"A Friend in Need"

This series of events is the beginning of the journey of the heroes Darvin Amcathra, Damaia, Thorin Horn, and Sariel Holimion, members of The Silver Flames in the city of Ebonport.

The Silver Flames members are quiet drinking at their favourite local establishment, The Yawning Portal, ran by the legendary hero, Durnan, who has said to be the only person to travel deep within the catacombs that lie beneath Mount Ebon and return, finding riches and rewards that allowed him to establish the tavern. A fight quickly breaks out between two groups of patrons, one led by a balding man with a tattoo on his head, Krentz, who is verbally berating a tiefling patron Yagra (the module Waterdeep Dragonheist depicts her as being half-orc but since that race does not exist currently within the canon of Athos, I felt it best to change her race accordingly).

The heroes intervene on the behalf of Yagra, quickly dispatching of the bandits and Krentz, who Thorin leaves unconscious on the bar floor. A troll and a group of stirges enter the tavern through the well that leads deep into the catacombs of Mount Ebon. Durnan heroically throws a lantern of oil on the troll and encourages the heroes to deal with the threat of the stirges.

The group successfully defeat the stirges and are approached by one of the tavern's patrons, Volothamp Geddarm who is interested in requiring the heroes for a mission to which they agree but not before convincing Volo that they will be ten times his initial asking price of 10 gold pieces per character. The group learns from Volo that he is friend Floon Blaagmar is missing as he had not return home following an outing that the two of them had a few nights prior at the Skewered Dragon. Concerned for his friend's well-being, Volo anxiously awaits news from the heroes that his friend had been found.

Based of this knowledge, the group makes their way to the Skewered Dragon, where Damaia succesfully convinced the patrons to cough up any knowledge that they may have about the whereabouts of Floon. One of the patrons informs the group that a group of five men had followed Floon and Raenar Neverember out of the tavern that night and that these men were known to frequent a warehouse in the Docks Ward that bears the symbol of black wing dragon.

Damaia recognizes this symbol to be that of the Zhentarim and the group makes their way to the warehouses where they confront a group of kenkus who were left to guard the place. They easily dispatch of the kenkus before convincing their defeat foes to give up their knowledge about the location of Floon, who they said was taking to their hideout in the sewers and that they should follow the yellow arrows. The group finds Raenar in one of the closets, hiding from the Zhentarim. No long after the City Watch arrive and its Captain, Captain Hyutus Staget, questions the heroes about their doings and he is particularly wary of Damaia, unsettled by her demoic appearance. Eventually he lets them be as the group states that they are tracking down the Zhentarim that have kidnapped someone of interest to them and Staget wanting to rid himself of the Zhentarim as swiftly and with as little effort as possible on his part allows them to pursue their leads.

The group makes their way to the sewers, defeating a Gazer that was guarding the door to the Zhentarim hideout. Sariel notices a secret backdoor that takes them deep into the Zhentarim hideout, where they are confronted by the mindflayer Nihiloor and the tiefling wizard Grum'shar (again, a half-orc in Dragon Heist). The party kills Grum'shar with little effort but Nihiloor activates a portal and disappears.

The group rescues Floon and returns with him to the Yawning Portal where a visibly drunk Volothamp awaits them. Confessing that he does not in fact have the funds to pay the party for their heroic deed, he instead gives them the deed to Trollskull Manor, an estate in the city's North Ward. Darvin relunctantly accepts this reward and the group heads to the local magistrate to get the ownership officially transferred over.