Finding Xanathar

The group decides to talk to Meloon, to find out what exactly was going on in the sewers beneath the city, when they had rescued him from the half-dragon and the mind-flayer. They have kept him at their manor since the rescue.

Meloon's Story

Meloon, shaken and not quite wholly recovered, tells them all that he knows. Over his years of adventuring he has acquired some contacts who are not completely law abiding. One of the members of the infamous Xanathar's Guild had contacted him. It was Draak, the massive half-dragon they had seen in the sewers. He told Meloon that they had a contact within Waterdeep Palace, who had told them that the "key" to the fabled Waterdeep treasure vault, was now housed within the palace. Draak told him the Xanathar Guild would pay handsomely for it.

Unfortunately, Meloon, who's adventuring days were long ago and more epic in memory than in reality, had very little skill to pull off such a heist. That is when he approached the group for their help. But as the adventurers know, they did not take Meloon up on his offer. So he had to turn to a ragtag group of kenku for their aid. And as the group also knows, they had foiled the kenku in the midst of their heist.

It was not long before Draak had found Meloon out and demanded the "key", but of course Meloon did not have the key. This did not stop Draak from torturing him of course. Meloon tells them that he is sure that he would be dead right now if not for the heroics of the group. It would seem they were not able to stop Draak and that horrible mind-flayer before they killed Yagra Stonefist. She was the contact from within the palace. The mind-flayer was doing something horrific to her, but by then Meloon was in and out of consciousness that he did not see what happened.

Stepping Into An Ambush

The group advises him that he should leave Waterdeep and not return to his home. Surely the guild would have someone waiting for him there. But as soon as that is said some in the group think that they should return to Meloon's home. They can easily capture anyone waiting to ambush Meloon and question them. Maybe even force them to take them to Xanathar. Meloon is hesitant but finally accepts this plan.

Heading out at night to Meloon's home, they arrive at a small and modest place in a nice area of the South Ward. The house is dark and no movement can be detected. The group enters. The home is quiet and quite bare. The room is stark and bare. Large shelves stand empty. A door leads to a small storage room, again empty, with a small set of open stair leading to a second story of the house. Messick takes lead and at the top of the stairs, he pears into a darkened room. Out of the darkness two glowing eyes peer at Messick and Messick is unable to move, his muscles no longer responding. Messick is now simply blocking most of the stairway.

The others lob attacks and spells as they can at the dark demon creature, past the weakened body of Messick. Finally the creature, realizing that it is outnumbered, begins to flee. It jumps down the stairs bypassing much of the group. Meloon sees this from his previously safe vantage point in the other room and decides this is the best time to leave Waterdeep and never return. The demon is almost upon Meloon but it is caught by Fritz's giant eagle companion, Angel. Unfortunately, the demon is destroyed before they can learn anything from it.

With the demon destroyed and Meloon fleeing the city, they take time to perhaps clean out whatever possessions Meloon will no longer need from his house. But they find the house mostly empty. The shelves seem to have dust marks that would indicate that they held many items and over time, item by item they had been removed. Perhaps Meloon's decision to succumb to a life of crime had been after selling all of his items acquired through his life of adventuring.

With nothing to gain from remaining at the house they return to their Trollskull Manor.

A Missing Urchin

In the morning the manor is the usual hub of activity. Bernard and Rux preparing breakfast for the manor's residents as well as the numerous former urchins who have been given a home behind the Trollskull Manor. One of the urchins, Puddle, has shyly approached the table of adventurers. He tells them that he is worried about Nat. Messick tells him that she's okay. She's just working stuff out. Messick has been in touch with her, through a sending. That was....well....it was a couple of days ago. Puddle tells them that Nat never leaves the group, all of them younger than her, for that long.

Messick tells him that he'll find her. Messick performs a sending to Nat, telling her that some of the others are beginning to worry about her. Perhaps it's time to come home. There is a long pause and the terrified voice of Nat comes back to him. She is being held somewhere. She doesn't know where. sending spells limitations.
A big dragon-kind creature came and took her. She's scared. The message cuts off as she is not used to the

The next message back after Messick performs the spell again, is more calm and this time is measured and careful. Clearly she is being told exactly what to say. It is a message from the Xanathar's Guild. If they wish to see Nat again. They will come to the Guild and do as they're told.

The group moves out ready to find the location of the Xanathar's Guild.

Returning to the only location they know in relation Xanathar's Guild, they find themselves going through the Peabody's halfling restaurant, once again, as they enter the sewers where they had last seen Draak.

