Life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

- Kahlil Gibran

Limula Egmont (of law firm Egmont, Egmont and Eg) is looking to enlist investigators to assist a client of hers, Spiridon Argyris, a nobleman of Esteban. Argyris is dying of a mystery affliction - in spite of all the efforts of an expensive experienced team of doctors, he does not seem to be recovering. Argyris and his family suspect foul play and will extend their gratitude to whomsoever reveals the culprit… provided that they can do so before the old man dies.

• Sowe Nayoung
• Quinn Marshton
• Zosime Dracona
• Iri Voronaya
• Florian Dorian Delorian of Rom
• Doublethink Stingelhelm
• Quinn Alders

A group of investigators - Commissioner Zosime Draconis, Aspirant Iri Voronaya of the Order of the Rod, Aspirant Doublethink Stingelhelm of the Order of the Shroud, the conflict weaver Florian Dorian Delorian of Rom, and a couple of forest touched by the names of Sowe Nayoung and Quinn Marshton - assemble at the law offices of Egmont, Egmont and Eg. There, the Argyris family lawyer, Limula Egmont, explains the situation to them: Spiridon Argyris became afflicted with a severe mystery illness a week ago; his doctors are doing all they can to keep him alive, but his prognosis is not good, especially in light of the fact that the cause of his affliction remains unknown. Owing to the sudden onset of Spiridon's affliction, the family suspects foul play. Egmont emphasises that the investigators have been called in for the sole purpose of identifying the culprit and the means of poisoning; they are under no circumstances to interfere with the patient's care. Their first point of call should be Spiridon's home, where most of the family are assembled.

On their way, our heroes run into a group of drunkards who are entertaining a variety of paranoid and rather Erroneous conspiracy theories. Speculating that they’ll all be murdered in their beds by foreign agents, the drunkards acquire an air of nihilistic bravura, proposing vigilante justice against anyone who looks suspicious… such as the adventuring party, for example. A scuffle ensues, but our heroes quickly emerge triumphant, releasing their defeated foes into the care of the city guard before heading to Spiridon's home.

As they wait in an antechamber, the investigators have their first real chance to talk among themselves. Observing that Sowe has recently experienced the loss of an arm, Zosime uses Guided Mutation to ameliorate this problem, growing a crab claw in its place. This intervention is not a complete success by any measure, as the Forest begins to try to tear apart the mutation to gain control over it, rendering Sowe in near-constant pain.

A butler appears to admit the party to Spiridon Argyris's chambers. The old man lies abed, surrounded by his family and trusted family doctors Blom and Fulmar. He explains to the investigators that his illness began as a sudden intense pain in the middle of the planning meeting for a building project - it started in his chest, causing him to fall to his knees, and almost immediately spread to his whole body. A rich humanitarian, Spiridon has spent much of his fortune on public works. He seems resigned to his fate, hoping that his architectural works will serve as his legacy - although he is sad he never got to see the sea, and is eager to find out who is responsible for his deteriorating condition. Florian observes that there seems to be some kind of planar influence on Spiridon.

The old man's immediate family offer a few leads. His sister Coralia - who seems on edge and has clearly had a recent row with her spouse, Charis - offers up the name of Aemilius Vitreus, another lordling who, like Spiridon, is interested in creating architecture, and who recently lost out to Spiridon on a big development project. Silas, Spiridon's brother, seems coldly dispassionate about Spiridon's imminent demise and clearly has his mind on the inheritance, but suggests that our heroes investigate Walpurga Pfiff, a hotheaded noblewoman who recently accused Spiridon of having insulted her (Spiridon had stepped on her foot), and threatened to kill him.

The party heads to the Vitreus mansion first. Aemilius Vitreus reclines on a divan in a marble courtyard. He is surrounded by attendants, including a small team of Perfection Weavers who ensure any blemishes he develops are quickly taken care of. Vitreus readily admits that, yes, he is bitter about losing out on that big development project, and yes, he has been planning revenge. Ah, but they are too late to stop him! With a flourish, he directs a servant to remove the dust-sheet from his magnum opus: a statue of Spiridon Argyris, horribly caricatured.

