The next day rolls in, and very early in the morning, while the team is having breakfast before the tavern opens, there's a knock at the door. It's Penny Mightblade, asking for an interviewing. Enigma is none too pleased about this, and the team begrudging lets her in. She begins the conversation by asking how the team has managed to recover from the previous fireball incident, and the conversation seems fairly normal... However, a loud BUMP is heard outside the room, and Enigma opens the door to find... a rat person. Uh oh! Looks like the interview was a ruse, but thanks to the wererat's clumsiness, the team was tipped off before an ambush occurred. Confirming his suspicions after so long, Penny finally reveals her true colors, throwing down her notepad - and the metaphorical gauntlet, revealing that she's come for the Stone, and they're going to hand it over or die. Wererats and rat swarms begin attacking the team as she throws a furious flurry of fisticuffs at Enigma, catching him by surprise, and the two trade blows while the rest of the team deals with the rat invasion, as Enigma finds his non silvered weapon bounces off the wererat's hide like rubber. Fortunately, Yuan prepared for just such an occasion, and his silvered axe cuts through the wererats like butter, easily felling them, as the team begins trying to curb the rat swarm. The fighting is fierce between Penny and Enigma and it seems she almost has the upper hand until Sigurd butts in with a Web spell, ensnaring her and buying enough time for Enigma to recover and finish her off. He attempts to knock her out, but in her final breath, she mutters: "My Lord sends his regards." ... and she coughs up a stream of blood and collapses motionless, as a ring on her finger glows black with deathly power. What just happened??? After the rats are dealt with, Lif appears, flailing his arms and pointing upstairs. The team rushes to find Xalvador, who was in his office, was accosted by another wererat and being interrogated - who are revealed to be halflings from the Shard Shunners gang - but Lif was able to stop the wererat in time. Xalvador is shaken, but unharmed. Additionally, Chef was also assaulted in the cellar, but Lif was once again able to save the day. Nobody else was present in the tavern, so it appears everything is safe - for now... Investigating the scene, Sigurd finds Penny was carrying a Ring of Loyalty - a tool spies and assassins wear when they cannot be allowed to be captured. If a wearer is struck down, the ring ensures their death. Curiously, he also finds a fancy "M" emblazoned on the ring - he suspects this might be the mark of Manshoon, as Enigma recalls Manshoon gave such marks to his favored followers, though the symbol itself has changed forms over the years. Sigurd notes that Penny was also a reporter, and it's likely she was a subject of the Cult of Bane's brainwashing to be used as a tool for spreading misinformation and tyranny through the news - definitely a tool Manshoon would employ as well. It seems she might have been a victim as much as anyone else... but it seems she was a spy for the Zhentarim all along. When Ray asks how she could have known they had the stone, Sigurd suspects that Manshoon must have eventually come to the Yellowspire tower and used a Speak with Dead spell on one of the followers there. It would definitely be within his purview as a master wizard, in any case... As for the wererats, Sigurd suspects they were probably hired by the Zhentiwrong, as they too had a bone to pick with the tavern. It's unlikely Emmek, their former employer, was involved this time, but he thinks he's still up to something fishy. Fortunately, the team manages to clean up the mess and dispose of the corpses with the help of the Dungsweeper's Guild, under Talon's discretion, who is paid a few extra gold to... take out the trash. In addition, he reports that he's been unable to sweep crap toward Emmek's side of town as he's been hiring mercenaries. The place looks really nice, too - fresh new paint job and everything. Could someone else be involved in Emmek's sudden rise to profitability? The Cassalanters might be trying to make a play here... Later, Xalvador delivers a new letter, hot and fresh from the one and only Vincent Trench, master investigator. His report on J.B. Nevercott is complete. ... only to find not a whole lot of anything. He has some suspicions about the proprietor, Nevercott herself. She carries a sort of suave countenance that is almost unsettling, and the shop itself and its employees appear totally ordinary. The weirdest thing about the place is Nevercott - she's no ordinary clothing saleswoman, that's for sure, but he couldn't find anything suspect about her being. He did notice a few oddities, namely that she would communicate in some kind of sign language with her employees when she thought nobody was looking, and the employees spoke with Elvish accents despite looking human. The team noticed this bizarre phenomenon on the Sea Maidens' Faire, as well... could there be a connection? Setting that aside for now, the team decided to pay Jalester Silvermane a visit, and he was at his usual haunt at the Yawning Portal. Enigma went over the recent events with him, and while he was a bit miffed that they were handing bodies off to the Dungsweepers Guild, he let it slide and said he'd try and see if he could get a hold of Penny for some information through a Speak with Dead spell, though Sigurd reminded the team that targets of that spell are not necessarily compelled to be helpful in any way, so it might be a fruitless endeavor. To really get to the heart of the issue, the team must capture someone alive... Jalester also commented about the Cassalanter situation. He says Laeral Silverhand is aware, but manipulating the Cassalanters into creating an opening for the team is going to be... difficult, to say the least, without creating a political firestorm. In truth, she's suspected that something was off about the Cassalanters for a while, given their sudden resurgence in financial well being, but has not been able to prove it and doesn't want to risk putting herself in political hot water as it could cause massive unrest within the city. Jalester will let the team know what the next step is and to sit tight for now. Later, the team pays Mirt a visit to discuss infiltrating the Xanathar's hideout, and interrupt his painting of the Buff Ruff statue near his manor. He welcomes them in, and discusses the situation, along with the other things that have transpired, and lets the team in on a secret - indeed, he has an inside man acting as an informant in the Xanathar's guild. Enigma knew of their existence but not their identity. Mirt reveals them to be a dwarf named Thorvin Twinbeard, whom he regularly checks up with in Skullport. He also knows there is a hidden entrance to the Xanathar hideout in the Castle Ward, through the sewers, that the team can use to infiltrate. It's much safer than going through Undermountain and Skullport, but beyond that, he cannot say what lies ahead. For this situation, he intends on sending Marcellus with them as back up - they will need the extra firepower if they intend on infiltrating the belly of the beast. He also has plans for the Meloon situation, as the team has decided that they will take Meloon's offer on a monster hunting expedition, but he keeps this as a surprise.. for now. To round out the day, they then also pay a visit to Zelifarn to take him up on his treasure hunting offer. He is very excited, and shows them an old coffer he found containing some potions of Waterbreathing for the rest of the team. He explains that he found a ship called the Green Maiden which smells like treasure, but he's too big to fit through and the hull has some kind of enchantment preventing him from just smashing it open. The ship is remarkably preserved, so it's up to the team to help Zelifarn out. Between the four of them, it's a piece of cake though - they easily manage to wiggle through, pick locks, move debris and haul treasure out to the surface without a single hitch, uncovering plenty of loot and even a magic item, a Wand of Magic Detection, which Sigurd lays claim to for now as he also holds onto the non-monetary treasure consisting of several gems, some silver trade bars, and a ivory statuette of a monkey, for a total value of 600 gp. Nice! Zelifarn also relays some news - he knows the team was in the area recently because he found Zhentarim and Xanathar thug corpses tossed into the harbor recently. When Sigurd asks about Noska Ur'gray, though, he says he didn't find any dwarves, which the team finds odd. Was Noska recovered by the Xanathar's Guild, or perhaps captured by an enemy for their own purposes? Another mystery to add to the pile... The mission with Meloon lies just ahead, and the team must prepare. What is Meloon's true intentions? Who else is working subtly to spy on the team and undermine them? Find out next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!