Things suddenly got very chaotic, and between the kuo-toa screams of GARSHOOGAH and OOOP! OOOP! it looks like stealth had just been thrown out the window. Meloon, finally relishing the chance to draw his axe forth in earnest, charged forth into the prison room, as Sigurd would prepare Enigma and Yuan for battle with a two-fold Heroism spell, knowing that things were going to get very rough from here on out, directing Io to move forth with Enigma and Meloon and readying himself to deal with the onslaught of kuo-toa warriors who were charging the team with spears, nets and pincer staves. Meanwhile, Ray, Marcellus and Cueball took to preparing for the onslaught of kuo-toa with their magic while Yuan charged forth into the fray. However, the kuo-toa were able to begin surrounding him, trapping him in nets and pincer staves and even affecting him with strange magic that dampened his attacks and stabbing at him with their spears. The Heroism spell and his rage allowed him to soak in many hits - a lesser warrior would have been felled quickly by the tide of pointy sticks. The kuo-toa whips proved to be much tougher and durable, so Meloon, Enigma and Io had their work cut out for them. "Let's show them what real heroes of Waterdeep can do!" Meloon called out as the two of them stood back to back against the insane fishmen and did battle. The power of Azuredge and the might of Tyr combined to crush their foes under the weight of divine justice. As the others were dealing with the kuo-toa outside the prison, though, a new set of foes emerged forth... that of a brain on legs and some strangely marked kobolds. It was recalled that these kobolds were the psionically marked ones that had attacked them before. The other creatures, though... Intellect devourers! The presence of Nihiloor could be felt... The intellect devourers went straight to work, attempting to steal the minds of their attackers. As Cueball pressed forth on Ray's orders to attack the devourer who ducked behind a nearby wall, he was struck low by another who got behind him, his simple mind unable to shrug off their influence, and Cueball fell to the ground as a mindless vegetable. While his body couldn't be stolen due to its anatomy, he was still out of this fight. Ray and Marcellus threw all the magic they had at their attackers, while Yuan and Sigurd fought them head on and also had to deal with the kuo-toa piling on Yuan and the intellect devourers trying to steal their minds. Yuan endured a close shave with one as it brushed his mind, but fortunately he was of enough mental strength to drive off the devourer before it could put him into a coma. They stood no chance against Sigurd, for even though his brain would be quite the meal, his intellect was far too powerful to be taken by such pitiful creatures. Eventually, Enigma, Meloon and Io were able to finish off the whips guarding the prison room. As Meloon and Io raced out to go help the others, Enigma checked the prison cells. Lo and behold, it did indeed have one prisoner - a Watch captain, that they knew, Hyustus Staget of all people, the Dock Ward captain who had met the adventurers very early on back when they were hunting for Renaer, and a few times later during the hunt for the Stone of Golorr... sort of (it was his doppelganger, actually). Once a prisoner of the Cassalanters' cult, now yet again of Xanathar, it seems Staget was down on his luck yet again. Aside from a few superficial wounds, however, he was unharmed and ready to fight if Enigma could break him out... which ended up being an issue on its own, as Enigma decided to try and unlock the cell using the keyring, but couldn't quite figure out which one it was... Meanwhile, elsewhere, the psionic kobolds were hurling sling stones and mental blasts at the party, and soon enough, Nihiloor also made his presence known. "It's been quite a while," he spoke in their minds telepathically, as he tried to usurp control of Yuan with his powerful mind. However, the brave barbarian managed to push away Nihiloor's influence from dominating his mind and maintained control of himself. Nihiloor was quite taken aback as his plan had been foiled to turn Yuan against the party, but he still had another ace up his sleeve... As the kuo-toa and intellect devourers were being cut down by the party, Nihiloor exerted his mental influence over all of them as they prepared to attack, save for Enigma who had been trying to break Staget out of his prison cell, with a powerful mental blast! Even while Marcellus was pelting Nihiloor with scorching rays from afar, Nihiloor's psionic mind exploded forth. While Ray's more primitive mentality was unable to repel the onslaught of mental energy being thrown his way, somehow the rest of the crew - Yuan, Sigurd, Marcellus, and Meloon - managed to rally and avoid the effects, which caught Nihiloor off guard and forced him into retreating. Meloon, brimming with fury, marched forth