The Xanathar's Hideout

Soon they find themselves back in the large stone room with the single black pillar standing floor-to-ceiling in the middle of the room. The pillar's material isn't stone or metal and it shimmers like water. In it's center is a symbol. A circle with 8 lines emanating like rays from aroudn its edge. One by one, they touch the symbol and soon all of them are in a dark damp humid room with multiple corridors branching off.

The Kuo-Toa

Behind them the corridors lead to a damp and foul smelling room. In the distance they can hear the slap of wet footsteps. Soon a kuo-toa toddles around the corner. He bears a simple spear and asks them in undercommon what they are doing here. Gavin fortunately knows a bit of undercommon and the two of them blabber back and forth. Fed things to say by the others, Gavin tells the kuo-toa that they are here by invitation by Xanthar himself (itself?). Soon other kuo-toa begin to gather near the strangers. They are excited. Has the group brought them someone else. Someone important. It has been awhile. They only have one person now. They are getting bored. The group tells them, no. They have only arrived to have an audience with the Xanathar. Disappointed they begin to toddle off, webbed feet slapping on wet stone.

The group, quietly debates the merits off killing the kuo-toa now. Eda sends out her cat familiar, Harry the hairless cat, to investigate. Harry wanders into the kou-toa area. It is wet and smelly. There are dozens of kuo-toa. Many head off down a corridor from which can be heard a cacophony of sounds: moans of pain and kuo-toa undercommon.

The Hallway Of Countless Eyes

They decide to have Harry investigate the other directions. The main long corridor leads away to a curving hall filled with pillars covered in eyes. The countless eyes of all shapes, sizes and colors blink randomly and are constantly glancing around. Many follow Harry as it walks carefully down the hallway. A side corridor leads off into a vast chamber with a spherical shape. Its floor slightly curved as the bottom of a massive sphere.

The group decides to follow Harry. They move through the hallway of countless eyes. The eyes constantly following them. There is no way they have not been spotted. Surprise is most definitely out of the question. Turning the corner they enter another hallway. This one has its walls covered in the same multitude of eyes. As the group moves down the hallway, Messick, using his latern of revealing finds a hidden doorway. It is covered in the same multitude of eyes that the rest of the hallway has.

Corridor Of Statues and Flutterfoot

The group puzzles over the doorway. They notice that many of the eyes are not real eyes but mechanical eyes that move and blink. One of them does not. They push it and the door silently opens slightly. The move through the door and find themselves in a long corridor filled with statues. Many of the statues are posed in moments of horror and pain. Some of them in solemn poses and some in odd pauses in movement.

As they move cautiously down the corridor, a small dark skinned gnome, a svirfneblin, jumps out. He is dressed in wild colors and wears a jesters hat. He welcomes them and tells them that he will help them out and show them where everything is....if they solve his riddle.

I come with a smile;
In slaughter, I rest;
I can be contagious,
But my medicine is best.
What am I? 

The group pauses only momentarily. Laughter.

Excited the svirfneblin, introduces himself as Flutterfoot. He will gladly show them around. They say they want to find Xanathar. His eyes widen but then shrugs. Alright.

He guides them down the hallway and occasionally tells them to sneak past a corridor opening. Finally, realizing the group is not entirely stealthy, he tells them to run past a large corridor opening when they hear the signal. He is off quickly down the corridor. The rest of the group realizes they don't know what the signal is. But is matters little soon, as they hear upset voices cursing Flutterfoot and the commotion of things breaking. The group runs past the corridor and heads further down.

They eventually come back to the large spherical chamber. They enter from the opposite side that Harry had inspected. The room  is vast. It's ceiling lost in darkness and height. It's floor polished to a smooth reflective black surface. A few other svirfneblin move about cleaning and tending to a large water bowl containing a single goldfish.

They soon see Draak, the large half-dragon enter the chamber via a side corridor. He demands from them what they are doing here. They tell him that Xanathar was impressed with them and invited them here....with the threat of harming Nat, that is. They demand to see Nat. Draak leaves and returns with Nat. She is scared but unharmed. The group calls out for Xanathar.

Xanathar

Soon a huge spherical creature, a beholder descends from the ceiling where it had been watching the entire time. I am Xanathar, the all seeing and all knowing.

Meanwhile, Flutterfoot enters the chamber glad that the group has found their way and that they are conversing with Xanathar. He hails them and congratulates them and himself on a job well done. Xanathar, looks at the svirfneblin with contempt. "There you are. We have been looking for you." And then disintegrates the dark gnome with a single shot from one of the beholders eye stalks.

