The New Valentine

Our heroes decided to continue travelling north. After a few minutes, they heard Valentine's distraction go off and the screams of the residents of Herroda. After several miles, Maiwen spotted the cormorant she and Valentine had noticed apparently spying on them before. Maiwen took out her slingshot and in an impressive feat of skill, killed the bird in a single shot. She argued with Valentine about what to do with the dead bird, wanting to put it in her bag, fearful that there would be more birds coming after them. They agreed that the bird could go in the bag and Tiberius could come out. Valentine had a talk with Tiberius about his actions, which tried to justify by explaining that they had been attacked first. Valentine reminded him that they weren't murderers, that they helped people instead. Tiberius pointed out that they had killed the bird. Valentine immediately shifted the blame for its death onto Maiwen. He then started looking for ways to revive the bird, settling on trying CPR. Maiwen told him that what he was doing wasn't how CPR worked. She put a hand on his shoulder and told him that it wasn't helping. He then asked her how they were going to convince Tiberius to not kill people in the future. She didn't give an answer and said she needed to think. Everyone agreed to stop for the night and set up camp.

As Valentine finished setting up a campfire, he looked up to see Horgarth emerging from the shadows. He said that they killed his bird, and attacked. Within a few seconds, Tiberius turned Horgarth into a rabbit again and he was placed in the bag of holding. They decided to cook the bird and give it to Horgarth as food, then settled down for the night. During his watch, the last of the night, Valentine spoke to Horgarth, who was still inside the bag. He asked if there was any point to the bounty hunter chasing him. Horgarth said his reward was incentive enough. Valentine asked who his client was, whether it was a town council or several town councils that had banded together, however Horgarth seemed surprised at the idea and said that the identity of his client was stricktly confidential. Again Valentine asked whether he was really worth it and perhaps there was someone else he could be chasing instead. Horgarth then fired his crossbow at him. Rather than being hit with a regular bolt, Valentine was struck with one that had the tip replaced with a small parcel that exploded into a powder upon impact. Coughing an spluttering, he just managed to shake off the effects of the powder. Valentine said that he would stay in the bag, then walked a short distance away. After a few moments, he turned around to see Horgarth climbing out of the bag, apparently with the aid of a strange metal rod. He revealed a rope, which sprung to life and entangled Valentine.

Tiberius woke up to see Horgarth holding up a bound and struggling Valentine, who he was removing of his staff and spell book. He quickly roused Maiwen and Anagis Alba and they all rushed to save their wizard. Horgarth immediately conjured a giant boar to fight for him, which Maiwen tried to reason with, to no avail. During the fight, she created a tidal wave, drenching the entire area and unfortunately knocking Valentine unconscious. Horgarth then conjured a barrage of attacks, which also knocked Tiberius unconscious. He then ensnared Maiwen in magical vines and escaped.

Maiwen healed Tiberius, who then freed her from the vines. She turned to a tree and began hitting her head on it, telling herself to think of a way to save Valentine. Tiberius said they needed to rest and heal up before they could go after him, but Maiwen argued that they needed support. They were too far from Warcester to get any help from the gladiators though; she found herself completely at a loss and started praying to Fenris for help and guidance. As she did so, Tiberius noticed something glowing behind them. He found it was Wayfinder, Valentine's compass, next to his staff and spell book. As he picked it up, a small ball of glowing yellow light emerged from it and floated a short distance off, then stopped. He put Wayfinder in his bag, then took the spell book, which Maiwen noticed. She took it and reminded him who it belonged to. As they argued over who should carry it, the ball of light returned and started buzzing around his bag, where Wayfinder was. It pestered him until he took out the compass. He petulantly refused to give it to Maiwen, so she slapped him. He still refused to give it up, and said that they would save Valentine once they were rested. The ball of light then burned his hand to make him drop Wayfinder, letting Maiwen take charge of it. The light then floated off in the direction Horgarth had left in, and waited. She then mounted Anagis Alba and started to follow.

