FAF and Zildar emerge from their cabins, fresh from their respective rests, to join in the investigation. Reginald-Londann and Heilemmen are informed that one of the ambushing thugs has awakened, and that an escort from the prohibited carriage will be joining the investigation. As Vilfred leaves, Heilemmen sits up with a groan and fixes Reginald-Londann with a stare and admits he has not been totally honest. He does not like divulging the secrets of his regulars, but the situation has gotten rather more hairy then it initially seemed.
Vocklar Londann was not a scholar of the Siberys ring, that was simply his hobby. His profession was that of a spy, specifically in the employ of Breland’s Dark Lanterns. Severa stabbing them was regrettable, but a simple domestic case. The poisoning and the bombing, however, might be the work of hostile spies, and with tensions from the Last War still ongoing, Heilemmen does not like the idea.
In the light of this, Reginald-Londann asks the group to search Vocklar’s cabin and see if anything survived the bombing. Thuun accepts and goes in, using his recently-acquired awareness of magic to scout for traps and hidden items. The barbarian finds three items of note; Vocklar’s wallet, a brooch and a mysterious gadget hidden underneath a false bottom in one of Vocklar’s suitcases. The wallet he leaves behind. The brooch contains a picture of a half-elf woman he doesn’t recognise. The gadget is shaped like a lantern but much smaller, able to easily fit inside Thuun’s hand. There are three elements that can rotate to show different symbols, a slip of paper jutting out the side and a dulll crystal that sits in a slot. Thuun’s sense tells him it could contain a magical charge, but that it is currently inert. Unable to figure it out, Thuun brings it to Reginald-Londann, who discerns that it is a cipher-device of some description. After a brief talk, they realise that the woman in the brooch is Ellyra, the half-elf informant they met during their Skyforge investigation.
Golkir hands the bomb-component to FAF for identification. FAF concludes that it is a component of a larger bomb made in Breland. It is either made by Breland’s army or someone that is very knowledgeable in explosives.
Thuun then goes down to the train’s improvised brig and assists in interrogating the awakened thug, joined by the warforged conductor, Zanogum and an elven guard from the locked carriage. Their initial attempt goes nowhere, until Thuun slugs the prisoner hard enough to knock him out. Zildar is brought in to wake the man up with healing magic, and the subsequent interrogation is much more fruitful. The man is frightened and injured, and says that they were hired by ‘a man with wings and his 4-metre tall orc bodyguard’. They were told to attack the train at this place and this time and to focus on the prohibited carriage. The man does not know anything since he did not arrange the attack, another member did.
On a whim, Thuun returns to the bombed cabin to examine the explosion, but finds little of use. Then he hops outside the carriage through the hole created by the bomb and looks around. By the side of the carriage, underneath a passenger window, he finds a patch of dying grass and some shards of porcelain. He bends down to sniff the grass and detects the same odour of poison that he smelled in the tea. He reports this and checks the cabin number. The conductor Vilfred tells Thuun that that is Lopp Fizzlestand’s cabin, the halfling porcelain salesman. Heilemmen is uncomfortable with their decision to inspect the halfling’s cabin, but does not attempt to dissuade them.
FAF, Thuun and Golkir hurry down to the cabin while Zildar attempts to engage the halfling in small talk to distract him. While this attempt seems to fail miserably, Lopp remains in the lunch-carriage. The door is locked but FAF opens it with a lockpick integrated in his fingers, but not before accidentally damaging the lock slightly so that any inspection would discover it. Before they enter the room, FAF casts a spell to detect any magical traps or effects lingering in the room. The artificer detects a conjuration spell, but is unsure which spell it is and how it could be triggered. The trio debate how to handle it for a while before Thuun grows impatient and storms into the room to no effect.
They rummage through Lopp’s possessions while trying to place everything back as they found it, with limited success. They make two finds of note; Lopp’s large suitcase of porcelain goods is missing a milk jug, the remainder matching the design of the shards that Thuun found outside the halflings window. The other find is that one of Lopp’s suitcases has a false bottom, but also that disturbing the false bottom is how the conjuration-spell is triggered. They debate how to safely trigger or disarm the trap when Thuun takes the suitcase and brings it outside, placing it open on the ground and tapping the false bottom with his halberd from a distance. An indescribably foul smell erupts from the suitcase and nearly makes Thuun lose his lunch, but the barbarian holds it in. FAF and Golkir stood further away and were unaffected. Being without a need to breath, FAF steps inside the diminishing cloud and removes the false bottom, revealing some pages with text and an eye-shaped device that they do not recognise. The pages are written in a tongue they do not recognise or are encrypted, for they can make no sense of it. Thuun does recognise that the eye is a symbol that used to be depicted on Aundair’s flag in the past.
