The Skewered Dragon
Volo takes the seat offered by Jofina and begins his request, "As I said, I seem to have misplaced my friend Floon Blagmaar and I fear he's been kidnapped or worse. If you're interested, I'll give you ten dragons a piece now and ten times that when you find my friend. Might I prevail upon you in my hour of need?" He looks at the group awaiting their answer.
Torryn speaks up first, "I'll do it," The tiefling downs the last of the ale from her mug.
"I'm in," Jofina responds cheerfully.
"I'll tag along," Ivy responds.
They look over at the still quiet harengon. He's nodding his head quickly up and down, ears flopping, and says, "Yes. I'll do it."
"Excellent!" Volo says enthusiastically, handing them each a bag with ten dragons.
"Floon is a dear friend, but sad to say he has more beauty than brains. Two nights ago I was working on my new book, Volo's Guide to Spirits and Specters, I expect it to sell as well as my first book, Volo's Guide to Monsters. I'm sure you've heard of it," he pauses speaking long enough to see recognition in their eyes, and continues, "I was beset by writer's block while trying to write my next chapter. So, I set the book aside and met Floon for drinks at the Skewered Dragon. We drank and gambled for a few hours, and then I had to leave. Floon stayed at the bar besotted with this buxom lass at the bar. Well, that's the last I saw of him."
Jofina asks, "Did anyone see him leave with her?"
Volo looks at her a little dumbfounded and answers, "To be honest I had not gone back to ask."
"Well then how do you even know your friend is missing?" Jofina asks.
"I went looking for him at his home and no one there has seen him in two days. Not his family. Or the servants. So I can only assume Floon has been kidnapped," answers Volo matter-of-factly.
Jofina picks up her bag of coins, and looks directly at Volo inquiring, "And you'll give us each ten times this after we find your friend?"
"Er… Ah… Yes… Yes. Ten times that each when you find Floon," he replies hesitantly, "Well if that's all, I'll leave you to your search." He stands up, pulls his hat off his head, and bows deeply before departing.
Torryn stands up saying, "Let's head out," She picks up Khairos's mug and finishes his ale in one swig.
It's twilight in Waterdeep, just before bar rush. The streets are mostly empty, except for those around the inns and taverns as people start to gather for the evening. The companions make their way to the dock ward. As they turn a corner, they find themselves on a street cordoned off by the City Watch.
Jofina pushes her way closer and sees half a dozen corpses lying on the cobblestones, probably victims of some gruesome skirmish. The Watch officers are questioning witnesses and three blood-soaked humans, who they've disarmed and arrested.
An officer comes over and says gruffly, "Get on. Nothing to see here."
The eladrin looks back at her friends, who are already turning to leave. Despite bursting with curiosity about the scene, she also turns away following her friends. They do have a mission to fulfill after all.
The closer they get to the Skewered Dragon the darker and more gloomy the streets become. The tall, densely packed rundown buildings leave most of the neighborhood in shadow, even during the daylight hours. And the streetlights are of no help since most have had their glass smashed and candles stolen.
Kairos, unable to see, holds onto Jofina as they make their way through the streets, looking like a parent leading their child. Eventually, they stop in front of a ruined building; both of the windows of the building are smashed, and a ship's anchor is lodged in the roof. The only indication they have found the correct place is a sign saying The Skewered Dragon, hanging precariously over the door.
Torryn confidently opens the door and heads straight to the bar. The rest of the group follows, but as soon as they step into the bar the half-full room goes silent. All the patrons stare at the strange newcomers walking across the room.
Unconcerned, Torryn sits down at the bar. The bartender, a buxom tabaxi woman, comes over, "What'll you have, love?"
"Give me a mug of ale," the tiefling says fervently.
The bartender pours a dark-colored liquid into a mug and slides it over to the tiefling saying, "One Dock's Piss. And the rest of you? What'll it be?"
The others look at the dark, flat, barely drinkable liquid in their friend's mug. All three of them wrinkle their noses in disgust.
"Paying customers only in a place as busy as this," says the bartender and sets three more mugs of Dock's Piss on the bar.
Jofina says, "I'll buy it, but I'm not drinking it. It looks and smells revolting. I don't know how you can drink this stuff Torryn."
"I love it!" Torryn replies, "I'll drink yours if you don't want it," taking another swig of her Dock's Piss.
Turning her attention back to the bartender, the eladrin describes Floon adding, "Perhaps you saw him sitting at the bar or leaving with a buxom woman."
