Quote from Gorthmorg >>

Meep looks at the Paper Bird and grins. "Thank you! Here, take one of these," and hands Twitch a potion. 

 Twitch looks at the potion dubiously but pockets it nonetheless.

Wellin walks into the warehouse and sniffs the air.

Perception: 17

"LUGH! It smells like the backed-up latrines at the local!"

Quote from Gorthmorg >>

"Where is Floon now?" Meep cocks his head, still not entirely sure what was going on. "Why were you taken?"

Renaer holds out his hand to Meep. "My apologies friend, I wasnt' trying to ignore you. You asked why I was taken. Well, the Zhentarim thinks that my father embezzled a large amount of gold while he was Open Lord, and that he hid the dragons somewhere in the city. They think they can find it by using an artifact called the Stone of Golorr, which was in the hands of the Xanathar Guild until recently. Apparently, someone stole it. The Zhents thought I knew something about all of this, but I don’t. My father and I haven’t spoken in years.”

Those who want to can make a History Check DC 12. Those who've lived in Waterdeep their whole lives get advantage. 

Twitch

Once the party is finishing gathering themselves and whatever treasures they want, they hear armored footsteps coming to the warehouse. Moments later, several members of the City Watch arrive and at the front is a medium-sized fellow in armor with short grey hair. One of the officers points to the corpses on the ground and says "Look Captain Saget, more Xanathar and Zhentarim corpses." 

Captain Saget nods and turns to the party. "Captain Hyustus Saget with the City Watch. I don't like to jump the horse, but can someone tell me what's going on?" 

With the arrival of the watch, Lussa shoulders her bow, then steps out of the shadows and heads for the door of the warehouse.

Alberich is about to answer to Meeps note of him being 'the Guard', when the City Watch arrives and he moves to meet them instead. "Good evening, Captain. I'm Alberich Ironfist. I worked as an Investigator for the City Watch, but was recently moved to the Gray Hands. We were hired privately to look for a missing person, and our intel lead us here. These birds attacked us without warning as soon as we found a way inside, and the rest of the bodies were already here. We didn't find our target, but young mister Neverember here was kept in a back room. By his account him and our target were kidnapped by the Zentarim that used this warehouse, and they were in turn attacked by Xanathars, possibly taking off with our target. We were just about to interrogate the surviving Kenku when you arrived", he reports the situation, clearly quite used to doing so.

Delmalis glances at the guards then vaguely gestures at the bodies and the crates, finally pointing at Renaer, "We were looking for someone, and then found these, who apparently killed those, then we beat them up and found that and him. We made sure to keep one alive over here so you can question him."

"We were asked to search for a friend who went missing after a night of drinking a few nights ago and our search brought us to this warehouse where we were attacked by these Kenku as he attempt to rescue the friend in addition to Mr Nevermember here," Sybil explains as  she gestures to Renaer, "I believe he will atest to be held captive. To be honest, we are a little confused on the exact situation ourselves however,"

Meep will do a History check of Renaer's tale: 23

The captain smiles at Alberich. "Interesting. He turns, realizing Renaer is in the room and stands straight while motioning to a guard. "Talk to him for a few." 

As the guard takes down Renaer's story as he turns to Sybil. "You're in Waterdeep, it's normal to be in confusing situations."  He stared at the kenku who breathed hard before yelling

• In a deep voice with an orcish accent: “Xanathar sends its regards.”
• In a thin, nasally voice: “Tie up the pretty boy in the back room!” and “Follow the yellow signs in the sewers.” (This remark refers to tunnels in the sewers that are marked with Xanathar’s symbol where they lead to the Xanathar Guild hideout.)
• In a scratchy voice: “No time to loot the place. Just get him to the boss.”

Meep listens to Renaer's tale and while he hasn't heard of it before, but he believes him. Your interest is peeked when you hear about the Stone of Golorr, but you're not sure what it is. 

While the watch questions Renaer, and once the kenku is done yelling, Meep finds Delmalis and says quietly "It sounds like there's a lot of gold hidden somewhere - do you know how much more I could learn if I could buy my way into one of those magical towers? Obviously I'll split it with you, and we'll probably need everyone else's help, too, especially if the Xanadu- I mean, Xanathar is after it. I don't know what it is, but the Grey Dwarves were terrified of it, though they didn't think I noticed them when they discussed it. What do you think?"

