When Yuan opened the door and let the visitors to the tavern in, things took an interesting turn... The visitors consisted of a white-scaled lizardfolk in a black and red robe, whom most of the group had not met before, along with what seemed like a burly kobold bodyguard dressed in similar colors. The other person with them was a familiar face, Tashlyn Yafeera, the Master of Arms and Mercenaries in the Doom Raider Zhentarim. She commented on Yuan's new bulk but the two agreed that more important matters needed to be discussed first. The lizardfolk, who spoke in an odd, disjointed manner, introduced herself as Driette, and her associate as Woozy, who was merely here to observe. Driette is apparently Davil's direct superior in the Zhentarim, and spoke to the characters at length as to what her purpose was - she understood that the team had managed to clear out Kolat Towers and destroy the majority of Manshoon's forces, as she had actually instructed Yagra to seek out Urstul Floxin initially and was keeping tabs on her, but when it became apparent that the towers were the true hideout of Manshoon, she organized a distraction to lure the real Manshoon away so that the characters could sack the place. The party went over the materials they had found, including the ledger. Driette mentions that they should turn this over to the authorities at the first opportunity, as it would be more than enough for them to drop the hammer on Manshoon and effectively minimize any chance he has of putting his schemes into action. Agorn Fuoco, one of his lieutenants, was in charge of Zhentarim forces acting against the Xanathar's Guild, while Vevette Blackwater was in charge of the Zhentawrong forces going after Zhentarim who had not submitted to Manshoon's will. With both of them dead, the chain of command was in shambles. With the ledger, it would give more than enough evidence for the city to act against him, and cleaning up Zhentarim forces would be a simple manner while they are disorganized. Next came the mask. Driette commented she's familiar with it and has seen it many times, as it was the mask of the original Manshoon a very long time ago. She commented that he cares a lot about his image as he likes to wear it before seeing his followers, but the mask itself is nonmagical and purely a showpiece, although a well made one. Yuan made the comment that he had additional masks, one for each tenday, which did not surprise her in the slightest. Lastly, came the large, thick tome, which she noted was covered in Beholder hide and didn't seem even slightly bothered by this. Flipping through it, she could confirm it was the genuine article. This was Manshoon's personal spellbook, and this item was the primary thing she wished to discuss. She was prepared to make an offer for it - an offer that nobody else in Waterdeep would be able to make. She did make the comment that others in the city might be interested in it as well, but the only two who would be able to make proper use of it would be Laeral Silverhand, the Open Lord, and Vajra Safahr, the Blackstaff, and Driette wouldn't be particularly bothered if they chose to go another avenue with the book - but she warned about holding onto it for too long, as it might draw undue attention from its original owner if the party stalls for too long. She did comment that she has warded the tavern with a Private Sanctum spell to prevent eavesdropping and scrying, so the book would be safe here... for now. In any case, to state her offer, she brought forth Lif the tavern specter, and stated that in return for the book, she was willing to put in the resources and effort needed to restore Lif back to life. She noted that this was only possible with the use of a True Resurrection spell, because Lif's body was long gone thanks to Manshoon's efforts and this was the only spell capable of doing the deed - anything lesser would not be sufficient unless Lif's body could be found, which is an unlikely prospect. She summarized her own relationship to Lif, in that his father, Sevalis Starsong, was actually an agent of hers a very long time ago, and his job was to infiltrate Manshoon's organization as a mole and feed her intel and resources. One day, however, he vanished, and even she had trouble tracking him down, but she suspects that eventually Manshoon might have caught on to him and as a last effort to reach out to his family, sent his remaining wealth (which he had stolen from Manshoon's organization) to his only heir, Lif, who immediately left to Waterdeep. Lif had spent most of that wealth on opening the tavern and was very charitable, so he didn't keep much personal coin on him at any given time. Manshoon had come to Waterdeep following his trail eventually, and Driette surmises that once Manshoon figured out that Lif had spent the money his father had stolen from Manshoon, the evil archmage ended Lif's life as an act of petty revenge for foiling his scheme. This would also make Lif Davil's nephew, as she mentioned it would be coincidence that years after Sevalis disappeared, she would make contact with Davil's adventuring party and have him begin working under her as part of her plot to re-take the Zhentarim out from under Manshoon's thumb. The party witnessed something peculiar, as Lif seemed to speak directly to Driette, although they could not hear anything, to which she made the comment: "The living... may not hear them. Their voices... may fall upon deaf ears. But make no mistake... ... the dead... are not silent." She seemed to imply that she was able to hear the spirits of the dead. When asked for his input on the situation, Lif grabbed his chalkboard, and drew a picture of himself holding hands with the residents of Trollskull Alley. To be able to interact with his friends on a normal level and get back to his life was an incredible proposition, and it was clear he was eager to return to the world of the living to once again enjoy his