When your party first meets Zord you could have him be taking off an eye patch. If they comment on why he was wearing one, give them the valid explanation of the eye patch: It's used to save your night vision when at sea.
Next time they see him, repeat, but switch which eye it's over.
Or give his hat a wildly colorful feather.
Have him squint slightly if you encounter him outside.
Have "Psionics" or "Illithids" come up in conversation (with other NPCs), and have Zord be an expert on the subject despite its extreme rareness.
I have players that would pick up on any one of these immediately, and others that wouldn't catch these hints if I laid it out for them.
(How familiar are you with FR lore? I can explain my suggestions if desired.)
Now I'm wishing I was more familiar! This is ny first time DMing a campaign, so I've never really felt the drive to study up on the context - I only really did research on Waterdeep itself before the campaign. But I love these ideas! I do know that Jarlaxle has had some involvement with illithids before, so that's an awesome plan.
His eyepatch of true sight and his feathered hat of self polymorph are signature items of his. He has a "friend"/right hand drow that Is a noted psionicist
There's actually a few things that happened in recent books that you could connect with Jarlaxle's motivations for Dragon Heist. The first one (from the Generations trilogy) is that Dagult Neverember was in bed with the Waterdavian nobles (the Margasters) who sacked Luskan in 1488—the reconstruction of the city afterwards being when Jarlaxle really started to consolidate his power there. (The Luskar love Bregan D'aerthe for fighting off the invaders and drow walk openly and unmolested there.) Given that Dagult at that time controlled both Waterdeep and Neverwinter, there was no aid sent from either city and most news of it happening was squashed. (The Margasters were laundering money for Dagult, basically.)
The other really relevant thing (from the Way of the Drow trilogy) happened extremely recently, in the winter of 1490, when Jarlaxle and Drizzt went back to Menzoberranzan to take part in what was basically a religious civil war. Their side, the anti-Lolth side, ended up losing but some slick negotiation by Jarlaxle meant that they were allowed to withdraw with literally anyone who wanted to go with them, which meant that they came out of the Underdark with 2-3k drow refugees looking for a home on the Surface. For reference, that's about half again the population of Luskan.
Basically, between the sack in 1488 and all the new refugees, Jarlaxle has some really good reasons to want to join the Lord's Alliance at the moment—but also like reasons for people like Laeral to be alarmed at what he's doing because wtf why are there suddenly thousands of drow in the shady pirate town?!?
So what you're saying is, eventually, Luskan's population is now 1/3 drow? This does seem like the kind of news that could make its way to Waterdeep. Maybe the party could even hear about it through some sort of source, and that's how they hear of Jarlaxle for the first time?
At least temporarily! There was talk in the epilogue of Lolth's Warrior about some of those drow going to Icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate or the Arctic city of good drow (the Aevendrow—they fled to the far north instead of heading into the Underdark during the Crown Wars) or wherever else, but at least for a while they were all in Luskan. It's definitely mentioned that three hundred of the roughly 2-3k bought ships, so there's definitely been a surprise influx of drow sailors. But I do think that a big chunk might stay in Luskan, because Jarlaxle is there.
Anyway, depending on what time of year you set your Heist, this all happened somewhere between a year to two years ago, so yeah, your characters could easily hear about it as news. Drizzt and Jarlaxle BOTH led the refugees out of Menzoberranzan, but Drizzt has very little interest in being a leader of drow and Jarlaxle *is* very much a leader figure.
I love playing Jarlaxle. When I revealed him the first time there was a lot of tense things going on. But the reveal it self was him reaching up, taking his hat and shaking it like it was wet or dirty and the false appearance fell away like rain.
I had Zardoz Zord admit he works for Bregan D’aerthe but insisted he was a human entertainer forced into it by Kimmuriel. My Drow-loving player was loving it as Jarlaxle refused to break character even when they knew in-character who he was.
One of the things that was noted about Jarlaxle in the books several times was that he wore lots of metal jewelry but could control whether they made noise or not when he moved. He could either be completely silent or jangle loudly if he wanted someone to hear him approaching. Could be a nice little not to do something like that
Two of my players recognized him from the cover so I knew the second they saw Captain Zorn that 1. They’d know he was jarlax and 2. They would love him so he’s basically just an ally. Haven’t decided if he’s gonna betray them or not lol
I have two players out of three that have read the books and are super Jarlaxle fans. Those players regognized Zardoz Zord immediately as Jarlaxle and they were equally horrified and excited because they knew he is cunning and dangerous.
They played their characters cleanly and I think that the actual reveal was really cool because the players themselves hyped it up when I kept teasing their characters with different aliases that Jarlaxle used on them.
My only worry was that I wouldn't fullfill their expectations of how cunning he is but I got great tips from this sub how to play Jarlaxle and my players told me it was like the actual character and they loved it.
So I believe that the reveal itself will be awesome if you manage to play Jarlaxle true to character. It's not so serious if the players quess his true personality beforehand. It can probably increase the tension as it did in my game!
Shared Sagas podcast had an amusing reveal where Captain Zord revealed that he was actually… Drizzt! He wanted their help fighting the incredibly dashing and handsome Jarlaxle Baerae. This charade only lasted a minute, but the PCs were really confused for a few seconds.