Tiberius stopped her and proposed that they rest and then catch up to Valentine and Horgarth by turning Maiwen's "god" (Anagis) into a giant eagle. Maiwen seemed aghast at such a suggestion. When asked to repeat, he said they would make her god fly and that she was welcome. Smiling, with barely concealed contempt, she said they wouldn't be doing that. When asked why not, she exploded and shouted that they wouldn't be changing a god into an eagle. She insisted that they needed an army and he pointed out that they had no way of getting outside help. Using one of her few remaining spells, she cast Speak With Animals to talk to Anagis and ask for his thoughts. She explained that Tiberius wanted to turn him into an eagle. Anagis replied that if it would help her, he wasn't opposed to it. Maiwen then started crying and he consoled her. She asked what would happen if he got stuck as a bird. He said even if that did happen, he would still stay with her, as it would still be him, eagle form or no. She asked Tiberius how dangerous this was, and he assured her, with some annoyance, that it wasn't dangerous at all. In turmoil over what to do, she started hitting her head against a tree again. With great reluctance, she agreed, saying that it was a one time only thing and that it would never happen again.

Once they were fully rested, they set out, however despite turning Anagis into a giant eagle, held back their pace so they wouldn't leave Worgar and Kelree (travelling on Dusty) behind. After a day of travel, Wayfinder led them to the strangest building they had ever seen. Made entirely of metal, it towered eight stories tall, with a giant chimney coming out of its far end. Wasting no time, Maiwen knocked on the door. It was opened by a homunculus with a clipboard who was successfully intimidated into letting them all enter, still seated on their mounts. Inside, they found a loading bay of sorts, filled with large crates and a small amount of personel, given the late hour. As they passed through the room, they heard a squeak and saw Ketifa run out from behind a crate and into an elevator, apparently startled by their presence. Maiwen and Tiberius decided to leave Worgar and Kelree with Dusty in the entrance chamber while they chased after Ketifa, as Maiwen wanted some more answers from her. They took the second elevator, barely managing to fit Anagis Alba inside. After pressing a button randomly, they found their elevator rising to an upper floor.

They found themselves in a rather large room with no windows and a high ceiling. In the center of the room was a huge glass vat filled with a conglomeration of hundreds of floating lights, not unlike the one that came out of Wayfinder. Scattered around the room were dozens of smaller vats, all on plinths to put them at eye level; each of these were empty and all connected to the larger vat via metal piping.

Tiberius took the moment to point out that he had never really had the Fletcher and other alchemists situation explained to him and then asked for one. Maiwen told him that they make homunculi and showed him Ketifa's old arm, the one that had a melted hand. Repulsed that he had been inside the bag with it, he asked why she even had it on her and she replied that it was evidence of their cruelty. They heard the door slam and turned to see Ketifa before them. In a voice that was not hers and far more cruel sounding, she taunted them on their lack of ability to follow clues. Her appearance then changed, switching to that of Erui's. They asked if they were surprised. Maiwen said she wasn't really and asked for them to go away so they could find Valentine. Instead of answering, Erui attacked. They quickly knocked Tiberius almost to the point of unconsciousness, at which point he cast Feign Dead on himself. Hearing the commotion inside, Anagis managed to force himself through the doorway and come to Maiwen's aid. After a harrowing fight, Maiwen was left stunned on the ground. She asked Erui why they did it, and they told her it was just a bit of fun.

Meanwhile, Valentine had woken up to find himself tied to a chair in what was clearly an alchemist's lab. Horgarth was also in the lab, waiting for something it seemed. Horgarth revealed that they were in Steina and that, unlike Valentine had previously thought, he was not being paid to catch him. It seemed that, while Horgarth was getting a reward of sorts, it was not one he was overly excited about. Horgarth then assured him that he wasn't going to die or lose any limbs. Valentine asked for something, anything he could tell him so he could mentally prepare himself for what was to come, anticipating that somone was going to enter the room and be very angry with him. Horgarth told him that "she" wasn't angry with him and didn't hate him ... and was also late. He then left to find her.

After being left alone, Valentine immediately tried to get out of his bonds. He was unable to free himself, however his feet weren't bound and he managed to make his way to the desk with the chair on his back like a turtle. On the desk, he found a letter addressed to Bee.

Dear Bee,

I am shocked and disappointed to hear about the expiry of one of my homunculi. Rest assured, I will make good on my promise. You should start setting your affairs in order soon, I don’t believe that Warcester will be so pleased to find out that their beloved arena is owned by a homunculus.

