The adventurer's awoke at Dara and Asha's house, to the sounds of breakfast. Gillain is in the depths of mourning the loss of her husband, Arthur, but the group takes great care to see she is eating and in good health.
Upon arriving back at the tournament grounds, we are surprised to find no remnants of the previous day's festivities. Rather the Macintosh clan has setup a large encampment, bustling with activity. At the center is Duke Braun's tent, a massive circular structure.
Inside, the heroes find Duke Braun and his council, overshadowed by the imposing figure of Brickhead. He's working on his origami in one side of the tent. On the other side, Braun and his trackers are examining the bits of skull left over from the Flameskull encounter on the tournament grounds.
Allium approaches and begins to inquire about any information the dwarves may have gathered, but is cut off by Braun who immediately demands to know how the heroes were involved.
The group tells Braun about the attack from the vampire, the flameskulls, and the time freeze, but Braun seems unconvinced. That is until they pull out the shattered hourglass. Rorik, a dwarven jeweler, confirms the hourglass' intended use.
The heroes shift their attention to Brickhead, who is working at the children's craft table, folding a small replica of the Shadowfax estate. Sylceran asks to see a piece, and Brickhead gives origami hearts to Sylceran and Severan, repeating "love." The group attempts to question the giant dwarf, but are met with indecipherable vocalizations. After meeting Kreleanor, Brickhead is reminded of an encounter he had in the forest, and produces the corpse of a large ancient cleric. Sylceran spots faint necrotic runes on the skull of the corpse, which seem to be rapidly decaying alongside the body. Sylceran quickly cuts a piece of the corpse's robe for further analysis.
The heroes decide to interrogate the sinister guard who was captured after the tournament. They meet Captain Morgan, a newly appointed head of the Moss End guard. At the guard's keep, Morgan leads the group upstairs for an informal interrogation about the events of the tournament. The group withholds most of the information, only conveying that a magical event transpired, and it was handled appropriately.
After some brief persuasion, Captain Morgan agrees to let the heroes see the guard, Isólfur, down in the dungeons. Isólfur is in chains, and continues to taunt and insult the party, threatening them with the idea they are in over their heads. Severen casts a charm spell, and Isólfur divulges the major components of the secret plan. Bishop Alejandro is somehow involved at a high level, and Isólfur dealt directly with Silas. The agreement was to keep the heroes in the tournament, so Silas could kidnap Sylceran and dispatch the rest. The group leaves before the charm spell ends, and opts not to divulge any information to the Captain.
Allium is worried their war-warn clothing will not make a good first impression at the banquet, so the group makes their way back to the Green Fern. Isbeil gives a flamboyant greeting, and agrees to fix their clothing free of charge (Allium still gives 100 gold pieces). The magic measuring tapes heal up the tattered clothing, but Isbeil recognizes the dark magics and bite patterns on Allium's clothing. Allium attempts to persuade her otherwise, but Isbeil hurries them out and closes her shop.
The aroma of a cooked meats fill the air at the entrance to the festival, and Severan decides on a skewer of chicken hearts. The food is divine, and the group brings a bit back to Gillain at Dara and Asha's. She is taken aback by how delicious they are, and finishes the whole skewer. Sylceran offers a tender consolation - one of the origami hearts from Brickhead.