A Not So Quiet Evening In
"Now," Aleina said, looking at Ront. "What is so important it couldn't wait?"
Kuhl stood from his chair by the fire and went to the game table where the aasimar and half-drow sat.
"It's not you I need to talk to," the orc said, pointing at the half-elf. "It's him."
"By all that dances!" Jhelnae said. "You better be joking!"
"Joking?" Ront asked, eyes narrowing at the word. "I don't joke."
"What she means is," the aasimar said. "If you needed to talk to Kuhl, why did Bonnie and Dariya have to leave?"
"What I have to discuss with him is not for outsider ears," the orc said.
"You couldn't have just asked to speak to him in the study?" Aleina asked.
Ront went silent for a moment, brow furrowing in thought.
"Overly complicated," he finally growled.
"It's one question and through that door right there!" the half-drow exploded, pointing.
She and Aleina looked down mournfully at the game board depicting Waterdeep on the table in front of them, pieces still set up in play.
"Come on, Ront," the half-elf said. "We'll go into the study like they suggest. We have it, might as well use it."
"Oh, no," Jhelnae said. "That isn't happening. Our game was disrupted and we're going to learn why. The reason, by the way, better be a good one."
She motioned to the chairs vacated by the previous two players and started gathering game pieces and putting them away in their wooden storage box.
"We have earned the right to at least hear what is going on," the aasimar said, "I'll get two fresh glasses and another bottle. It's been a while since it was just us all together. If we wake Sky from her nap and could somehow relieve Fargas from his duties downstairs, it would be like old times."
She stood and picked up the empties left by Bonnie and Dariya, then went to the drink cabinet against one wall.
"Like old times," the half-drow said. "Except with wine. And not being under miles of rock. And without a crazed bitch of a priestess wanting to sacrifice us on an altar."
"Pretty sure, no matter how far away Ilvara is," Kuhl said, pulling out a chair and sitting. "She still wants to sacrifice us on an altar."
"Now there is a comforting thought," Jhelnae said with a shudder indicating the opposite.
The orc followed Kuhl's lead and also pulled out a chair and sat.
"You actually do joke, Ront," the half-drow said. "You know those really bad impressions of us you do that, for some unfathomable reason, Fargas finds so funny?"
Ront gave a tusk filled smile and chuckled.
"You mean like the ones of you and Aleina drunk in The Foaming Mug in Blingdenstone?"
"Yeah," Jhelnae said. "Those. Those are jokes."
She finished putting away the game, closed the box, and latched the lid.
"Attempts at jokes at least," Aleina said, returning to the table with the new glasses and a bottle. "If unfunny and very inaccurate."
"Terribly funny and completely accurate," Dawnbringer laughed in Kuhl's mind.
Just the reminder of the orc mimicry of the pair made the half-elf also smile and laugh.
"Fargas isn't the only one who finds them funny," he said.
"Oh, shut up Kuhl," the aasimar said, pouring out measures from the already uncorked bottle into glasses. "You all were just as drunk. So why does everyone tease us?"
"Because we didn't lie down under a table and threaten to burn off a half-elf's face when he was just trying to help you to bed," Ront said.
"Fine," Aleina said, with a smile of her own. "Fair enough."
She held up her glass and the other three joined her, the orc with only a slight delay.
"To the Tappy Foamstrap," Jhelnae said. "Sorry I got sick in your tavern the last night we were there. But not sorry to now be far away and free from the Underdark."
"That I will drink to," Ront said.
The four glasses chimed together, and each took a drink.
"The fire is starting to burn low," Kuhl said. "I'll put another log on before you start talking."
Ront nodded, but sat silent for a few moments more, gathering his thoughts even after the half-elf returned to his seat.
"You've heard about the murder of elves and half-elves in the Dock Ward?" the orc finally asked.
"Hard not to," Jhelnae sighed and shook her head. "Every broadsheet cryer is yelling about it. Really gruesome stuff. All decapitated, right?"
Ront nodded. "All four had their heads cut off. The last one was last night."
They all took a drink, digesting this bit of information, then Aleina's eyes widened.
"Ront," she said, voice almost a whisper. "This is what you wanted to talk with Kuhl about? To warn him to stay out of the Dock Ward at night. That is so sweet."
The half-elf felt his own eyes widen in surprise and he was touched by the orc's concern.
"By all that dances!" the half-drow said. "Drow are elves as well. But did you want to warn me? Oh, no, it was all about needing to talk to Kuhl. Go ahead and get your head chopped, Jhelnae, you don't really need it."
