Session One - Waterdhavian Knights

Waterdeep, Eleint 30th, the Year of the Cauldron, 3:16 AM Kaine & Co. have been working with Balobar Stonefist, a dwarven merchant who suspected that someone was smuggling goods beneath his warehouse on Dender Street in Dock Ward. The first half of the comission involved finding out what route the smugglers were using so he can stop it up (Taking a circurtious route through the sewers uncovered an unknown trapdoor beneath an empty sundries shop on Lhestyn Court in Dock Ward. The second, optional part of the comission involved tracking the mordayn smugglers back to their source so he can report them to the City Watch. Which leads the party to a stakeout of Pier 18, the Luskan cog Pale Lady, captained by Rulthor “Blackhand” Dragussen at just past 3 bells in the morning.

After a comical run-in with a mermaid in the dark waters of the harbor, Kaine overheard a hushed, one-sided conversation between Dragussen and his co-conspirator, a sibilant hissing voice. A few minutes later, as the domestic animals of the city began acting strangely (and the gulls of Deepwater Island took to the air, shrieking in confusion), the pirates onboard The Pale Lady were electrified with violet-black lightning, seemingly burning their eyes out of their sockets and leaving them nothing more than smoking husks. Kaine took the opportunity to gather up some now "ownerless" goods, including Dragussen's maps and charts, a small chest of silver and assorted currency gems, and an iron strongbox (containing a disturbing amount of raw, unprocessed mordayn powder).

Then, the entire city and harbor were seized with a seismic shock as a hemisphere of blue/white lightning over a mile in diameter rose over the cityscape. Seized with fear, the agency kicked into gear, piling into their motorcycle for a hasty retreat. Without further warning, the city was sequentially inundated with outlandish monsters and abberrations of every possibly description. Evading a ravening pack of sea zombies merely brought the party into the path of a raging cildabrin. Taking to the rooftops, the party conducted a running battle against the cildabrin and soon engaged a two-headed ettin, a maddened girallon, a small pack of goblins, and a wheep. As they battled along the dockfront, other scenes of chaos and carnage raged across and above the once-sleeping city. After a short ten minutes, however, the chaos abated and the monsters returned to their underground lair, revealing a mile-tall wizard's sigil blazing over Deepwater Harbor in black and azure fire. A fiery eye within a pyramid set over an upside down mountain could only mean the return of the Mad Mage of Undermountain. Halaster was back...

Waterdeep, Eleint 30th, the Year of the Cauldron, 10:20 AM Lathan Carlysle, bookeeper for Carmine Fortunato, who himself works for someone else in the city, has gone missing. He presumably has with him a pair of ledger books; two books twin to each other. The job was accepted (at the rate of 2 gp/day plus expenses), on the condition that the books are returned to Mr. Fortunato (through his associate Mr. Ambrose Valciennes (owner and operator of Valciennes Finest Cuts in Trades Ward) before the evening of Marpenoth 2nd. Syd and Penny's first stop, after purchasing a small flower brooch from a vendor, was the home of Mr. Carlysle. On the way they encountered the "Singing Hand" of Brindul Alley. They discovered that, as Mr. Fortunato had indicated, the place had already been ransacked by his goons, who had thoroughly rummaged through any shred of evidence that might still be around. Despite this, the two investigators discovered two clues. Syd, by highlighting the paper under a paper that was written up with charcoal, discovered that young master Carlysle had a secret romance with a "performer" at the Jade Dancer Festhall on Dancing Court, South Ward named "Nikki". Penny, however, made the crowning discovery, a secret passage behind the fireplace of Carlylse's flat leading to a subterranean temple/murder room dedicated to the Dark Sun, Cyric. There, they discovered a table for the dismemberment of corpses, the equipment for the rendering of their fat into unholy candles for the altar to the dark deity, easy sewer access for the disposal of bodies, and a collection of 8 female hair samples, all blonde, but all from different women (later proven by witchy magic provided by Kaine).

After canvassing town (unsuccessfully) for rumors of a possible "big job" going down targeted at Carmine Fortunato, Kaine rendezvous'd with the party at Carlysle's apartment, there to be let in of the findings of his associates. While there, he discovered an unlooked for 9th lock of hair, hidden separate from the others behind a panel in Carlysle's wardrobe, that of an old woman. After an old copy of the Daily Trumpet was provided by Syd indicating that indeed, there was a ritual killer on the loose in South and Dock Ward, termed the "Lonely Hearts Killer" for the mad and ranting "love letters" found at the scene of each disappearance, the party set off first to headquarters for some analysis, then later to the Jade Dancer to see if they can warn or intercept a killer possibly targeting this "Nikki".

