Episode 21 - The Pearl of Waterdeep

# ✧ Episode 21 - The Pearl of Waterdeep **Date:** Tuesday, 14th April 2026 **Location:** [[Waterdeep]] — Market Square **Notes**: as written by [[Kozu Marphanis]] ![[Episode-21-YT-Title-Card.jpeg]] ## Session Summary The morning at [[The Manor]] began with the satisfying clink of coin. Iz's heavy bag — dragged from [[Dagult Neverember]]'s vault — finally yielded its contents: forty gold dragons apiece, a welcome windfall for the party. But the morning was not all leisure. [[Coran Hammersmith]], a dwarf surveyor from Hammer & Board, arrived to assess the Manor's disrepair. His verdict: a week of refurbishment, perhaps more if the joists proved as rotten as they appeared. Kozu left him to his measurements, content that joists were not a rogue's concern. The true intrigue began when [[Iz]] produced the ring — that strange, white band with its furry lining and shifting animal engravings. Kozu recognized its potential at once but required a pearl worth a hundred gold to cast Identify. Fredoku, ever perceptive of opportunity, contributed fifty gold toward the purchase, and the party set out into Waterdeep. The company split along practical lines. The Mighty Hands visited the City Guard office in search of Barnabus, only to learn the captain had departed on a sudden mission the night before — a disappointment, but a minor one. Meanwhile, Fredoku, Martyn Littlewood, and Kozu ventured into the market square. Sarah the cloak-mender returned Kozu's purple cloak, beautifully repaired, and suggested the dockyards as a source for pearls. But it was Sir Michael Grimwood's Magical Imporium that proved the true destination. There, a ginger-haired shop assistant named [[Jonathan]] served them with genuine enthusiasm, and there, Fredoku purchased the very pearl Kozu needed — retrieving his fifty gold contribution in the process. The party reunited at a table in the market square as the afternoon sun warmed the cobblestones. Iz pressed the question: what does the ring do? Kozu smiled, pearl in hand, and promised an answer. The Identify spell would have to wait — but not for long. Somewhere in Waterdeep, with a pearl in his pocket and a mystery to unravel, the rogue prepared to peer into the ring's secrets. ___ ## Episode 21 continues from [[Episode 20 - Dragon at the End of the Bargain]] There are mornings when the world offers you nothing but stale bread and a headache, and then there are mornings when a bag of gold jingles like a promise. This was the latter. I was still nursing my first cup of tea when the conversation turned to Iz's bag. The man had been lugging it around since Neverember's vault, and every step he took sounded like a dwarven blacksmith had taken up percussion. We'd all been politely ignoring it — or at least I had — but the sound was becoming impossible to pretend we hadn't noticed. "Forty dragons each," [[Iz]] said, with the air of a man splitting a restaurant bill rather than a dragon's hoard. I didn't argue. Forty gold coins buys a great deal of tea, and I am, above all things, a practical wizard. --- The knock at the door came just as we were finishing the count. Two dwarves — one of them introduced himself as [[Coran Hammersmith]], from the [[Hammer and Board]]. Surveyors, apparently. They had the look of men who measure things for a living: precise, unhurried, and deeply unimpressed by everything around them. Coran began pacing the hallways of the Manor with a tape measure and a furrowed brow, making notes in a ledger that looked older than I am. "A week," he said, when I asked how long the refurbishment would take. "Maybe more, if the joists are as bad as they look." I left him to it. Joists are not my department. --- It was [[Iz]] who stopped me at the door. "Kozu," he said, pulling the ring from his pocket with the careful reverence of a autognome who knows he's holding something dangerous. "Take a look at this." The ring was unusual — white and furry on the inside, like the pelt of some small arctic animal, with engravings on the outside that shifted between pictograms of beasts I couldn't quite name. It had come from Neverember's vault, which meant it could be anything from a priceless artefact to a cursed paperweight. I turned it over in my hands. "I can Identify it," I said, "but I'll need a pearl. A hundred gold's worth, at least." [[Fredoku]], who had been hovering with the particular intensity of someone who wants to be useful but isn't sure how, slid fifty gold coins across the table toward me. "For the pearl," he said. I pocketed the gold and tried not to look too grateful. [[Fredoku]] has a way of making generosity feel like an investment, and I wasn't entirely sure what he expected in return. --- We split the party — as one does. [[The Mighty Hands]] went to the City Guard office, while [[Fredoku]], [[Martyn Littlewood]], and I headed into the city proper. [[Dolous]] and [[Iz]] went shopping, which is the sort of sentence that fills me with a quiet, creeping dread. The City Guard office was, as expected, a disappointment. The guard behind the desk had the apologetic look of a man who delivers bad news six times a day. "Barnabus is out," he said. "Sudden mission came in late last night." I thanked him, because one always thanks a man for wasting one's time — it's a courtesy, like complimenting the food at a banquet you weren't invited to — and we left. --- [[Sarah]] stall was the next