The party left off in the Starlight Sanctum after talking to the captain of the guard. As they head out Zygomatic spots black veins curling through the air leading into an alleyway. Nuhlra takes note and tries to spot what Zygomatic is looking at, but she can't see anything. Caillte stops walking when he notices no-one else is. He asks Zygomatic what they're looking at. They answer but it doesn't make much sense. Explaining they see black veins curling through the air and leading to that alleyway. It feels urgent. Nuhlra asks if Zygomatic has considered therapy instead, they don't know what a therapy is. As Zygomatic heads towards the veins, the rest follows. It eventually leads them to a much more expensive part of the city. Only the richest of folk live here. The veins start getting thicker and there are more of them now. They all lead to this one large villa where the smell of Yellow Root is especially strong. Which those trained in medicine know is used for treating something tumoric. A servant carrying something where that same smell originates from enters past the guards. The group approach the guards. One is a halforc and the other an elve. They both wield polearms. Zygomatic explains they smelled yellow root and ask if everything is okay and if they can help. Surprised by their knowledge the Elve suggests getting Jurian, these might be the adventurers from the ad. Zygomatic remembers an ad in the Riveted Tankard about exploring the ruins for Luminous Concord.

Jurian comes out, a Tengu and asks if they are the adventurers. Well they are adventurers, so they say yes. It's not a complete lie. They are led inside of the villa. The veins are getting thicker and thicker until they nearly block out the view of an entire door. Behind that door is the source of the veins. They enter two doors further down, put on plaguedoctor masks before entering. They enter another door after that, that leads to the room where the veins where strongest. Inside the master bedroom lies a man with disheveled brown hair and intricate runic tattoos. They are sporting an insane fever, blisters building on their skin, the Boiling Plague. The room is filled with herbs to not spread the disease. Nuhlra takes a step back regardless. While Caillte and Nuhlra listen to the conversation Zygomatic zones out and focuses on the veins around the man's neck. They seem stronger there. They just can't quite figure it out, there might be something more going on there. The veins seem to be connected to the plague somehow. Meanwhile Caillte figures out who this man is. He is a famous inventor, Gearspun. He is an important asset to the blightsteel dominion.

The covenhead Nyra Dawnstar, escorts us to a library sort of room to talk further about the mission. She wants us to explore the ruins of Mirage Haven and find documents about the Boiling Plague, anything that may help them cure Gearspun. He doesn't have long, a week before falling unconcious and being moved to an nondisclosed location. They promise to give the information of the cure to the hospitals if they can figure it out. After asking about the possible dangers and not getting much answers, the group agrees. Planning to head out the morning after. Zygomatic stops by their friend, Jixis. Bantering a little, talking about revealing secrets and buying a JellyFish lamp. Nuhlra goes back home to the campments. Caillte goes back to his workshop. The next morning they all head out to the main gate after their morning preparations. Caillte assesses the JellyFish lamp, seeing how to make the glass more detailed.

The first day of travel starts off badly. With Nuhlra leading with the compass and the map and getting lost horribly. They encounter a group of blistering hot rats that are dealt with after a short battle. Nuhlra gets injured slightly but is healed by Zygomatic. After that dramatic failure Caillte takes over in leading the party which seems to go better. They make good progress, this time in the correct direction. They even pass a set of dunes that are particularly slide-able. Which Nuhlra and Zygomatic gladly take advantage off, while Caillte is the (very boring) adult who watches them. Nuhlra slides off their magical shield. While Zygomatic slides past them even faster, cackling wildly. Unfortunately they lose track of direction again for the remainder of the day. As they set up camp Zygomatic writes in their notebook, Nuhlra stares at them trying to read their mind about the strange veins that they apparently see. They talk about it a little bit, but there aren't a lot of answers. Zygomatic takes first watch. There isn't much happening, though they do see some scorch marks. The wild animals in this area may sometimes be carrying the plague. Nuhlra takes the last watch. There still isn't much going on but they do manage to sneak an accidental peak in Zygomatics notebook that just so happens to lay open. There is a fictionalized version of the Dunes event in there. With little sidenotes like 'use that word instead'

The next day the group resumes travel. Caillte struggles to find the right direction for a while. They think they find the ruins for a moment, but it's just a cave. But afterwards they head back in the right direction which they quickly lose yet again as a sudden sandstorm appears. Finally after nearly the entire day of walking the party is back on track. Even finding a treasure chest along the way containing: barnished plating, a sort of recording device and 50 GP. As the remnants of civilization appears they spot an entrance, a small wooden structure supporting a little gateway heading straight into one of the nearby rocks. As the group looks at the doorway a set of glowing eyes stares back.