With the team splitting the spoils of Zelifarn's treasure hunt, they were gearing up to be ready for the job with Meloon Wardragon. However, something came up at the last minute for Yuan, and some Zhentarim-related urgent business called him away, leaving the team down a man. Unable to make up the difference at the last second, they headed to the tavern, Sigurd hoping perhaps Meloon might be willing to put the thing off for a day. Fortunately, it looks like Mirt's earlier message paid off, as Marcellus happened to conveniently be at the Yawning Portal with Threestrings waiting for the party, and offered to take Yuan's place on the team temporarily. While Meloon seemed slightly annoyed, he shrugged and said he was ultimately fine with it, and lead the team to a Castle Ward sewer entrance - actually surprisingly close to that of the Xanathar's Guild secret entrance... Along the way, Enigma noted that the team seemed to be following a trail of Xanathar guild symbols, similar to ones he's seen before down there. It only took about a half hour of tredging through knee-high sewage to reach their destination, which appeared to be a waypoint for the Plumbers' and Cellerars' Guild. Meloon urged the team forward, which made them very anxious, but Enigma relented and tried to pick open the nearby door without success, followed by Sigurd. Somehow, Ray managed to poke the thing with a dragon claw and succeed anyway, unlocking the door to reveal the monstrous fiendish form of a hezrou demon feasting on what appeared to be Xanathar thug corpses! Using an illusion as a distraction, the team managed to lure the beastial thing away while they snuck around the room to prepare a sneak attack - although Meloon seemingly wasn't the best at positioning - and the fight would soon get underway. It didn't take long for Meloon to demonstrate his martial prowess though as he laid in hit after hit on the monster, with the rest of the team following up as best they could - Enigma and Sigurd holding the line while Ray and Marcellus flung magic from afar, wearing the creature down. However, it became apparent that this thing stank , even worse than Enigma and the stone, and it affected Enigma's senses horrible, his poor sniffer just couldn't take the stench. Sigurd managed okay and kept up the fight, his magical infused pistol crushing the hezrou's defenses easily. The hezrou became enraged and made every effort to try and get to Sigurd. Meloon, for his part, was seemingly doing everything he could to make sure that the beast was between him and the party, even 'accidentally' tripping up Io at one point, which lead to the poor defender being ripped up by the hezrou. What exactly was he even up to...? It would soon become apparent, as after Sigurd dealt the final blow and put one bullet between the hezrou's eyes - causing it to fall dead and melt away into a black, yucky ichor - Meloon showed his true colors, announcing that it would be a shame they'd all die down here - he'd make sure to tell everyone that they struggled valiantly against the demon. Hefting Azuredge to strike at Sigurd, he was stopped by the axe suddenly becoming immensely heavy and cementing itself to the floor! It looks like the axe finally chose to rebel against Meloon at a critical juncture! Having already played his hand, Meloon went to attack Sigurd and tried to steal his gun from him. However, the strong-armed artificer wasn't having it and managed to repel away the traitorous warrior before he could get his hands on his weapons. Marcellus managed to settle things with a Hypnotic Pattern spell, causing Meloon to become disoriented, granting Ray an opportunity to snatch Azuredge away from him. When he did so, though, something seemed to call out to him from the axe, urging him toward some sort of action. Immediately, he went to hand the axe off to Sigurd, and told him to put the axe to use. Hesitantly, Sigurd holstered his pistol and took Azuredge in hand, and felt its raw power glow with a thirst for destroying the one who tried to use it to dark ends. Sigurd declared the axe had called for Meloon's blood and needed to 'settle a score'. With Enigma quickly tying up Meloon to prevent him from escaping easily, and the team went to town on clobbering the mostly defenseless man as he struggled to break out of his bindings when he realized the axe had been turned on him. He was completely powerless to stop the team from taking him down, being finished off by a brutal Firebolt to the face from Marcellus, who had said he was waiting for this moment for a while, as he knew Meloon was cracked in some way. In what way indeed, as an intellect devourer teleported from Meloon's skull and onto the floor, attempting to skitter away, but it didn't get very far before Sigurd split it in two with the Azuredge axe. It was over. Meloon Wardragon, once a valiant hero and valued member of Force Grey, lie dead on the floor. Sigurd said the axe was urging him to return it and Meloon's body to the Blackstaff. Before