WoW C2.S1.04: South Ward Saviors, Zhent Initiation

1. Following the events of WoW C1.S3.03 Finding Floon, Filing Forms, our adventurers entered WoW Chapter 2: Trollskull Alley. They continued cleaning up Lost and Found Tavern and making the place their own. Meanwhile, Vonna completed a secret mission with the Red Sashes, beating up a dirty guard on behalf of the community he was extorting for sexual acts. The party also witnessed a few odd incidents around the manor.
2. The group went to the The Yawning Portal for dinner one night and passed three Street Urchins conducting a gambling game on a corner. Fearonuh played and lost a few silver, later revealing she knew the game was rigged. She took pity on the kids, and was playing out of charity.
3. Later that night the group returned to Trollskull Manor and heard some banging in the basement. A bit wary of the escalating ghost incidents, they pulled open the hatch to find the Urchins cowering below. The hatch had apparently slammed shut behind them after they broke into the manor to seek refuge from the cold night. The hatch also felt magically heavy, and they could only assume the ghost had something to do with that. The words "NO TRESPASSING" had appeared in soot on the floor since they came in. After Fearonuh slapped them up a bit, they took pity on the Urchins and negotiated that they could stay there if they agreed to work cleaning and eventually running the tavern. They agreed. 

Ghost Encounter

1. Vonna once again used her divine senses to try to locate the ghost, and found him standing in the kitchen. She saw a pale figure of a man, and she spoke to it, asking what it wanted. It responded by writing simple words in the dust. It wrote "MY TAVERN", and then "SHAMBLES". Vonna asked what he could do to help, and it wrote "BARKEEP" and then disappeared. She relayed this to the group and Metatronia helped remind them that Volo had told them the place was never the same after the original owner passed away. The group was was cautiously optimistic that they could appease the ghost by fixing up the place.

Final Tavern Negotiations

1. The next day Renaer Neverember came to visit, having heard about their new property from Volo. He had recently gone on a mission to visit an oracle named Hlam who lived in an isolated cave high in the cliffs of Mt. Waterdeep. Renaer had been hoping to learn more about the item that had been hidden inside his locket, and was stolen during with the events of WoW C1.S2.02 Warehouse Warfare, Sewer Stronghold. Renaer's face went white when the party told them their new name: Unknown. Those words were also part of the cryptic wisdom uttered by the oracle Hlam: "Four vultures circle something rotten. Three eyes see what is forgotten. Two legacies, lost and found. One city’s fate, around them wound." Renaer felt that this had to be a sign, and that the group might be the key to unraveling some larger plot. Renaer agreed to invest in the tavern business, and negotiated for 10% equity by providing $350gp. Total startup cash was $1,250gp, with the party members each contributing $100gp. The tavern tracker can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BO1hrJPBq812UnU7FfDbY2ynZB5RGRhrnCqoQF52GoQ/edit
2. Broxley Fairkettle from the Innkeepers Guild also stopped by with some contractors to go over final plans and sign paperwork. The group decided on a green and purple color scheme. They also discussed the food program, having a simple perpetual stew for dinners, and a continental breakfast spread in the mornings. 

