The team got up bright and early in the morning to prepare to handle the upcoming mission with the Lords' Alliance for Enigma. However, they quickly realized that one of their party, Yuan, was missing... It was explained through a note under their door that apparently Yuan had been safely absconded with for some 'business' but that he was in good hands. Almost certainly written by someone in the Zhentarim, though the note was careful to use vague terms in describing basically anything. Enclosed for each person however was five platinum pieces! Not an insignificant amount of wealth... in addition, the team was informed that the drow gunslinger was in custody and not to worry about him, and finally left off with a vague warning - that which slithers in the dark has two faces... With that ominous warning in mind, the party headed out in the early morn to go back to Muleskull Tavern, where they avoided eye contact with Heldar as much as possible. Inside, there were also a few other figures, among them Solomil Silverfingers, who was in attendance of a meeting with what looked like a ship captain and a very chonky tortle whose personal escort was an animated suit of armor. It was unclear what they were meeting about, but the team didn't have time to reminisce as their objective was in front of them. Enigma is hailed down by a man sitting with three others and introduces himself as Talon, the captain of this particular Dungsweeper squad. With him was Dorrick, a shield dwarf; Hanley, a half-elf, and Clara, a strongheart halfling. He didn't make any expectations of glamour for this work - Enigma's task was to keep an eye out for trouble and protect the Dungsweepers, but it was likely to be very boring work otherwise. Talon didn't seem aware of the real nature of Enigma's work, though, and thus the team set off to the Trades Ward to get to work. Later that same day, after the very boring first shift of the Dungsweepers, they headed to Mirt's villa for Ray to turn in his quest. They spotted the portly fellow standing on a balcony looking out toward the very peculiar Buff Ruff statue that was situated near his home, idly commenting that he could have sworn that thing was in a different position from last tenday. His musings are interrupted by the party's approach and he invites them in to discuss matters and provide Ray and his team their reward for a job well done. Along with some gold for the party, Ray received a special item called a Dryadleaf plant, which was a special kind of small plant that required minimal maintenance, and grew in areas where dryads often walked. If someone consumed one of its leaves, they could converse with plants and animals as if they shared a common language for one minute. Mirt had a feeling Ray would be quite taken with Maxeene, and figured he might enjoy being able to talk to other animals too, so he had this plant prepared as a reward. The party does ask him about some other things, namely the presence of the Bregan D'aerthe. Mirt talks about Jarlaxle, their leader, who is a renegade, weirdly fanciful drow iconoclast, and Bregan D'aerthe themselves are a faction of mostly disenfranchised male drow renegades. He thinks the elf murders in the Dock Wards are peculiar, though, since that seems to ride against Jarlaxle's M.O., so it appears that particular member was indeed acting alone. Mirt comments that Jarlaxle himself is quite dangerous, and chances are likely if you ever run into him, you won't know it. He usually prefers not to sully his hands in violence, but if you give Jarlaxle a reason to attack you, you're probably not going to walk away from that encounter. Mirt wonders aloud what Jarlaxle's influence might be doing in Waterdeep; he wonders if the Stone of Golorr has somehow attracted his attention... Speaking of which, he mentions to the party that he is a bit concerned about Maxeene's safety, since she now also possesses knowledge about the Stone, and will take measures to ensure her protection. He also comments that the party should avoid messing with the villa that Maxeene dropped her passengers at. It belongs to the Gralhund family, a powerful noble family in Waterdeep whose connections would make it unlikely that the Watch would look upon them favorable if they were convicted of any wrongdoing, and Mirt doesn't want to get his hands dirty and complicate his own situation. He advises to stay away from the place for now as trespassing into a noble's affairs could land them in seriously hot water. The party also ask him about Lif, and while he's familiar with the incident itself, he's not too sure about the circumstances. He confirms that if they want to learn anything about magic, the best person to ask would be the Blackstaff herself, Vajra Safahr, but her duties usually concern herself more with affairs of the city as a whole; something like a murder of a barkeep might not register much to her unless the party could prove that the person involved was a significant threat to Waterdeep... if only they could learn who the culprit was... In any case, Mirt bids the team farewell and sends them on their way, ready to tackle the new tasks ahead. During the tenday, the team was able to find a few clues about what's been happening in the underworld in this area... Enigma and Ray were able to combine their information and locate a potential area where they might find a Xanathar Thieves' Guild Hangout! Of course, they weren't really able to explore further than that since they were tied down by the current duties, so that would have to wait. Still, it was a sign that the Xanathar was trying to spread their operations across Waterdeep... Sigurd found some old broadsheets telling stories of illicit activity, particularly in the form of protection rackets, by the Zhentarim in this area. From the looks of it, and combined with the earlier findings, it looks like the gang war was likely to clash in this area as well... Ray found out something peculiar by talking with the locals; while he didn't find any particularly useful leads about the gang war itself, he did learn of some peculiar behavior going on in the nearby City of the Dead, the city's graveyard and mausoleum collection. Apparently, the place is open to the public during the day but not at night, and some suspicious persons have been noted creeping around the place. Unfortunately, the City Watch hasn't been able to identify a suspect. While most of the tenday went by uneventfully, the team got surprised on the ninth day when they were jumped from a nearby alley by some horrible-looking worm monster (which they would later learn is called a carrion crawler), and Talon would have almost certainly been attacked had it not been for Ray's quick thinking and heroism, using a Fog Cloud spell to temporarily blind the enemy, pulling Talon out of the way, while Enigma tried to hurl his javelin at the