"Really, Jhelnae?" the aasimar said. "Really? Ront does this touching and sweet thing and that is what you are going to focus on?"
"Forgive me, Ront," Jhelnae said with an eye roll. "It was touching and sweet. And I'm proud of you. But can you try and throw a little of that sweetness to your other elf friend as well?"
"I could," the orc said. "If I had intended sweet. But I don't want to warn Kuhl to stay out of the Dock Ward. I actually want to ask him the opposite. I want to know if he'll wander the Dock Ward as bait."
"Of all the possible things he might have wanted to talk to you about," Dawnbringer thought in Kuhl's mind. "This wasn't one of them."
Apparently the aasimar agreed.
"Bait?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion. "You want him to be bait? Why?"
"To catch the killer," Ront said, tone suggesting that was a really dumb question. "Why else?"
"You want to catch the killer?" Kuhl asked. "A killer of elves and half-elves?"
"I know," the orc said. "I'm surprised too. But do you know where the half-elf was last night before being murdered on his way back to his ship?"
The other three companions exchanged looks with each other, all giving slight shrugs.
"Here." Ront's finger jabbed the tabletop. "Right here. The Trollskull."
"He was at our grand opening?" Jhelnae asked, her brow knit, as if trying to remember.
Kuhl was trying to remember as well. There might have been a half-elf? Sitting with Ront and his guests? But there were so many guests and all so varied, that it was difficult to remember. Neighbors from the alley. Locals from North Ward townhomes. Yagra, Ront's half-orc female companion. A sun elf bard she knew from the Yawning Portal who had given an impromptu performance. Even an ancient female dwarf escorted by a magical construct, a shield guardian she had called it, which she left waiting for her outside. And also, of course, the trio of Eilistraeen drow. This reminded the half-elf paladin he still had not had a chance to tell Jhelnae of his discussion with Trelasarra this morning.
"I think I remember him," Kuhl said. "Friend of Yagra's? Like the bard?"
Ront shook his head. "Not really a friend. Yagra and I met him a couple nights ago at the Bloody Fist. When he sat at the stool next to me and started talking, I was planning on making my fist bloody with his face."
"That sounds about right," the half-drow said.
"But I didn't," the orc said, pausing as if still trying to puzzle out why not. "The next thing I knew we were buying rounds and he was teaching me Luskan drinking songs. Sometime during that drunken stupor of a night, I invited him to the opening of the Trollskull. He came. And never made it back to his ship."
"So you feel responsible for him?" Aleina asked, sipping at her wine. "And want to avenge him?"
"I don't feel responsible for him," Ront said, shrugging. "I didn't kill him. I wouldn't even have known he had been the one killed if I hadn't run into one of his crew mates. An orc who was with him at the Bloody Fist. He was angry. He said, since only sailors had been killed, the City Watch would give nothing but a token effort. Because once the victims crew shipped out, no one would be left to care."
The orc took a drink of wine.
"I shrugged it off," Ront said. "Told him no one would care if an orc was killed either. So why should I care if some half-elf was killed? Even if he was a good drinking companion? Gruumsh one-eye curse that orc, because he said that is why I should understand. Since then, I haven't been able to shake the thought that this coward of a killer targets sailors because he knows no one is going to make him answer for it. And for some stupid reason, I've decided I want to prove him wrong."
The orc went quiet. For a time, the only sound in the room was the snap and crackle of the fire in the hearth. Kuhl already knew his answer, but a moment of silence for the four decapitated victims seemed appropriate.
"I'll do it," the half-elf said.
"Do what?" Aleina said. "Be bait?"
Kuhl nodded.
The aasimar shook her head. "No. That plan is so…male."
"By which she means dumb," Jhelnae felt the need to clarify.
"They aren't wrong," Dawnbringer mind spoke.
"Then what?" the half-elf asked. "How else are we going to draw the killer out?"
"I don't know," Aleina said. "We need to think about it. I'm sorry if I prefer a plan that didn't involve someone I am quite fond of literally risking his neck. Also, I like your head on your shoulders. I think it fits very nicely there."
Despite the macabre nature of what they discussed, Kuhl smiled. He liked the way she'd phrased that.
"Fine," he said. "But until we can come up with something better, that is the plan. So, the next question is when?"
