Running a Waterdeep civil war as a high-level Dragon Heist sequel

[Bovine Colonel]

I don't think any of my fellow players are on GITP, but just in case: if you recognize my username from a campaign Discord server, please leave.

So I'm in a rotating DM group that started with a Dragon Heist game, and for my upcoming turn I'm thinking of setting another adventure within the city of Waterdeep. My overall goal is to give the PCs a chance to make independent decisions rather than just taking orders from a 100% reliable patron, which is sort of what's been happening in the campaign so far, while introducing a few Good-aligned antagonists depending on who the party sides with. I plan to achieve this by killing off the PCs' usual patrons in an inciting incident that sets the Good-aligned factions of Waterdeep against one another. Before I run this, I'd like a few opinions on how plausible it is, both from a Forgotten Realms in-universe perspective and from a DMing perspective.



The PCs leave Waterdeep on a journey that takes at least a month. The current DM is running this adventure.
The PCs' main patron, Vajra Safahr, leads a Force Grey expedition into Undermountain only to be betrayed by one of her lieutenants. She is ambushed and killed by Halaster's minions, and made into a vampire. No witnesses make it back to Waterdeep.
Vajra, disguised to remove signs of vampirism, returns to the surface just after dusk. Using her vampiric charm ability and her status as the commander of Force Grey, she assembles a Force Grey strike force and leads an assault on the Open Lord's palace. The palace is physically demolished, exposing the people inside to a private sanctum spell to prevent Laeral Silverhand from teleporting out. In the ensuing battle, Vajra hits the Open Lord with an imprisonment spell.
The gem containing the Open Lord is taken to Halaster. From this point forward, no magic can determine where Laeral Silverhand is nor whether she is still alive.
Jalester Silvermane is made interim Open Lord. He holds this post for only a couple of days. During this time, most of Force Grey flees the city to avoid being arrested on suspicion of treason.
Xanathar, sensing weakness, mobilizes his gang and seizes Castle Waterdeep. Force Grey is unavailable to defend it, and the city guard is overwhelmed. The self-proclaimed Open Lord Xanathar of Waterdeep is the PCs' first opponent when they return.



Mirt, the leader of the Harpers in the region, wants to remove the Masked Lords of Waterdeep from power. He blames the corruption in Waterdeep's noble class on the fact that the Masked Lords are anonymous - in other words, the people drafting laws in the city are safe from any kind of responsibility or oversight because no one knows who they are. He is already in the process of making reforms, going so far as to become a Masked Lord himself, but the incident at the palace represents a rare opportunity for drastic change.
Mirt, who's been able to unmask a few of the Masked Lords and put them under surveillance, has a Masked Lord assassinated during an official council. I'll need to check with the first DM to see if she's still alive, but my plan is to make Ammalia Cassalanter the victim after she bribed a judge and was acquitted of her crimes. By committing the murder during a council meeting, Mirt intends to (and succeeds in) making the Masked Lords too afraid and paranoid to meet again in an official capacity. He also gains some popularity among the citizenry by punishing a notorious criminal. Victoro Cassalanter will become one of many independent villains from this point on.
The Harpers' endgame is to appoint Renaer Neverember to the seat of the Open Lord, with advisers whose names are publicly known rather than an anonymous council of Masked Lords.
Without the PCs' interference, the Harpers will eventually ally with Bregan D'aerthe with a promise that Renaer will help induct Luskan into the Lords' Alliance and give Jarlaxle a seat in the council. Luskan will send forces to fight on the Harpers' behalf.




Savra Belabranta, the Gauntlet commander, is all too aware that the city is home to a thousand different cults and conspiracies all waiting for an opportunity to strike. Her worst fear is that chaos will lead to panic, leading to more chaos, leading to more panic in a cycle that burns Waterdeep to the ground. By the time Xanathar is defeated Savra is already reorganizing the city guard and city watch, and she'll have the Order of the Gauntlet replace Force Grey as the city's elite guard.
Savra begins enforcing martial law on behalf of the Masked Lords only a few hours after Xanathar is defeated, feeling at this point that too much time has already passed with the city in chaos. Notably, she doesn't feel that she can make an exception for the Harpers' murder of a Masked Lord, since she needs to make it clear to all inhabitants of the city that the Code Legal is still in effect. A manhunt is initiated for the Harper agents who participated in the assassination. Savra also starts her own non-corrupt inquisition into the Cassalanters' actions, but of course this is not enough to prevent all-out war with the Harpers. She is right about what the greatest threat to the city is, but her own actions end up helping bring it about.
The Masked Lords will eventually ask Dagult Neverember to return to Waterdeep to preside as Open Lord. Better to have a corrupt, embezzling leader you already know than to have a stranger in charge. He will arrive with troops from Neverwinter.





