As they leave the room, the group takes a half dozen valuable tomes.  The party continues the exploration of the mystical structure, unsure if the marble is indeed the stone they seek. They move up a staircase to a laboratory, where a figure clad in black leather armor cleaning glass beakers and tubes on some sort of alchemist’s work-table… they’ve finally tracked down Urstil Floxin. After a brief confrontation, the figure calls for “the other master”, and the party decides to flee. They run for the teleport circle in the entrance hall. As they activate their rings and fade into darkness, they see a pair of arcane vigils.  Forced to chose, everyone except for Mantis chooses the correct rune, and find themselves in Yellowspire. Mantis goes to the wrong location, and teleports back to the entrance. When he reappears, the black armored figure is waiting for him, and a quick struggle ensues.  Mantis escapes, reenters the teleportation circle, and appears in Yellowspire with the rest of the group. They flee the building, and return to Trollskull Manor, carrying the Eye. Mantis and Shining Brow place the Eye in the extradimensional space in the basement.

The party has a brief discussion about the remaining two Eyes.  The next day, before the soft opening of Trollskull Manor, the group decides to sell some of their treasures.  They purchase some diamond dust for Tygorr as a precaution, and Shining Brow buys a scroll of water breathing in preparation for a potential raid on the drow of the Seamaiden’s Faire.

That evening, it’s business time.  The soft opening of Trollskull Manor goes well.  The nimblewrights which Mantis rented perform all night, along with a bard he hired, creating a strange, repetitive music. Many neighbors stop by, including the owners of “Steam and Steel”, “Correlan’s Crown”, and “Odds and Ends”.  Ranear Neverember arrives with two unfamiliar friends, the dwarf Harug Shieldsunder and Lord Torlyn Wands. Floon attends, as does the map maker, who is impressed by the state of the building. As the night goes on, Shazuu is cornered by Crowell, the chamberlain for the Cassalanters, who demands an update on the party’s progress. Crowell instructs him to deliver an update tomorrow, by way of the servant’s entrance. The festivities continue, and a brief brawl breaks out. Helga, our server/security puts a quick stop to it. Shining Brow gives her the Elvish romance novel, instructing her to have Mantis read to her when the nights get slow. She seems taken by the offer.  Shazuu realizes he has been robbed, and Mantis catches the young girl who stole his pouch. Tygorr puts her into a magical sleep, and recovers the possessions of several other guests of the Manor. Members of the Watch show up later to take her away. A mysterious mage with a red hat and red robe teleports in to investigate the celebration, and disappears as suddenly.  Volo joins us towards the end of the night, and we close down with many happy new patrons.

The group decides to confront the orc in the next room.  Shining Brow enters the room, yells “Surrender!”,  pretending to be a Zhentish inspector.  The burly orc is unimpressed. Mantis follows, claiming they are bringing a message to Manshoon. The orc merely wishes to be left alone, and directs them to walk along the wall and keep going up if they want to see the boss.

Outside the door, Shazuu tests the orc’s instructions and finds that an invisible staircase runs around the tower, leading up. The group leaves the orc, and feels their way up the stairs. The next floor contains broken tables and glassware.  The group locates another invisible stair and climbs up to a trap door. They hear voices above, and Shazuu bursts into the room.

The group sees three chanting robed figures arrayed in a circle around a demonic red gorilla-like beast in a protective circle.  Shazuu immediately attacks one of the mages. Mantis kills a second, and Shining Brow finds another invisible staircase leading up as the demon begins to stir inside the force field. Tygorr, unable to see the stairs, falls over the first step, and Mantis uses him as a marker to sprint up the stairs.  Shining Brow uses Tygorr as a launch pad to leap up the stairs, and Shazuu kills the last mage as the party heads upwards. The demon begins to smash at the magical barrier, wearing it down.

