Catching up. The gang decided to take some time off and attend the Cherry Blossom festival in Chambord. After encountering Drake again and having Ollie almost die to the Assassin, a vacation did seem to be in order. They made it there no problem, and played games, some better than others. They watched a Quaff match Illivaun was particularly excited as the Flying Brushmen were playing. They also attended The annual play of how the festival came to be, however the party forgot one the. This is Chambord, and Judge Gabriel found them almost as soon as they set foot in the city. There was a confrontation between him and Ollie. However that was the least of her worries, for Lysander had also noticed their arrival. He promptly “invited” them to dinner where everyone was made very uncomfortable, understandable when your dinning with the man who killed your who family. to make matters worst Lysander insisted they come to the tourney the next day, where he was seen courting Ollie, which was made very easy by the Lavallin necklace around Ollie’s neck, which was given to her by Gabe several months before. Unexpectedly Lysander allowed them to leave, and they did so and returned to the keep to form their next move. It’s time to head west, it’s time to meet Victor’s Parents, and with Kat getting crazier each day, it’s time to find Vex.

The Phoenix Guard is Born. After their encounter with Dr. Shinra the party took Desmond back to the keep to be questioned, they soon discovered that he was no more than a puppet that Shrina had been using and couldn’t recall the better part of a month. The gang rested for a bit before tending to some errands around Miridan. One of which led them into the mines to take care of a local pest problem. The pest turned out to be umberhulks, but that was the least of their worries. Upon going deeper to check if they had truly gotten rid of the umberhulks, they discovered a band of drow elves. The party chose to retreat for now and inform Mayor Thatcher of their findings. The party geared themselves to go back into the mine, but when night fell somthing unspeakable happened. the mountain opened, and hundreds of drow warriors poured out. Ollie and flint headed back to town to warn everyone while Illivaun and Epsil took their forces to spearhead a counter assault. Ollie gave a very inspiring speech and gathered the women and children to the secret cave on the beach. Flint rounded up the men from the drunken spider to setup defenses. The drow army broke into two half heading to the town and the other engaging with the Phoenix Guard forces. Illivaun smited a demon, while Epsil entered a mage duel with the drow mage. It was close but on the brink of death he prevailed. The rest of the drow army headed by two humberhulks made it to the town just in time to be set a blaze by Flint’s fireball. While the Umberhulks fell the Ollie’s keen blades. The battle lasted the better portion of the night, but Miridan still stood, not one drow lived, and the town had four heroes to thank.

The worst trip to the doctor’s office ever. After escaping Algasi the gang licked their wounds. Victor was now up and about, and Nazrek was now stable, however he is now in a coma. The gang met with their advisers to plan the next course of action. They came to the conclusion to secure their back yard in Miridan, as well as make some upgrades to the keep. So the party set off to Miridan to secure some allies. They took some time to get to know the people of the town including the mayor, who informed them that they would love to help them out but they had a problem of their own. Livestock had been going missing and more recently people. The gang did some investigation which led them to a secret lair on the beach. The stumbled into a conversation between Desmond a local amateur wizard in the town and an old enemy they had not seen in a long time. It was Dr. Shinra who had been brainwashing Desmond in to kidnapping livestock and villagers. Flint blinded by rage lit the room up which may or may not have killed a couple the villagers being held prisoner. Desmond animated some of the corpses to fight the party. In the end the gang broke Dr. Shinra’s spell on Desmond, which promptly informed Dr. Shinra it was time to leave. He quickly fled into a strange metal contraption which allowed him to descend into the earth, while the party restrained Desmond. The gang informed the Mayor what happened and took Desmond to be questioned. After questioning him they discovered he had no recollection of the past three months, about the same time that the fire in Miridan took place. The gang organized their forces at the keep and made a house call to Amalee the daughter of Barney, who was the Pot shop owner. He was among the villagers that perished in the lair. The group now finds themselves in town planning their next move.

