Kled
A small jackrabbit-looking harengon with short ears rides around the corner on a bipedal lizard and stops in front of a watchmaker's shop. The harengon hops off his mount and peers in through the dark windows of the shop.
A curious neighbor comes out and tells the stranger, "If you're looking for Kairos, he left this early morning and hasn't been back. He said he was meeting friends for breakfast at The Cinnamon Scarf."
In a southern accent, the stranger says, "The Cinnamon Scarf. What kinda name is that?"
Then he hops back onto his lizard mount and gives her a kick in the sides saying, "Welp, you ready, Skaarl? This day's gonna require some mindblowing weirdness."
The two ride off following clues throughout Waterdeep in search of Kairos. At The Cinnamon Scarf, a waitress says she heard them talking about visiting a warehouse in the Dock Ward on the corner of Candle and Castle Lanes. Wasting no time the harengon races off towards the warehouse.
Along the way, he says to Scaarl, "Kairos is a lot harder to find than Gran Gran said. Hope we find our little buddy soon."
Riding down Candle Lane, the harengon hears the sounds of fighting coming from one of the warehouses. Then he sees two black-feathered bird-people burst out of a warehouse door, fleeing the scene.
"Let's go Scaarl! We got fightin' to do!" he says urging the lizard to run.
Inside the warehouse, Torryn goes over and gives the remaining kenku a kick in the leg, saying, "Let's wake the kenku and see what he knows."
The captive kenku startles awake with a
"Oh God!"
Then in a female voice, the kenku begs, "Please, just let me go."
Jofina interrogates the kenku, "Who do you work for?"
"Xanathar sends their regards," he replies in a deep voice.
"Where is Floon?" Jofina asks.
"No time to loot. Just get him to the boss," answers the kenku in a squeaky voice.
Ivy looks at him questioning, "Who's the boss?"
In a deep voice, "Xanathar sends their regards."
"Where's the boss?" asks the half-elf.
A high nasally voice responds, "Follow the yellow signs in the sewer."
"What sewers? Under Waterdeep?" asks the eladrin.
"Tie up the pretty boy in the back room!" says the kenku in a squeaky voice.
Jofina throws up her hands in frustration at the kenku's riddle speech.
Suddenly a harengon atop a bipedal lizard bursts through the front door calling out, "Hey there little buddy! You must be Kairos!"
Kairos jumps and turns around saying, "Me?!" Then more calmly, "Do you need something?"
"I've been looking for you," says the newcomer jumping down off his mount, "Gran Gran told me to find and protect you 'cause she sees a darkness hanging over Waterdeep. Said you were the one to stop it and send me back home to Noxus."
Kairos stares at the other harengon in confusion.
Then the newcomer notices the kenku struggling against his bonds and says, "Are you goin' to kills that one or what?"
Kairos replies, "We're interrogating him. But it's hard because they speak in riddles."
"You want me to do somethin' about it? I could threaten to feed him to Scaarl," the other harengon offers.
"Whoa! Let's not go that far!" Kairos says holding up his hands.
Ivy butts in, "Who's Scaarl?"
The newcomer motions to the biped lizard, "This here is Skaarl."
The kenku chimes in, scared, speaking smoothly in a British accent, "Alright. Alright. Look, we took the pretty boy back to our hideout in the sewers. Follow the yellow Xanathar's guild marks and you'll find him. Please, don't kill me, and don't feed me to the lizard."
Ivy says flatly, "I'm not opposed to feeding him to the lizard."
Torryn lets out a hearty laugh.
Suddenly they hear the sounds of dozens of boots on the streets outside. A male voice shouts out, "This is the city watch! We have the place surrounded! Anyone caught fleeing will be punished to the full extent of the law. Put down your weapons, we're coming in!"
Ivy, Torryn, and Jofina look at each other for half a second and then dash up the stairs at the same time.
The jackrabbit-looking harengon yells, "Where in the hell are you all goin'?" And runs after the women.
Kairos immediately lays down his weapons and steps away.
When the newcomer sees Kairos, the other harengon yells, "What is goin' on here little buddy?"