"Several days have passed between each murder," Ront said. "One just happened last night. So we have a few days. Yagra and I can scout the Dock Ward. Talk to some sailors. Get some ideas"
"Sounds good," the half-elf said. "Pick up some appropriate clothes for my sailor disguise."
"You're not going to need a sailor disguise, since we are not going to be using you as bait," the aasimar said.
"I will," Ront grunted.
"You staying here tonight?" Kuhl asked the orc. "Eating dinner with us?"
"We could teach you Masked Lords," Jhelnae said, tapping the wooden game box.
"That is a great idea," Aleina said. "You'll love it, Ront. You try to amass wealth, buy properties, form alliances, break them…"
"Aleina mostly breaks them," the half-drow said. "Don't trust anything she says. She'll whine and complain how everyone is ganging up on her, then stab you right in the back."
"Don't listen to her," the aasimar said. "She is a very sore loser."
"And an even more terrible winner," the half-drow laughed. "Lots of gloating."
"As tempting as whatever all that is sounds," the orc said, not sounding the least bit tempted. "I promised Yagra I'd meet her at her place. I'd better get moving. As far as human cities go, Waterdeep is tolerant, with plenty of orc blood living in it. But the North Ward is not the place for a lone orc to have a run in with the Watch after dark. Even if you are part owner in one of the taverns here."
"It isn't so bad in the North Ward," Jhelnae said. "I'm drow and haven't had any incidents with the Watch yet."
Ront gave a derisive laugh.
"Drow and orcs are not treated even close to the same," he said. "Orcs and those with orcish blood have been living in Waterdeep for generations. And the Waterdhavians accept this as long as we know our place. Which is not the North Ward. But what happens when a group of stray drow show up begging for a temple to their Dancing Goddess? A noble donates them a building in the North Ward. I almost vomited when I heard that story last night."
Jhelnae's eyes narrowed, and her lips spread into a thin line. But, after a moment, she nodded and shrugged in acquiesce.
"I'll come back in a couple of days," the orc said. "Share what I've learned from scouting the Dock Ward. We'll go from there."
He made his way to and through the door to the stairs down. The sound of his creaking descent followed.
"That fire needs another log," Kuhl said. "Then we need to talk."
"Trelasarra?" Jhelnae asked.
"Trelasarra," the half-elf said, standing and going to the fire.
"She wants me to join her group?" the half-drow said. "Help them restore the Promenade?"
Kuhl pivoted, still holding the log intended for the flames.
"She came back and visited you today?" he asked.
The moon dancer had said she would visit Jhelnae after she and her group got back from their trip. Not before.
Jhelnae shook her head. "It wasn't a hard guess."
"She even contacted your mother," the half-elf said, placing the log on the fire. "And that she agreed."
The half-drow sighed. "No surprise there."
"I did offer an alternative," he said, returning to his chair. "One she seemed interested in."
"What alternative?" Jhelnae asked.
"I said we all worked really well together," Kuhl said. "You, me, Aleina, and Sky. And that you should stay with us, but the four of us could help them as needed. As a group."
The half-drow and aasimar stared at him across the table.
"I know, I know," he said. "I shouldn't have promised anything without talking it over with all of you first. Trelasarra caught me by surprise…"
"No, Kuhl," Aleina said, voice excited. "That is perfect. What do you think, Jhelnae? This is a way to make both your mother and yourself happy. We get to stay with the others, but also help the Eilistraeens with refounding this Promenade thing."
We get to stay with the others.
The half-elf mouth went dry and a pit formed in his stomach as deep as the well that gave the Yawning Portal its name. Realization dawned. He might not just lose Jhelnae to Trelasarra's group. He might lose both Aleina and Jhelnae to the Eilistraeens.
"Their bond is very tight," Dawnbringer thought into his mind. "I hadn't thought of that possibility either, but it makes sense that where Jhelnae goes, Aleina will follow."
"I don't know," the half-drow said. "If Kuhl and Sky are willing, it might be possible."
"Kuhl just said he'd do it," the aasimar said. "And of course Sky will do it. Wouldn't it involve going into Undermountain?"
"It would," the half-drow blew out a breath. "Exactly what she has been wanting. By all that dances! Sometimes I swear that tabaxi is manipulating events in a way that I don't understand and can't blame her for. We always somehow end up doing what she wants us to do."
The stairs to the common room creaked. Someone coming up, a lighter tread this time, someone much smaller than Ront, which turned out to be Fargas. The halfling bustling past the door waving a broad sheet.