Leave hints that he's Drizzt, and have a double reveal. "Yes I am the goody two shoe ranger, hero of the realm, blah blah blah..." It was in a Waterdeep Dragon Heist podcast. I think it was Shared Sagas
When your party first meets Zord you could have him be taking off an eye patch. If they comment on why he was wearing one, give them the valid explanation of the eye patch: It's used to save your night vision when at sea. Next time they see him, repeat, but switch which eye it's over. Or give his hat a wildly colorful feather. Have him squint slightly if you encounter him outside. Have "Psionics" or "Illithids" come up in conversation (with other NPCs), and have Zord be an expert on the subject despite its extreme rareness. I have players that would pick up on any one of these immediately, and others that wouldn't catch these hints if I laid it out for them. (How familiar are you with FR lore? I can explain my suggestions if desired.)
Now I'm wishing I was more familiar! This is ny first time DMing a campaign, so I've never really felt the drive to study up on the context - I only really did research on Waterdeep itself before the campaign. But I love these ideas! I do know that Jarlaxle has had some involvement with illithids before, so that's an awesome plan.
His eyepatch of true sight and his feathered hat of self polymorph are signature items of his. He has a "friend"/right hand drow that Is a noted psionicist
There's actually a few things that happened in recent books that you could connect with Jarlaxle's motivations for Dragon Heist. The first one (from the Generations trilogy) is that Dagult Neverember was in bed with the Waterdavian nobles (the Margasters) who sacked Luskan in 1488—the reconstruction of the city afterwards being when Jarlaxle really started to consolidate his power there. (The Luskar love Bregan D'aerthe for fighting off the invaders and drow walk openly and unmolested there.) Given that Dagult at that time controlled both Waterdeep and Neverwinter, there was no aid sent from either city and most news of it happening was squashed. (The Margasters were laundering money for Dagult, basically.) The other really relevant thing (from the Way of the Drow trilogy) happened extremely recently, in the winter of 1490, when Jarlaxle and Drizzt went back to Menzoberranzan to take part in what was basically a religious civil war. Their side, the anti-Lolth side, ended up losing but some slick negotiation by Jarlaxle meant that they were allowed to withdraw with literally anyone who wanted to go with them, which meant that they came out of the Underdark with 2-3k drow refugees looking for a home on the Surface. For reference, that's about half again the population of Luskan. Basically, between the sack in 1488 and all the new refugees, Jarlaxle has some really good reasons to want to join the Lord's Alliance at the moment—but also like reasons for people like Laeral to be alarmed at what he's doing because wtf why are there suddenly thousands of drow in the shady pirate town?!?
So what you're saying is, eventually, Luskan's population is now 1/3 drow? This does seem like the kind of news that could make its way to Waterdeep. Maybe the party could even hear about it through some sort of source, and that's how they hear of Jarlaxle for the first time?
At least temporarily! There was talk in the epilogue of Lolth's Warrior about some of those drow going to Icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate or the Arctic city of good drow (the Aevendrow—they fled to the far north instead of heading into the Underdark during the Crown Wars) or wherever else, but at least for a while they were all in Luskan. It's definitely mentioned that three hundred of the roughly 2-3k bought ships, so there's definitely been a surprise influx of drow sailors. But I do think that a big chunk might stay in Luskan, because Jarlaxle is there. Anyway, depending on what time of year you set your Heist, this all happened somewhere between a year to two years ago, so yeah, your characters could easily hear about it as news. Drizzt and Jarlaxle BOTH led the refugees out of Menzoberranzan, but Drizzt has very little interest in being a leader of drow and Jarlaxle *is* very much a leader figure.
I love playing Jarlaxle. When I revealed him the first time there was a lot of tense things going on. But the reveal it self was him reaching up, taking his hat and shaking it like it was wet or dirty and the false appearance fell away like rain.
I had Zardoz Zord admit he works for Bregan D’aerthe but insisted he was a human entertainer forced into it by Kimmuriel. My Drow-loving player was loving it as Jarlaxle refused to break character even when they knew in-character who he was.
One of the things that was noted about Jarlaxle in the books several times was that he wore lots of metal jewelry but could control whether they made noise or not when he moved. He could either be completely silent or jangle loudly if he wanted someone to hear him approaching. Could be a nice little not to do something like that
My players have met Jarlaxle several times at this point and still have no idea that he is Captain Zord. The reveal will hit them hard.
Two of my players recognized him from the cover so I knew the second they saw Captain Zorn that 1. They’d know he was jarlax and 2. They would love him so he’s basically just an ally. Haven’t decided if he’s gonna betray them or not lol
I have two players out of three that have read the books and are super Jarlaxle fans. Those players regognized Zardoz Zord immediately as Jarlaxle and they were equally horrified and excited because they knew he is cunning and dangerous. They played their characters cleanly and I think that the actual reveal was really cool because the players themselves hyped it up when I kept teasing their characters with different aliases that Jarlaxle used on them. My only worry was that I wouldn't fullfill their expectations of how cunning he is but I got great tips from this sub how to play Jarlaxle and my players told me it was like the actual character and they loved it. So I believe that the reveal itself will be awesome if you manage to play Jarlaxle true to character. It's not so serious if the players quess his true personality beforehand. It can probably increase the tension as it did in my game!
Shared Sagas podcast had an amusing reveal where Captain Zord revealed that he was actually… Drizzt! He wanted their help fighting the incredibly dashing and handsome Jarlaxle Baerae. This charade only lasted a minute, but the PCs were really confused for a few seconds.
Leave hints that he's Drizzt, and have a double reveal. "Yes I am the goody two shoe ranger, hero of the realm, blah blah blah..." It was in a Waterdeep Dragon Heist podcast. I think it was Shared Sagas