With the last of Manshoon's lieutenants defeated, it was now time to get the hell out of here. Unfortunately, the team had a predicament, as the barrier was still around Kolat Towers and Ray was fresh out of spells! Maybe someone else might have an idea... The team proceeded back downstairs, only to encounter Duhlark Kolat's menacing statue again. As it shouted its warning the same as before, the much bigger Yuan decided to push it away. Its levitating state made it very easy to do so, sending it careening around the room. When the effect ended, the statue plummeted like, well, a statue, into the floor below and shattered into a thousand pieces. Heroic Vandalism! They crossed back into the middle tower and were able to reach the reading room, where Yorn was hiding. Apparently, he mentioned that Vevette and Agorn had come stomping through the area wondering what the hell happened - he's not sure how exactly they got in, but assumes it was some kind of teleportation trickery - and he hid himself to avoid having to deal with their nonsense. He was relieved to hear that they were dealt with along with all the other lieutenants, and confirmed that they had effectively wiped Manshoon's management team to the last. Following up on the team's earlier deal, he agreed to join them to find a way to escape the tower. He said there must be something powering it in the main tower, but he doesn't know exactly what it is as he's never been there before. That would mean they would have to get past a trio of apprentices doing an incantation to tame a demon ape, too... Fortunately, Yuan's new size allowed him to easily move people around the tower's bizarre architecture, and going to the next floor, they found an abandoned laboratory. A quick inspection revealed that Manshoon likely took all the good stuff and discarded anything he didn't find worthwhile, meaning there was nothing of value here. However, there was a new conundrum, as the next floor wasn't set up in such a way where Yuan could easily reach up and move people from one floor to the next. It was just enough at an angle where Yuan could lift Ray up and let him peek, witnessing the three apprentices and the barlgura sitting motionless in a ritual circle, but moving people this way was a dangerous gamble. Yorn thought for a moment, and figured that the apprentices had to be able to get up there somehow , as they could not fly or teleport on their own. What was the trick? Fortunately, Yuan and SIgurd were able to puzzle it out, as Sigurd deduced that if that were the case, there must be some mundane means of traversing the towers. Meanwhile, Yuan saw that if the tower did have a means of locomotion, there were some spots along the walls and floors that would make sense for a set of stairs... Testing this out, Ray used Prestidigitation to create a pebble and hurl it at a likely location, and sure enough, the stone tumbled down a set of invisible stairs. That was it! Of course, the stairs were still invisible, so traversing them had to be done with care, but it was now possible to do so. They had to move cautiously to avoid drawing the attention of the apprentices, though - startling them might cause them to interrupt the ritual and set the giant ape loose! It almost went awry when Yagra slipped and almost fell down the stairs, but Yuan was quick enough to catch her before she took a nasty spill. After that bit of dramatics, the team managed to quickly make their way up the stairs and avoided alerting the apprentices during their ritual. They found themselves next in a wrecked construct workshop, and as Yuan began to investigate what was on the table, the metal scraps on the floor swirled around the room and coalesced into a suit of scrap armor, which brought itself to bear on Yuan! Fortunately, it wouldn't be able to retaliate, as the team was able to quickly dispatch it with Sigurd and Enigma opening up the combat with quick hits - even Yorn (albeit begrudgingly) stepped up to the plate and delivered some great hits with his mace, allowing Yuan to get the finishing blow and turning the scrap armor into an inanimate pile of junk once more. It had attempted to turn toward one of the iron levers on either side of the room, but was cut down before it could do so. Inspecting the levers, it seems they were connected to iron clamps holding the floor down, which had a slight gap between it and the wall, meaning the floor was not actually connected to the wall. Sigurd thought it might be some kind of magical construction or elevator, but he wasn't sure of the purpose. The only way up was a set of stairs that had mostly broken apart. Climbing up them would be a bit treacherous, so Yuan opted to make his own staircase, consisting entirely of his muscles, to avoid the broken stairs. Once everybody was up the stairs, looking around, Yagra noticed a secret door in the hallway which circled around the room. However, Enigma also noticed there was a flesh golem standing on a pressure plate at the far end of the hall. The team opted not to engage it, as it didn't seem to react to them from a distance, and went through the secret door instead, finding themselves in a very disused bedroom, dust and cobwebs everywhere. When Yuan peeked in, however, he saw a floating skull wreathed in green flame. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" it shouted. Sigurd immediately wanted to shoot it in the face, but Ray tried the diplomatic route. The result was more shouting. GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! It doesn't seem like this thing is willing to listen to reason, so maybe it will listen to violence. Enigma and Sigurd were having a rough time of it, though, as hitting a skull with piercing weapons proved to be a bit of a challenge! Yorn and Yuan had a much easier time of it, though, and the two tag teamed to smash it into the ground before it could blast the party. Sigurd realized what had happened - flameskulls are made from the remains of dead wizards, meaning Manshoon came here and defiled Duhlark Kolat's remains. The flameskull would also return unless holy water, Dispel Magic or Remove Curse were used on it, which wasn't anything the party had access to. The rest of the bones were untouched, which Enigma used to try and annoy the flesh golem standing around outside, to no effect. Maybe that was a good thing? Searching the bedroom, it looked like the personal shelves had been picked clean already by Manshoon. However, Enigma was able to find some things even he didn't find - one of the books on the shelves had a weird texture, revealing it to be a block of wood shaped like a book. Pulling it popped open a hidden compartment in the bottom shelf with a wand-like object made of chain, bearing the visage of a