After last tenday's debacle, the party was able to get the tavern straightened out, busting their buns and putting in overtime to take care of things, with some help from the Han family pitching in various ways, including Solo using a Fabricate spell to rebuild parts of the tavern with better materials and even having Chewy participating in a four-way drinking contest with the patrons, which proved to be a smashing success as it drew in a huge crowd. Despite all the bad press, it seemed to not matter as the tavern was able to turn things around in a hurry and make a significant profit that tenday, leaving the team with plenty of extra gold in their back pocket for a rainy day. Before much celebration could be had, though, Istrid Horn, loanshark for the Doom Raider Zhentarim, paid the tavern a visit and announced that it was time to strike Emmek Frewn dewn... figuratively speaking, at least. She had noticed that the former mercenaries had left the area and he is relatively undefended, and asked the party if they would be so kind as to rumble his establishment for a debt owed to her and not yet paid. They were all almost too willing to do so, but it would be Yuan leading the charge, storming the front wall and chasing down Emmek through his establishment, as Enigma handled the crowd and managed to lead them away with some well-timed advertising, while Ray searched the place for something he could claim on Istrid's behalf. It didn't take too long to find something, as he found a hidden stash of expensive dwarven brew under Emmek's bed. Looks like he was hoarding the good stuff for himself! Istrid later identified it as Blackloch Lager, a rare dwarven ale that was said to induce dark insights that resulted in hallucinations. It would fetch a ton of coin if sold on the market. Meanwhile, Sigurd and Yuan were rumbling Emmek in the cellar, and after learning he had no money on him, Yuan ordered him to strip off all of his expensive clothing instead! Leaving Emmek in nothing but his underwear, he was forced to abandon his fine clothes and jewelry to reconcile Istrid's debt. Istrid was satisfied with the payout after confirming the value of the items she had acquired, but decided to leave Emmek's final fate in the hands of the party, after all of his wrongdoing she only felt it right that they get the last laugh. Indeed, they did. They proceeded to march Frewn up and dewn the street with embarrassing fatman tuba music to match, as the Alley residents rallied and threw old produce courtesy of Fala's shop, making sure they made Emmek aware of how much his presence displeased them. Even Avi, normally a nonviolent individual, got in on it, stating that before the Song and Spirit had opened, Emmek had denied him and Embric patronage for what were probably not wholesome reasons, and was more than happy to get back at him for this slight. Once they had enough, the party sent Emmek back on his way to the pub to sulk and stew in his failure. Now that revenge was in hand, they had to figure out more important business, like discussing who among their other, much more dangerous, enemies they should go after. It was decided that Urstul Floxin, the scheming Zhentiwrong assassin working for none other than Manshoon the Manyfaced, would be the next target! As it would turn out, fortune was on their side for this, as Yagra soon paid a visit to the tavern and explained she had acquired a great lead on where Urstul might have slipped off to after doing some digging of her own... figuratively and literally. She explained that she thinks he disappeared into an abandoned building called Kolat Towers, which were originally occupied by a pair of peculiar wizards, Alcedor and Duhlark Kolat, before the former left and never was seen again while the latter became a recluse and likely died in his abode. Not only is the place rumored to be haunted, it is also protected by a massive nigh-impenetrable magic shield and folks avoid the place like the plague, to say nothing about the countless birds who smash their necks on the invisible barrier and subsequently had to be cleaned up by the local street sweepers. So on this rainy day of Eleasis 22, the team headed off to the mysterious Kolat Towers. Yagra explains that she tried all manner of things, from punching and yelling to digging, though the City Watch got on her case before she got far with that last one. Ray had a much more direct approach, though, and was able to channel his bard magic to rip apart a hole in the magic barrier, allowing the team a minute to slip through. Upon doing so, the wall began to close behind them, signifying that dispelling the effect was only temporary... Searching around, they noticed the towers themselves were completely dry, thanks to the magic shield which protected it from just about everything it could. Slipping into one tower, they found themselves in a storage room, which seemed to be full of salted packed meats of ordinary make but actually still quite edible, as Ray would find out. Looks like the Kolat brothers were well stocked, at least. In the next room, some light conversation could be heard. As the team knew this place was likely being used by Urstul Floxin and his Zhentiwrong flunkies, the team opted for the shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach and tried to slip in with Enigma's Pass Without Trace and a combination of Minor Illusions. The occupants in the next room were playing cards on a dining table, and Eni and Ray would try and trick them into thinking one of them was cheating by having a fake card under the table, and drawing their attention to it with a fake noise. It seemed like a good ruse until they found out this apparently is a regular occurrence, as the lead guard, dressed in heavy splint armor as opposed to the thugs, called out into the nearby room and complained to someone in there, apparently a chef, who retorted that he was busy making lunch and to basically shove off. Before the guard could say much else, she turned and spotted the party, and said "Can I help you?" at which point she was met with a barrage of attacks and magic from the party! This seeming ambush started to go pear-shaped when the chef, a portly halfling in a chef's toque, came in, complained about his lunch being messed with, throwing his soup ladle and hurling a blast of destructive cold magic at the party, immediately flattening Enigma and Io, and nearly wiping out Ray and Yuan, Ray only being spared thanks to his resistance to cold. Sigurd and Yagra managed okay thanks to their innate toughness and Sigurd's natural cold resistance as a silver dragonborn, but it was made plenty clear that this chef - later found out to be named Manafret