Apparel in Peril

## Introduction

The lightning rail to Starilaskur, the closest major rail station to New Cyre, could only be described as uneventful. The hub of Eastern Breland, farmers make their way to the markets in exchange for the growing industry of textiles based on the city. The walls of the city are thick and well maintained, boasting not only of the city’s wealth but its proximity to the Thranish border. It’s been several decades since the last siege, but the council here would rather be safe than sorry if the templars were to get any ideas about crossing the Brey River.

You meet an Orien contact at the rail station driving an elemental land cart. While normally reserved for privileged nobles, this earth-elemental powered vehicle is a small thank you to the Foundation for returning the bodysnatched heir from the schemes of The Collector. The land cart makes quick work of the journey to New Cyre, a city of massive wealth disparities. The outskirts are little better than tent cities, as refugees who lost everything struggle to make ends meet. But the center of town is ornately crafted in that signature Cyran flair. The Prince’s house is no palace, but the stone construction stands out amongst the primarily wooden structures. A retainer greets you at the door and tells you to treat yourself to the small banquet prepared for you – a veritable bounty of spiced meats, flatbreads, sauces, and a healthy mix of vegetables.

“The prince will be with you shortly” the retainer states before moving off to some other business.

## Expedition Summary

The party's introduction with Oargev went well, learning not only that he was interested in recovering the Cyran regalia, but in giving his mother a proper burial. To help on the adventure the party receives a large bottle of Goodberry Wine, enough for six glasses worth. Returning to the land cart, the driver gives them a bonus objective to investigate the Lightning Rail station in Metrol, using a magical device in the main control terminal to assess damage.

After heading back to Starilaskur, the party takes some time to stock up on supplies - healer's kits and the like. One long travel montage later, the party walks into the Mournland, choosing to follow the trail of conductor stones rather than strike away and risk getting lost. However, the party also discovers the higher density of threats this way, as winged horrors swoop down to attack. Hektor managed to smite an approaching horror as it swooped in, but then fell to their terrifying screeching and claws. The party rallied to defend their friend, felling a horror and severely damaging others, convincing the horrors to fly away and look for different prey. Only half a day's journey in, the party retreated to outside the Mournland to rest up and try again.

Traveling into the Mournland, the party makes excellent progress through the mists and makes camp about an hour outside of a town. The next day they go to pass the town, but briefly shelter in a barn when it begins to rain cat and dog bones. Journeying onward, the group decide to make camp inside a forest rather than outside it. Unfortunately for them, three ghostly girls show up with a Living Silence. Still, the brave Wayfinders cut through the ghosts after Kiln enchants Moss' glaive. After the fight, the Wayfinders get lucky and discover a witch hunter's cabin, protected and stocked with holy water. The next morning, on their way out of the woods, the Wayfinders got totally lost and ended up finding a Witch's cabin. Bursting out of the cabin was a stitched horror, which (after felling it) they discovered was the fusion of the witch and the witch hunter.

The party eventually arrived on the outskirts of Metrol and rested up in a farmhouse, burying the family that had lived there and having a small party with the craft brew they found. The next morning, refreshed and ready, the Wayfinders decided to take the northernmost entrance to the city via the Metrol River. While Water Walking in they were attacked by a mutated black dragon, which Leo tackled and pinned to the deck of a boat that Maryn had commandeered, allowing Moss to unleash a flurry of blows. The beast managed to fell Leo to loosen his grip, but Maryn finished the beast by following it into the water.

The party took their commandeered skiff into the royal docks, climbing aboard the Mishann. Naturally, the boat was covered and filled with those that had passed on the Day of Mourning. The Wayfinders cleaned up the bodies by organizing them on the top deck then planned their first objective in the city - the ir'Kavay estate. Inside the estate, Kiln found each of his faces manifest as corpses around the dinner table. In the attic, Kiln discovered The Gentlemen - Thiago Alamilla, an Aundairian spy who fell in love with Theodosia. The Wayfinders discovered this secret history and recovered a large quantity of documents from the house, including the full unredacted and annotated history of Theodosia's service.

