First thing in the morning, Dorean braids Vera's hair for her birthday, then takes one of the vials of mysterious liquid to Ward to potentially identify. He is able to determine that it is made of similar stuff as the barriers of the shards is made of, giving off a similar energy and scent, but he otherwise is uncertain what it is or what it might do. She doesn't remember seeing anything remarkable about the surrounding area where she found the bottle. Ward expresses interest in what would happen if someone drank it, to Dorean's alarm. Dorean returns the vial, and the two go to breakfast. Mira, Luna, and Eck also make their way to breakfast.

Vera, after accidentally sleeping in late, is stuffed into a bag and dropped into a ball pit at the head of a table. The entire crew and her party sing several birthday songs at once. She makes a wish and takes two goes at blowing out the candles on her cake. The others give her gifts, though Cecily instructs her to open the locket that was her gift in private. They enjoy a party lasting until about noon. The party helps Vera get her gifts to her room, where she changes into the outfit she was given. She also looks at the locket, which has a picture of her mom holding her when she was a baby. It is magicked to display a recording of them, with her mother poking at cheeks and smiling and commenting on how fat her cheeks are. She scolds the person for recording her, but accepts that it's a good memory to look back on. Cecily knocks on the door and wishes her a happy birthday, explaining that she thought Vera might be feeling a bit homesick around now. She also explains that the Fourth Act is planning on doing a practice run at a vault in town. It was designed by the same person who designed the vault that is their actual target in Kitheroc.

The party heads off to Versilla's tower to ask her some questions. Ward pulls Dorean apart from the group as they walk to ask whether he's allowed to share the existence of the vials with them. Dorean would rather not, nor does she really want to share it with Versilla at this point in time.

The three kobolds answer the door, announcing that they are being packed, that Helion told them not to read until they were on the way. Ward brings up that he didn't say he couldn't look at the pictures, so they run off and do that. Versilla comes down and the party asks their questions. She explains that planting the corpsewillow heart would result in another corpsewillow, which they all agree would be a bad idea. She says that some artificers could potentially use them to make magical items, but it would require someone incredibly skilled or incredibly reckless. Ward suggests Keera Andromeda, which Versilla agrees with wholeheartedly. Vera asks about grafting a branch of the corpsewillow onto her staff. This will either turn out fine or really bad for her staff. They decide ultimately to send a letter asking about this to Victor Zarius of Mudwall College, head of the enchantment department. They also send the heart to him.

Ward visits Aloten to buy some alchemists tools and to ask how he might learn what mystery potions are. She suggests perhaps doing a taste test, but otherwise the tools will be used.

Introduced

• Orville Polaro - special effects mage for the Fourth Act

Returning

• Talthis Vim
• Da Crew
• Sapphire
• Alibi
• Cecily Cardew
• Arlen
• The Kobold Triplets
• Versilla
• Aloten

Mentioned

• Helion

• Dress, boots, pants, thieves tools (+2 sleight of hand to conceal object on my person; from Da Crew to Vera)
• Hair Stuff (from Sapphire to Vera)
• Weird frog-shaped rock (from Alibi to Vera)
• Ironwood buckler (from Talthis to Vera)
• Silver locket with a magical photo of her and her mom (from Cecily to Vera)
• Wooden case with art supplies (+1 to art checks; from Ward to Vera)
• Realistic polar bear plush (from Mira to Vera)
• 25gp (from Luna to Vera's hoard)
• A drawing of Dragon Vera and every bat reference possible (from Luna to Vera)
• Adventure novel (from Dorean to Vera)
• Alchemists tools (purchased by Dorean for Ward)