The tabaxi's eyes flash around the room as she quickly responds, "That's no description. I'm a buxom woman."
"I'm sure you'd remember a man dressed as well as my friend. He would stand out. Come on you can tell me something," the eladrin says persuasively flaunting her fey charms.
"I've been to the fey wild a couple times, and you're not that impressive," the bartender says before walking away.
Ivy teases her friend, "That didn't go the way you expected." Then she looks around the room hoping to locate someone willing to talk to them.
Most of the patrons are talking quietly among themselves, avoiding making eye contact with the outsiders. The half-elf sees a group playing Three-Dragon Ante off to one side of the room. And near the entrance, a table with three men catches her eye. The group is still drinking and talking boisterously amongst themselves, and their clothing looks nicer than anyone else in the bar.
Torryn also spies the card game, hopping off the barstool she takes her drink with her intent on joining in.
When the tiefling reaches the table a dwarf says, "Oi you got money? Five gold buy in to play."
Torryn replies, "Yeah, I'll take a buy in." She hands over the money and sits in an empty seat at the table. As she begins playing, the tiefling quickly realizes the more she loses the more likely the gamblers are to talk. She switches from her normal gameplay to intentionally play down and loses the next few hands.
The gamblers settle in to take the newcomer's money talking and joking boisterously. Torryn waves down a server and orders a round for the table.
Ivy meanders away from the bar, drink in hand, and fades into the background of the room, watching.
Used to her friend noticing something and then disappearing into the background, Jofina also takes a look around the room. She spots the same group of laborers and nudges the harengon saying, "Hey Kairos, see those guys over there? I think they might talk to us."
Kairos says cheerfully, "Let's go talk to them!" He hops off his bar stool, mug in hand, and makes his way over to the table with the eladrin.
"Hello. May we sit?" says Kairos politely.
"Ya got drinks? Mines empty," says one of the men. Jofina quickly offers the man her untouched mug of Dock's Piss.
He looks at the offered drink asking, "Don't ya like it?"
"Oh no! It's all yours!" exclaims Jofina.
"Hey mine's empty too, lass," pipes up another laborer. Kairos quickly sets his mug down in front of the man.
"Hey! What about me?" the third laborer implores drunkenly, "Where's my drink?"
Before Jofina can offer to buy him a drink, Ivy slips behind the man stealthy pouring her ale into his mug.
"Oh! Come have a seat next to me magic fey elf," he says enchanted by the eladrin and drunkenly pulling out the chair next to him.
The half-elf notices one of the patrons talking conspiratly to the bartender and sidles back over to the wall nearest to them hoping to eavesdrop on their conversation. She hears the man ask, "What do They want?"
The bartender answers, "They're looking for that well-dressed fellow who was in here a couple nights ago."
"The one who left with the Xanathar whore?" he whispers. The bartender nods and the two keep chatting for a bit before he leaves with a couple of mugs of Dock's Piss.
The man sitting next to Jofina shamelessly flirts with her while his friends talk excitedly about the harengon's adorable ears and regale the two with stories. The laborer finally pauses his story to take a drink allowing Jofina to ask some questions of her admirer.
"I'm looking for a man who was in here two nights ago. He has wavy red-blond hair and was well dressed. Perhaps you saw him leaving with a buxom woman," she flirts, touching his arm lightly while speaking. He is enraptured by her fey wiles and just stares at the eladrin.
His talkative friend speaks up, "Yeah we saw 'im. 'e was in here with another richly dressed man. Two of them really stuck out. Well, one of the men leaves, tryin' to get 'is friend to go too. But the other guy, the one you're lookin' fer, 'e didn't want to leave yet 'cause 'e had found 'imself a lady of the evenin'."
"What's an evening lady?" asks Jofina confused.
"Ya know. A lady who makes money in the evenin'."
Jofina just stares at him.
"A strumpet. A workin' girl," says the man awkwardly.
The eladrin's admirer blurts, "A lady who takes money for sex."
"Oh, a whore. You should have just said that," Jofina says matter-of-factly.
The storytelling man groans and says, "I was just tryin' to be polite, with a lady such as yerself at the table. Yer friend left with the whore, and we saw a few other people leavin' 'round the same time. That's as much as I know."
