uses their keys to open the characters' cells. ·'Hyustus"
warns them that the magister is corrupt and suggests
they flee the city before they're sentenced to death.
"Hyustus" offers to deliver messages or items of import
on their behalf while they make good their escape. The
doppelganger is hoping that the characters will entrust
the Stone ofGolorr to it for safekeeping. Failing that, it
hopes to wrest the stone from them during the chaos of
the jailbreak.
If the characters refuse to play along, the doppel-
ganger cries out in alarm, bringing the full weight of
the courthouse garrison (ten guards and two veterans)
down upon the characters, whom "Hyustus" accuses of
beating the cell block guards to death. These reinforce-
ments have no reason to believe that Captain Staget
isn't who he appears to be, and they side with him in
any conflict.
If the doppelganger obtains the Stone ofGolorr, it
promptly delivers it to Victoro Cassalantcr. If the char-
acters extricate themselves from the mess they're in,
they can retrieve the stone from Cassalanter Villa (see
chapter 6).MEETING WITH THE MACISTER
The presiding magister is Urnbero Zastro, a handsome.
eloquent, and fair-minded half-elf in his thirties. He"s
known for his finely honed sense of poetic justice and
for meting out unconventional punishments.
Magister Umbero Zastro has the statistics of a noble,
with these changes:- He is lawful neutral.
- He is unarmed, unarmored (AC 11), and worth 0 XP.
- He has these racial traits: He has advantage on saving
throws against being charmed, and magic can't put
him to sleep. He has darkvision out to a range of 60
feet. He speaks Common and Elvish.
The magister bas already heard the testimony of the
arresting officers, as well as that of any eyewitnesses.
The characters are given an hour to plead their case
while he asks questions. A character who tries to de-
ceive Zastro must make a Charisma (Deception) check
contested by the magister's Wisdom (Insight) check. A
character who loses this contest is found guilty of ham-
pering justice, locked up for a tenday. and fined 200 gp.
on top of any other punishments meted out for crimes
committed against the city and its citizenry. Those who
can't or won't pay the fine are sentenced to hard labor
for a year in Amendsfarm, a City Guard-run labor camp
among the farms ofUndercliff.
If the characters committed one or more crimes, they
are judged guilty and punished accordingly (see the
Code Legal handout in appendix C). A character who
pleads for leniency and succeeds on a DC 14 Charisma
(Persuasion) check receives an alternate punishment for
crimes that don't carry punishments of death or exile.
This check is made with advantage if the character has
renown in a respectable faction. such as Force Grey (the
Gray Hands), the Emerald Enclave, the Harpers, the
Lords' Alliance. or the Order of the Gauntlet. Alternate
punishments for lesser crimes include the following:
CllAPTER (^4) I DRAGON SEASON
The character must make beds and clean bed-
sheets at local orphanages for a tenday, under guard
supervision.
- The character must report to Morana Huldark, a
dwarf member of the. Guild of Watermen, and scrape
barnacles off the docks for a tenday under her close
supervision. - The character must spend the next month delivering
30-pound casks of drinking water to the guards sta-
tioned atop the city wa Its. - Pora tenday, the character must stand on a particular
street corner every afternoon from highsun to dusk
and. like a broadcrier, shout out the crimes of which
he or she has been found guilty while accepting the
scoldings and verbal lashings of the citizenry.
Characters who are tricked into acting in accordance
with the wishes of the doppelganger can be forgiven for
crimes committed during the jailbreak, but only if the
doppclganger is apprehended or killed. (lt reverts to its
true form when it dies.) Speak with dead spells can be
cast on the cell block guards slain by the doppelganger
to obtain testimony that clears the characters of the
guards' murder.
NEXT ENCOUNTER
ff a character becomes attuned to the Stone ofGolorr. it
reveals the location of the Vault of Dragons. beneath an
old tower in the Sea Ward, and the three keys needed to
enter it. When the characters are ready to visit the loca-
tion, proceed with encounter 7, '"Old Tower."COURTHOUSE: AUTUMN
The characters have learned that Penerus Stormcastle
is in the custody of the City Watch at a courthouse in
the Castle Ward. If they try to speak with him. they are
met by the clerk at the front desk, who informs them
that they must schedule a meeting with the magister
first, because visitors need her written permission to see
him. The clerk says the meeting with the magister can
happen no sooner than highsun on the following day but
can be persuaded to move up the time for a bribe of 10
gp or more.
There are alternatives to speaking with the magister,
if the characters have sufficient renown in a politically
influential faction-or a talent for deception:
A character who has at least 4 renown in the Harpers
can convince Mirt (see appendix B) to use his author-
ity as a Lord ofWaterdeep to secure Penerus's re-
lease. Mirt has personally lost coin to the Blood Hawk
Posse, so helping Fenerus squirm out of jail stings
him deeply.- A character who has at least 4 renown in the Lords'
Alliance can arrange a meeting with Laeral Silver-
hand (see appendix B) at Piergciron's Palace and con-
vince her to give F'enerus what he wants in exchange
for information on the stone's whereabouts. The safe
return ofNeverember"s cache of dragons is more im-
portant to her than the fate of one brigand. - The characters can purposely get themselves arrested
in the Castle Ward. Even a minor crime can result in
a brief period of incarceration until the magister has