5 Tarsakh

  We finally started doing our presentations in class, there was something of a delay since Alexeia was wanting to finish a unit on the local Blackstaff Academy before we started sharing information. It made some sense, it gave a good foundation as the local “normal” to compare and contrast with for foreign wizards.

  Blackstaff Academy’s history is sort of interesting too, it was sort of incidentally created rather than purposeful. Originally it was the wizard tower of Khelben Arunsun, a demigod of Mystra, where he lived with his wife and assorted apprentices over four centuries ago. His death was only a little over a century ago. He was the original creator of the title of Blackstaff, which was a nickname for him after his signature magical staff he wielded.

  With his passing, a new Blackstaff was selected, a representative archmage dedicated to the city of Waterdeep. The staff, title, and tower would be passed along from successor to successor. None actually held the title so long as Khelben, and the length of their tenures varied quite a bit, some for “only” a decade or two, and some longer.

  The current one, Samark Dhanzscul, is the sixth in the line of Blackstaff. There’s something of a rivalry between him and the current head of the Order of Magists and protectors, according to Alexeia, though she hardly knew any details about it herself to gossip about. Some sort of professional rivalry, or jealousy for the coveted position?

  The Blackstaff Academy was something of a mixture between an elite wizarding academy dedicated to the pursuit of magic itself, and a collection of agents that worked directly for the Blackstaff to do their bidding.

  Sadly, the other presentations from the kids didn’t exactly stand out. Much of it tended to be somewhat surface-level readings on them, retreading similar ground I would have covered with Orsik over the course of a few days of idle study. Maybe a few big historical events easily found but simply repeated about, or some core philosophies that some members might have had.

  Our group did quite a bit better. I had enough experience researching random topics with Orsik that actually finding the various sources we needed for the project was easy. Lisbet and Telli helped read through half the books between the two of them, while I covered the other half. We ended up pooling the information together into a short list, picked out our favourites, and then worked on expanding what made the cut.

  It ended up being an interesting read. Impultur isn’t really a country we interact with in Waterdeep, due to Impultur being far further inland on the northern edge of an inland sea called the Sea of Stars. It has a strong maritime culture, which influenced its local wizard institutions.

  Founded by our focus, Broargar Iringil, the Towers of the Wind was far more mercenary than the Blackstaff Academy. The majority of its students go on to work on local merchant ships to assist in dangerous seafaring in the region.

  More specialized, but also more practical than what we would have had in Waterdeep typically.

  In the end, I was the one who did much of the actual presentation of what we had researched. All those public speaking lessons with the wards came in handy.

  13 Tarsakh

  Happy birthday to me, again. A third year has been completed since I arrived. I felt a bit of nostalgia today, thinking back on things. About the Undersiders, even. What they might have thought about the current circumstances of this world.

  Lisa probably would have had her time full just snooping around, trying to learn all she could about the people in the world. All the little secrets and the big ones, the mysteries of all the big players making moves in the world.

  Rachel would have probably hated a lot of that, though. Maybe she’d go live off in the woods as some sort of druid. Somehow, I doubt she would have been doing a lot of communing with nature, but she enjoyed exploring the wilds past the portals, and the wilderness here is probably not too different.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  To everyone else in this world, today was the same as any other. For me, it wasn’t all that different either, really. I went to class, I ate with my new family, and I visited the workshop. It’s sort of strange how mundane it has all become.

  6 Mirtul

  Lisbet requested my presence once again as a guide for her, this time for the Plowing and Running festival. It was a bit different from previous years for me, simply due to going to different racing venues.

  She’s currently staying up in the Castle Ward, not that far away from the Tower of the Order. It’s a lot more convenient for her, since I have quite a bit further to commute every day by comparison. It made for an interesting change compared to watching the event from the Dock Ward.

  Typically, the way the festival works is that the first day or two consists of various qualifier rounds for different types of races in each ward. Eventually culminating in the selection of the representatives that would then get sent to the larger city tournament. The Dock Ward tended to have a lot of sailors competing, as well as foreigners who worked around the city. You’d also get some transient mercenaries working on the ships to fight sea monsters and pirates, who would sign up.

  The Castle Ward, by contrast, was a lot more mixed in the types of people who competed, and a lot more casual with a lot of them. Of course, the actual competition was between experienced or retired adventurers. A lot of those types had residences in the Castle Ward for whatever reason.