It comes out that the group has spoiled what has supposed to be a simple heist for the Stone Of Golorr. Now without the stone, it will be impossible for the guild to find the lost treasure vault hidden somewhere beneath Waterdeep. Xanathar demands the group find the vault. He will keep Nat until they do.

The group protests.

Xanathar tells them if he can keep his prized goldfish, Silgar, alive for 158 years. Keeping an Illuskan girl alive is a simple task. The group notices one of the svirfneblin, who is currently tending the goldfish bowl, make a face when Xanathar mentions the incredible long life of the goldfish.

Xanathar adds an extra condition on the group. They must take Draak along with them. He is to keep them on task. He is a trusted lieutenant. But in a cruel twist, Eda is able to argue that Draak is incompetent and not to be trusted. Draak sees the Xanathar begin to contemplate this and Draak goes from demanding to pleading, telling the Xanathar that there is a large shipment of slaves coming in, and who else can manage it.

But Xanathar is a creature of its own whims and moods. It promptly disintegrates Draak.

 

A Coin From The City Of Daoine Gloine

After defeating the mind flayer and the intellect devourer, Messick tends to the body of Gavin, the mousefolk who had fallen to the mind flayer. Messick casts gentle repose upon Gavin so he can be resurrected later.

Moving through the large double doors through which Draak, the massive half-dragon, had moments before escaped. They enter a vast empty stone chamber. It is empty save for the massive floor-to-ceiling column standing in the center of the room. Its dark surface shimmers and flows. At its center is a symbol: a large circle with 8 rays emanating from it. Fritz determines that the column is actually a teleportation artifact. Fritz is uncertain as to where it goes or how it activates.

A Failed Kobold Ambush

But the others are already exploring around the room and find a passageway that leads off to a room, where several kobolds await, ready to ambush the group. They find an arrow/spell slit in a wall, beyond which are the kobolds. Eda casts ice storm through the slit into the room. Moments later, they charge into the room, only to find the frozen and pummeled corpses of the kobolds. After picking over the bodies, the group moves on down the passageway.

At the end of the passageway is a dead end, but after a bit of poking and prodding they find the dead end wall can be pushed on just one side to rotate a section of the wall to reveal a hidden exit back out to the sewers. In fact they are close to the small room with the Shard Runner children where they had started. They return to the small alcove off of the sewer system where they had encountered the wererat children and use the stairs there which lead to a small restaurant.

Exiting The Sewer, Into A Restaurant
(this must be some sort of health code violation)

Bloodied, covered in filth, carrying the reposed body of their companion, and smelling strongly of sewer they climb into the crawl space which then leads to a small restaurant. Ms Peabody, a halfling woman, stares incredulously at the group as they exit her crawl space and walk right through the restaurant filled with mostly haflings eating. Ms Peabody chastises them harshly. This isn't a thoroughfare from the sewers. They are tracking filth through her restaurant. Why are they carrying a dead body. They smell horrible. A few gold coins placed in her hands seems to calm the halfling somewhat but she tells them to hurry up and remove themselves from her restaurant.

Returning to their manor, they revive Gavin and then decide on what to do next. Someone points out that they technically do not have the Waterdeep permit to remove monsters below the surface, as was pointed out to them by the Dungeon Sweepers Guild. So the group decides to visit the Dungeon Sweepers.

The Dungeon Sweepers Guild

They travel through the city until they find a small squat building, the shingle above the door displaying a crossed battleaxes and a sword. Inside they find a mixture of humans, dwarves, half-elves, and a goliath. All of them burly and sour looking when the group enters the building. The dwarf, Takghal, speaks for the group and asks the group if they are coming to the Dungeon Sweepers Guild for help. Perhaps something they couldn't handle on their own.

Harsh words are exchanged, weapons are drawn culminating in Harry, the hairless cat, Eda's familiar is cleaved in half. Finally, cooler heads prevail and a bargain is struck. The Dungeon Sweepers Guild is given the contract for cleaning out the ooze from the sewer stronghold that the TrollSkull Champions Guild has "heard about". No they were never down in the sewers on guild related business. They are trying to be neighborly and responsible by giving the Dungeon Sweepers the contract they had "heard about".

A team is assembled and the Dungeon Sweepers excitedly head out.

A Coin From An Ancient Civilization

Fritz tells the others that he is eager to have a gem appraised that he has been holding on to for a while. They exit the Dungeon Sweepers Guild building and flag down the nearest City Watch. They ask for a good and reputable gem appraiser. He directs them to Hlethvagi's Coins and Gems, in the South Ward.

