Only if you beg for it

After tidying up the battle room and reconvening with Adrian, the group decides to request a meeting with Lieutenant Oliver Crewe at The Busty Dark elf. On their way over they pick up Capper and have some lovely chimney cake as a midday celebration of Adrian's birthday. Capper tells the group he has been gathering information about the crime families and his information matches the intl that the group already has. Jak gets a whiskey shot in the hot beverages but realises again to his horror that he can't get drunk. He weeps openly over it, which Adrian sees as the perfect birthday present.
The Busty Dark elf turns out to be a brothel with a BDSM kink, and the Madame that comes to greet them introduces herself as Mistress Bellatrix. She slaps Jak across the face after he fails to address her by her title and demands that we get on our knees and beg her to pass on the message that we wish to speak to Lieutenant Oliver Crewe. Jak complies somewhat involuntarily, but still in a cheeky way, as he never actually utters the requested phrase. She seems able to be content with having him on the floor, nonetheless, and the group are granted and audience.
Lieutenant Crewe has already learned of the group and wants to contract them to clear out an old castle ruin in the north two weeks travel from Shadow Port in exchange for them including the group, to overthrow The Cardinal and speed said coup to before Vincent's Wedding. A mage will teleport them to and back from the castle to allow for the critical timeline. There will be no other reward, but the group are free to plunder whatever they can carry from the castle ruin. The Lieutenant asks if we have magic and both Jak and Sirona gives a quick demonstration. Jak tells him that he can assign the contract to Sirona's guardian angels. Before they leave Jak, who spotted a portrait of two children on the man's desk, gives a gold coin to buy them each a present.
The group moves on to The Crossed Wands to speak with Miz'ri. Since Irdien mentioned before that she had already been in contact with her and wanted to handle the dealings, Sirona asks Irdien if she wants a ten-minute head-start. Irdien accepts and enters alone. She hires five skilled bodyguards for five days to watch Vincent, some visible and other not. Miz'ri tells Irdien that she knows she isn't traveling alone. Irdien points out that she only claimed to work alone. She proceeds to ask about information concerning the castle ruin as Thanor'thal has rejected Olivier's contract. Miz'ri says that reports will be given after Irdien completes her solo entry mission.
While the group waits for Irdien to finish up her business with the drow-woman, Jak notices another lady in the bar with tattoos attesting that she has connections with the Lich King. The group hurries away, and Irdien gives back Adrian's remaining money for the bodyguards.
Jak finds a taxidermist and buys the preserved skeleton of a chameleon. The rest of the day is spent celebrating Adrian's birthday with an enjoyable dinner and a visit to a theater performing a play called; The Master rouge.
As night falls, Irdien sneaks out by herself, telling nobody. She arrives at a warehouse lurking around to find a safe way inside past the guards. She climbs in through a window but triggers an alarm. Quick Witted she tosses some candies into the darkness to distract them while also snuffing out all candles and torches in her path. She swiftly finds the box and exits the building with the parcel leaving the guards behind none the wiser. She hands over the box at the drop off location and gets back to The Mysterious Bolder without any of her friends finding out that she has been gone.
As the morning arrives the group head to the private dining room at The Mysterious bolder as agreed upon with Lieutenant Crewe. In the room, they find Oliver, Two drows and Gerados Kessemir. The room immediately goes very tense as Olivier explains that Kessemir is the mage contracted to help with the teleportation. Sirona makes sure to let them know what an evil man Kessemir is, but her statement seems to have the opposite effect. The two drows give Adrian some useful information to help figure out what kind of monster might be lurking in the castle. There might be a curse involved. The group gets a magic pebble they are to squeeze three times when they want to be returned.
The teleportation takes them to a snowy forest. Labrat, who as never seen snow before excitedly picks some up and throws it over her head as Adrian, glad to be out of the city, hugs a nearby tree. To everyone's immediate horror, the tree hugs back, and does so in a way that means harm.
Jak starts spotting several other hostile looking trees around them. Irdien uses her magical gloves to ignite her dagger and sets the tree holding Adrian ablaze. It shrikes and lets go of the monster hunter. Small blue decorative bulbs are flung towards the group. The first one lands next to Sirona and starts blinking. Labrat gets hit by one, and a freezing mist briefly envelops her. She breathes lightning on the first tree before slicing it down with her sword. Then she jumps to Sirona's aid placing her shield over the blue blinking ball so that when it explodes, the frozen fog is trapped underneath it. A second and third tree tries grabbing Irdien and Sirona but they both evade their entangling branches. Sirona throws a sphere of her own that starts orbiting above her. It looks like a small-scaled galaxy, and for a second, the blue, the purple, the darkness and the lights are mirrors in her eyes. Adrian unleashes his sword and axe on the tree targeting Sirona, while Jak fires his bow on the bulbs still hanging on the trees. It flashes freezes some of the branches.
Irdien tries fighting the tree attacking her, but as she moves out of its reach, the tree follows and wraps itself around her. More and more blue blinking drops are flung at the group exploding left and right with its cold mist spraying. Labrat joins Adrian and again manages to separate the tree trunk from the ground with her sword. Sirona spots the branches crushing down on Irdien and sends a healing spell her way. She screams for Irdien a warning for what the tree will try to do and as the prediction comes true Irdien manoeuvres around it enough to finish the terrorising fauna. Only the small bulb throwing trees are left, and the group spreads out to try and finish them off individually. Sirona realises quickly that she is no match for her tree and calls for help. Irdien send over her spiders to protect her. Sirona flees her foe and runs to help Labrat instead. The other tree finishes up their trees before moving to terminate the one Sirona couldn't crack. Jak lets a black negative energy engulf his hand turning into shadowy claws that strike out against the tree. Just as it looks like they have won, both the last remaining trees self-destruct sending a chilling shock-wave of ice-cold air almost knocking the life out of the group.
As the battler is over everyone takes a moment to catch their breath. Sirona slumps down in the snow and starts to make a snow angel.