Waterdeep coup d'etat attempt (Eleasis the 17th)

## Combatants

Coup plotters
Waterdeep

## Leaders

Varragh il Sunayn
Harminil
Alaric Eversteel
Lord Protector
Lovac

## Strength

Varragh il Sunayn
Harminil
Alaric Eversteel
Tyavos
Vahayon
Revenant Varis Aloro
The entire garrison of the palace including:
Lovac
19 Elite Guards
17 Arquebusiers
4 Regular Guards
18 Griffon Guards
4 Inquisitors

## Casualties

All bar Varragh captured
3 Griffon Guards
2 Sergeants
3 Elite Guards
3 Regular Guards

The Eleasis the 17th coup d'etat attempt in Waterdeep was an attempt by Varragh, Harminil and Alaric to overthrow Draven Rylstrea, commonly known as the Lord Protector.

# Prelude

In late Kythorn, Draven Rylstrea, a Major of the Watch in the Southern Ward, staged a coup, possibly with the assistance of Luskan, Calimshan and Thay, murdering the all the Masked Lords and establishing himself as the Ruler of Waterdeep. Immediately he started purges against magic users, as well as cutting off the Field Ward from the rest of the City, following attacks against guards there. Varragh, Harminil, Alaric and their companions, searching for a cleric, as well as due to their association with the Field Ward and its people, notably the Knights of Aloro, started conspiring against the Lord Protector, seeking to overthrow him. Posing as dignitaries, the Lord Protector allowed them to enter the palace, being aware of Varragh's and Harminil's identities.

## Scouting

Inside the palace, Varragh, Harminil and Alaric started scouting as much as they could in the days they had time before their audience with the Lord Protector. Varragh tried to jaunt in areas the group was prohibited to enter, much to her dismay. This led to the group being locked in their quarters for a night, taking a glimpse on the defences of the palace.

## The Dinner invitation and the Embassies

The following day after being locked, an attendant arrived, informing the group that they were invited to a dinner with the Lord Protector himself. The group agreed to this, hoping that it would provide an opportunity to sneakily kill the Lord Protector. Now that they weren't locked anymore, the group explored a little more. Harminil brought some wine as a token of his visit as a Sir of Nightstone to the Luskan embassy, learning that Lester Harrow, the Luskan ambassador to Waterdeep, has long been good friends with Draven. Alaric went to the Calimshite embassy in an awkward encounter, as his pressing questions regarding their dealings with Waterdeep annoyed the Calimshites. Varragh tried to court the Thayan embassy, but was rejected at the entrance.

## The Dinner trap

Unbeknownst to the party, the dinner was nothing more but a trap. When the attendant returned with the fine clothes that were offered to the group, the group met with the Lord Protector, who in his dining hall was surrounded by various griffon guards for his own protection. After introducing himself to the party and asking them about their business from Nightstone, the servants started attending to dinner business. A sergeant interrupted the Lord Protector suddenly during the discussions with the party. Draven simply announced that were urgent matters he had to attend and fled the dining room. Harminil realized what was about to happen and warned his brothers that trouble would come to them. Not long after, more griffon guards entered the room, together with Lovac, the Thayan assassin that had failed to master Zaerk and inflict any damage to Nightstone and the party during his attack.

# The Battle

## Escape from the dining hall

Realising that they were surrounded, Alaric proposed a surrender, however Harminil goaded Lovac into a fist duel. Lovac, with his pride on the line following his embarrassing failures, accepted. Varragh, Alaric, Tyavos and Vahayon made their way near the balcony. While everyone was prepared to see the duel of Harminil with Lovac, Harminil immediately sprinted towards the balcony, managing to jump and land safely on the balcony of the 4th floor. Lovac retaliated by grappling Alaric, the seemingly easiest target. Varragh in response, used her pole of collapsing and knocked a guard down who was blocking the way to the balcony. Herself, together with Tyavos and Vahayon, made their way to the balcony and teleported to the 3rd floor with their combined Fey/Misty step abilities. Alaric managed to escape Lovac's grapple with a misty step of his own, following Varragh and the twin brothers of Harminil.

## The Battle at the 3rd floor

Having successfully fled the dining hall, and with many guards and Lovac at their backs, the group made their way to their quarters in order to escape. Unfortunately, only Varragh was fast enough to flee, with Harminil having to sprint through the 4th floor, avoiding all the guards in the process to rejoin with his brothers and Alaric who were pinned down inside their quarters. Alaric attempted to prevent anyone from entering their quarters and swarming them, where as Harminil, tapping in all his inner strength, attempted to cut a way through the elite guards to create an escape route. Despite the groups best efforts, more and more guards entered the quarters, threatening to surround them. Alaric used his divine magic to induce sleep on some guards to help relieve some of the pressure. In the meantime, Varis, who had unbeknownst to the party save for Alaric, followed the group from Nightstone, entered the palace via the sewers. Detecting the severity of the situation, the vengeance-obsessed fallen paladin charged towards the enemy, skillfully cutting down two guards at the staircase, hoping to quickly reach Harminil, Alaric, Tyavos and Vahayon. Via Harminil's efforts and Varis' arrival, an escape corridor was nearly formed, before various guards and some Thayan inquisitors filled the gaps, essentially trapping the group. Alaric, for all his valiant defence, eventually fell, before being healed by Varis' magical abilities. Harminil, seeing Alaric nearly dead and Vahayon gravely wounded, realised that the battle was lost and surrendered, baiting the Lord Protector loyalists to accept his surrender, with an offer of providing information on Varragh's whereabouts. Nodding to his brothers, Tyavos and Vahayon followed suit. Alaric surrendered as well, with Varis being commanded by Harminil to do so as well.

## Varragh's escape

Varragh, being the first to reach the quarters of the group, started running towards the courtyard, following the quick realisation that the coup had failed. Running towards the courtyard, Varragh managed to avoid most of the gunners thanks to careful positioning, and successfully reached the lower courtyard, despite receiving numerous wounds. With the gates being locked, her only option was to scale down the cliffs, just as she had done with Harminil and Bandagh nearly two months ago. Luckily, either through sheer force of will or her own personal skill, she managed to climb down safely, stealing a carriage of horses along the way so that she may gather the Knights of Aloro for a daring rescue of the party.

# Aftermath

The captured coup conspirators were brought to the high security Stormhaven island prison, with a neck collar that removed all their magical abilities. Varragh managed to escape and roused the Knights of Aloro and the defectors led by Ulder Cole to plan a rescue attempt.