face with chain wrapped around the mouth. Duhlark was into some kinky shit, apparently. Enigma also uncovered another secret door on the opposite end of the room, allowing the team to bypass the golem entirely. On the other side was a dust choked hallway, where a sigil lay at the back of the wall. Sigurd, analyzing the rune with his keen insight into magic, discerned that this was the rune that was powering the force wall around Kolat Towers, and destroying it would take it down. However, knowing Duhlark Kolat's paranoia, he figured that there would be some kind of mechanism to prevent tampering. It was almost a certainty. Thus, some roundabout method to destroy it might be useful... Ray suggested destroying it from the opposite side, which Sigurd almost discounted but realized that it might just work, if something could reach it from the back wall. It would be a tough task, though, but someone was beefed up enough for the job! Yuan ripped the bed out from the room and hurled that at the wall with all of his might, shattering the wall and breaking apart the sigil. As Sigurd predicted, though, a terrifying enemy leaped forth, some kind of red toad-like thing with sharp teeth and claws! Yuan attempted to bind it with the special arrows he and Ziraj made together, but he wasn't quite able to make them connect through its tough hide. Yagra and Yorn saw some more success with handaxes and crossbows, and Ray was able to distract it with one of his vicious mockeries. It took quite a chunk out of Io, though, who Sigurd had sent forward to try and prevent it from reaching the rest of the party. As Enigma joined Io at the front, Sigurd managed to land a critical shot into the slaad's backside after blasting it with his special metallic breath weapon, disorienting it enough where it could not fight effectively, allowing Enigma to slip in and get some quick hits in before Yagra was able to finish the job with some well placed handaxe throws, sending the hideous beast tumbling to the floor. It was at this time the team decided it was time to leave, now that the way was clear, but there was one more thing left to do... Sneaking back past the apprentices and the barlgura, Ray gave them one more jolt of spite with a well placed Minor Illusion, imitating Manshoon's voice deriding them and telling them to stop what they were doing immediately. The shock of hearing their mentor's voice was so jarring that it interrupted their incantation, which was nearing completion, causing the barlgura to go berserk! The party quickly left them to the violence, of which they were able to hear even on the first floor, as the giant angry demon ape smashed the poor youngsters apart amidst their screams of agony. The way was clear with all the enemies defeated, and they abandoned Kolat Towers through the side door in the wall with the force field down. As they were leaving, they could see one of the apprentices being smashed through a wall of the tower by the demon ape, as Enigma was able to alert the City Watch to the scene, who then in turn ran to summon more powerful protectors. The team would eventually see the Griffon Cavalry and the Watchful Order swoop down on the place as they began to leave, ensuring that if there was in fact anybody left in Kolat Towers, they would not escape justice. Ducking down in the Yawning Portal temporarily, Enigma recalled that Jalester was back in the Castle Ward aiding Laeral Silverhand more directly, and surely enough he was enjoying a lunch at the tavern. Enigma informed him of the status of his mission, showing him discretely the head of Urstul Floxin. Jalester affirmed he'd take care of it and let Laeral know, and he'd pay a visit to the tavern later to give him an update. With this, Urstul had officially been confirmed dead, and brought to justice by the sword. Ray would find Threestrings here, letting him know of what's happened. Threestrings would in turn tell him that he should go find Marcellus, as it seems Mirt and Vajra were looking to make a move on Xanathar soon. The time would soon come to strike at the last enemy the team faced and claim the last key... Lastly, Yuan busted out one of his Paper Birds and delivered a message to Davil Starsong informing him of the rumble that had taken place in Kolat Towers. He wondered what the response would be... After getting a meal and drink in them, the party then left to the Song and Spirit, as Yuan's Growth potion finally wore off (unfortunately), and entering the tavern, saw Marcellus conversing with a face most of the party hadn't seen before. When Ray inquired, Marcellus revealed that someone in Trollskull Alley, due to the recent attacks, (a "concerned citizen") reached out to a contact in an organization they knew and happened to bring in this fellow who also happened to be in the Musician's Guild as well, a tall, broad shouldered white-furred fox named Fjallrav Frostfur, skilled with music and a blade. He would be around temporarily to help protect the tavern, and filling in for Marcellus as the entertainment lead as Marcellus was being called upon by the Harpers to deal with the Xanathar problem. Fjallrav showed he was quite good with a drum kit, though, and had an amazing talent for music, so he would do quite nicely. Also, he seemed to have some kind of relationship with Yuan, from the way they were exchanging glances with one another... Yagra stated that she had to leave to make a report to the Doom Raiders about what had happened, figuring it might be best to do it personally. Yuan thanked her (sort of) for her hard work and she left quickly. As Ray pulled Marcellus and the party aside upstairs to discuss more privately, the team looked through the ledger they took to find that the names of people on one of the lists were a list of nobles, and the ones with checkmarks were involved in some kind of scheme implicating Manshoon in blackmail. This might be useful to turn over to the city - the critical piece of evidence needed for the city to act on Manshoon and drive him out of Waterdeep! It was also revealed that Lif Green (Starsong) likely meant that Lif is actually a relative of Davil's, shocking Yuan. It was revealed earlier that Davil had a brother named Sevalis who had joined the Zhentarim long before he did, and Lif had also mentioned through writing that he had a father named Sevalis. They must be the same person, making Lif Davil's nephew... Before they could contemplate that too much, there was a knock on the door. As Yuan looked through the peephole, he saw a shocking, familiar face...! Who was this mysterious person? How would Manshoon respond to the assault on his sanctum? And what lie in wait for the team in Undermountain? Find out next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!