CHAPTER XXVIII Abridged
in which Glad is a one man storm...
The Silver Foxes stick to plan, heading to the Embassy. Eierryn confuses their way past Matthew and Glad takes advantage of the confusion to request refreshment for the meeting. Almost immediately, Glad starts a fight when a power move (to take the occupied head spot of the table) goes wrong. It doesn't take much longer to deduce that Birch betrayed the group as a full on brawl takes place. Eierryn does more confusion. Mouse grapples a guy. Krom smashes the table in half with his axe. And Glad does his usual thing. In the end, the Heretic's people are mostly subdued, the inessential Osrick is cowering in the corner, and the man of the hour, Deathtouch, is unphased. Haas bring the group tea in place of Matthew who has been scared off by the commotion. He gives simple terms, work for the Heretic or die. Surprisingly, Glad goes with the diplomatic option, sensing with his occult knowledge that Deathtouch is some sort of corpse puppet that should not be tangled with. He gets them 24 hours to consider the offer and if they choose not to ally, then they "promise" to stay out of Demargo and Attria affairs.
After the fight, Imbri mentions he'll be in town in the morning. They arrange a meeting, then Glad finishes his date with Tiffany, whose name he keeps forgetting. In the morning, Imbri pays the group their backpay and mentions he has some people on his list to kill from the Embassy. So he gives the group time enough to complete their business before beginning that way it doesn't cast suspicion on them. Akani offers up the rest of the dragonstones and is informed that she's not likely to be extorted anymore. Not with the trouble they've caused already and assurances they made at the embassy. Glad inquires about Deathtouch's cloak which causes a commotion. Akani isn't happy that an unvetted enchanted object was brought into her shop. She takes them down to the basement where she determines that the cloak is a part of a portal network that leads somewhere to Attria, undoubtedly to the Heretic's people. Glad ends up selling this to Imbri at far less than its valued.
Then the group leave town and get teleported back to Brenthia whereupon they immediately resume their dream weaver mission. On their way through Brenthia, Tilly stops by to deal with some local stuff like seeing her pillar Xisben without inviting the rest of the group. Then they towards the Ruined Land, ignoring the advice of two skeptical sentries guarding the boundary. Inside, Elias leads them past traps and trouble with his divination. They come across an inn in a small deserted town that they decide to use as a base, tying up their raft there.
They continue north some more and come across a wharf. There, they notice ominous clouds which discharge undirected lightning. Haas deduces that it's the result of Glad having staged for 2 plus hours so she makes him discharge the magic over the lake, which he does.