While sat at their table at Kavv's (see KA14. Nightmare on the Mournland Express), the party were caught between competing job offers from Dalia Dorian Korran and Lhara. Lhara seemed unimpressed by their company, and offered them work across Khorvaire and even to continents beyond. However after Dalia Dorian Korran pushed that her assignment was time-sensitive, Lhara left them and joined her colleagues at a different party.
Dalia Dorian Korran first pushed the party for more information about the rescue of Drevin ir'Roole, as she believed the party was responsible rather than Max Murock as had been claimed by the Sharn Inquisitive. The party gave her some information, but Selene d'Lyrandar cited their discretion as an asset, so declined to give the full information. Dalia Dorian Korran revealed that she had been asked to approach the party on a sensitive matter by friends of hers from Zilargo; it was understood that she was clearly referring to The Trust, the secret police that oversee much of Zilargo.
A ledger had been stolen from Dalia Dorian Korran's friends by House Tarkanan, the criminal organisation formed of members with aberrant dragonmarks. It was understood that the ledger was to be auctioned off that very night; the party was required to find out who the buyer was, and if possible recover the ledger itself. The only clue that they had to the auction's location was an informant known as The Spider, part of the Tyrants criminal gang. With some directions, the party headed to the Tavick's Landing district.
The area where the Tyrants were based was a known Changeling district; Arc was quite comfortable, despite never having seen this kind of community before. The rest of the group were quite thrown by Changelings in their natural form, often changing appearance on a whim as they walked by. When they found The Spider, they found him wearing Selene d'Lyrandar face. The Spider knew about the auction and where it was to be held, and was prepared to offer the information in return for a series of favours. He offered them three, and said that two needed to be done as payment for the information.
With time being of the essence, they decided to split up and tackle the favours separately. Selene d'Lyrandar headed to a nearby district to find Maeora Toothad, a member of the Sharn City Guard. She was to hand over a payment, and in return receive a passcode. Selene d'Lyrandar wandered around until she saw the guard that she was looking for, patrolling with her partner. Using her Mask of Many Faces ability, Selene d'Lyrandar disguised herself as a fellow member of the City Guard, and approached them asking for Maeora Toothad help finding a specific location. She persuaded Maeora Toothad to follow her to a back alley, where Selene d'Lyrandar was able to give over the payment that she had from The Spider. In return, she is given the passcode 'Panther Green Thirteen'.
Arc was tasked with observing a dead-drop, and finding out who was picking up the package. She made herself invisible to easily scope out the dead-drop, and was soon rewarded with the sight of a human dragonmarked heir making the pick-up. She followed him through the crowds for the best part of an hour, losing him at one point when he double-backed and stepped into an alley. However eventually the thickness of the crowds proved too difficult, and Arc lost her target.
Elias Minch and Smith were given a package to deliver to Granny Larebeth, who ran the Stonebridge Fosterage; apparently a front for the Boromar Clan. On the way, they were waylaid by a pair of harpies; Smith was able to kill one, but Elias Minch was overwhelmed by the other's song; he ran towards the creature, falling off the side of the walkway into the open space below. Fortunately he landed on an air elemental, who carried him until Elias Minch felt comfortable jumping onto a bridge underneath. Separated from his companions, Elias Minch felt that he had no choice but to return. Luckily it was Smith that was carrying the package; he continued to their destination, and handed over the package to Granny Larebeth. In return he was given two special cookies to give back to The Spider.
The party all returned, to find The Spider wearing Elias Minch face. With two successes, The Spider agreed to supply the information that was available on the auction, although the disappointment in the failure of Arc in particular was obvious. The auction was taking place in the Mad Warlock's Tower just across the road, which was owned by Jolgar Tarkonan. It was understood that Jolgar Tarkonan had broken away from House Tarkanan, so presumably the ledger had been stolen from his former organisation. The Spider was able to also provide a floor-plan, but did not have an invitation to the event.
