The 22nd through the 24th are the party's journey to the dragon temple and back.

Vera, wild shaped into a spider, tags along with Madamge Argosia for most of the 25th. She meets with people, mostly people who owe her money and representatives of the adventuring guild. In the evening, her assistant Krevan informs her that her contacts wish to meet that evening to discuss where things are going now that the dungeon is gone. Eventually Vera breaks away to let Dorean know about the meeting, and whether Dorean is okay with them continuing to follow her. Dorean consults with Luna and Ward about following Argosia to her meeting place. Luna and Ward pass by Argosia's manor, Ward turns her invisible, and Luna sneaks into the manor. About 40 minutes after dusk, Argosia opens a panel near her front door, leading to a hidden chamber in which sit three mirrors hung in a semi-circle around a platform holding a crystal ball. Placing a bare hand on the crystal ball, the chamber and ball glow, and the mirrors cloud over before revealing two individuals and an empty chair. One has long sharp ears, pale skin, and blood-red eyes wearing a mask over the bottom half of their face. The second individual has a large, spherical, purple fleshy mass that is mostly just mouth with a large central eye, with many more eyes on stalks surrounding it; it is the most blinged out beholder ever. The empty chair sits at a messy desk positioned in front of a large window looking over a city in night and on the other side, large bookshelves. Eventually a figure violently joins in the final mirror, a dissheveled figure enters. They have dark-skin, short-hair, a small diamond nose stud, and a simple, but expensive monocle. The beholder demands to know what Argosia intends to do now that their revenue stream is gone; they suggest finding "alternate work" for the townsfolk. Argosia suggests building a new dungeon, as the adventurer guild has done previously. The council approves of her plan. She has Krevan make contact with "the brokers of the eminancy," and retires for the night.

The party gathers together, Vera and Luna catching the party up on what they learned. Vera wants to tell somebody about what they learned, but everyone else thinks that's too risky. They decide tell Cecily—who was in bed with Leonora when they find her—about the situation. She says that Argosia is Daring's replacement in the group. The Fourth Act encountered Daring somewhat recently, perhaps implying that they were involved in his removal from their counsel. The group is practical, doing their best to avoid drawing attention to themselves, but they are reasonably powerful and generally above the law. The group is called the Consortium—Cecily calls them the Pretentiousary. The Eminancy is a wealthy, secluded nation southeast of Oceanside; their higher ranking members keep "designer beasties" as status symbols, so she is likely looking for a way to stock the dungeon. They decide to plant a few agents in town to keep an eye on things, as well as tell Aira at the guild about what Argosia is up to. They also decide to ask Invicta to write some articles about the current state of Erawald, post dungeon explosion, so that the town is in the eye of other people.

The next day, Ward and Dorean let Aira at the adventurer guild know generally about what is going on, and to let the group know if things start being especially suspect. They also speak with Eri, to see if they had any information that is useful. They caution that telling Argosia that they know about her connections with the Consortium, as they don't know how she might react, and the party won't be around to protect Beck, Cici, and the rest of town. They ultimately decide not to talk to her, unsuring that their knowledge of her activities remains an advantage to them.

Vera spends the day helping local farmers with various animal-related tasks and casting Plant Growth on someone's field. Luna asks Dorean to repair an item for her that had been destroyed in the fire, which she readily agrees to.

Mira asks Leonora if there was any more information about the object that they had traced into the atmostphere. She says there was only small piece of metal and some propellant. They have no way to know the purpose or origin of the object, though they can guess where it was from. It was likely smaller than the size of a standard person, perhaps some sort of probe.

Leonora and Ward determine that they should work toward one of two options: building a gate or crafting a spell for traversing shard walls. A spell would be faster, but perhaps more unreliable. A mechanical gate would be more stable, but harder to make and protect. They decide that the spell would be the best option, as it can also be taught to multiple people.

Cassath finds Dorean to ask about Merely. She had been given the information about who had owned the badge: Aila Vofesti, from Ranniracal, Sarfalu. By foot it is a miserable month's journey. Dorean requests that she keep a message for Merely letting her know where they are if she comes back to town. Cassath gives her the paperwork, but not before pointing out that it's strange that Aila's badge showed up this long after the Shattering. The notes state that the last place Aila had checked in was somewhat near Erawald. Dorean takes this information to Ward, who contacts Merely via Sending to see how she is and how she's traveling. Merely is traveling via foot and has found a stick bug hydra.

A week before departure, the group gets together to discuss their plans for going to Oceanside: primarily attempting to relax where possible and otherwise looking for information about their mission.

Bahamenth 7th, the Fourth Act is prepared to leave. While saying goodbye to her sisters, Cici asks Dorean if she wants to help pick out an outfit for Beck—she has a date.

Introduced

• Krevan - Madame Argosia's assistant
• Unnamed - pale individual (vampire?) Argosia works with
• Lord Xairen - beholder Argosia works with
• Lorienne - messy individual Argosia works with

Returning

• Madame Abigail Argosia
• Cecily Cardew
• Leonora
• Aira - human woman - adventuer's guild worker
• Eri "Thumbs" Pyxis
• Chassath - silver dragonborn - adventurer's guild worker

Mentioned

• Daring - replaced by Argosia on the counsel
• Merely

• Gekkogrip Ring (Vera, given as payment by an elderly couple)