After taking a rest, the party met up with Sir Ambrose Everdawn to discuss the situation. He revealed he's been hunting for someone who has been desecrating the mausoleums lately, stealing dead bodies and skeletons for use in necromantic rituals for unknown purposes. Enigma asked if he could be allowed to investigate the crime scene, which Ambrose allowed, under the condition they don't touch anything, which they agreed to. However, the team didn't find much else, but did recognize that the Stone was nowhere to be found. Sigurd was able to piece together that the likely chain of events was as follows: Nimblewrong leaves Stone in mausoleum for someone to take Lorelei finds her way into the mausoleum, and gets interrupted by the necromancer. Lorelei is killed, but the intellect devourer in her skull escapes. THe necromancer leaves skeletons behind to cover his escape. The Cult of Asmodeus then infiltrates the scene, and fight the skeletons. The cult wins, but the remaining survivor is taken by the intellect devourer, who continues searching the crypt. The party interrupts this and destroy both the cultist and the intellect devourer. Raisha arrives, likely because Lorelei (who was a spy for the Xanathar's Guild all along) had not reported back with the stone. As the stone was no longer present and the only party who successfully managed to leave the tomb was the Nimblewrong (who didn't have it) and the necromancer, Sigurd surmised that this necromancer likely now has the stone. This also means that not one, not two but three different entities were after the thing! What a complex mess! Afterwards, the party regroups back at the tavern to investigate the key they found. Asking Avi of the Steam and Steel, he said that he recognized the initials as he is part of the same guild, and confirmed it belonged to Elaspra Ulmarr, a dwarf finesmith in the Trades' Ward who runs a shop called Elaspra's Clasps. She specializes in small items like keys, locks, pins, clasps, and other fine detail metalworkings. While he was here, Sigurd decided it was time for an upgrade, and purchased a breastplate from the shop, with the newfound gold he had thanks to... recent acquisitions of gold trade bars. It offered better protection while also keeping him stealthy, a much-needed trait during the hunt for the Stone. Avi also said that the only thing he knows about Elaspra is that she's a big fan of the Harpers, but he doesn't know how the party might use that information - not realizing that Ray is actually a member of said guild! With this convenient tip, the party heads to the Trades Ward and pays Elaspra a visit. When pressed for information about the key, she's a little unsure she wants to reveal anything for the sake of client privacy, but when Ray reveals his affiliations, she opens up immediately and tells them that two weird men named Volkarr and Urlaster came by to have a key made. She went to the location, an apartment building in a converted windmill, in the Southern Ward, to fit the key to the lock, and was able to provide the address, describing the men as a bit scruffy and smelling kind of weird, like grave dirt. She warned them to be careful since a lot of squatters live in that area. With the warning and tip in hand, the party made their way to the windmill, and found it rather run down looking. It looks like it had been here since Waterdeep's older days, when the rest of the city rose up around it and thus rendered the building obsolete. Heading inside, they decided to head straight to the second floor, where Volkarr's apartment was, and Enigma quietly unlocked the door. The men were inside, discussing the lost key, conveniently enough. Enigma decided to mess with them by using his telekinesis to knock a pillow off the bed, which spooked the men, making them think the place might be haunted after all and coming here was a bad idea! Ray decided to play this up and created a big ghostly Yuan inside the room with a Minor Illusion, sending the men into a tizzy, buying the team plenty of time to rush in and capture the men and interrogate them for the information. Ray, playing Bad Cop for once, questioned them rather threateningly and they folded quickly, stating they work for a halfling necromancer named Losser Mirklav who paid them a good amount of coin to help him dig up skeletons in the mausoleums, though neither know what Losser's ultimate goal was. They said that Losser found the stone in the Cassalanter Mausoleum but was interrupted by a woman, whom he killed, and then a brain on legs jumped out of her and attacked. He used magic to raise skeletal minions to buy them time to escape. They know Losser hangs out in some abandoned wig store called Dandymops in the Trades Ward, but don't know what he does there or what the stone is for. Enigma debated on whether it was worth arresting them and the team debated the point briefly, but as a member of the Lords' Alliance and having made a promise to Sir Ambrose Everdawn that he'd find the perpetrators of the grave robbings, he had them tied up. The team began leading them out when they realized at the bottom of the stairs was some horrible fiendish abomination, which Sigurd identified as a Bearded Devil, stalking the premises. Did it follow them to the tower?? Thinking of a new plan, Enigma tried checking some of the other rooms, but found out that one of them had weak flooring the hard way and almost fell through, were it not for Ray's quick thinking and pulling him back in just the nick of time. Unfortunately, this blew any stealth they had as the noise was rather loud, and the beast was coming up the stairs. Thinking fast, Ray dropped a Minor Illusion of a wall at the top of the stairs to try and trick the devil for even a moment while the team escaped through a nearby window, as Enigma tore the boards off and the team jumped out with their captives (with Yuan doing it with a bit less grace than the rest). As it turns out, Ray's plan worked like a charm, buying them just enough time to make it down a side alley and evade the devil's notice. When the coast was clear, Enigma let the Watch know of what had happened, turning in the two criminals Volkarr and Urlaster and mentioning the devil in the windmill. The Watch, knowing better, immediately sent to have the Watchful Order deal with the threat, and took the two men away to be dealt with by Everdawn. The team headed back to the tavern to discuss their plan... It was becoming apparent they would need some extra help. Speaking with their various faction contacts, they organized a scheme to get some back up to the Dandymops shop to help them deal with this supposedly powerful necromancer who could raise the dead at the wave of a hand. They would soon be joined by Marcellus of the Harpers, Jalester of the Lords' Alliance, and Yagra of the Zhentarim, on an assault on the shop to deal with the necromancer and retrieve the stone! Before they could go though, their attention was drawn to a peculiar visitor, whom Sigurd took an intense interest in for some reason. A strange, prismatic-colored draconian who was having a drink at the bar, dressed in white, bright, clean robes, his eyes bright and white and sparking with an unusual, formidable intellect. However, he calmly greeted the team and while did not reveal his name, said that they already knew who he was... whatever that meant. The draconian was rather casual, asking Enigma to say hello to Karnage for him and urging Ray to play a tune on his behalf (which he did expertly, by the way), encouraging Yuan and letting Sigurd know that his ancestors would be proud of him, before departing the tavern, and seemingly existence entirely, as Mulaag tried to follow him outside but could not do so - it was as if he was never there. What a strange visitor... In any case, the team had a task to see to. What awaited them at Dandymops? What will the team's faction allies bring to the table? And who else will be fighting for the Stone? Find out next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!