Naturally, the first thing Jadeth does in this strange town is go straight towards the lake. She walks out onto the dock and feels a strange lure towards the water. Slender stays back on dry land with spike, wanting absolutely fucking none of that. Jadeth begins to reach towards the water, but Juno runs out on the dock and pulls her away from it. When Juno looks down, she sees a dropoff straight down into a dark abyss of bottomless water with merfolk swimming about.
Back on dry land, Juno begins picking some licorice root for her cloak’s magic on the shoreline by the lake. She lets the group know that the trees and other flora don’t seem to be native to this region. Additionally, she finds it odd that the lake seems to be fed by the mountain streams, but doesn’t drain anywhere. She also notes that one of the distant mountains is glowing a strange hue of green. Slenderbard tries to detect magic, and finds that magic is all around them, from the lake to the trees to the soil.
The party heads into town to see the merchants, who all seem to be perfect copies of each other, all only have raw materials rather than finished goods. When Slenderbard states this aloud, the merchants laugh and let them know that they can create almost anything the parties’ hearts desire. Slenderbard and Juno are quick to make requests for armor, and the merchants confirm that it will be possible once the arch mage gives his approval.
They continue on their way towards the tower where the arch mage is waiting, but notice that all the houses of the town seem to be vacant. Slender takes a snack break while Jadeth and Juno head inside the town hall to find an explanation. The clone elf there lets them know that they were anticipating more people to make it through the fog, so they built a huge village. Jadeth shyly asks if the houses are made for them, and the elf confirms so. However, not only are these houses made for them, they can contain anything that their hearts desire so long as it doesn’t leave the house.
Jadeth simply requests training dummies to hone her skills, and Juno leaps at the opportunity to request rooms full of books and a complete library. The elf lets them both know that the requests can be easily accommodated, as the homes can be larger than even the largest mansions. This overwhelms Jadeth since she’s accustomed to sleeping in a bustling inn, and asks Juno if she would mind if Jadeth stayed in a room in the house with her and Spike. Juno’s been feeling lonely for a long time, so she allows it.
They come back out and let Slenderbard know of the good news while he finishes his sandwich. He brings a hand up to his chin as he considers creating a room full of snakes or sharks. Juno heads over to peer into the windows on one of the buildings to find that they are currently completely empty inside.
On their way up the hill towards the tower, Juno notices that the mining town across the river looks to be far older than any of the surrounding buildings. Arriving at the arch mage’s tower, they meet up with the goliath from earlier, Nalla Rune-Weaver Ogolakanu. They gather in the middle of the room to be magically lifted upwards. As they are levitating towards the top of the tower, they pass rooms full of sleeping elves that look just like the ones in the town. Juno is quickly reminded of the experiments that were performed on tieflings at her home, and she grows a bit wary of what’s happening in the strange town.
When they reach the top of the arch mage’s tower, they come face to face with a withered old elf that looks strikingly similar to the others as well. He’s hooked up to a strange power source that seems to be pulling the magic right out of him. Jadeth and Slender both walk over to the magic spellbook to get a look at a spell called “Argos Overlord,” and they exchange a worried glance. Juno walks over to a table with gems and glances over her shoulder to ensure everyone’s distracted before quickly stuffing two in her bag.
The old elf awakens and the spellbook snaps shut in front of Slenderbard and Jadeth. He considers them to be nosy as he comes down off of his seat and knowingly extends a hand out towards Juno. She turns pink before handing the gems back under the guise of making sure they were real. The party regroups with Nalla in the middle of the room for the elf to introduce himself as Argos.
Argos turns to Jadeth and peers at her firearms inquisitively, stating he’s never seen anything quite like it. She admits to having bought it from Kromrec, and he smiles knowingly. She allows him to see her blunderbuss to watch in stunned silence as he disassembles it in the air and reassembles it just as easily. He doesn’t understand how it is able to shoot, but he recreates his own version of it on one of the tables in the corner of the room. He offers it to Jadeth to let her know it can only fire once, and she gratefully tucks it away in her bag. Juno steps forward to ask Argos why he had summoned them.
Argos admits that there is trouble deep in the mountains, and he is unable to attend to it since he’s been busy holding back the mist from Argosia. He tells them without the resources from the mountains, he can’t keep the mist at bay. When asked what the trouble is, he shakes his head and lets us know that he can’t be sure since no one he had sent up to the mountains had come back. Jadeth asks what they gain from helping him, and he smiles knowingly before snapping his fingers.
The entire room is overtaken with an illusion as Argo narrates the events playing out. He first looks at Jadeth and says, “You. The one who was tricked into a pact that cursed you to end the lives of those you loved.” The group gets to see an illusion of Jadeth accidentally killing her family with her uncontrollable magic. “What wouldn’t you do to have them back, and take revenge on those that wronged you?” The illusion shifts to her happily with them again and her mentor behind bars. Jadeth pulls her hood down again and turns away.
Next, Argos turns to Juno. “You. The one who witnessed atrocity, and just as you were about to bring all to bare, the perpetrator acted first and pinned the blame on you.” Illusion shifts from a lab with tieflings being experimented on to Juno behind bars. She rubs at her wrists. “Even now, the atrocity continues. If only there were a way to expose the true perpetrators, clear your name, and end the atrocities.” It changes to having the real scientist behind bars and Juno happily back home in her cottage.
Then Argos looks at Slenderbard and the illusion shifts again to two people merrily drinking in a nice tavern. “You. The one betrayed by your closest friend– who once had some luxury and is now forced to work the life of a mercenary to get by.” The illusion changes to Slender getting stabbed in the back and having to search a job board for contracts. “Say there was a way to give you the power and influence to secure your future. After all, those who betray a king wouldn’t live to betray again.” Illusion again changes to Slenderbard on a throne being served the head of the one that betrayed him on a platter. Slender weakly smiles under his mask when he recognizes Beatrice.
Finally, Argos comes to Nalla. “And you. The one scorned by his tribe but found treasured allies that fought alongside you to save the day.” The illusion shows Nalla fighting alongside a group of heroes on a battlefield. “Except you didn’t.” The illusion changes to a dark and bloodied battlefield with Nalla standing alone among the bodies of his fallen friends. “Your power, though mighty, wasn’t enough. As you cradled the fallen in your arms, you wonder why you alone survived. If only there was a way to make you strong enough to protect your friends and the world around you.” Nalla stares at the elf, haunted by the visions. Jadeth recognizes the demon that killed his party as the demon prince– Orcus.
Jadeth and Slenderbard give each other a worried look. While everyone is convinced that Argos has the power to grant those wishes, the two of them wonder what his real motives are. They both worry about what the Argos Overlord spell they saw does. Slenderbard also noticed a spell that has the power to kill a god and take their powers. They both determine this can’t be good news, but they now have to consider if it’s bad enough to warrant giving up the futures that Argos showed them.
To succeed in their quest in the mountains, Argos offers them magical artifacts from his merchants in the town below. Juno realizes that Argos may be able to help her, and points to the final rune on her cloak that she hadn’t been able to translate. Argos tells her it means “freedom” in ancient elvish, and her new understanding allows her to utilize the cloak to its full potential. The group accepts the help and the quest, and then begins to head back towards town towards the merchants.
At the merchants, Jadeth advises Slender to purchase two rings of shared suffering in case he is ever in trouble on the battlefield. She also notes that they can let each other know if they’re in danger when they aren’t together by pinching their arm and splitting the pain to the other. Jadeth also buys a musket with the power to warn her of danger. Juno purchases a medallion of thoughts to be able to read minds. With their new loot, they begin to strategize their next move.