Lords' Alliance support comes in these ways:
- City Watch officials are notified that the characters
are on "official business" for the Lords' Alliance and
instructed to provide support whenever they can.
- Mirt (see appendix B), a Masked Lord who serves as
Laeral Silverhand's advisor, invites the adventurers
to dinner at his dilapidated mansion as a pretense for
sharing rumors and imparting pearls of wisdom.
- The characters are granted a brief audience with
Laeral Silverhand (see appendix 8).
ORDER OF THE GAUNTLET
Any non-evil character can join the Order of the Gaunt-
let in Waterdeep. Clerics, monks, and paladins are
especially welcome. particularly if they worship Helm,
Torm, or Tyr.
The order's mission is to seek out and destroy evil
before it gains a foothold. The surge of violence in Wa-
terdeep spurs members of the order to find adventurers
who can help return peace to the city.
An individual can be a member of the faction and also
a member of the clergy or a knight pledged to a specific
god or temple. Members of the order act alone or in
small groups. Some are Waterdavian natives; others
hail from distant settlements and have come to the city
on temple business.
Order of the Gauntlet support comes in these ways:
- If the adventurers require healing or other magic, a
member of the order can facilitate meetings with local
priests who worship non-evil deities.
- If the adventurers get in trouble with the law, a mem-
ber of the order puts in a good word for them and
tends to their affairs while they're incarcerated.
- Hlam (see appendix B) might show up and help the
characters in an impending battle.
XANATHAR GUILD
Anyone can join the Xanathar Guild, which, despite its
name, doesn't have official guild status in Waterdeep.
Before membership is granted, however, an applicant
must pass a test that always involves the perpetration
of a serious crime. Possibilities include murdering a
guild member who has failed Xanathar in some fashion,
kidnapping a Waterdavian citizen, collecting a ransom,
robbing a hire-coach, or looting a warehouse.
Among low-ranking guild members, rampant specu-
lation goes on about the true nature ofXanathar. Few
have any inkling that their boss is a beholder, and fewer
still have seen or spoken to the eye tyrant.
Given that the faction is fundamentally evil, advance-
ment is based on one's wiles or one's ability to dispose
of rivals. Competition within the organization is fierce
and often deadly. Evil characters can thrive in this envi-
ronment, but the risks are seldom worth the reward.
Xanathar Guild support comes in these ways:
- Any member given an assignment might receive a
monstrous bodyguard or assistant (such as a bugbear,
a kenku, or a wererat), who has secret instructions to
kill the guild member if they fail to complete the as-
signment as ordered.
- The guild grants access to secret tunnels and safe
houses (hidden cellars) underneath Waterdeep.
- Xanathar might send a gazer (see appendix B) to help
(and spy on) an up-and-coming guild member.
ZHENTARIM
The Black Network has an open recruitment policy. Any-
one can join. Tenacity and loyalty are highly valued (but
not essential) traits in new members.
The Zhentarim is a shadow organization that trades
mercenaries and goods (including weapons) for profit. ft
has long sought to gain political influence in Waterdecp,
but the strength of the city's Masked Lords, nobility, and
professional guilds makes that difficult.
The Zhentarim in Waterdeep is a fractured organi-
zation. Those who support Manshoon want to destroy
Xanathar and seize political and economic control of the
city. Those who oppose Manshoon want to expose and
destroy him before they are themselves apprehended or
driven out of the city by the local authorities.
Adventurers can't join Manshoon's cause, but they can
join and receive aid from the Zhents who are opposed
to him. The leaders of this branch of the Black Network
are retired adventurers who have become business
entrepreneurs. Their adventuring party was called the
Doom Raiders because their specialty was plundering
lich lairs (which are called "dooms"). They are desper-
ately trying to gain a legitimate economic foothold in
Waterdeep, which requires making alliances with local
guilds and nobles. Manshoon's war against the Xana-
thar Guild has thrown their plans into upheaval.
The Doom Raiders (described in appendix B) con-
sider themselves the true Zhentarim ofWaterdeep. The
group's leaders are Davi! Starsong (Master of Opportu-
nities and Negotiations), lstrid Horn (Master of Trade
and Coin), Skeemo Weirdbottle (Master of Magic), Tash-
lyn Yafeera (Master of Arms and Mercenaries), and Ziraj
the Hunter (Master of Assassination).
Zhentarim support comes in these ways:
Davi) can arrange meetings with influential nobles
and members of city guilds.
- Adventurers can procure discounted potions and poi-
sons from Skeemo's shop, Weirdbottle's Concoctions,
which is located in the Trades Ward.
- Tashlyn offers affordable mercenaries, either thugs
costing 2 sp per day each or veterans costing 2 gp
per day each.
- Istrid offers loans of up to 2,500 gp with an interest
rate of 10 percent per tenday.
- Adventurers can hire Ziraj to assassinate someone, in
return for some undisclosed favor to be called in later.
INTRODVCTIOS
