DnDNerds!

The party nabs the Casslantar butler off the street and feed him to an Illithid! After assuming his identity, they use it to... swap a desk? The party also discovers something remarkable about the eccentric sea captain Zardoz, and pay him a visit to make a deal.

Manu emerges as a half-half-elf, half-machine! Thaern the wizard combined his body with the pieces of the nimblewright, and now he's a bit different! The party seeks the knowledge of Sangalor of the Secrets at the Temple of Oghma, who turns out to know a whole lot! Manu and Grimm cast Speak With Dead with one of the Zhents slaughtered at Gralhund Villa. The party is threatened with a note from the the Xanathar's guild, and they decide to infiltrate and explore! The mission goes a bit off the rails though...

The party splits and tackles both a nameday party at the Crommor's for Grimm's brother, and a war between the merfolk and a young Bronze Dragon in Waterdeep Harbor! The party missteps and gets whipped by a cult of Loviatar! Dax joins a new guild, and Manu loses a gladiator fight. After all that, the party rejoins and raids the Gralhund manor! Do they get to the Stone of Golorr, and survive the Zhentarim and Gralhunds?

The Battle of Aveen Street! The party battles an Asmodeus Cult, and barely barely escapes alive! Party members make sacrifices, emotional choices, and death saves! Demons and cultists and leaders and thugs everywhere! 12 rounds of intense battle, and it takes the whole session.

The players have a meeting with Dalakar the Gnome and Renear Neverember, and are planning for it when BOOM! - an explosion rocks Trollskull Alley! The players investigate, interview witnesses, form theories, and give chase to a mechanical Nimblewright! They discover clues, and are treated to Dave's amazing Sean Connery impression as Zardoz the pirate! An eye of suspicion is cast on the Gralhunds, and the party investigates an Admodeus Cult on the way home! The party ends up in quite a jam...

Wherein the party explores Brandath Crypt in the City of the Dead! Also some planning/discussion about where to go next!

We pay for tavern renovations and hire some staff! We investigate missing children on a whirlwind tour of windmills! We fight Asmodeus worshipers in their loft apartment! We ambush the Zhentarim by one of their safehouses and find a Xanathar Guild member and his valuable goldfish! We encounter a notorious ghost and Manu pays with 30 years of his life! 

After a recap of the between-session bluebooking and a discussion of financial options, the crew (minus Grimm, out on a date) decide to investigate an underground gladiator competition Manu has heard about, which turns out to be run by the Xanathar Thieves' Guild!  Manu, Dax, and Baldr fight for their lives and (barely) defeat an Orog, a drow, and a bugbear!  They nearly pull off a second victory against a swashbuckler, a bandit captain, and a minotaur, but they fall in battle and lose the bout, barely escaping with their lives while Evangeline watches in horror and yells encouragement from the bleachers!  Back in Waterdeep after a rest-up, Evangeline investigates a rumor about the Black Viper spread by the Waterdeep Wazoo, and Dax accepts a mission from Force Grey to investigate a brass dragon in the harbor!  Manu gets a mission from Joroth Brighthelm to kill a notorious criminal who's recruiting kenku for the Xanathar's Guild, but he and Evangeline let the miscreants escape!

We dive back into the sewers and infiltrate the Xanathar Thieves' Guild hideout! We make friends with a goblin ratcatcher, fight a gray ooze, beat up some thugs, catch sight of a terrifying mind flayer, kill a half-orc wizard, and rescue floon! We return Floon to Volo, Renaer's locket to him, and the stolen goods to the watchpost! Back at the Yawning Portal, Baldr sings us a drinking song about Episode 1!  We explore Trollskull Manor, meet some urchins and some neighbors, and finally get a break from a long and terrible night!