THE DAILY GRIMOIRE

"All The News That's Unfit For Polite Company"

THE BARD, THE ORPHANS, AND THE BLOOD MONEY: IS ERGIČ WATERDEEP'S MOST RUTHLESS SPYMASTER?

— HOW A WANDERING MINSTREL BOUGHT AN ARMY OF CHILDREN —

Byline: Our Correspondent in the Shadows

THE LEAD

He is known in the taverns as a wandering minstrel of some repute. A charming eccentric who resolves conflicts with a quick word, a disarming smile, and a hypnotic pattern. He is Ergič. He founded the much-lauded Six-Fingered Hand. He has stared down dragons and reasoned with vampires. He is, to the public eye, a slightly abrasive but fundamentally heroic adventurer who prefers a peaceful resolution to a bloody brawl.

But what happens when the music stops? This correspondent has obtained documents that shatter the lute-strumming facade. The "peaceful minstrel" is, in fact, the architect of a sprawling, clandestine intelligence apparatus. Ergič is the Spymaster of Waterdeep's underworld, and his agents are everywhere. They are sweeping the streets, picking pockets, and watching your doors. And who are these ruthless operatives? They are children.

Using blood money seized from assassinated mercenaries, Ergič has effectively purchased the Old Corner Orphanage in the Dock Ward. For a retainer of gold, this "hero" has weaponized the city's most vulnerable youth, turning orphans into a highly efficient spy network that reports directly to him.

THE "TRUTH" VS. THE TALE

What The Official Record Says:

The breathless historical accounts penned by the High Chronicler paint Ergič as a diplomatic genius. The record states he "charmed his way through the crypt non-violently," and used a magical bronze mask to "command" a white dragon away from a devastating battle. A true peacemaker.

The Darker Reality (Per Sources in the Field):

Let us examine how this "diplomacy" is actually applied in the field.

• The Gold Dragon Extortion: In the Vault of Dragons, Ergič donned his infamous mask and attempted to compel a hidden Gold Dragon to "yield" to him, walking away with magical gifts.
• The Zhentarim Sting: When targeting the notorious financier Mr. West, Ergič didn't use diplomacy—he used deceit. He charmed West at the Broken Flagon and offered him a new source of "young meat" to set up an ambush.
• The Child Army: The monthly retainer paid to the orphanage manager. An exorbitant sum that ensures every street urchin in the Dock Ward—including a star agent codenamed "Crab"—answers only to the Bard.

The Chronicler calls him a peacemaker. The Muckraker calls him a manipulative mastermind who hides behind a lute while his army of child spies gathers blackmail on the entire city.

WHISPERS IN THE TAVERN

Unconfirmed. Speculative. Printed with full enthusiasm.

• 🐉 "The Lord of Dragons." It is an established fact that Ergič possesses a Bronze Dragon Mask that allowed him to command an Ice Dragon at Skyreach Castle. This correspondent puts it to the reader: if a bard can command a dragon with a single word, why is he wasting his time fighting sewer oozes? Is he building an army of drakes in secret?
• 🗡️ "The Missing Investigation." Years ago, Ergič was allegedly tasked with investigating a dark artifact known as "Lolth's Sword." The official archives contain absolutely no record of what he discovered. Did he find something he wanted to keep for himself? Or did the sword find him?
• 🎭 "The Cowardice Ruse." Within his own party, Ergič is reportedly considered "shit at fighting," preferring to cast spells from the backline. This correspondent suggests this is a calculated act. What better way to avoid the scrutiny of your heavily armed companions than by playing the helpless minstrel, all while pulling their strings from the shadows?

THE "WHO'S NEXT?" COLUMN

Whose Reputation — or Life — Is Currently Most At Risk?

1. The Orphanage Manager
This unnamed administrator accepted 750GP a month from a known mercenary to turn children into spies. If the City Watch ever grows a spine, or if a rival faction decides to blind the Six-Fingered Hand's intelligence network, the Old Corner Orphanage will be the first target. The manager is sitting on a powder keg.

2. The Waterdeep Council
If you think the Council's secrets are safe, you haven't been paying attention. Ergič's orphan spies are everywhere. They are serving drinks, sweeping floors, and listening to every corrupt deal. The Spymaster knows exactly who is taking bribes. It's only a matter of time before he uses that leverage.

3. The Party Themselves
Bain, Ezekiel, Rem, Skacel, Nix... do you really think your Spymaster is only watching your enemies? A man who weaponizes orphans and extorts dragons is not a man who leaves his own flank unguarded. Check your pockets, gentlemen. The Bard knows your secrets too.