Arriving at Hlethvagi's Coins and Gems they find a stout human woman, Hlethvagi at the counter. Fritz's appraisal for his gem is underwhelming so he decides to hold on to it. But this reminds
Messick of the odd coin he had found back in the kobold warrens, many tenday ago. He show the woman his coin. At first, she looks puzzled and then surprised. She tells him that the coin has no monetary value, for it isn't a currency used anywhere....anymore. She tells him this might be a coin from the mythical civilization of Daoine Gloine, which was said to lie beyond the Barrier Peaks.

Hlethvagi tells them that they really should ask Anaxi Zephries, a cartographer within Waterdeep who is obsessed about this lost civilization.

Returning to the Trollskull Manor, Messick tasks one of the street urchins, who have begun making their new home in the storage shed behind the manor, with delivering a message to Anaxi Zephries: They wish to ask Anaxi what he knows of the lost city of Daoine Gloine.

A medieval Hostile Takeover

They are not settled long, before Takghal, the dwarf from the Dungeon Sweepers Guild enters the manor. He is both distraught and angry. The entire party, a dozen strong, have not returned from the sewers. He demands to know what was in there. What will they do about it. Was this a trap to get rid of the Dungeon Sweepers Guild. Angry words are hurled but finally the group convinces Takghal that the Dungeon Sweepers Guild be a subsidiary of the Trollskull Champions Guild. This way the Trollskull Champions can take over such dangerous contracts such as the disastrous one they have just suffered, while allowing the Dungeon Sweepers to take on contracts the Trollskull Champions do not have time or resources for.

Takghal sighs in resignation as he signs the legal contract that essentially gives away control to the Trollskull Champions.

That being done, the Trollskull Champions Guild can now take over the contract of cleaning out the ooze creature in the sewers below. Plans are made. Equipment readied. The group moves out.

Returning to the Peabody's restaurant, they step carefully through the crowd of halflings seated at their meals. Ms Peabody admonishes them again. This is not ok! But again, a few gold pieces, dragons, are enough to quiet Ms Peabody, while still leaving her scowlling at the backs of the adventurers as they descend down into her storage area.

The Ooze. Round Two

Moving through the sewers, familiar with the layout, they find the room again that contained the ooze creature. Peaking through the gap below the door with Gavin's thief's mirror, they see that the ooze, larger than ever. It clings to the ceiling, its surface sloshes and tentacles drop down seeking anything that moves.

Messick has a plan.

Using the spell, anti-life shield, Messick essentially blocks the ooze from approaching while he and the others lob spells and attacks into the room with the ooze. The one sided battle takes a while, as the ooze resists much of the damage they cause. After a few minutes though, in the hall behind the group, the stone floor begins to break as tentacles of the ooze have finished burrowing through the ground and have found the rear flank of the group. But the ooze has sustained too much damage over the time they had been attacking it and soon enough the group overcomes the creature.

Inside the room are the barely discernible remains of the previous battle with the Dungeon Sweepers Guild.

The Lost Civilization Of Daoine Gloine

They return to Trollskull Manor. There waiting for them is Anaxi Zephries. He has come at the behest of the group. Messick shows Anaxi his old coin he had found. Anaxi inspects it for quite some time before he rapidly begins to ask questions: Where did you find it? Who had it before you? Who have you shown this to?

Messick tells him of the kobold warrens where they had found it.

Anaxi tells them of the, what some people think of as mythical, lost city of Daoine Gloine. But it really existed. It was a civilization that was said to have had access to a mysterious energy and magical knowledge. The creatures that populated it were said to be made up entirely of crystals. Perhaps the creatures themselves had some sort of energy within their crystal structure. The knowledge that could be learned from them would have an enormous impact upon the world.

In fact, a mage name Kwalish, was said to be searching for such knowledge. After his business was done in Waterdeep a few hundred years ago, he was said to have gone searching for the city. In fact, Anaxi had organized and financed an expedition to find the city several years ago....but no one returned.

With that a sadness comes over Anaxi, but he soon recovers and is excited to hire the guild for a new expedition. Now that he has concrete evidence perhaps he can get academically inclined nobles to help finance the expedition.

Messick is wary about such a long journey and asks Anaxi if he can procure a teleporation circle back to Waterdeep to cut the journey's length. Anaxi agrees to see what he can do.

Gavin jots down "ancient city thing"....and tacks it to the guild's 'To Do Board'.