Zhentarim Mission- South Ward Extortion

1. Later that day the party received a visit from a flying black snake carrying a scroll. It was from Tashlyn Yafeera, acting head of the Zhentarim, Waterdeep Chapter. She commended them on rooting out the Unknown and avenging their comrades. She offered them full membership in the Zhentarim, Waterdeep Chapter if they completed another introductory mission. She asked them to scope out the South Ward where there was a Thieves Guild extorting businesses. This was the same area where both Bruce and Bartholomew Glockenspiel had been drugged and kidnapped when they first arrived in Waterdeep. The last thing Bruce remembered was a pretty lady offering him a drink.
2. The group traveled to the South Ward the next day and approached shopkeepers about the extortion. They were tight lipped, fearful of any further harm. The party eventually made their way to a tavern and were tipped off by an employee that the gang was inside. Metatronia lured the four ruffians outside with her feminine charm. The gang members quickly recognized TMM05, apparently they had been on the lookout for the strange construct.
3. Combat ensued! Bruce was looking in nearby alley and came upon the same pretty lady who he had seen the day he was kidnapped. She used the spell of Suggestion and forced him to "finish the keg". He ran into the bar and began drinking straight from the tap. The rest of the group began battering the ruffians and quickly took out the strongest looking one thanks to Metatronia's well placed dagger and . Then the female mage rocketed into the air and began attacking them with ranged magic. Two Kenku hidden on a nearby rooftop also started loosing arrows at the party with deadly accuracy. 
4. The party shot back at her with ranged attacks but she put up a magical forcefield, deflecting the attacks. Then Pyper channeled the raging chaos within her to break through the shield with a powerful Scorching Ray, knocking the mage out of the air onto the hard cobblestone 20 feet below. 
5. Fearonuh took the opening to dart into the tavern and shook Bruce out of his daze, getting him back in the battle. Meanwhile TMM05 rammed the mage at full speed, nearly killing her if it weren't for her renewed forcefield. In a final act of desperation the mage cast Fireball, causing a massive explosion and setting nearby buildings ablaze. All the party members took major damage and Vonna, Bartholomew and Fearonuh were nearly killed. Bruce drunkenly attempted to finish off the mage, but swung wide with his greatsword. Finally, TMM05 tore into the mage with its greatdrills and split her body apart in a grizzly finishing maneuver, spraying blood all over itself and the surrounding area.
6. The party tended to the wounded, and were aided by onlookers who thanked them for ridding the neighborhood of the gang. They also helped put out the fires with the aid of mages from Unknown.

Initiation into the Zhentarim

1. The next day the party received another flying black snake with official bids to join the Zhentarim, Waterdeep Chapter. Tashlyn Yafeera instructed them to meet Yagra Stonefist at the The Yawning Portal and that she'd walk them over to the chapter meeting in two nights time. They arrived at a warehouse with Yagra and she conferred with a massive half-orc guard at the door to let them in. They were made to wait in a separate room until it was time for their initiation.
2. They were then brought into the main warehouse chamber which was filled with over 50 Zhents. Tashlyn presided over the initiation and instructed them to all close their eyes and hold out their hand. She had them repeat the following credo:
   • The Zhentarim is your family.
   • You watch out for it, and it watches out for you.
   • You are the master of your own destiny.
   • Never be less than what you deserve to be.
   • Everything- and everyone- has a price
   • Every blade is a black blade
   • Yet all blades are red when they’ve done their work.
3. Then they each felt a nick on their palms before a metal object was pressed into the resulting blood. They opened their eye and found an iron coin with image of a winged snake on it. Welcome to the Black Network

Zhentarim Leadership Election

1. Soon after, a prominent looking man named Urstul Floxin made a motion to have an election for new leadership, given that current chapter president Davil Starsong was in jail indefinitely. Tashlyn Yafeera reluctantly calls for vote, and the vote passes. Urstul presented his candidacy. "If you hadn’t heard... we are at war with the Thieves Guild after Davil botched a negotiation for a continued truce. They struck our warehouse on Candle Lane, and they gutted our people like fish. We look weak! Let me commend our newly initiated members, because they are the only ones actually taking out our enemies. In wartimes we need a different kind of leader. We don't need a pompous diplomat like Davil. Under him we have gone soft, and we don't even have our lucrative contracts with the City Guard anymore. We don't need a warrior like Tashlyn. She lacks the vision for the bigger strategy. What we need is a general, and I will be your leader! I have trained many of you. I have led many of you into battle, and most recently in the campaign that stopped Tiamat from breaching into this world.  I will restore the reputation of this chapter, and we will once again be respected and feared. We will strike back at the Overseer and his minions, and strike hard. Who's with me?!"
2. The voting was conducted and Urstul won, and was officially inducted as chapter president. His next move was to replace the rest of the executive committee with his own loyal people. The party learned from N8 that Urstul Floxin had made his career as a deadly assassin and was indeed one of the most impressive fighters in the room.
3. Urtul also ordered everyone to be on the lookout for a gnome named Dalakhar. Apparently he was a real bad guy and was responsible for turning the Thieves Guild against the Zhentarim. He was to be captured alive and brought to Urstul.