Regards,
Hirlo Rhoken

He then discovered the existence of three small and unique creatures, all made from burlap and sculped metal. They introduced themselves as Stitch, Gadget, and Squeek. He asked them for help escaping and they readily agreed. They suggested that Hirlo might be able to help, but he quickly shot that idea down, now having an idea of who hired Horgarth. They found a pair of scissors and started to snip away at the ropes around his wrists. They scattered and hid however when three people entered the lab. The first was a human woman wearing a leather apron dress; the second,  a drow wearing a gothic dress, who had a strikingly similar appearance to Neriss, albeit with a gaunt look about her; and the third was Horgarth. The human woman commented that Horgarth had taken a lot longer than usual, then offered another job for him escorting Vidya to her. She dismissed him then turned her attention to Valentine and greeted him warmly. She introduced herself as Hirlo Rhoken and told him he gave Horgarth a run for his money "this time", not that he was being paid. She commented that he had also grown in the year since she last saw him. He asked if they had met before and she coyly answered that they had met once or twice. She assured him that everything would be over swiftly and was surprised and amused at his suggestion that she was about to torture him. She prompted Lesandra, the drow, to start, and watched as she approached him. Lesandra said that she was truly sorry about what was about to happen, and Hirlo admonished her lightheartedly, telling her she didn't need to say that every time. Lesandra put her hand on Valentine's shoulder, and he knew no more.

Maiwen forced herself to her feet after a minute or so, and found an apparently dead Tiberius. She told him that she was sorry, she didn't know where he was going. Unbeknownst to her, Tiberius was fully conscious but unable to react. She dragged his body onto Anagis's back, then continued their search for Valentine. She found him on the same floor, tied to a chair and completely unresponsive, though alive. The glowing ball of light that came from Wayfinder, however, floated past Valentine and stopped by a curtain covering the corner of the room. Maiwen pulled it back to find a tiefling asleep in a cot. After exploring the lab briefly and taking some jars filled with unidentified materials, she slapped the tiefling awake. He awoke very confused and disorientated. After a few moments of commenting on how the world was spinning, Maiwen coerced him into helping her put Valentine's body on Anagis. As they started on this, the ball of light returned to Wayfinder. After hoisting Valentine's body onto Anagis, Maiwen started to lead them outside. The tiefling was reluctant to follow her and wanted some questions answered. She promised to answer everything he wanted to know once they were outside. He insisted and she agreed to give him five minutes. She introduced herself (with her full name of course) and briefly explained that they were in a bad place and needed to leave.

They managed to find their way to the entrance Maiwen and Tiberius had originally come through and only narrowly escaped the buildings security. Maiwen was knocked unconscious during their escape and had to be rescued by Anagis Alba, as the tiefling chose to save his own skin. The tiefling presently found himself outside the strange buidling with a giant elk and three unconscious people. Naturally, he started rummagging through their things. He was joined by Worgar and Kelree, who had been hiding not too far away with Dusty. They introduced themselves and all agreed to get somewhere they could rest for the night.

Not long after setting up camp, Tiberius's Feign Death wore off and Maiwen woke up. The tiefling was shocked to find the apparently previously dead half elf come back to life. Maiwen was similarly shocked to see Tiberius alive and thought that she might be dead too. Tiberius confirmed that they were dead and welcomed her to hell. She started wailing that she hadn't done anything to warrant that. The tiefling demanded to know where they where, who they were, and why Maiwen had such a long name. Tiberius introduced himself and prmopted the tiefling to do the same. He told them his name was Valentine, then pointed out the coincidence of their dragonborn companion having the same name. After questioning him for a short while, Maiwen announced that she knew what had happened. Somehow, Valentine had been placed in another body. After Tiberius expressed his doubt in her, she presented her evidence; they had the same name, she had found them in the same room, the tiefling didn't remember anything before waking up in the lab, which was a similar story to Valentine's. She then theorised that this could have happened more than once, maybe even four or five times.

Shocked to hear that he may once have been a dragonborn, Valentine said that they had to go back. Tiberius strongly objected to this. Maiwen suggested that they needed someone with experience; the only person she could think of being her grandma, however she seemed reluctant to go home, as, in her words, it had been a while. They only decided on a course of action when Kelree appealed to Valentine and said that the old Valentine had promised to take her home. He agreed with a certain lack of enthusiasm and announced that he would be returning to the strange building.

