The gnome scratches his head, "Hmm, if you get at least five of them I can probably get away with letting them go for twenty two each. You're practically robbing us at that price though."

"What if we purchased sixteen of them?" Perry asks with a wide grin. Perry looks to Velon for approval.

"We have to save some money for a few other things, Master Pennington.  Perhaps just one each, unless others wish to invest more?"  Velon looks to the others to see if anyone is interested.  "Actually I'll take a second" he adds, reaching into his pockets for the coin.

"Oh and yes, we could certainly promote Bunko's and how instrumental you all were in our defeat of dragons and other such foes!"

The gnome looks in between you with a smile, clearly waiting on a straight answer to how many you're interested in purchasing

"Let's just go with 10 instead! Thank you my good sir!" Perry says.

The gnome carefully sets out ten of the precious disposable amulets, grinning as he does so. "All right then big spenders, that will be twenty two thousand. Is there anything else I might be able to interest you in?"

After the business with the gnome is complete, Lawrance asks the group if they could head to the wizards markets. "I need to buy some spells that may help us, underground. Perry, could you please negotiate with the merchants - Ill give you my list?" he pleads.

Perry wraps things up with the gnome then goes with Lawrance to help with purchasing some spells. "I would be happy to assist you with this monumentally important task, Lawrance! Now then, to the markets!"

Once they find a place, Perry tries to get a good deal on the spells, "You know, Lawrance here is actually a super famous wizard of the Silver Blaze. If we could get a saving-the-world discount, he'd be happy to endorse this wonderful establishment."

Lawrance flushes at being called super famous, the sudden rise of the fortunes of the Blaze carrying his own reputation higher than he ever had ambitions for. Listing off the spells he is looking for, he let's Perry lead the discussion, his hand on his pouch, ready to pay what he needs to. 

Lawrance is able to purchase the spells that are needed. Barring any further preparations, all that remains is hiring a guide, or at the very least finding a really good map, before entering the underdark.

Cratol follows the others as they go from one place to another in the city getting them prepared to head to the underground or what many call the everdark.  Being in the everdark does not worry him as much as the fact that they will be hunting for the city of the mindflayers for this item for a vampire.  He knows that this is a necessary quest as they continue on their quest to keep Tiamat from once again entering the world.

Perry says,  "Alright, now that that's done we need to procure ourselves some drow mercenaries. Bregan D'aerthe, right? Does anyone know where to find a branch of theirs for hiring? I think Waterdeep would have some right? Not too sure about here though..."

Once the group is away from prying eyes or ears, Lawrance says " I think I can recreate the map that the Vampiress showed us earlier, but we could head over to Waterdeep via the Baldur's gate Circle and enlist Xanathar's help?" To show what he recalls, he creates a small illusion of the first underground level, the map precise and detailed. "We can use my map to check that we aren't being led astray, and maybe someone could copy it onto parchment so it doesn't just rely on me?"

  Lia frown upon hearing the name of these drow mercenaries. " I know we have to use those drow but I can't bring myself to trust them. " 

Perry leads the group to the teleportation service and says to the man, "Can we get a teleport to the Waterdeep circle please? Thank you!"

Obtaining a teleport to Waterdeep proves simple enough, although this guy charged a bit more than the last, 125 gold pieces.

Soon enough the Blaze are back in the city of splendors, contemplating their next move.

"Let's go talk to the Eye again, and get them to point us at the right people for guides, shall we?" Lawrance says as they leave the circle. "Do we need to rest or re-do our spells, knowing what we will face? We will need to enspell our new toys for the protections, first of course. Which will take a day to do."

"Okay, so how did you guys get in touch with the Xanathar last time? We need to recruit the drow," Perry asks.

"Last time" Lawrance says "We contacted the Dwarf smuggler Steeltoes and arranged a connection with the Eye's leader. While we didn't meet his real form, we at least spoke with a representative. Even his underlings could help us make contact with the Drow or guides."

"Steeltoes it is.  How do we make contact?"

"Lawrance, tell me, who is the greatest enemy to these mindflayers we're after?  If we kill the elder brain, who would they be most likely to blame?"