Gribbett's Detective Agency

About

I wanted a way to keep notes, ideas, and links organized when DMing my first DND campaign. Since we'd be playing entirely online anyway, consolidating everything into markdown seemed convenient, so here we are!

Before you start

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Useful General Links

PCs

Group 1

Group 2

General waterdeep context

  • high financial inequality
  • Shadow de facto government by non-state actors who are often in conflict (Beggar Court Vs Shipwrights). There is a group of city lords who mean well, but it's an open secret that they don't actually have any real power (and instead outsource problem solving, like finishing off the remains of the artificer's cult, to people like Janos, who do). They're perfectly content to let people think they do and pay them off accordingly.
  • An attempt to eliminate the artificers resulted in a major fire sweeping through the city and destroying most of their territory.
    • Fire was started by a black dragon Gabu’strath controlled by the artificers who was let loose when the attempted removal began
    • Tensions had long been building between the Shipwright's Guild and Janos' Waterdeep Guild of Thieves, Tricksters, and Beggars. Both leaders had sworn not to bring weapons or assassins, but both lied, and the situation soon escalated into a pivotal conflict which would be known to history as The Shipline Betrayal.
    • The artificers are also part of a larger cult: https://thedragonfriends.fandom.com/wiki/Secret_Cult
  • Following the fire, the city's elite have taken to philanthropy to avoid too much immediate unrest and suffering. They don't really want to help, but they also don't want problems and recognize that they'll have them if the poorer classes get too angry (like the Slavers in GOT). There are actually good (if a little gullible) ones like Grunwertz, and bad ones (like Holstmann). Janos Meer is one of the better ones, and people recognize that even if they don't love everything he does, The Beggar's Court plays a valuable and generally positive role for most citizens.

Act 0 - Context

  • Make sure it's clear how all the players know each other
  • Make sure they have enough backstory to explain who the artificers are and all the stuff described above, inc. great fire, rumors of mechanical enforcers torturing prisoners, but no ones seen them

Act 1 - The Beggars' Court

Opening Narration

Score: The Queen of Rangoon

Welcome to Waterdeep, the sprawling metropolis leaned up against the edge of the Sword Coast. Whether true, apocryphal, or outright myth, the stories one could tell about this city are many, but our particular adventure begins in the aftermath of the Great Fire.

[Tempo builds - hit at 0:35]

Long had tensions simmered before the clash between the Shipwrights Association and the Guild of Thieves, two rival factions vying for de facto political control, boiled over into full-blown warfare. Ostensibly a trade group for those responsible for building and maintaining the multitude of watercraft that ply the seas just offshore, the Shipwrights had in fact been guarding a more sinister secret identity as the public front for the Artificer's Cult.

[Lands on phrase - 1:03]

The artificers, a shadowy organization whose unique skills blur the lines of magic and engineering, had attempted to finally eliminate the Guild of Thieves, their primary opposition. Unfortunately for the artificers, thieves are in the business of knowing things befor they happen, and the Guild was well prepared for the artificers assault. The fighting came to a head at the cult's headquarters: the house of the artificers, during which their secret weapon, a captive black dragon, escaped its confines and laid indiscriminate waste to everything in reach of its fiery breath, leaving swaths of the city in smoldering ruin before winging off beyond the horizon.

In the wake of the Fire, large portions of the population find themselves without shelter and have relied on the benevolence of the Waterdavian philanthopic community to rebuild their lives. Like most people in this city, it's hard to know if these wealthy donors actually mean well or if their generosity is simply a means to some more pragmatic end, but regardless, their donations have truly helped stablize the lives of many. And, with the Artificers cult no longer a factor, things have slowly begun to return to normal, if such a thing exists in Waterdeep.

We begin in one of the buildings that survived the fire: The Truculent Toad Home for Day Laborers. In this divey mildew-riddled hulk, travelers to Waterdeep come in search of a cheap bed and a days wages performing all manner of odd jobs for all manner of employers, who post bulletins on the walls, shout opportunities in from the street, or, ask the management to "send over a few folks". Today, you're those folks.

Your attempts to find work in this city and odd jobs you've been doing during your time living at the Toad have brought you to the attention of the head of the Guild of Thieves: The Beggar King himself - Janos Meer. This morning, you each found a card with his mark outside your lodging rooms. There was no other message. None is needed. You are summoned to the Beggars' Court.

Deep in the sprawling alleys and winding streets of the city, thieves and beggars ply and prepare their trades under the watchful eye of the Beggar King.

