Bregan D'aerthe

If one or more characters are drow, Jarlaxle Baenre has his lieutenants, three drow gunslingers, shadow these potential new recruits while keeping a safe distance. Fel'rekt Lafeen and Krebbyg Masq'il'yr watch the characters at night, and Soluun Xibrindas watches them during the day (doing his best to stay out of the sunlight). See appendix B for details on these lieutenants.
Characters who have a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 18 or higher see fleeting glimpses of the drow spies over a period of several days and can, with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check, ascertain that these spies are paying particular attention to the activities of the drow party members.

Jarlaxle Baenre

If the party reports the drow to the City Watch, Jarlaxle ends the surveillance and breaks off all contact with the characters for the time being.
On the other hand, if the characters try to confront the drow spies, they avoid contact but leave behind a black eye patch as a calling card. The next day, Jarlaxle Baenre shows up at the party's headquarters, using his hat of disguise to appear as a haberdasher named J.B. Nevercott. In this guise, he asks to speak privately with drow characters who he thinks might make suitable Bregan D'aerthe recruits. Only drow are given serious consideration, but Jarlaxle doesn't care if they're male or female. As a test, he offers them their first mission.
Jarlaxle is a consummate actor who never lets down his guard. Even if the characters discern his true identity, he never admits to being anything other than what he pretends to be.

Bregan D'aerthe Missions

Party Level	Mission Brief	Mission Requirements and Reward
2nd	“I’d like you to steal a silk handkerchief from a Waterdavian noble and give it to a tiefling girl who lives in a crate at the corner of Net Street and Dock Street, by the wharf.”	Finding a noble isn’t hard, but snatching one’s handkerchief without being detected requires a successful DC 12 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. One can also convince a noble to surrender it with a successful DC 12 Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion) check. The tiefling girl in the crate thanks the characters for the hanky. Reward: Each Bregan D’aerthe character gains 1 renown.
3rd	“This mission is so easy, a gang of street urchins could pull it off. I want you to deliver an exposé to Gaxly Rudderbust, the publisher of a local broadsheet called The Waterdeep Wazoo, without his knowing who wrote it or where it came from. You’ll find his office at the corner of Immar Street and Stallion Street, in the North Ward. Leave the story on his desk.”	Jarlaxle has written an exposé on devil worship among unnamed Waterdavian noble families. The story mentions orgies and secret deals happening behind closed doors. (Jarlaxle never passes up a chance to rattle the nobility and sow political unrest.) A character can break into Gaxly’s office while it’s closed, either during lunch hour or after hours. Getting in and out without being seen requires two successful DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) checks, and getting past a locked door requires a successful DC 10 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools (or a knock spell or similar magic). Reward: Each Bregan D’aerthe character gains 1 renown.
4th	“We’ve captured a member of the Xanathar Guild, and I’d like you to guard him for three nights until I or another member of Bregan D’aerthe reclaims him. You’ll find him trapped in your basement.”	Characters who search the basement of their Trollskull Alley tavern find Ott Steeltoes bound by iron bands of Bilarro. How he got there is anyone’s guess; even he doesn’t know. On the first night, Xanathar sends a gang of six bugbears to attack the tavern and rescue Ott. If the characters have moved Ott elsewhere, the bugbears attack the tavern anyway. On the second night, four members of the Dungsweepers’ Guild (commoners) with intellect devourers in their skulls visit the tavern. They order drinks and scope out the tavern, attacking if they find Ott or leaving if they don’t. On the third night, a beholder zombie attacks. After the third attack, Ott disappears as mysteriously as he arrived, along with the iron bands of Bilarro. Reward: Each Bregan D’aerthe character gains 2 renown.
5th	“We have a spy deep within Xanathar’s organization, but I fear he has been compromised. It breaks my heart to do this, but I’m sending you to eliminate him. Make it quick and painless, and for Lolth’s sake, be discreet.”	Jarlaxle identifies the traitor as a drow mage named Nar'l Xibrindas and furnishes the characters with a route to Xanathar’s lair through underground passageways. (Xanathar’s lair is described in the Spring Madness add-on. Characters who follow Jarlaxle’s route arrive at area X1.) Reward: Each Bregan D’aerthe character gains 2 renown. Each party member who contributes to the mission receives a trophy bearing a gold statuette of Jarlaxle (worth 250 gp).