Algasi Ablaze.
After the ball the gang took some downtime before the election. However the election soon came and with it a winner,and Halomon Thauros was the victor. The gang was summoned to Archibald’s house only to be ambushed by judge Vossler. Judge Vossler was very calm and to the point. He offered the party a full pardon as well as a couple of extras things to make all of their lives comfortable for as long as they lived. All in exchange for the war criminals, the Arcstones, and disbanding their organization. The party Considered their options, but before they gave an answer Nazrek walked in the room. He explained what a great deal that was, if only it were true. Some words were exchanged between the two of them, and is the conversation went on it became more and more clear what relationship Nazrek and Vossler had. Nazrek was Vossler’s son, and they were not on speaking terms. The conversation quickly became violent and the two of them began to tear the building apart. The gang escaped the building just in time to see Kat approach it. The gang hurried on to gather up their allies to flee the city. Decro’s air fleet was already dropping soldiers in, and things were starting to get messy. However they didn’t make it far before running into an enemy. Four of them to be precise. The band of Four dressed in Arcadian attire blocked their way. The final show down went on for awhile however the gang emerged victorious, leaving Varn, and Shana unconscious, but alive. The gang gathered up their allies and made it to Victor’s manor, where they found Gabriel. The look on his face said it all as he told Victor “just come quietly, don’t make me do this.” In that moment Victor knew the Gabriel from his childhood was dead. He summoned his blade and signaled everyone to get inside. The gang quickly ushered everyone in shortly followed by Kat with Nazrek’s body. Victor teleported in as well, bloody and bruised, and started drawing a circle. Kat’s face went white, Nazrek didn’t have a pulse. The judges broke down the front door to finally end this once and for all, But Kat had other ideas. She pulled the Firestone from Nazrek’s cloak and unleashed a fire spell unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. As the spell connected Victor finished his spell, And the party escaped.

The night of the Grand Ball arrives and the heroes step out in style.

Flint gets to work schmoozing with the nobles. He finds himself particularly interested in Lady Larsa Bramblethorn of Everas and Senator Allenair Lamont of Atlis. The three engage in polite conversation and Flint manages to make some promising progress.

Meanwhile Olivia takes pleasure in taunting Judge Rylof and, of course, keeping an eye out for any eligible bachelors.

Victor and Olivia continue to be on bad terms, neither one speaking to or acknowledging the other. He spends his night grumpy, dodging his parents and searching for someone who wasn’t there. Despite his poor mood, he still enjoys the wine and the “company” of the beautiful women flocking to him.

Illivan cozies up to Bernard Morain, Chambord’s General and sole representative. The two share a smoke by the fountain and talk military strategy.

Epsil spots the beautiful and mysterious Viera singer from the slave auction. He wades through the crowd to find her and talk to her. Epsil learns her name is Seraph, and that she’ll be in Atlis…if he’s interested, that is.

Gabriel asks Olivia for a dance, which she accepts. He compliments her on how beautiful she looks, which Olivia responds to with complete humility, of course. Their conversation borders on uncomfortable as he asks Olivia about her intentions. He then tells her that they need to talk in private, and asks her to meet him outside at the fountain in fifteen minutes.

Olivia meets Gabriel outside and they talk. Their conversation quickly devolves into arguing, with Gabriel being the rational one for once. He tries to give her a warning, which she rudely brushes off, insulting him and pouring salt in the wound by comparing him to his brother.

After finally having enough, Gabriel shakes his head and throws a box down into the snow. “To think I was actually going to give you this…happy early birthday, Olivia.” He storms off, but not before Olivia corrects him.

“My birthday was last week! “

With Gabriel safely back in the manor, Olivia gingerly picks his present out of the snow. She dusts it off and opens the box. Inside, Olivia finds a beautiful necklace, one she recognizes as once belonging to Gabriel’s mother. Flooded with guilt, Olivia is torn between apologizing or doubling down.

She pockets the necklace and begins to head inside, when a dagger lands in front of her feet. Looking around, she sees a shadowy figure quickly duck down from the rooftops.

