside with nothing but their personal effects and about one room's worth of furniture sitting in a
Guessing that the manor is probably not in good shape, Jabin books rooms at an inn for his retainers while he and Scritch go a bit across town to investigate Jabin's (and possibly Scritch's) new home. They arrive to find two strangers, each holding a "maybe I'm your dad" letter like those featured in Session #1, except with Trollskull Manor's address as the meeting place. But again, no sign of Marco Volo. Introductions are made: one of the half-brothers is a human named Dirk Septime, and the other is a half-orc named Clothar Mitre. Jabin unloads the furniture and pays the mover, then the Brady Bunch investigates the manor.
It's a three-story building (plus a wine cellar) that clearly hasn't been used in a while. It's mostly unremarkable, except for a few things. One, there's a hole in the roof. Two, there's some sort of ghost at the bar of the first-floor receiving room, who taunts Jabin and throws dishes over his head every time he comes in. Finally, there's a staff that Scritch found in the cellar which radiates powerful abjuration magic but has yet to be identified.
After the manor is thoroughly inspected, late in the afternoon, Jabin receives an invitation to meet someone named Mert during the intermission of an opera that night, and is given tickets enough for himself and the party he had brought down into the sewers the previous day. After reassigning a couple of those tickets and letting the non-nobles buy some fancy clothes, the party heads to the opera.
The first half of the opera is recorded by Scritch, and we have a bit of table chatter about fantasy IP laws and how kenku might fit into that. At the intermission, the group meets Mert, and it turns out that he (along with Dirk and Clothar) are members of the Harpers, a sort of secret coalition of do-gooders. Mert has been told that we're "a good bet" and asks us to perform a task for him: find a talking horse named Maxine and ask her if she knows the identity of any Zhentarim operatives.
Everyone but Dirk heads back to their seats, but Dirk finishes out the intermission by randomly stealing some noble lady's fancy opera mask. After the opera (which Scritch finishes recording), Dirk decides a fancy silk mask isn't good enough and returns it to the lady, using her gratitude as an opportunity to get close and grab her necklace. Unsurprisingly, he gets caught, and she cries out. He yanks the necklace off of her and runs, disappearing into the streets before any guards or security can catch him.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group leaves the opera peacefully, wondering where Dirk ran off to. Suddenly, Jabin receives a magical message in his head, telling him to head to Blackstaff Tower immediately, and to bring his friends. The group complies (and Dirk spots them and catches up), and the next thing they know they're standing in a great hall of the tower, being addressed by the Blackstaff herself, a pretty significant arcane caster of the city. She says she wants them to find a reclusive monk who lives in a cave near the city and ask him if he has any information about the gang war that seems to be on everybody's minds these days.
With a growing to-do list, the party goes back out into the street and runs into Flune Blagmar, who is very grateful for having been rescued yesterday and now insists that they all go drinking together. The party agrees, although Jabin asserts that they should start at the inn where his retainers are staying, so that he can get them up to speed on their new life situation. Jabin then has a quiet drink and retires while Clothar, Dirk, and Scritch go carousing with Flune.
Scritch did a bit of bar-hopping and had a very successful night of gambling: by the time he crashed back at the manor, he was more than 100 gold pieces richer. Dirk had a mind to do the same, but was far less successful. He woke up the next morning in an alley with no memory of how he got there, and the necklace he'd stolen was gone (he was already broke, too). Clothar's evening was perhaps the most colorful, as after a bit too much drinking he staggered into a tavern across the street from Trollskull Manor and told the owner it was crap and that he'd open a better place next door. Then he barfed on the man and staggered out. Enemy acquired: Emmick Frune, owner of Frune's Brews. Did I mention that Clothar is a paladin?
The next day arrives, and the party sets about their tasks, starting with the talking horse. It takes most of the day, but they eventually find Maxine. Turns out she's a Harper too, and after flashing their emblems, Clothar and Dirk get a dialogue going. She mentions a male sun elf and his female half-orc bodyguard. Based on Maxine's description, it would seem that the bodyguard is Yagra, the one who was attacked by some Xanathar thugs in the Yawning Portal a couple of days earlier.
The group thanks Maxine for her help and reports back to Mert, who is quite pleased, but doesn't say much else. Nonetheless, the group begins to gain a bit of renown with the Harpers for their help. The session ended there, and presumably next time we'll pick up with the Blackstaff's request. (And maybe also getting some contractors lined up to renovate the manor. And hopefully meet up with Sky again.)
That's it for this week. Hope you enjoyed the story, and until next time, take care of each other, okay?
Comments
Post a Comment