4 Tarsakh 1492, Waterdeep – Our carriage stopped in front of an overgrown building with several boarded-over windows and a number of cracked, broken, or missing roof tiles. There was little remarkable about the architectural style, to my knowledge: there were hundreds of buildings like it throughout Waterdeep, and it was constructed with the usual tan clay brick crafted east of the city, along the muddy banks of the Dessarin River. I was fairly certain the masonry was imported from Mirabar, having passed through that city on my journey back to Waterdeep from the east, which marked the structure as having been constructed at least two hundred years ago.

3 Tarsakh 1492 – The barricaded door became the subject of much discussion among my companions, as they pondered what the hasty fortification might portend. Some wondered if perhaps the duergar and his tattooed ally had trapped something or someone inside the room beyond and were preventing its escape—we hadn’t yet found Floon, after all—while others argued that the door might lead deeper into the sewers and was preventing something else from getting in. Clearly still star-struck by the astonishingly stout halfling, Pop lamented Patty’s abrupt departure from our company, as she’d proven herself more than a match for another stubborn door this night.

3 Tarsakh 1492, Waterdeep – Per my agreement with the proprietor, Durnan, any would-be adventurers who entered the taproom but seemed too inexperienced to brave the depths of Undermountain were invited to join my table, and by the time my set drew to a close, there were six such individuals seated around the table, waiting for the meal and drink I promised in exchange for their entertainment of my proposal. I bid my bandmates farewell—erstwhile, I should say, for I think I shall not need return to busking at the Yawning Portal again!—and then joined the motley crew before me.