Replacing Lopp’s rigged suitcase inside his cabin, they hurry to show their finds to Reginald-Londann. On the way, FAF sees an open window in cabin nr. 7 and closes it. As they pass through the lunch carriage, they see Lopp excusing himself from Zildar’s company and heading to his cabin.
The group decides that Lopp must be behind the poisoning plot and that they need to arrest him quickly before he escapes. Heilemmen posits that Lopp could be framed and that maybe it would be best to allow proper authorities to take over the rest of the matter. Vilfred arrives to inform Heilemmen that the train is nearly ready to depart after repairs.
Thuun and FAF return to the cabin carriage to find Lopp, who is returning from his own cabin. The halfling has not yet escaped. They ask him if he would answer some questions to which he begrudgingly accepts and follows them. Without explaining further, Thuun brings them to the bombed-out cabin, then turns on Lopp, pushing the much smaller halfling against the wall. He cries out in protest, a cry that only furthers when FAF moves in to wrestle Lopp’s arms behind his back. They attempt to question him about his involvement in the poisoning and his spy work, but he refuses everything and shouts for help and for the conductors. He attempts to wrestle free from FAF when something falls from the halflings pocket and scatters onto the ground, rendering Lopp, FAF and Thuun invisible, even to themselves. Lopp slips from their grasp in the confusion and tries to escape from the cabin when his foot hits a chunk of wood on the floor.
FAF responds by firing a jet of flame at the invisible figure, thereby making himself visible and spraying the walls and floor of the cabin with fire. It hits some fabric on Lopp’s person but the fabric is quickly detached and falls to the floor. Thuun strikes out with the blunt end of his halberd but hits only air. He also becomes visible. They burst out into the hallway but see nothing. Listening hard, they hear the patter of small footsteps running down the hall. FAF hurries to pursue, finding a window being opened by an invisible hand. He rushes over and pulls the window closed, only to be stabbed by the now-visible halfling.
Zildar arrives and tries to douse the flame by throwing his waterskins and then his vials of Dragonblood onto the flames, causing surges of wild magic to affect him in various ways, the most obvious being his skin turning a vibrant blue. Despite his efforts, the fire rages on. Thuun arrives and together with FAF they subdue the halfling, lifting him up and bringing him face-to-face with the flames, where finally he answers their questions. It was him that poisoned Vocklar, since Vocklar was a spy with the Dark Lanterns. Lopp himself is a spy with the Royal Eyes, Aundair’s own intelligence service. He was not involved with the bombing, and declares that only a dangerous madman would employ such devices in a train full of innocents. But even faced with the threat of fire, the halfling refuses to reveal any further information, and they hand him over to the train’s personnel. Zanogum and Vilfred arrive and run away again, shouting alarms of fire. They arrive moments later with potions that douse the flames when thrown, leaving the bombed-out cabin even more destroyed.
That solves the poisoning, but there is still the bombing. With all the commotion, Heilemmen and the group suspect that the culprit might have taken the opportunity to flee the scene. The conductors check through the train and a passenger is indeed missing; Benjamin Sochert, who stayed in cabin nr. 7, the very cabin that FAF closed a window in. As the train makes ready to lift off and resume the journey, they hear the sound of shattering glass. FAF and Thuun rush to the scene and find the conductor Srirocco attempting to leave through a window. He has a cut on his arm from the shattered glass and continues his attempt until the two subdue him, rather less aggressively than with Lopp. Srirocco admits that Benjamin, his father, planted the bomb and that Srirocco aided him with smuggling the components in return for a payment, but Srirocco knows nothing further and had no further hand in the bombing. Thuun checks out of the window but sees no tracks or evidence of Benjamin’s direction. The train lifts off and resumes its journey to Flamekeep. FAF and Thuun have an aggressive debate about FAF’s use of fire during the pursuit. Heilemmen thanks the group for their help and assures them that, since he was the one to request their aid, the burden of all the damage to the train is mostly on himself and that they should not worry. He will do his best to secure them a reward from House Orien. Reginald changes his appearance to that of Ellyra and taunts the shackled Severa before returning to his regular appearance and stashing away some of Vocklar’s clothes for later use.
The group finally arrives in Flamekeep after a much more hectic journey than they had anticipated and a brief trip through immigration. And as they descend the steps of the southern rail station, night begins to fall over the city, casting it in profile with the faint light of the Silver Flame shrouding the city’s central cathedral.
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