The Emerald Enclave will remain neutral until eventually the armies of Neverwinter and/or Luskan arrive outside the gates of Waterdeep, cutting off food supplies until the demands of their respective factions are met.
Jeryth Phaulkon and her followers have access to potent druidic magic, but they can't feed the entire city. Melannor Fellbranch is sent to make a deal with Manshoon: the Zhentarim will use their resources and expertise to smuggle food into the city, and in return the Emerald Enclave will help repair the damage the PCs have done to Manshoon's organization. The other factions find this unacceptable, especially when Manshoon takes advantage of the agreement to start expanding his influence and wealth at the expense of the citizens.
If the PCs end up opposing the Emerald Enclave, Davil Starsong and his "true" Zhentarim will seek to ally with them.



I'm going to try to shape circumstances to get the PCs to choose a side, but as long as they refuse to the adventure will be about negotiating between the factions. Trollskull Manor will be attacked probably more than once, especially if the PCs end up fighting Manshoon again. They will also need to deal with the other cities, who are taking the opportunity to get some more influence over the city of Waterdeep; if I need to, I can always throw an expansionist Baldur's Gate faction into the mix with a Flaming Fist expedition. Finally of course they'll need to deal with Vajra; Halaster will eventually modify her Blackstaff so that it counts her as worthy regardless of whether she actually is. She is still the only person in the city who can command the walking statues, which she will take advantage of whenever an opportunity presents itself.

[Chronos]

My first thought is that, if I were playing a game, I'd be pretty upset if things that major happened off-screen and I didn't even get a chance to try to do anything to prevent them.

[Unoriginal]

I don't think any of my fellow players are on GITP, but just in case: if you recognize my username from a campaign Discord server, please leave.

So I'm in a rotating DM group that started with a Dragon Heist game, and for my upcoming turn I'm thinking of setting another adventure within the city of Waterdeep. My overall goal is to give the PCs a chance to make independent decisions rather than just taking orders from a 100% reliable patron, which is sort of what's been happening in the campaign so far, while introducing a few Good-aligned antagonists depending on who the party sides with. I plan to achieve this by killing off the PCs' usual patrons in an inciting incident that sets the Good-aligned factions of Waterdeep against one another. Before I run this, I'd like a few opinions on how plausible it is, both from a Forgotten Realms in-universe perspective and from a DMing perspective.



The PCs leave Waterdeep on a journey that takes at least a month. The current DM is running this adventure.
The PCs' main patron, Vajra Safahr, leads a Force Grey expedition into Undermountain only to be betrayed by one of her lieutenants. She is ambushed and killed by Halaster's minions, and made into a vampire. No witnesses make it back to Waterdeep.
Vajra, disguised to remove signs of vampirism, returns to the surface just after dusk. Using her vampiric charm ability and her status as the commander of Force Grey, she assembles a Force Grey strike force and leads an assault on the Open Lord's palace. The palace is physically demolished, exposing the people inside to a private sanctum spell to prevent Laeral Silverhand from teleporting out. In the ensuing battle, Vajra hits the Open Lord with an imprisonment spell.
The gem containing the Open Lord is taken to Halaster. From this point forward, no magic can determine where Laeral Silverhand is nor whether she is still alive.
Jalester Silvermane is made interim Open Lord. He holds this post for only a couple of days. During this time, most of Force Grey flees the city to avoid being arrested on suspicion of treason.
Xanathar, sensing weakness, mobilizes his gang and seizes Castle Waterdeep. Force Grey is unavailable to defend it, and the city guard is overwhelmed. The self-proclaimed Open Lord Xanathar of Waterdeep is the PCs' first opponent when they return.



