The party received a formal invitation to dine with Zardoz Zord aboard his grand vessel, anchored farther out at sea. As their smaller boat cut across the waves, a bronze dragon briefly surfaced beside them—its scales gleaming in the sunlight before it dove back beneath the foam, leaving only ripples and wonder in its wake.
Aboard Zord’s opulent ship, the evening unfolded with wine, laughter, and veiled negotiations. Between courses of exotic seafood, the party discussed the fate of Cracuta’s parents, still part of the Sea Maiden’s Faire menagerie. In exchange for their freedom, the group promised to introduce Zardoz to the elusive vampire Artor Morlin, the ancient lord who dwelled beneath Waterdeep’s City of the Dead. The bargain was struck—cunning for freedom, shadow for spectacle.
Later, the party traveled to Amendfarm, the prison-farm outside Waterdeep, to meet the shifter they had encountered during their earlier journey to the Snobeedle Orchard. Cracuta spoke privately with him about their shared bloodline, hoping for kinship or answers. Yet it became clear this shifter came from different roots entirely—another tribe, another origin. Still, the meeting left Cracuta with a sense of quiet connection, a reminder that even distant branches share the same wild tree.