Twitch stayed extremely still and quiet while the Watch was present....but was excited to hear they might need to enter the sewers....even if there might be enemies waiting there.

Delmalis shrugs, "I'll follow along where you lead, I certainly have nothing else planned. But..." and he'll lead him away from the others a little before continuing in a whisper, "That woman over there is a drow, do you think we can trust her?"

Lussa will try to engage on of the guards in conversation, trying to get information on the factions involved, which to watch out for, which can be trusted on what levels, etc.  In general, just the lay of the political climate in the city.

Sensing Lussa's curiosity about the factions, the captain steps aside for Lussa and waves over two elves, one a wood elf and the other a drow elf.

The wood elf introduces himself as Shawnal Spenstar and he introduces the dark as Officer Lavender Gooms, who immediately corrects him," My name is Burt'oni Gustar but call me Guss."

Both Shawnal and Gus go into the various factions in Waterdeep.

• Shawnal: Bregan D'Arthe - a mercenary guild that has ties to the dark elf Jarlaxle. They might try to recruit you and your monk friend. They didn't want Gus though.
• Gus: I refused their invitation. Now the Emerald Enclave is a guild that protects nature
• Shawnal: Harpers are all-around do-gooders and seekers of knowledge.
• Gus: Force Grey is Waterdeep's elite defense comprised of powerful adventurers. The city doesn't usually like calling on them because they leave a lot of collateral damage.
• Shawnal: Lord's Alliance is a faction that also serves the city comprised of folks born in Waterdeep.
• Gus: Xanathars is a thieves guild you'll want to watch out for. I hear the leader is insane and you don't want to mess with him, though it already looks like your paths are gonna cross.
• Shawnal: Order of the Gauntlet is comprised of clerics and paladins who want to smite evil all the time.
• Gus: Red Sashes are vigilantes who work to keep the innocent free.
• Shawnal: Dark Dagger, I hear they're tied to Lolth and want to take over all of crime in Waterdeep.
• Gus: The Reforged Ring. They're like Xanathar's except their leader is a vampire beholder.
• Shawnal: Gus, we almost forgot the Zhentarim. They're involved with politics and trading but as you can see they're also into crime and at war with the Xanathars.

OOC: Apologies about the info dump. The Red Sashes, Dark Dagger and Reforged Ring aren't factions that are in Dragon Heist, but they're in a supplement called Cloak and Dagger along with other factions. They operate like other factions, but you're not going to run into them unless you want to work outside of Emerald Enclave, Harpers, Zhentarim, Lord's Alliance, Bregan D'Arthe and Force Grey.

Meep looks over at Lussa, and shrugs. "She hates grey dwarves. I hate grey dwarves. I think she's okay. I'll watch your back around her, though, if it makes you feel better. Ooh! a spider!" Meep lunges to the floor and snatches the small spider before it can get away, popping it in his mouth and chewing happily.

Lussa's eye narrow slightly, moving back and forth between the guards, trying to concentrate on the litany of information.  Once they finish, she shakes her head trying to take it all in.  "They don't make things simple around here, do they?"  She chuckles.  "So, Harpers, Emerald Enclave, Force Grey, Lords Alliance, Order of the Gauntlet and Red Sashes sound like the good guys, mostly at least.  Xanathar, Zhentarim, Reforged Ring and Dark Dagger are the ones to avoid.  And we're caught up in a war between Xanathar and Zhentarim.  Wow.  Good to know.  Thanks for the info!"  Her mind racing with the information divulged and wondering if they will need to be extra careful about daggers coming out of the dark.

History check:6, has she heard of Jarlaxle before?  Apparently not..../sigh

Wellin casts Minor Illusion to make it sound like the spider Meep is eating is screaming like a boiling lobster. Noticing the badges, he quickly makes himself busy whilst trying to cause a little mischief.

Meep's eyes open wide as he chews, and with a mouthful of spider, he says to Delmalis "They've never done that before!"