Mirt, the leader of the Harpers in the region, wants to remove the Masked Lords of Waterdeep from power. He blames the corruption in Waterdeep's noble class on the fact that the Masked Lords are anonymous - in other words, the people drafting laws in the city are safe from any kind of responsibility or oversight because no one knows who they are. He is already in the process of making reforms, going so far as to become a Masked Lord himself, but the incident at the palace represents a rare opportunity for drastic change.
Mirt, who's been able to unmask a few of the Masked Lords and put them under surveillance, has a Masked Lord assassinated during an official council. I'll need to check with the first DM to see if she's still alive, but my plan is to make Ammalia Cassalanter the victim after she bribed a judge and was acquitted of her crimes. By committing the murder during a council meeting, Mirt intends to (and succeeds in) making the Masked Lords too afraid and paranoid to meet again in an official capacity. He also gains some popularity among the citizenry by punishing a notorious criminal. Victoro Cassalanter will become one of many independent villains from this point on.
The Harpers' endgame is to appoint Renaer Neverember to the seat of the Open Lord, with advisers whose names are publicly known rather than an anonymous council of Masked Lords.
Without the PCs' interference, the Harpers will eventually ally with Bregan D'aerthe with a promise that Renaer will help induct Luskan into the Lords' Alliance and give Jarlaxle a seat in the council. Luskan will send forces to fight on the Harpers' behalf.




Savra Belabranta, the Gauntlet commander, is all too aware that the city is home to a thousand different cults and conspiracies all waiting for an opportunity to strike. Her worst fear is that chaos will lead to panic, leading to more chaos, leading to more panic in a cycle that burns Waterdeep to the ground. By the time Xanathar is defeated Savra is already reorganizing the city guard and city watch, and she'll have the Order of the Gauntlet replace Force Grey as the city's elite guard.
Savra begins enforcing martial law on behalf of the Masked Lords only a few hours after Xanathar is defeated, feeling at this point that too much time has already passed with the city in chaos. Notably, she doesn't feel that she can make an exception for the Harpers' murder of a Masked Lord, since she needs to make it clear to all inhabitants of the city that the Code Legal is still in effect. A manhunt is initiated for the Harper agents who participated in the assassination. Savra also starts her own non-corrupt inquisition into the Cassalanters' actions, but of course this is not enough to prevent all-out war with the Harpers. She is right about what the greatest threat to the city is, but her own actions end up helping bring it about.
The Masked Lords will eventually ask Dagult Neverember to return to Waterdeep to preside as Open Lord. Better to have a corrupt, embezzling leader you already know than to have a stranger in charge. He will arrive with troops from Neverwinter.





The Emerald Enclave will remain neutral until eventually the armies of Neverwinter and/or Luskan arrive outside the gates of Waterdeep, cutting off food supplies until the demands of their respective factions are met.
Jeryth Phaulkon and her followers have access to potent druidic magic, but they can't feed the entire city. Melannor Fellbranch is sent to make a deal with Manshoon: the Zhentarim will use their resources and expertise to smuggle food into the city, and in return the Emerald Enclave will help repair the damage the PCs have done to Manshoon's organization. The other factions find this unacceptable, especially when Manshoon takes advantage of the agreement to start expanding his influence and wealth at the expense of the citizens.
If the PCs end up opposing the Emerald Enclave, Davil Starsong and his "true" Zhentarim will seek to ally with them.



I'm going to try to shape circumstances to get the PCs to choose a side, but as long as they refuse to the adventure will be about negotiating between the factions. Trollskull Manor will be attacked probably more than once, especially if the PCs end up fighting Manshoon again. They will also need to deal with the other cities, who are taking the opportunity to get some more influence over the city of Waterdeep; if I need to, I can always throw an expansionist Baldur's Gate faction into the mix with a Flaming Fist expedition. Finally of course they'll need to deal with Vajra; Halaster will eventually modify her Blackstaff so that it counts her as worthy regardless of whether she actually is. She is still the only person in the city who can command the walking statues, which she will take advantage of whenever an opportunity presents itself.

Sounds interesting, but there's two characters whose actions I think wouldn't be true to, forgive the wordplay, their characters:

Concerning Laeral Silverhand:

There is no way she would get punked like that, especially not by Safahr, vampire or not. The Open Lord would demonstrates to everyone why she was a divine-blooded Archmage and war queen for centuries before she became ruler of Waterdeep, with her Greatsword, silver fire, and magic from someone who remembers what being a 3.X Wizard was like. Teleportation being forbidden just means her opponents can't flee from her with magic. She would do everything she can to slaighter her foes and let her allies flee or survive the battle. And anyone with the Blackstaff title bettraying her, willingly or not, would get a double dose of that.