Olivia feels growing dread in her stomach as she enters the foyer. Gabriel is standing in the corner, looking more hurt than angry, but Olivia ignores him for the time being. Instead she rushes straight to Flint to tell him what has happened.

Flint and Olivia talk in the guest garden, where they stumble upon a fresh body tucked underneath some shrubs. They easily discern that he was stabbed to death but can’t locate the murder weapon. Knowing the issue is serious, the two decide to tell Victor.

Victor is understandably concerned, and asks Olivia to stay in the ballroom for the time being. She brushes him off, but does as he asks. Flint finds Illivan and fills him in on what has happened. The two decide to investigate.

Flint begins in the servant’s quarters. He discovers a piece of broken furniture, a chair leg, crusted with blood, which leads him to believe there is another victim somewhere in the manor. His investigation takes him to the kitchens, where he discovers yet another body in the pantry.

Meanwhile, Illivan explores the guest suites. He finds drops of blood in Bernard Morain’s room, and notes that one of his military jackets is missing a medal. He also finds a bloody handkerchief, embroidered with the letter “H”.

He continues his search and stumbles upon yet another body, this time in Ilvanis Laneron’s room. It appears he was strangled to death. It isn’t until Illivan finds the missing war medal on the ground that things begin to come together.

The party suspect Orain Hastic may be involved in the plot, but they lack the evidence to implicate him.

In the ballroom, Olivia has been freely partaking in the food and wine when the room begins to spin and everything becomes blurry and far away. She stumbles over to where Victor is standing and tries to get the words out. Thankfully, Victor immediately knows something is wrong and escorts a very quickly fading Olivia to the foyer.

Victor and Gabriel exchange some quick words, then Gabriel sets to work saving Olivia’s life. He gives her a cursory examination to determine what poison is at work, then makes up an antidote on the fly. As Olivia comes to, she is faced with Gabriel knelt beside her and Victor standing over her. Gabriel chastises her for not being more careful and expresses disappointment that she didn’t come to him after the first assassination attempt. If not for Victor’s intervention, the two would have likely started arguing again.

Gabriel says he is going to start his own investigation and heads off to the servant’s quarters to begin his questioning.

Flint and Olivia meet up and decide they need to investigate upstairs, but Olivia hesitantly reveals that she hasn’t replaced her thieves’ tools yet and that it might be trapped. Flint facepalms. Olivia knows what she has to do, and she definitely doesn’t like it.

They find Gabriel questioning the staff and he rudely asks them what they think their doing. Olivia sheepishly asks if she can borrow his thieves’ tools. He laughs, and tells her, in no uncertain terms, that it isn’t going to happen. Not in a million years.

Olivia ends up owing Gabriel two favors, but she gets her hands on his tools. They are the nicest set of thieves’ tools Olivia has ever held. She enjoys the moment.

They return to the ballroom just in time to see Illivan stroll back in, covered in blood. He tells the party that he was viciously assaulted in the broom closet by an assassin, who then jumped out a window.

Olivia and Flint go upstairs to investigate. They discover a note in the parlor wastebasket:

[ “Laneron knows our plans. He will need to be dealt with. –Howe” ]

Now knowing who hired the assassin, they continue their search and discover the assassin waiting for them in the music room. He speaks in a thick German accent and seems strangely turned-on by blood. Flint is thoroughly weirded out. They dimension door away and rejoin the group. Olivia tells Gabriel what they know and Gabriel and the other Judges confront—and arrest—Howe and Morain.

With the two schemers caught and the assassin nowhere to be found, things are safe, for the time being. Olivia returns the thieves’ tools she never got to use, and her relationship with Victor seems to be on the mend. Flint made some new acquaintances in Lady Larsa and Lord Allenair, Epsil met with the Viera, Illivan caused some mayhem…

…And all is well, for the time being.

