📰 A Friend in Need

Renaer refuses the axe.

"Pshaw! The axe is a peasant's weapon, the arms of the common labourer. No, the sword is more fitting for one of noble blood".

He gives an elaborate and lengthy salute with the sword that looks more like a dance than the initiation of combat. If he tries that flashy nonsense with a Xanathar thug, you'll soon see that noble blood. Then, after tucking the sword in his belt, he raises a finger to the ceiling.

"To Fishgut Alley, my fine yeomen! To glory!"

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According to Volo's Guide to Waterdeep, the Dock Ward is Waterdeep's most colourful ward - that colour must be brown. Reportedly, Fishgut Alley has cobblestones, but it's difficult to tell what lies under all the crap and rubbish.

You search for the entrance to the sewers; it's like looking for hay in a haystack, but eventually, you find a large grating with a daub of dirty yellow paint.

It stinks down there, but it stinks up here too. At least the sewer's stink is a little less fishy. Unfortunately, the sewer opening is a bit of a squeeze, and you'll be moving in single down there. Renaer offers to lead the way, but it's pretty clear that he's happy to be talked out of the offer.

The slick grating slips from Jodelle's fingers and clatters into the sewers below like a riot in a timpani section.

Renaer blinks innocently.

"I don't mean to brag, but I believe can match your covert prowess."

A putrid stream flows along this sewer tunnel, which leads northish and southish. To the southish, you see a tiny symbol drawn on the wall in yellow chalk: a palm-sized circle with ten equidistant spokes radiating out from its circumference.

Although you still have some light from the alley, it looks like it'll get dark as you move down these tunnels.

The torch flickers with a blue methanic flame as you descend into the filth.

Our heroes follow the marked sewer trail.

Imagine silent subterranean tunnels, where the only sound is an occasional echoing drip. Now imagine the opposite, because it was nothing like that. The banging and bustle of the busy Dock Ward above rattle these sewers, and there isn't the 'occasional' drip, but the loud gurgling, splatting and sloshing created by a dynamic city without enough roughage in their diet.

Waterdeep's sewers are overstressed and underdesigned. You make your way past whirlpools of excrement that carry away rolling waves of filth. Where does it all go? Put it this way, never accept a quest to venture into the underdark beneath the Dock Ward.

As you turn the corner, your torchlight casts a large circular shadow ahead. A small floating orb with multiple eyestalks drifts into view. The torchlight glints on the teeth. That's a lot of teeth.

The small menacing orb floats towards you with eyestalks glowing.

SMACK - Patience is lifted and thrown back down the sewers. Along his flight he bowls Renaer over. The noble lands on his back in a shallow ochre puddle.

The orb chuckles maliciously as it snaps its teeth.

Meh. It's a floating ball made entirely from eyeballs and teeth. Honestly? How it smells is the least of its problems.