Krivnaar shakes his head at the bartender, stepping aside from Morgan a bit. "You have the wrong idea...I'm no noble stooge! Quite the opposite, I help folks such as the fine patrons of this tavern escape the clutches of the Lords' tangle of legal obscura." Perhaps he could do double duty in here... "Any of your patrons or their friends in need of legal assistance, perhaps?"

Morgan is use to having eyes on him and just ignores the riff-raff.  He walks up to the bar.

"What other noble has been here of late?" He asks with his gray eyes on the bartender.

Cath stomps into the bar after the others.  He gives a glare at anyone who looks too long but chooses to remain silent.  Let the others do the question, he just stands ready to use his hammer if needed.   

Jarret awkwardly follows the crew and takes a seat with them at the bar.

Mardak, Jarret, and Morgan decide to take a seat at the bar alongside Rashar and Krivnaar. They're two other gentlemen also at the bar daydrinking. Cath stand by, watching over the tavern as Rashar and Krivnaar engage the bartender in conversation.

The bartender takes the dragon from Rashar and pours him a drink. "No need for secrecy. We're all friends here, right?" The bartender cackles, as he looks upon all six individuals. "I do recall a man who resembles that description. Couple of nights ago, he was here drinking with some other man who kept talking about his books and what not. The bookman eventually left, and that's when Renaer showed up." the bartender sighs, and switches his gaze onto Krivnaar.

"Renaer Neverember, the son of the former Open Lord, Dagult Neverember, came here to met your man." the bartender says, while the other two gentlemen seated at the bar chime in with this opinions. “Chip off the old block, that one!” the man says in a judgmental tone. “Just another spoiled, rich noble who likes to rub our noses in it!” the other man jovially replies.

"Renaer stayed until midnight, drinking and gambling with your man. When they left, five men followed them; as if they were stalking them. I can tell you one thing, those five men haven't returned since that night, and I know where they work. Those hooligans work for the Zhentarim, and they have a warehouse on Candle Lane. I'm willing to bet that your man's there. Look for the snake symbol on the door." the bartender concludes, as he starts darting his eyes around to see if any other patrons were paying attention besides the drunkards at the bar.

Mardak followed the party inside and as he was in unfamiliar waters he silently eyed the area and the people in it. He straightened his robes before he sat down at the bar and nodded in agreement to the conversation although being thoroughly confused about the question being asked but getting a normal answer from it.

Mardak waits till the end of the conversation and looks at the bartender “Sir, before we depart, i may have a weird question but do you get a lot of other Dwarves in your establishment?”

Rashar looks at the bartender with a slight frown. "Just a precaution..friend. Thank you for the information."

Something wasn't adding up. The bartender ignored using Thieves' Cant, then searched around for anyone paying attention to the conversation. Also, he revealed the location of a Zhentarim hideout to strangers for a single gold dragon. Didn't Volo say that the Skewered Dragon was under the Zhentarim's control? Rashar smelled a rat. 

He studies the bartender's facial expressions and body language, trying to see if the man was hiding anything from him. As he does so, he nudges Krivnaar to try to communicate his suspicions.He knew the lawyer would be an expert at sensing motives.

Insight: 7

Morgan ran a large hand across the top of the bar. The hand was not the soft hand of a noble, but the ruggid one of a warrior. He watched his hand move over the scarred bar, tracing a long gash in the wood with a thick finger. Then he glanced up at the bartender. His grey eyes were intense, more in interest than anything else though.

"What would Renaer be doing here?" He asks the man, even though he wasn't really wanting, or frankly even expecting, an answer from the man. He placed his hand flat, palm-down, onto the bar as he thought it over a bit himself. Eventually he gave a shrug that sent muscles rippling across his shoulders. "Doesn't really matter I expect." He says with a glance to Rashar and the others. "Shall we go and check out this warehouse, or do you guys have more questions you need to ask?" He pushes his palm into the bar top, leveraging his powerful body up to a standing position.

"Ah, chasing down an over-entitled noble, just my luck. We'd better get our pay at the end." Krivnaar rolls his eyes in frustration, before thanking the bartender. "Most appreciated helping us sort out this mess! Yes, Morgan, we should get going to track down your wayward peer." As he does so, he sizes up the bartender to try and get a sense if this is a set-up.

