The party discussed matters a bit while resting and approaching the hideout, revealing a few things about themselves - Yuan is in the city to hide from someone, but couldn't elaborate on what it was - Ray really wants to become a famous musician and make his way into the Musician's Guild - Enigma is from a mercenary company called Star Wagon and is apparently from 'space'... or so he says. - Renaer has many friends in high places, although he is estranged from his rich and powerful father. With that exchange complete, the party continues into the sewers and tracks down the Xanathar Guild Hideout! Having to muck about in ankle-deep sewer water, they come across an intersection that Enigma quickly finds is being watched by goblins... who apparently fell asleep on the job. Not the best choice of guards, it seems. The team manages to (barely) slip past the goblins and find a way onto dry ground, where Enigma's immense skill at handling doors is shown on full display. After popping a lock or two, they explore a side room which they find is filled with rusty weapons and threadbare clothing - not a whole lot to find that is useful here, it seems, despite combing the place quite thoroughly. Continuing on, they manage to slip past the goblin sentry post once more and make their way into what appears to be a resting quarters, filled with straw mattresses and thin blankets. Soon after, though, the team hears some commotion up ahead, an argument taking place between two individuals. Upon closer inspection, the team sees that a dark-skinned, white haired dwarf is arguing with an associate, whom they quickly recognize is the fellow they brutalized back at the tavern that was picking a fight with Yagra! They appear to be trying to barricade the nearby door for some reason... Spurred to action, Yuan and Enigma decide to try and do a silent takedown, but the dwarf turns out to be much hardier than expected! Enigma gets into a brawl with the dwarf, while Yuan engages the lowlife that hurt his friend. Renaer and Ray jump in to help, and Enigma manages to finish off the dwarf. The bandit manages to evade Yuan's attack, but leaves himself open to a well placed crossbow bolt from Ray and goes staggering to the ground. Ray, compelled to avoid having blood on his hands, spares the criminal with some (rather sloppy) first aid... only to have his neck broken by Enigma anyway. When the party contemplates the door and what the two were trying to block in, they hear some kind of odd sloshing noise coming from inside the room. Yuan contemplates this and reflects on his knowledge of the natural world, and realizes that when the bandit was suggesting to his friend to stopgap the bottom of the door, he figures out that they must have been trying to block something that could fit through small gaps, and based on the noise, it's probably some kind of slime or ooze. The party decides to finish the job and leave the door well enough alone, heeding Yuan's sound advice, and carry on. Yuan runs into a nasty scene though - a half-orc in robes, standing with his boot firmly planted into a injured man's back, who is crying for help. In the far back of the room sits some kind of horrible, grotesque creature of tentacles caressing some kind of brain on legs. Yuan immediately doubles back, having never seen such horrible things before, and the entire party is baffled by the manner of creatures within. However, when Yuan describes the man inside - a fancy dressed man with red-blonde hair - Renaer recognizes him as Floon and urges the party forth! However, the group's attempt to sneak into the room is foiled by the menacing abomination sitting in the back, who somehow silently alerts his associate to the presence of the party! The creature sends forth his brain-on-legs and begins to leave the room to let the two deal with the party, and a fight ensues! Enigma steps up first by whipping a dart at the half-orc, landing a solid hit. However, he's caught off guard by the walking brain and is blasted by a high amount of psychic energy. Forgetting that he's resistant to psychic damage Enigma is wiped out by this sudden unexpected attack! Fortunately, Ray is there to save his friend and steps in with a curing spell while Renaer engages the half-orc, landing a decisive blow, but the half-orc manages to resiliently avoid being taken down. However, he's got no chance against Yuan, who comes in with his greataxe swinging. The half-orc is raising his hand about to fire a spell of some kind at the two, but Yuan splits him in half with a single swing of his axe, cutting the half-orc down to size. However, Yuan is then blasted by another shock of psychic energy from the brain on legs, and Enigma seems to be having a bit of an issue fighting this thing, as it seems to soak up hits pretty well. Renaer swoops in with an amazing fencing stab to