This Party is on FIRE! Gildember 12th-13th

Ryai tries to sign to the unseen servant to get help. Still, unfortunately, Vanthanoris catches his attempt and threatens to mutilate Ryai if he tries it again, cutting into his neck. He drags him into a latrine to have a conversation with Ryai. Referring to him as Nonasse. He tries to get her back willingly, saying that Qualinost could use her help. Ryai fires back an incredulous reply that they would let him help. Vanthanoris tells her she would be surprised by what they're letting people do nowadays. Ryai assumes the Dragon attack in Solace changed things, but Vanthanoris doesn't believe her. Claiming it's only goblin attacks despite the fact Ryai saw the dragon for himself.

Vanthanoris eventually gives Nonasse an ultimatum. Her fiance is actively looking for her. She can either return with Vanthanoris now and make everything easier or keep putting off the inevitable and make everything worse. Especially since now, he knows where to look for his runaway bride.

Ryai tells him he'd rather die than go back. To which Vanthanoris rolls his eyes. He also tells him that the name Ryai does suit him. Ryai snaps back that he doesn't really care what he thinks. Vanthanoris knows, but he knows that Ryai cares about what the rest of his party thinks. Ryai begs him not to tell but is met with a dagger hilt to the temple and cuts around his chest. Realizing that Vanthanoris left him bare-chested alone in the room.

Now staring down a large suit of metal armor, Ace quickly uses the correct combination and swipes everything in the safe. He runs to the door to unlock it, but the mechanism will take time. He tries to avoid the armor as best he can but eventually gets knocked out.

Vodren, Konguq, and Morris reach the commotion and see the wing of the mansion on fire. As Konguq tries to rack her brain with what to do, Vodren notices Ryai didn't make it with them. While looking for their missing party member, he notices Vanthanoris leaving a room with a bundle of bloodied clothes in his arms, disappearing into a crowd. Vodren and Morris go after him, with Vodren demanding that the crowd stop the elf. A few manage to grab him and are met with dagger cuts. Vodren tries to attack, but Vanthanoris quickly dodges his sacred flame, giving Vodren a confident smirk.

Konguq pleads to Luitari for guidance and help with putting out the fire. She casts a thunder wave, and the major portion of it is extinguished. She goes to help out the rest of the wing.

Ryai, stripped of his identity and dignity, tries to ask a partygoer for his jacket before leaving the room. They deny him, calling him a harlot, and Ryai decides to go on without it. He tries to focus on the crisis at hand rather than his current situation.

Morris whips out a nearby drawer and knocks Vanthanoris across the head. He wallops him he ends up knocking the elf back about 20 ft and lands at the feet of a group of Knights carrying Bron. He got arrested again for threatening people to get out of his way or he'll throw them in the fire. Vanthanoris takes his chance to escape from the mansion

Vodren notices movement in the room Ryai was in and sees that Ryai has escaped but is exposed. Alaban enters the scene and asks Vodren what's going on. Vodren relays that Vanthanoris hurt Ryai, and Alaban becomes furious. He demands that his horse and armor be fetched and the rest go after that elf.

Ryai and Konguq work together to put the fires out, with Konguq offering her sheer cape as cover. Ryai takes it but is trying to focus on the task.

Ace snaps awake to find the suit of armor standing over him. He quickly rolled away from the construct and ran straight out the vault door, ensuring he had everything. He then shuts the door behind him, leaving the key at the door.

Morris takes off after Vanthanoris first, and Vodren goes to check on Konguq and Ryai. Vodren also offers Ryai some cover, but Ryai is still focused on the fire. Vodren hears the cry for a medic and goes outside where Morris was to find his neck slashed open and bleeding out. Out of magic, he gets some bandages and holy water to stabilize the man.

With the fire put out, Cyrus joins his father to find Vanthanoris, demanding that Bron be let go. Konguq demands to be taken with them after learning what happened to Morris.

With the fire now out, Ryai can feel all eyes on him as he becomes shell-shocked. He feels Ace come up behind him and drape his coat over his shoulders. Ryai is told to go back to the room but refuses. Vodren manages to fix Ryai's stay and hands it to him.

As the elf-hunting party gets outside the city borders, Konguq spots Vanthanoris, and the knights pin him to a barn wall, forcing him to surrender. Konguq goes to pin him with her staff, but he takes the chance to take a hostage. Konguq struggles, and he cuts deep into her neck, whispering that he's better at knives than her and that the man who sent him is better at magic than she is. Konguq retaliates by unleashing cold magic on him, forcing him to surrender again.

They return, with Cyrus telling them to allow Vorlo to return to the city since he is clearly not a Wereboar.

With Vanthanoris apprehended, Ryai is asked to explain his whole story. Behind closed doors, Ryai tells Alaban everything, and Alaban becomes furious. He exclaims that if this is the best Qualinost has to send them, then he wants nothing more to do with Qualinost, sending them a missive about Vanthanoris's actions and leaving Ryai out of it.

Ace returns to the room first and is stopped by Tellum. He asks Ace if he's made any progress with his task, and Ace, despite his injuries, tells him that every is under control. Tellum accepts that and walks away. Ryai returns as well and buries his face into Callum. He tries to listen to the puppy tell him about his night but unfortunately finds it more grating than helpful.

Vodren and Vorlo spend the night on the roof, using drugs to help relax from the night.

Konguq stays by Morris's side the whole night. When he finally stirs, the two share tender words, which Konguq seals with a kiss. She joins him for the rest of the night, curled up by his side.

The next morning at breakfast, the party decides to come clean about their secrets.

• Bron, who killed his brother with a weapon, swore never to use one again, only using shields to fight.
• Vodren was raised by goblins.
• Vorlo wiped Seeker Rowanna's memory.
• Ryai was born a woman and is trying to flee from his fiance
• Konguq doesn't have any and has always been an open book.

Vodren reassures Ryai of his current identity, and Vorlo even explains that it's not uncommon for Hobgoblins to change their gender depending on their role.

The group turns to Ace to ask what his deal is, and he gets up to talk with Alaban alone. Despite his protests, Ryai and Vorlo say, "Uh no," and follow after.

While they're away, a servant delivers a letter from the Jackdaws to Vodren demanding 1000 steel for Galera's life. The rest also go to talk to Blue Cloak.

Ace, now annoyed everyone is here, knocks on the door when Tellum opens it. Alaban also wants to talk with the group about something. When Ace asks for privacy again, Alaban tells Tellum and Cyrus to leave, with Bron giving them the stare-down.

Alaban starts with a concern that he found the key outside his vault and wants to know who did it. Ace unloads his backpack from the night before and tells Alaban everything. About how, yes, his father would like him dead and that he preferred his brother Elliot over him. But he ran away with a man named Tarth, who knew his grandfather and told him he could teach him how to be a thief like him. It unfortunately ended with them stealing a Crown from Palanthas, Tarth getting killed, and Ace now walking with a permanent limp. He comes clean about how he melted the crown and gave the earnings to the Orphanage Tarth was from. He wanted to come clean because he related to the Blue Cloak family story of a criminal who changed her identity to start over. And if he did what Tellum asked, Crossing would be thrown in absolute disarray during a time when it needs unity.

Alaban, completely moved by Ace's story and motives, tells him that he will tell Tellum the story himself and give him the steel he asked for. That the group has done a lot for Crossing as a whole, and Ace's past be damned.