Not everyone is present to witness this: Doublethink, disguised as one of Vitreus's attendants, has let Zosime, Sowe and Quinn out of a back door to allow them to explore the mansion further. The Commissioner and the two Forest Touched find their way into Vitreus's study, where they find - alongside a few valuable sculptures which they conscientiously refrain from stealing - a plethora of unflattering cartoons, all depicting Spiridon. Vitreus has clearly allowed his professional rivalry to become a fixation, but it is equally apparent that he is too interested in smearing his opponent to have even contemplated murdering Spiridon. Satisfied that Aemilius Vitreus is not the culprit, the three of them prepare to leave, when there is an unearthly shriek from the courtyard-

-where Iri, Florian and Doublethink have been left to endure Vitreus's vanity for the past ten minutes. Having noticed a spot on his chin, Vitreus has directed his Perfection Weavers to erase it using a minor - no, a major ritual! Unfortunately, the ritual has gone horribly wrong, transforming Vitreus into a shrieking monster that looks like a horrific fusion of several broken mirrors. His attendants flee, as do Iri, Florian and Doublethink… but when Quinn, Sowe and Zosime arrive on the scene at the back of the courtyard, the Vitreus Beast is blocking their way. They are forced to fight their way out, a task that appears hopeless at first - Quinn is knocked out by a shower of mirror shards that become lodged in the Forest Touched's eyes. Luckily, Florian, Doublethink and Iri return just in time to help their comrades bring down the monster and revive Quinn.

Vitreus's attendants return to tend to their master; Doublethink - still disguised as a member of the household - is at first enlisted in helping to prepare a sick bed, but finds an excuse to escape and rejoin the retreating adventuring party. Quinn happens to glance into a mirror as they leave the mansion… and sees a reflected Quinn grinning evilly back.

Florian uses his Rom contacts to locate the residence of Walpurga Pfiff, the other obvious suspect. The party finds Pfiff's house in a state of considerable disarray: the door is hanging off its hinges; cupboards and shelves have been shattered, their contents strewn over the floor; the bed is in two halves across the room from one another; a human ear is lying in the middle of the floor (Zosime takes a bite out of it); and the word “RARR!” is written in blood on one of the walls. Pfiff is nowhere to be found, but another of Florian's contacts is able to inform our heroes that she was last seem outside the embrace, heading for the edge of the Forest.

They track her down to the very eaves of the Forest of Loss, where she is just finishing despatching a Crooked Man. Seeing their approach, she turns to wave… at which point, the bushes erupt with monstrosities of various kinds, taking Pfiff by surprise. Everyone pitches in to beat back the denizens of the Forest; vanquishing them at last, they take the opportunity to question Pfiff. She shrugs when they mention the apparent break-in at her house - that was a good night, she says, grinning… and our heroes observe that she seems to be missing an ear. She laughs at the suggestion that she might have caused Spiridon’s ailment - if she wanted him dead, she’d have challenged him to single combat by now… but in all honesty, she’d completely forgotten about the slight. She accuses people of having insulted her all the time, after all.

Pfiff does, however, suggest that they investigate Spiridon’s family - Silas is an ambitious, money grabbing little so-and-so, just the sort to arrange an assassination… and poor meek Coralia is liable to go along with whatever nefarious scheme he’s proposed. Our heroes have already been considering a return visit to check on the Argyris siblings, so they now devise a plan to uncover the truth….

Rather than returning to Spiridon Argyris's residence, the investigators decide to pay Coralia a visit - for all her evasiveness, she seemed to be somewhat conflicted during their last meeting, and Charis, her spouse, appeared to be fuming at her. Perhaps, if they can separate the two of them, the party can extract some answers from Charis. To this end, when Coralia invites them all in for afternoon tea, Quinn, Iri and Florian keep Coralia talking so that Sowe, Zosime and Doublethink are able to follow Charis into the drawing room when she (inevitably) storms out in disgust at Coralia's obvious lies.

