While Titus , Halle , and Varis were busy fighting Chemicranth, Destroyer of Men , the trio of Naivara , Rhogar , and Barnabus were exploring the red dragon's burgeoning lair. The Kobold guards left behind proved ineffective at protecting Chemicranth's hoard, and the trio proudly left laden with the dragon's stolen treasure. They reunited with Titus, Halle, and Varis as Chemicranth's head was being removed as a trophy. After splitting the hoard amongst themselves and resting, the group traveled north again to bring the captive Wyrmspeaker Varram the White to Waterdeep . Along the way Barnabus shared his story with the group about how he became an outcast among Dwarves in order to integrate himself as a spy within the Cult of the Dragon . He was especially dismayed to tell Naivara that her daughter Cynthia had tracked him down and chastised him for his betrayal. He insisted the group return with him in chains and treat him similarly to Varram until he was able to meet with Ambassador Brawnanvil , the architect behind his mission, in order to have his name cleared. This didn't sit well with the group, especially Naivara, but they grudgingly complied. Upon reaching Waterdeep, the group first stopped at the Snobeedle Orchard and Meadery to leave their Wyvrens with Edhelri Lewel again. The Meadery was a bustling flurry of activity as they worked to fill new orders from the city as well as far-away places such as Boarskyr Bridge. Naivara acknowledged that this was in no small part to her efforts. Eldheri revealed she could Awaken their Wyvrens if they provided 4,000 gold for two more rare gems. To prove this, she introduced them to the intelligent and communicative Ivellios , the third Wyvren the group had left with her. To Eldheri's surprise, the group had no trouble fielding the 4,000 gold necessary. Before leaving the orchard, Delaan Winterhound approached the party and tried to convince them that keeping Varram the White alive was more trouble than it would be worth. This caused the group to become suspicious of him even as they balked at his suggestion. Delaan backed off and let them leave without causing further trouble. Once in the city proper, the group was able to turn Varram the White over to Harper and Order of the Gauntlet allies. Halle insisted that Barnabus be kept at his manor under "house arrest," and there was no substantial objection. Town criers in Waterdeep loudly proclaimed that Lady Laeral Silverhand was the new Open Lord. Due to several scandals (of which a group of nobles trying to kill Halle's brother was but one), the masked lords had ousted Lord Neverember and replaced him with Lady Silverhand. Each party member split off to report to their faction leaders about their travels and their return. While meeting with Lady Silverhand, Halle learned she had, based on information he had provided to her previously, invited a group of influential nobles from Amn to Waterdeep in order to discuss Amn joining the Lord's Alliance. The Dwarven Ambassador and his regimen were invited to Halle's manor that evening so that Barnabus' name could be cleared. After much talk and even more ale, Barnabus was welcomed back into his clan with open arms. Over the next few days, Naivara followed up on the vision she had received from the diving pool back in Diderius' Tomb . The pool had shown her how the necromancer who killed her sister was working to come back to life. His young apprentice had fallen under a carefully plotted curse designed to force her to find a way to resurrect him. This apprentice apparently received some help from the Arcane Brotherhood initially, then spent decades trying to puzzle through the notes he left behind. The vision showed Naivara that this woman, now elderly, was close to a breakthrough and was somewhere in Waterdeep. With the help of her friends, Naivara learned the woman's name was Althea and tracked her to a ramshackle shack north of town. Every surface inside the building was covered in mad scrawlings, barely arcane in nature and too bizarre for the group to decipher. They found Althea in a hidden basement, pouring over the necromancer's old tomes and beginning an incantation over a magic circle. She was easily overpowered and Titus broke the cruse with divine magic, making her thoughts her own for the first time in decades. Althea remembered nothing of all those years and was revealed to be addlebrained. Naivara took pity on the woman and invited her to work at her library. Before leaving, Naivara gathered up every single book and burned them to ash, watching the entire time to make sure not a scrap of their cursed writings remained. At game start it is 13 Hammer in the Year of the Star Walker's Return .
