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Session 7 - Heroes, Hags, and Hostile Negotiations

- Waterdeep Dragon Heist

When the truth emerges, business gets complicated

A Hero’s Recognition

The morning brought a different energy to Trollskull Manor. Jonn, the City Watch member who had revealed himself as one of the orphanage survivors, had returned to share one final, crucial testimony. Together with Lif, he prepared breakfast for the party—an unexpectedly touching scene of the living and the dead working side by side in the kitchen where so much tragedy had once unfolded.

What followed was perhaps the most powerful moment in their investigation to date. Jonn, drawing on his professional training, provided a complete, systematic account of the night Lif was murdered. His voice maintained the clinical tone of an experienced watchman, but occasionally slipped into the vulnerable cadence of the traumatized child he had once been.

“She grabbed his face and said ‘No more lies’ and there was this awful sound and so much blood, and Lif couldn’t scream anymore,” Jonn recounted, his adult composure cracking as those childhood memories surfaced.

The testimony revealed the full scope of Grezelda’s crimes: the magical memory manipulation that prevented any adult from believing the children’s pleas for help, the systematic abuse disguised as charitable work, and Lif’s heroic attempt to contact the Paladins of Helm for rescue. Most importantly, it confirmed that Lif had died not as a thief, but as a protector trying to save vulnerable children.

When Jonn concluded by looking directly at Lif and declaring, “You saved us. All of us. You’re a hero, Lif. You always were,” the ghost’s form brightened visibly for the first time in fifteen years. The weight of shame and failure that had bound him to this world finally began to lift.

Knowledge and Preparation

With Jonn’s departure for his City Watch duties, the party turned to practical preparation for their intended hag hunt. Null’s research in his monster manual had identified two potential types of hag, but Jonn’s description clearly pointed to Grezelda being an Annis Hag—a mountainous creature known for hunting children and possessing supernatural physical strength.

More crucially, they learned that such creatures have a vulnerability to pure iron and salt—information that would prove essential for any confrontation. The revelation that steel wouldn’t suffice led to an immediate expedition to Steam and Steel, where Embric and Avi agreed to forge proper iron weapons. Cog and Eostre ordered daggers and a halberd respectively, though the four-to-five-day crafting time meant they would need interim solutions.

The genasi smiths’ offer of iron fire pokers as improvised weapons might not have been elegant, but it would have to suffice until proper armaments were ready.

Business Complications

No sooner had they concluded their smithing arrangements than the realities of tavern ownership came calling. Jorik and his construction crew arrived to collect their final payment of 200 gold pieces for the completed roof repairs. The transaction proceeded smoothly—the party had the funds and Jorik’s professionalism had earned their respect.

However, the departure of the honest, working-class dwarf was immediately followed by the arrival of a very different sort of businessman. Hammond Kraddoc, representing the Vintners’, Distillers’, and Brewers’ Guild, approached with his tiefling scribe Jinny in tow, radiating the kind of pompous authority that immediately put the party on edge.

Hammond’s opening gambit—dismissing Jorik with a sniff of disdain about “construction work, so earthy”—set the tone for what would become a masterclass in how not to conduct diplomatic negotiations.

The party’s initial response of slamming the door in Hammond’s face might have been emotionally satisfying, but it established a hostile dynamic that would only escalate. When they reconsidered and allowed him entry, Hammond’s demands proved as unreasonable as his attitude was condescending.

Monthly minimums of 50 gold pieces, inspection fees, premium pricing on seasonal items, and barely concealed threats about “questionable suppliers in the Dock Ward” painted a picture of guild monopolization that rankled the party’s sense of justice. Null’s use of Mage Hand to harass Jinny’s note-taking was perhaps understandable, but it provided Hammond with ammunition for his threats.

The encounter reached its crescendo when Cog stepped forward with an intimidating display that left both guild representatives thoroughly cowed. Hammond’s parting threat to inform the City Watch felt less like a professional warning and more like a personal vendetta.

