With Enigma already having left, the team was beset upon by Ahmaergo's skeletal minotaur trap. Fortunately, Io was quick to jump into action and protect the party, preventing a potentially critical injury. The minotaur was unable to get past Io and missed him as the other characters leapt into the fray to destroy the monstrosity, with Ray casting a Silence spell to try and minimize the noise created by the combat. It wouldn't take long for the party to dismantle the thing, as Hyustus lead some of the others into the maze, constructed of stacked crates nailed together to reach the ceiling, with bones littered across the ground as a grisly decoration, to try and find his belongings - not just his weapons and armor, but also several keys, documents and other items important to Waterdeep's security that, if fallen into the wrong hands, could spell trouble for the city. He was fortunately able to spot a trap halfway through the maze, avoiding a trip wire, and guessed correctly the right path to take to reach the end of the maze, finding Ahmaergo's personal quarters and his stash, which did indeed include his missing gear! The team would line up just outside Ahmaergo's room and wait for their friend nervously... Meanwhile, Enigma was having a hell of a time as he found the exit was being watched carefully by Noska and his men. Apparently, Noska knew the party would have to come this way eventually (it being the only exit that lead directly to Waterdeep). He decided to incite some chaos by slyly tripping the bandits' crossbows to shoot each other, forcing Noska to spend time regrouping his men and getting them under control. Enigma also spotted a second group of entities - the drow gunslingers, lead by none other than Soluun Xibrindas, waiting inside the room, biding their time. It didn't seem Noska was aware of them, and the gunslingers were clearly waiting for someone... likely the party. How did they know...? He would have to figure that out later, as Enigma determined it was too risky to plant the remaining bombs here and decided to go set off the ones in the arena. Unfortunately, his keen ears would pick up the sound of grumbling and whining coming from the raised spectator platform in the Pit of Blood and Fortune... none other than Xanathar bemoaning the loss of his fish, Sylgar. However, there was a problem - Xanathar was invisible. Did he have a means of concealing himself...? Enigma proceeded carefully into the room, but found suddenly all of his magic shorted out... and he couldn't move in time to avoid Xanathar's notice. He was hosed! Xanathar managed to spot him and immediately began screaming at him to return his fish. Enigma tried to reason, but Xanathar was in such a furious state that nothing was working. He opted to run away instead, his invisibility kicking back in as it occurred to Enigma that Xanathar's anti-magic field likely was what caused this in the first place. Xanathar, screaming in rage, began to give chase. Meanwhile, the others could hear all of this commotion, and hesitated to act. Meloon Wardragon, though, had a different plan when he realized Ray had a Scroll of Invisibility. "Cast it on me," Meloon said. "If your friend's in trouble, he needs help." Ray wasn't happy about this, but Meloon was insistent on repaying the help the party had done for him up until this point. They had seen how formidable of a warrior he was, and he was ready to put his life on the line for the team. Reluctantly, Ray cast the spell upon Azuredge's wielder, who raced off down the hall. Yuan, concerned, tried to follow, but he was stopped when Enigma happened to cross paths with him and very quickly explained that he had to find another route to get to the bombs as he was being pursued by Xanathar! Unbeknownst to him, Meloon had raced past him to head Xanathar's forces off, as Noska had finally gotten his situation under control and heard Xanathar's raging fury, moving to follow his leader. Yuan turned back and rejoined the group, as Staget stayed behind to protect the civilians the team had been protecting - Thorvin and the arena prisoners, as well as the madness-inflicted men who had been held in Nihiloor's lair. Yuan relayed the information to the others, and they bided their time, hoping Enigma would soon rejoin them. Enigma circled around and managed to get downstairs into the crypt through the normal entrance, while Meloon, invisibly, lead Xanathar and Noska on a wild goose chase, as crossbow bolts and eye lasers were fired sporadically in the halls of the lair. This bought Enigma enough time to sneak back into the arena, set the bombs off, and then return to rig the explosives in the secret door by the entrance to the lair... still noticing the gunslingers lying in wait. Fortunately, his own invisible state made it so he wasn't noticed, and he was able to set the bombs off successfully and return to the team! As luck would have it, Tymora seemed to be smiling on Meloon Wardragon, who had somehow given Xanathar and Noska the slip and managed to make it back to the team at roughly the same time, having ditched them near Nihiloor's lair. If the team was going to escape, this was their only chance! Taking the opportunity, they rushed ahead to the exit, as the bombs went off and the lair began to crumble. "It's starting!" Thorvin said, as the lair began to become undone. However, they found the Bregan D'aerthe gunslingers undeterred and waiting. They decided to turn the tables on them with an ambush of their own, lead by the invisible Enigma and Meloon Wardragon, Waterdeep's protectors charging forth into the fray to give them a reckoning! Enigma managed to somehow cause one of the gunslingers to shoot the other during the surprise, as Meloon and Yuan charged forth to crush the gunslingers lead by Soluun. Soluun cursed Yuan's name, saying that he's been waiting for this revenge for a long time. Yuan seemingly didn't remember anything of the sort which only infuriated the drow gunslinger further. Fortunately for him, his state of rage wouldn't last long as Yuan and the others beat him into a bloody pulp, as the gunslingers were determined to hold the adventurers here or die trying. "Even if you kill us, the Bregan D'aerthe will find you!" threatened the final gunslinger as he was laid low by the party's unstoppable onslaught and determination. With the path clear, and the lair crumbling behind them, the team escaped to the surface with their haul, Xanathar's screams heard in the distance as they left with his precious goldfish. Miraculously, there were no casualties, and the team managed to extract all the prisoners and escape to the surface! The last key had been acquired... Sylgar the goldfish. However, it dawned on Sigurd later that the Bregan D'aerthe must have known about the team through their own spy, Nar'l, as he found Nar'l had a Sending spell in his spellbook. It looks like Jarlaxle wasn't going to give up so easily on the party... something might need to be done about him sooner rather than later if they want to pursue the Vault safely, and they remembered a certain dragonborn priestess of Gond was chomping at the bit for some vengeance! They could either head straight for the Brandath family crypt to begin investigating the vault, or go deal with Jarlaxle and the Sea Maidens' Faire... but there was a lot to unpack before doing either of those things. What awaited the party next after their escape from Xanathar's lair? Find out next time... on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist!!