After concluding their business with the Aegis Archive, the Oddfellows begin tracing the widening implications of recent events. Traveling north, they confirm lingering corruption along the road through Tatterbark Grove and establish that the strange black goo has been moved through the region, spilled or mishandled along the way.

Back in Dawnspire, the disappearance of Brezug the alchemist sharpens those concerns. His ransacked shop, missing research, and a falsified note point to deliberate interference rather than a simple absence. Brezug was investigating the black goo, and whatever happened to him appears tied to its movement.

As leads multiply without converging, the party is forced to weigh competing priorities: active corruption near Mosswater Vale, the unresolved fate of Brezug, and unanswered questions about who is moving the black goo, where it has gone, and to what end.

The party remains at Headland Hold to conclude their business with the Aegis Archive. During further discussion with Curator Doris, Raz raises concerns about the corrupting influence of powerful artifacts. He questions whether any organization, including the Archive, can truly be trusted to safeguard so many dangerous secrets.

Doris does not dispute the danger. She agrees that power corrupts, which is precisely why the Archive exists. Their role, she explains, is to shield the wider population from knowledge and artifacts that would otherwise cause harm. When Raz presses her on trust, pointing out that the party barely knows her, Doris replies that the Archive was formed by survivors of the Scourge, drawn from scattered vaults where only the most trusted individuals were given responsibility for relics, rituals, and containment.

She then adds, almost casually, that the party has already met one of the Archive’s founders. Flynn, she confirms, was among those early figures. When asked for more, Doris deflects, saying that Flynn’s story is his to tell. She does, however, repeat a long-standing rumor that his family had ties to Ravenhold before the Scourge, through an ancestor who survived by entering a different vault while Ravenhold itself was lost.

The party accepts payment for their services and selects several items in place of some of the offered gold. They also receive a Gem of Detection, crafted by the Archive to react to black goo using the party’s original sample as a reference. Since carrying the sample causes the gem to glow continuously, the group agrees to leave the goo with the Archive for safekeeping.

The next morning, Doris informs them that Lisa and another field scholar, Mark, will accompany the party north to Dawnspire. Along the way, they intend to reexamine the overgrown section of road at Tatterbark Grove. Doris also mentions that the Archive attempted to contact Brezug the alchemist regarding the black goo, but his shop in Dawnspire appears to have been closed for some time. The party finds this troubling and resolves to investigate as soon as they return.

The journey north is largely uneventful until the party reaches the southern edge of Tatterbark Grove. Once again, they collect cutting tools from the Waymakers’ shed and begin trimming the encroaching growth as they proceed. Southbound travelers they meet along the way report that the road ahead is passable, though still prone to rapid regrowth.

By midday, the party reaches the site where Jenny was abducted days earlier. As expected, the Gem of Detection begins to glow. Fhino takes the gem aloft and helps triangulate the strongest reaction, leading the group to a small, specific patch of overgrown roadway. Digging into the earth reveals blackened, twisted roots beneath the surface, though no free-flowing black goo remains. Lisa collects a sample of the affected roots for study.

The party burns away the remaining growth until the gem finally goes dark. With the area cleansed, they continue north.

After several more days on the road, the party arrives in Dawnspire and heads directly to Potion Alley. Brezug’s shop is closed, still marked with the familiar “Out to Lunch; Back Soon” sign. Neighbors report that Brezug has been gone for at least ten days, possibly closer to two weeks. The sign strikes the party as especially odd, given that Brezug, as a Clank, does not eat.

Peering through the shop’s windows, Winston notices signs of disarray inside. He forces the lock, breaking it in the process, and the party enters. The shop has clearly been ransacked. Shelves are overturned, supplies scattered, and most valuables are gone. Brezug’s upstairs residence has also been searched, though not thoroughly. Whatever the intruders were looking for, they may have found it in haste. Notably, there is no trace of the black goo sample the party left with Brezug for analysis. The Gem of Detection remains dormant throughout the shop.

A closer inspection reveals additional details. Bram finds old invoices and compares the handwriting to the note on the door. They do not match. Brezug did not write the sign. The party also uncovers several unlabeled potions that were overlooked during the search. They take them, uncertain of their effects.