stop. She handed me my purple cloak, freshly repaired, and I must say it looked rather splendid. The stitching was invisible, the hem restored to its original drape. I thanked her properly, which is to say I meant it. "Looking for a pearl?" she said, when I mentioned our errand. "Try the dockyards. Pearls come from the sea, right?" She had a point. I also recalled that we knew a dragon down that way, near [[Zobolop]]'s purple shop, though I filed that under "information to revisit when necessary" rather than "things to act on immediately." But [[Fredoku]] had already wandered off toward [[The Magical Emporium]], and when [[Fredoku]]wanders, one follows — not out of curiosity, exactly, but out of the vague obligation one feels toward a man who might buy something catastrophically expensive without supervision. --- [[Sir Michael Grimwood]]'s Magical Imporium was the sort of shop that makes you feel underdressed even when you're wearing your best cloak. The shelves were lined with items that hummed, glowed, or — in one case — quietly wept. [[Fredoku]] was already deep in conversation with the shop assistant by the time [[Martyn Littlewood]] and I caught up. The assistant was a young humanoid with ginger hair, freckles, and the particular enthusiasm of someone who genuinely loves their job. "Well met," I said, approaching with what I hoped was a friendly and non-threatening demeanour. "And your name is?" "Jonathan," he beamed. "Your lovely, friendly shop assistant." I liked [[Jonathan]] immediately. He had the rare quality of making commerce feel like hospitality. I asked about the shop's owner, and Jonathan told us the establishment belonged to [[Sir Michael Grimwood]] himself, which explained the rather grandiose naming convention. Then [[Fredoku]] grabbed me. I should clarify: [[Fredoku]] physically seized me and began patting down my robes like a City Guard searching a suspect. I held up my hands, half in surrender and half in bewilderment. "What are you *doing*?" "I want my gold," [[Fredoku]] said, with the calm certainty of a man invoking a sacred contract. "What *for*?" He held up a pearl. A perfect, round, iridescent pearl. "Oh my," I said, because sometimes the wizard's vocabulary fails him. "You bought the pearl I'm after." I searched my purple bag — the one I'd been carrying since we left the Manor — and handed back the gold [[Fredoku]] had given me earlier. The transaction was complete, and I hadn't even had to go to the dockyards. --- The three of us found a table in the [[market square]] and ordered drinks. The sun was warm, the crowd was the particular kind of busy that makes you feel part of the world without being overwhelmed by it, and I had a pearl in my pocket that would let me finally see what Iz's ring truly was. After a short while, [[Dolous]] and [[Iz]] appeared through the crowd and sat down with us. The party was whole again. [[Iz]] eyed the pearl. "So? What does it do?" I smiled. "Give me a moment." But that, I think, is a story for next time. --- *— [[Kozu Marphanis]], somewhere in the Waterdeep market square, with a pearl in his pocket and a ring to decipher* ___ ## NPCs & Locations Encountered - [[Iz]] — Adventurer companion, discovered gold and mystery ring in Dagult Neverember's vault - [[Dolous]] — Adventurer companion, went shopping with Iz in Waterdeep - [[Coran Hammersmith]] — Dwarf surveyor from Hammer & Board, at The Manor to oversee refurbishment (~1 week) - [[Barnabus]] — City Guard captain, absent from office (sudden big mission the night before) - [[Sarah]] — Market cloak-mender, repaired Kozu's purple cloak; recommended the dockyards for finding a pearl - [[Jonathan]] — Shop assistant at Sir Michael Grimwood's Magical Imporium, humanoid with ginger hair and freckles, youngish - [[Sir Michael Grimwood]] — Owner of the Magical Imporium - [[Fredoku]] — Adventurer companion, purchased the pearl needed for Identify spell - [[Martyn Littlewood]] — Adventurer companion, accompanied Kozu and Fredoku through Waterdeep **Locations:** - [[The Manor]] — Adventurer HQ, base of operations - Waterdeep City Guard Office — visited to find Barnabus (he was out on mission) - Waterdeep Market Square — meeting point, cloak-mender's stall, final gathering spot - Dockyards — mentioned by Sarah as a source for pearls (near Zobolop's purple shop) - Sir Michael Grimwood's Magical Imporium — Fredoku spotted a magical cloak; pearl purchased here ## Loot & Discoveries - 40 gold dragons each — from Iz's heavy bag, loot found in Dagult Neverember's vault - Mystery ring — white with furry inside, animal engravings on the outside; found in Dagult Neverember's vault; needs 100g pearl + Identify spell to reveal its properties - Pearl — purchased by Fredoku at the Magical Imporium for the Identify spell (Kozu repaid Fredoku's 50g contribution) - Purple cloak — repaired by Sarah the cloak-mender, returned to Kozu ## Active Quests - Identify the mystery ring — have the pearl now, need to cast Identify spell to reveal the ring's properties - Find Barnabus — City Guard captain currently on a sudden mission; party needs to check back when he returns - Refurbishment of The Manor — Coran Hammersmith (Hammer & Board) is overseeing repairs, estimated ~1 week to complete ___ ## ⚡︎ Tags #dnd #sessionnote #storyline #combat #waterdeep #kozu #xanathar #narlar #aurix #lady-silvermain #hlan #fredoku #dolous #levelup #dwarven-coin #neverember #pink-flumph #themanor