Now that the team had Lady Gondafrey on their side, they opted to try and find their way to the teleporter room to get into Manshoon's lair - it would be the only way to stop Urstul, although they acknowledged they were heading into the lion's den... They encountered the very peculiar layout of one of the towers which had a lot of unexplained gaps and missing stairways. Sigurd explained that as this was the abode of wizards formerly, the architecture would be made to accommodate them - flying around and nonsensical structure was the order of the day. It didn't help Duhlark Kolat became insane during his later years. The team spotted a pair of identical chests across a platform, which Yuan was able to access easily enough using his strength to jump the gap. Unfortunately, he found out the hard way when he tried to investigate one chest and the other sprang to life, revealing its true nature as a mimic monster! It managed to snag a bite out of the wolf before the rest of the team quickly made their way over and beat the crap out of it in short order. In the other chest, which was unlocked, they were able to find a collection of arcane focii - orbs, staves, wands and crystals. None of them were of immediate use to the party, but it was a pretty decent haul and could easily be sold off later. Continuing on, they managed to make their way across the tower by use of a rope bridge, thanks to Lady Gondafrey's natural flight ability as a gargoyle. Making their way to the southern tower, they crossed the wooden bridge which creaked and groaned under their weight, but seemed to hold up well enough even under the larger individuals like Sigurd, Yuan and Yagra. Inside the tower, they were confronted with a rather well-made, realistic statue of some wizard. Sigurd was able to correctly deduce that this must be Duhlark Kolat based on his knowledge of Waterdeep's history. Wary of a trap, the team eased forward, with Yuan in front, when the statue suddenly sprang to 'life' by levitating off the ground and giving a warning: “I am Duhlark Kolat, the great wizard and master of this tower! How dare you invade my home! Leave at once or be destroyed by magic beyond your comprehension!” Yuan quickly ran away, but nothing seemed to happen. Peeking the door open again revealed the statue just floating there. After about a minute, the statue set itself back down with no other effect. Sigurd thought this might be an empty threat - if it were a real trap, Yuan would have been blasted the moment he stepped into the tower. It was certainly menacing enough to deter most trespassers who might not know any better. He was tempted to blast it with his pistol, but thought better of it and the team proceeded upstairs through the tower to find themselves inside of what appears to be a library, decorated with a lovingly crafted sign with "Alcedor" written in Common. Investigating the bookshelves revealed nothing of value, though, as most of the books were weathered away and old, or about something of little interest. Opening the door across the way revealed another similar library, but this time with the name "Duhlark". When Ray went to look at the books this time, though, he found that they were much less inanimate and began flying around the room trying to swarm him violently! Duhlark definitely didn't really like people messing with his stuff it seemed. Fortunately, the threat wasn't too difficult for the team to take apart and they were able to defeat the hostile literature with relatively little issue. Continuing on, though, the team found that the top of the tower was guard by some floating eyeball with stalks. Was it a minion of Xanathar's? Not quite - it was a spectator, likely summoned by Manshoon or someone under his command to guard the place. As an added bonus, flying snakes hid in the rafters. Yuan, Yagra and Ray had an opportunity to get the jump on them, though, shadowed by Enigma's Pass Without Trace ability. As it was a split second decision, they decided to leap into action and strike down the Spectator as it floated over a green-runed circle, Ray lighting up the place with Faerie Fire as Yuan and Yagra clobbered the sack of eyeballs into the ground with a tag team, as Yagra pummeled it and pinned it to the ground as Yuan split it in half, Yagra tossing the halves across the room. Now it was just the snakes, who weren't very hardy but had an annoying poisonous bite that could prove lethal if they managed to land a solid hit. Fortunately, while they were able to get some bites in, their poison wasn't quite as effective this time, and the snakes were quickly dispatched by the team. Checking about the cleared room, Sigurd noticed that the signet ring he picked up earlier was humming softly. After investigating it, he was able to figure out that the ring could be used to activate the teleporter in the middle of the room. Before that, though, they investigated a circle of five chests in the room, and while they didn't appear to be mimics this time, they were well locked with a tough looking padlock that seemed impossible to break or pick. However, Sigurd once again came to the rescue, using his knowledge of magic and the aid of his Wand of Magic Detection to figure out that the padlocks were actually well crafted illusions - they felt real to the touch and could be interacted with, but were simply there to make someone waste time. The chests could simply be flipped open without issue if one had this knowledge. They found a variety of peculiar items - including a Dwarvish translation book, which could help a user communicate in basic means with friendly dwarves - but more importantly, they found a six-pack of healing potions in one of the chests, which Yuan availed himself to as he had managed to take a number of hits up to this point and needed the boost, with Yagra also taking one as well to keep herself in shape. Prepared as much as they could, they stepped into the portal, Sigurd holding the ring high and triggering its effect to send everyone across dimensions to a land unknown... They found themselves in a masterfully crafted sanctum, made of alabaster and glass, with intimidating iron doors. Beyond the windows, they could see an endless sea of purple mist. But more importantly, they could see another window with a room inside, and a person sitting in a chair, a bald and scarred woman in black robes - Kaevja, the former Red WIzard they were warned about - watching them. As they appeared in the new circle, she smiled and sat up, then walked away. The team figured they had little time to act, so Yagra 'opened' the front door and helped the team rush in. The next room bore the emblem of the Zhentarim on the floor - a flying snake eating a coin. The room had masks of different kinds hanging on the walls nearby. Yuan accidentally stepped on the coin image, though, triggering a pressure plate and a magical gong alarm. Well, it was definitely on now! The team surged forth, only to be jumped by some kind of creature being summoned in front of them, a massive Earth Elemental! The team soon had a fight on their hands! Most of the team focused down the earth elemental; Yuan's wild axe blade cutting deep into its rocky hide as the others joined in behind him. Sigurd had an idea, though, and sent Io to go look for the mage who had summoned the creature. Io managed to corner her, but it didn't stop her from unleashing a fireball into the center of the room and nuking everybody in its blazing heat, giving the team a rather painful reminder of how dangerous mages can be! The team decided to switch priorities and dogpile on Kaevja, and the cornered mage wasn't nearly as durable as her elemental summon and went down quickly as Enigma delivered upon her Tyr's justice, in death. This didn't stop the summon, though, which began rampaging out of control and flailing at whoever was closest. Taking Kaevja's place were the two martial artist halflings, Mookie and Havia, joining the fight, taking stances in front of Enigma. It seems the onslaught wasn't quite over yet - and there was still no sign of Urstul Floxin. The two monks proved to be quite a handful, trading blows with Enigma at the outset, but he triggered his Eldritch Maul tattoo and got the upper hand on them, soon reinforced by the others joining the fight when they had finally managed to dispatch the Earth Elemental, which had fallen apart and disappeared, likely summoned back to its home plane. The team worked together to back up Enigma, as Yuan rushed forward and managed to cut down Mookie, and as Havia called out in shock, Enigma turned and beaned her upside the head with his quarterstaff, sending her flying and letting them know that it's goons like them who give martial artists a bad name! They didn't get much time to celebrate, though, as Ray got a bad feeling and closed the door to the room he was in behind him, hopefully eluding notice of whoever was approaching next. The others would find out soon enough, as a tall, rather handsome figure in a dark robe and metal claw strode through the door opposite of them. "Well, well. I didn't expect anybody to make it this far. But unfortunately for you, play time is now over." It was him - Manshoon, the leader of the Zhentarim, standing before them, ready to throw hands. Looks like this fight just got a whole lot worse! Will the team be able to silence Manshoon? Can they acquire the needed item and escape with their lives? And where the hell is Urstul Floxin!? Find out next time, on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!