Then after having exhausted herself that much and not knowing who would take advantage of her weakened state,Silverhand would likely go into hiding to survive. Which probably was Halaster's plan all along as he hyped Vampire Afahr with reassurances that a frontal assault on a Daughter of Magic would work out just fine.

It would also allow a weakened Silverhand to interact with the PCs, which is better than having her as a MacGuffin IMO.


Concerning Mirt:
Since he is one of the Masked Lords and the Harpers aren't really the kind to murder people while there is a literal eye tyrant taking over, I don't think that part makes sense.

The Xanathar trying to assasinate all the Masked Lords they know before the takeover, causing Mirt and the Harpers to have to go underground and start a resistance, would make more sense, IMO. You could even say that the Xanathar managed to learn who many of the Masked Lords are by stealing Mirt's work or bribing/threatening/mind controlling Mirt's spies, but in-universe as people don't know the details they think it's possible Mirt told the Beholder voluntarily.

Heck, for added irony you could say that the Harpers took over Skullport after the Xanathar emptied it of their forces for the conquest of Waterdeep, resulting in the two switching places (and in a pissed off Xanathar despite their victory on the surface).

[ProsecutorGodot]

It's quite a significant thing to happen while the PC's are out of town and, no offense, pretty out of character for many of the NPC.

A lot of the setup relies on typically cautious people making strange choices. Why did Vajrah lead an expedition into Undermountain personally? Did every member of force grey fail the charm saving throw or decide to be corrupt? Did Laeral forget that she's the only one who is allowed to command force grey within Waterdeep and that she keeps tabs on Vajrah? I know it says she allows the operations but there's got to be some suspicion when she realizes that the expedition she allowed to happen only had a single survivor. Heck, she'd probably take that kind of monumental failure as a legitimate reason to publicly question her position as the Black staff so that, on the interim of finding a replacement, she could have it. She wants it too, it has her husband's spirit.

Not saying the idea is bad, we're building up restructuring of the Noble houses in our mad mage campaign, just be careful that the drastic changes are believable.

[Bovine Colonel]

My first thought is that, if I were playing a game, I'd be pretty upset if things that major happened off-screen and I didn't even get a chance to try to do anything to prevent them.

Understandable. I'll run the basic premise past the players well ahead of time.


Sounds interesting, but there's two characters whose actions I think wouldn't be true to, forgive the wordplay, their characters:

Concerning Laeral Silverhand:

There is no way she would get punked like that, especially not by Safahr, vampire or not. The Open Lord would demonstrates to everyone why she was a divine-blooded Archmage and war queen for centuries before she became ruler of Waterdeep, with her Greatsword, silver fire, and magic from someone who remembers what being a 3.X Wizard was like. Teleportation being forbidden just means her opponents can't flee from her with magic. She would do everything she can to slaighter her foes and let her allies flee or survive the battle. And anyone with the Blackstaff title bettraying her, willingly or not, would get a double dose of that.

Then after having exhausted herself that much and not knowing who would take advantage of her weakened state,Silverhand would likely go into hiding to survive. Which probably was Halaster's plan all along as he hyped Vampire Afahr with reassurances that a frontal assault on a Daughter of Magic would work out just fine.

It would also allow a weakened Silverhand to interact with the PCs, which is better than having her as a MacGuffin IMO.


Concerning Mirt:
Since he is one of the Masked Lords and the Harpers aren't really the kind to murder people while there is a literal eye tyrant taking over, I don't think that part makes sense.

The Xanathar trying to assasinate all the Masked Lords they know before the takeover, causing Mirt and the Harpers to have to go underground and start a resistance, would make more sense, IMO. You could even say that the Xanathar managed to learn who many of the Masked Lords are by stealing Mirt's work or bribing/threatening/mind controlling Mirt's spies, but in-universe as people don't know the details they think it's possible Mirt told the Beholder voluntarily.

Heck, for added irony you could say that the Harpers took over Skullport after the Xanathar emptied it of their forces for the conquest of Waterdeep, resulting in the two switching places (and in a pissed off Xanathar despite their victory on the surface).