The next day, the Wayfinders unsealed the engine room only to find that it was missing the Khyber crystal with the bound elemental. To resolve this they would have to find a Khyber shard with a bound water elemental to power the Mishann. With this new objective added to their list, they next chose to venture up to the royal palace to retrieve the Regalia.

Greeting them was a small society that had been living inside Metrol. Invited in, the party met Empress Donata of the Free City of Metrol. They took a few hours to refresh themselves before dinner, when combat broke out after the Wayfinders failed to succumb to the drugged food. The Wayfinders successfully fended off a horde of minions, but in that timeframe Donata managed to escape. The party returned to where they had left their stuff only to find it taken. Moss managed to track Gedd to the armory, where after a successful fight the Wayfinders recovered their gear. Choosing to interrogate the subdued Gedd, the Wayfinders discover that these are Magebred, humans given enhanced abilities by House Vadalis experiments. However, the Wayfinders also discover that their interrogation only gave time for Magebred assassins to arrive. Fortunately, the Wayfinders successfully defeated these new assailants.

After the fight with the shadowy assassins, the Wayfinders navigated down to the dungeons to look for captives. They found a dozen prisoners strapped to medical chairs and wearing some kind of helmet that glowed purple. The prisoners bore signs of weeks of torture but were missing significant spans of memory. Amongst the imprisoned the Wayfinders found Peyton d'Cannith, from Cannith East, the previous crew of adventurers sent by Oargev, and a group of scavengers.

Venturing back towards the royal sanctum behind the throne room, Kiln assumes the disguise of Donata and expertly persuades her guards that conditions have changed and to head elsewhere. Masterful lockpicking by Maryn, plus careful and quiet foot steps from the rest of the group, enable the Wayfinders to get the drop on Donata, ambushing her within her safe room. Having chugged half a dozen potions, the party makes quick work of Donata and her defender.

The party goes to find the guards they sent away but instead discovers the palace is now shockingly empty. Unwilling and unable to continue their day, they rest in the royal sanctum. The next morning the party leaves to visit the palace-turned-Cannith facility, where they discover it to have been mostly looted. Still, in the lower levels they find a lab with a Khyber Shard golem that has a bound water elemental in its core. The party fights and defeats the golem by breaking an opening into the core and Moss ripping it out. After the Cannith facility the party tries to visit the palace occupied by House Phiarlan, but finds the teleporter to it is in poor condition. As such they choose not to risk it and return to the Mishann so their freshly-freed allies can rest up.

Deciding not to risk another day, the Wayfinders make their way to the ir'Brenith estate. While not the stealthiest either way, they manage to fend off the spirit beasts that do attempt to attack. Inside the estate the party finds various birthday preparations for Leo, whose birthday was on the Day of Mourning. Jawbreaker uses Speak with Dead on Leo's mother's corpse, and after some questions discover that the High Archon Imperius blessed Leo's family with angelic protectors.

The next morning, on The Mishann, the Wayfinders conduct a ritual to replace the Khyber Shard with the new one and the bound elemental. A small rift to Kythri accidentally opens up mid-process, but the Wayfinders work in unison to close it. On their way out, they defeat a colossal Steel Kraken that was trying to prevent The Mishann from leaving the Mournland. As they traveled northward, House Lyrandar forced the Wayfinders into port in Stormhome, where the Wayfinders negotiated that they would keep the ship if they let the Lyrandar artificers study the ship for a week, without Maryn having to join the house. In the end, the Regalia was returned successfully to Oargev, although the Wayfinders did not manage to locate the Orien Lightning Rail station.

## Epilogue

*North of Metrol, While the Wayfinders are holed up in Stormhome*

Donata spills from the pod, screaming, wretching. She claws at the tubes feeding into her body, pulling them away with wet, sucking noises

Like a baby deer, she stands, and weakly walks to a mirror

“iT wOrKeD!?”

She coughs grey-green cloning fluid into a basin, it evaporates into Grey Mist before it can ever reach the surface

“Now.” she croaks, trying to get used to new vocal chords

”To Find out who killed me...”