The group emerges from the staircase into a room which contains a smashed staircase and two curious mechanisms.  Mantis figures out the clamps hold up the floor, but they are rusted and would require considerable force to operate. Worried about the demon raging below, they make their way up the ruined staircase to the level above.  

Moving to an interior room, the group discovers a dwarf tied to a large wooden “X”, clearly the victim of torture.  He is a member of the Xanathar, and was grabbed at the safehouse at Drover Street. He tells the party that he discovered that Manshoon wears a mask. They also find another note from Manshoon, which contains some important info.  The party now knows the location of all three eyes. Manshoon has one at Kolat Tower, and they have the key. The drow at the dock ward have the second at the Dock Ward, and it seems that the Cassalanters have the third at their estate in the Sea Ward.

In an attempt to mislead their enemies, Mantis forges a note implicating the drow and Manshoon’s Zhentarim, and slip it to the dwarf.  Meanwhile, Shazuu and Tygorr drag the unconscious woman back to the owner of the meat pie shop. The owner is horrified, and the two return the unconscious body to the shack, and leave the woman with the Xanathar dwarf.

The party decides to follow up a lead on Urstill Floxin.  Shining Brow remembers overhearing the name from a member of the Xanathar’s gang during the investigation into the fireball outside of Trollskull Manor.  Lacking any leads on Floxin, Shining Brow decides to cash in a favor with Mirt and the Harpers. They travel to Mirt’s mansion, and are led to his office.  Mirt is pleased to see the group, and tells them what little he knows. Floxin works for Manshoon’s Zhentarim faction, and is a high ranking member. Floxin is a heavy set man in his forties, with a scarred face.  Mirt believes he operates out of the Yellow Spire in the Castle Ward. The Spire is a run down tower that was used by the worshipers of Bane. With a new lead to investigate, the group thanks Mirt and invites him to the grand opening of Trollskull Manor.

Shining Brow, Tang, and Tygorr head to the Yellow Spire.  It’s a squat, beaten-up two story tower in the middle of an alley.  One of the nearby buildings seems to be a rooming house, and the group spots a dwarf woman on the second floor, apparently watching the Spire.  Shining Brow sends his cat familiar to the roof of the boarding house, and the three retreat to a nearby inn to watch through the cat’s eyes.

When the lights go out in the Spire, the three sneak back to the alley and approach the tower.  After unlocking the door, Shining Brow triggers an unseen warning bell, and hears two voices on the second floor after the three slip into the Spire. Tang Wu immediately leaps into action, heading up the stairs to the second floor, and finds a man and woman who attack.  Tang drops the woman, and, hearing the man scream, says to him “I hope you loved her”. They knock the man unconscious moments later. When they investigate, they find the man has a tattoo of a snake, some coin and spell scrolls, two notes which may be clues, and a strange pendant.  Upon awakening the man, they question him, and learn the pendant is a key to something in the basement. Shining Brow tries to intimidate the man into giving more information, but is unable to appear terrifying.  The dwarf woman who was watching has entered the tower.  The group knocks her unconscious as well, and proceeds to the basement. They find key to a door, and upon unlocking it, enter a small chamber with a teleportation circle. The Zhentish man upstairs described this as a quick route to Kolat Tower. The three lock him in the basement, and lock the dwarf in the entrance chamber.  They sneak out and return to Trollskull Manor.

The (now dead) priestess of Bane was carrying a note:

Seccent—

I have nothing but contempt for what you have done. I don’t know what foul rites you hope to perform, but the more traditional rites of Brindul Alley would have surely wrung any information this broadsheet publisher might have had. Nonetheless, Manshoon’s word is my command, and so I present to you Shan Chien. May you choke on him.

– Avareen

The man had the following note on his person:

Korgstrod Uxgulm’s outfit is based out of the Orb Confectioners’ on Rising Ride just off Caravan Court. Not sure how the backroom can fit them all, but there’s no question that Xanathar’s duergar come in and out of there on the regular

The dwarf woman’s room held many papers, detailing her observations, and communications with her master. Among the papers were communications with Lord Gralhund.