-OOC-
Insight: 17

The bartender cracks a smile at Mardak. "Dwarves are my best customers. They're the heaviest drinkers." he points and several dwarves are within the tavern, either just drinking or gambling. The bartender rears back as Morgan seems agitated to hear that Renaer Neverember was here. "Two know each other or something?" the bartender asks.

Rashar and Krivnaar may be suspicious of the situation, but they're unable to gather the bartender's role in this. For all they know, they can discern that he's being truthful and would have no reason to lie about Floon's and Renaer's departure and being followed by five strange men.

Morgan frowns over his shoulder, as he started to turn away from the bar before the barkeep spoke. "No, I have no problems with him." Morgan says in response to the question. "Just surprised he would be in this place. His family, though in disgrace, is not without means, and allies, so he has not fallen on hard enough times to frequent this sort of dive." Morgan doesn't really care that he has just bad-mouthed this tavern, he turns to the door, glancing to those who were aiding Volo with him. "Shall we go and see what we can find elsewhere?"

Rashar finishes his ale in one gulp. He leaves it at the counter and gets up from his seat. "I think we are done here," he says to the party. He exits the tavern and waits outside. 

When the party exits as well, he will quietly explain to them his suspicions. "Something's not sitting right with me. We just met this bartender and a single is dragon is enough for him to reveal a Zhentarim hideout? Volo had said the Skewered Dragon was owned by the Zhentarim, and the bartender is likely a member. That warehouse he talked about is likely to be a trap. What are your thoughts?" 

“It may very well be a trap,” Jarret says, “but seeing how we handled ourselves at the Yawning Portal, I’m willing to take my chances. Especially for the kind of money we are getting payed.”

"it is only a trap if you don't know about it."  Morgan says with a nod.  "Forewarned is forearmed I believe my mother always said..."  He shrugs.  "Not that I go forewarned very often, bashing in the door and knocking heads is more my sort of thing."

I'll let Morgan make a History check with Advantage to see how much he knows about the Neverember family.

The party steps outside, and was told that the Zhentarim warehouse resides on Candle Lane, which is a road just north of Zastrow Street.

What will the party do now?

Mardak smiled at the barkeep and looked around the tavern “Aye, drinking we do well” and he taps the bar as he stands up “Maybe i’ll be back later to talk to some kinsman, i have learned that many seek a site to pray but Waterdeep is not as forthcoming in some beliefs as we want”

Mardak walks towards the door and holds his hand up and gives a short signal “Thanks for the service”

As Mardak steps outside and he listens to the explanation he nods “I agree, i am no specialist in gangs and thugs but why would you lead someone to your own people for what seems an act of crime, smells like a trap”

“Should we go stake the place out or want to walk over the and ask friendly” Mardak laughs at his suggestion knowing well that the party he is with knows what he means.

As the rest of the group seems to have had their questions answered, Cath follows them out.

"Let's stake the place out.  Nighttime is best, less traffic to watch us.  And we'll know who the bad guys out because anyone out this late is bound to be a bad guy." 

Krivnaar nods at Mardak and Morgan. "A set-up, yes...so charging in seems imprudent." He taps his angular chin, considering the situation. "Negotiations are unlikely to bear much fruit. We could try to find an alternative entrance they wouldn't expect. Stake out the place to see about movement. Or..." He thinks back to their earlier encounter. "Maybe tip off the city watch about the warehouse, get them to raid it? Use the commotion as cover to conduct our on investigation?"

Rashar considers Krivnaar's idea, but slowly shakes his head. "I think we can both agree that the City Watch are not the right people for this job. They're rife with corruption and penny-pinching bureaucrats. By the time they arrive, the Zhentarim would either be prepared or long gone."  

He thinks for a moment. "Cath is right. We should make our move with the cover of darkness. We spend some time scouting it out, covering entrances and exits. When night falls, we hit them fast and hard. Then, maybe we can leave an anonymous tip to the City Watch. They can help clean things up for us."

(Rashar is ready to go to the warehouse). 

"A good point, the watch are notorious that way! I was rather hoping their bumbling could give us cover. But yes, the risk of exposure is substantial. Let's get to the scouting, then..." (Krivnaar is also ready to go)