While transporting the body of Faela (see KA13. The Fallen Mad, Part II), the party passed the time in their cabin on the Lightning Rail. They were joined by Daellin, who had missed their previous adventure but managed to catch up to them when they boarded the train in Sharn.
Eventually they were lulled into sleep by the slow movement of the train. They awoke after what seemed like several hours; curiously this even affected Smith, even though the warforged artificer had no need to sleep. Looking outside the window, the party could see that the landscape was not the rolling Brelish countryside that they expected. Instead, it showed strange mists that several of the party recognised as belonging to The Mournland.
They left their cabin, with Elias Minch carrying the body of Faela in case they needed to make a quick exit from the train. Searching the nearby cabins, they found that the rest of their carriage was deserted. While deciding which direction to go, they heard sobbing coming from the carriage to their rear; it sounded like Joachim, the upset child that the party had encountered earlier in the day. Entering into the carriage, with Selene d'Lyrandar in the lead, they saw a figure in one of the far corners, where the sound of sobbing seemed to be coming from. Selene d'Lyrandar headed over, and reached out to comfort the crying child, but as she touched him, the child turned around and revealed that it wasn't Joachim at all; it was a strange undead creature instead. A battle quickly ensued, with several members of the party struggling with fear against this terrifying creature. Daellin reacted oddly to the creature, by initially asking it to leave - the rest of the party was somewhat confused as to why he thought this would work. But when this failed, Daellin was able to kill the creature with several well-placed arrows; it quickly dissolved, leaving nothing but a strange pool of ichor behind.
With a lurch, the party felt the train suddenly speed up, well beyond the pace that they would expect the Lightning Rail to go at. Smith immediately expressed concern that at this acceleration, the train would soon be going too quickly to stay on the trail laid out by the conductor stones; a sharp corner would cause the train to crash. The party therefore decided to quickly run to the front of the train, to see what they could do about stopping the train before they or any other passengers that they came across were killed.
Entering the dining carriage where they had eaten only hours before, the party were confronted by the disturbing sight of several bodies hanging from meat hooks; these appeared to be the other passengers. Heading into the kitchen, they found the cabinets bare and covered in dust, as if the room had not been used for several years. Continuing on into the first-class cabins, they saw that as they entered several of the rooms on one side were occupied; with a crash, a huge creature covered in spikes and armour came into the corridor, before charging towards them.
Arc decided to use this as an opportunity to show off a new spell that she had just mastered, and flung a Fireball at the charging monster. However she misjudged the distance; and while she did hit her target, she also caught herself, Daellin and Selene d'Lyrandar in the blast radius. Another vicious fight ensued; Daellin and Selene d'Lyrandar found themselves caught on the spikes on the armour. The others waded in to fight; Smith used Heat Metal to great affect, causing the monster's steel helm to glow red-hot, causing constant agony.
With a combined onslaught enough to fell the huge creature, the party carried on charging towards the front of the train. As the dashed through the remainder of first class, they felt another lurch in the train. Getting to the front, they realised that this was a sign that the engine had been decoupled from the carriages that it pulled; there was now nothing to slow the carriages down. Seeing no other choice, the party prepared to jump across the widening gap to the engine. Arc was first to leap; she didn't quite make it, but grabbed onto the handrailing, her feet coming into contact with the lightning energy emanating from the conductor stones below.
Selene d'Lyrandar told the rest of the party to wait; then using her Mark of Storm, she summoned a Gust of Wind to help propel them over the gap. After they were all over, Smith threw back a rope to the waiting Lyrandar pilot; unfortunately by this point the gap had widened even further, and she was not able to jump all of the way. Channelling the lightning energy through her Mark of Storm to help her resist it, Selene d'Lyrandar was able to hold on until the party combined to pull her rope up and she came up to safety.
The door to the interior of the engine was locked; Smith successfully picked it, but before it could open the door transformed, into something resembling the door of a bank safe. It was at this point that it became apparent that they were not in reality; they were instead in some sort of shared dream, that was shaping the world around them in an effort to prevent them entering the engine. They climbed up to the top of the train; with the wind billowing around them, they looked to see if there was another way in.
They then realised that as this was a dream, then perhaps they could reshape reality itself. Using a spell that they didn't know themselves, but were aware existed, Selene d'Lyrandar and Arc used Dimension Door to pull Elias Minch and Daellin through to the sealed interior below them, but they were unable to take Smith, who instead headed to a maintenance hatch that could be seen beyond the arced lightning in front of him.
The rest of the party landed within the engine; but it was not the constructed environment that they were expecting. Instead they found themselves in a large chamber made of bodies, with strange purple glowing energy surrounding everything. In front of them was a large fiend, that was apparently feeding off the psychic energy of the sobbing Joachim. The fiend said that Joachim had pulled the party into the dream in order to protect him, and he would let the party go free if they would just leave Joachim to him. As one, the party refused, and charged into battle.
It was clear that the creature was fearsome, doing heavy damage to both Elias Minch and Selene d'Lyrandar. But the battle was swift, with Daellin getting the final blow with his bow. Selene d'Lyrandar gently went up to Joachim to comfort him; with this, the world around them dissolved, and they all awoke to find the train pulling into Vathirond station. There they were met by Bludak Mal K'shaar, accompanied by several paladins of the Silver Flame. They took custody of the body of Faela, and Bludak Mal K'shaar treated his friends to a meal while they waited for the train to be ready to return to Sharn. The friends swapped stories, and were pleased to see that Bludak Mal K'shaar was being recognised for his skill and expertise.
The return trip to Sharn was uneventful. They were met at the station by Dalia Dorian Korran, a gnomish reporter for the Korranberg Chronicle. She showed them a recent news article that she had read about their exploits, Sharn Inquisitive Issue on the Kidnapping of a Noble. She offered them a meal if they would listen to her request for help. She lead them to Kavv's, a restaurant within the Clifftop district of Sharn. As they began to discuss what it was that Dalia Dorian Korran wanted them to do, they were approached by another figure that recognised them. She introduced herself as Lhara, and wanted to know why the party had not followed up on the card that she had delivered to them previously (see KA11. Curtain Call, Part II).
Clearly there were several people interested in recruiting the party, and there would be no opportunity for respite...