Iuri heads to the fireside, steps onto the stones, and clears his throat. Many faces have changed in the inn, but for Iuri—who doesn't particularly follow what goes on here—these changes mean little. Bards do repeat the tales told in the past, so perhaps someone will have some idea as to what he is referring.

"So, a while back I had recounted the first time I got pulled to Mannahatta, and I realize I never really said what happened the next. It wasn't too long after, but I guess it could be described as almost a yo-yo of unfinished business. Like whatever force had pulled me there in the first place had something it still needed."

There are some nods in the audience; this isn't an experience unfamiliar to adventurers.

"There were a number of crystals in the city, and I gather this was the same Mannahatta again, as there wasn't any sign of widespread magic. The first thing, of course, was to get the rest of the party to not be quite so conspicuous. Always be mindful of where you are and try not to stick out too much.

"We did have a device that showed the locations of the crystals, and one of them ended up being at the Met. Um, a big museum full of art." (At least Iuri is cognizant enough to recognize that most of his audience has never been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.) "Getting in there was a bit of a thing, they had metal detectors, but we managed. I stashed my dagger up high on the building's facade and was able to just walk through. We grabbed the crystal and I picked up the dagger on the way out. Easy.

"Then we sort of... grabbed a bus that was outside the Met. Our gold seemed to go pretty far in the city, which, of course it did. This is going to be difficult to explain, but at a certain point in most worlds, currency shifts from gold coins to paper. Because there are more people than there is gold. You know, it's not important. What's important is the bus meant it was possible to finally take a nap and get around the city faster.

"It's also worth noting that while most of you have been to cities, you've probably never been to cities as big as Mannahatta. Millions of people. Buildings hundreds, even thousands of feet tall. Very different from cities like Luma or Waterdeep. And in order to get back to anything approaching familiar, we had to collect the crystals.

"Next was this toy store, but it only sold one type of toy. Sort of a builder toy, blocks that you could press together to build things. I think they were called 'Leggies' or something like that? There were huge vats of the blocks, but using the detector, we managed to pull the crystal out. The place was totally overwhelming, though. Bright, colorful, full of kids, chaotic. I hated it. I went back to the bus to take a nap. Mechmo bought a bunch of sets of the blocks, though.

"We still had more crystals to collect, but as we were heading to the next, I saw a music store and convinced the group to stop. Might I say, that was the best decision of the whole adventure. Music is one of the few great pleasures to be had in life, and the store had an abundance of it. Recordings by musicians I enjoy, songs that I hadn't gotten the chance to listen to in... ages. And since our gold was valuable, I grabbed a bunch.

"Even if you have a goal, unless that goal is extremely time-sensitive, it's always worth exploring around to see if there's something else. You never know who you might help, what you might find, and the rewards for exploring are often the best to be had.

"The next crystal turned out to be over on an island housing a giant statue. As big as—actually, even bigger than the Colossus of Rhodes. I think Riot handled that one. There was some disagreement as to how to reach the statue, but it worked out in the end.

"And lastly, we had to go to a cafe. That was the path home. It was actually sort of music-themed, so Crakador grabbed a guitar, and I bought Myndle shirts for her and her boyfriend. And with that, we were back."

Iuri stands there, arms across around his staff, staring at the ceiling rafters. Having relayed it all, it sounds crazy. Giant skyscrapers, paper money, magic toy blocks. Who could possibly believe such a thing?

"If you're thinking all of this sounds pretty crazy, like it was just some incoherent dream, then I don't blame you. It certainly felt that way while it was happening. But! I now have a collection of Lily Allen albums that says otherwise.

"It happened. It just goes to show you, you really never knew where you're going to end up or what you're going to do. But when you arrive there, don't just focus on your goal. Take the time to explore. Sometimes, you find something even more valuable than the thing you were looking for."

With that, Iuri steps down and makes his way to the bar for a free drink.