DEAD MAN'S EMPIRE: THE SHOCKING TRUTH BEHIND WATERDEEP'S MOST DANGEROUS CHICKEN SALESMAN

— AND THE MERCENARY ROGUES WHO DIDN'T JUST KILL HIM... THEY BECAME HIM —

Byline: Our Correspondent in the Shadows
Printed in the Dock Ward. If found, please return to the usual alley.

THE LEAD

He called himself Mr. West. He sold canned meats. He sat in the Broken Flagon ordering rounds and telling anyone who'd listen about his exciting new venture into beef protein. He was charming. He was well-dressed. He was, according to anonymous tips received by this correspondent, the financial backbone of the Zhentarim's entire Waterdeep operation — and he had been running it under a forged identity for years.

The name Jenkson Mull, registered in city records as a travelling spice merchant from Amn, was a fiction. A very expensive, very well-maintained fiction — complete with a Dock Ward warehouse, a Trades Ward textile office, a South Ward boarding house that smelled of burnt documents, and a snake-branded signet ring left behind for someone in too much of a hurry to care about loose ends. The records were inconsistent. The handwriting on the forged papers matched that of a known Zhentarim fixer. The "spice merchant from Amn" had shipping records out of Baldur's Gate filed under a code name — Black Sun — that this correspondent has reliably been informed means "this shipment doesn't exist."

Mr. West is now dead. His corpse, in a development that defies both law and common decency, is reportedly stored in a magical extradimensional space carried around the city by a heavily-armoured paladin. The men and women responsible for his death have not been arrested. They have, if this correspondent's sources are correct, simply assumed his identity and started sending letters.

The City Watch could not be reached for comment. The City Watch, frankly, is probably in the book.

THE "TRUTH" VS. THE TALE

What The Official Record Says:

The Chronicles of the Six-Fingered Hand — those breathless, reverential annals compiled by a certain elderly academic who shall remain nameless — describe Mr. West as follows: "a wealthy noble, not merely a legitimate businessman trading in canned meats, but a sinister financier with ties to the underworld."

Ties to the underworld. How delightfully restrained. One might, with such language, imagine a man who occasionally attended a disreputable dinner party. Perhaps once told an off-colour joke in the company of a halfling smuggler.

The Darker Reality (Per Sources in the Field):

The Black Book recovered from Mr. West's stash — a leather-bound compendium of Waterdeep's most flammable secrets — tells a rather different story. We are talking about:

• Bribed City Watch captains. Named. In writing.
• At least two assassinations ordered through Zhentarim contacts. Targets: uncooperative business partners and at least one rival who made the mistake of saying no.
• Noble families laundering Zhentarim gold under coded pseudonyms — including a recurring contact identified only as "Silver Veil," who appears to operate at the very highest levels of Waterdeep society and has, as of press time, been identified by nobody and arrested by nobody.
• A major incoming shipment, codenamed "Nightshade," noted in the book as arriving within days of West's death. This correspondent has been unable to determine whether it arrived, what it contained, or whether the current stewards of West's empire made any attempt to intercept it.

The Chronicler calls him a sinister financier. The Muckraker calls him the architect of a criminal empire that has been operating, unbothered, in this city for years — while the City Watch spent its time harassing buskers in the Market Ward.

WHISPERS IN THE TAVERN

Unconfirmed. Speculative. Printed with full enthusiasm.

• 🐔 "The Chicken Was Always A Front." Multiple sources confirm that West's canned meat business was noted to be "failing" even before his death. This correspondent puts it to the reader: a Zhentarim financier running arms deals and noble blackmail rings does not need the chicken business to turn a profit. The chicken was atmosphere. Plausible deniability. A man who smells of poultry is rarely suspected of orchestrating assassinations. Allegedly.

• 💀 "The Body In The Bag." It is the considered opinion of this correspondent that the decision to store Mr. West's corpse in an extradimensional hole — rather than, for instance, disposing of it in the harbour like a normal gang of criminals — suggests that at least one member of the Six-Fingered Hand believes the body still has value. Leverage? Resurrection? A prop for an elaborate fraud? We cannot say. We merely note it.

• 🕵️ "Silver Veil Walks Among You." The Black Book's mystery noble contact — identified by a pseudonym, never a name — attended Zhentarim meetings, funnelled gold, and apparently has enough influence to keep their identity out of every record that wasn't locked in a dead man's private ledger. Waterdeep's noble quarter contains approximately forty individuals with the access, wealth, and apparent morals to fit this description. They are at parties. They are at council meetings. They are, statistically, reading this broadsheet right now.

