The team prepared as best they could for what might come ahead. Enigma decided that he would take charge of the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon, using its power to fend off any remaining threats. The team got a foreboding feeling head back down the vault, even hearing sinister chuckling in the distance as they made their way down. Getting to the exit eventually by climbing down with rope from the broken bridge, Yuan and Yagra pushed open the exit door... only to find the exit blocked by some kind of mysterious force field. A magical barrier, blocking the exit! Soon, they heard footsteps and clapping, as sure enough, the culprit behind literally everything, Gai Supamu, came around the corner behind them... He thanked them, for all of their jackass stunts he was able to crack the vault and remove all other opposition, essentially waiting in the shadows for everyone to dispose of themselves before swooping in. Only one thing remained - the party. However, being an 'honestman', he proposed a deal - he offered the team to keep half of Neverember's gold and promised them safe passage out of the city, while he kept the other half and claimed the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon and the Stone of Golorr. Then left the team to discuss. The entire team was immediately opposed to this deal, of course, not having come all of this way just to completely screw over everyone who placed their faith in them to get the job done. As lucrative as it might be, it was not worth the risk of having the entire Lord's Alliance, Harpers, Zhentarim and other organizations up the team's ass for their treachery! When Gai went back to see what the team had to say, it was a collective big NO! Disappointed, he took it in stride, claiming he was going to backstab the team anyway, and revealed that he was definitely not who he appeared to be - actually being a freaking LICH! On top of that, he banished Renaer through some portal, leading into some watery abyss, sequestering him away, claiming he'll deal with him later. The Master of the Grand Game had revealed his true form, and an epic throwdown was about to begin! Nobody wasted any time, with Yuan charging into the fray first, but Gai showed his own power, retaliating in kind with a fiery explosion and then using his powers of madness to drive poor Yuan into a waking nightmare, hallucinating that he is underwater being attacked by eldritch tentacles from an aboleth. SIgurd and Jalester jumped in to aid their friend, as Marcellus stayed back to pepper the treacherous lich with scorching rays, forcing Gai into a retreat and attempting to ensnare his attackers within a mass of writhing aboleth tentacles, but fortunately Ray was there to counter the attack with a well timed Dispel Magic, ensuring they couldn't harm the party nor block the path. Unfortunately, Gai was able to put the finishing touches on the stunned Yuan, using a spectral bony fist to send him crashing to the ground. Sigurd recognized the spell as a Chill Touch spell, meaning that any healing would be pointless until the hand went away. Enigma decided to give the Dragonstaff a try, blasting Gai with a shock of powerful lightning! Gai was able to avoid the brunt, but he retaliated with another Chill Touch against Enigma to try and disable him quickly, albeit missing, while Valetta fired off a guiding bolt that sadly was misguided as it hit the rock wall behind her target. Gai continued trying to play Rock Paper Scissors with his Chill Touch skeletal hands, but Karnage, the draconic spirit within the drackal, protected Enigma long enough to dissuade Gai from further attempts for now. Yagra, using her longbow, found out the hard way that any attacks not backed with magic were useless. Tossing her bow aside angrily, she charged forth at the lich, fist raised to strike, but came up short... Sigurd launched himself forward with a vicious assault, using a Branding Smite spell to light up the lich and ensure his position would be revealed to all, while also adding some extra radiant damage as Marcellus launched another Scorching Ray volley, this time all the attacks hitting home! Gai had enough of this nonsense, as he ended his game of rock-paper-scissors and played Gun, crushing Enigma instantly with a devastating blast of necrotic energy. Ray was there to heal up his friends Yuan and Enigma, though, to at least get them back on their feet. but Gai now sent Sigurd into a hallucinating daze like he did to Yuan. With two of the party's heavy hitters out of commission, it was up to the rest to pull more weight to bring down the evil mastermind Gai. Enigma put some distance between Gai and himself, focusing his ki to recover some stamina and channeling the faith of Tyr to protect his friend, Jalester, from further harm, with a Shield of Faith, as Valetta brought forth an Aura of Vitality to keep her allies in working shape as best she could... Yagra, enraged by the assault on her friend, charged forth and blasted Gai with an impressive volley of punches, nearly sending him to the floor. The display might have roused Yuan from his nightmare, finally free of the hellscape Gai had sent him to. Marcellus, realizing that only a frontal assault would do, charged forth as well, drawing forth his Flame Blade to engage with Gai directly, but the lich was too quick to dodge that one. Jalester, however, was able to take advantage of the opening left behind and fiercely strike past the lich's defense, causing Gai to retreat once more and begin blasting the team with a barrage of laughing