Jesters' Guild

Jesters' Guild
Basic Information
Alias(es)	Ancient and Revered Order of Merrymakers
Base ofoperations	Jesters' Clubhouse, Dock Ward, Waterdeep
Leader(s)	Bazzle (early 14th century DR – 1357 DR)

The Jesters' Guild, formerly known as the Ancient and Revered Order of Merrymakers, was a branch of Waterdeep's Musicians' Guild that long sought to breakaway and by the 15^th century DR had succeeded in becoming their own guild.

Members

The membership of the Jesters' Guild was made up of various clowns, comedians, and jesters. The core elite of the guild was formed by magic-users, who stood out from others by altering the verbal components of their spells into joke lines.

Activities

The Jesters' Guild was one of many in Waterdeep that had its own codes of conduct. One of these rules by which they abided by was that anyone who dared to heckle a member of the guild would in turn be publicly mocked and taunted for four days by no less than four members of the guild.

Base of Operations

The main guildhall of the Jesters' Guild was the Jesters' Clubhouse, a small building in the city's Dock Ward.

History

In the Year of the Prince, 1357 DR, a plot was hatched by the Musicians' Guild to obtain the corpse of Myrrth, an infamous Waterdhavian jester from the 13^th century DR who learned of a joke that had the power to kill, so that they may divine from it that "killing joke" and make a bid to cease control over all of Waterdeep. To this end they used a mole, Doofut, to propose the plan the upstart breakaway Jester's Guild, thereby setting them up to take the fall and be discredited if the plan failed.

Sensing that someone was planning to rob his grave, Myyrth's spirit manifested on the Prime Material plane and went in search of adventurers at Selûne's Smile to prevent his remains from being disturbed. There he encountered the willing group of Kyriani Agrivar, Onyx the Invincible, and Vajra Valmeyjar. However, the party was beaten to the Anteos family's crypt in the City of the Dead by the Jester's Guild, who had taken Myrrth's remains to their headquarters, without the knowledge of the Musicians' Guild.

After securing Myrrth's skeleton, the Jester's Guild's magic-users, using a series of spells in the forms of joke set-ups, turned it into a skeletal colossus. They also imbued it with a number of spells including flame breath, frost breath, and withering gaze. Each spell having been memorized by one of the members.

The order set the skeleton loose to wreck havoc across the city until the Lords of Waterdeep yielded to their demand of being recognized as an official guild, particularly directing its ire towards Castle Waterdeep. but the order quickly lost control of their undead creation and their guildmaster Bazzle died from its flame breath whilst trying to stop it.

Many tried in vain to stop the skeleton's rampage, but ultimately it was the remaining magic-users of the order who returned Myyrth's skeleton to its original unanimated state by reciting a memorized series of counterspells, in the form of punchlines, in a precise order with Kyriani standing in for the deceased Bazzle. In the process, Myrrth's skull came loose and was caught by Onyx just before it shattered on the ground, only for him and Vajra to both be promptly knocked out by a member of the Musicians' Guild and the skull taken.

Returning with Myrrth's skull to the House of Song, they hired a Sorlyn cleric to use speak with the dead on it to ascertain the specifics of the jester's notorious joke. The skull's demeanor stalled their progress for long enough for the heroes of Selûne's Smile to track the guild down and intervene. In the chaos of the confrontation between the heroes and the guild, the skull ended up being passed to Doofut, who was unable to shield it from Kyriani's magic missiles, thereby returning Myyrth's spirit to the afterlife.

Appendix

Appearances

Comics

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (comic series) (#6, #7)

Referenced only
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (comic series) (#8, #11)