the detonation of a gas spore in Undermountain and
inherited some stray beholder memories. Driven by a
compulsion to carve out his own domain, the gnome
settled in Waterdeep, bought the Old Xoblob Shop from
its previous owner, and tried renaming it after himself,
yet everyone kept calling it the Old Xoblob Shop. He
therefore restored the old name and changed his name
to Xoblob. ·'No relation to the eye tyrant hanging in the
window!" he says.
Trinkets. The gnome sells an assortment of trinkets.
As the characters search the shelves, roll on the Trin-
kets table in chapter 5 of the Player's Handbook to de-
termine what catches their eye. Xoblob sells any trinket
for ld6 gp.
Floon's Fate. The gnome doesn't know Floon by
name, but he recognizes liis description. He is reluctant
to share information, but offering him a new purple
item or succeeding on a DC 13 Charisma (Intimidation
or Persuasion) check loosens his tongue. He says that
Floon and a well-dressed fellow of similar appearance
and bearing (Renaer Neverember, though the gnome
doesn't know his name and didn't recognize him) were
jumped outside the shop by rough-looking men in black
leather armor. Xoblob thinks there were five attackers,
but none of them looked familiar. One of them had a
black tattoo of a winged snake on his neck.THE SKEWERED DRAGON
The Skewered Dragon faces an alley that runs between
Net Street and Fillet Lane in the Dock Ward, not far
from the Old Xoblob Shop. When the characters ap-
proach it, read:The Skewered Dragon looks like a ruin. Both of its
front-facing windows are smashed, and a ship's anchor is
lodged in the roof. Through the windows, you can see a
group of haggard patrons drinking from huge tankards.F loon has not been at the Skewered Dragon since the
night of his disappearance, and the dive's dockworker
patrons are loath to talk to strangers. A bribe or a suc-
cessful DC 13 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion)
check gets them to open up.
Floon's Fate. Several of the regulars remember see-
ing Volo and Floon drinking together a couple of nights
ago. After Volo left, Floon stuck around long enough to
meet with another friend: Renaer Neverember, the son
of Waterdeep's previous Open Lord, Dagult Neverember.
"Chip off the old block, that one!" sneers one patron.
'Just another spoiled, rich noble who likes to rub our
noses in it!" says another.
The two drank and played a few rounds of Three-
Dragon Ante before leaving around midnight. Five men
followed them out, and no one in the tavern knows what
happened after that. The men who left shortly after
F loon and Renaer haven't returned to the tavern since,
but they're known to frequent a warehouse on Candle
Lane. "Look for the snake symbol on the door," says one
of the tavern regulars.
CHAPTER 1 I A FRIEND IN NEED
CANDLE LANE
The buildings on either side of Candle Lane are so tall
and so tightly packed together that light touches the
street only at highsun.Gloom envelops a narrow alley as dark as a dungeon-
and as odorous as one, too. Nearly all the streetlamps
have been smashed. The only light that pierces the
darkness is a faint flickering from down the lane, like a
distant candle.The flickering comes from the one streetlamp still intact
on Candle Lane, kept alight by a continual flame spell.
A warehouse is directly across the street from the lamp,
which illuminates a black winged snake (the symbol of
the Zhentarim) painted above the door's handle. Char-
acters who have ties to the Zhentarim recognize the
symbol, while others can recall its significance with a
successful DC 10 Intelligence check.Z HENT ARIM HIDEOUT
The hideout on Castle Lane (see map 1.1) is a ram-
shackle two-story warehouse. The Black Network has
other sanctuaries in run-down buildings like this one
throughout Waterdeep (meaning that the floor plan of
this locale can be reused for other Zhent hideouts).
The warehouse stands at the back of an outer yard be-
hind a high fence. The gate on the fence isn't locked. The
building's three points of entry-a front door, a large
warehouse loading door, and a painted-over window-
are locked. The front door has a s liding peephole that
can be opened from the inside. Either of the doors or
the window can be unlocked by a character who makes
a successful DC 12 Dexterity check using thieves' tools,
or can be forced open with a successful DC 10 Strength
(Athletics) check.
Knocking at the doors or the window alerts a group of
kenku inside that someone is coming. The kenku scram-
ble to hide behind toppled furniture, making a ruckus
that any character who has a passive Wisdom (Percep-
tion) score of 16 or higher can hear. These kenku are all
that remain of the Xanathar Guild force that murdered
almost everyone in the warehouse after the five Zhen-
tarim thugs captured Renaer Neverember and Floon
Blagmaar and brought them here. Floon was taken
away, but Renaer succeeded in staying alive by hiding.
Now, the young noble is trying to figure out how to slip
past the kenku, who are lazily searching the warehouse
for loot while waiting to see if any more Zhents show up.Zl. MAIN ROOM
The Black Network's main business is recruiting,
training, and equipping sellswords. Crates packed with
weapons, rations, boots, black uniforms, and other gear
fill the warehouse.
When the characters try to enter, determine if the four
kenku inside are aware of their presence before reading
the boxed text.