An Odd Way to Make Friends

18 Kythorn 1492

You sneak down into the cellar of the Guts and Garters, past the main tavern room where Quietude seems to be lecturing or instructing a band of rather heavily armed dwarves. It is still early morning. In the kitchen of this thieves’ den, Pessius talks to the mousy tavern wench through some mix of benevolence and guilt for Zanalor’s ball bearings, encouraging her to go find Gwydion on the wall if she is able. The party then presses into a long corridor cut beneath Skullport, descending toward an ever brighter hallway and finding themselves in short order in the Lair of the Xanathar Guild.

Xanathar’s Lair is brightly lit by a multitude of torches. Hallways are usually 15’ high, rooms even taller, and all of them (so far) brightly lit by continual flame spells cast on wall sconces. The doors you see are single, circular slabs of stone, some 8 to 10 feet in diameter or huge 16 foot semicircles that split in the middle. Doorknobs are set into stone fixtures shaped like Xanathar’s symbol

Quickly spying a bulbous beast with eye stalks and certain it might be Xanathar, the party retreats and turns south to the Pit of Blood and Honor. You stand by as a halfling, beseeching aid, is brutally carved up by a Minotaur in the arena. You meet a couple dwarves, Ameharago or however you spell it and Noska Urgay. Taking Le Vache’s advice, you enter the tournament in the hopes of gaining entrance to the Guild.

In the hold cells, you are split into different cells. Unlike other areas you’ve seen, this room in under antimagic. Froderick has a hard time with his armor. After Noska, another dwarf named Thorvin Twinbeard, and their retinue, remove your money and several powerful items, you meet others in the tournament

1. Raelyn Auvryndar, a drow bladesinger, asked if you’ve seen her subordinate.
2. Llorena Tamales, a bard who should have done better, freely volunteered her story (having orginally sought out Fiend’s End but finding no fame there), in the hopes of expanding her fame or getting the right word in the right ear.
3. Seasmus, a fighter, is quick to chat with Chun and ask for any healing potions. "We may need them in a pinch" He mentions that Xanathar is rumored to watch the fights from the southern landing
4. Chun Lee, a martial artist savant, is sympathetic to Seasmus but interested in Nuitt and his school.
5. Aapash Kad, some kind of knight, has little to say, just eyeing the Otyugh in the corner of his cell.
6. Vache Aussi, a yakfolk priest, seems intent on his medidations, but grunts whenever anyone tries to make friends...

The teams defeat their respective foes, the first a quick battle decided quickly by a large Dawn spell and a frustrated dinosaur and the second a long and brutal affair in which the priest died a few times but was ultimately won thanks to an invulnerability potion and some good saving throws. Seamus isn’t pleased that you didn’t spare Chun Lee.

Before the final battle and during a short rest, Thorvin returns alone. He tosses a small silver pin to Froderick, asking about Sister Garaele. Thorvin, like Froderick, is a Harper and agrees to free the party after Froderick confirms his allegiance and desire to restore balance. Hooray tie-in to Lost Mines and factions! He buys the Sun Elf statue (because it reminds him of her), as well as some of Nuitt’s knicknacks from Ravenloft (musket, glider, the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind which he could’t use anyway). He tries to buy the Helm of Brilliance (after unsuccessfully prying 3 gems from it), as well as the Icon of Ravenloft but is unsuccessful. He tells the party that he can’t have witnesses to his liberation, and Zanalor wins an inspiration point for his rather clinical knife across Seamus’ throat.

Having been told that the party is looking for either Xanathar or Nar’l Xibrindas, he tells the party that they might be found to the south and escorts the party out of the holding cells and south down a hallway. He cannot continue without exposing his treachery so turns back, but not before Pessius very cleverly has him use the statue so he cannot ask later about the party. Immediately after she begins a very loud set of instructions to Froderick on being quiet. She also fails spectacularly sneaking into a main concourse, pretty much dancing into view of Ahmergo in his resplendent plate armor. A short attempt at explaining themselves with the usual Zanalor tact is cut short when the dwarf turns into a mouse. The clever party puts him into Froderick’s alms box (aren’t we all so proud we’re using our inventory?) and leaves him on the floor of the concourse, tucked as far back as possible.

The party turns a corner, unseating a large stone disc in the floor to reveal what Pessius concludes is a nice beholder tunnel and also blowing up a group of 8 Kuo-Toa somethings that had started raising an “Ooop ooop!” alarm in a slimy room with a creepy eyestalk in the ceilig just to the east of them. Correction: 7. One hardy lizardy ran off to the North.

The party is now standing at a literal and figurative crossroads. In approximately 50 minutes time, a dwarf will pop out of an alms box, and we know the dwarf is high in the Guild and no one to be trifled with. Sometime before or after that, a tournament is supposed to start. And somewhere near by, a reptilian monitor with scorched fins is gamely running somewhere.

You are in the middle of a Lair with a mission and what you can imagine is a whole lot of people about to start asking where you are. That is, if all of these weird eyestalks don’t already know the answer.

Keanu Reeves poked his head around the corner. “What do you do? What…. Do…. You….. Do?”