help out, and then Enigma channels his inner power and... sighs at it, causing the thing to finally die at the hands of the party. Ray manages to patch up Yuan's wounds, and the party is successful in defeating their foes! Looking around, the tentacle man seems to have fled the scene, Yuan spots a magical doorway disappearing into a nearby wall in the adjacent room. Incidentally, he also finds a small bit of treasure tucked away behind the stone throne, which includes some coins and healing potions. Mercifully, he gives one of them to Floon who uses it and then throws himself at Yuan's mercy, thanking him and the party for their help. Renaer says they're not quite out of the woods yet though, and the party needs to find a way to get out of here... Searching around, they find they have managed to get onto the other side of the goblin sentry post. Enigma pokes around and locates a not-so-secret door, which apparently leads out into the sewers again. Yuan decides to go massacre a goblin in its sleep (while Enigma gleefully looks on and Ray is made even more uncomfortable), and the party manages to exeunt into the sewers with their 'VIP' in tow. They decide to head back the way they came, however they quickly find that someone has scrubbed away the Xanathar's symbols in the sewers out, making figuring their way back that much harder. Fortunately, Enigma's knowledge of mapmaking comes in handy and he refers to his notes, so the party is able to easily make their way back without an issue. Finally escaping the sewers after what seemed like hours, the party emerges into the streets, taking in that fresh air. Cleaning up thanks to Ray's Prestidigitation, they manage to make their way back to the Yawning Portal, where a worried-looking Volo is drinking alone at a table. Ecstatic, Volo comes to greet his friend and thank the party for all they have done! But... there's a bit of a problem... When it comes to handing out their reward, Volo sheepishly looks away and confesses he doesn't actually have that much money - confirming some of the party's earlier suspicions that he might be stretching the truth a bit on how much he can pay. However, instead, he gives them something potentially much more promising - a deed to a property he purchased recently called Trollskull Manor. He bought the place because he heard it might be haunted and was hoping to use it for writing his new book, Volo's Guide to Spirits and Spectres. (Renaer comments that the only spirits Volo is likely familiar with is the alcoholic kind, much to his chagrin) Renaer asks Ray to perform a song to celebrate the team's victory, and says the tab is on him tonight! And perform he does - so well in fact that it draws in the attention of everyone in the tavern, even giving the stern Durnan pause to soak in the amazing performance of the seahorse bard. An incredible riveting performance and an excellent cap to put on the evening. The next morning, Volo takes the party out with Renaer in tow (Floon stays at the Yawning Portal, having had enough excitement for a while) and shows them to Trollskull Manor up in the North Ward, which is a much nicer part of town, for upper-middle class folk. However, the manor itself is a bit... rundown, and it quickly becomes apparent that the place is, in fact, haunted, evidenced by such things as Volo having a chair taken out from under him while he tries to sit, and subtly threatening messages being carved or written into walls and windows ("Last Call!" and "Closing Time!"), among other paranormal phenomena. It definitely needs some tidying up, but it could be renovated... Volo then takes them to a courthouse in the Castle Ward to make the transfer of the deed official, as a magistrate signs off on the trade and declares 25 dragons must be paid as a tax. Annoyed, Renaer forces Volo to cough up the money, who produces a coin pouch with the gold needed to cover the expense. With that, Trollskull Manor now officially belongs to the party! Volo also hands them one last gift, a copy of a pamphlet he dubs Volo's Enchiridion, a handy guide to Waterdeep, and offers them a tour of the city if they like. Renaer also says he will offer his aid to the party if they have some matter they need help with, and while he can't promise anything, he knows plenty of people and can call on a few favors... The story of how the party helped Renaer Neverember and Volothamp Geddarm will surely spread across town soon. How things will shape up from here remains to be seen... What will the party do in their spare time? What other entities might be taking an interest in this budding group of adventurers? What will the party do about the apparition haunting Trollskull Manor? Is Enigma really from space? Find out the answers maybe to these questions and more, next time... in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!