The team had just finished reporting to Jalester to let him know the success of Enigma's mission and had collected their reward. Who would show up but Yuan, followed by Davil Starsong and his bodyguard Yagra, sporting a new look, as the three approached the table. Davil released Yuan back to his companions, and thanked him for all of his hard work. He asked him to enjoy the holiday with his friends and that for now his work was finished, but they'd be in touch. With that, Davil and Yagra quickly departed the scene. Soon, Jalester had Ismark deliver his report about Lif. The short version was that Lif was from outside, had come into a lot of money, and bought the tavern and ran it successfully before being brutally murdered. Ismark also found possible connections to the Zhentarim and gave a list of previous owners of the manor. He turned the report over to Enigma and apologizes he couldn't find any more definitive leads but hoped the information was useful, before Jalester and his crew parted ways with the team for now, leaving them to their own devices for a bit. Yuan got the team caught up on what he was doing, having stated he was doing some work for the Zhentarim - mostly body guard and protection services for Davil. Turns out he was involved in helping the Zhents collect on some debts as well, for their moneylady Istrid, and had a rather interesting assignment where he was asked to perform bouncer duties for a nightclub by their mercenary leader, Tashlyn. With some urging from Ray, he divulged the real nature of the job, which was some kind of event at the Three Pearls Nightclub involving exotic beast dancers and booty shorts. He was paid for the work, though, and was also given free day pass tickets for him and his friends to go to the nightclub, if they so chose. Whether they do or not is up to them... He also mentioned he did some manual labor and potion testing for the Zhent alchemist Skeemo, which almost resulted in disaster through an unintentional potion mixing accident, but fortunately everything turned out okay. Finally, he spent some time training with the team's assassin, Ziraj, to see if he has potential to be an assassin. While he failed the acrobatics test, he was given a chance to be able to craft his own oversized longbow, which requires brute force to use effectively, something Yuan is very good at! He ends the explanation by saying he went to drop off the drow gunslinger - turns out the Bregan D'aerthe and the Zhentarim made some kind of truce, and for the safe return of their gunslinger (and the promise that they won't commit any more violence), the Bregan D'aerthe won't bear any ill will toward the Zhentarim and will pay them for his return, along with leaving the party alone for their involvement and allowing them to keep the equipment they took. It turns out even underground criminal organizations desire to keep the peace from time to time... However, it turns out the meeting went poorly as Yuan and Yagra were ambushed by a gang of thugs being lead by the Red Wizards of Thay, who somehow found out about the meeting and jumped the scene, targeting everyone, even the Bregan D'aerthe. Fortunately, Ziraj was there to back Yuan up and help them escape. It seems that they were able to complete the exchange at least - perhaps the meeting was leaked somehow... but it doesn't seem this was intended by the Zhentarim or the Bregan D'aerthe. Perhaps the Wizards were somehow able to track Yuan? It is a mystery... In any case, he then showed off the Lupine Mask he was given by Davil as a result for his hard work, which allowed him to be better in tune with his senses of hearing and smell, while also being able to relate better to dogs and dog-related creatures, such as jackals and wolves. Maybe he could be more friendly with Enigma now! ... nah. The party then told about their adventures with the Dungsweepers, about how they were able to uncover some Xanathar markings and evidence the Zhentarim were in operations in the Trades Ward, having conducted some protection racket schemes in the past. They also mentioned the fight with the carrion crawler, which Enigma seemed a little too proud of for his strong beating of a carrion crawler corpse and hiding behind the Dungsweepers to throw javelins... regardless, the team definitely missed Yuan's presence! Soon after, Marcellus approached their table and asked Ray if he had finished his project yet. Ray was confused at first, but realized that he had totally forgotten he was tasked to script a performance for the Dragondown holiday on behalf of the Musician's Guild! He quickly scrambled to get some historical data from Sigurd about the holiday and made an arrangement with Marcellus later to help plan out something. Marcellus seemed sympathetic with his plight, stating that he's had to write scenes by the seat of his pants before, so he agreed to meet with Ray later to work something out. Enigma also talked to the team about a vision he had been having during his warpick training. He had visions of some kind of 'stick' (which was clarified to be a staff) of two dragon heads, one red and one golden, swirling around each other like a helix. Sigurd was surprised and noted that Enigma had just described the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon, which had been created by the first Open Lord of Waterdeep to allow dragons who didn't pose a threat to the city to pass by Ahghairon's dragonward, an un-dispellable magic effect encompassing the city that prevented dragons from entering the city, though it didn't cover all of present-day Waterdeep which had expanded since those days. However, it was still an important defense for the city to protect it from draconic attackers. Very curious... Moving on, the team decided to let Lif know of their findings, back in Trollskull Alley, but they had received two letters it seems; one from Vincent, who was out on holiday, and the other from a noble house called the Cassalanters. Opening the letter from Vincent first, they found that while he couldn't positively ID a suspect, he did find that there were some similar incidents over the past few years, including a high profile case about a well known magister who was found to be letting Zhentarim agents off the hook a bit too easily for their crimes. Turns out he was actually a fake - a simulacrum (an 8th level spell), made from the original and controlled by its creator, and the real original magister was found to have been murdered in a manner similar to Lif, his body never having been found. This happened about three years ago, prior to Dagult's ousting from Waterdeep. No connection to Dagult and the Zhentarim could be found, though... He also confirmed Lif's incident story. Lif had already closed the tavern and sent everybody else home to reorganize the cellar for the next day. However, he heard a peculiar noise coming from upstairs. When he went to investigate, he ran into the assassin, who struck out at him and mortally wounded him. This