The party found themselves sharing breakfast at a café in Sharn, after several quiet weeks following their return from Riedra. Selene d'Lyrandar had not been seen since their return, as she was busy with House Lyrandar business. However they saw mention of her in that morning's newspaper, Sharn Inquisitive issue on Lyrandar and Cannith deal.
Their breakfast was interrupted by a skycoach stopping next to them, and a familiar man got out, limping heavily as he leaned on a cane. This was the man that had been at the meetings with Lhara for their assignment in Riedra; they had known that he was a representative of the government, but no more. Introducing himself as Palavan and a member of the Dark Lanterns, he insisted the party come with him at once. When they hesitated, he offered them two choices - the carrot, or the stick. He had paying work that needed doing urgently. But if they weren't interested, then he would start questioning them as to why they were associated with a Karrnathi spy - and looked at Arc as he said this.
Agreeing to the job, they got into the skycoach with him. He explained that they might have seen in the morning's paper that there had been a break-in at the Wroat Exchequer. He confirmed that this was true, but what hadn't been revealed to the world was that it had been done by one of his own agents, a shifter named Tyken Roslof. Somehow Tyken Roslof had walked into the Exchequer, and walked out with a cart and 30,000 gold pieces. Palavan didn't know what he was up to or who else supported him; therefore he needed outside help to track the rogue agent down and recover the gold. His only lead was that there was only one forger that could have created the paperwork; a gnome called Sylvander Ezad Zylkroi, who was currently on the outskirts of Sharn. The skycoach was taking them there now.
Palavan wanted the party to find Sylvander Ezad Zylkroi, interrogate him and then follow what leads they found to get Tyken Roslof. He was authorised to give them 5% of any gold that they recovered, which would be doubled if they could stop Tyken Roslof and whatever he was planning. Palavan would drop them off at the location that Sylvander Ezad Zylkroi was believed to be at, before heading to Wroat to see if he could find any other leads.
The skycoach dropped them off in a field, with a single stone bungalow in it. A stream drifted by on one side, and there were several trees nearby; but the place appeared to be deserted. Scouting the building, Daellin found that there was only one door. Arc knocked, and it was opened by Misty, a small gnomish woman. She let them in, but panicked when Daellin drew his bow; she reached over to her desk, and activated an arcane alarm system that started bells ringing loudly. She then ran down some stairs, with the party following behind her. She was shouting for help from intruders as she did so.
The party followed her down into a cave, where the path spiralled around the outside of a large hole to a doorway on a lower level. Several other gnomes were already running to assist Misty, and a battle broke out. Arc initially decided that her companions could handle this without her, and used Dimension Door to get to the doorway, and charged down it to see if she could get to Sylvander Ezad Zylkroi. This proved to be a mistake, as the four gnomes proved to be tougher than expected. Misty engaged in a fight with Smith, her unarmed strikes proving ineffective against his Warforged outer shell. One of the other gnomes summed an Echo of himself, which he used to attack Elias Minch. But the Shifter Monk dispatched it easily, and charged at the warrior that had created it.
A Rogue on the lower level did some damage to Daellin and Smith using a crossbow; but the real damage was done by a Wizard. His first spell failed to use Tether Essence to link Daellin and Elias Minch, but after that initial failure he was able to inflict a lot of damage with Gravity Fissure. Daellin and Elias Minch quickly realised that this was the main threat, and switched their focus. But the Wizard sidestepped Elias Minch and used Pulse Wave to push him off the path, causing the already unconscious Monk to fall onto the path below with a sickening crunch.
Arc had returned by this point, throwing a FIreball at the rogue, and then getting close enough to Elias Minch to heal him. With Arc returned and Elias Minch back on his feet, the battle turned. Daellin was able to finish off the Wizard, and with him gone the rest did not survive much longer. The Rogue turned and fled down the corridor, but soon after he was gone a scream was heard.
The party mended their wounds, and then carried on. Rounding a corner, they saw a set of traps in their way. The Rogue was lain next to a pit of spikes, but he was badly burned. They realised that there was a fire trap hidden in a pipe jutting out from the wall. Testing the pit of spikes, Arc threw a crowbar across, which hit a hidden sheet of glass on the other side. They gathered some rocks to break the glass, while Smith investigated the fire trap. He discovered that it was arcane in nature, but could not find a way to disable it, as he didn't have Dispel Magic. Arc jumped over the pit, but her attempt to avoid another set of pipes was undermined by the incorrect assumption that they also housed fire traps. However when she jumped over them, she instead found that they realised a poison gas, which she inhaled.
The party continued to work out how they would get past this series of traps, and get to Sylvander Ezad Zylkroi.