A few days had passed and the team was making preparations for their upcoming adventures... those events are summarized below. Yuan had, with the help of Ziraj the Hunter, made a fancy set of alchemical arrows called Acidlight Arrows. They would burn on impact with a target and smoulder, causing further acid burns and hampering their ability to hide until the light was put out, while also ruining any ability to benefit from invisibility. Quite handy for dealing with the tricky drow and overall a good addition to the barbarian's arsenal. Ray had spent his time organizing a 'party' of sorts with Remallia Haventree, matron of House Ulbrinter (and secretly leader of the Harpers). The plan was to create a festivity at the beginning of the month, celebrating House Ulbrinter's latest victory at the Annual Garden Parties since it had been cancelled due to the events involving the Cassalanters. Ray was even able to acquire the assistance of various other noble houses to attend and help spread the word, including the Moonstars, a Selune-worshipping family who had many hands in the city's ocean-faring guilds, and the Hunabars, who were known for their textile businesses and tastes in high fashion. The whole thing was technically a honey trap for none other than Jarlaxle Baenre, whose organization, the Bregan D'aerthe, have clashed in the shadows with the Harpers in the past. Not only that, but the Ulbrinter Estate is the location of the metallic unicorn, which "Remy" is keeping under watch with a strong dose of abjuration magic and a handful of elite Harper agents, including Renaer, Mirt and Marcellus. Not only that, but Ray was scheduled to perform at the party, which itself was an elaborate ruse as Remallia had hired body doubles to take the place of Ray and the party, giving the illusion the party would be there. It would be irresistable for Jarlaxle to try and infiltrate the party... hopefully. There's no telling whether the ruse will have worked until it actually happens, so hopefully when the team infiltrates the Sea Maidens' Faire, Jarlaxle won't be there! Enigma, for his part, had already done a lot of the infiltration work - on his own, no less. With a bit of help from Patayan, who supplied him with a Helm of Comprehending Languages that he could borrow to help him interpret the Undercommon tongue of the drow, he was able to infiltrate the ship at the captain level and learn a ton of restricted and privileged information, including the real identities of the three captains of the Hellraiser, Heartbreaker and Eyecatcher, and their general personalities. In addition, he was able to confirm Sigurd's suspicion that they were storing mass quantities of smokepowder on the Hellraiser and Heartbreaker - perfect for causing an 'accident' that would blow the ship to smithereens! He was also able to learn that 'Zardoz Zord', the fleet captain, had ordinarily been spending a lot of time doing... something... with two of the Faire's star performers in his personal cabin aboard the Eyecatcher, but lately had gone away to perform some secret mission regarding the Stone of Golorr and only returned fairly recently. The captains aren't informed of the progress of anything related to the Stone, so it's unclear what our good friend Jarlaxle was really up to... In addition to all of this, he learned that the ship's disguises are powered by the elven maiden figureheads mounted on the front of the ships. If they were destroyed, it would render the disguises inoperable. Lastly, he discovered the crew was on high alert after the last infiltration of their ship occurred and they were aware that the three drow gunslingers lead by Soluun Xibrindas had been taken out, leaving tensions high on the ship as they were getting a bit paranoid... Finally, Sigurd revealed that he had been planning ahead for their eventual excursion into the Brandath tomb, and was curious as to know why it was significant to the Vault of Dragons. First, he had learned they were an old family in Waterdeep, with a storied history that included pirates, mages, and magisters. More importantly, though, he learned that a woman named Alethea Brandath had been married to Dagult Neverember, the previous Open Lord, and their relationship could be described as tumultuous due to Dagult's increasing nepotism, tyranny and arrogance. Eventually, Alethea died of illness (though some considered the circumstances suspicious - Dagult claims he had nothing to do with it) and he exulted her in death by giving her burial special consideration. However, afterward it was found that she had left all of her holdings, including the Neverember House in Waterdeep, to their only son and heir - Renaer Neverember, which is likely why the father and son despise each other so much... Sigurd also uncovered an odd tidbit, that the tomb is guarded by a treant - a tree-like creature - who disallowed anybody not of Brandath blood to enter the tomb (Alethea was known to have a love for nature and ties to the Emerald Enclave), and that the Brandath ancestors had participated in some kind of weird, obscure, secretive fraternity called the Brothers of the Maroon Pin, which had been disbanded in Waterdeep due to some kind of scandal. No doubt that Renaer would not be pleased to learn that his father had decided to use his mother's burial place to tie down his embezzled funds, though... and it seems Renaer's help would be required to access the tomb at all without angering the treant guardian... At the tavern, spirits were high (naturally) as Xia, the bard prisoner rescued from the Xanathar's lair, had come by and put on amazing performances to honor the party who had saved her life, in an impressive display of bardic talent and music. As a result of the team's earlier work in the tenday and some other good fortunes, including Lif's revival, the tavern saw a nice profit margin this tenday. It seems with Lif's return, the success of the Song and Spirit Tavern was more than assured! The team also had learned of an appointment with the Hatchett Brewery as the owner had invited them to take a tour of the facility which had recently finished construction. That might have to wait though, as the team had bigger fish to fry... Taking a trip to the Book Wyrm's Treasure, Rishaal's scroll and spellbook shop, Ray and Sigurd acquired a vast quantity of scrolls. The good dragonborn shopkeeper reminisced a bit with the team asking about the new brewery, and were glad to see the previous occupant of the building had vacated the alley. Indeed, nobody