[Hit at 3:26 - when first incarnation of final phrase starts]

At least this is usually the case - Janos normally cuts a conspicuous figure from the wide-open doors of his shambling office. But today, the five of you arrive to find those doors closed fast, and the ground floor of his operation almost abandoned.

You've seen each other passing through the main dining room and hallways at the Toad, but haven't done more than exchange pleasantries, much less names. You're a motley bunch: a half-elf who might have a bit of dragon in their ancestry, a woman with a bluish complexion and hands wrapped for a fight, and a shady-looking trio: a feather-covered avian figure, a halfling in a pirate hat, and a human with a thousand-yard stare.

[Pause timing here if needed]

So you wait on the steps outside Meer's office, and to pass the time, you introduce yourselves to each other:

Post-intro additional narration

The better part of the day goes by as you wait, before you hear boots on the stairwell. A small, pathetic figure appears, wearing a disheveled suit that seems simultaneously too big and too small. This is the goblin lawyer Gribbits: a dogsbody and assistant that Meer seems to like to have around, though it’s hard to tell why.

“Umm. Hello. Change of plans. Mr. Meer is indisposed. Today you’ll be working for me.” Gribbits clears his throat. “Sorry.”

Unfortunately, I don't know where he is. Nobody does, that's why I need your help. I just need you to find him, that's all. Think you can do that? and fast?

What do you do?

Exploring Janos' Office

Gribbits doesn’t know a lot, and he plays his cards close to his chest. He wants Meer found but doesn’t want to give anything away about the Beggar King’s work or projects. He’ll answer questions about when he last saw Janos (the previous night) and where (in his personal office), but he doesn’t want to say what his boss has been doing. He also doesn’t want to let the characters search Janos’s office, but a successful DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) check or a DC 10 Charisma (Intimidation) check convinces the goblin to unlock the doors and bring the party inside.

The office isn't huge, and it's a mess and smells a bit funny (see text description)

It's a perfect study in conspiracy theorist clichés: an overflowing desk, pitchers of now- cold coffee, and a map of the city laid out on his desk, covered in a mess of notes, etchings, pins, and string. This map tracks Janos’s recent investigations into both the collapse of the Artificers and the corruption of the Shipwrights Guild—a criminal fraternity sprung out of the city’s Order of Master Shipwrights.

The corrupt Shipwrights have long been a thorn in Meer’s side, and have been in turmoil since the death of their leader, the werewolf Albrecht Rumsfeld.

Beyond the map, the office holds little of note. The wall opposite the desk features a truly repulsive example of the local art scene in a gaudy frame. (Sort of a sad, smiling child on a boat. But he’s maybe . . . an angel?) Behind the picture is a locked wall safe.

Gribbits becomes quite upset if the characters remove anything from the room or the safe, but he is too much of a coward to try to stop them. The safe can be opened with a successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools, and contains papers relating to the movements of the Shipwrights, ledgers documenting various ne’er-do- wells indebted to Janos, and a bag containing 25 gp.

If the characters try to leave without searching the office and finding the map, Gribbets chases them saying "wait, there's something else... I wasn't sure I could trust you, and I'm still not. But Janos is in danger, and I have to risk it. This might help" and gives them the map.

The map shows the section of Waterdeep that you're already in. You're new to the city, but have walked around enough to have a general idea of this area. Janos has circled five locations and added some annotations:

  • Freezo's Bakery - follow the money
  • House of the Artificers (ruined, perhaps useful)
  • Grunwertz Almshouse - LG: collaborator?
  • Shady Dock - Rumsfeld dead, ask Brillig?
  • 11 Marlinspike - Holstmann Hall

Rumors

It is a time of rebuilding in the city. A character who succeeds on an Intelligence (Investigation) check of your devising (or who just makes a new friend) might discover a useful bit of information. Roll a d8 or choose from the following:

  1. [In your best (worst) Northern English accent] “Here’s something for ya’. Come closer . . . closer still! I’ve got me a new hat. All pretty like, you can see it atop me head, here.”
  2. “There are some nefarious goings-on at the Grunwertz Trust—an almshouse in the Southern Ward. Residents are being exploited for slave labor and the like by their cruel overlord, Leopold Grunwertz.”
  3. “Stay away from that warlock’s bakery. Freezo, I think his name is? I heard that an orphan tried to steal a loaf of bread, and this Freezo turned him into a swarm of bees!”
  4. “I saw Alexei Holstmann last week in a tavern, shouting the entire room drinks for the night. As if it wasn’t anything.”
  5. “There’s tension between the Shipwrights and the Beggar King. No one really knows who’s in charge of the guild since Albrecht Rumsfeld died. Seems that Janos Meer is none too trusting of whoever it is, though.”
  6. “The Shipwright’s Guild? Everyone knows they’re actually a secret society operated out the back of the Shady Dock tavern. The guild’s leader, Albrecht Rumsfeld, was an emerging player in the underworld before he was killed. And it’s whispered that he was a werewolf to boot.”
  7. “Those glittermen guards the Artificers built might be shiny, but I heard the rusting hulks are made of worthless alloy. Word is they couldn’t even operate down at the docks without seizing up. Something about all that salt water.”
  8. “I was talking to someone at the Shady Dock tavern, used to be a captain. Told me that every single one of the ‘derelict’ ships abandoned on the Shipline is still true seaworthy.”

Act 2 - The streets

Freezo’s bakery

SCORE: Framedrum Solo

Narration

The location noted on Janos’s map is in a once- fashionable and now surprisingly affordable part of the city—a bakery sandwiched up against a ruined haberdashery and a shop that sells overpriced collectable pins. With most of the neighborhood showing signs of damage from the great fire, the fresh, solid, and uncharred storefront looks slightly out of place.

“FREEZO’S BAKERY” has been painted on the window in simple, almost childlike letters. A wooden figure stands outside the establishment—an intense-looking high elf with an unnervingly focused smile, presumably a likeness of the baker himself. But despite the signage and the wares in the window, the bakery is closed, and the door is sealed with a rather conspicuous padlock. A sign nailed to the door reads “DANGER! KEEP OUT! GUARD DOGS!”

Gameplay

Freezo is an accomplice of Holstmann who is using the bakery as a front for money laundering

The lock is a suspiciously simple one, and a successful DC 8 Dexterity check with thieves’ tools opens it.

But though the lock itself isn’t trapped, the space just inside the door is rigged with a bucket-and-rope trap. A successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check notices the trap, while a successful DC 14 Dexterity check allows a character to dodge it. A character caught by the trap is doused in blood—cow’s blood, in fact. The rope then also pulls open a trapdoor in the bakery floor, revealing two tiny, angry Ghouls.

Each ghoul has only 12 hit points due to its emaciated condition. Each has advantage on attack rolls made against any character covered in cow’s blood, as a result of the impractical amount of time Freezo has spent training their Pavlovian response to that substance. The ghouls’ cage beneath the floor contains only some rags and bones, a tiny bell, and a sign in Freezo’s hand that reads “PEOPLE NEVER LISTEN.”

Once the ghouls are dealt with, the characters can help themselves to all the bread they like, or head to Freezo’s office in the back of the bakery. This is a surprisingly spartan affair, with competently laid out ledgers and inventory reports, and an iron safe under the desk. There is little suggestion of the baker’s personal life, other than a small gilt-framed picture of a smiling elf couple standing in front of a house.

A character who removes the picture from the frame finds a note on its reverse side: “SAMPLE PORTRAIT. MAYPOLE & SONS, FRAME MERCHANTS.”

A successful DC 14 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools opens the safe. Contrary to the note at the door, it contains 36 gp and 20 sp, as well as a silver locket with a picture of a smiling man and his son (worth 10 gp) and a tin whistle. There's also a note:

"F. This should be enough for the moment. Lots more coming next week. Thanks for the 'bread' -H"

The House of the Artificers

Soundtrack 1 (guitar) Soundtrack 2 (gamelan)

Encounter

Changes to text as written:

  • People talk about the glittermen, but the party doesn't actually see them until they find the remains of one here (if they pick through the remains, DC13)
  • If they dig and roll really well (DC 19), they also find a decanter of endless water nearby
  • If they linger in the main hall, or explore deeply into the rooms off the main hall, they encounter a rust monster

https://open.spotify.com/track/0D1DLjgktbmqpq0JAcbNrl?si=NQWRX01gRe2KLCn_nB-AOw

Other magic items they might find:

Grunwertz Trust Almshouse

Soundtrack: Hurdy Gurdy

Leopold Grunwertz, ("active participant in the PL Facebook group, nearly victimized by the check scam"). Play as written.