Kairos replies, "The city guard is pretty effective."
"If you say so," the other says. Following Kairos's lead, he stands beside his new little buddy because Gran Gran told him Kairos would get him home.
The guardsmen come in and point their weapons at the two harengon. Kairos holds his hands up where the guard can see them. But the other harengon stays atop his lizard mount holding his halberd should he need it.
The captain comes in saying, "I'm Captain Hyustus Staget of the city watch. Anyone trying to flee will be caught and punished. Lay down your arms and surrender."
The jackrabbit-looking harengon says in challenge, "I am Sir Admiral Major Kled, and I smell a victory potpourri!"
The captain looks the harengon astride the bipedal lizard up and down and dismisses him as a looney. Looking around the captain sees Torryn and Ivy in a tangled wrestling match at the top of the stairs. The half-elf is pulling on the tiefling's tail so the other can't outrun her. A second later the eladrin appears in the office door. She lithely steps over the tangled pair and sets her longsword on the ground.
Renaer says, "Captain Staget?"
The captain turns toward Renaer and stands a little straighter, "Lord Neverember I didn't expect to see you here."
"They saved me, Captain. Go easy on them," says Renaer, and the two step aside to talk.
Captain Staget returns and hands everyone a copy of the Code Legal saying, "Read this and become familiar with it. There are rules in Waterdeep. One more thing, I need to know where you can be found, should I have any more questions. Then you're all free to go."
Kairos immediately speaks up, "At my watchmaking shop."
Most of the others follow the harengon's lead and tell the captain where they can be found. Ivy tells him she's from the woods. Jofina shares the boarding house location where she and the half-elf share a room. Torryn stays silent, just staring at the captain. Jofina quickly calms the situation by saying Torryn lives with her.
As the group leaves the warehouse Renaer offers, "I could come with you, to help you find Floon. It's the least I can do after getting him mixed up in this mess."
The three women shrug and Kairos says, "Just don't die."
Renaer touches the hilt of his sword saying, "I do know how to use this."
The next day everyone meets up with Renaer at the warehouse. Jofina shows up with golden yellow skin and yellow-orange hair, all of her glowing like the sun. Everyone but Kled and Renaer had obviously seen the huge change in the eladrin's appearance because they barely took notice.
Kled on the other hand shouted, "What in the hell is goin' on?"
Without hesitation, Jofina responds with a delighted smile, "This is how I look in summer! I expected we would be fighting today and wanted to be bolder and more aggressive. So I woke up in summer."
The group follows Renaer down an alley to a set of stairs leading down to a big iron door. On the wall to the right of the door is a small yellow eye with spokes and blood stains.
Jofina exclaims, "That's the Xxanathar sigil! We must be on the right track."
The eladrin picks up a small piece of rock rubble. She cups it in her hands until the rock emits a red light and then hands it to Kairos saying, "So you can see."
Ivy jokes, "You mean you don't want to lead your child around again?"
She and Torryn laugh.
"Not really. I thought this would be better," replies Jofina.
Kled throws open the iron door to the sewers. Inside a putrid stream flows along the sewer tunnel in both directions. He rides in heading down the right tunnel saying, "Right is right."
"No, we need to follow the yellow. Let Ivy track for us," says Jofina.
Ivy leads the group through the sewers following the yellow marks expertly, despite that some of the marks are partially rubbed off. After about an hour she stops at a three-way intersection with a ladder leading up into a stone shaft.
"This is no time for stopping," says Kled. He tries to continue riding into the chamber ahead.
Ivy sticks her arm to stop him whispering, "Wait. I saw two floating meatballs with eyes about forty feet ahead. Right next to our next mark."
"Chaaaaarge!" yells Kled riding Skaarl into battle.
"Wait…" the half-elf yells, wiping off the mud and poop that spattered on her face as Skaarl and Kled splashed forward.
Skaarl charges in and head butts one of the eye-meatballs out of the air to the ground with a splash. Growling, the lizard takes a bite out of the creature while Kled swings his halberd slicing into it. In one crazy charge, the creature is lying in the water bloody and swollen, looking pathetic. Jofina's eyes light up in awe & amazement watching Kled's spectacular performance.