After another crushing defeat at the hands of the Band of Four, the party returns dejectedly to Victor’s manner. They are surprised to learn the Archibald and his commander, Vilara, are waiting to meet with them in the parlor. Vilara stands in stark contrast to the two noblemen, her hair kept short and utilitarian and her face marred with scars. She sizes up Nazarek, and the two exchange biting words. Despite both being military experts, the two have very different ideas of how an army should be run.

Archibald and Vilara express concern about a few issues plaguing the community. Although most forms of slavery are legal in Algassi, sex-slavery is not. Vilara wants the group to infiltrate the largest sex trafficking ring in the city, one frequented by nobles with more money than morals. The man accused of running the ring is Byron Vascale, a nobody nobleman known for his politics concerning slavery. Vilara advises the group that gaining access to the tradeshow is dangerous and difficult. You need either an outrageous sum of gold or good product. Vascale, it seems, has a thing for black-furred miqote. All eyes turn to Flint.

Flint and Lorian dig up some dirt on Vascale, and discover that he frequently visits a tavern to visit with one of the servers there. They aren’t sure what their relationship might be, but it’s obvious that she means something to him.

The gang—and their twin miqote “friends”—get fitted for some proper clothing, thanks to Senator von Mohrentz and his treasury. Olivia stays behind to kiss babies and shake hands. Epsil makes a sudden reappearance, confused as he has only been gone for a few minutes, yet it seems several weeks has passed. He is irritated and on-edge, and his problems with Andromalech seem to have only just started. He blinks in and out of the material plane at random, exacerbating his bad mood.

When the night comes for the auction, Flint plays the part of the seller. Broadside, Illivan, and Epsil pose as bodyguards while Albion poses as an accountant and bookkeeper.

A few awkward and unsuccessful conversations lead nowhere. The party meet the man in the wolf mask and take note of his large signet ring. When it’s Flint’s turn to auction off his “goods”, the girls put on a show, enjoying every second of the spotlight. It takes Epsil making a bold and risky move to progress the plot forward. He goes to the bathroom and then walks out. And he walks out. And he walks out. And he walks out.

Epsil causes a scene, using a combination of Mirror Image and Spiderclimb to wreak havoc. Meanwhile Albion and Illivan Dimension Door backstage and begin digging through paperwork. They find a few ledger books and secure the information needed to implicate Vascale. They also find a letter connecting Vascale and Hastick, raising questions about the candidates’ connection to the sex-trafficking ring.

On their way out, the party is surrounded by security. It takes Flint threatening the girl that Vascale visits for the party to even begin negotiations. Thanks to his smooth-talking, the party is able to leave the auction unharmed and with their information intact.

A few days later, the party returns to Victor’s manor where all their allies are waiting with grim faces. Vilara tears the party apart while Nazarek defends them, arguing that the group had done everything they were asked to. Vilara rips a sheet off the table and reveals a dead red-haired miqote—one of the girls the man in the wolf mask had purchased. She continues, saying that she was dropped off on Victor’s doorstep. “Where is her justice?” Vilara asks.

Victor and Olivia argue about his involvement. He reprimands her, blaming her for getting him involved in whatever mess the party is causing. He laments that his reputation in on the line and that he had no intent or interest in getting dragged into a rebellion. The two part on unfriendly terms.

Later, Vilara tasks the group with another mission, which Nazarek snidely comments that if she doesn’t approve of the party’s methods, she should stop asking them to do her work for her. The tension between the two continues to escalate, but the party agrees to look into things.

Members of the Adventuring Guild are getting sick. They are wreaked with convulsions, hallucinations, intense mood swings, and in some cases, death. Everyone suffering from this has one distinguishing symptom in common: blue-tinged lips, as though suffering from extreme hypothermia.

Vilara explains that this is an indicator of the dangerous and highly addictive substance known as Maiden’s Kiss, or Aether. Many years ago, it had been widespread throughout the slums. The city guard had hunted down and arrested (and hanged) most of the prolific peddlers. Without dealers, the drug faded out of circulation and life returned to normal.