"Aleina," he said. "You won't believe it. We're packed. We might run out of food. We might run out of ale. I couldn't figure it out at first. Then I saw the headline of the Waterdeep Wazoo!"
He placed the paper on the table so the headline at the top could be read.
"RUNAWAY AASIMAR BRIDE RESURFACES IN THE NORTH WARD!"
A decent, but rough sketch of Aleina and Jhelnae sitting on a stone bench accompanied the article. They all leaned in to read.
"You two got into some sort of…lover's spat on the Cliffwatch walkway?" Kuhl asked.
Fargas gave the half-elf a consoling pat.
"Looks like everyone found love except for you and Sky," he said. "But hey, you two would make a very cute couple. You could always pair up. For convenience. And congratulations to the two of you. I mean I always suspected, but I didn't know for sure."
The last part was directed at the aasimar and half-drow.
"A future bearer of mixed tabaxi and elven ancestry," Dawnbringer sang in Kuhl's mind. "Now that is interesting."
"First of all," Jhelnae said. "Not lovers. Second of all, no spat, just a discussion."
"It says your voices got very raised," the halfling said pointing.
"Yes," the half-drow said. "Parts of our discussion were a little loud. Still not a spat. And third of all, if I ever see that reporter, I'm blasting him right off the Cliffwatch!"
"Well don't blast him until he writes a few more articles about the Runaway Aasimar Bride," Fargas said. "It is good for business. Umm…is she alright?"
Kuhl looked up and saw what the halfling was talking about. Aleina was just staring, seemingly unresponsive to what was being said around her as she looked down at the article.
Jhelnae snapped her fingers. "Aleina? You okay? Don't worry about what that idiot wrote."
The aasimar slowly looked up. Then her eyes narrowed.
"That bastard!" she raged. "He is getting married to her of all people? I told him all about all the things she did to torture me! Pretending to be my friend. Inviting my cousins and I to parties just to humiliate us. He knows I can't stand her!"
"You mean your former fiance?" Kuhl ventured.
The reporter had gotten some quotes from her former betrothed by sending spell and the article mentioned that preparations were under way for a wedding.
"Oh, I can just imagine them laughing at me," Aleina said, eyes downcast and a bitter smile on her lips. "How did he put it? 'My former fiance said she felt she had a destiny greater than being a lady of a great patriar house. I'm so glad she found it as a barmaid in Waterdeep.'"
"You aren't a barmaid," the half-drow said. "You are a part owner in a tavern. A tavern we received as a reward for rescuing someone. Stupid reporter didn't even get that part right. Saying it was Renaer Neverember instead of Floon. But the point is you were rescuing someone."
The aasimar lifted her chin, looking up at Jhelnae.
"And that is just one little piece of good that you've done since you last saw your fiance," the half-drow said. "Blingdenstone. Uluvin. Rescuing a certain medusa victim from spending an eternity as a statue. By all that dances! Are you going to make me repeat the same speech you gave to me on Cliffwatch?"
"No." Aleina smiled and shook her head. "That little speech on Cliffwatch already had one unintended recipient. No reason to bore Kuhl and Fargas with it as well."
She waved towards the paper on the table.
"Does this mean you'll come down?" Fargas asked. "Because we have a whole common room of merchant wives and even a few noble ladies who are hoping to catch a glimpse of you. And remember, you send part of the profits back to your family in Baldur's Gate. So, let's make some coin."
"Do you have an apron for me downstairs?" the aasimar asked. "Because if they want to see the runaway bride who gave up being a patriar lady to be a barmaid, that is exactly what they are going to get. Let's make some coin."
Okay, this was all supposed to be part of the same chapter as the previous one. So I stuck with Kuhl's POV since that was the way I had imagined it.
The newspaper article at the end is just supposed to serve as a reason it would be generally known that the party is linked to Renaer Neverember and where they can be found (the Trollskull). Those of you who know the module can probably guess why. A certain very dramatic event happens and it is all because someone decides to bring something very pivotal to the party. But I don't think it really sets up how this individual would choose the party or know where to find them (I believe the Alexandrian Remix brings up the same issue and handles it a different way. I've only glanced through his material).
Any way, I hope it works. Oh...and the elven murderer on the docks is an interesting side quest. But trying to make it fit organically as to why the party would get involved and why that quest would come from the Zhentarim of all factions, was a PAIN (No, Ront is not directly Zhentarim, but I tried to stay true to the spirit of the module in where the quest came from...)