  I ended up actually meeting with some familiar faces and made proper introductions with them. A few of the members from Penelope’s Nose were participating. Bree, the magical barbarian I nearly drowned, was competing in some of the various foot races and obstacle courses. The other competitor from them was Aelar, that odd-looking dwarf, who was apparently racing a pet hawk.

  Lisbet seemed somewhat confused by how we knew each other initially. I also finally made proper introductions with Bree, seeing as we hadn’t actually had a conversation until today. It was fairly casual, though, just a bit of a catch-up. Merric seemed surprised by the fact that Lisbet and I were studying with the Order, but was fairly supportive. He was actually a member of the guild himself, though only so he wouldn’t run into issues as an adventurer.

  He didn’t exactly have the best opinion of them, calling them all sorts of things. It made sense, though, since if you weren’t actually a more permanent business sort of wizard, then I’d imagine most of their benefits weren’t actually all that relevant.

  Apparently, the members of Penelope’s Nose were still working in and around the city. They had been hired by the city guards to investigate rumors of Zhentarim activity in the city, which was picking up. A mixture of an international criminal syndicate and Banite cultists. Of course, the slavers and smugglers would worship a god of tyranny.

  With the return of Bhaal, apparently they had also started to step up their activities. Bane and Bhaal being allies and rivals, it made some sense that Bane might have also been trying to expand his reach. Waterdeep had a bit of a history with the worshippers of Bane, so they were particularly bothered by it.

  So Penelope’s Nose was investigating smuggling activity in and under the city, trying to follow the trail up the ladder to find the local leadership.

  18 Mirtul

  After a discussion with Durah, Laraek, and Slaan, we’ve decided to shift course in the workshop. The venom production is all well and good, but we’re oversaturating the markets. I know for a fact that we’re actually earning something like thirty percent less per sale compared to when we first got started. The only reason we were still earning so much was because of our domination of the market for producing or collecting the various venoms.

  So we’re not going to keep expanding on that front, and will start sending some of it to the clan as well.

  There’s too much heat involved right now. I know for a fact that at least some of the buyers are connected to the Zhentarim or other criminal organizations. I’ll probably start pointing Penelope’s Nose towards a few of the worst ones, even. Them or just the guards anyway. The problem is that people know that the Lizardfolk were becoming fairly good at hunting and harvesting stuff that was venomous nearby.

  So we’re scaling back and instead focusing on silk production. Even if the tensile strength isn’t quite as strong as Black Widows, it makes for fine armour if properly layered and padded. If we can start providing that to the clan at scale, it’ll probably save someone’s life. Either the Zhents or the people chasing them are going to investigate the clan at some point, and there’s very much the chance that something gets misinterpreted and things turn to bloodshed.

  So we’re going to be looking into making armour instead. The lizardfolk can hardly just buy a set in the city thanks to their unique body structure. I’ll be experimenting with different fits and materials to try and make stuff just for them. It’ll be good practice for when I want to invest in making some for myself. Whenever I stop growing so quickly.

  I sort of got really distracted this week so the upload is barely in time. Between spending time cat-sitting for my grandparents, doing some research for that Yu-Gi-Oh crossover idea, and finally playing Dark Souls 3, I sort of just lost track of time.

  Some minor but important developments in this chapter going on. The Zhentarim are known to be a somewhat significant faction in the city according to the Dragon Heist adventure, being able to rival Xanathar's Guild as well as the other more minor thieves guilds in the city. I'm sort of extrapolating some stuff here, but it's sort of important to set up the fact that these factions actually exist and that there are some people who are probably trying to do something about them.

  BG3 really doesn't put nearly enough effort into making you hate the Zhentarim, considering they literally worship Bane and work for Gortash. Sure there's some degree of separation, the Zhents can tend to be profit driven over religious zealotry depending on which pocket of them you're talking about. I imagine a lot of people probably miss the connection entirely and thing the Zhents are just a mafia equivalent.

  Makes you wonder why we don't see any mention of the Shadow Thieves of Amn, but maybe then things would have been a little crowded.

  Bree has also finally made proper introductions with Tayvra, so that's good. I'd like to have some of the members from Penelope's nose as reappearing people. I wanted to use them here mostly just to show that Tayvra is far from the only person doing things, which is sort of important to make a world feel lived in.