Now it looks as though the drug is making a reappearance.

The party begins their search at the epicenter of the blossoming epidemic: the Adventuring Guild. They seek out Thea, the guildmaster, and start their investigation.

Thea tells the party where they get most of their supplies and the party focuses in on an alchemist named Sprigg.

Sprigg runs Sprigg’s Country Store, a small general goods store in the slums. When the party arrives, they discover an adorable, middle-aged halfling woman. She likes to talk, and the party learn quite a bit of (useless) information about her family, careers, and life. She gladly answers their questions, and Olivia and Illivan easily keep her preoccupied while Flint investigates the supply room.

After returning to the main room, Flint buys a few health potions and drags Illivan outside to test the purity of the poultice. Sure enough, it is contaminated with Aether.

Olivia believes Sprigg is innocent and advocates digging deeper into things.

The party reenters the store and finds out where Sprigg gets the ingredients for her potions. She tells them that she picks the herbs and flowers herself, but the solution comes from Warehouse 5, on the docks. The group decides to investigate the warehouse by getting jobs there.

Olivia and Flint take the nightshift, while Illivan takes the dayshift. Illivan works his shift with no issues and returns to the Smashing Pumpkin to relax and have a few beers. That night, whilst Flint checks boxes and cargo, Olivia organizes and alphabetizes their records. Olivia discovers that a ship belonging to Haloman Theros transports large amounts of potion solvent from Crassmere, several hundred miles away. Yet, as though by magic, the ship left every night and returned each morning.

Olivia and Flint sneak aboard the ship and find themselves in a secret compartment under the main cargo hold. Around them are several hundred crates of pure, concentrated Aether. Flint contacts Victor to let him know what they found.

They hear footsteps and realize they are being spied on by an invisible crewmember. They use their wit and cunning (and ball-bearings) to track him down and subdue him. Once the invisibility potion wears off, they come face to face with a tiefling who calls himself Void.

Olivia attempts to interrogate him with little success. He responds to each threat with a laugh. He does give up some useful information though. He tells the two that the ship docks at a nearby island every night, to make it appear as though they returned to Crassmere. He also names his boss, a mysterious figure known as the Moccasin. He implies someone important wants the people of Algassi drugged up, but he doesn’t know why.

Their interrogation is cut short when sounds of movement and activity can be heard overhead. Void seems certain that the two will be caught trying to escape, and laughs.

When he refuses to give up any more information, Olivia threatens him with a vile of the concentrated Aether. He doesn’t take her seriously at all, but doesn’t put up much of a fight as Olivia pours a vial down his throat. They watch as he dies, convulsing and laughing.

Olivia and Flint stay quiet and hidden in the secret compartment as crewmembers get to work. Once the ship comes to a stop in Algassi, the two find themselves burdened with a new issue: how to get off the ship. With all the movement upstairs, it would be impossible to sneak out. Flint once again contacts Victor, telling him about their dilemma. He is very unhappy to hear that. Before he can get too angry, Flint asks him to get in touch with Illivan and ask him to come to the shipyard. Victor replies, saying he will do his best.

Thankfully, Illivan makes it to the shipyard in time. He tries to talk his way onto the ship, but when that proves unsuccessful, he uses his Ring of Dimension Door to transport himself into the ship’s cargo hold. There, he meets up with Flint and Olivia, who quickly fill him in on everything they know.

The three agree to collect some vials of the Aether, for posterity. Through the clever use of the Bag of Holding, Illivan is able to transport the three out of the ship.

As if on cue, Victor arrives alongside the Algassi City Guard. While the guards round up all the smugglers and confiscate the illicit goods, Victor meets with the party. He informs them that he heard the entire conversation between the group and Void. He confiscated the groups’ Aether; some gave it up more willingly than others. Olivia handed over the paperwork connecting Theros to the ship. Victor looked over the files and informed them that, although extremely concerning, there wasn’t enough information to implicate Theros.

