To Waterdeep!

The night had slowly blurred into the following day. The members of the party experienced varying levels of success greeting the morning. A night of what appeared to be vigorous drinking seemed to have had no effect on Bamur. Keiko seemed to move more slowly than usual, but whether it was due to the night before, or the indecently early arrival of the sun was uncertain. Liliput somewhat too loudly proclaimed she was absolutely, totally, completely fine, and hadn’t had too much to drink. She convinced precisely nobody. Mudd showed up half dressed, and wearing a bucket as a boot. How exactly he had spent his night would remain a mystery, but as he wandered back to the house from the barn, he noticed clean uniforms of Mandrake’s guards had been hung out to dry. He looked at himself, and then the uniforms, and took one that fit him very well. Cara looked detached, and lost in thought as she always seemed to be. Dav Lee cast an air of superiority around him at all times, and this morning gazed at everyone else with an expression even haughtier than usual.

Liliput found a piece of paper had been slipped under her door, and asked Cara to read it to her. It was a note from Motine. He claimed to know where the Blue Bear Totem might be, and that someone was using it to reanimate the dead. He tried to look for it at Poly Aster, a dwarvish memorial, but ended up somewhere else entirely. Liliput wanted to leave for Poly Aster immediately. Nothing was more important to her than recovering the Blue Bear Totem. Bamur spoke up and asked whether the others might want to obtain some new equipment or weapons. Dav Lee expressed amazement at the brilliance of the dwarf’s suggestion. Tired of the continued disrespect for his wisdom, Bamur told the gnome that 275 years of experience allowed one to come up with many great ideas when they were needed. It had always been clear he was not as young as the rest of them, but nobody expected he was significantly past dwarvish middle age.

They agreed to ask Motine whether there was a settlement, town, or city nearby where they could find the things they needed. His eyes took on the all too familiar hesitant, deceptive appearance they had seen so often, and he said he could get them to a city instantly. He finally admitted that he knew how the party had been brought to the area, and how they must have been traveling through it. After a lot of intense direct questioning, as well as a few threats, Motine explained he thought there were multiple conspiracies at work, but he could not understand how they all connected. The party agreed to explain to Motine what they knew about the arches if he made good on his promise to get them to a place where they could find what they needed.
At Motine’s recommendation, the party left a note for Mandrake, explaining they had gone off together, but would return as soon as possible. After dark, they met and entered the basement, and went through the dwarven archway. They ultimately emerged into a large circular room, which they learned was the Tower of Zelumbra, a mysterious mage, with whom Motine had formed a friendship. The room contained plants growing in a transparent cage, as well as a small dragon, also in a cage. Keiko and Mudd were both able to communicate with the dragon. Motine vouched for the party, made the introductions, and welcomed them all to Waterdeep.

Under withering questioning, Dav Lee seemed to lose his self-confidence. He provided a somewhat vague and shifting explanation about some dwarves who came to his village, in search of help. He was the only one willing to give aid. The other gnomes in his village “did not encourage him to stay”, which he ultimately admitted meant he was banished. The dwarves said they wanted him to talk with the sverfneblin. They gave him something to drink, and enclosed him within the amber slab.

Everyone considered what they needed, what they wanted, and how much time they were likely to have to accomplish it all, and they headed out into the chaos that was Waterdeep.