Seeking Official Support

The party’s visit to the imposing Temple of Helm represented a more successful approach to institutional cooperation. The martial atmosphere of the fortress-like temple, with its focus on vigilance and protection, seemed to resonate with their mission of justice for Lif and the murdered children.

Brother Aldric, the temple’s historian, proved far more cooperative than expected when they inquired about Sir Marcus Ironhold, the paladin who had led the original investigation fifteen years ago. The news that Sir Marcus was currently on a mission in the Mere of Dead Men, battling undead threats in the northern swamps, was disappointing but not entirely unexpected.

However, Eostre’s persuasive appeal—emphasizing the connection between Helm’s role as protector and their mission to prevent future harm to children—achieved exactly the cooperation they needed. Brother Aldric agreed to prepare comprehensive case files combining the party’s findings with Sir Marcus’s original notes, ensuring the paladin would be fully briefed upon his return in the coming weeks.

The temple’s promise to contact them immediately upon Sir Marcus’s return provided the official pathway to clearing Lif’s name that they had been seeking.

Solo Diplomacy Gone Wrong

While her companions remained at the manor, Eostre made the decision to attempt diplomatic damage control with Hammond at the guild headquarters. Her intentions were sound—repair the relationship, establish reasonable terms, and avoid the escalating conflict that would inevitably complicate their tavern operations.

The execution, however, proved less than ideal.

Eostre’s decision to sample an apple from the guild’s orchard while waiting to speak with Hammond was perhaps understandable as a gesture of confidence, but “scrumping” (as the City Watch called it) provided Hammond with exactly the legal leverage he had been seeking. The arrival of two watchmen, the formal citation, and the eventual summons to appear before a magistrate at the Temple of Tyr with a potential 500 gold piece fine transformed what should have been a diplomatic overture into a legal nightmare.

Hammond’s smug satisfaction at this turn of events, combined with his revelation of the guild’s partnerships with City Watch licensing boards, painted a picture of institutional corruption that would require careful navigation to overcome.

A New Path Forward

The session concluded with an unexpected development that offered a different kind of opportunity. A white cat appearing in their manor delivered a message in a melodious male voice: “Interested in joining the Emerald Enclave? Come meet us at Phaulkonmere in the Southern Ward.”

For Silvyr, whose environmental work in the forge district had already demonstrated his commitment to protecting Waterdeep’s natural balance, this invitation represented a perfect alignment of personal calling and organizational mission. The Emerald Enclave’s reputation as protectors of the environment and mediators between civilization and wilderness made them natural allies for someone working to heal the city’s ecological damage.

The Weight of Truth

As the party reflected on the day’s events, the contrast between different types of authority became clear. Jonn’s courageous testimony, Brother Aldric’s principled cooperation, and even Jorik’s honest craftsmanship stood in sharp opposition to Hammond’s bureaucratic intimidation and the guild system’s monopolistic practices.

Lif’s brightened spirits served as a reminder that truth and recognition matter as much as legal vindication. For fifteen years, the ghost had believed himself a failure, but Jonn’s words had finally provided what he needed most: acknowledgment that his sacrifice had meaning and that the children he died trying to protect had grown into people dedicated to helping others.

The hag hunt they were planning represented more than simple revenge—it was about ensuring that Grezelda’s crimes could never be repeated, that other children would be protected from the kind of predatory evil that had once stalked Trollskull Manor.

But first, they would need to navigate the increasingly complex web of guild politics, legal challenges, and institutional pressure that threatened to entangle their efforts in bureaucratic quicksand. Hammond’s parting threats and Eostre’s court summons suggested that their enemies weren’t just supernatural monsters lurking in mountain caves—they were also the corrupt and petty officials who made heroism inconvenient and justice expensive.

The party had learned to fight monsters and solve mysteries, but now they faced a different kind of challenge: proving that sometimes doing the right thing requires standing up to the very institutions that claim to represent law and order.

Next time: Will the Emerald Enclave offer Silvyr the support his environmental mission needs? How will the party handle Hammond’s escalating threats and Eostre’s legal troubles? And what adventures await as they prepare to face an Annis Hag in her mountain lair?

Party Roster