It doesn't take long for Charis to reveal all - she is too angry with her wife to hold back. No, Coralia is not responsible for Spiridon's illness - and neither is Silas, believe it or not. But Silas and Coralia both know who the most likely culprit is, and they're deliberately withholding that information from the investigators in spite of the fact that the family called for this investigation in the first place! Silas, it seems, is perfectly happy to let his brother's would-be murderer finish the job; he selfishly wants to see Spiridon succumb to his illness so that he'll gain a proportion of the inheritance. Furthermore, he's blackmailing Coralia into keeping her silence too by threatening to go public about her hostility towards the Order of the Shroud - it seems that she's been privately obstructing the order's activities, and otherwise seeking to undermine them wherever possible - even if it can't be proven that she has slipped into Error, such revelations would severely damage her standing in the city. Charis considers Coralia a coward for placing her own status above her brother's life, and is - but at this point, she realises that she has said too much, and begs Zosime, Sowe and Doublethink not to reveal her spouse's secret.

So… who do Coralia and Silas consider the most likely culprit, according to Charis? A man by the name of Vollux, who was attached to a construction project Spiridon was working on, and who had been seen openly quarrelling with Spiridon not long before Spiridon became ill. In fact, Vollux was present at the planning meeting in which Spiridon had collapsed - when Spiridon fell, Coralia had apparently seen Vollux chanting something under his breath, one arm outstretched towards his victim. Following the incident, nobody had seen anything more of Vollux….

Charis retrieves some of Coralia's papers for the investigators' reference - one of them includes Vollux's address - but Sowe scarcely has time to pocket them before Coralia bursts into the room, fuming. The investigators are ejected from the house - as the door slams shut, they see Coralia and Charis staring one another down.

Their new lead acquired, the party heads directly to Vollux’s house, a towering structure with a flat roof. They are greeted at the door by Evie, the elderly maid-of-all-work, who is clearly flustered to hear that they want to speak with the Councillor-Apprentice. She enquires as to the nature of their business, and shows obvious concern upon realising that their visit has something to do with the Argyris project. Emphasising that she is certain her master has done nothing wrong, she reveals that they’re too late to speak with him - Vollux is dead.

When Florian asks if they can see the body, Evie leads them to the top of the tower - this is where corpses are traditionally left for sky burial. Our heroes pass through the hatch in turn, quickly noting that there is no body up here, but - too late! Evie slams the hatch shut behind them, locking the investigators out on the roof of the tower. Worse still, a crescendo of caws indicates that a large flock of carrion birds are bearing down upon them. Sowe quickly gets to work on the lock of the hatch while the others focus on keeping the birds at bay.

It's a close thing, but Sowe at last manages to fling the hatch open. Our heroes scramble back down into the tower, only to encounter Evie sobbing on the staircase below them. She tearfully apologises, explaining that she panicked and regrets it - she never meant to put them in real danger, just to scare them… ah, but what in the world would Vollux think if he knew what she’d done?

She confirms that Vollux is an Erosion Weaver, a Councillor-Apprentice who was involved in Spiridon’s last big civic work - he helped by tearing down the old building that had occupied the site previously. It had started out as a routine project, Evie believes… but then something changed. Vollux became secretive, irritable. He disappeared a week ago after returning home in a state of considerable agitation - Evie hasn't seen him since. She almost… hopes that Vollux is dead, because… well, Vollux was a good person, for the longest time. He paid decently, and never thought to treat Evie as less of a person after she got touched by the Forest. That’s why she panicked - she didn’t want a stain on Vollux’s reputation; that’s all a person leaves behind, after all.

Zosime has an idea. Transmuting her nose into the snout of a bloodhound, she picks up Vollux's scent and traces his last known movements. Here he is entering the tower… he goes up the stairs, and down, and down again, and - wait! He never left his house! The trail stops in a secret room in the cellar - a ritual chamber! Florian is able to detect the traces of a recent ritual performed here - all evidence suggests that Vollux performed a ritual to pass into Erosion; he may still be there, or perhaps he has escaped back into the world elsewhere. Either way, they have reached a dead end.

The party returns to the Argyris residence to report on their progress. Silas is present, along with Coralia and Charis, who are scarcely talking to one another. Limula Egmont requests a progress update, but - heedful of the presence of Silas - our heroes decline to provide the details of their current lead. Egmont is clearly dissatisfied with the investigators' secrecy, threatening to take them off the case if they fail to deliver clear results soon.

