The day started out much like any other; after an exciting night from the previous Dragondown celebration, the party met with their allies for breakfast and discussed recent events. Yuan explained the findings regarding Lif's murder investigation, and how it is very likely the culprit is someone powerful working for the Zhentarim. Given their movements, behind-the-scenes manipulations, magic work, and leaving little evidence, Davil is reminded that there was someone who used to operate very much in the same way, quite a long time ago. His name was Manshoon, and he was the original founder of the Zhentarim over two hundred years ago. Supposedly, he died in some kind of accident involving a Clone spell, where a bunch of his stasis clones triggered at once and annihilated each other in a spectacular display of magic destruction known as the Manshoon Wars. However, given the state of things, Davil is not entirely convinced that Manshoon was completely eliminated and may yet still live. Currently, though, it's just a hunch, but even if it isn't true, the fact is someone powerful is manipulating things behind the scenes in Waterdeep, which spells trouble for everyone! Meanwhile, Ray gets frustrated at Threestrings' lack of knowledge. Apparently he spends way too much time at the Yawning Portal. However, he does learn that Renaer and Marcellus intend on paying a visit to the manor at some point in the afternoon to check it out. Enigma tries to sneak up on Jalester, noticing he is looking at his Steel Shadows pin again, but doesn't quite manage to get the jump on him. He puts the pin away and regards Eni nonchalantly as he reports to Jalester, who mentions that he might have some more interesting work lined up soon that'll be much more up his alley - something involving a person of interest - but he needs to iron out a few details first and be sure of his findings before assigning the mission. After getting caught up to speed, Jalester asks to confirm if Eni was part of a mercenary company, which he does, the Star Wagon company. Jalester pulls his pin out again, and says that he, too, was once part of a company called the Steel Shadows in the land of Cormyr. However, work dried up and his group headed west toward the Sword Coast. He spoke of his best friend in the company, Faerrel Dunblade, who he says was 'very close to'. Then, he speaks of the Death Masks incident - where several Masked Lords of Waterdeep were murdered - and says how he got mixed up in that, and his friend Faerrel was among the casualties while trying to stop the perpetrators. This is when Jalester was approached by Laeral Silverhand to join the Lord's Alliance. Enigma shows a photo of him and his own husband, who died in very much the same way - fighting for what they believed in. Perhaps these two agents aren't so different... When the group makes to leave, Sigurd approaches and says he spoke with Meloon Wardragon, the agent of Force Grey who works for Vajra Safahr, to try and get some information on anything he's noticed. While he didn't really learn any useful information from the warrior, Sigurd points out that he noticed Meloon was acting a bit strange - he seemed like he was distracted and kept shooting glances toward the other party members. In particular, he seemed to take a strong interest in Davil Starsong, Yuan's Zhentarim boss. The other thing he noticed, as well, was that when Meloon gripped his axe, his hand seemed to be shaking, like he was having some kind of struggle. Very peculiar behavior indeed! Perhaps something is bothering Meloon...? With that, the party made their way out of the tavern (realizing they hadn't come up with a name yet for their group!) and made it to their appointment with Penny, who seemed to be harassing the newly-assigned Dungsweepers members. When she noticed the group, she gleefully approached and got right down to business with the interview, wanting to not take up too much of their time. However, the party's overall response was cagey at best and outright cold at worst (thanks, Enigma); Ray had to step in a few times with his natural charms to try and keep the conversation moving as there were things the party didn't quite want to reveal to Penny, despite her genuine intentions. They did speak of some of the dangers they faced, including mindflayers, intellect devourers, drow gunslingers, and the general Xanathar/Zhentarim gang war currently going on at present, sharing pearls of wisdom such as don't travel alone and don't leave your house at night! Unfortunately, they weren't able to come up with a group name, but Penny said she'll think of something to refer to the group as. Sigurd worries that the name will end up rather unflattering or unappealing... Regardless, she thanked them for their time, and paid the 5 gold as promised to each of them, before quickly skeedaddling off down the street to the east. With that, they went to talk with Lif about the recent findings regarding Manshoon's potential involvement with the background schemes currently plaguing Waterdeep, and wondered how far his potential involvement really went, when they heard a loud noise coming down the street from the west. They witnessed a man being thrown out of the window of Frewn's Brews who had apparently been involved in some kind of drunken brawl. Curious, they approached down the street to investigate, and found Correo and Rishaal had also come out to investigate the ruckus. Rishaal mentioned that he heard some kind of shouting in Draconic and pointed toward the pub, where it looks like some kind of lizardfolk is having an argument with the proprietor, Emmek Frewn. Correo, however, didn't seem to care, as he mentioned that Emmek referred to his delivery hawks as 'pigeons', then cursed Emmek's pub to have every window broken before storming off. When the party decided to go investigate, Enigma asked Rishaal if he would come back them up. While initially he didn't seem receptive to the idea, he agreed that if the ruckus continued, it could hurt his business, so he reluctantly agreed to follow in and put his spells to work if things got out of hand. With that said, they went inside and found Emmek arguing with what appeared to be an extremely large kobold - a swolbold, if you will! Normally thin, cowardly, and small, this kobold seemed to be the polar opposite. He was yelling at Emmek in Draconic, which the party understood, and found that he was upset that Emmek was trying to lowball him for security services. Through his broken Common, the swolbold demanded Emmek agree to his rate of 2 gp a day, but when Emmek refused, the crazy lizard threw one of the barstools against the wall, right over Enigma's head as he went over to watch the charade play out. When eventually the party approached the swolbold and asked him what the issue was, he explained that because of his race, it's very hard for him to find good work in Waterdeep - kobolds don't exactly have a sterling reputation. He wanted to work as a bouncer for Emmek's pub, but Emmek was being cheap and not agreeing