The Saviours of Salvation finally return back to Salvation, with Sky Blue and Earl following shortly after. They find an immense floating citadel, the Argonth, moored to a corner of the outpost, and pause for a few moments to marvel at the sight. However, they're almost knocked over by a dwarf on a strange bicycle like contraption barreling towards them. He introduces himself as Tellarak Natharon, the nephew of Sulring Mroranon, and claims to have heard that the squad is looking for his uncle. He hands them a ribbon from his beard along with the phrase "Tell'n wants to borrow a wrench", so they can identify themselves as his acquaintances if they ever meet Sulring. They also find Tarric, who has made a name for himself as a salvage broker, and offers the party a selection of potions he scrounged up in the Grey.
They settle into the tavern to sort through the mail they'd all received in their absence. In addition to Sky's letter, Elloven receives a care package from Jinx containing homemade Thranish snacks and Jorasco-licensed herbal medicine, Khetari gets a letter from her adoptive family back in Flamekeep wishing her a happy Rampartide, and Isabelle receives a top-secret officially-stamped envelope from none other than Dalin d'Vadalis. Glayder, however, does not react while the others open their gifts, seemingly caught off guard by a sending spell from Arishtava. She looks thoroughly shaken, and spends the rest of the morning in an angry, terrified daze.
Before they can dwell too long on the cool things they've received, they're interrupted by an imposing warforged, Big Bara, entering the tavern and formally requesting their presence at Argonth. After complaining a little at the suddenness, they enter the citadel, and are led through mazes of corridors until they find Alain ir'Ranek's office. He greets them by name, saying he's heard all about their skills as Mournland navigators, and would like to hire them on for a mission. Apparently, warforged raiders loyal to the Lord of Blades have been attacking the Brelish border and taking captives to somewhere in the Mournland. He offers Khetari a compass to help navigate towards a tracker that Bara placed on one of the warforged, as well as some coin in payment (unfortunately, due to shortages, he can't pay as much as he'd have liked).
The group ventures forth into the mists, and even with the compass to help them, the trip proves to be rather difficult. After a rough few hours of walking in circles, Glayder finds herself able to draw on the Mournland's power to turn invisible, and Elloven feels his very molecules drifting apart. They continue on and spot a strange formation: an octagonal patch of flattened land about 150 feet in diameter, with a small cache of Eberron dragonshards hidden near a corner. Isabelle digs through the pile and recovers a lamannian flint shard, then the group continues on.
A few more hours later, the compass needle spins erratically as they approach what looks like a lightning storm -- consisting of several living spells assaulting an air elemental -- brewing over the dismembered body of a dead warforged. The group intervenes and destroys the living spells, though Glayder notices that one of the lightning bolts seems to burn more than it shocks her -- eerily reminiscent of some of Ari's modifications to her spells. As she freezes in terror, Isabelle speaks to the grateful elemental, who mentions that it was stuck in a "big metal machine", and that its friend, the dead warforged, was murdered by the "metal boss". The elemental offers to lead the group to said machine, now that the compass is broken, and they follow.
After another couple hours, they finally find it: a modified Cannith hovercraft, retooled with additional defenses, lands in the distance as an electrified border fence pops up around it. They scout the exterior for a bit, and Isabelle finds a single door in the fence, which she picks after getting a rather nasty shock -- that Glayder fortunately absorbs with her mark. Their approach isn't particularly stealthy thanks to the clanking of Glayder's ass cheeks and a few dog-like constructs notice them as they enter, leading to a quick fight.
After the steel defenders are dismantled, the inner door to the compound opens and a single warforged, wearing a handler's glove, steps out to check what the commotion is. He seems panicked that the group "killed" his dog, and Elloven grapples him, demanding to know where the hostages are. The warforged is understandably pissed and terrified to disobey the orders of his Captain, and struggles to escape, until Glayder reassures him that no harm will come to him and she'll help him escape safely. Still shaking with fear, he introduces himself as Pierce, and his dog as Spot. He handcuffs everyone and asks them to pretend to be new captives to divert suspicion.
Pierce leads them further into the compound, past a pedestal containing dismantled warforged body parts with the inscription "Parliament of Gears Supporters" scrawled under it. When Glayder asks, he explains that this Parliament is a group of warforged who support the Lord of Blades, but as a ruler along with an elected parliament, not as a god. He seems even more terrified at the mere mention of it, saying that the Captain brutally dismantles anyone who is a member of this group.
Eventually, he takes everyone to the middle floor of the compound, to a cramped windowless room where the captives are held. There are eight of them, in various states of injury and exhaustion. One, a tiefling in an eyepatch, asks why she should trust that the group will actually break them out, and Elloven briefly considers beating her into submission before Glayder and Isabelle step in and reassure her that she'll just be taken to Salvation and dropped off at the rail station. She finally agrees, but still seems distrustful of the intimidating half-orc.
The group devises a plan to create a distraction. With a pained expression, Glayder takes out a sentira cat figurine Ari had made for her, which grows into a full-on tiger with a dopey grin and overly happy demeanor. The tiger runs to the upper floor of the compound and causes chaos while the group helps the injured captives onto stretchers, but in only about ten seconds, Glayder feels her link with the cat fade out -- something had killed it. A contingent of warforged soldiers breaks into the room with the captives, severely injuring the party's front line, but is dispatched eventually thanks to Khetari and Isabelle firing at them from range.
Partway through, a terrifying warforged with a jagged spear -- Captain Reeve -- arrives to put an end to the commotion himself. Pierce flat out freezes in fear as the Captain chides him for his treason, calling him "boy" in the most condescending tone imaginable and sparking a quick discussion on warforged gender. As Elloven contemplates how terribly warforged have been treated by "flesh kiddos", Reeve nearly outright murders Pierce in cold blood, only for Glayder's lightning to once again divert the hit to her. She smites the captain into unconsciousness, then leaves it to Pierce to deal the final blow.
The warforged ranger looks at the party, then at his one other conscious companion -- who, the party notices, is missing a couple fingers on their right hand. With a small, decisive nod, he lunges forwards and decapitates Captain Reeve once and for all, ending his reign of terror over The Conclave. He assures the group that the old second-in-command, who is far more reasonable, will take control from here, so he will probably be safe.
On Captain Reeve's body, they find a journal, stating that the captives were to be taken somewhere called Razorcrag. With the help of an Orien heir and Cyran farmer among the captives, the group escorts everyone back to Salvation to claim their reward from ir'Ranek. He congratulates them on a job well done, and begins planning out his next steps, but is interrupted by a message from Bara: someone called General Tyresh will be here in two days. ir'Ranek seems exasperated by this news, and dismisses the group until he next summons them.