life's work. In any case, she allowed the party to discuss the matter further privately, while she and her associates reviewed the ledger. The party was mixed - Enigma seemed to want to turn the spellbook over to Laeral and not care about any kind of potential benefit, and Ray was of a mind to not hand it to Driette on the simple matter that she could not be trusted, as once the truce between the Zhentarim, Lords' Alliance, and Harpers was over, who knew what could happen? Not to mention the extra muscle, which made him think that if Driette's offer was declined, they might simply take the thing by force instead. Yuan on the other hand completely trusted Driette as she had helped him personally in the past, including raising from the dead one of his kin from his old tribe. Marcellus, who was still present, said that he wouldn't put in a vote on the decision, but he did mention that either Laeral or Vajra could make a compelling offer for the book. However, it might cause some tension because the two have a bit of a rivalry of sorts, which was news to the party, and he only knew of this through Mirt. He explained that Laeral views Vajra as something of an upstart due to her age, and that she covets the Blackstaff because it bears the souls of all previous Blackstaffs who held the position before, including the original. That man was Khelben Arunsun... who was Laeral's husband many years ago, and thus the staff is the only thing that remains of him. Enigma was shocked that this was coming to light now , but Marcellus could only offer that the rivalry hadn't been relevant to the party until this point. After much discussion, Driette approached the party again, and stated she wished to alleviate some of the party's mistrust toward her, and used the ledger to send Tashlyn and Woozy on a mission. Their goal - head to the Southern Ward, and eradicate Thrakkus and his butcher shop, as he was responsible for disposing of corpses that were brought to him by the Zhentiwrong, and thus was directly responsible for disposing of Lif's corpse when he was murdered. With that done, she was alone, and asked what the party would decide to do. Sigurd first did pose the question of how Driette would be able to resurrect Lif when she was actually a wizard, as resurrection was not typically within their purview. She explained that she was in fact a theurge, a master of both arcane and divine magic, and thus the realms of wizardly and clerical spellcasting were within her ability. This rather surprised the party as someone with such an incredible command of magic was quite rare. The group said they would need more time to explore their options, which she seemed fine with, and informed them that they shouldn't tarry too long on it, then simply stood up and left. Marcellus commented on Driette's rather bizarre and outright creepy nature, but couldn't deny that the proposition was definitely tempting... Sometime later, as the party was about to make their way to Castle Waterdeep to get an audience with Laeral, Jalester and Patayan showed up - as Jalester had already said previously he was intending to visit the tavern anyway to report on the Urstul Floxin situation. He said that Laeral is aware of Urstul's death and had planned a reward for him, including a promotion in the ranks of the Lords' Alliance. Normally, such a thing would come with a ceremony, but given the turmoil currently still enveloping Waterdeep, such things would have to wait for the time being. Instead, Jalester handed Enigma a Badge of the Watch, as a symbol of Laeral's faith in Enigma. The item would protect him in the field and allow Laeral to determine the location of Enigma were he ever separated from it. This promotion also meant that Jalester and Enigma were equals now, and that he was no longer his direct superior. Instead, Enigma now reports directly to Laeral Silverhand for as long as he continues his work in the Lord's Alliance! Patayan also commented on the destruction of Urstul Floxin and said that justice had been done for all the atrocities he committed in the city. When she learned that Lady Gondafrey had been in Kolat Towers in the form of a gargoyle, she was surprised, and explained that she had heard stories of a knight by that name who served Tyr and also worked for the City Watch. Her full name was Lady Gabriella Gondafrey and she did her duty with the ferocity and intensity expected of a knight of Tyr, but disappeared suddenly one day while pursuing a man named Duhlark Kolat and was never heard from or seen again, and could not be found by magical means either. Her transformation into the gargoyle explained why that was, but Patayan was happy to know that even after being imprisoned for so long, and transformed into a cursed figure, Gondafrey did not completely lose her sense of justice and was able to aid the group in dismantling Manshoon's operation. Her devotion to the cause of righteousness was still true, even to the end. She invited Enigma to join her in a vigil later in the evening at the temple of the Even Handed to celebrate the victory and sacrifice of the anointed Lady Gondafrey, which he accepted. More importantly, though, Enigma relayed the fact that he needed an urgent audience with Laeral Silverhand, as they had something of great import they needed to give to her. However, the trade should be conducted her at the tavern due to its current protections. After looking at the spellbook in mild disgust, Jalester agreed that a meeting should be arranged, and offered to make the trip to summon the Open Lord. During this intermission, Marcellus mentioned that he had to step out, as he promised Vajra Safahr he'd be at Blackstaff Tower to help with the planning against the Xanathar Guild. He would keep the whole spellbook matter to himself, for the time being, and while he was out, his replacement Mr. Fjallrav Frostfur would be taking his place as the head of entertainment in the tavern. When