Across the room, Torryn is downing mugs of ale while slowly losing almost all her chips to the boisterous and talkative gamblers. The tiefling expertly loses most hands, but not enough to run out of chips, while asking subtle questions without seeming suspicious. It's a delicate balance, but the cunning tiefling manages it beautifully. Eventually, the gamblers tell her the same information about the woman leaving with Floon.
One of the more inebriated men adds, "She was completely setting him up, that Xanathar whore. I saw five men follow them out, don't know what happened after that. But I do know they're often found at a warehouse on the corner of Candle and Castle Lanes. Just look for the snake symbol."
Smiling to herself, Torryn knows she has the information she needs. The tiefling starts really playing the game now, winning more hands than she loses almost breaking even. She notices her two elf friends are standing nearby watching over her shoulder.
"How long are we going to let her keep gambling?" Jofina asks Ivy.
"How long will it take her to lose it all?" replies the half-elf shrugging.
But Torryn doesn't lose a single hand. In fact, she is on fire! She takes down three more large pots, now up by ten dragons. But her friends are becoming impatient waiting.
"Torryn, come let's head out," Jofina says to her.
"Wait. Just one more hand," the rogue replies. The cards are dealt, and she's sure she has another winning hand. Then one of the gamblers she had lost to most often pulls out an ace, winning the hand and completely cleaning out the tiefling. She groans in defeat.
"I tried to save you," the eladrin says matter-of-factly.
"Fine. Let's go. But I need a drink for the road," Torryn says, clumsily holding out her drinking horn for the bartender to fill it.
The group leaves the bar, walking and sharing what they learned. They plan to head over to Candle Lane to check out the warehouse Torryn is drunkenly telling them about. Then around ten to fifteen feet down the road Torryn stumbles toward the gutter and vomits.
"I'm good to go," she calls out giving them a weak thumbs up.
Ivy sighs and leans against the wall next to the tiefling saying, "You lost your money. You vomited. Go home Torryn."
The tiefling attempts a few steps, tripping over her feet she tumbles to the ground.
"We're going to have to help her home. Do either of you know where she lives?" Ivy says.
Both Kairos and Jofina shake their heads and shrug.
Ivy looks at Jofina saying, "Then we're just going to have to bring her home with us."
"She sleeps on the floor though," is the only reply from the fey elf.
"That's fine. I'll throw her a blanket. Maybe," Ivy says, done with Torryn's drunkenness.
The group parts ways, agreeing to meet for breakfast in the morning to make a plan. The women head off to Ivy and Jofina's. Kairos waves goodnight and merrily makes his way home to his shop and the comfy bunk he keeps in the back room.
The next day, after the women meet up with Kairos at one of Jofina's favorite open-air seating breakfast places, they all head off to find the warehouse. Despite spending a drunken night on the floor, Torryn is wide awake and ready to go.
Candle Lane is gloomy, the buildings are so tall and tightly packed that sunlight only reaches the street at high sun. Down the lane, a faint flickering light pierces the perpetual gloom, like a beacon. Across the street from the only working streetlamp is a ramshackle two-story warehouse surrounded by a high fence, and with a winged snake painted on the door.
Around the corner, in an odorous alley, Torryn spots a second-story window and says while pointing, "I'm going to go in up there."
Jofina looks up asking, "And do what?"
"Sneak around. Check things out," replies Torryn.
They quickly form a plan. Torryn and Kairos will go in through the window and take a look around. Jofina quickly offers to be a lookout since she's not very sneaky in her heavy armor. Ivy will wait on the small balcony of the building next door to relay information between the two groups. With their plan in place, Jofina heads to the front of the building, and the others begin climbing.
From her position in front of the warehouse, Jofina can hear the ruckus the others make climbing the buildings. And thinks to herself, They sure are loud. And taking their sweet time.
Finally, the tiefling and harengon climb in through the window and tumble into an upstairs office. At the last minute, Ivy decides to follow them in. Looking around the office they see some desks and a steel alarm bell on the wall.
Torryn goes over to investigate the alarm. Then she says, "I think it's connected to the door. We'll need to disarm it first."
Ivy comes over to take a look too. She follows the line coming from the bell, down the wall, and into the floor. She shakes her head and points at the line, "I think it's ok." And she goes over and opens the door.
After looking around a few offices they open a door out to the second-level balcony. The area is stacked with crates and overlooks the main warehouse below. The main warehouse is a disaster, tables and chairs have been tossed carelessly around the floor along with the corpses of about a dozen men.