The next morning, the group set out towards Kelree's home. After an hour or so of travel, they came across a dead ankheg in a village. It seemed that it had just been slain by someone who had immediately run off afterwards. Our heroes were asked by some concerned villagers to find the two women who killed it as one of them had been injured badly during the fight. Maiwen went alone in search of them and eventually found them on the moor. To her surprise, it was Castell and Tristan. Overwhelmed, Maiwen started crying, considering the reunion to be the best thing that had happened over the past few days. Castell was badly wounded, however Maiwen knew from past experience that a homunculus cannot be healed with magic. She asked where they were going and Castell explained that they were looking for Jun who Fletcher had sent away after our heroes had left Hazelhaven. She did something wrong and had been taken away with Ornia. After that Castell had been the oldest homunculus there and was left to take care of Tristan and Nemo (the homunculus Maiwen and Valentine witnessed being created). Nemo never spoke and was scared of swords and fighting, which defeated her purpose of being a guard. Fletcher told Castell that if she couldn't make Nemo useful, he would "recycle" her, so she decided they should run away and look for Jun. During their recent fight with the ankheg, Nemo had run off and gotten herself lost, so Castell asked for help in finding Nemo.

Maiwen agreed to help and with the help of a robin, managed to find Nemo curled up among the roots of an ancient tree. Terrified by the appearance of a stranger, Nemo ran off again, so Maiwen had to have Anagis Alba pin her down to make her stop moving. Maiwen then send a spirit messenger to Tristan telling her she had found Nemo, forgetting that Tristan didn't speak much Common, only to remember when a reply was sent back saying, "Maiwen! Hi!" Luckily, Castell had also been able to hear the message and was able to guide Tristan using the directions Maiwen had given them. Once they had calmed Nemo down, the reconvened with the rest of Maiwen's companions, making sure to keep Castell's wound hidden so her status as a homunculus would remain secret. After asking around about an alchemist, they were told of someone named Eugene, a mysterious and dangerous person who lived not too far away.

While they made their way towards Eugene's home, Maiwen introduced the new Valentine to the homunculi and announced that their plan was to put his soul back in the old Valentine's body. Valentine resigned himself to just go along with it for now. Tiberius proposed that they keep the old Valentine's body inside the bag of holding so people wouldn't see them walking around with an apparently dead body.

They arrived at Eugene's house, a tall, ramshakle building, just as there was a large explosion of water from behind it. Our heroes raced around the house to find the wreckage of some metal tank of water and a boy in his early teens who had been caught in the blast. Though unharmed, he seemed a little stunned at having the tank explode in his face. It was quickly established that this was Eugene and Maiwen announced that they were in mortal danger and needed his help. She dragged Castell forward and presented her to him. Eugene took an immediate interest and told them that he could repair her easily. He then asked if they were adventurers and offered them a job of sorts. He explained that he needed security to go recover a prototype he had been working on, which he described as a coiled platinum filament inside a vacuum tube that would light up when the battery was turned on. He needed to recover it because he used to be the apprentice of a dwarf named Tordim Coalsunder until he had been kicked out a week prior. Coalsunder hadn't let him take anything with him when he left, including his prototype. Eugene's plan was to sneak into Coalsunder's workshop and take the prototype back, while our heroes would be allowed to take anything else from the workshop they pleased.

They went into Eugene's workshop/lab so he could repair Castell and Maiwen asked him to take a look at Valentine as well. She described the two Valentines as "old Valentine" and "fake Valentine" and described the building where they found them. Eugene identified the building as the Mandragoda Labs, a laboratory slash factory where pioneering alchemists made homunculi en masse; a place that he himself held in high regard. He seemed very skeptical that any alchemist at the Labs had moved a soul from one body to another, then started geeking out about the things they did there. Maiwen grabbed the front of his shirt, started shaking him, and told him that he was going to help Valentine and tell them exactly what had happened to him. Valentine stopped her and tried to find a non-violent solution to the situation. She grabbed the front of his shirt as well and pointed out that he had no idea what it was like to lose a friend because he didn't have any. She said that everything would be fine once he was back in the right body, and he pointed out again the lack of trust he had in her. Valentine asked what the dragonborn Valentine had been like and whether he had family. Maiwen told him that he couldn't remember, but that they had given him one themselves.

Eugene set to work repairing Castell. He examined the old Valentine as well, but admitted that this was beyond his expertise. That night, he and our heroes went to the entrance of Coalsunder's workshop to infiltrate it. Maiwen decided at the last minute that she would not join them on the quest and took a seat on the ground outside. The others fought their way through traps and puzzles before finally making it to the workshop proper. There they found Coalsunder, dead. It was evident he had been dead for about a week already from the smell alone. On the next floor down, they found a second corpse, with two people standing over it; a tiefling and a half orc. Tiberius immediately noticed the striking resemblance the tiefling had to Rohiri. She quickly defended them, pointing out the smell coming from the corpse that indicated how long it had been there. After a round of explanations and introductions, during which the intruders gave their names as Normal and Torgan, a truce was agreed on. It was also established that Normal and Torgan had entered the workshop using a teleportation circle that Coalsunder had installed.

