Having recovered his own "pet", Sterling simply watched the interaction between Mana and the cat, suppressing the urge to interrupt the magically-interpreted meows. Jasper, for his part, kept an irritated glare squarely fixed on the body of the gazer, ensuring no surprises.

Mana turns to the group. “Poor thing was chased inside through an open door. Its intensions were to eat Fillipa, but she was too clever for that and hid.”

He turns back to Fillipa to smile but she has quite forgotten to care. The trauma long gone.

”Do we want to report this to the Watch or Guard or just dispose of it ourselves. There’s a couple of nearby alleys and I think one might have a sewer access. Dropping it in there might send a warning to the next one that feels brave enough to come to the surface.”

Standing quietly off to one side, Oriace gives a slight nod and offers in his deep, measured tone, “I suspect the Watch would have little interest in a fallen gazer, given the city’s greater troubles. Perhaps we simply discard it below and be done. If Uza prefers to file a report, I say let her decide—this is her shop, after all.” Though he does not force the matter, Oriace’s stance is clear: better to dispose of the aberration and be done with it.

Sterling nodded. "I have to agree; this seems like an isolated incident anyways, even if an unusual one. If another one crops up, I think we should report it regardless of whether Uza does this one; we can keep our ears open for another sighting."

“Yeah, swift disposal in the sewers is best,” says Wagner, looking around for something to wrap the corpse in.

“I’m willing to wrap and carry this carcass to the sewer with my cloak on the promise that Sterling will afterwards use his “cleaning” magic to remove the viscera from its fabric.” Mana volunteers. “Do we want to split up with Wagner and Oriace reporting back to Uza, while Sterling and I clandestinely dump the body? Or do we want to stick together?”

Mana contemplates the pros and cons of having more eyes (ironically) watching for witnesses in the alley vs. more attention being drawn to a larger group loitering near a sewer cover.

”We should stick together. Stick the body outside in the alley and talk to Uza, then dispose of it.”

Sterling simply smiled and nodded at Mana. Of course he'd clean anything they needed... he wasn't wanting excess mess dripping all over their establishment, after all.

As they all milled about the room, though, the bard couldn't help himself--he was nosy enough to discretely see if anything odd was out of place in the room, and he began doing so while trying to appear to just be walking around nonchalantly, looking at nothing in particular.

 (( @DM: Here are two Investigation rolls I presume Sterling will need, the second one if you want to grant disadvantage to the roll. Also, let me know if I should roll Deception or anything like that for him as well--

Investigation: first - 16, second - 24 ))

Sterling notices that the majority of the room seems trashed, It is hard to spot if something would be out of place when nothing is in place.

(literally the only information given about the shop is "Uza lends them the keys to the front and back doors of her shop. Characters find the interior in shambles and hear a cat meowing on the third floor.", so I know it has a front and back door, and 3 floors. I am not going to go creating more information than that for somewhere that you will likely never visit again unless you wanted a chat with Uza or her cat)

You talk to Uza who is very grateful. "I am sorry but I can't give you much. I will be spending most of my disposable income on fixing this place up again. But I can give you one of the more interesting books in my collection for free." and she goes and hunts around, coming out with an old wizard's spellbook that contains 4 level 1 wizard spells, and 3 level 2 wizard spells (TBC, but seeing as you are all bards, it isn't too important as you can't use the spellbook so it is more an item that could be worth a decent sum of money to the right person)

"Any reward is appreciated, Uza, all in a day's work!", says Wagner, looking at the others.

Once they'd left, Sterling asked to look through the spellbook. "This... isn't half bad," he said, even though he could only give a general appraisal of the volume's value, rather than anything precise. "Unfortunately, I don't think any of us can use this. Should we try to sell it? We'd get a decent bit of coin that we could split or invest into the tavern."

Curious, Mana flips through a few pages. Just looked like a bunch of chicken scratch to his untrained eye. Cryptic sigils interspersed with maybe a glimpse of a partial word here and there.

”Looks like a lot of work to glean anything useful out of it. I think it would be okay to sell it.“

Mana closes the tome and holds it out for anyone else to take, review, and evaluate.

Oriace gives the old spellbook a brief glance, then offers a gentle shrug and a soft, resonant chuckle. “We can always see what it’s worth, but let’s not linger on it now,” he murmurs, gesturing for the group to follow Mana. “It’s time we return to Trollskull. I’d wager this corner of Waterdeep has seen enough of us for one day, and our spirits—and coin purses—may be better served in the comfort of our own establishment. Mana knows these streets well; let’s lean on his guidance to get us home swiftly. We’ll keep our ears open for any news of earlier…events. Though I suspect it’ll be a few days before fresh news find us.” With that, Oriace hefts his pack and pads off in Mana’s footsteps, still quietly humming a low tune that resonates in the dusty silence of the shop’s threshold.

 You make your way back to Trollskull Manor and upon your arrival, Lif brings over a key to the Tavern's door plus a note. It reads "I am sorry I could not hang around to say good bye in person, but I have not got long before the trail goes cold. I have long believed my parents to have been murdered however the Emerald Enclave have found possible evidence that they survived. I hope you understand why I have had to go so suddenly. Even if this turns out to be false, I must know for myself. I hope to cross paths again, but as I do not know how long my travels will take, I have returned my key and emptied my room. I wish you luck with your endeavours"

“Why would Toser have thought we wouldn’t help him?”

After a momentary pause.

”Maybe he knew we’d insist we would, and he wouldn’t have it.”

After another pause.

“Should we chase after him anyway? I am in league with the Enclave and they may be willing to reveal to us whatever they told him.”

Sterling thought for a moment. Finally, "No, I think this is something he needs to do on his own." He rubbed his chin as if he wasn't entirely certain, but he continued.

"He knows we'd help him with anything he needed. But this is about his parents, and he apparently feels it's a personal endeavor. Besides, there are all sorts of sticky issues that might surround it, such as, why didn't they contact him if they're alive? Maybe they didn't WANT to be found, in which case a larger group is more likely to bring attention to their whereabouts. Or there might even be some other drama going on that he'd rather us not be caught up in."

Seemingly convinced at his own reasoning, the bard concluded, "In any case, I say we trust his judgment. And that we just be ready to help out if he DOES run into trouble and calls for us."

Oriace rests a steady hand on the note, then folds it with care. “Toser chose his path, and we’ll honour that—he knows our door remains open should the road turn rough,” he rumbles, his bass voice calm but resolute. Catching Mana’s worried glance, he offers a small, reassuring smile: “We’ll let the Enclave watch his back from afar, but we won’t crowd his search – trust, not tether, is what friends give.” With the matter settled, Oriace turns to the familiar rhythm of home: he helps Lif float tankards to waiting patrons, beats a soft cadence on his hand-drum to warm the room, and lets the low thrum of spirits—both mortal and unseen—keep watch until word of their friend drifts back to Trollskull Manor.

You let the day continue and come nightfall, as promised, a flying snake comes through a window that was left open with a message. 

There’s a shop in the Trades Ward called Weirdbottle’s Concoctions. The gnome who runs it is a friend of ours named Skeemo. He’s made some potions of mind reading for a client. Pick up the potions and deliver them to the God Catcher, one of the enormous statues in the Castle Ward. Give the potions to the lady in the purple cloak, and keep the tip.

Wagner sees the flying snake and sighs. "I hope our playing both ends with the factions doesn't come back to bite us."