At the lab, the party discerned the diverse nature of the 8 victims, and that no corpse was present for any except the old woman's, the party took "The Beast" out for a trip to the City of the Dead where they determined that the lock of hair once belonged to Delenca Carlysle (1296-1375), wife of Wainwright Carlyle (1294-1360). The party, after impressing some guardsmen with their "wheels" resolved to check on any suspicious occurrences surrounding Delenca's death, but first, the Jade Dancer.

The Jade Dancer was a riot of fashion and fantasy. Kaine got it on with twin blonde escorts (Candy and Sandy), Syd danced the night away, and Penny spent a good chunk of the evening being hit on by male (and female) escorts, much to her chagrin. The headliner, Nikki Nightswallow, was introduced by Selcharoon Nrim, a flamboyant emerald clad wizard. Her act was a mesmerizing combination of mystical longing and bawdy showmanship that culminated in a bidding war for her evening's attentions.

While the party kept the Master of Ceremonies distracted, Kaine slipped away upstairs and donned a convincing glamour of Master Nrim, sweeping grandly into the boudoir of Ms. Nightswallow (finding her clad in amber pearls and little else). There, he informed her that her life was in danger, the "charity case", Lathan Carlysle that she had (inexplicably) been seeing was most likely the "Lonely Hearts Killer" and she was probably next. After arranging the party to be brought up to her chambers, they conspired to sneak her out of the Dancer when the festhall was attacked by a lone raving creature, a walking corpse whose head was burned to a blackened skull continuously surrounded in black flames. The beast, who failed to indentify himself, did bellow to have Nikki brought to him. Kaine interecpted the creature before he could harm Nrim or the staff of the Dancer, and the impulsive Ms. Nightswallow plunged into the fray with his swirling flame-wreathed flying heads to protect her companions. As the security of the Dancer kicked into gear, including some magical displays by Nrim, and the deployment of a larger than life nude jade golem of some sort, Kaine single-handedly checked the mad display of the black flamed beast, crushing him in a widely seen display of infernal might.

In the aftermath, as the Dancer was locked down, the party was introduced to the mysterious owner of the festhall, one Cathalishaera, a half-Shou female artificer of some sort, and also introduced to the security logs of the hall, one of which depicted the last known image of Lathan Carlysle leaving the Dancer on the night of disappearance being followed by.... Elminster???

• 3,250 XP each (for all encounters)

The booty of The Pale Lady:

• The valuable maps and charts of Draggussen depict harborage and current channels along the Sword Coast North, from Waterdeep to Luskan to the Sea of Moving Ice to Ruathym. They might be of great (or little) value to any number of wealthy sea captains, the Waterdhavian Navy, the noble House Adarbrent, the Master Mariner's Guild, or Laran's Cartographers.

• The small chest contained 18 silver coins and another 2 gold worth of small currency pearls.

• The large iron chest contained possibly 8 gold worth of unprocessed mordayn to the right customer...

For the events surrounding Halaster's Highharvesttide, the party receives:

• 829 cp in money (from goblins, orcs, and the like)
• 524 cp worth of jewelcrafting components (mostly from the tiny amethyst like eyes of the cildabrin)
• 2214 cp worth of alchemical components (from the cildabrin and the ectoplasmic remnants of the wheep)
• 2253 cp worth of enchanting components (from the cildabrin and the wheep again)
• 630 cp worth of inscription components (the violet blood of the cildabrin can be harvested for a unique dye).
• 876 cp worth of spell reagents (from the ettin, the wheep, and the cildabrin).

For the events surrounding the attack of the black flame creature:

• 950 cp worth of alchemical components (from the black residue ash remaining after his self-immolation).
• 958 cp worth of enchanting components (some parts of the ash from the flaming skulls is useable in enchanting rituals).

Special: The party also discovered masterwork anatomist's tools in the basement of Carlysle's flat worth 2.4 gp. The dyes used in the construction of the black and violet candles are valuable and imported from the Lake of Steam region, all told they could serve as alchemical, inscription, leatherworking, or tailoring components worth 5.5 gp. Finally, the candles themselves (7 now, but formerly 8, 4 black and 3 violet) are exceptionally valuable ritual components for dark magic rituals. Each is valued at 1 gp if sold on the black market.