The crew of The Demon's Mercy had spent several weeks relaxing in Second Chance, enjoying their new-found fame, and the fact that they never seemed to have to buy themselves a drink at The Bottomless Mermaid anymore. Their revelry was interrupted by an invitation to a gala, to be held by the Pirate Queen herself, at her estate on the nearby island of Argellan Falls. The crew spent some time shopping for nicer outfits suitable for the event, before departing in their ship for the event.
They arrived at Argellan Falls, and stowed any gear that they weren't taking into the gala itself in the stables, where several axe-beaks were kept for guests to ride around the island. Once inside, they were met by their old friend Mizago, who offered to show them around before they met with Adira, who had specifically requested an audience with the party. In particular, he took them out onto the balcony at the far end of the ballroom, past the trees that were shedding illusionary cherry blossom petals, and onto the balcony that overlooked the gardens. He wanted to show them the reason that the Brelish royal family had built a residence on the island about a century ago, before it was captured during The Last War by Cyran soldiers looking to take some royal cousins hostage; beyond the garden was a waterfall, where the water fell out of thin air just below a permanent rainbow, before falling into a stream below. Mizago explained that the island was a Manifest Zone; the barrier between Eberron and Thelanis was particularly weak here, and the water flowed out of the gap underneath the rainbow.
At this point, the party split up to explore the event. El Graeve headed down to the stream, to inspect the water coming in from Thelanis. He found it to be ice-cold and utterly pure, the tastiest water he had ever drunk. Kuven went into the parlour and played a couple of hands of Queen's Call with Rukh, while Yacobi stood by. Kuven actually ended up ahead on gold, to his surprise. Meanwhile, both Sacha Cresswell and Amos Black headed to the dance floor. Sacha Cresswell approached the most glamourous woman at the event; the Brelish princess Talia ir’Wynarn, who was a known socialite. She seemed to think his request to dance wonderfully scandalous, so they joined in with a waltz. During the dance, Sacha Cresswell realised that the flighty appearance that she gave off was a façade, and the princess was much more than she seemed. He also noticed a recent cut on her shoulder, that was mostly hidden under one of her dress' straps. Amos Black danced with Kali, and struck up quite the rapport with the changeling pirate captain. He learned that her support of Adira was not as strong as public appearances would imply.
The quartet then reunited to meet with Adira in her private office. As they entered, Felix Ravenson was just leaving; it was clear from the tension in the room that the Pirate Queen and her cartographer had just had an argument that had not been resolved. Adira greeted the party, and asked if they were interested in publicly pledging their loyalty to her, as the rightful Queen of Shargon's Teeth. It was clear that she was trying to use their recent successes to shore up her own reputation. Their discussion went on for some minutes, but was interrupted by a scream from outside. Running to the source of the sound, they found Talia ir’Wynarn on the balcony, next to a section of the stone wall surrounding it that had broken away. She was looking down into the flower bed below, where the body of Felix Ravenson could be seen. Amos Black immediately headed down the stairs to investigate the body; it was clear that the cartographer had died from a broken neck. However Amos Black also noticed two other curious things; there was a blue stain on the corpse's lips and mouth, and there were flecks of white paint on his trousers.
The party split up to investigate. Sacha Cresswell immediately pulled the princess aside, and told her that he knew that she was the one that had triggered the trap in Adira's office. He acknowledged that he was no more loyal to Breland than he was to Second Chance, but he did offer his loyalty to Talia ir’Wynarn personally. She was convinced by his sincerity, and showed that one of her rings included a sigil that Sacha Cresswell recognised - that of the Dark Lanterns. She explained that she had been sent to Second Chance to investigate Adira, as the Pirate Queen's expanding plans may have an impact on Sharn. However nothing that Talia ir’Wynarn had found in the Queen's diaries had shown an immediate threat.
El Graeve spoke to Adira, who admitted that she and Felix Ravenson had been arguing because she had put him in charge of security for the event, and someone had broken into her office, which she blamed him for. She did not know of anyone that would want to kill the cartographer specifically though; but she reasoned that her own enemies would also see Felix Ravenson as a target too. When asked to identify who might want her dead, she indicated everyone in the room.