Cherryport - was a menace and must be dealt with immediately. Ray started that plan by dropping a Silence spell in his direction to try and shut down his spellcasting while the other fighters tried to close the distance, though Yuan was having a rough time of it as he was overextending himself in his rage and taking too many hits in a weakened state. Fortunately, Sigurd did manage to eventually run Manafret down with a blast of frost breath, before focusing his attention on Sidra (the splint mail guard) and her two cronies. The team was able to divide and conquer and eventually wipe them out, with Yagra holding down Sidra with a grab-and-punch strategy while Yuan chopped down for the kill, leaving Sidra half the woman she used to be! Investigating the room didn't turn up much, save for some silver pieces the card players were using to gamble with, although the silverware seemed to be somewhat valuable. Sigurd also uncovered a brass ring with a stylized M on the chef, signifying he might be one of Manshoon's goons, along with a sizeable stash of Assassin's Blood ingested poison in the kitchen cabinet, which gave Ray pause as he was in the process of serving out the stew that Manafret was in the middle of prepping as the party took a moment to collect themselves. Their rest was interrupted by a voice from upstairs asking them to not stop playing the music that Ray was doing for his Song of Rest, and that whatever was going on down there earlier he wanted no part of. Ray obliged, but the party was a bit puzzled as this person seemed non-aggressive. Yagra thought maybe punching through everyone in the building could save them some grief, and the person upstairs seemed already aware of their presence, so the party elected to try and greet them. They found a burly half-orc man in black armor reading a book called Volo's Guide to Monsters, which included a signature from none other than Volothamp Geddarm himself. When questioned, the half-orc asked if the team was from the Song and Spirit, which Ray confirmed. Apparently, this half-orc was named Yorn the Terror and he was involved in an incident at the tavern where he and his buddies caused something of a ruckus before being made to chill out. Ray recalled the incident, and Yorn apologized and stated he meant no harm by it - "was just having a bit of rowdy fun" as he put it. He went back to reading his book, much to the bewilderment of the party, who asked why he wasn't being hostile, and he replied that he likes staying alive - this was apparently the rare sort of minion who knew he was outmatched and when to fold his hand, and he was more than happy to talk about the towers, its layout and its inhabitants. He explained many things, but the main bombshell was notifying the party that Manshoon has a teleportation circle leading to his extradimensional sanctum! Oh boy... He asked if the party had killed Manafret and Sidra, and upon confirming, said that it would only be a matter of time before Manshoon and his other goons figure that out, so if they were here to take out Urstul Floxin, they're going to have to do it sooner rather than later. Yorn, of course, would not be getting involved, content to read his book, but said he was happy to provide any information asked for. He mentioned upstairs was where a prisoner named Lady Gondafrey - a knight turned into a gargoyle - was being held, as well as some thugs guarding the room, and further beyond were three of Manshoon's apprentices binding a demon ape of some kind into service. The team thought that Yorn might be useful under their own employment later, to which he said that if they're here to wipe out Manshoon, he'll consider the offer. After that, they bid farewell and moved onto the next room, which was where the three apprentices were apparently laying their heads when they weren't studying. They were able to swipe some personal effects and their spellbooks, learning about what kind of magic they might use against the party. Could be useful information! Upstairs, they found themselves in a room with a cell door nearby, and the walls lined with staves of various different makes. Yuan found out the hard way that this room was not all that it seemed as the staves suddenly jumped to life and begun trying to whack him over the head, causing a fight to break out. Enigma showed off one of his new abilities, intoning a Word of Radiance to blast the animated staves with using his special training from Hlam, master of the Order of the Even Handed! As the rest of the party joined in, it caught the attention of the nearby thugs in another room, further complicating things, but after about roughly a half minute of violence, the fighting ceased with the party victorious over their foes. Checking out the cell door in earnest, they heard a voice on the other side essentially stating that if they were good, to free them so they might join their fight, or if they were evil, to fight her so to relieve her eternal boredom, in some kind of challenge. Enigma checked out the door and found that the door was rigged with a trap, as Sigurd identified it as a Glyph of Warding equpped with a Blindness spell. Deciding that another use of Dispel Magic was not worth it, and that the Blindness spell itself was fairly tame and could be ignored since they were not in a threatening situation, they elected Yuan to try and open it as he would have the best chance of ignoring it. Unfortunately, he didn't, but was able to shrug it off shortly thereafter anyway, as Enigma worked on the lock on the door to open it. The gargoyle resident inside introduced themselves as Lady Gondafrey, and figured out that the party must be on the side of good given Sigurd's wearing of an armor of Siamorphe and Enigma's connection with Tyr, whom she was also a knight of at some point, before Duhlark Kolat transferred her mind into that of a gargoyle for unknown reasons and locked her in here. Manshoon apparently thought this was amusing when he took over the place and left her in here, and the only company she's had for the past 120 years are the random thugs who go making noise outside her door. She was a knight in the service of the City Watch who had come to darken Duhlark Kolat's doorstep while investigating some missing persons, but managed to annoy the wizard and got herself trapped in here. She now joins her fellow Tyrran in the fight against a greater evil. What lies beyond in the tower, and in Manshoon's extradimensional sanctum? Will the party face the Manyfaced himself at some point in the near future? Will they be able to find, and silence, Urstul Floxin, once and for all? Find out next time, on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!