Session 12: New Blood

**"East Castle Ward"**: The Cursed Axe, The Emerald Dagger, Gost home, The Silver Fang

Nimoar's Hold was saved from the trolls and the flames that threatened to consume the settlement. The adventurers assisted a young spellcaster named Ahgairon before they were flung through time once more into an office overlooking what looked like Waterdeep.

## Summary

### Familiar Faces

The adventurers found themselves in a circular office littered with maps each showing different proposals for dividing the city into wards. They saw the familiar face of Artor Morlin who looked just as he did in the Palace of Shoon in 130 DR. When Azir pressed that the adventurers and Artor had met before, Artor denied any recollection of them.

An older, white-bearded man was identified as Ahgairon — the same Ahgairon that the adventurers had celebrated victory with just moments before. When the adventurers first met Ahgairon he was now older than 20 years old.

Chomp stated that the party had met Ahgairon before and Deckard explained the circumstances of their arrival. The elderly Ahgairon explained that it had been close to 90 years since the Troll War and he had just established the new city of Waterdeep.

#### Ahgairon's Request

The Open Lord had been informed by Artor that the growing stench of vampires in "East Castle Ward" would pose a credible threat to Waterdeep's Future.

Ahgairon, trusting the adventurers' skill, offered to help them return home if they could investigate the supposed vampire population as either Ahgairon's or Artor's presence in the neighborhood would rouse too much suspicion.

### The Cursed Axe

The party looked to Azir for any leads on any less-than-reputable establishments that they could start at. They found themselves at a ramshackle bar at the southern edge of "East Castle Ward" called the Cursed Axe.

Inside the bar the adventurers met the barkeep, a halfling named Inas, who told them they could make a decent amount of coin by delivering wayward drunkards to the Gost house. The halfling told the adventurers they would receive coin from him after the Gosts took the drunks, "reformed them" and sent them off into the world, never to be seen again.

### The Emerald Dagger

Inas pointed the adventurers in the direction of the Gost house, the party decided to stake out a nearby bar to see if any folks would attempt to lure any drunkards to the house.

The adventurers settled into a bar called The Emerald Dagger where they met a halfling barkeep name Delia who informed the adventurers of recent distress in the neighborhood following the disappearance of Iwin Tesper, one of the Gost's neighbors. After Deckard bought the bar a round of drinks they spent the night observing the patrons. The party eventually spied a suspicious looking human who wandered out into the streets alongside a wave of inebriated patrons.

### Outside the Gost House

The party nearly lost track of the suspicious man but moved to the Gost house regardless. The Gost house was a three-story building on the northeast corner of its street which it shared with three other building of a similar size and design. The Ring of Mind Shielding that Vajra had given to the adventurers began to vibrate as the party moved closer to the neighborhood.

The adventurers found a path around the house where they saw the suspicious human from The Emerald Dagger on the floor near the rear gate of the property As the gate swung open, the man pleaded and said he wasn't supposed to be there. The man was being pulled towards the house before the adventurers made a commotion allowing the man to break free and flee the scene.

### Inas and Mathye

The group fled from the scene until the suspicious man stopped to catch his breath. The man introduced himself as Mathye and confessed that he had been luring others to the Gost home and was being paid by Inas of The Cursed Axe for his efforts. Mathye denied any involvement in the disappearance of the Tesper girl.

Returning to The Cursed Axe, the adventurers strong armed their way inside to confront Inas. The halfling admitted to working with the Gosts, particularly Elsa Gost, to gather folks for them to do with what they willed but Inas did not know what fate became of the family's victims. Elsa was a trendsetter in her local neighborhood and regularly threw parties for her network of socialites.

#### Artor Appears

The adventurers bound Inas and Mathye to chairs before they heard a loud rapping at the door of the tavern. The party readied themselves for combat as they opened the door only to see that it was Artor. He explained that Ahgairon had been scrying the group.

Artor offered the group a coinpurse from the Open Lord. Elsa Gost was known to bump elbows with the erudite and the coin could prove useful in impressing the noblewoman.

### The Silver Fang

As he left The Cursed Axe, Artor told the party that he would take care of Inas and Mathye before the end of the night. The adventurers learned that Elsa Gost frequented an inn not too far from her home called the Silver Fang. The party made their way to The Silver Fang where they were greeted by the barkeep, Neklin.

The party used the coin given to them by Artor to book several rooms int he upscale establishment as well as arranging for a tailor and other vendors to prepare them for their introduction to Elsa Gost.

## Player Characters

* **Azir** the human swashbuckler
* **Chomp**the shifter druid of the moon
* **Deckard**the half-elf champion

## Non-Player Characters

* **Ahgairon**, a male human spellcaster who the characters met at the beginning of the Troll War in 940 DR. He is the first Open Lord of Waterdeep.
* **Artor Morlin,**a male human vampire working towards removing a rising vampire threat from the newly founded city of Waterdeep.
* **Delia**, a female halfling and innkeeper of The Emerald Dagger.
* **Inas Grammarch**, a male halfling and barkeeper of The Cursed Axe. Inas hires folks to lure drunkards and other helpless folk to the Gost house where they are "taken away and given guidance."
* **Marmaduke**, the female tabby cat companion of Chomp.
* **Mathye**, a male human who works for Inas. He attempted to lure a dwarf to the Gost house but was overpowered and almost taken by the house himself.
* **Neklin**, the female dwarf innkeeper of The Silver Fang.