I like the idea of having Laeral Silverhand go into hiding, in which case the total inability of anyone in Waterdeep to find her could be her own doing. Depending on the PCs' actions, that could lead to some decisions for the city once she marches out of Baldur's Gate with a Flaming Fist expeditionary force and a list of demands. If I drop the teleportation thing and leave the palace intact, that'll let me have Xanathar claim it as a symbol of legitimacy. (That being said, Laeral's statblock in WDH is CR 17. Certainly a dangerous opponent in a fair fight, but I don't think she'd be invincible if vampire-Vajra cornered her with a numbers advantage. Maybe she gets suspicious as soon as Vajra disappears, but Halaster knows what preparations to expect?)

I'm not sure what to do with Mirt, though. The conflict I'm trying to build is a legitimate disagreement between the factions about what the future of Waterdeep should look like, because that would be a chance for the PCs to make decisions without an obvious right or wrong answer. So far the only narrative question in the campaign has been "will the PCs succeed or fail based on the tactics they choose to employ", and it seems to me that if the adventure is about resisting Xanathar and eliminating Halaster's minions it'll just be more of the same. Not to mention, the PCs are going to be at least 13th level by the time my turn to DM begins so Xanathar's tenure as Open Lord will be measurable in minutes once the PCs return. I suppose I could address part of your objection by having the Harpers pull the trigger a few hours before Xanathar reveals himself - or maybe Xanathar and the Harpers attack the same Masked Lord council for very different reasons.

If the idea of Mirt objecting to the Masked Lord system doesn't work, though, I suppose I need to look for other ways to divide the factions. I'm sure there is a way to do this. If it's not possible, then the Harpers of Waterdeep are less of a faction and more the city's intelligence service during the time period of Dragon Heist.

What if a minority party of Masked Lords, including Ammalia Cassalanter, capitalized on panic by inviting Dagult Neverember to return to Waterdeep with an army to be Open Lord shortly after the PCs deal with Xanathar? That would essentially subjugate Waterdeep to Neverwinter without the citizens' consent, though there might be some support for it from the upper class; better the embezzling Open Lord you're already familiar with than a complete unknown who might cause trouble for the nobility. Since it's the Masked Lords, though, it's impossible to tell who is actually responsible for doing this and Mirt is only aware of Ammalia's involvement because he was already keeping tabs on her.

That would give me a couple of options depending on Mirt's character. The simplest one is that he concludes at this point that the Masked Lords have failed, since it's not possible to tell which of them have sold out Waterdeep to a foreign power. Otherwise I could have the PCs and Harpers simultaneously find evidence that the Cassalanters are reprising their attempt to sacrifice the city to Asmodeus (with Dagult and his army as a bonus payment to try to recover their children), and Mirt could conclude that Ammalia Cassalanter is a threat to the city that needs to be dealt with right now. Either way, Mirt has Ammalia assassinated and the situation unravels from that point on. This setup has the additional benefit of the PCs being in the city when it happens.

The Order of the Gauntlet would obviously have no interest in opening the gates to Dagult or his Neverwinter soldiers, but assassinating a Masked Lord is still a capital offense and martial law is still in effect. Since no one except the Masked Lord conspirators want Dagult back, Jarlaxle would have the opportunity to appeal to all of them: give Luskan a seat at the table and Luskan will help oppose Neverwinter.


It's quite a significant thing to happen while the PC's are out of town and, no offense, pretty out of character for many of the NPC.

A lot of the setup relies on typically cautious people making strange choices. Why did Vajrah lead an expedition into Undermountain personally? Did every member of force grey fail the charm saving throw or decide to be corrupt? Did Laeral forget that she's the only one who is allowed to command force grey within Waterdeep and that she keeps tabs on Vajrah? I know it says she allows the operations but there's got to be some suspicion when she realizes that the expedition she allowed to happen only had a single survivor. Heck, she'd probably take that kind of monumental failure as a legitimate reason to publicly question her position as the Black staff so that, on the interim of finding a replacement, she could have it. She wants it too, it has her husband's spirit.

Not saying the idea is bad, we're building up restructuring of the Noble houses in our mad mage campaign, just be careful that the drastic changes are believable.

What if, instead of leading the expedition personally, Vajra sent a high-level team into Undermountain and they all came back as agents of Halaster because a high-ranking Force Grey officer betrayed them? The PCs have recently taken Manshoon's hand from the academy, so Halaster may have taken that as a challenge and sent a raiding party into Waterdeep. Now that Waterdeep has been threatened by Undermountain, Vajra sends a Force Grey scouting mission to clear the way for a bigger expedition.

