With the team recuperated at the tavern, Enigma had been called away by his Lords' Alliance contacts to help investigate the Vevette Blackwater situation, hoping for a lead that will get them closer to the Stone of Golorr before it falls too far into enemy hands. Ray had left the tavern to go pursue information about Meloon Wardragon, and Sigurd had left to go talk with Valetta about the Lantanese Tracking device he had found in Ray's cloak. This left Yuan alone at the tavern, although he found he wouldn't be alone for long, when he received a mental missive in the form of a Sending spell. He left to go around the back, heading up the stairs... though he noticed that when he got halfway there, he wasn't alone, turning around and grabbing at something invisible, much to the tailgater's surprise. "No, you daft fool! Just wait until we get into the tower!" the invisible figure explained. It was Davil! Seemed he didn't seem too pleased at being rumbled, but surely, he had his reasons. Yuan continued up to the tower of the tavern, where Davil revealed himself by dispelling his invisibility and explained the situation: He had been released from custody by the City Watch, since they couldn't conclusively tie him to the Gralhund Villa Massacre. However, he was convinced that he had been betrayed. Too many things were out of place lately and it had him concerned. Also, the City Watch knew things about him that nobody else could - including the fact that he had a brother, Sevalis Starsong, who had joined the Zhentarim long before he did but had been apparently labeled a traitor and was killed (although Davil had his doubts about that). Davil had fallen out of contact with his brother and had hoped joining the Zhentarim would bring them back together, but it was not meant to be, as by the time he had joined, Sevalis was already dead. Davil knew Sevalis had a son, and went to Waterdeep looking for him, but wasn't able to turn up anything. It was recalled later that Sevalis was the name of Lif's father, who had changed his surname to Green. As Davil had no idea what the son's name was, nor did he know that Sevalis had changed his name (likely to protect his family), he had no idea that Lif Green - also known as Lif Starsong - was in Waterdeep. Lif is Davil's nephew! However, it seemed neither of them were aware of the others' presence... In any case, Davil was convinced that because the City Watch knew this, among other things, and was trying to use his connections to the Zhentarim as a reason to charge him with a crime - but ultimately couldn't because they could not place him at the scene, and being part of an organization isn't necessarily a crime in itself - someone had been leaking information. This was the clincher, but there were several other things he reviewed with Yuan that didn't add up: Yuan's hostage exchange with the Bregan D'aerthe being rumbled by the Red Wizards of Thay The potion sale to a client not quite going the way it was expected, as the potions were made to be Poison instead of Mind Reading Davil being arrested immediately after the Gralhund Villa Bloodbath incident Esloon Bezant being at all the places Yuan had been to, including the Three Pearls Nightclub and near Weirdbottle's Concoctions As such, Davil was convinced that he had been betrayed by someone close to him. He figured it hadn't been someone from the Harpers or Lord's Alliance, or any other faction for that matter, nor could it be Yagra (whom he doesn't keep in the loop about all of his operations) or any of the party members (who didn't know about his brother, something only the Doom Raiders knew about). Davil asked Yuan to think over the facts carefully and name the traitor. Yuan thought carefully and gave his answer... and it seemed it was correct. Davil, impressed with Yuan's thinking, told him to keep this to himself for now - it hadn't been made aware to the other Doom Raiders that Davil has been released, and he has his own investigations to conduct to make absolutely certain he's on the right path, so for now, Yuan will continue to report to Tashlyn Yafeera until Davil's ready to take the reins again. Davil warned that he was going to ask Yuan to do something very difficult, for the both of them, and he wanted to give this early warning to give him time to mentally prepare that he was likely going to be asked to kill someone close to him. In addition, Davil had also said that this order actually came from over him - that's right, Davil has his own boss he reports to. She isn't in Waterdeep right now, but when Davil reported to her everything that had happened, this was the verdict. Davil tells Yuan that if he comports himself well, he might just get a chance to meet her down the line... As such, Davil swore Yuan to secrecy - that he would not tell a soul - not Yagra, not the other Doom Raiders, nor his own party members - that this meeting had happened. Yuan agreed, and with that, Davil cast Invisibility on himself and made his exit. Leaving Yuan to wonder how things were going to pan out... Meanwhile, Ray had made his way to the Yawning Portal to meet with Punchy Mattrim "Threestrings" Mereg about the Meloon situation. Mattrim finished his set and talked with Ray a bit, saying that he had been observing Meloon for a while and he definitely knows something is off about the usually plucky adventurer. He made the comment that it seemed like he was arguing with his axe, Azuredge, which Mattrim reminded Ray was forged by none other than Ahghairon himself during his rule as Open Lord, and was a sentient weapon sworn to Waterdeep's protection. However, the axe and Meloon seemed to be in conflict with one another, and it wasn't clear why... also, Meloon seemed to have a particularly nasty dislike for Yagra Stonefist and Davil Starsong, possibly because of their Zhentarim ties. Mattrim suggest that he try asking some of the other patrons to see if he could gather any further clues, which Ray set off to do. He found Jalester nearby, who said that he was visiting the Yawning Portal since he hadn't had a chance to lately and wanted to see what was happening in the popular establishment. He also said he had Enigma doing some Lord's Alliance business to investigate the woman who made off with the Stone and had every confidence he'd turn something up. As far as Meloon goes, though, Jalester couldn't say much. He said he seemed fairly normal and happy as could be, though lately he did notice that Meloon seemed a bit... distant. When Jalester tried talking to him before, Meloon didn't seem particularly eager to converse. Granted, Jalester was busy with other things and couldn't watch Meloon all the time, but that's what he noticed. However, Ray hit on an idea and thought that perhaps the barmaid Bonnie might have some