Gai faces in the form of eldritch blasts, sending his attackers backwards and sending Sigurd to the floor, while summoning an eldritch aboleth tentacle to keep up the pressure and slow down Yagra to keep her from landing any more devastating punches. Gai lifted himself into the air with his magic, attempting to dissuade any further melee engagements. Ray, however, returned fire with his newly learned Eldritch Blasts, keeping the pressure on Gai, as Enigma got back into the fight, taking flight with Karnage's aid and channeled the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon to blast Gai with a fireball, although once again he was able to avoid the brunt of it. Gai returned fire with another chill touch spell, sending Enigma crashing back down to the floor hard... As Valetta tried to pitch in with another guiding bolt but just narrowly missing the mark, Yagra, realizing she couldn't engage with the lich now, set herself up to aid her friend instead, calling forth Yuan, who picked himself up and charged back into the fray, the two of them launching a team attack as Yagra lifted Yuan into the air, the big wolf landing with his axe head first into Gai and sticking the landing neatly, while summoning forth an explosive spirit to try and take Gai by surprise, though the twitchy lich was too quick for that to work. As Sigurd was unable to recover from the nightmare, Marcellus finally got his opportunity and devastated Gai with a fireball centered on him. Gai, immensely displeased by this, thrust his hands forward and began showering the team with blasts of magic to destroy them, sending Marcellus and Jalester, who was trying to help Enigma recover, reeling from the power. Ray, however, was prepared, lining himself up, stating that Gai's song was finally over, as he launched his attacks through the chaos, and with dead-eye accuracy, struck the lich true. Gai, exclaiming that he had been cancelled, exploded in righteous power, and was sent crashing to the ground, taking again his normal human visage. It was at this time that Renaer, who had been sequestered away this whole time, finally was released from his watery prison, soaking wet and in a dazed, staggering toward the group and then collapsing to the floor. If the fight had dragged on too long, Renaer might have suffered another fate entirely... Just then, the magic barrier back at the entrance to the vault had fallen, with Gai no longer able to sustain it, and in came rushing a quadlet of wizards - Driette, the leader of the Zhentarim; Remallia Haventree, the boss of the Harpers; Vajra Safahr, the High Wizard and leader of Force Grey, and Laeral Silverhand, Open Lord of Waterdeep! Remallia explained that she had received Yuan's message, and begin calling upon the other factions to mobilize, but by the time they got there, it appears Gai's plan was already set in motion and they were delayed, unable to proceed. Vajra frowned, and realized that she recognized the man on the ground - apparently... she explained the history between herself and Gai Supamu... The previous Blackstaff, Samark Dhanzcul, had a prominent student who wore distinctive special lenses just like these named Gai. The two were close friends according to Vajra, who knows this because she was once Samark's lover. However, Samark chose Vajra to be his successor, though, and Gai - coveting the Blackstaff's power - didn't take it well and left the tower. Samark was later killed and impersonated in a plot by a rival and his son named Khondar and Centiv Naomal, and Vajra was captured. While Renaer and Meloon Wardragon caught the culprits and rescued Vajra, Vajra always wondered how they got the information to pull off their attack, and thinks that Gai might have fed them info to make it happen but could never prove it. Vajra recounts that she heard rumors that Dagult Neverember picked up Gai as a court wizard some time later, but as Dagult kept his workings secret, she wasn't aware - at the time, at least - of what Gai might have been up to. She believes that Gai was the one who made the Stone of Golorr and might have entered into some kind of pact with Golorr which granted him extreme power, thus his obsession with the stone. Laeral revealed that she has been quite busy these past few days, and has devised a method that might allow destruction of the Stone of Golorr once and for all, having realized that the evil aboleth must be removed from play. She explained that a powerful spell called Antipathy/Sympathy could be used in a specific way, targeting the stone and using the antipathy effect to repel aberrations. Requesting the stone from Enigma's person, she demonstrated her theory, bringing her powerful magic to bear, causing the stone to melt into a pile of mucus, freeing the aboleth inside, who raged in Deep Speech at the meddling wizard. The four wizards present - Driette, Laeral, Vajra and Remallia - brought their impressive power forth and devastated the aboleth with a barrage of powerful destructive magic, leaving nothing but a smear of mucus on the ground. Golorr was no more, and with its destruction, Gai began to fade, stating that his strings had finally been cut. The team could see a spectral collection of tentacles unravel itself from Gai, disappearing into the ethereal, as the mad wizard disintegrated, leaving behind only his mementos. Vajra picked up the glasses with sadness, reflecting on everything up until now... With Driette using her own magic to patch up the team, she explained that they should come outside to see the results of Gai's machinations. Laeral