jARLAXLE^1 S LETTER
One of the Bregan D'aerthe spies carries a letter for
Laeral. It bears the wax seal of Luskan and is written in
jarlaxle's elegant hand, in Elvish. It reads as follows:To Her Ageless Majesty, Laeral Silverhand, the Witch-
Queen of Stornanter, Lady of the North, She of the Seven
Sisters, Chosen of Mystra. and Open Lord of Waterdeep:
Your spies are to be commended! Rest assured, my
presence in your fair city is purely recreational-though if
fortune smiles upon me, this visit could benefit us both.
Your predecessor left the City of Splendors in a sorry
state, but you have done wonders to lift the spirit of the
citizenry during your short time in office. I know how
politics offends you, so forgive me for taking this oppor-
tunity to point out the obvious. We can make both our
cities stronger and strike back at he who robbed Waterda-
vians of their wealth and dignity. I'm speaking, of course,
of that dirty sack of rats, Dagult Neverember. That's the
phrase you used to describe him yesterday to the emis-
sary from Mirabar, is it not? Evidently, my spies are also
to be commended!
Why let Neverember get away with his crimes against
Luskan and Waterdeep? Can we be allies, if not friends?
These are the questions that haunt my dreams, as surely
as I haunt yours.
Sincerely,Laeral isn't surprised thatjarlaxle lacks the courage to
meet her in person. She thanks the drow messengers
for delivering the letter, cautions them to mind the City
Watch and the City Guard, and heads back to the Palace
ofWaterdeep. The drow spies return whence they came.CONVERSATION WITH LAERAL
If Laeral becomes aware of the c haracters, she appears
before them and asks what business th ey have with Bre-
gan D'aerthe. If the characters have not met the Open
Lord before, she might impress them with her plain-
spoken manner and lack of pretense. Alone and outside
the political maelstrom, she acts more like an adven-
turer than a city official.
1f the characters inquire about the letter, she shows it
to them and asks their opinions on Luskan's joining the
Lords' Alliance. In her mind, Luskan is a greedy pirate
stale that can't be trusted under any circumstances. If
the characters feel similarly, she trusts them enough to
ask for their help in finding and securing Lord Neverem-
ber's hidden cache of dragons. In exchange. she prom-
ises them a 5,000 gp reward and Waterdeep's gratitude.
DAY OF WONDERS PARADE
The Day of Wonders is the grandest parade of the fall
season. andjarlaxle wants the Sea Maidens Faire to
be a part of it. In the guise of Zardoz Zord. he pays a
CllAPTl!R 7 I MAESTRO'S FALL
visit the day before the holiday lo the House of Inspired
Hands. Waterdeep's temple of Gond, to coordinate with
the acolytes in charge of organizing the parade. He pre-
sents a detailed plan that commingles the attractions of
the Sea Maidens Faire with the bizarre inventions of the
temple- a plan that is well received.
The evening before the Day of Wonders. workers be-
gin assembling the wagons and floats of the Sea Maid-
ens Faire on the pier. Early the following morning, the
docks are a hive of activity as performers practice their
routines and caged creatures arc offloaded one by one.
An hour before highsun on this crisp and windy autumn
day, the Sea Maidens Faire makes its way to the House
of Inspired Hands to meet up with the Gond worshipers
and their contraptions. From there, the parade strikes
out in earnest, marching through Waterdeep's streets
to the cheers of the local folk. Zardoz Zord serves as
grand marshal, leading the parade on the back of a rain-
bow-feathered diatryma summoned using his feather of
diatryma summoning (see appendix A). For jarlaxle, the
parade is a chance to show off and be cheered; he has no
ulterior motive for participating in the event.WHTLE THE Boss Is AWAY
As the Sea Maidens Faire parades through Waterdeep,
the characters can slip aboard one or more ofjarlaxJe's
ships. If things turns violent aboard a ship, its captain
uses a sending spell to contactjarlaxle.JarlaxJe is
supremely confident that his crews can overcome any
threat, so he doesn't rush to their defense at the first
sign of trouble. Only if the characters do considerable
damage will he treat their attack as a setback.
If the characters escape a confrontation on the ships
but leave behind witnesses who can identify them, it
takes Bregan D'aerthe several days lo track them down
(assumiogjarlaxle hasn't already met them). Although
killing the characters would be easy at that point.jar-
laxle would rather put them to work for him. He has
them watched but doesn't provoke hostilities until such
time as the reward clearly outweighs the risks.ESCAPED BEAR
The Sea Maidens Faire parade ends where it started- at
the docks. As the attractions are being loaded back onto
their ships, the Faire's polar bear gets loose, fleeing into
the Dock Ward before its handlers can corner it. News
of the escaped bear spreads quickly, and sightings are
frequent. If the characters impressed one of the drow
ship captains, he contacts them by way of a sending
spell and asks for help. He wants the bear retrieved be-
fore the City Guard finds and kills it, offering a reward
of either^250 gp or a potion of water breathing.
The characters can track and corner the polar bear
with a successful DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation) or
Wisdom (Survival) check. Whether a check succeeds or
fails, each attempt represents^1 hour of searching. If the
characters find the bear within 4 hours, it can be lured
back to the Sea Majdens Faire with food or a successful
DC 14 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. The captain
then makes good on the promised reward. If the charac-
ters don't find the bear, members of the City Guard get
to it first and kill it.