In this scenario Vajra is aware of the scouting party's failure, but not what happened to them nor the fact that one of her closest advisors is a traitor. She takes reasonable precautions, but the traitor is able to bypass most of Blackstaff Tower's defenses and the scouting party is by now immune to divination magic. Vajra is assassinated and the scouting party uses Halaster's magic to make her a vampire immediately. Laeral Silverhand doesn't know exactly what happened since Blackstaff Tower is protected against scrying, but she nonetheless prepares for battle. The traitor is killed along with the entire scouting party in front of the palace; Laeral and Vajra survive. Laeral escapes to Baldur's Gate while Vajra escapes to Undermountain.

Or something along those lines, anyway. I might need to work on it some more.

[ProsecutorGodot]

What if, instead of leading the expedition personally, Vajra sent a high-level team into Undermountain and they all came back as agents of Halaster because a high-ranking Force Grey officer betrayed them? The PCs have recently taken Manshoon's hand from the academy, so Halaster may have taken that as a challenge and sent a raiding party into Waterdeep. Now that Waterdeep has been threatened by Undermountain, Vajra sends a Force Grey scouting mission to clear the way for a bigger expedition.

In this scenario Vajra is aware of the scouting party's failure, but not what happened to them nor the fact that one of her closest advisors is a traitor. She takes reasonable precautions, but the traitor is able to bypass most of Blackstaff Tower's defenses and the scouting party is by now immune to divination magic. Vajra is assassinated and the scouting party uses Halaster's magic to make her a vampire immediately. Laeral Silverhand doesn't know exactly what happened since Blackstaff Tower is protected against scrying, but she nonetheless prepares for battle. The traitor is killed along with the entire scouting party in front of the palace; Laeral and Vajra survive. Laeral escapes to Baldur's Gate while Vajra escapes to Undermountain.

Or something along those lines, anyway. I might need to work on it some more.

I like this idea a bit better, though I still have some reservations, although in this case they're much more easily solved because they involve Halaster's character, which isn't well defined enough to call it "out of character". I'm not entirely sure why Vajrah must become a vampire though, is this simply an excuse for her to be Lawful Evil now or is there more motivation behind it? Halaster forcing her to become a Lich or simply dominating her to do his bidding seems like it would accomplish much the same without feeling as out of place. This is mostly nitpicking from me though.

We've actually used some aspects of this idea in our own campaign, Halaster has a growing interest in expanding Undermountain, apparently our rapid progress has lead him to believe "expansion" is necessary to increase his power and we've managed to set up an advance camp up to the third level of Undermountain to keep him from storming through the Yawning Portal or Skullport. I suspect though that if he ever did get truly serious about forcing his way out of Undermountain there would be little effectiveness in this blockade

[Bovine Colonel]

I'm not entirely sure why Vajrah must become a vampire though, is this simply an excuse for her to be Lawful Evil now or is there more motivation behind it? Halaster forcing her to become a Lich or simply dominating her to do his bidding seems like it would accomplish much the same without feeling as out of place.

I like the idea for a few reasons, but yes, they do sort of boil down to "an excuse for her to be Evil now":

Taking Vajra off Waterdeep's side of the board helps establish the threat of Halaster, while also forcing enabling the PCs to act more independently without reporting to a patron.
Revealing an unambiguously Evil opponent toward the end of the adventure feels like an appropriate narrative reward for unifying the well-intentioned factions of the city, however the PCs end up accomplishing that.
Vajra is already known to the PCs both as an archmage and as someone very familiar with the city of Waterdeep. I think that makes her a better adventure villain than any of Halaster's other minions, and certainly much better than Halaster himself on the lowest level of Undermountain far beyond their reach. I'm envisioning a scene in particular where Vajra brings one of the giant statues to life, causing massive damage to distract the PCs from closing in on her.
My understanding of lichdom from previous D&D editions is that it's an involved and expensive process. I don't remember any particular ways for characters to create vampires (or more accurately a vampire spawn that has Vajra's abilities), but I'm envisioning this as an opportunistic use of a traitor who's contacted Halaster rather than something he's had in the works for a long time.
If the PCs corner Vajra, as I assume they eventually will, I'd like to see a full boss fight that permanently changes the status quo of Waterdeep. Dispelling a dominate spell and reversing the event that incited the adventure feels a little anticlimactic, even if she takes measures to prevent it.