Chapter One: Shadows in Waterdeep

[eldritchknight]

As you all sit, exchanging names, the food arrives from one of the serving wenches, and before you is a bowl of the Grinning Lion's famous fish stew, and a loaf of bread to mop the gravy up, along with mugs of iced ale.

After you are done eating, another man, standing five foot six inches tall, clothed in a dark gray hooded cloak, black trousers and shirt, walks to your table. On the index finger of his left hand is a ring with the heraldry of House Amcathra blazoned on it.

"I believe that you gentlemen have been waiting for me, please, let us retire to a more private area,"

And with that, the man walks toward the door to the private room, motioning you all to follow.

[Trogdor]

"By all means," Elistar says, rising from his chair. He takes his half-full glass of wine and follows the representative from House Amcathra into the private room.

[DretKyrin]

"Certainly," he says, also taking the remainder of his wine with him into the private room.

[harleysa]

At the mention of a private room Devlin cannot help but rub his hands in anticipation, it would seem that this job might pay far better than he had anticipated

[Krill]

Sanaktkhefnaktdet politely allows the rest of his new acquaintances go first and follows them up into the room.

[eldritchknight]

The black-clad man pulls a key out of his pocket, and opens the door. He motions the others in, and closes the door behind him.

The room you find yourselves in is dim and smoky from the low hanging chandelier with wax candles lighting the dark, wood paneled room. A window is set in the wall opposite the door, paned in what appears to be leaded glass. A circular table with chairs for five people sits in the center, with the chandelier above the table.

The man walks to the table and sits, waiting for the others to take their seats before he begins to speak.

'œI am Garvold Stonekeep, a senior agent of House Amcathra,' he says.

'œYou have been brought together to aid the House in a delicate matter, one we want solved quickly and quietly before rivals from other Houses get wind of our current misfortune. Recently, a gang of thieves has begun extorting merchants of our House for protection, and have proved their ability by assassinating some fairly well-protected merchants who have refused to accept their demands. As the thieves have not shown very much magical ability, we have brought in Elistar and Sanaktkhefnaktdet, two capable spellcasters, to the group. Devlin is here because of his knowledge of the Waterdeep underworld, and Tandien is here as muscle.' He pauses, and sips from his wine glass.

'œWe want you to find those responsible, eliminate them, and bring back any information of the groups structure. We will pay a standard fee of 100 gp, plus you keep any loot found, of course,'

[harleysa]

"That dosn't sound too hard" Devlin says nonchalantly "Do you have any idea who specifically we might be up against? Anybody specifically with a grudge against your house..."

[Trogdor]

"I've been sent to help you as I can," the elven abjurer replies. "And so I will. I accept your offer."

"As to the rest, I agree with Devlin. What additional information can you give us?"

[eldritchknight]

The man in black looks back at you.

"All I have is a list of the businesses that were targeted," he says.

"I suggest that you talk to those affected for more information,"

[Krill]

Sanaktkhefnaktdet extends his hand towards the man, "I think being able to read the list would be immensely helpful to our cause."