The following day is spent making inquiries. The party contacts Benefactor Halver, the local Aegis Archive representatives now stationed in Dawnspire, and the Council of Questors. None have concrete information about Brezug’s disappearance, though all express concern. They also learn that the mining trouble Benefactor Halver mentioned earlier has already been resolved by another adventuring group calling themselves the Lightbringers. That problem, at least, has been claimed by someone else.

The party also takes advantage of Dawnspire’s skilled crafters to upgrade weapons and armor. Shepherd commissions a custom Pendant of Feather Fall, fashioned from the remaining True Air crystal and fragments of flickerfly wing.

Winston breaks away briefly to pursue leads through his shadow-market contacts. For safety, he carries a communication orb and one of the paired homing compasses. After some time, the compass held by the party begins to drift aimlessly, suggesting Winston has entered a space shielded from scrying.

Winston meets with a fixer and asks indirect questions about Brezug and the black goo. When answers remain evasive, he attempts to magically compel honesty and fails. The fixer recognizes the attempt and angrily ends the conversation.

With no firm answers, the party decides to seek out Biscuit, knowing he sourced supplies from Brezug.

They find Biscuit’s tent just north of Dawnspire near Mosswater Vale. Biscuit confirms that he last saw Brezug a little over two weeks ago, when Biscuit went to his shop for supplies. During that visit, Brezug mentioned the party’s request to analyze the black sludge and said he had been conducting tests. He also said there was one final experiment he wanted to try, but needed to obtain something before attempting it.

Biscuit admits that his own business has improved with Brezug gone, but he is concerned. While Brezug sometimes disappears for a week to gather ingredients, he is rarely gone this long. Biscuit also notes that Brezug makes an extended trip south to Myco Valley once a year, but his last trip was several months ago.

When asked whether he told anyone else about the black goo, Biscuit admits that he did. He warned people at the tavern about it, calling it “concentrated evil,” but reassured them that Brezug would handle the problem.

The party grows increasingly certain that Brezug was targeted specifically for the black goo, and possibly for what he had learned.

With leads thinning, the party turns to the fishing docks. They consider hiring a boat to reach the offshore island containing the former Whitecap vault, but funds are limited. Still, they ask around.

One fisherman reacts strongly when asked about the island. He refuses outright, recounting a recent incident. About two weeks earlier, a group of three paid him five bags of gold for passage to the island. The group consisted of a human, a simiah, and a dwarf. They went ashore for a time, then returned with three large barrels.

Midway through the return trip, the boat was attacked by a tentacled creature and nearly sank. The fisherman swore never to make the journey again.

The party checks the Gem of Detection near the docks and vessels, but it shows no reaction.

The party recalls that the Archive had mentioned a southbound wagon encountering trouble near Tatterbark Grove shortly before their own incident. The timing raises concerns. Was someone transporting black goo southward? Did a spill contribute to the corruption they encountered?

With no clear answers, the Oddfellows debate their options. They could attempt a sting operation to lure out anyone seeking black goo. They could find a way to reach the island vault themselves. They could follow the trail south, or investigate the worsening corruption in Mosswater Vale.

The Oddfellows end the session with growing discomfort. The black goo is no longer a theoretical danger or a contained anomaly. It has been moved, handled, and spilled, leaving damage in its wake. Someone is acting with intent, even if their purpose remains unclear.

Brezug is gone. Whether he was taken for what he knew, silenced for what he discovered, or lost to something he uncovered is still unknown. What does seem clear is that his disappearance was not accidental, and whatever happened to him is tied directly to the movement of the black goo.

Ahead lie difficult choices. Mosswater Vale shows signs of active corruption that demand attention, yet following the trail of the goo and uncovering Brezug’s fate may lead farther from home and deeper into danger. The threats do not point in a single direction, and the party must decide which risks to confront first, knowing that delay in one place may allow disaster in another.

With no clear path forward and no guarantee that these dangers are connected, the Oddfellows prepare to act, aware that every decision now shapes what will be left standing when answers finally come.