The Twins

In the morning, the party is invited to a secret auction scheduled for the afternoon. Taigus pays a visit to Nimrya. While relaxing in the Ruby's bar, Lau senses that someone is scrying on him, leading him and the rest of the party to search the city for culprits. They eventually learn from Boyle that only a select few mages in the world are capable of casting a scrying spell. Lau is given more information on the enchanted city of Vel Talyth and its ruling order of wizards, the Goldsages.

At the auction, three items are up for bid: a wizard's hat, an alchemy jug, and the deed to a bankrupt noble's castle. Lau wins the bid for the hat, a portly nobleman wins the bid for the jug, and Dobbs, the man whom Lau was trailing the day before, wins the bid for the castle. Roach asks the auctionmaster about Dobbs, learning that his first name is Aramis, that he and his twin sister Alma own a shipbuilding company in Duskharbor, and that they are known among the high society of the Vale to be reclusive.

For weeks, Tingle had been searching Riverdrown's underworld for an illegal alchemy jug. Suspecting that the one sold at the auction was the same one he had been tracking this whole time, Tingle visits his goblin "friend" Shank to clear the matter up. Taigus, itching for some excitement, goes with him. After the two Enforcers grill Shank, he confesses that he was the seller of the jug and that he had previously lied to Tingle about having it. Tingle cuts off his hand as punishment, then confiscates the large sum of money he earned from the sale. That night, Aramis sits down with Lau at the Seventh Ruby and buys him a drink. He speaks about his master's wish to meet the party. Roach finally meets Verren Gunderson, one of the owners of the Seventh Ruby, and makes the man a nearly perfect bone statue of his likeness.

The next day, the party organizes a caravan to Xantorin to collect its wood. Enroute, Azak-si tells Hachiman that the orochi were the ones responsible for blowing up the laboratory he was being experimented in. He thanks her in a roundabout way, recognizing that he'd probably still be in the laboratory if it weren't for the explosion. As the party approaches the eladrin village, they hear thunderous sounds emanating from it. Lau and Taigus scout ahead, coming across a pile of eladrin corpses, shattered buildings, and a cloaked woman searching the settlement for something. Lau attacks the woman from behind, but rather than retaliating, she calmly gives him and Taigus a chance to turn back the way they came and leave her to her business. Not intimidated by her, the two elves stand their ground.

As the rest of the caravan catches up, the party surrounds the woman and learns from her that she is searching for an ancient orb, which Roach and Tingle surmise to be the Orb of Craving. Sensing the party knows about the Orb, the woman changes her strategy, demanding the party to help her find the artifact instead. Roach firmly refuses, preparing to attack her. As tensions escalate, Hachiman steps in to present a solution: the party will help her find the Orb only after they've collected their wood. She agrees to this. Roach and Lau realize that the woman is Aramis Dobbs's sister.

Several hours pass before the party finishes. They strip Xantorin down to its foundations. Alma, having had no luck at finding the Orb on her own, reminds the party of their arrangement. However, Roach continues to express discomfort in helping a random stranger find a dark and powerful artifact, so he asks to first speak with the person who sent her to the village. The rest of the party sees no problem with this, but this visibly frustrates Alma. She reluctantly accedes with one condition: the party must return with her to find the Orb, without exception, if that is what her master requests.

They arrive at Riverdrown the following night. Alma takes the party to the docks, where they board a bone-crafted yacht named *The Prince* and descend into its smoke-filled cabins. There, the party is shocked to find Xauld, Alma and Aramis's master, smoking a cigar. He wants the Orb to help him conquer the world. In turn, he claims a united Iornu will be able to better defend itself from an eldritch monstrosity, who is apparently fated to return soon. The party remains perplexed by all of this, so Xauld gives them a day to decide if they want to help him find the Orb or not. As they are leaving, Roach agonizes over what to do.