The Yawning Portal
A fight breaks out in The Yawning Portal between a Half-Orc called Yagra Strongfist and a shifty looking human with an eyeball tattoo on his head Krentz and his goons. The fighting quickly stops after a Troll covered in Stirges climbs out of the hole in the middle of the tavern. Together with the tavernkeep Durnan a group of random people stands up to the monsters and manages to drive them back into the hole they came from. Not after getting smacked around a bit and getting bitten by the sturges though. This group of people was made up of 4 individuals, coming from very different places, who had never seen eachother before. A Dragonborn Sorcerer called Punko, a Shifter Barbarian by the name of Cracuta, a Changeling Rogue called Skálmöld who is currently disguised as a Human bountyhunter named Gerbalt, and a Gnome Artificer named Quertex.
A wealthy looking bystander comes up to this group, impressed by their bravery and ask them to sit down. He introduces himself as Volothamp Geddarm, famous writer and explorer. He explains to the party that he hasn't seen his drinking buddy Floon Blagmaar for a while and that he's getting worried that something bad may have happened to him. He offers the party a large reward would they be able to track down Floon. After some more drinks and hearing more of the story the party accepts Volo's quest and heads of to the tavern where they last met up, The Skewered Dragon.
Bloody Streets of Waterdeep
On their way towards The Skewered Dragon they come across a bloody sight in the street. Some sort of battle seems to have happened here with multiple casualties. The guards seem to be taking care of the situation by having captured what look like three bandits. The party notices that both the the living and dead bandits have tattoos. Some of them a winged snake, others eyeballs. They pick up some information that this was a fight between two gangs and that this isn't the first time something like this has happened recently. The get told by the guards to move and and so they do.
Old Xoblob Shop
A bit further on they find a very peculiar looking shop. In between the dull grey building they find a shop with a deep purple facade. Out of its window hangs a stuffed beholder. Above the door hangs a sign whose elaborate letters spell out "Old Xoblob Shop".
Not being able to hold their curiosity they enter the shop as a cloud of lavender-scented purple smoke trails out of the shop's door as the open it. Every wall inside of this shop is painted purple, and every dusty knicknack on the shelves is dyed a deep violet. The hairless old gnome sitting cross-legged on the counter wears plum colored robes. His head is decorated with nine purple face-painted eyes. He welcomes to party to the shop and introduces himself as Xoblob. After some very interesting interactions, he convinces the party to browse his wares and even buy some items. Cracuta purchases a Mask of the Undead, Punko buys a Purple Diary, and Quertex purchases a Purple Flask. They then head on towards their goal of finding Floon.
The Skewered Dragon
They reach their destination of The Skewered Dragon. The tavern looks like a ruin. Both of its front-facing windows are smashed, and a ship's anchor is lodged in the roof. Through the windows, they can see a group of haggard patrons drinking from huge tankards. At first none of them wanted to interact with the party but after some persuasion from Skálmöld they get told that the remember seeing Volo and Floon drinking here together a couple of nights ago. After Volo left, Floon stuck around long enough to meet with another friend: Renaer Neverember, the son of Waterdeep's previous Open Lord. When Floon and Renaer left they were followed by 5 other men and they haven't seen them since. They do tell the party that these men are known to frequent a warehouse on Candle Lane, and are told to look for a symbol of a flying snake on the door.
The Hideout
The party quickly finds the mentioned warehouse and manage to find themselves inside through the back entrance. Once inside they get ambushed by a group of Kenku who barrage them with arrows. After making quick work of most of the enemies the remaining ones lay down their weapon and surrender without delay.
After some interrogation one of the remaining Kenku starts repeating "Xanathar sends its regards" in a deep orcish accent. They also tell them "Tie up the pretty boy in the back room!" and "Follow the yellow signs in the sewers." Kenku communicate by mimicking things they have heard in the past and the party quickly works out where to go next. Before they do though they check the back room the Kenkus mentioned where they find Renaer Neverember who was hiding after having slipped free from his rope bonds. In another room they also find a Paper Bird.
Renaer tells the party that this group of bandits was ordered to capture him but took Floon by mistake. Renaer then also tells the party about how he believes the reason why the Black Network is after him is that they think his father embezzled a large amount of gold, and that he hid the gold somewhere in the city. They believe they can find the gold by using an artifact called The Stone of Golorr, and thought that Renaer would know more about all this. Which he says he doesn't.
After some time inside the warehouse the party hears a group of guards approaching. Quertex and Cracuta attempt to flee the scene but are too late in doing so. The guards quickly order everyone present to lay down their weapons, and after having explained the situation the guards start arresting the remaining two Kenkus. One of the guards then introduces himself to the party as Hyustus Staget, captain of the city watch. Understanding the situation Captain Staget tells the party that the guards currently don't have the resources to help them find Floon right now. But he does tell them they can take their hired guard with them. They both agree with this and the Tiefling Paladin called Nithgrea joins the party.