Dorean and Eck roll initiative. The Lab guys' torsos swell and become mishapen, jaws distending, eyes glazing over with the rainbow sheen, and their pupils become hexagonal-shaped. During the scuffle, a crate is broken, shattering the vials inside and causing a mass of wild surges. Hobbes is confused during the course of the fight as well. As the combat dies down, the center of the roof is torn away and a large creature descends upon them. A female, bandaged from head to torso, long iridescent claws on each hands, Merely giggles madly in the center of the room before attacking. The fury of Wrath causes Dorean to attack back. Merely's blood glows instead of showing the rainbow sheen of the others. Merely is powerful, barely taking damage and performing a lot of powerful attacks rapidly. She knocks Eck out, and Dorean entreats she leave her allies alone. Merely considers her request, dragging her in close and painfully, absorbing some of her shard energy and leaving Dorean exhausted. She tells Dorean to "find Papa" for her, as she needs the people Dorean killed. She then leaves the way she came, stating that she would be watching as she does so. Unable to collect payment on the job, Eck drestroys the rest of the crates, and the party heads back to the airship.

Mira and Ward return to the airship with far too many pastries to find Eck and Vera in the bedroom hallways. Eck and Vera, having caught each other up already, catch Mira and Ward up on the events of the morning. Vera retrieves Dorean from her room and they all convene in Luna and Ward's room to discuss matters.

Luna explains that her father goes by Meneldin and is a full elf with the same pink hair and eyes that Luna has. He fights similarly to her and has strange healing magic that she doesn't understand. He was the last person to see her mother and sister, and has said he'll tell them where they are if they go with him on this next mission. Ward questions his involvement with the Shard Research League, as Salassae didn't have anyone in the area to look into the shard. She further explains that he likes to torture people for fun, using the ability to heal people so thoroughly to his advantage. He is officially a mercenary out of convenience, giving him an avenue to kill people legally. Luna describes her missing family in case the party were to run into them, her mother being Lyra, and her sister named Celia. She also expresses safety, as "if he's alright, they probably aren't." They make plans to potentially escape and rescue Luna's family. They also decide to discuss the job with Salassae to confirm whether that aspect of his story is true. The party agrees that they will make what preparations they could and go with him to find her family.

Dorean explains that she and Eck learned where the vials were headed, a lab in the sewers in Kitheroc. The people who were picking up the crates were researchers who took something while she was talking to them, transforming them into horrible shard creatures. Their strange transformation was more of an augmentation, but the plan is to further that research. Dorean describes Merely and indicates that she is someone else to avoid at all costs. She is almost certainly the person who wrote the journal from the shard. Dorean agreed to help her find the lab in Kitheroc. They discuss plans to locate the lab.

The group discusses their next steps. They also share their discovered information about the Red Prince and Eternal Horizon. Ward vaguely explains that a friend of the Fourth Act has gone missing, and he wants to tell Cecily about it, though decides that Sapphire can tell her about that. Pastries are distributed, and Ward and Dorean sneak off to have a conversation. Dorean asks him if she looks normal relative to herself; he notices that the edges of the shard material in her body have receded somewhat. There is something like a rash around the puncture wounds at her neck, hexagonal in nature. They discuss the implications of this. Dorean eats the pastry she was given and is alarmed that she can smell and taste it. Ward says it's made with magic, but a food he ate growing up. The two depart to do some shopping.

Luna, Eck, and Mira debrief Cecily about Luna's father, the vial delivery gone wrong, and the Red Prince and Eternal Horizon in dock. Vera arrives with Sapphire soon after, and Sapphire explains what was learned at Life is Pain. She takes note of all of the updates, requests they continue to pursue information about Talthis because that is important, and frowns about the news about Xelbari.

Luna, Vera, Eck, and Mira go to the adventurer guild. Eck and Mira are looking primarily for signs about Talthis. While they don't find any information about him, Mira notices some interesting notices.

• A bronze rated quest for clearing the cistern—removing a large creature that has taken up residence in an underground water collection
• A notice about elves going missing around town, and their bodies are found without their ears. Not all missing people have been found or elves.
• A quest to kill dangerous creatures—a thunderback
• A quest to kill a dangerous creature—a wyvern in the mountains.

Luna and Vera return to where Meneldin and his crew had been hanging out. Some of his crew have departed, but a few remain. A stoic individual sits in the back in an ominous shadow, watching but almost friendly. A somber individual in samurai armor is to the side, perhaps not even with the group, sitting with a woman. A goliath sits with Meneldin and a stack of empty tankards. Meneldin is idly petting a Tabaxi woman curled up on his lap. They'll be leaving in three days, and then it's another day's hike to the destination—it's a week east from Kitheroc on foot. The initial survey is already done, but there is a monument on site that needs to be cleared out. Payment for Luna and the party is an even share in whatever loot they find and the last location of her family. The expected enemies will be traps, robots, and potential undead. Meneldin is unwilling to give information about his party composition, so Vera and Luna do not volunteer theirs.

Dorean and Ward look for a shop to find somewhere to find spell scrolls. After several false starts, Ward notices the wagon belonging to Wandering Merchant Gramble. Gramble recognizes him, a strange but nice day for Ward. Ward purchases a magic quill, then requests information about what's been going on in the Kingdom of Autumn in the last year or so. Gramble agrees to give him this information in exchange for an IOU, wherein Ward will be required to purchase something without question in the future. Ward agrees. The Princess of Wolves is antsy with Ward's charge missing. The Warden of the Fang is also missing, but this isn't unusual. Duke Eraeus wants Ward's head—or whatever piece of him the court is willing to bring him. The Fang has said Ward is under his protection, which is unusual because of their previous lack of connection. Ward offers that without being able to get the Duke on his side, the Fang might be trying to get Ward on his side. There are probably a small number who would disbelieve the Fang's decree and also desire the Duke's offered reward. Gramble suggests he exercise caution around any fey he encounters. They move on to the Perched Parchment, where Ward scouts out the availability of scrolls. Ward proposes an idea to ask around about Valthis Tim in an attempt to find any information about Talthis; Dorean opposes the idea. They go about trying to find anything about Talthis in a normal way for the rest of the afternoon.

Dorethe—owl harpy—and Inumoder—storm jotun—are working the afternoon shift. Vera bothers Cricket about any rumors she's heard about people and places in and around town. Cricket is unable to provide any further information that the party does not already know, though lack of news about the shard incursion and Talthis' involvement is encouraging.

Introduced

• Lyra
• Celia
• Abernathy Quirval
• Gramble
• Niserie
• Dorethe
• Inumoder

Returning

• Hobbes
• Vinter
• Cecily Cardew
• Sapphire

Mentioned

• Alibi
• Talthis Vim
• Merely
• Red Prince

• three job listings
• Quill (1 sp, 14 cp, purchased by Ward)
• Information about the Kingdom of Autumn (a future purchase, purchased by Ward)