A Friend In Need (Quest)

A Friend In Need

Welcome to Dawic, where a wondrous tale of urban adventure is about to unfold. Our story begins with a gathering of adventurers at The Wizards Sleeve Inn and Tavern.

## Chapter 1

A bar brawl in The Wizards Sleeve, a usually secure tavern proves that nowhere is safe from the gang war between the Zhentarim and the Xanathar Guild.

Read the following to set the scene:

> You sit around a sturdy wooden table lit by a brightly burning candle and littered with plates cleared of food and half-drained tankards. The sounds of gamblers yelling and drunken adventurers singing bawdy songs nearly drown out the off-key strumming of a young bard three tables over.
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> Then all the noise is eclipsed by a shout:
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> ***"Ya pig! Like killin' me mates, does ya?"***
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> Then a seven-foot-tall half-orc is hit by a wild, swinging punch from a male human whose shaved head is covered with eye-shaped tattoos. Four other humans stand behind him, ready to jump into the frey.
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> The half-orc cracks her knuckles, roars and leaps at the tattooed figure - but before you can see if blood is drawn, a crowd of spectators clusters around the brawl.
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> **What do you do?**
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## What do you do?

The human combatants are five members of the Xanathar Guild (CE human bandits). The one with the eye shaped tattoos on his bald pate is their leader, Krentz.

Their foe, Yagra Strongfist, is a half-orc employed by the Zhentarim. Yagra fights for her pride.

### Getting Involved

If the characters choose to join the fray, have everyone roll initiative. But the fight is almost over by the time they push through the rowdy spectators. Krentz has only 3 hit points remaining and is trying to escape from underneath Yagra, but the four other Xanathar Guild members are poised to tackle her.

Pulling Yagra away from Krentz requires a successful Strength check contested by Yagra's Strength check. Yagra thanks the characters if they help her, but is disappointed that they interfered in the fight.

Remember how the characters deal with Krentz in this scene. If he survives, the characters might meet him again in one of the Xanathar Guild's sewer hideouts.

### Hanging Back

If the characters don't interfere in the brawl, Yagra knocks Krentz out cold but is then beaten unconscious by his companions. Durnan, the proprietor of the Wizards Sleeve, points towards the door, *"Out!"* he snarls, and the Xanathar Guild members flee carrying Krentz's unconscious form.

## Troll and Friends

In the third round of the brawl, trouble arises from out of the gaping well in the middle of The Wizards Sleeve's taproom:

> Shouts of alarm suddenly ring out as a hulking creature climbs up out of the shaft in the middle of the taproom - a monster with warty green skin, a tangled nest of wiry black hair, a long, carrot shaped nose, and blood-shot eyes. As it bares its yellow teeth and howls, you can see that a half-dozen bat-like creatures are attached to its body, with three more circling about it like flies.
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> Everyone in the tavern reacts in fear except for the barkeep, Durnan, who shouts:
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> ***"Troll!"***
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The troll, which currently has 44 hit points, has crawled up from the first level of the dungeon below to feed on tasty humanoid flesh, bringing nine stirges with it. Once in the taproom, the troll rises to its full height of 9 feet and rolls initiative. The stirges also roll initiative, but only the three flying above the troll pose a threat. The remaining stirges are bloated, having drained copious amounts of the troll's blood, and fly back down the shaft to digest their meal. As the troll regenerates, the effects of its blood loss become less apparent.

Most tavern patrons and staffers flee or take cover at the sight of the troll. The stirges attack the nearest characters as Durnan draws his great-sword, springs over the bar, and confronts the monster himself. As he attacks, he calls on the characters to focus on slaying the stirges and then douse the troll with lamp oil and set it on fire when it falls. Yagra joins the fight if she's conscious.

To any characters who help defeat the troll, Durnan says matter-of-factually, *"you fought well"*.

If any of the characters are reduced to 0 hit points during the fight, employees of The Wizards Sleeve step forward to stabilise them.

