The party have a few relaxing weeks in Second Chance, before they are approached at The Bottomless Mermaid by Marcus Thorn. He briefly introduces himself as Adira's Chancellor, and tells them that the Pirate Queen has requested their presence at the Xalli Temple, several days travel to the north-west. Marcus Thorn clearly does not want to converse with the crew, and their attempts to glean more lead to him walking off, deliberately knocking over Sacha Cresswell's drink as he does so. Never having heard of the place, they ask the inn's owner, Talice, what she knows of it. She tells that that it was built by her Drow ancestors thousands of years ago, but she does not know the purpose or what is there. All that she knows is that several pirate crews have gone there over the past few years, and never returned.
The party agree that this is a trap, but decide to enter it anyway, to see if they can twist it to their advantage. They set sail the next day. The journey is relatively straightforward, although on the second evening Jasper awakens the party to show them what Coreen has spotted; a group of large iridescent jellyfish are swimming alongside the boat. It is an absolutely beautiful sight, that the crew take as a good omen; the illusion is shattered when Ying decides to throw one of the pigs that are on board for feeding Coreen at the jellyfish; they scatter, earning him the scowls of the deckhands for the rest of the journey.
They arrive at the island the next day. The island itself is quite small, with a beach on the south side that is easily accessible for the ship's rowing boats. They land on the island, and Amos Black is startled by a large parrot-like creature that flies out of the palm trees to one side; but though there is sign of animal life, no trace of Adira can be seen. They head up the hill to the top of the island, where a stone building with a glass dome over the top of it can be seen; entering, they find themselves in a large room on multiple levels, with a huge Warforged Titan and a regular Warforged in front of them. The two constructs look old, and more rudimentary than the Warforged that are usually seen; and they lack the distinctive ghulra, the arcane sigil that House Cannith put onto each of the Warforged that they built during the war. Adira and Marcus Thorn can be seen on the top level of the room, which acts as a gallery overseeing the central section.
Adira is furious with the party, arguing that they humiliated her by obviously lying to her when they returned from Thelanis (see ST17. The Vale of the Long Night). She explains that this temple was built by the Drow to act as a way of defendants fighting to prove their innocence; anyone that could defeat the Warforged Titan would be absolved of their crimes, though none ever suceeded. Adira uses this as a way of killing those that have crossed her. With that, the Titan attacked the party. It quickly became apparent that the temple itself also acted as a trap; several of the floor panels were metal to receive a lightning bolt, and others opened to reveal pits with buzzsaws in them. The crystals in the dome above could also shift to surround the Titan with a powerful light, which was dangerous to stand adjacent to.
Nonetheless, the party threw themselves into battle. Ying drank a potion of invisibility, before running across the water below and up to the gallery, to position himself behind Adira. Tregin, Amos Black and El Graeve attacked the Titan from afar, while Kuven and Sacha Cresswell went in close. Tregin threw a Fireball at the Warforged, but he also caught several of Adira's pirate crew in the blast, which caused the observing pirates to choose to abandon their spectator positions, and join the fray. Marcus Thorn cast Faerie Fire as widely as he could, catching Tregin and Sacha Cresswell's steed in the strange glow; Adira used this as an opportunity to launch a poisoned bolt at Tregin, while the smaller Warforged leapt off the Titan's shoulder and repeatedly attached the steed, until it dispersed. Ying then attacked Adira from behind, which surprised her; but she responded by diving into the water below, calling for Marcus Thorn to join her. They swam towards each other from opposite sides of the room, and when they met underneath the stone bridge, Marcus Thorn used Dimension Door to get them to safety. Meanwhile, Tregin killed the rest of the pirates with acid, before retreating out of the door that they had entered through.
The Titan proved strong, but not strong enough. The smaller Warforged fell first, and then Sacha Cresswell used Smite to destroy the larger creature. They quickly looked around, and saw a second door at the back of the room; from there, they could see a dock on the other side of the island from where they had landed. They ran down the hill, to catch Adira and Marcus Thorn before they could recover, drinking potions as they went. This second battle was far swifter; Tregin threw a Fireball at both ships that were docked there, setting both alight. Amos Black used an Eldritch Blast to kill Adira, while Kuven pushed Marcus Thorn into the water, where he was split in two by Sacha Cresswell.
With Adira defeated, the party returned to Second Chance, to see what awaited them.