Jarlaxle is a flamboyant, swashbuckling drow iconoclast. He leads a renegade drow faction called Bregan D’aerthe, made up of disenfranchised male drow, most of them culled from destroyed or disgraced houses. Gifted with a sharp mind, a sense of humor, puissant skill with a blade, and a wealth of useful magic items, Jarlaxle infiltrated the city of Luskan, brought a kind of order to its lawlessness, and declared himself its secret lord.   Jarlaxle likes to weave a tangled web of schemes that leave his enemies baffled — the latest of which is a plan to legitimize Luskan by making it a member of the Lords’ Alliance. The city’s unsavory reputation has thwarted all previous efforts, and the current leaders of the Lords’ Alliance have voiced their opposition to Luskan’s admittance. A few have flatly declared that the city will never be welcome in the alliance. Nonetheless, Jarlaxle aims to persuade Laeral Silverhand, the Open Lord of Waterdeep, to champion Luskan’s cause — even if that means losing other alliance members in the process. Tying Luskan’s fortunes to those of Waterdeep would increase Jarlaxle’s political and economic power on the Sword Coast.   Jarlaxle has come to Waterdeep in the guise of an Illuskan human named Zardoz Zord. “Captain Zord” is the master of the Sea Maidens Faire, a carnival that travels up and down the Sword Coast in three ships: the Eyecatcher, the Heartbreaker, and the Hellraiser (all words that describe Jarlaxle). He spends most of his time aboard the Eyecatcher, his personal ship. The other two vessels carry members of the carnival and their parade wagons.