with Azuredge, calling out Nihiloor and charging ahead with Yuan to crush the evil mind flayer. However, it turns out there would be a few casualties of the mental blast... Cueball's unconscious mind was shattered, and the mental energy proved too much as he exploded like a watermelon being smashed by a hammer all across the floor. When Ray managed to snap out of his stunned state, he looked on with horror as his one-time companion was smashed across the floor! As Yuan did battle with Nihiloor up close, Nihiloor had one more card to play, attempting to steal Yuan's brain personally, and while he managed to latch on with his tentacles, he was unable to overpower Yuan mentally, who kept fighting on long enough to buy Meloon and Io enough time to join in as the others pelted Nihiloor from afar. Meloon let Nihiloor taste Azuredge's fury as he crashed into the mindflayer and smashed him into pieces, not stopping his onslaught even long after the illithid had been dismantled from the bevy of axe swings by the two powerful warriors. Soon enough, it was finished. Nihiloor and his minions lie dead, and Waterdeep could sleep a little more soundly as a villain had been vanquished. After mourning over the loss of Cueball and relieving Nihiloor of anything he had gear-wise, Ray asked Marcellus if he could burn what was left of Nihiloor - to remove his existence utterly from this earth. Sensing his friend was very upset at the loss, Marcellus acknowledged the request, flicking a flame onto Nihiloor's corpse and watching him burn. As the illithid was burnt to a crisp, Ray blew the ashes away, ensuring no trace would be found. Staget was happy with this victory, at least, and scavenged some equipment from the fallen enemies, along with a javelin Enigma had given him. Another foe of Waterdeep was defeated at the hands of the city's heroes. There was still more to deal with here, though... First, there was some kind of brine pool in the middle of the room. Inside the water was a collection of brains marinating in the water. Yuck! The team was able to deduce this is probably how Nihiloor was producing the intellect devourers. Secondly, there was the matter of a prisoner being held in a shackled chair in the other room, calling for help. It was a drow soldier by the name of Zaibon Kyszalt, who claimed he was a soldier serving under House Auvryndar in the Underdark. His superior, Raelyn Auvryndar, was being held elsewhere, but he was covered with a hood and brought here and doesn't know where she is. She wasn't in the prison with Staget, so Marcellus realizes she must be being held in the prison room by the Pit of Blood and Fortune. His story seemed to check out, and while some of the people on hand weren't terribly happy working with a drow, they were able to sort out he wasn't a member of the Bregan D'aerthe - Zaibon was loyal to Auvryndar and nobody else, and as long as the party would free him and help him find his leader, he'd join them until that point, and thus the party gained yet another set of hands to help them in the lair. Thirdly, there was another room with tables that had two men strapped down. One man was in a catatonic state of shock, and the other was gibbering like a fool, speaking only nonsense. After some investigation, the party realized they must have been driven mad by some event - Marcellus realized the dead dwarf the kuo-toa were snacking on was one of Nihiloor's recent victims, and had his brain sucked out... Not even Ray could calm these men down, and he wasn't going to simply leave them to die, however the party did not have the magical resources needed to heal their insanity. It was at this time they noticed Flutterfoot had gone oddly quiet... he looked like he was asleep or had fainted. However, on closer inspection, it was noticed he had been bleeding out of his ears and was not responsive. It seems he got caught in the crossfire and was unable to resist Nihiloor's mental influences earlier. Flutterfoot Zipswiggle, the gnome clown of Xanathar, had been killed. While the team's useful funnel of information had now been lost, this did free up Yuan's back space to carry one of the insane men on his back while he carried another in his arm after tying him up. Now that Nihiloor had been dealt with, the party had to figure out what to do next. They still needed to find Sylgar the goldfish and contend with its keeper, Ott Steeltoes, and also find the prisoners near the blood arena, and still yet had to set off the explosives they had procured to ensure Xanathar's lair and operation would be destroyed for good while also getting Thorvin Twinbeard the engineer out safely. There was also still the matter that Noska Ur'gray and his men were still around, and Xanathar might become active at any moment. How would the team fare in these tasks? And what other secrets and dangers unknown lie ahead...? Find out next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!