While searching the workshop, they met Nell, a war homunculus who had most of her body replaced with machinery, and found several magical items along with a few sticks of dynamite. After searching most of the workshop from top to bottom, Eugene eventually found his prototype. Normal and Torgan still hadn't found what they were looking for however and needed to continue their search to the forge. Eugene warned against this as there was likely a creature down there. While he had been alive, Coalsunder had created a psychic link between himself and the creature as a means of controlling it. Now that Coalsunder was dead, there was no telling what had happened to the creature, but it was unlikely to be friendly. Tiberius and Valentine decided that they might need help with the fight and asked Normal if she had any way of contacting Maiwen. As it turned out, the two had in fact met before and Normal would indeed be able to send a message. Maiwen sent a reply to the message, indicating that she wasn't particularly enthused by the idea of coming down and claimed that her friends had been mean to her. A plan was hatched to grab her attention; the dynamite would be set off in the teleportation circle room to make her think they were in danger. The plan worked and she eventually found her way down to the workshop.

She started a tirade against Valentine and Tiberius but cut herself off when she spotted Torgan. She threw herself at them and clung to them, making a very uncomfortable half orc. She announced that she had a message from Mog and started to relay it only for Torgan to stop her and desperately ask if she knew where he was. She said that she knew he was in a parallel universe, then relayed the message, "I'm sorry." She then started celebrating, shouting out her joy, completely oblivious to the room's atmosphere. She explained that she hadn't been able to give it to Rohiri because she died, to which Normal and Torgan reacted to with confusion. Normal pointed out that she wasn't dead, which caused more confusion. She said that her birth name had been Rohiri, but that she later changed it. Eugene interjected and asked for confirmation on Rohiri's death. Maiwen then launched into a mini meltdown about how everyone around her was dying. Torgan tried to calm her by asking her to tell them more about Mog. The calming didn't work however and she began to shout about how she had seen him in visions and that she had been rescued by Fenris. She said that they had gone to rescue Rohiri and Vidya, at which point Torgan interrupted. They asked for clarification; there used to be a homunculus named Rohiri who looked just like Normal, and there was also possibly another homunculus named Vidya. They and Normal both seemed to be having a bad reaction to the name "Vidya". Normal explained that the reason they were in the workshop was so that they could find something, then give it someone else in exchange for an item that would help them find Mog.

They entered the forge to find an illithid. They fought and managed to kill it, however nearly lost Torgan in the process.

Knowing that Lucas was supposedly one of Mog's other siblings, Maiwen asked Normal and Torgan where Lucas was, then distracted herself by showing them Fletcher's finances. It was established that Normal and Torgan didn't particularly know Fletcher and that Lucas hadn't been raised with them, despite being part of the same group, the Seven. They had all been chosen to be part of this group to, as Normal explained excitedly, save the world. They explained that the Seven was formed by an elf named Kindroth with the goal of saving everyone who died in Auwela during the Eternal Storm. Kindroth himself would be the one to actually save everyone, due to how powerful he was.

Torgan then found what they had been searching for, a spider-like clockwork being. Eugene explained that it could be used to spy on people by recording conversations. Maiwen asked him to show them what was already recorded on it and after some time he was able to get a recording to play. They heard two people talking, who Eugene identified as his mother and Coalsunder. Normal and Torgan recognised the voice of Eugene's mother and revealed that they would be taking the clockwork spy to her at the Mandragoda Labs. Valentine kicked up a fuss and said that he wanted to go back, to which his companions objected to. They eventually decided (after Valentine cast Suggestion on Tiberius so he couldn't open his mouth) that he would go alone with Normal and Torgan, while the others waited for him at Eugene's. Maiwen told Normal and Torgan not to go looking for Mog without her. She expressed that she wanted to be part of the Seven and was upset that she was going to be left alone with Valentine and Tiberius. Everyone said their goodbyes and Normal used the teleportation circle to take her, Torgan, and Valentine to the Labs.

Once they were out of the workshop, they saw a figure walking towards them through the fog. He stopped before them, outstretched a hand towards Maiwen, and said, "Maiwen. It's time to come home."

Once inside the Labs, Valentine, Normal, and Torgan formulated a quick plan. Valentine would try to get his answers covertly by remaining invisible. Valentine asked that they do mention that they had met him when speaking to Hirlo. They were then met by a dark elf who greeted them and suggested they get breakfast before seeing anyone. Normal later explained that this was Lesandra who worked as security for Hirlo.

