Damros waits until they are outside and out of earshot of any trailing bodies.  "Skye, THOSE are the people that turned you away?  Or was it that 'other branch' of Zhents Davil spoke of?"

Quite as usual, Sehaethas stayed in the background during the meeting, and followed the others out as they left. Kylaski was bored with this part, so she stayed tucked away watching without much interest.

“Don’t be mislead. Branches are branches; they all stem from the same tree’s trunk, and at the bottom they’re all fed by the same roots. 

“The Zhentarim that betrayed me wore different faces, but they were cut from the same cloth, and if tomorrow things are different then our new allies will find there are no longer two branches and we are to be dealt with. The day after that? Perhaps they are our friends again.

”My mistake, before, was to think that joining them put me on the inside, that there was loyalty among thieves. Their emblem is a winged serpent: their promises are air, their mouth is venom, their nature is to bite.”

Damros shakes his head in acknowledgement, "It is as I overheard in late night tavern gossip.  The Zhentarim are a den of vipers; no matter what skin they hide under."

He lightly places a hand on Skye's shoulder, "I am sorry you had to make those choices and learned a very hard lesson.  I hope 'your new private crew' never lets you down."

He winks and offers up a wry smile.

Skye represses a shudder as Damros’ touch, as cold as the grave — colder, and forces a smile onto her face. 

On to the Harpers. 

You make your way to Mirt's residence. And he is not there and there is no answer

Sehaethas asks, "What now? Do we wait for him? Look for him? Or come back later?"

Skye scratches her chin, takes a seat on the stoop. (What time of day is it?). “We’ve nowhere else to be, right?” 

Xaul leans back against the doorframe of Mirt's house and yawns. He then says 'We could always ask his neighbours when he left, or even better, I could speak to any birds, rats or insects around to learn when he left and if there was any indication of his return soon.'

Sehaethas changes in to Kylaski and says to Xaul, "That sounds interesting!" She then keeps watching Xaul to see him talking to critters...

“Ask them if we’re being watched, or followed, too,” whispers Skye. 

From speaking with the critters, you are most certainly being watched. But by critters and animals who are watching anyone. There is no suspicious activity that the critters are aware of. In terms of Mirt, the critters are aware someone living there leaving. He often goes away and is back at all sort of times (which translates to the module saying "Mirt also tells them that if they ever need to speak with him directly, they are welcome to visit his manor in the Sea Ward. If the characters do visit Mirt’s manor, there’s a 90 percent chance that Mirt isn’t home and no one answers the door.") 

Kylaski is impressed at how much information Xaul gets from talking to the animals.

Xaul's grateful for what he was able to gather too, scratching his chin as he says 'Well, seems like there's no set time Mirt will be back, so do you reckon it's best we just hang around? We've not got much else to do, and he surely can't be too long...'

Skye offer him her waterskin. Except… with the cap removed, the smell is extremely not .. watery, except for maybe that it’s eye-watering. The smell enough of it is enough to know the taste of a moonshine that definitely would be unsafe to serve in the inn. Has she been drinking it instead of water the whole time? Surely, no mortal could. Except, the waterskin is not full.

Skye jiggles it at the others, and makes no sign to step away from where she has chosen to sit. 

Damros half mutters to himself and half to those close by, "We could be here until the wee hours if he is hitting taverns all over the city; gathering his intel drink by drink."

He turns his head and spits.   "While I once had patience in the service of my Queen, I feel I have lost my ability to stand idlely by waiting for Mirt to saunter up the steps."

(does anyone have paper and pen?)

”Leave a note?” suggests Skye.

Damros smirks, "It is not as if we are hauling our travel / dungeon backpacks about the city 'just in case'.   Let me scout the area and see if there is a shop that might have parchment and writing sticks."

Passive Perception:  14

You are able to relatively easily find a shop. The sea ward where you are is the richest part of the city, and as such, prices are higher (10% more than PHB prices), but equally here are some shops that if you wanted to sell the boots you found, you would likely get the best price for.

(Do they have any equivalent magical boots - possible part exchange?)