The gazer shoots two rays out of its eye tentacles at Skaarl, but they cause no damage to the bipedal lizard. The second gazer fires two rays at Kled, which are also harmless.
One of Ivy's arrows hits the gazer with a solid thwunk.
Jofina steps between worlds and appears suddenly in the chamber. Brandishing her longsword the eladrin charges in the last ten feet slicing the downed gazer in half.
An hourglass briefly appears in Kairos's left eye as the harengon hurls a mote of fire at the remaining gazer, charring it to death.
Kled looks around for another enemy to fight, but only sees the two dead gazers. "Ah shoot! I was just getting started."
Ivy says with disdain, "Yeah, without the rest of us."
"Welp, at least I got some food for Skaarl, here," says the harengon tossing one of the gazers into the lizard's open mouth.
Ivy picks up the other gazer, saying to Kled, "May I?"
"She'd love that," he says.
Ivy tosses the other gazer into Skaarls waiting maw and then pats her on the head saying, "Good girl." The lizard leans into the half-elf's hand chirping and purring.
The group continues following the yellow chalk markings to the main sewer tunnel with Ivy in the lead and Kled right on her tail. The main tunnel expands out into a circular hub, with a pair of arrow slits carved into the outer walls directly across from each other. A stone door is set into the back wall and two passages run off the north and south of the hub.
Once again Ivy puts her arm out to stop Kled from pushing past her.
He half whispers, "You hear them brain weasels?"
Ivy listens and hears the sound of two humanoid creatures snoring softly into their helmets. She tells the others to wait and sneaks up to peek through the arrow slits seeing a goblin sleeping in both small rooms. The half-elf then slips back to the main tunnel and tells them what she saw.
"Damn cowards, making me ride over to kill 'em," says Kled.
"I guess it's that, or sneak past them. And I'm not that sneaky," says Jofina.
"They wouldn't hesitate to kill us," Torryn adds.
"Ok," agrees the paladin, "They won't expect it, so now's probably the best way to subdue them."
Kled grins, "So we're fightin'! Let's go Skaarl!"
From the back of the group, Kairos speaks up, "We shouldn't kill sleeping people."
"Ah shoot!" says Kled, standing down, "You sure little buddy?"
"Yes," says Kairos, shaking his head, ears flopping up and down.
They quietly make their way into the hub area looking for another yellow chalk mark. Ivy spots it next to the stone door and points the mark out to the others. But instead of heading to the door, the half-elf continues down the southern passageway. Kled right behind her. The others stop and wait at the door when Ivy tells them she's going to take a look around.
About thirty feet down the passage the half-elf finds a narrow passage in the wall to her right. She squeezes into the narrow tunnel which opens into the basement of a building in the Dock Ward.
A small figure appears and says, "This is Shard Shunner territory. Xanathar Guild isn't welcome here. Use your own exits."
When Ivy and Kled return to the group, she tells them about the Shard Shunner basement.
Torryn speaks up, "I've heard of them. They're a street gang that roams the Dock Ward. I also heard a rumor that they may be infected with lycanthropy."
"I've heard that same rumor," says Renaer.
"Let's get going. Floon isn't going to find himself," says Jofina opening the stone door.
Ivy slips in first following the hallway to another door. She opens it carefully and peaks through the door, seeing a coat room to the south and a passage leading north. She goes through the door heading south towards the coat room.
Jofina follows the northern passage and finds the sleeping goblin. The paladin points her longsword at him saying, "Drop your weapons and surrender if you want to live."
The goblin immediately surrenders. He drops his bow and arrows and unbuckles his belt dropping his sword still in its scabbard to the ground. Then turns to face the wall, kneels down, and puts his hands behind his back. Jofina wastes no time tying him up and gagging him. Then she heads down the stairs at the end of the hall into an empty room, the rest of the group following. They hear the sounds of a ruckus through the thin wooden door on the other side of the room.