to the rate he wanted. The kobold stated his name was Mulaag, and called Emmek a 'weak, cheap bitch'. When the party stated their interest in potentially hiring him on instead, Mulaag said he would agree if the party was able to prove their strength in combat - apparently this crazy swolbold still had some aggression to work out... Taking the fight outside, the party met out in the street, with Rishaal calling the shots, and the fight got underway! Yuan got the first jump in, though, and something peculiar happened; Yuan's tattoos and markings lit up unexpectedly and he seemed to surge with magic, as a spiritual Yuan clone appeared behind Mulaag and quite literally exploded with force, forcing the swolbold to deal with an attack on two fronts. Ray decided to ply his magic and forced Mulaag on the defensive with his Dissonant Whispers spell, which Yuan easily took advantage of, but Mulaag didn't appreciate the magic display and quickly threw himself at Ray's face, nearly taking his head off in a single punch, though fortunately the wild swing was just barely off the mark! Enigma followed up with his own blast of psychic energy channeling his connection to Karnage, before following up with a boot to the head, and Sigurd helped the team out with a glitter bomb spell of his own, Faerie Fire! This made the kobold that much easier to hit, and he was quickly overwhelmed by the party's incredible offensive might and excellent teamwork, downed in a matter of seconds. However, notably, Mulaag definitely took a lot of punishment and managed to last that long against a four on one duel. Rishaal called the match, and the party decided to drag Mulaag back to the tavern to let him recover. However, they were interrupted on the way by the appearance of Renaer, Marcellus, and an armored warhorse who went by the name of 'Maxwell' (really, Maxeene in disguise, who wasn't very good at staying in character, much to Renaer's disappointment). Renaer spoke with Ray at length and learned that Ray and co. had received a letter from Victoro Cassalanter about a potential business investment; Renaer, being familiar with the nobility due to his status, explained that it made sense as the Cassalanters were successful businesspeople and always managed to find that angle to make the most profit out of their ventures. He mentioned that only a few years ago, they were sort of on the downturn and financially were struggling a bit before suddenly making a dramatic comeback over the past two years, as business boomed and investments paid back handsomely. Ray wondered aloud if perhaps the Cassalanters were involved in some of the bad history of Waterdeep, but Renaer said he thought it was unlikely - the Cassalanters have been known to be upstanding members of the nobility and praised for their philanthropy and good business sense. Still, he couldn't help but wonder himself how they managed to make such an impressive rebound, as he recalled when the Cassalanters were asked about their success, they were often vague, usually referring to things like karma and the good faith of Lathander (of which Victoro was a known follower of)... Marcellus asked Ray if he would be interested in hiring him on as a tavern musician, and Ray readily agreed! (although informed him that his smoking policy is still the same). Renaer joked that Marcellus wouldn't burn the place down. Deciding to take advantage of the situation, Marcellus asked Ray if he wanted to build up a little hype for the tavern in his own unique way, and challenged him to a lyrical duel! Of course, it was just for fun; the main purpose was to get some attention toward the tavern and build interest, and some impressive musical talent would be perfect for that. Ray agreed and the duel was on, as Marcellus deployed some kind of box that played music on its own and the two free-styled at each other for a little while in front of a gathering crowd, making quite the spectacle! The two performers were top-notch and made an impressive display, matching each other quite well. After the display and the applause of the crowd, Marcellus thanked Ray and said he'd back around once the tavern opens, the three Harper agents departing with their goodbyes for now. While the party tried to make sure Mulaag wouldn't be too upset after waking up inside the tavern, a voice called out for Sigurd from outside, a woman's voice. Apparently, the tavern had yet more visitors in the form of a bronze dragonborn woman dressed in priestly vestments, escorted by three constructed entities - a nimblewright (who was carrying her shopping bags), a warforged in chef's attire, and some kind of mechanical quadruped dragon. Sigurd recognized them all immediately, and introduced his boss Valetta to the party; Valetta is a priestess of Gond, who works at the House of Inspired Hands. She had come to deliver some things that Sigurd had requested, namely his as of yet unnamed Steel Defender. He was waiting for a working intelligence core from a Lantanese contact the church had made to come in and be installed, which it now had, giving the Steel Defender sentience. Sigurd explained that this creature will be accompanying him from now on as an ally and protector, and can easily be repaired if it breaks down. The other thing he had requested was Chef, the Warforged Chef, who had come to the church in a sorry state one day and Valetta and Sigurd fixed him up. He had been working in the Temple of Gond for a little while as a cook before Sigurd had asked him to come to the tavern to work there instead, which Valetta allowed. Chef, a cockney-accented gentleman of a warforged, tipped his hat and explained his love for cooking, and also that he required little maintenance due to his constructed nature - meaning he was cheaper to hire on, which was a huge boon to the tavern. He also has contacts in the Council of Farmer-Grocers, the guild of farmers, millers and foodstuff merchants in Waterdeep, and the Bakers' Guild, the prominent bread and pastry makers of the city, and could rely on those contacts to help get the best deals on ingredients and food for the tavern which he used to cook with, cutting down on cost to get things up and running! With that, Valetta thanked the party for looking out for Sigurd and invited them to pay a visit to the House of Inspired Hands if they ever required information or assistance with inventions or technology, taking her leave with her nimblewright bag-handler to continue doing more shopping in the North Ward. Looks like things are starting to come together for the party! With only about a tenday's time until the Sornyn festival, and the lingering threat regarding the Stone of Golorr still hanging in the air, it looks like things are going to only get more intriguing from here on out. Does Victoro Cassalanter have some kind of ulterior motive? What will Emmek do about this latest affront to his business? What kind of embarassing group name will Penny give the party? Find out all of this and more, next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!