Laeral confirmed personally with Enigma through a Sending spell that he had Manshoon's spellbook, Jalester suddenly re-appeared back at the tavern, with an invisible Laeral in tow, and she got right to business, looking through the book to confirm its authenticity. While she confirmed that she could not, in fact, raise Lif from the dead like Driette offered - it was not within her capability, and Manshoon's spellbook was only valuable to her and not to any contacts she might have outside of the city - she did make some alternative offers, including giving the team their own personal sailing ship plus crew (which Sigurd took great interest in, as it would allow him to sail back and forth to Lantan), and a set of Bracers of Archery, which could be useful for anyone in the party looking to make more use of bows. The team collectively could not agree on whether this was worth it, though, and Laeral said that if the offer wasn't to their liking, she might have some alternatives she could propose, and that when they decide what to do, they can relay the news to Jalester. Overall, Laeral's response to the situation was rather chilled, and she did not seem particularly bothered (outwardly at least) if the characters opted to go another route, though she also warned that hanging onto the book any longer than necessary might pose a safety risk. The party then decided that they should see all angles of this situation, and reached out to Vajra Safahr to hear her side. Unlike Laeral, who approached the book with her usual calm, straightforward demeanor, Vajra was outright excited at the proposition of having such a valuable item - perhaps hoping that the book would allow her to one-up Laeral and other wizards who weren't too thrilled at her being the Blackstaff - and was prepared to make some pretty outrageous offers for it! First and foremost, she would allow the group to immediately join Force Grey - the city's private security force in case of a major threat that the Watch or Guard could not deal with - and bypass the Gray Hands initiation entirely, which is normally where new members intending to join Force Grey start out. The party had proven their worth by their work thus far, so she found this arrangement acceptable. As members of Force Grey, they would undertake work directly from Vajra Safahr and be ready to defend the city against threats, while also given a great amount of leeway if someone in the group was arrested for any crimes. But that wasn't all... On top of the benefits such a membership provides, she was willing to personally offer a valuable item in the form of a Wand of Lightning Bolts, a powerful destructive tool. Ray was intensely interested in this item as it would afford him the outright offensive power that his bardic magic usually lacked, and might prove useful in the upcoming struggles. Even then, Vajra wasn't done, and to sweeten the deal even further, included a Cape of the Mountebank, which would allow its wearing to cast Dimension Door once per day - the spell was a valuable escape or repositioning tool and being able to teleport in any direction up to five hundred feet, potentially with a second person in tow, could prove to be extremely valuable in the field. Clearly, Vajra was willing to give up some quite valuable items for the book, and the offer was tough to turn down. Still, the party decided to think things over more, and even later on, Driette and Laeral would make alternative offers that might be more appealing. Looks like a three-way bid for the book was going to come to a head sooner or later... After Vajra left, the party thought about what to do. It seemed they were all split - Yuan wanted to give it to Driette, Ray wanted to give it to Vajra, and Enigma wanted to give it to Laeral. It was at this time that Sigurd offered his input on the situation to break the tie: The proposition of the sailing ship was personally exciting for him, as being able to sail across Faerun and to Lantan would be valuable to him. Also, the idea of getting a hold of hard-to-obtain magic items and/or a membership in such a vaulted organization like Force Grey was very hard to turn down. However, ultimately, his mind drifted to that of his friends in Trollskull Alley, who were unfairly robbed of a great friend by a man's murderous vengeance, and he thought of how much their hearts would be lifted to see their friend returned to them. As tempting as all the other offers were, his heart was set on returning Lif to the land of the living, even if the source of such a trade was rather dubious in nature. Eventually, this was enough to convince Ray to at least consider the deal with Driette to be viable... but his main concerns were what she planned to do after the deal was done. While he trusted that Davil himself wanted to work within the system of Waterdeep, instead of supplanting it like Manshoon wanted, Driette's ultimate motivations were unclear. To settle matters, the team opted to see Driette again but under the effect of something that would compel her to speak truthfully. The tricky part was getting a neutral third party to carry out this task - someone without ties to the Zhentarim, specifically, and whom they trust. Sigurd suggested Valetta, who was a cleric and could cast the spell, to carry out the task, and the party agreed, though she would need time to prepare the magic, so the meeting would have to wait until the next morning. Driette might get her way in the end. Who will the party eventually side with? Driette, the mysterious theurge and leader of the Doom Raider Zhentarim? Laeral Silverhand, Open Lord of Waterdeep and Chosen of Mystra? Vajra Safahr, the High Wizard of Waterdeep and leader of Force Grey? Or even someone else entirely, like the erratic and unpredictable Gai Supamu, former court wizard to Dagult Neverember and assistant to the previous Blackstaff? Find out next time, on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!