Kairos hears three or four people hiding among the crates on the floor below, thanks to his bunny ears' acute hearing. Torryn sees the flash of a weapon of another assailant as she sneaks her way to the other side of the balcony to get a better look around. She flashes some hand signals to let her companions know and suggests they get Jofina from outside.
Ivy nods and turns to go back through the offices. However, she didn't realize Kairos had closed the door behind them and walks right into it. BANG!
SQUAWK! - An alarm exclamation from somewhere below.
Knowing she's given away their position the half-elf groans and swears before opening the door. She makes her way through the offices, bumping into desks and chairs in her haste, and throwing herself out the window. Somehow the druid manages to land on her feet instead of in a heap on the ground.
Kairos lets out a yelp and flattens his ears to his head as two crossbow bolts fly past him, just missing. But not fast enough to avoid the third bolt hitting him.
A kenku pops out from behind a crate and runs up the stairs. Kairos knows he needs to think fast on his feet and glowing hourglasses shine in his eyes. The kenku grips their head, howling like a wolf in pain. Kairos slips back into the office, quick like a bunny.
Outside, Jofina hears the commotion from within the warehouse. Knowing her friends need her help, she climbs the fence into the yard. At the last second, she remembers Ivy in the ally and yells, "Ivy I heard something inside. I'm going through the window to help. You should go into the upstairs window."
The eladrin smashes her way through the window and sees two kenkus hiding behind crates their crossbows aimed at the second floor. She shimmers, then appears behind the kenku closest to the stairs slicing him with her longsword. He screams and falls to the side. A second kenku comes at Jofina flanking her from the other side and cuts her with his short sword.
Upstairs Torryn sneaks up behind the kenku at the top of the stairs. She stabs her dagger into his side, right to the heart. When she pulls the dagger out the kenku falls, tumbling down the stairs. From the main floor, another Keku appears and shoots the tiefling with a crossbow bolt.
Ivy climbs back in the window and sees Kairos trying to stop the blood flowing from a wound in his shoulder. She casts a healing spell and the harengon's wound seals up. He gives her a relieved and thankful smile.
The fight rages on out in the main warehouse. Kairos and Ivy come back out and see the paladin surrounded by kenku. The sorcerer hums a lullaby to the rhythm of a ticking clock and one of the assailants slumps to the ground.
Jofina yells, "Thanks!" and then slices into her other opponent, who falls from the crate he was standing on, dead. His friend stabs the paladin in the back, bringing her down to her knee.
The eladrin then watches a crossbow bolt hit the tiefling at the top of the stairs and she falls to the ground, unconscious.
Ivy sends a healing chant to her fallen friend, reviving Torryn with her druid magic. Then she sets an arrow to her short bow and lets it fly at the kenku who shot the rogue. The arrow passes through her head and she falls off the crates she's standing on.
Squawk! "Retreat!" screams a kenku running out the door.
Jofina pushes herself up swinging her longsword at her last attacker. She squawks and jumps back out of the way before running after her compatriot. Jofina takes another swing trying to stop her from leaving, but misses again. She leans against the crates closest to her, gestures to the slumbering kenku at her feet, and groans, "We should tie this one up."
Torryn jumps up and comes racing down the stairs, running past Jofina chasing after the runaway kenkus. Ivy follows her down the stairs but stops to pull out some rope and tie up the sleeper. She hears Jofina sigh in relief and knows her friend has healed herself of her wounds.
Behind them, the three women hear a door open and turn to look. They see a human man poking his head out of a small door under the stairs saying, "Ello. Is it safe?" He looks around the room and upon seeing the dead gang members, the well-dressed nobleman crawls out and says urgently, "But Floon! We have to get Floon!"
"Where is he?" asks Ivy.
"I don't know?" the man replies shrugging.
"Who are you?" Torryn asks.
"I'm Renaer Neverember. Two nights ago I saw Floon leaving the bar with a woman. I went over to say 'ello and found he was very intoxicated. I was concerned he was too intoxicated and offered to escort him home. That's when five thugs jumped us and I woke up here. Alone. I fear they may have mistaken Floon for me and taken him gods know where!" the man replies.
"Why you?" Jofina asks.
Renaer says, "The Zhentarin thinks that my father embezzled a large amount of gold while he was the Open Lord. And that he hid the dragons somewhere within the city. They think they can find it by using an artifact called the Stone of Golorr, which was recently stolen from the Xanathar Guild. The Zhents thought I knew something about all this, but I swear I don't. I haven't spoken with my father in years." He holds up his hands defensively.