My Lord Gralhund, 

I agree with your assessment. If we are to get back in the game we must, indeed, recover a piece of the enigma. So far, my observations of the spire have been fruitless. We know that the Second Eye has almost certainly been taken from R.N by the Zhentarim. It is more important than ever that we discover where M has hidden his head.

– Your servant, Chirada

She also had some older notes among her papers:

There are Three Eyes with which Neverember’s Enigma may be seen. The First Eye is held by Xanathar, and lies somewhere within his lair. Bulette’s report that this lair can be accessed from teleportal sites within X’s sewer hideouts provides a potential means by which this Eye could seized, but in the absence of a synchronized key these teleportal sites are useless.

and:

What if the “Key to Neverember’s Enigma” which Xanathar was known to hold in his possession is not, as I have suspected, the Eye? But instead the Stone of Golorr? If so, then what better thief than an agent of Dagult’s? Perhaps even sent there for that purpose. The gnome has taken the Stone, I am certain of it. If we can find Dalakhar, then we can seize the Key. We can take the Stone.

The group follows the drow to the feast, followed by the healer, who is named Tygorr Von Sune, or Ty for short.  They are taken to a hall covered with carvings of eyes, with a single eyestalk that seems to watch the room.  Xanathar requires a service from the group. They are to take a token of Xanathar to Skimo Weirdbottle, a potion master in the Trades Quarter.  The party refuses, and are unceremoniously thrown out of the lair, without a feast, and emerge back into the air of the streets of Waterdeep.

They return to Trollskull Manor and take a rest.  When they wake, the group realizes it tis the 25th of Chess.  Shining Brow has an invitation to the Shipwright’s Ball, which begins at dusk.  Shining Brow emerges from his room with a shaggy looking one eyed cat, which he claims is his friend.  As they begin preparations for the ball, Mantis recieves a letter that reads “Three Eyes. One was with X, is no longer, they search the dock ward… the drow? -C”  The note apparently came from the Cassalanters, and Mantis grabs a newspaper from a passing vendor. The lead story says that Xanathar’s gang has been ransacking the dock ward, confirming the note.  The group decides that the Shipwright’s Ball will be a good place to gather information. Mantis will accompany Shining Brow, and Tang will act as a personal guard. Shazuu will remain behind with Tygorr to assess the celestial’s motivations.

Unable to decide where to look next, the group decides to canvas the neighborhoods for leads.  They find information which leads them to a Xanathar safehouse in an alley off the Street of Silver.  Mantis sets up to watch the building, and sees several thugs arrive. He overhears the code to enter. Knock three times, and repeat the phrase “The bawdy star shines bright tonight”.  Shining Brow and Shazuu join him, and the three use the code to gain entrance to the building.

Inside, they find several groups of warriors, and learn that this is the gateway for some sort of arena battle.  Having faked their way in, the three have no choice but to join the waiting warriors, and enter the arena battle themselves. They are blindfolded, taken down a long flight of stairs, and put in boats. After a half hour boat ride, they find themselves in Skullport, a city beneath the city.  Several other boats unload more combatants, and all of them are led to a door next to the “Guts and Garter” tavern.

They are led down a long tunnel to a waiting area. After learning the rules of the arena battle, the groups are given numbers. Mantis, Shazuu, and Shining Brow are group 8. They are instructed to wait until their match is called.  While waiting, Mantis bribes a guard to let him out, under the condition that he returns before their fight. When he explores the complex, he finds an ancient undead beholder surrounded by gazers. Quickly, he retreats from the room, avoiding that peril. Mantis then moves to the gallery surrounding the arena floor, and begins looking for information.

Meanwhile, the tournament begins, and teams 2, 4, and 6 are victorious.  Mantis returns to their cell as the group begins to prepare for their round.