Whispers of the Raven Lords
The Grimcrest Investigation and the Rise of the Raven Lords
The party accepted a job to investigate the murder of Horace Grimcrest, brother of Lord Hawthorne Grimcrest. Horace’s body was discovered in the Dock Ward of Waterdeep, branded with an infernal inscription: “Asmodeus Lives”
Their first lead took them to the crime boss of the Dock Ward, Xanathar, a paranoid beholder who feared for his life after a failed deal with the Blackwing Assassins. While willing to share what he knew about Horace, Xanathar demanded a favor first—retrieving a package of fish food for Sylgar, his beloved pet goldfish, and delivering a letter to a group of goblins.
At the Drunken Pixie, the party found the goblins, but upon reading Xanathar’s letter, one of them took Helena Gale, the barkeep, hostage. A fight ensued, and once the goblins were dealt with, the party returned to Xanathar with the package. Keeping his word, Xanathar revealed that Horace had purchased the location of a hidden entrance to the City of the Dead.
On their way to the graveyard, the party witnessed a kidnapping—two cloaked figures carrying a young man into an alley. They pursued the abductors to a butcher shop, which had been converted into an Asmodean altar. Despite their efforts to stop the ritual, a Bulezau, a fiend impaled with countless weapons, emerged from a portal. After a hard-fought battle, the party returned to Grimcrest Manor to rest.
Secrets Beneath Grimcrest Manor
As they entered the manor, a Wand of Secrets, found on the cultists, began to shake. Following its guidance, they uncovered a trap-laden wine cellar that led to a hidden temple of Asmodeus. In the chamber, a Tiefling woman was casting a spell. Before they could stop her, she teleported away.
The next morning, the hidden temple was gone, replaced by an ordinary storage room. Suspicious, the party returned to the butcher shop, but it too was back to normal. Realizing they needed more answers, they used Xanathar’s tunnel into the City of the Dead.
There, they met Melvyn Wake, the elderly Dwarven groundskeeper, who pointed them toward a mausoleum where the earth had turned to rot and mud. Inside, they found stacks of branded corpses, all marked with Asmodeus' symbol. Their investigation was interrupted by an attack from a Dread Warrior and a group of ghouls.
After escaping the graveyard, the party sought more information on Horace Grimcrest at City Hall. Upon returning to Grimcrest Manor, they questioned Lord Grimcrest about Open Lord Laeral Silverhand's decision to close the City of the Dead. He revealed that Lady Silverhand was hosting her annual Open Lord Ball and invited them as his guests.
The Open Lord Ball and Lady Arronal’s Treachery
At the ball, the party managed to speak with Lady Laeral Silverhand, but as they pressed her about the City of the Dead, she introduced them to her advisor—Lady Arronal, the same Tiefling who had attacked them in the temple beneath Grimcrest Manor.
Lady Arronal whispered something to Lady Silverhand, who quickly took her leave. As the party questioned Arronal, she suggested moving to a more private location. In an alley behind the Open Lord’s Keep, the group was ambushed by the Green Knuckle Gang, seeking revenge for their fallen members at the Drunken Pixie. Lady Arronal used a teleport spell to escape, leaving the party to handle the gang.
Among the defeated gang members, the party found a longsword bearing the Greycastle family crest. Lord Grimcrest revealed that Dorn Greycastle, a former business associate, had not been seen in public since he began courting Lady Arronal. The party decided to return to Grimcrest Manor to regroup.
A New Job and the Airship Heist
The next morning, a Wererat courier from the Nightmare Oasis delivered a message from Xanathar, requesting a meeting. When they arrived, Xanathar thanked them for dealing with the Green Knuckle Gang and warned them not to trust Lord Grimcrest’s servants.
Xanathar then offered the party a job: stealing an airship docked in the city in exchange for more information about Lady Arronal. Arronal had hired the Green Knuckle Gang to steal the airship for its special cargo hold, capable of carrying ten times its weight. Xanathar, however, needed the airship to aid in the escape of his imprisoned associate, Fredrick, from Ashgate Fortress—and if successful, he would gift the airship to the party.
With the help of Wererat sailors, the party seized The Paragon and set sail for Ashgate Fortress. As they arrived, a massive explosion tore through the outer wall. A Tabaxi fugitive escaped through the breach, leaping aboard their ship. He introduced himself as Fredrick, Xanathar’s personal aquarist.
On the return journey, Fredrick revealed the true plot: The Raven Lords, a secret society seeking dominion over the Sword Coast, were using the Cult of Asmodeus as a distraction. Their goal? Summoning Asmodeus to sow chaos while Lady Arronal infiltrated the Masked Lords’ Vault to steal its vast treasury.
Their conversation was interrupted when the party was attacked by the Green Knuckle Gang’s airship, The Green Envy. In the battle, Rhalina Margravin was killed, and Sindax Blackscale sacrificed himself to slay the gang’s leader, Fig.
The Masked Lords' Vault and the Battle Against Lady Arronal
The party rendezvoused with Xanathar and then reported to Lord Grimcrest, who provided a letter of introduction to Lord Greycastle. At Greycastle Manor, they were greeted by skeleton servants, who led them to Flagg, now under Lady Arronal’s command. Flagg was summoning a Bearded Devil, but the party interrupted the ritual and forced him to reveal the truth—Lady Arronal had killed Lord Greycastle, and Flagg had murdered Horace Grimcrest.
A portal in the chamber led to the entrance of the Masked Lords' Vault, where the party confronted Lady Arronal. Before they could strike, they were interrupted by Clanghammer, the old tavern keeper, who revealed himself as Hendrae, an Adult Gold Dragon. Hearing commotion above, he flew off to fight Asmodeus, leaving the party to face Lady Arronal alone.
Arronal summoned three Stone Defenders, but the party overpowered her. As she fell, her body turned to dust—an ominous sign that her influence might not be truly gone.
The Aftermath: Waterdeep’s Future
Hendrae returned, rewarding the party with a chest of rare magical weapons. Their tunnel exit led them to the Nightmare Oasis, where they learned that the summoning of Asmodeus had caused an earthquake, spilling Sylgar’s fishbowl and sending Xanathar into a berserk rage, rallying his Wererats to fight the undead hordes plaguing the city.
Returning to Grimcrest Manor, the party revealed the truth to Lord Grimcrest, who begged them to keep Horace’s crimes a secret to preserve his family’s name. He honored their agreement, rewarding them with 100,000 gold pieces.
That night, Lady Laeral Silverhand visited them in secret. Though she could not publicly acknowledge the events, she knighted the party as Barons and Baronesses and gifted them Greycastle House, as Dorn had left no heirs.
With the Raven Lords' plot foiled and Waterdeep safe—for now—the party went their separate ways, marking the end of their grand adventure.