Session 4: The Way to Waterdeep
General Summary
The party wakes in a collective hangover after the rager they attended the night before; in particular, Eieb and Anteries find themselves lying naked together in a barn outside of the city, Vlatigor watching with placid eyes from a nearby stall. Everyone meets up at the Silvershields' estate to locate Venda Briarwind, Lyle's friend and owner of a passage ship company operating out of Baldur's Gate, according to his conversation with Narcissa the night before. A servant leads them to the Silvershields’ master bedroom, knocking on the frame of large, wooden double doors. "Come in!" Shouts the friendly voice of Lyle, and the servant opens the doors. Inside is a windowless room with an exquisitely large bed, on which sits Lyle, Seg, and Tabitha, all in loose, black sleepwear. They catch the end of their conversation-- to Seg, Tabitha says, "It's settled then? How exciting!" and they laugh together.
Lyle seems delighted to see the party. "Ah, champions! How was your night?" They greet him and explain the situation, and Lyle leads them to Venda's guest room. Venda tries to hide the fact that he accidentally killed a blood servant during a sharpsugar fit the night before, but he is unsuccessful due to the pungent smell of fresh blood, and is very embarrassed. To change the subject, he tells the party that he saw their prowess in the Arena of Teeth fight and offers them reduced fare to Waterdeep in exchange for acting as on-call soldiers during the voyage. The party accepts and boards the passenger ship The Gate's Gullet. After boarding, they are asked by a begged by a poor woman to take medicine to her sick son at Eltrochul Academy in Waterdeep, and they agree.
During the first day of the voyage, the party mingles with other passengers and crewmen, learning some news about piracy by The Drowned Fleet operating in the area. The Fleet has signed an agreement to not attack marked passenger ships so long as valuables are shipped separately, enforced by random inspection. The southern pirate guild, The Red Death, however, seems to be becoming more savage. The party plays cards and makes friends with two devout clerics of Palana, The Raven Queen, Keeper of Death. Anteries uses Raedon's Book of Sending to update him on their progress on "acquiring funding and supplies for the mission."
On the second day of the voyage, Yuan-ton begins to feel strange. Sneaking through the ship, he finds that the potential source of his discomfort is a half-orc man, who he tries to befriend by saying they were "meant to be together." The half-orc gets flustered and shoos him away. Later, First Mate Jacobs explains that curfew has been extended to moon high to allow viewing of the Moonwrasse spawn, which lights the ocean in bioluminescence on the full moon during summer months. The view is spectacular, but partway through screams and growling can be heard from below decks. The passengers panic, and the party finds that the half-orc has transformed into a werewolf and murdered his wife. Yuan-ton attempts to fight the beast alone and gets bitten and mauled, later learning from the clerics that he has contracted lycanthropy. The party and crew easily defeat the werewolf, and the ship lands in Waterdeep the following morning.
In Waterdeep, Rick uses his party gown to disguise himself in case bounty hunters are alert for his presence. Yuan-ton and Eieb investigate the New Olamn Bard's College and see the Melody Mount Walk, a sound-reactive tunnel with a freshman symphony that has been playing continuously, through rotated students, for 32 years. The pair reach the college's entrance and are unable to open it.
After regrouping, the gang goes to Eltrochul Wizard Academy and brings the medicine to Caspian Ventura, an upperclassmen divination student. When he has been cured, he offers a free casting of Scrying or Divination, but the party asks for information on his Clever supplier as payment instead. He directs them to his source, Tellurin, a third-year evocation student. After some deception, Tellurin tells them that she does not know her source, only that the Clever comes in with regular supplies shipments from the teleportation pad linked to Marsember, The City of Spices. The pad is operated by several skilled wizards and costs exorbitant amounts of money to run; it is usually reserved only for official university business.
The party remembers that Professor Tandy Jenwell taught at Eltrochul and attempts to find him. They learn that he had a drunken psychotic break several weeks ago and has been missing since. His position was replaced by Professor Adam Ricks, whose office Eieb infiltrates and floods out of spite.
"Tellurin tells them that she does not know her source, only that the Clever comes in with regular supplies shipments from the teleportation pad linked to Marsember, The City of Spices."