Doctors Blom and Fulmar, it seems, have done some investigating of their own, following the Florian's earlier pronouncement that there seems to be some kind of planar influence on Spiridon. Our heroes are introduced to Councillor-Apprentice Sagirah, an Erosion Weaver who has been able to confirm said influence as being related to Erosion. Sagirah has the ability to send the party into Erosion, but emphasises that it will be extremely difficult to track Vollux through that plain, even with the help of Zosime's bloodhound snout.

Sagirah is, however, able to offer a new perspective on the situation: certain Erosion denizens, it seems, have the ability to see the fine threads of a person’s life and the threads interacting with them. If the party wants to find out more about the influence Vollux has placed on Spiridon Argyris - and potentially, to track down Vollux himself - it might be worth consulting an Erosion denizen with this ability. The problem is that denizens of this sort are found only in deep Erosion, and rarely even notice creatures as small as humans. Sagirah suggests that the party might wish to seek out a lost city with an inverted lighthouse - from there, they should be able to converse with an Erosion denizen capable of helping them.

Doublethink, alas, informs the others that he won't be accompanying them into Erosion. The revelation that certain members of the Argyris family would prefer that the identity of Spiridon's enemy be kept a secret, and that there are other associated secrets that may be revealed when the investigation is concluded, has caused Doublethink to conclude that his continued efforts to assist the investigation might constitute a breach of his holy vow never to knowingly reveal a secret. As Sagirah prepares their ritual, Doublethink bids the others the best of luck and makes his departure.

Florian, meanwhile, is concerned about the difficulties of travelling through Erosion without the aid of someone who knows the terrain, and asks Sagirah to accompany the party. Sagirah politely declines - they have important business to attend to in Rastaban - but recommends an acquaintance who should be able to help. And so it is that Quinn Alders joins the party.

All preparations completed, our heroes assemble within the ritual circle. Sagirah begins the ritual - there is some hollow-voiced chanting - and then the six hapless adventurers feel the world fall away from them as they are pulled inexorably into the cold, dark ocean of Erosion….

• Gains 1 Favour
• Gains the emnity of Lakhesis
• Gains a Mystery Deep Erosion Affliction (inform a GM of this upon character death - Sally and Seb know what is going on with this!)
• Chronic Affliction (missing arm) is CURED
• Gains Severe Affliction (forest arm possession) - 1 p/a the Forest takes full control of this arm at GM discretion
• Gains the 'Crab Claw' mutation. This claw can exert considerable pressure on a small area, snipping through chains or fingers

• Gains 3 Favour
• Gains the emnity of Lakhesis
• Gains a Mystery Mirror Affliction (effects tbc)

• Gains 3 Favour
• Gains the emnity of Lakhesis
• Gains a Mystery Deep Erosion Affliction (inform a GM of this upon character death - Sally and Seb know what is going on with this!)

• Gains 2 Favour
• Gains the emnity of Lakhesis
• Gains a Mystery Deep Erosion Affliction (inform a GM of this upon character death - Sally and Seb know what is going on with this!)

• Gains 2 Favour
• Gains the emnity of Lakhesis
• Gains a Mystery Deep Erosion Affliction (inform a GM of this upon character death - Sally and Seb know what is going on with this!)

• Gains 1 Favour
• Is dating Blimkins the Butler

• Gains 2 Favour
• Gains the emnity of Lakhesis
• Has a rapport with “Lakhesis's sister”
• Has assisted with a Plane Binding (Erosion) ritual, and has an opportunity to contact Magister Audata for further information about Plane Binding in future.

A queen there was who loved her king;
The two were seldom far apart
Until one day, by serpent’s sting
He lost his life and broke her heart.

If branches bare may fruit afresh
And embers kindle flames unseen,
May life return to wasted flesh
Upon the dictate of a queen?

Through forests dark and caverns grim
She sought the kingdom of the dead -
If only she could speak with him
She’d bid him follow where she led.

At last, she found the secret way
That drops into abyssal deeps.
There, in the vastness, cold and grey,
Gargantuan Lakhesis sleeps.

Lakhesis, having heard her plea,
Proposed a deal without ado:
“Consign your kingdom to the sea
And I’ll return your love to you.”

She shook her head. “I cannot give
What will persist eternally.”
She turned away, resolved to live,
Returned to land unclaimed by sea.

Atop the highest peak she made
A light to guide him back to shore.
A city that will never fade;
It bears his name forever more.