has seen hide nor hair of Emmek Frewn since his departure, and that was probably for the best. Then, they went to the House of Inspired Hands to talk with Valetta about the plan. They had found, though, that she had acquired herself a striking set of mithral splint armor, thanks to a 'mysterious benefactor'... eyeballing Sigurd in particular. Well, it was clear to see what Sigurd had been spending his money on lately... More importantly, though, it would allow Valetta to move about unhindered by the burden of heavy armor, making the upcoming stealth operation a bit easier for her... Speaking of which, the team had come up with a plan to get the drop on Jarlaxle's fleet, outlined below: First, they would have to approach by sea. They would utilize Grinda Garloth's Apparatus of Kwalish to help move the team from the docks of Mistshore all the way out into the Deepwater Harbor, where the Eyecatcher was anchored about a mile off the coast. Once there, they would infiltrate the Scarlet Marpenoth by way of teleportation - Sigurd had prepared a Vortex Warp spell and placed Io in the bag of holding (as a construct, Io didn't need to breathe), while Ray would get through using a Spell Scroll of Misty Step, and Enigma could use his new Shadow Step ability to get inside. Yuan would have to use the Cape of the Mountebank that the team had acquired, bringing Valetta with him, thus ensuring the full team could get in by using the window in front of the Scarlet Marpenoth. After dealing with any enemies (Valetta warned that any rock gnome engineers that were hired by the Bregan D'aerthe were not to be harmed if it could be avoided), the team could commandeer the Scarlet Marpenoth and effectively steal it from out under the Eyecatcher where it is attached to. They would have to find a way to torch the Eyecatcher and then destroy the other two ships, effectively eliminating Jarlaxle's operation entirely. It was time to put the plan into action. Ray went to work using several scrolls of Nondetection to make the party invisible to any scrying or divination attempts, while Sigurd prepared the team with a scroll of Water Breathing, and himself and Valetta with Darkvision scrolls to ensure everybody could see in the dark without needing to rely on his Goggles of Night. Heading to Mistshore, the team acquired the Apparatus from Grinda, who warned the team that it must be returned intact and in one piece, and with Valetta piloting it and Yuan inside, with the others hanging on from outside, the team slowly made their way through the ocean and to Deepwater Harbor, to quietly infiltrate Jarlaxle's operation. Enigma prepped the team with his old favorite Pass Without Trace, to ensure they could not be spotted. It allowed them to get close enough to the submarine beneath the waves, as Valetta turned off the lights of the Apparatus to avoid giving their location away when getting close enough. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be quite enough as the rather imposing device was spotted by one of the drow guardians inside the submarine through the window at the last moment, and the team lost the element of surprise as they teleported into the submarine, forcing Ray to use his Silence spell to avoid alerting outsiders. Weapons were drawn and combat ensued! These drow elite warriors were no push overs either, dealing vicious, poisonous strikes to Yuan and Valetta and nearly taking out Enigma, who had to withdraw using his Shadow Step to avoid being pummeled, but was thankfully saved by Io's defensive capabilities. The entirety of the submarine was unlit, forcing everyone aboard to rely on Darkvision, which worked just fine for the party! Eventually, though, the team was able to overcome the defenders, though now they had to deal with the panicking rock gnome engineers who were too busy losing their marbles at the chaotic violence that had suddenly sprung into their vehicle. Knocking out a couple of them, they cornered the last one and intimidated him into cooperation (after many failed attempts to get his attention), gaining access to the vessel by him handing over the master keys. According to the gnome, there were eight rock gnome engineers operating the vessel and no other drow aboard, and no other creatures aside from those two types of entities. Disposing of the drow bodies through the old Bag of Holding trick (putting them in Jarlaxle's own bag, no less, for a bit of irony), the team swept through the main hall of the submarine to collect the off duty rock gnomes and the one engineer maintaining the engine room to tell them what the deal was. The gnomes were happy to cooperate as long as no further violence was brought against them. Sigurd asked if they were treated well by Jarlaxle and the gnomes confirmed as such - being paid 100 gp each a month to handle this work while being given everything they need to live comfortably and do their jobs. SIgurd, being familiar with Lantanese technology, was able to figure out the controls and operations of the Scarlet Marpenoth, effectively ensuring he would be in the pilot's seat when it came time There would be one other person needed to monitor the engine room at a minimum, though. The Scarlet Marpenoth was a tough beast, with a thick outer hull, and doors made of steel, not to mention a special defense mechanism that electrified the outer hull temporarily for a minute. With all kinds of complicated quasi-magical mechanical systems, it was a marvel of Lantanese technology unlike anything the party had ever seen. With the submarine secured, the team had to plan their next steps carefully. Sigurd recalled that there was a parade float, a golden dragon that had a fire-breathing mechanism that he had repaired. Setting the ship aflame from the bottom hold would likely cause a raging inferno that would surely sink the vessel. Then it would be a matter of infiltrating the other ships and detonating the smokepowder supplies to blow them out of the water, literally! The only other alternative would be to overtake the ships themselves, defeating the drow crew aboard. That would be a tall order, though, and might be too taxing on the party's resources to defeat the entirety of the Bregan D'aerthe. It looks like the destruction of the Sea Maidens' Faire was well in hand. What else would the party find aboard the Scarlet Marpenoth? Did Jarlaxle take Ray's honey trap party? What other schemes had the drow planned for the group...? Find out next time, on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!