foe but couldn't quite get a good angle of attack and missed the mark. Sigurd sprang into action, bringing his dragon heritage to bear in the form of a cold breath attack, while Enigma did the same as Ray tried to get better positioning. Unfortunately, the crawler came out of the fog and struck out at Ray, downing him quickly thanks to its insidious poison! Fortunately, Sigurd was there to heal him up and pull him out of harms way while Enigma engaged with the target and managed to get some solid hits in. However, it fought back, nearly putting Enigma into the ground. Now both Ray and Enigma are paralyzed, leaving Sigurd the only one capable of fighting back. Fortunately, help was on the way in the form of the City Watch, who arrived a bit too late for Enigma's liking. Sigurd was able to square off with the thing, though, whapping it with his mace and successfully blocking its counter-attack before getting a final hit in. Before he could celebrate the victory, though, Enigma had fought off the poison and went completely berserk, smashing the carrion crawler into pieces and splattering its guts against the wall! This wild act of fury brought the entire street into a stony silence, as the other party members, the Dungsweepers, and even the Watch were a bit mortified at this behavior. Ray shook off the terror long enough to check on the Dungsweepers, who were all unharmed thanks to his timely assistance. When the Watchman finally came to their senses, they recognized Enigma was a member of the Lord's Alliance and tried to ask for a statement, but Sigurd thought it best that they could probably figure that out themselves and decided to be on their way. The Dungsweepers decided to take the rest of the morning off as the party retreated back to the Yawning Portal... There, they met Jalester and Ireena, where Enigma was able to get them up to speed. Jalester was able to sense that Enigma seemed a bit out of sorts, and Enigma explained the situation about the carrion crawler, where Jalester was able to identify it for what it was, and explained that they tend to creep around the sewers, particularly under the Trades Ward because of the nearby City of the Dead. They do so enjoy to feast on the dead, after all... Ireena showed off her own particular talents by healing the party with a single motion, helping Ray and Enigma recover fully. When Ray said that what he did was stupid and foolish, Jalester and Ireena were quick to correct him - that people acting on instinct might do things they're not normally inclined to, and the fact that Ray stepped in to defend someone who he didn't really know all that well, speaks a lot to his character. Ireena also further explains that even though she isn't a fighter, if she were in the same situation, she would have done the same thing, getting a blush out of Ray. Ireena goes on to talk about her friend, Phames Goodhill, and that since he retired (for now) from active adventuring he's been maintaining his farm in Daggerford, and how Ray reminded her a lot of his gallant friend. Of course, Ray is familiar with the portrayal of Phames in the opera of the Curse of Strahd, who was shown as a halfling farmer with big aspirations and a heroic wellspring of power, with an ability to rally those around him. Ireena says she hopes Ray can meet him sometime as Phames often comes to Waterdeep to reminisce with his former adventuring companions and to pick up supplies and sell crops. Meanwhile, Enigma converses with Jalester and asks him if he's heard anything back from Ismark. Jalester confirms that he thinks Ismark is just about done compiling a report - he just needs to fact-check a few bits of information before delivering his final report, which he should have by tomorrow. Carefully avoiding eye contact with the nearby Floon and Volo, Ray goes over to speak with Marcellus, Threestrings and Renaer, and explained the recent goings on. Likewise, Renaer also commented that Ray did the right thing and he would have likely done the same, and was satisfied knowing his friend was safe. Marcellus, after hearing the story, said he thought there might be a song in there somewhere and quickly got to writing out a prototype sheet music for them to play later. Threestrings also confirmed to Ray that Maxeene had been taken off the street for now - the fact that she knows about the Stone might get her in trouble, so Mirt decided to take the precaution and remove her from public view for the time being to ensure her safety. Afterward, the three performers decided to test out Marcellus' song prototype in the tavern and they put on a riveting performance for the Yawning Portal, Ray putting everything he's got into the song with his tantan, Mattrim on lute and Marcellus leading the vocals. It's actually quite the show, even getting a smile from the typically taciturn Durnan, and the day ends on quite a high note. The next day, the team rounds out their duties with the Dungsweepers, which thankfully goes by uneventfully. Talon explains that he's very thankful for the party's assistance, from dealing with the crawler to even just minor things like Ray using his prestidigitation spell to clean them up after a day's hard work. Talon explains that the Dungsweepers actually hold quite a bit of influence in Waterdeep - if there's someone they don't like, that person might end up with a bunch of more trash than they had the previous day, as the Dungsweepers like to ensure the city knows how much their services are needed. Enigma explains that they are trying to renovate a tavern in Trollskull Alley, and Talon says he thinks he might be able to sway his superiors to get him and his team reassigned to that district. Ray also explains that there's a fellow named Emmek Frewn who is also running a pub, and Sigurd adds that Emmek is kind of a dick. Ray tells the stories he heard from his contact in the Fellowship of Innkeepers, Broxley Fairkettle, that apparently Emmek is trying to cut corners by fixing his building himself (spitting in the face of the Carpenters, Roofers and Plaisterers Guild) and annoyed the Cellarers and Plumbers Guild by comparing a dwarf member's beard to barnacles on a ship. Sigurd confirms that dwarf beards are serious business to dwarves. Talon thinks about this and says that there might be something he can do to try and push the party's tavern in a more favorable light, and says to keep an eye on the streets over the next few days as they work their magic... All that's left to do now is to rejoin with their friend, and get the final reports on Lif's situation from Ismark and Vincent Trench, the local private investigator... What secrets will Ismark and Vincent have uncovered? What exactly has Yuan been up to during the past tenday? What other entities might be moving against the party...? Find out more next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!