Olivia says the must do damage control for Sprigg, knowing that if word got out her store was involved in the scandal, she would be ruined. Victor argues that the party doesn’t have the time or resources to shelter some random little store from bad press. Olivia ends the conversation by subtly pulling rank, her words dripping with condescension, “I guess it’s a good thing we have you, then.”

Victor bitterly relents.

With the Ball quickly approaching, the heroes are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of preparation left to do. The next two weeks are filled with lessons and instructions, on everything from dancing, to table manners, to proper forms of address. In two weeks, Victor teaches the group everything they need to know to fit in among the elite.

Little do the heroes know, a storm is brewing on the horizon…

A series of unending events. The gang finally took care of James after dealing with some interesting characters. However they victory did not last long as they were ambushed by the Shadow guard as they tried to turn him in. Ollie was separated from the group at the time and was confronted by Gabe, however no one truly knows what happened as they had to make a quick escape. Using their amulets Andromalek transported them to Algasi where they found Albi freaking out about Art being captured again. Of course it was the band of four they wanted the book and the key. The gang went through alot of work to keep it out of their hands but at the end of the day The Band of Four got what they came for. The gang then Followed the Band of four All the way to Emerand. Where they tracked down the temple that the key and the book connected to. The door was Already open when they arrived. The party went through a bit traps, puzzles, acid pools. However none of that compared to Balamore the black dragon in the depths of the temple. It was a hard fought battle but Albi struck the final blow bringing the beast down. They acquired yet another Acrstone. However again the victory was short lived as The Band of Four showed up again damn near killing Flint and threatening Arts life once again. After all that work The Band of Four again got what they came for. What will happen next week

Unexpected Trouble. The gang all meet up back at the fort and Epsil rejoins the party and is caught up on current events. The gang proceeds back to Algasi to stock up on supplies, while they’re in the city they notice campaign posters are up for the two candidates for the upcoming election, but they put it in the back of their mind get their supplies and move forward. They are chasing James after all and dont want to leave him alone for too long as it caused many problems the last time they did. They started to make their way towards Buromisace, just a few miles outside of the city James has a new fort. However it was a 7 day trip and many things happened along the way. The first couple nights were uneventful however about the 3rd or 4th night during Illivaun’s watch the gang was drugged in their sleep and Illivaun was confronted by the same band of 4 that made off with the last Arcstone. They were looking for a book and a key and it wasn’t here they questioned Illivaun but he just told them it was probably still in Aqualarious’s shop. After that he was drugged and the gang woke up the next morning unharmed with all of their belongings. The night after that their camp was attacked by a wandering troll but they dispatched it and went back to bed, on the 7th day the found a naked Miqote woman wandering down the road she waved them down and begged for help. she informed them she was abducted by James and could show them where he was. she led the way for a little while, but then the gang spotted an Arcadian patrol. At the sight of this the woman jumped to her feet and started waving the patrol down stating she had been abducted by the gang. Illivaun quickly saw that this wasn’t a normal patrol they were with a commander and mounted. The patrol closed in an mounted combat commenced. During the battle Flint tried using spells but had no luck, as he eyed the woman he realized it was James’ mage the whole time, they had been setup. They fought their hardest but with the sound of reinforcements showing up it was time for a hasty retreat. What will happen next

You know, I’m really not that much of a religious guy like Illivan is so I have no idea if this counts for anything. Feel free to laugh at me for trying. I guess I just wanted to say thanks while I had the chance to say it. I had decided when I met you, that if I’m going to pick any God I might as well pick the one that laughs in the face of irony and calls it a friend. From that moment I’ve been at your mercy ever since, with you tossing me around amongst Judges, nobles, rebellion, and now even James coming back to haunt me with more irony. As some homeless nobody wandering around in the snow from town to town, getting thrust into this madness you would think I’d feel like a blind man in the dark. But I’ve seemed to adapt to this life as easy as breathing, despite the fact that half the time it’s tearing my physical body apart. All three of us seem to wake up with more scars every day. And yet every morning we rise up to meet each day, for better or worse, with a sense of purpose.