better insights. As he sat on his table to be waited upon, she eventually made her way over and took his order. Ray asked her what she thought of Meloon, and after a bit of hesitation, said something rather troubling - that "He's not himself, as in that's not Meloon Wardragon the man - it's something else inside him. Trust me, I have some experience with that..." When pressed for details, she elaborated, "Let's just say he's not all right in the head." Curious, Ray asked Mattrim questions about Bonnie and if he knew anything interesting about her after she left. Having a mental lapse, Mattrim revealed that he knows Bonnie is actually a doppelganger who can read surface thoughts! Mattrim is the only one who knows this, and he's been trying to get her to join the Harpers, though Mirt has apparently not been willing to allow a doppelganger into their ranks due to their untrustworthiness. However, Ray pointed out the fallacy of this by telling Mattrim that since that's the case, now Ray knows, and she'll know that Mattrim told him. Realizing his error, Mattrim went to smooth things over when Bonnie returned. While she was highly annoyed, she went to Ray to confirm that her secret will be kept, which he agreed, and she was satisfied with the answer. Ray confided in Bonnie in her plan to try and figure out if Meloon was on the level, which she agreed, if he would make it worth her while. Being able to read surface thoughts made it much easier to figure out that he was being honest. With that confirmed, Ray made his way to the bar to talk with Meloon, who greeted him warmly, as Bonnie worked the bar - though she managed to dole out a slap to Mattrim's face before doing so, for his clumsiness. The two chummed it up for a while, with Ray even buying Meloon a nice hard drink of dwarven stout. Meloon had said that he seemed off simply because he was bored and needed a good adventure. Fortunately, he had just gotten word recently about one that had come up involving slaying a fiend in the sewers. As the City Watch was stretched a bit thin and unwilling to venture into the sewers to go demon slaying, he asked if Ray and his team would join him on a sewer hunt, to which Ray agreed. Meloon seemed genuinely happy that Ray agreed to join him on his small adventure and made a plan to have him meet with the team on the 11th of Eleasis to go track the creature down. With the arrangement confirmed, Ray went back to his table to confirm with Mattrim what he had learned... Bonnie also followed to finish Ray's order for the evening, and while it seemed to Ray that Meloon was genuinely happy, it might be because he had something sinister up his sleeves. Bonnie said that his mind was full of dark, evil thoughts - she felt that Meloon is up to something bad with this plan of his. The Meloon on the surface and the Meloon within were definitely not one and the same... as thanks, Ray paid her a single platinum piece, which is worth quite a lot, and Bonnie was extremely grateful. With that settled, the team reconvened back at the tavern, and Sigurd revealed some insights about the Lantanese Tracker. Locate Object only has a range of 1000 feet, meaning that whoever was doing the actual tracking, had to be very close in relative terms. They would be able to follow the team in relative safety, too, as there's no way anybody could spot someone following them from several hundred feet away in a city like Waterdeep. Thus, the culprit had to be someone close in Trollskull... Ray suspected the Gralhunds at first, and while Sigurd couldn't rule them out, he pointed out that the Gralhunds were in league with the Zhentarim (emphasis on the past tense). Ray then thought of who pointed him in the direction of the contact for the cloak in the first place - J.B. Nevercott. He didn't want to suspect her, but it seemed like the most logical step. As such, Yuan recommended that they hire on Vincent Trench, the private detective of Tiger's Eye once more to look into the matter. Vincent was of course more than happy to take on the job to see if he could uncover any evidence that Nevercott was indeed the culprit, and took the job for his usual fee of 50 gold, which Yuan paid. He said he'll look into the matter and report back within a tenday's time Also, Ray received a... letter, written on a piece of drywood, which was apparently from none other than Zelifarn who had scrawled letters on some broken wood and somehow sent this to the party's tavern. The 'letter' invited them to join Zelifarn on a treasure hunt in the Dock Ward and offered to split whatever treasure they could find there, though he asked that they shouldn't delay too long as he thinks he has a rival treasure hunter who might get there first! He also had potions of Waterbreathing prepared, as he didn't need them. Some other insights revealed were the following: Xalvador's prediction is that profits are going to be light or even nonexistent this tenday, due to the Fireball incident and a certain individual's lack of skill in customer service and kitchen etiquette. Normally, the days following the Midsummer festival and Ahghairon's Day bring good fortune in the tavern business, but the Fireball incident really screwed everything up. Luck might turn things around, but unless a serious breakthrough happens, there's a chance it's going to be an ugly tenday. Meanwhile, Emmek Frewn's pub, Frewn's Brews, seems to be on the rebound. It's possible he might be capitalizing on the Song and Spirit's downturn or maybe he's up to some kind of scheme again, or a combination of the two... There was another 'Taproom Trouble' incident on Eleasis 10 which caused customers to be sick - apparently there was some spoiled stew that wasn't cooked properly. Another 50 gp was paid out to Fala's apothecary shop to obtain some medicinal cures and potions to cure those who fell ill and prevent any bad word of mouth from spreading. The money was taken from the tavern coffers, leaving 230 gp remaining in the tavern funds. Istrid "Jorn" Horn has completed her deal. Ultimately, nobody came looking for her by the end of the tenday, and as such, she has made good on her deal with Yuan and paid him the remaining 20 platinum pieces (pp) owed and has left the tavern to return to her lending business in the Dock Ward. Her departure of the Song and Spirit was met with much relief and joy by the other employees. It looks like the hunt for the stone would still be on in any case. As it turns out, there are spies and foes lurking around every corner, and one must be cautious of everybody they deal with... What will Enigma turn up about Vevette Blackwater? Who else might be a secret enemy of the party? And what is the fate of the Stone of Golorr? Find out next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!