quickly asked about the vault treasure, though, and she learned that Aurinax the dragon was dead, but the treasure was secure... Gathering the party once more, they all ascended to the surface to see that a scene of chaos had unfolded. Gai had apparently summoned a bunch of elemental guardians to ensure no interlopers would be able to interfere with his plot and keep them busy long enough to enact his plan. Unfortunately, the treant guardian and many City Guardsmen were casualties of this assault, having been the first on the scene, but the assault was repelled with the aid of many allies from the various factions. Even Phames Goodhill, the hero from Barovia and Yuan's friend, clad in armor, greeted his companion and told him that he had been called forth by Driette in an emergency mission, having joined the assault to repel Gai's minions. The two had a happy reunion, with Phames congratulating the wolf on his victory. Hlam, the master of the Order of the Even Handed, greeted Enigma, and asked about Aurinax. When Enigma tried to explain what had happened and began to take the blame for Aurinax's death, Hlam stopped him, stating there was no blame to be cast here. If anybody was to blame, it would be the ones who set this plot in motion from the beginning, who had ensnared Aurinax in their web of schemes and took advantage of his goodly nature. Hlam explained that he and Aurinax were friends many years ago and the two often sought each other's counsel on many matters, although lately Aurinax had disappeared, as Hlam realized the reason why. He states that he will do what he can to salvage Aurinax's soul from beyond, but thanked Enigma for all of his hard work and informed him that Patayan, his mentor, was also here and they should meet, as he went off to pray for Aurinax's immortal soul. Ray was greeted by Ireena and Ismark, and lamented the loss of the treant guardian. Ireena explained that Laeral had called them forth to aid in defending the city, but mentioned the treant had already been taken down by the time she got there and was unable to save him. They prayed for Bitterspur the treant's soul together, but Ireena was happy to see Ray was in one piece, and told him that they must write a play or other performance telling his epic tale. Yuan was later met by Davil, who explained that they too had been called forth by Driette to aid in the attack. Apparently, she had worked out some kind of deal with Laeral to acquire the aid of the Zhentarim, although he wasn't familiar with the particulars. It looked like the Zhentarim was being forced to set on the path of the straight and narrow, as Davil explained that the faction's legally dubious activities had to be shut down (at least in Waterdeep) as part of the deal, and Driette would be setting them on a new path. He looked forward to it, though, and stated that Yuan should celebrate his amazing victory today with his team! Enigma greeted Patayan, who had been meditating off to the side, and she expressed joy in seeing him whole and intact. She greeted him warmly and explained that something drew her to Waterdeep a long time ago. She heard the call of the dragon, Karnage, having been also marked by a similar power, and when she met Enigma for the first time, realized that their fates were intertwined and that this could not be a coincidence. She was proud of him for his achievements, and hoped that he might take her to meet the rest of his crew sometime, which he replied that they'd definitely be on the way. Ray also met up with Mirt, who stated that he was totally here for the entire battle and fought hard to ensure victory, despite his squeaky clean appearance and pristine state of his rapier. With his usual bluster and jovial attitude, he congratulated Ray on his victory and mentioned that they should absolutely hold a party at his manor and indulge in some wine and good times. Ray explained that Ireena proposed writing a performance piece to tell the story, and he absolutely agreed, stating that he must perform at Lightsinger Theatre so he can watch from the box seats with gusto! It seemed everything had finally worked out, in the end... Laeral summoned forth the heroes and asked Enigma to return the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon and Neverember's embezzled gold. Enigma handed over the Portable Hole, which had been used to steal away the funds, and she explained that she might as well take the item as she notified the team that she knew of the letter they had received from House Baenre demanding their return, not wanting to potentially cause further issues with Luskan or Menzoberranzan, the drow metropolis of the Underdark. She told the team that they had finally earned their rest, although there would still be some work to do to clean up the remnants of the enemy factions from the city. She also stated that, as promised before, she would provide the team a finder's fee of fifty thousand gold as part of their reward! While she said that this transaction would be handled as discreetly as possible, word spreads fast in the City of Splendors, and the team shouldn't be surprised if they receive many visitors in the coming days with hands held in need and desperation... It seemed, though... that the adventure had finally concluded. The story of Waterdeep's Dragon Heist had finally ended. What lay ahead for the team now that their work was done? Would they stay in the fair City of Splendors, or seek adventures elsewhere? Find out next time, in the finale to Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!