• 🐀 "The Mull Alias Came From Elsewhere." One document in the forged Jenkson Mull papers bears a signature that investigators have matched to Veylan "The Ledger" Duskryn — the Zhentarim fixer who subsequently defected to the Six-Fingered Hand and is now, apparently, safely ensconced in Baldur's Gate under the protection of a militia trained by the party's resident tank. The Muckraker asks: did Veylan forge the papers that gave West his cover identity? And if so, did West know? Did he mind? And does Veylan's defection mean that every Zhentarim operation he ever touched is now potentially compromised — or does it mean the Hand now has a private key to the entire network? We put this to our readers as a rhetorical exercise.

THE "WHO'S NEXT?" COLUMN

Whose Reputation — or Life — Is Currently Most At Risk?

1. "Silver Veil" (The Unknown Noble)
This correspondent's primary concern. An active Zhentarim intermediary embedded in Waterdeep's elite, with no known name and no known face, who has every reason to want the people currently in possession of the Black Book to stop existing. The Six-Fingered Hand have the book. Silver Veil has resources, connections, and a powerful motivation. This column predicts an unpleasant social call in the near future.

2. The Nightshade Shipment's New Owner
If West is dead and nobody intercepted the "Nightshade" delivery — someone else received it. Someone who was expecting to deal with West, found him absent, and has presumably spent the intervening weeks asking increasingly pointed questions about what happened to their contact. This individual is unknown. Their inventory is unknown. Their disposition toward the party is, therefore, also unknown. The Muckraker rates this threat: significant.

3. The Six-Fingered Hand Themselves
Let us be plain. These individuals have: assassinated a senior Zhentarim financier, stolen his operational ledger, assumed his criminal identity, recruited his warehouse staff as spies, and are now sitting on twenty-four soul crystals of unclear provenance. They have also, apparently, got a vampire in a hole somewhere and a beholder trying to find them. The Muckraker wishes them the very best and notes that life insurance in Waterdeep is extraordinarily hard to come by.

The Daily Grimoire accepts no responsibility for the consequences of publication. Tips may be slid under the door of the usual establishment in the Dock Ward. Do not knock. Do not speak to the man with the hat. Leave the coin and go.

© The Daily Grimoire. All slander is artistic expression.

WATERDEEP'S UNRESOLVED SCANDALS: THE MYSTERIES THEY WANT YOU TO FORGET

— THE MUCKRAKER'S LIST OF LOOSE THREADS —

Byline: Our Correspondent in the Shadows

The City Watch is blind, the Council is corrupt, and certain threads in this city simply... stop. This correspondent has reviewed the dockets, paid the bribes, and found four mysteries that the powers-that-be are entirely too comfortable leaving unsolved.

1. The Identity of "Silver Veil"

As previously reported, the Zhentarim financier Mr. West was bankrolled by a noble using the pseudonym "Silver Veil." This individual funded blackmail and assassinations. They have never been identified, never faced justice, and remain comfortably embedded in Waterdeep's elite. Is the City Watch investigating? Of course not. Silver Veil is likely paying their salaries.

2. The Drow, The Dwarf, and the Unanswered Hit

Months ago, the drow mercenary Salvi Herish was assassinated in her estate by an elven operative. Word in the shadows is that the hit was commissioned by a drow named Grinda Garloth, acting on behalf of one Thorvin Twinbeard. Who is Thorvin? Why did he want Salvi dead? Neither Thorvin nor Grinda have been seen since the gold changed hands. Has a new power broker quietly taken control of the Yokiri mercenaries' territory?

3. The Field Ward Butcher

A body was found in the Field Ward. The City Watch made noise about a serial murderer. Then... silence. The investigation vanished from the public record. Was the killer caught quietly? Did they pay off the right magistrate? Or is the "Field Ward Butcher" still stalking the alleys while the Watch looks the other way? The Muckraker advises avoiding the Field Ward after dark.

4. The Giant's Secret Passenger

When the sky-fortress known as Skyreach Castle was redirected away from Waterdeep by the stone giant Blagothkus, the giant lord made a specific request of the mercenaries aboard: to ensure the safety of his "favoured companion." The identity of this passenger remains entirely unrecorded. A giant? A hostage? A powerful Waterdhavian noble fleeing the city? Whoever they were, they vanished into the clouds, and the official records pretend they never existed.

The Daily Grimoire does not forget. We are still watching.

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