OLD OWL WELL
Waterdeep Emissary
I get another xp bonus for bringing Fihelis back to the Watch Headquarters. Captain Brelaina has another quest for me, to find out if the Waterdeep Emissary has been taken hostage by Orc tribes.
*Evil* Waterdeep Emissary
Here's the equivalent video for the evil party, where it's Axle sending Zarathos to rescue the Waterdeep Emissary.
Grobnar Gnomehands
I make for Old Owl Well through the World Map, only I run into Grobnar Gnomehands, who now becomes a joinable Bard.
Deekin
I take a bit of a detour now by bringing Grobnar to a merchant named Deekin at #1 on the Merchant Quarter map. I buy the following from Deekin:
Neeshka then cleans out Deekin for his gold, as well as the Gloves of the Minstrel (+3 to Perform).
Simmy
Now I actually do reach Old Owl Well and start off at #4 on the west side. I peruse the wares of a Gnome merchant named Simmy at #3. She has a lot of lower-tier weapons and armor, and some crafting materials. The only items I purchased are:
A potential item of interest, for those of you with Parry-wall type builds in mind, is the Shimmering Blade (Scimitar +2, Parry +5). I did not find it necessary for Shandra, because her Parry skill will be good enough through a combination of the Gloves of Swordplay I've saved for her and the feats I will have her select. Besides, I really dislike spending lots of gold on interim items.
*Evil* Zarathos sided with the Shadow Thieves, so at this point a Shadowthief contact named Karina shows up, and gives him Forged Council Missives so that he can present himself as an agent of Neverwinter to Commander Callum.
Commander Callum
Here is where I speak to Commander Callum at #2 for background information. Some Orcs interrupt with an attack, but Qara blows most of them away outright with a couple Fireballs.
I next approach the Ironfist Clanhold.