Talk about hitting the ground running.
After asking around a bit in Waterdeep I managed to find my way to the tavern called The Yawning Portal. It’s a huge place and more crowded than I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if this is normal for a place like this or if Volothe has me following some grand plan of his but when I entered the tavern, the serving girl Clarissa showed me right to a table with a bunch of other people. I was the youngest one there so I tried my best to seem more mature and collected than I really felt.
Clarissa mentioned something about a group, the Deep Delvers I think, that were supposed to be there but never showed up. There’s this huge hole in the floor, like a well, and apparently people lower themselves to the bottom to explore the depths. She said there’s a path down there that goes all the way to… the Undermountain.
Note: Research the Undermountain
The other people at the table all seem nice enough, although I haven’t learned anything about them. There’s Toshi, based on how he spends coin and his mannerisms he seems to be from a noble family. Greemus, an older man who mentioned he was looking for some druids in the city so I assume he’s one of their folk. Duelo seems the most at ease here so he must either be from around here or at least frequent the area. Finally Melandran, was the most unique at the table. I’ve never seen anyone like her but I didn’t have a chance to talk to her enough to learn more.
Now here’s where things got really wild. This large human man, who they just called Krentz, and a few of his friends came strutting up to a woman, that introduced herself later as Yagra, who seemed to be minding her own business and he suddenly just punched her without even a word. My parents always warned me that the big cities were violent but seeing it first hand was still a shock. I learned later from Duelo that the men had the markings of the Xanathar Guild and she wore the mark of the Zhentarim. The way he tells it they have a bitter rivalry and dust ups are common between them. Duelo was next to me and seems to know how to handle himself. He was the first to move to try to break up the fight but before I knew it I was following him. I don’t know what I was thinking. Something I did notice in the scuffle however was the woman’s tattoo matched that of the guards from Harman’s caravan. I’ll need to inquire into that some more.
Just as things were settling down and the Xanathar men were leaving, a huge brutish creature emerged from within the hole in the floor. Is this what the adventurers are going down in there to find? For how crowded the tavern was it sure emptied out in a hurry. I thought we were going to run too but all the others just stood their ground and took on the troll. I’m starting to think I’ve been purposely introduced to these people who must already be experienced adventurers. Maybe they’re here to show me their way of life.
It was a tough fight but we managed to kill the troll but poor Clarissa and her father are going to have a lot of work on their hands to get the place cleaned up. As we were resting, an older gentleman approached. It was none other than the Volothamp Geddarm. It took a lot of effort on my part not to burst out of my skin from excitement. I know I haven’t read any of his books, they were always far too expensive, but getting to meet such a famous author was incredible. It seems he needs help finding a friend of his who wandered off after a night of drinking and he wanted to ask for our help. I guess after watching us; and by us I mean mostly the others, kill a troll, he thought we were up to the task. We quickly agreed to help. I mean, how hard can finding one drunk be?