The team settled on ambushing the kobold chefs in the kitchen where Xanathar's meals were prepared. However, Marcellus stayed Ray's murderous hand for a moment and reminded the team that Xanathar is on the same floor as them - currently elsewhere in the crypt of Xanathars past. If they screw up this ambush, and Xanathar finds them, the jig is up. They had to handle this with care, so Marcellus offered to use his magic to try and subdue as many of the opposition as possible before the team moved in for the kill. Putting together an ambush, the team used Enigma's Pass Without Trace to easily strike from the shadows, as Marcellus used a powered up Sleep spell to knock most of the kobolds out, allowing the rest to swoop in and finish off the gazers and remaining kobolds. As javelins, arrows and crossbow bolts flew, the room was cleared in seconds flat and barely a sound made. Quite impressive! The team identified this room also as one of the rooms that Thorvin had pointed out needed exploding... but they didn't have the bombs yet, so they would have to put that aside for later. Looking about the room, it was actually a professional kitchen - these kobolds knew what they were doing. Apparently, Xanathar had developed a taste for the finest of Waterdhavian cuisine. Nearby, the team found a junction with a ladder leading upwards. Sigurd somehow wasn't able to deduce where this ladder went to, but Ray somehow was able to deduce that it lead up into the audience chamber, a secret door perhaps? As they investigated, though, they could hear something like boisterous laughter, raucous music and banging of tables coming from down the hall. Investigating, the team discovered what appeared to be a tavern, as a group of Xanathar's thugs - including one Noska Ur'gray - were celebrating some event. One of the thugs boasted about their recent capture of a Watch captain! This appeared to be the celebratory event they were enjoying as cheers ripped through the tavern. The team also noticed one of the eyestalks hanging loosely from the ceiling, another room which was originally under the surveillance of the panopticus wizards until they were brutally murdered in a horrible accident nobody saw coming (especially them). Deciding it would be best not to disturb these individuals for now, the team opted to head in another direction. Heading back down the hall into the 'lesser' kitchen of the smelly unfortunate evil no-good halfling chef, they found that the room looped around into the tavern, so there were multiple entrances to the tavern. Heading east, they found a T-junction. Checking the north door, Yuan and Ray listened into the room. While Ray didn't hear anything, Yuan's keen hearing thanks to his Lupine Mask revealed someone was talking to themselves, muttering that they better not end up in one of these... whatever 'these' are. The team concluded that this might potentially be Xanathar contemplating his mortality and not wanting to end up in one of the vats and urns that Thorvin mentioned. Unfortunately, this room was also necessary to blow up later... getting around Xanathar was certainly going to be an issue. Deciding to head as far as humanly possible from Xanathar, they went the other way into the other room, which Enigma had managed to pick open with his thieves' tools. They found a totally dark, unlit room, set up like an office space. They surmised this must be Nar'l Xibrindas' office, and set to searching the place. Marcellus found something very peculiar in one of the nearby open boxes - a crate stuffed full of... beholder stuffed toys. What a weirdo. Ray searched the other box and found a bunch of onyx statues depicting a beholder caressed by hands. Questioning Nar'l's taste in paraphernalia, he opted to turn to the gnome clown Flutterfoot for some answers, and found that the toys and trophies were handed out as awards in the Arena of Blood and Fortune - Nar'l was in charge of distributing them during the contests. While the plushies weren't really worth anything (as Yuan found out by ripping one open), Sigurd surmised that the statues could actually be worth some coin if they could find someone who would be willing to buy the things. They were made of solid onyx, which isn't too precious a gemstone but had some value. He took the statues into his bag of holding to be dealt with later. Yuan was searching the desk in the corner, and managed to uncover a number of things. First... this guy really liked spiders, judging by the chair design. He managed to find a secret compartment in the armrest, though, containing a black key which would open the drawers of the desk. Inside those, he found a large, black and purple leather bag and a book covered in webbing (NOT cobwebs, Ray). After some investigation, it was determined that this bag was a Bag of Holding and Nar'l's spellbook. The bag of holding must be how Nar'l smuggled in the bombs into the lair... and also, indeed, revealed his true affiliation, as the unmistakable sight of a purple J on the underside of the bag was visible. Nar'l Xibrindas was an agent of Jarlaxle Baenre, which immediately set some members of the group at unease. However, they were dealing with Xanathar right now, so they had to focus on that first. Enigma had managed to uncover a secret room through his Wand of Secrets, which lead into a corridor that was indeed choked with dust and cobwebs, and was completely unlit. However, inside were twenty kegs of smokepowder bombs, weighing 5 pounds each! Checking the room out with him, Meloon Wardragon confirmed that this was indeed the prize they had been looking for and that would spell the destruction of the Xanathar's Thieves' Guild. They had found the explosives hidden away. Now... how to distribute them? After Marcellus smartly put out his cigar, he reminded the group that Thorvin instructed that two kegs each would be needed at each of the ten locations. Unfortunately, it seemed that trying to disguise them as anything else but bombs would be too time consuming as a carved in label reading "SMOKEPOWDER! DO NOT OPEN!" in Common and Elvish was written on them. The team debated heavily on how to handle this problem, and decided (after an extensive conversation) that they would distribute the bombs throughout the facility. The good news is that according to Thorvin's calculations, they didn't need to blow up simultaneously and the team would have about an hour to get out of the place before the lair would collapse in on itself. The complication of setting them off was still an issue, but at least they could put the fairly inconspicious barrels around the base and hope nobody disrupted them - fortunately, at this point, they had mostly murdered anybody who might do that. Speaking of murder, there was someone they had to take care of... the team set their sights on other objectives while they sprinkled the bombs about, setting two in the kobold kitchen and another in the hallway before the spiral staircase. They opted to try and find the prisoner that Noska's men were boasting about, guessing they might be held in Nihiloor's personal prison area. A Watch captain would make a pretty good target for an intellect devourer... The kuo-toa across the hall were still busy with their 'snack' - it had only been mere minutes since the team last saw them. Attempting to sneak into the prison, though, went poorly when Yuan's looming figure was seen in the light of the hallway, visible to the kuo-toa parading around their false god. With a cry of GARSHOOGA!, they raised their weapons and prepared to strike! The noise was certainly going to draw the other kuo-toa in, and it would probably only be a matter of time until Nihiloor shows up at this party. Looks like the team had a fight on their hands, and a nasty one at that! Who was the prisoner being held? Will the team be able to survive the assault of the rabid fishmen and their mind flayer master? Find out next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!