  • Working on a deal to create additional housing in the derelicts down on the shipline. He's a stooge and doesn't realize that these people are getting pressed into service working on the ships for Holstmann

Lockwood and Mulligan AC:11, HP: 32, Speed: 30ft
Str: 15, Dex: 11, Con: 14, Int: 10, Wis: 10, Cha: 11
Intimidation +2, Passive Perception: 10, advantage on attack rolls if an unincapacitated ally is within 5ft of the target
2 melee attacks
mace: +4 to hit, 5ft reach, 1d6+2 bludgeoning
Heavy xbow: +2 to hit, 100/400 ft, 1d10 piercing

The Shady Dock tavern

Soundtrack: Swedish Fiddle

Play as written

Brilig Blackbash (bartender, bugbear) 100 Drunken boasts "I once drank all the water out of one of those jugs the shipwrights carry"

Holstmann Hall/10 Marlinspike Alley

Soundtrack

Play as written with the following minor changes

https://open.spotify.com/track/1IFcut13RX9SduibZiDc1B?si=0w5EK5FcTxSg3DgssDKqTw

Instead of a big manor, Lexi lives in an extremely trendy row home near the wharf. It's not massive, but clearly expensive property in what's otherwise a gentrifying area.

Stat blocks for commoners and mastiffs (who all live in the yard). Could replace some mastiffs with additional humans - perhaps they could have some magic or extra juice (since Lexi would probably hire expensive help)

Group 1 Custom Additions

  • There are 4 people that the party is aware of: McElroy (asleep), the dog guy (unknown), and two housekeepers (overheard falling asleep)
  • Roll initiative to start (For all PCs and NPCs). There are 10 rounds that will happen before everyone who is sleeping wakes up.
  • If McElroy wakes up, he will run out into the street screaming that there are thieves in his house. This will attract the attention of the toughs outside who have been following the party since they left the Shady Dock (see ambush).
  • If they get out of the house without a confrontation, the ambush will happen in the street on the way to the next place
  • There is an additional housekeeper upstairs who remains awake. She will scream, and run and hide in the second bedroom under the bed as soon as she encounters any PC. She doesn't know anything interesting.
  • If substantial noise is made, the dog guy will hear it and start rushing in to investigate. If it's really loud, he'll move quickly and leave the door open. The mastiffs will follow and attack.

There are three rooms upstairs. The study is at the top of the stairs. The master bedroom is next to it, and the servants quarters are at the end of the hall above the entry way.

If the characters get into the study, they see it dominated by a giant scale model of the Shipline and the commodore’s public works in the district. A successful DC 18 Intelligence (Investigation) check notes that the miniature of one of the warships has hairline hinges and opens up, revealing a cavity holding a signet ring bearing the sigil of the Artificers. (Depending on the speed with which they make this check, they might have to do it with disadvantage.)

Ambush (at the third location)

While the characters have been poking their noses into Lexi Holstmann’s business, some of the commodore’s associates have become aware of their activities. At the end of the third bell, those associates attempt to dissuade the characters from making any further inquiries.

Encounter

After the adventurers have investigated their third location, but before they leave that location, one scout and three guards arrive. The guards attempt to sneak up on the party from concealed ambush points while their scout leader approaches the characters, warning them to back off of their investigation.

“The days of the Beggar Court are over, and the bastard Janos Meer is finished—as he should have been long ago.” If the characters do not immediately agree to cease their investigation and leave the city, Holstmann’s goons attack.

Ambush Combat Soundtrack

Once defeated, the attackers are each revealed to be wearing a dull clay pendant bearing the unmistakable sigil of the Artificers. One also bears a chit of receipt of payment concerning the delivery of a “valuable item” to a vessel called The Fury of Holstmann, docked at the Shipline. If any of the goons are left alive for interrogation, they’ll admit their allegiance to the cult and that they were recently hired to kidnap Meer and transfer him to The Fury of Holstmann. Their contract came through the Shipwrights, though they don’t know who the client was.

Act 3 - The Shipline

Play as written

Encounter

Soundtrack

On shore at the shipline

On the ship

Random Pirates

there's a lot more activity here now then they're used to be. Poor laborers are actively working on the ships rather then the derelicts just rotting away in dry dock. It's hard to tell from far away the difference between where people are living and working, and in many cases there's no difference.

Tsukiji fish market-vibe

Langley and Steve guard the bring. Langley will fight to the death, Steve won't, has key, knows about giltterman.

Sailor: Str:11, Dex:12, Con: 12, Int:10, Wis: 10, Cha: 10
AC:12 (leather armor), HP: 11, Passive Perception: 10,
Scimitar, +3 to hit, 1d6+1 slashing
Light Crossbow, +3 to hit, 80/320 feet, 1d8+1 piercing

poisoned needle trap