Amos Black went back to Kali, who was able to give him some details of Felix Ravenson's movements after he had left Adira's office. He had had several drinks, and then went out to the balcony, but the trees there had blocked the view of anyone joining him there. Amos Black also spoke to the barman, who said he had thought had seen Kali slip something into Felix Ravenson's whiskey. Amos Black went back to the Changeling, and she admitted that she had slipped him a Potion of Clarity in an attempt to sober him up; she did not want her old friend doing anything rash after he'd had several drinks. El Graeve used his wand of Detect Magic on the vial that she handed over, and confirmed the same arcane effect within the remains of the whiskey glass that he found left on the balcony. They believed that the blue stain was a result of this mixing, but was therefore not related to his murder.
Next, they asked Adira if anything had been painted recently; she mentioned the gazebo in the gardens. The party went down to have a look, and Amos Black found a pair of lacy women's underwear down the side of the bench, which had obviously been painted earlier and had not quite dried. Searching in the bushes behind the gazebo, they also found a curious pack; a set of cold-weather gear, including a thick woollen coat, hat, a metal rod that seemed to be imbibed with Evocation magic, snowshoes, and a bedroll. They began to speculate that someone was planning on entering the crack through which the water flowed, and heading into Thelanis. The party then decided to look around for anyone else that might have white paint as well; eventually, they spotted the same tell-tale flecks on Tressa's gown. Amos Black decided to talk to her husband, and showed them to Rukh; the orc immediately flew into a rage, and headed to confront his wife. Amos Black managed to get the guards to separate them, and took Tressa for a drink to calm her nerves. The half-orc admitted that she and Felix Ravenson had been having an affair for several months; but she knew nothing of his work, or why anyone would want to kill him.
Having hit another stumbling block, the party then decided to look in all of the places that they hadn't looked before. Amos Black went to the shrine of Olladra that was there; the large statue of the domino dedicated to the goddess of good fortune had been smeared in blood, in a pattern that El Graeve identified as belonging to that of The Devourer, the god of the raw destructive power of nature. Realising that it had been drawn by hand, they looked around to see whom was wearing gloves; Rukh was, and upon interrogating, admitted that he had taken the opportunity to desecrate the shrine.
Kuven decided to have a look in Adira's office. First, he looked at the trap that had been sprung, and identified that it had malfunctioned; Talia ir’Wynarn had been lucky to not have been killed, and got away with only a cut on her shoulder. He also looked through Adira's diary, which was written in Thieves Cant; but saw nothing of interest. El Graeve went into the parlour, servant's quarters and kitchen, but found little of interest. Sacha Cresswell obtained a key from Adira and searched the library. There, he found some maps of the Cogs district of Sharn, along with Letter from Kundarak to Felix Ravenson and Letter from Adranus Reddinus to Felix Ravenson. He brought these back to the others, and realised that they indicated that Luna Lacewing had an interest in Thelanis, and ways of travelling there. This matched up to their suspicions over the pack that they had found in the bushes.
Sacha Cresswell went over to confront the silk merchant; as soon as she realised what he was suggesting, she pulled a small figurine out of her sleeve, and threw it on the ground. Where it struck, an earth elemental and a living lightening storm appeared, and attacked the party. Meanwhile, Luna Lacewing disappeared in an arcane flash. Sacha Cresswell took the brunt of the attack until his friends arrived; the living lightening storm was able to inflict serious damage on Kuven and El Graeve, but it was itself heavily damaged by Sacha Cresswell's Divine Smites. However, the true hero of the brief battle was Amos Black, who managed to use his dagger to finish off both creatures, by finding vulnerable points where there shouldn't have been any.
When the fight was done, it was clear that both Luna Lacewing and the pack of cold-weather gear had gone missing. The party rushed out to the balcony, and could see that the waterfall was now frozen over, and the rainbow over it was cracked. As they stood there, they could see the frost spreading from the water onto the grass. Amos Black had a sudden realisation; this reminded him of the fairy tale of the Prince of Frost, an archfey whose heart had become as cold as ice after his betrothed abandoned him for a mortal lover, and then escaped the Prince's Wrath with the assistance of The Raven Queen. As El Graeve put it, Luna Lacewing had fled to Thelanis but left the door wide open, and now the cold was seeping through, with no clear way of stopping it from spreading. The party would have to venture into the cold depths of the realm of the Pale Prince to put a stop to it...