Davíd's Ramblings

Sitting in a tavern in Ogdale, Davíd met with Lorkus to decide if Lorkus was someone who could be of use to the Doom Raiders.   After sizing up Lorkus, he introduces himself and launches into a dump of information about the city (from his point of view). His ramblings are what follows:  

Nobles

So nobles, we have a bunch of them. But really there’s only, like, 15 houses that really matter. They’re the ones that have more control over the city - especially the ruling house and the others that sit on the Council of 12.  One of the families that has been particularly interesting lately is the Nevermember’s. Reginald is currently leading that house - his father was ousted not too long ago. He was one of the open Lords - but the other Lords exiled him because they believed he was stealing money from the cities coffers.   

Religion

I’m not really religious person, but there are more than a few places to worship. That can be important - sometimes they’re good resources for finding help or maybe free handouts. Our city has eight major churches with maybe some little branches of other things around or smaller churches. But like I said not really a religious person. Don’t really know much more about that.  

Rumors

So, I’ve been keeping my eye on three things. First off I’m sure you’ve seen these treasure maps floating around. Probably heard rumors of the vault of dragons. And maybe you even heard of the Stone of Ujuzi. That’s the bigger interest right now and I’ll get back to that. There’s also been a sickness that has, uh, taken down some of our members. If I were you, I would just avoid the slums. They set up a couple of makeshift hospitals and care wards over there for these people. Don’t know what’s happening but I have heard that Its the Lord of the Rotting Tower that’s giving our fair city this plague. Third, there seems to be an odd amount of Drow around the city even more odd it’s almost all men. I suppose it’s possible that they are here for the vault as well.  

Factions

Now, about us and our competition. First the main competition against our black network is the city guard. The officers and guards aren’t the biggest problem. They’re easy to spot because the uniforms.  They have a, like a guild. They’re like, junior detectives and they report back to the city watch. So giving information to the wrong person can be a problem. Like I said, The guards aren’t as big of a problem because we can see them but even more so, some of them are on our payroll.   OK, as far as factions go you’ve got the Emerald Enclave. Their leader in the city is a lady by the name of Blossom. Go figure. A nature lover by the name blossom. They’re not any problem for us. They just take care of the parks, Love nature, and generally leave people alone unless they’re destroying nature. One interesting thing of note I’ve heard is that Blossom’s son is missing.   Next up you’ve got the Order the Gauntlet. These are like, clerics, and other worshipers of Helm and Tyr and the like. They can be a pain in the ass because their motto Is essentially destroy evil before it gets a foothold. And sometimes they see what we do as evil. Of course, it isn’t. We’re just trying to make a living and make the city a better place.   There’s also the Harpers. Probably won’t see them but- ugh - these guys are good. They’re spies, essentially. They work towards peace. The nice thing is they don’t always use violence to settle things – they’ll use money or favors to influence in order to keep violence from happening in the first place. It’s hard to figure out who’s who in this network but I think Reginald Nevermember, or at least some of his cohort are in with them.   Then there’s our main competition. The Barabas guild. They called them selves rabbis. And the bold enough to call themselves a guild. Which of course, they aren’t. They’re criminals. Some say that their leader is a beholder, can you imagine that, being led by a beholder? I don’t think that’s likely. However these guys are dangerous. They’ll kill you just to soon as look at you. In fact the they’ll  kill each other if they see it as a way to move up the chain. They definitely know about the stone. I think they even have it right now.   At this point he takes a break from his ramblings to address Lorkus and explain a little about the Zhentarim and the differences between his group, the Doom Raiders, and the group that currently leads the Zhentarim.  

Stone of Ujuzi

So, the stone. I don’t have anyway to confirm any of this but here’s what I’ve pieced together. When he was leading Ogdell, Lord Nevermember was embezzling thousands from the city. As far as I can tell, his family has no idea about the money. But some of my sources in the government confirm that there is money missing not just money on paper, but actual dragons, real gold. So he stashed this money somewhere. But understanding that it would be likely that magic would be used on him should he be caught, he wiped out any trace of where the money was hidden - including wiping his own memory of where it is. That way no one could read his mind. That’s where the stone comes in. I guess he put a scroll inside, or a message of some sort on the stone itself. We want to find that stone and return the funds, well, most of the funds to the city. Then the nobles will have to see the Zhentarim as a legitimate organization.