I’ve become allies with such powerful people, and individuals with increasing amounts of money and nobility. I’ve fought incredibly powerful forces and somehow I’m still alive and doing my best to bite back as they slug me around like a rag doll. I’ve got a steady income, from a tavern no less, and I’m managing funds for the construction of a fortress! Me! A wandering nomad who was living a simple life and settling down with a girl I loved. Yet in the blink of an eye she is about as gone as it gets. It still cuts deep sometimes. Seeing James makes it worse. Hopefully these next few days will be the end to this. Hopefully I can bring her some justice in one form or another.

I guess the point to me saying any of this is that the chaos you bring is what makes me feel the most alive. You’ve given me allies to fight for and fight with. You’ve given me something to fight for when I was at a place in my life where I wondered what the point was in joining the struggle. So thanks for giving me that, despite the fact that you make it perfectly clear every day I’m at the mercy of your whims. There is no room for complacency, and one should expect no mercy either. I get that, and I’ve made my peace with it.

I can’t help but notice that you seem to be flexing those abilities of yours more and more often, through Illivan especially. The other day he admitted that you’re in his head a lot lately, and he has been bursting with chaotic magic more and more often. How you thought of turning him it to a potted plant at that moment is beyond me. It makes me wonder, as our chaotic misadventures are happening across the country, is our disruption of the structured, iron fist of Arcadia giving you solely an outlet of entertainment? With the way things seem to be with Illivan my guess is that’s the case, but it makes me wonder if the increase in chaos on this plane, actually makes you stronger and more influential overall? It makes me curious, and the idea entertains me.

Well, I guess that’s enough of talking to myself like an old fool. I should get some rest. I must say, though, living under your banner these days always makes me unsure if I’ll wake up the next morning. What with all the insanity we go through on the regular these days.

**Later on that night Flint wakes up to a troll throwing a boulder through his tent. As much as he was upset, he couldn’t help but enjoy the irony.

Open the wound. After taking care of a bone naga the gang meets up and Flint informs them that there is something he has to do in Miridan. The party go along with him to discover he has been fighting in an underground fight club. Lorien has been as well to help gather intel on a target. They have been scouting for weeks and finally might get a meeting tonight. At the Drunken Spider they talk to Lucil to enter Illivaun into the ring. He starts the fight off ok enough but is disqualified due to unauthorized magic use, wild magic. During the fight Flint sits down to chat with Broadside, a regular in the ring. he discusses his employer which Flint suspects is James but has no proof and has been thrown off by the fact Broadside’s employer works for Arcadia. However right before they departed Algasi the guards stopped the gang and were able to see through Flints ,alter self. They were then accused of a very long list of crimes they know they didn’t do and were placed under arrest,or would’ve been if Ollie hadn’t set off that smoke bomb. Things were clicking in theory but why would James work for Arcadia. After the fight the gang met Broadside outside and were led to a small base outside of Miridan. After being placed in the “waiting room” if it could be called that Flint knew it was James. There were three miqote women chained up, and one of the crimes they were accused of was kidnapping. Broadside came and led them to another waiting room and indicated to Flint his employer wanted to see him alone. Flint entered the room only to be hit with dispel magic. James greeted him personally to gloat and chat more or less. James told Flint that Arcadia gave him a full pardon, all he had to do was make the gang look bad, he of course said yes. In the end James had his mage drop the illusion of the false wall where Flint could see a miqote woman about to be cut in half by a saw blade. James gave Flint a choice to chase him or save the girl. Flint of course saved the girl and let James escape. Ollie nearly killed Broadside trying to get to Flint. Illivaun had other plans though, he saved Broadsides life from the rest of the party and gained the location of where James would be headed next. The gang killed some goons and went back to free the other women. However James had the last laugh after all as Ollie freed the first woman a spike trap triggered instantly killing the other two women. The gang headed back to their Fort upset but at least they saved two of the women. What will be their next move.