is when he saw the claw hand. He attempted to flee but was cornered, and tried to hide, but was found easily by his attacker. Then everything went black, and Lif's life was snuffed out. He couldn't make out the attacker's face as their face was concealed. Lif doesn't know why he was targeted, as he didn't keep anything valuable at the tavern, but perhaps because it was so successful, the target may have been attempting to steal from him - perhaps by stealing some of the pricier wines he kept in the cellar - and killed him to ensure his silence when he bumped into the intruder. This is purely a theory, though. The person or persons who murdered Lif and manipulated the schemes above is... Likely someone powerful, cunning, talented working for the Zhentarim's interest, whose motive was to spread fear and uncertainty while also raking in coin for the organization and also covering their tracks by manipulating officials behind the scenes, seeking to slowly but surely ensure Zhentarim control of the city. They are a powerful wizard who uses their magic to conceal their identity and move about the city unseen, on par with that of people like Vajra Safahr and Laeral Silverhand, Their only known distinguishing feature is that they have some kind of claw arm, possibly a beastly or artificial limb of some kind. The team talked to Lif for some time, and found that he had moved from a place called the Great Dale, far to the east, looking for his father, Sevalis Green. He had acquired a large inheritance suddenly from his father, who had travelled a lot and had been exchanging letters before they suddenly stop. He went to Waterdeep to investigate but could not find anything, and decided not to go back home and acquired Trollskull Manor, then was murdered... Sigurd asked Yuan if maybe he could ask his 'connections' if they might know something about this. Someone this powerful working for the Zhentarim surely had to have some notoriety. Yuan agreed to ask Davil about it the next chance he got... After that conversation, they opened the letter from the Cassalanters, which was from the head of the family, Lord Victoro Cassalanter, who is a known successful banker and philanthropist. Apparently he had an interest in investing in the group's tavern in exchange for a cut of the profits, along with a clause that lets him reclaim his investment after a year at his option - Sigurd suggested this was a safety measure to allow Victoro to back out of a bad investment in case the profits weren't coming in fast enough. In addition, he'd use his house's good name to spread the word about the tavern to help bring in more business, as the Cassalanters were a well respected noble house, well over 200 years old. Victoro requested the team reply before the Sornyn festival in the early days of next month and if they agree, he'll come by to make it official. This gave the team a way to cover the costs of the manor if they so chose... Enigma picked up on something being off, though, eventually, and noticed someone was watching the team. Investigating, he peered through one of the boarded up windows and met eye to eye with some peeping tom, who shrieked and fell down the stairs outside of the manor! Rushing to look, the team found a disheveled young woman amidst a pile of papers, who dusted herself off and introduced herself as Penny Mightblade, a journalist for the Vigilant Citizen, a broadsheet that reports on incidents in the city to help keep citizens safe, according to Sigurd. She admitted she had been following the team for a while and wanted to ask them if they were willing to do an interview with her about their recent activities, although Enigma was a bit miffed after peeking through her notes and finding a reference to him mentioning him as 'creepy'. By way of apology for the 'stalking', she offered to pay them 5 gold a piece for just an hour-long interview to ask them a few questions about their recent experiences, especially due to their recent success involving saving Renaer and helping Volo (although Sigurd was displeased about hearing of the latter...) Enigma sensed there was something unnatural about her interest, though, but couldn't quite put his claw on it... In any case, the team agreed to the interview, to take place on 21 Kythorn at eight bells. Thankful and apologizing again, the mousey Penny gathered her papers and skeedaddled off. Looks like the team's getting more and more famous! Enigma checked in with Rishaal, as well, about the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon, and more or less confirmed what Sigurd had told him - that it was created by the first Open Lord of Waterdeep to allow friendly dragons to pass through the city unaffected by the dragonward. Apparently, it was previously in possession of Dagult Neverember at the Palace of Waterdeep but has not been able to be located since his ousting... perhaps it was stowed away with his embezzled gold? In any case, the party prepared for the big finale to the Dragondown festival, Ray finishing up his preparations with Marcellus to pass his ideas along to the Musician's Guild. But to his surprise, Ray received a message from Mirt later that his idea was such a massive hit with the guild and even the Open Lord that he arranged to have his team ride in the procession palanquin with the Open Lord, Laeral Silverhand, herself!! What an honor! As long as they could dress sharply and comport themselves well, at least. Sure enough, the team headed to Mount Waterdeep and got to meet the lady up close. She was very grateful for the opportunity to meet these up and coming heroes and thanked them for their work thus far. With Mirt also in attendance, the party got front row seats to watch the re-enactment of Kistarianth the Red's twice-defeat at the hands of Athar, a paladin of Tyr, and then again by Piergeiron the Paladinson, who was the Open Lord during the 1300s DR, who upped the ante by defeating the dragon who she was a dracolich! It was an incredible display of art, historical retelling, and magic, and the scene was brought to life thanks to these elements, sponsored by the Musician's Guild and receiving support from the Blackstaff, as the dragon effigies were burned at the top of Mount Waterdeep. As the events of the evening settled, Laeral approached Ray and presented him with a Dragon's Call earcuff, a sort of badge of honor granted to one who contributes greatly to the celebration of Dragondown, which Ray accepted with honor. It allowed him to speak Draconic and granted him a bit of an edge when dealing with dragons! A perfect way to end the evening and good times had by all. Their experiences up to this point had shaped them, and much had been learned, bringing them to the next step of their grand adventure in the City of Splendors. What awaited the party next? How will Penny's interview go? Who is Lif's real murderer? Will they take Victoro's deal, or turn him down? Find out next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!