Seeing people start to arrive, the party headed out to try and get inside. Elias Minch headed around to the side of the building, and taking a rope from Selene d'Lyrandar managed to climb up to an open window on the top floor, approximately eighty feet up. There he clambered inside, and used some silk cords to extend the length of the rope so that the others could climb up. Meanwhile Arc adopted the form of Leandra d'Phiarlan again, and walked up to Thaddeus Soldrack, a dwarven lord that was approaching unaccompanied. She persuaded him to let her enter on his arm.
Selene d'Lyrandar used her Mask of Many Faces ability to look like Faela ir'Tollan, the noble that they had met on the train. She then decided to walk up to the next group, and bumped into them deliberately. However she was unable to use the brief contact to steal the invitation; with this failure, she waited until Elias Minch had lowered the rope, and then she climbed up to join him.
Smith decided to keep watch outside the front door. The rest of the party assembled inside; they could see several other noble figures already in attendance. On the stage on one side of the room could be seen several artefacts that would be auctioned. These included a small black notebook that the party assumed was the ledger that they were after; a smooth silver sphere; a mirror with dragonshards embedded into the corners of the frame; and a beautiful bird in a gilded cage. Keeping one eye on the ledger, the party decided to mingle with the other guests to see if they could find out who was after the ledger.
Arc decided to approach a gnome that introduced himself as Egranth Threll. Their chat was brief, however, because Egranth Threll was accompanied by a bodyguard that was wrapped up, and had a very strong smell of rotten flesh. Arc and Selene d'Lyrandar both wondered if this was somehow connected to Echo, the warforged that they had encountered in the Silvermist Theatre that had a similar smell. None-the-less, the smell soon became too powerful and Arc had to withdraw from the conversation.
Selene d'Lyrandar approached a woman that she thought she recognised, Serena ir'Forlin. The noble had an accent that identified her as being from Aundair. Their conversation was also brief, as Selene d'Lyrandar found that the woman was decidedly evasive in her answers.
Elias Minch chose to approach four bald men wearing dark robes who were trying too hard to appear if they were mingling. However as he got closer, the four pulled out daggers and yelled 'Fear Reveals Truth' (cultists of the Fear Reveals Truth organisation), and started stabbing the other attendees. A fifth also appeared from out of nowhere, clearly the leader of the group. Elias Minch immediately stepped into to try and protect the innocent civilians. In the momentary confusion, Arc and Selene d'Lyrandar both decided to try and grab the ledger. Arc was slightly quicker, using Invisibility to hide herself as she dashed to the stage. Selene d'Lyrandar decided to hide herself by casting Fog Cloud, obscuring a large part of the room. She too headed towards the stage, but by that point Arc had already grabbed the ledger.
Elias Minch was soon supported by Smith, who battled through the evacuating crowd to get into the room and assist. But while they soon made swift work of the cultists, in the confusion someone knocked over the mirror on the stage; with a crash, it shattered, and from within a creature not unlike the one encountered on the Lightning Rail (see KA14. Nightmare on the Mournland Express) was seen. Arc dropped her Invisibilty, and instead disguised herself as one of the hobgoblin guards in the employ of Jolgar Tarkonan. Selene d'Lyrandar cast Blink, and started randomly disappearing onto the Ethereal Plane.
The cultists were quickly defeated, and the creature was driven back. However it reached out to Elias Minch with its tentacles, and before the monk could react he found himself possessed by the creature. With no control over his body, he charged towards Arc. The creature was able to force Elias Minch to attack Arc before Elias Minch was able to regain control of his own body; in the confusion, Smith was able to kill the creature from behind.
The remaining cultists called to their leader, who they named as Nolan, to grab the ledger and run. However with the creature gone, they were no threat for the combined attack of the party and Jolgar Tarkonan hobgoblin guards. The party took the opportunity to disappear into the crowd, splitting up as they heard the sounds of the Sharn City Watch approaching.
They reconvened at Kavv's for breakfast the next day with Dalia Dorian Korran. Arc was able to have a quick look through the ledger before handing it over, but was unable to decipher any of the contents, as it was in several languages that she didn't recognise. They also informed Dalia Dorian Korran of what they knew about Val Gultesh, the cultists and Echo, as there seemed to be a connection. With their pay in hand, they then left to see what the future might hold...