doing so, though, the team took in the surroundings and noticed this area looks like it had been taken over by the Xanathar's Guild. In addition, the corpse of a halfling belonging to the Plumbers' and Cellarers' Guild - well, pieces of what was left anyway - was found, leading the team to suspect that Meloon came here with the intent of killing two birds with one stone - wiping out an enemy of the Xanathar (the hezrou demon) while also disposing of the party. Once the team had swept the area, they headed back topside, with Marcellus assuring the team they wouldn't have any trouble as he was easily able to smooth things over with the City Watch that they were on important work for the Blackstaff and they needed to return Meloon Wardragon's body to her immediately, even obtaining an escort to Blackstaff Tower along the way for their protection. Vajra Safahr let them in immediately after hearing the news and report. She seemed shaken, but composed herself and thanked the team for a job well done, and would let Mirt know that the mission was a success, albeit a sad one. She said not to worry, though - Meloon was a good man, and an amazing fighter, and she would see to it that he would be raised from the dead with the resources she had on hand, now that the intellect devourer had been rid of. Unfortunately, she did have to force the team to hand over Azuredge, which Sigurd complied, but in return, she relinquished a useful magic item to the team, a Wand of Secrets, which could be used to detect traps and secret doors within a short range of the user. Such a tool, paired with the Wand of Magic Detection, would be immensely useful in the hands of the team, especially with all the subterfuge they were soon to be getting up to! After saying their goodbyes and departing, the team headed back to the tavern where Enigma received a report from Jalester, that he had talked with Laeral. First, regarding Penny Mightblade, the secret Zhentarim spy, little could be garnered. Unfortunately, the Speak with Dead spell does not render a corpse to be truthful or forthcoming with any information if they know that the party asking as such is hostile, and he wasn't able to get any information on Manshoon's whereabouts with that angle. They would need to capture someone alive, somehow - a few people who might know definitely came to mind... Regarding the Cassalanters, the tl;dr was that Laeral's hands were mostly tied as far as assisting directly, but she did identity a few things. One was that Victoro was a man of opportunity, and would possibly invite the team of his own accord to Cassalanter Villa if they made him a lucrative offer. They had the perfect bargaining chip in hand with the Song and Spirit Tavern, which he had shown a previous interest in. Another route was an upcoming annual party called, conveniently, the Annual Garden Parties on Eleasis 17, where noble houses would prepare lavish parties and show off their gardens as works of art, while they are judged by important members of the city. This year was going to be a bit different though as the judges were outsiders to maintain impartiality. At nightfall, a winner is announced and the guests would storm the winner's party for a victory celebration while leaving the losers in the dust. Ammalia Cassalanter, Victoro's wife, was said to be quite fond of her garden and was eager to win this year. Whether the Cassalanters actually win or not was of little importance. The important thing was that the parties would cause the noble estates to be open to visitors. However, there were a few issues, mainly that high fashion was absolutely critical for those attending. Therefore, only those of high society would likely be allowed to attend, restricting guests to those of high society. Fortunately, the team was prepared for that, but the issue of bringing weapons or other dangerous and out-of-place items to a noble party might trip the group up a bit, and how to navigate that particular conundrum remained to be seen... Another option might be to manipulate a member of the staff. Cassalanter Villa is home to no one but the Cassalanter family, their personal attendants, and their guards, which is a common practice among the nobility. As such, any lesser staff will make their home elsewhere, meaning they will have to travel to and fro the estate at some point during the day. How the team 'manipulates' a member of the staff is up to their discretion and no advice can be given. Of course, the team is free to come up with any solution they want, but they must do it with the utmost of caution and secrecy, and if they get caught or arrested for something serious, Laeral might not be able to help them. Quite a tricky situation indeed... How will the party deal with the Cassalanters? What will become of Meloon Wardragon and Azuredge? How did Yuan fare with his business regarding the Zhentarim...? And how will the party deal with the other villains involved? Find out next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!