After eating breakfast, and while Valentine was still invisible, they met with Hirlo. They exchanged the clockwork spy for a scrying eye, then asked her about Valentine. Hirlo explained that he was an experiment and had never in fact been a dragonborn. She denied knowing anything about how to move a soul from one body to another and went on to explain that she had created several Valentines', none of whom were the same person. She said that she hoped they didn't think she had harmed anyone in the process of her experiments. Torgan then asked about the homunculi named Rohiri and Vidya. Hirlo told them that she sometimes was inspired by life and did indeed create Rohiri in the image of Normal. She said that Vidya was just a name she had liked, however Torgan wasn't satisfied with this answer and suggested that the name hadn't been hers to use. She chastised them for putting a claim on a name that many people likely had.

They said their goodbyes and Normal took Valentine to Hirlo's lab, while Torgan went elsewhere to do something. Inside the lab, they found two journals filled with encrypted text that Hirlo had written herself, which Valentine kept, along with a whole bookshelf of books on alchemy. They also found a couple of books with a more philosophical style of writing, the subject of which was the soul. This made Valentine think that perhaps Hirlo hadn't been quite honest when she said she did nothing with souls. While there, they were found by a young adult woman. She asked if he was Valentine, and when asked who she was, said she would tell him her name in a minute. She said that she had been told that he couldn't remember anything. She revealed that she knew Normal and Torgan and was at the Labs while she waited for them to finish their business. Throughout this exchange, Normal seemed quite uncomfortable with Valentine and this girl being in the same room together. The girl asked Valentine a question: if he could, would he destroy evil? He said he supposed he would. She then asked if he would still destroy it if the evil was an innocent. He said that he didn't think he could. Apparently unconvinced by his answer, she thanked him for his time and left. When asked, Normal gave the girl's name as Ellie. Confused and wanting more answers, Valentine ran out the door after her, only to see her talking to Lesandra outside. He froze, then ran back inside the lab and announced that they were in trouble. Lesandra entered the room and said that if he wanted to know more about what Hirlo did to him, she could help. Feeling he had no options, he went with her. She led him to the teleportation circle they had come through and told him she could send him somewhere that could help him find answers. He would need to come back to the place she would send him in exactly one hour if he wanted to come back. He asked why she was doing this and she said she wanted him to bring someone back with him. He found her to be entirely genuine and felt compelled to help her.

The place she sent him was another lab, this one far more uncomfortable to be in than any at the Labs. Dark and partially disused, there were old blood stains on the ground and wicked looking instruments on the walls. He found a third encrypted journal which he also took. He encountered a strange humanoid creature with pig-like features and disturbingly human eyes, which attacked him. In order to escape it, he ran through a corridor which housed a cage for a terrible beast with the body and head of a lion, goat horns, dragon wings, and a snake for a tail. At the end of this corridor was a room filled floor to ceiling with cages for all manners of chimeras. While trying to hide in this room, he met a talking snow monkey, who asked him to let her out. Having nothing to pick a lock with, he tried to melt it with fire magic as Piggy entered with a charged weapon. He started climbing the cages away from it and the monkey managed to free herself by flinging her cage onto the ground. She managed to drag Piggy to the ground and kill it just before it reached Valentine.

The monkey explained that she had woken up a few days ago and put in the cage by a woman Valentine suspected to be Hirlo. He commented that she was the most delightful company he'd had in the past few days and she said he was the most delightful company she'd ever had. When asked if she had any incriminating evidence against Hirlo, she told him that she was pretty sure she had turned her into a monkey, as she hadn't always been one. Valentine commented on how much they had in common. They continued Valentine's exploration of the lab, freeing one of the chimeras in the process; a small thing that seemed to be a cross between a kitten and a lamb. It bolted as soon as its cage was opened and they didn't find it again. They then found a staircase which led up into a homely but abandoned cottage in the countryside.

Once their hour was up, they made their way to the teleportation circle, which Lesandra then activated from the other side. She escorted them out through the main entrance and Valentine told her about his worries that he hadn't found as much as he wanted to. Lesandra told him it would have to be enough, then advised the two of them to find Manaia, who she described as a cleric of the Raven Queen. On their way out, they overheard Normal and another unknown person talking about how they would be heading north to either Obren or Rothos next. Lesandra returned to the Labs once they were outside.

Once out of the Mandragoda Labs, Valentine and the monkey ran.