## Meeting Volo

Once the troll and stirges are dealt with, Volothamp "Volo" Geddarm pushes against the tide of patrons staying clear of the monster to greet the characters, lavishing praise on them for their bravery (whether justified or not):

> "You be adventurers, am I right? I could use your help.
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> Let's find a table to talk, shall we?"
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Volothamp Geddarm is known to most Dawicians as a braggart and notorious embellisher of facts. For all his faults, though, Volo is a soft-hearted sort who cares for nothing as much as his friends. At present, he is grievously concerned for the well-being of one of them. He begins his request with an air of charm and mystery, but it quickly devolves into tearful sincerity.
The figure who approached you strokes his moustache, adjusts his floppy hat, and tightens his scarf:

> "Volothamp Geddarm, chronicler, wizards and celebrity, at your service. I trust you've noted the violence in our fair city these past ten-days. I haven't seen so much blood since my last visit to Rouse! But now I fear I have misplaced a friend amid this odious malevolence."
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> "My friend's name is Floon Blagmaar. He's got more beauty than brains, and I worry he took a bad way home a couple of nights ago and was kidnapped - or worse. If you agree to track him down with all due haste, I can offer you ten dragons apiece now, and I can give you each ten times that when you find Floon.
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> May I prevail upon you in my hour of need?"
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Volo gives each character a small pouch containing 10 gp simply for accepting his quest. Characters who want to discover his intentions must make a DC 10 Wisdom (Insight) check. On a success, a character discerns that Volo is honest but might be stretching the truth about how much he can pay. *(Currently low on cash, Volo is awaiting royalty payments from Volo's Guide to Monsters. To make more coin, he began work on a new book, Volo's Guide to Spirits and Spectres. As it happens, his knowledge of spirits mostly concerns the alcoholic variety, and the writing has not been going well)*.

If pressed Volo urges the characters to trust him, and promises he'll have the rest of the reward, 100 gp per character, ready to deliver once Floon is returned to him alive. Volo describes Floon as a handsome human male in his early thirties with wavy red-blond hair. He was dressed in princely garb when Volo last saw him. Two nights ago, before Floon disappeared, he and Volo were drinking and merrymaking at the Drunken Sailor, a dark, bawdy tavern in the Dock Ward. Volo recommends that the characters start their search there.

### What Happened That Night?

Volo is embarrassed to admit he might have gotten his friend Floon in trouble, and he resists providing all the details of what happened the night Floon disappeared. Beset by writers block, Volo met Floon Blagmaar for drinks at the Drunken Sailor two nights ago. They drank and gambled for a few hours, and then Volo left. That's the last he saw of Floon.

Unbeknownst to Volo, not long after he departed, a drunken Floon met another acquaintance, Lord Renaer Neverember, at the tavern. The two left together, with Renaer offering to walk Floon home. Five Zhentarim thugs working for Urstul Floxin jumped both Floon and Renaer. They took them to a warehouse in the Dock Ward, so they could question Renaer - the son of Lord Dagult Neverember - about the whereabouts of the Stone of Golorr and his fathers hidden cache of dragons. Before the interrogation could begin, members of the Xanathar Guild ambushed and killed the Zhent guards in the warehouse. The new arrivals mistook Floon for Renaer, knocked Floon unconscious, and dragged him away while Renaer hid and escaped their notice.

Floon was taken to a Xanathar Guild hideout in the sewers. A small gang of kenku was left behind at the warehouse to kill any other Zhents who might show up at the warehouse. The presence of the kenku has prevented Renaer from trying to leave the warehouse.

## Finding Floon

Volo last saw Floon outside the Drunken Sailor, a dubious (and Zhentarim-owned) tavern between Net Street and Fillet Lane in the Dock Ward. The following encounters kick off the characters' investigation.

En route to the tavern, "Blood in the Streets" is a chance for the characters to see the City Watch in action. If the characters decide to look around, "Searching the Dock Ward" gives them a feel for their surroundings, and they might discover a strange place, "Old Xoblob Shop", that warrants further exploration. Once they arrive at their destination, "The Drunken Sailor" is an opportunity for the characters to get information from the patrons, which leads them to "Candle Lane", where their quest continues.