Torryn quietly goes to the door, putting her ear to it, so she can hear better. Through the door she hears two voices arguing and the sounds of furniture being drug across the room. The rogue cracks open the door to take a peak and sees the guy with the eyeball tattooed-head from the Yawning Portal and a duergar. The two are trying to use pieces of furniture to barricade a door.
Torryn hears the eyeball-tattoo man say, "No Zemk. That won't work. We need to plug the gap at the bottom of the door with blankets."
The tiefling returns to her friends. After telling them what she saw, Torryn suggests, "We should go in and find out why they're trying to block that door."
Irritated Kled says, "Don't need a plan... long as I got this axe."
Despite Kled's objections, they have a short discussion before they slip into the room and surround the two distracted men.
Nonchalantly Ivy asks, "So, what you hiding?"
The two men jump and turn around. The guy with the eyeball-tattoos eyes go wide and he takes a step back away from the armed eladrin and harengon astride a bipedal lizard.
Kled steps forward saying, "You itching for a fight?"
The dark dwarf snarls, "I am." He pulls out a warpick and he and the warpick grow almost double in size. Now taller than the strange harengon and his lizard, the duergar hits Kleb with his warpick, hard.
Kled shouts at his attacker, "You'll pay for that one!"
Torryn stealthily steps over to the guy with the eyeball tattoo and slips her short sword into his side. He stumbles back into the wall, grasping his gaping wound. Then his eyelids flutter and he sinks to the floor fast asleep as Kairos finishes his spell.
Ivy shoots an arrow from her shortbow at the dark dwarf and it plinks off his scale mail. Then the druid sends healing energy at Kleb repairing some of his open wound.
Kled yells, "I'll kill you!" and slams his halberd deep into the duegar.
The dark dwarf staggers backward, barely alive. Skaarl headbutts the dark dwarf, knocking him to the ground, his armor protecting him from any serious damage. Kled brings his halberd down for another blow and misses when the duegar leans to the side.
Torryn turns to the dark dwarf and dispatches him with her short sword.
"Looks like this one knows how to swing a sword," Kled says appreciatively. Then the fighter turns to the man with the eyeball tattoo and raises his halberd to strike.
Jofina and Kairos step between them at the same time.
Jofina yells, "Stop! I absolutely refuse to let you kill a helpless man."
At the same time, Karios says calmly, "We don't kill sleeping people."
Kled reluctantly halts his attack.
"Now hold still and let me heal you," says the paladin putting her hand on Kled's wound, and healing light closes the wound.
While Jofina healed Kled the other three were busy discussing what might be behind the door and if they should open it.
"Don't open the door," Jofina says, "The longer it takes to find Floon the more likely he'll be dead and we won't get paid our hundred gold each…"
Kled interrupts, "You mean I'm getting paid for this?"
Torryn says, "I mean, he didn't say he'd pay you."
Kled growls at the tiefling.
She responds with a smile, "You know you want to open that door."
"Volo did say he would pay each of us when we returned with Floon. If you're with us when we return, I don't see why you wouldn't also be paid," Jofina says, certain her logic is correct.
Renaer adds, "I'm sure the payment can get sorted out once we safely find Floon."
Then the tiefling and jackrabbit harengon open the blocked door to find a 'gross ass bathroom!'
The room has a hole in the floor that opens into a cesspit. A gray ooze has emerged from the pit. Goblin bones float within the ooze's gooey form, and their pitted weapons lie on the floor nearby.
"Let's just close that door," says Ivy.
This was a really fun game session! We had a new player join us, whose character Kled from League of Legends has added chaotic fun to the party. We also learned in this adventure that Kairos, the sorcerer, is the moral compass of the group. Plus he keeps Kled's murderous impulses in check. And I love how Ivy and Kled have kind of bonded over Skaarl.
I only had a week to work on this chapter instead of the usual two weeks because we had a last-minute game schedule change. We play online and one player couldn't make it due to strong, tornado-like winds in their area. So please excuse the few rough spots throughout the story. We play again tomorrow, and I suspect Kled may try to lead us into battle against a gray ooze. Unless someone closes the door first.