On the steps of The Sentinel, just as the party is settling into the grandeur of Azmar, Alyviel vanishes in a sudden puff of Feywild mist.
The party is briefly stunned. Their wood elven mercenary companion is gone without warning, disappearing before their eyes. But after a moment of confusion, the group realizes an awkward truth: Alyviel had barely spoken since joining them beyond intimidation, threats, and the occasional cutting quip. No one really knew her well enough to understand what had happened.
So, with a shrug more than a eulogy, the party continues into the marketplace of Azmar.
The market is enormous and extravagant, surrounded by sandstone walls and filled with multicolored tents, fountains, statues of scorpions, and tall wooden buildings with thatched roofs. In the brutal heat of the Sapest, the marketplace radiates wealth. It is elegant, bright, and majestic, a display of just how much money and power has been concentrated inside this desert city.
The party splits up to spend their bounty.
Behzad is almost immediately approached by a strange construct: a metal man in an orange tunic and wide hat named Sand. Sand insists that Behzad, as a true noble, needs a true noble’s weapon, a firearm. His chest opens to reveal a rotating cylinder of guns, and he proudly explains that he represents ACE, the largest business in Azmar. According to Sand, ACE sells “Peacemakers,” and as he puts it: the gods made all men, but ACE made them equal.
Behzad objects, saying he is in the market for a holy weapon, not a man-made monstrosity. Sand, sensing the angle immediately, assures him that these weapons are holy, blessed by Bahamut himself. Behzad believes him and hands over all of his money.
Elsewhere in the market, Fern discovers a cart marked The Traveling Imp, where a tiefling merchant in a large cowboy hat and a bandana painted with a wide smile introduces himself in a thick southern drawl as Mezer Dread. At his side is a young golden drake named Gouda. Mezer deals in magic items, and Fern places an order for Bracers of Defense. Mezer promises to pick up a pair the next time he goes out hunting for inventory.
Meanwhile, the party prepares to meet Vulmer at the tavern to collect their reward for rescuing the Prophet and to report that the job is done. But on the way, Nys speaks with Behzad and realizes that Sand has very obviously fleeced him.
Nys and Behzad return to confront the construct and demand a refund, while Fern heads to the tavern. Sand calmly tells them the firearm was final sale, that refunds are impossible, and that the weapon cannot even legally be resold without the proper license. Nys pushes back, warning that they just saved the Baroness and that someone important may want to know about this.
Sand responds with total confidence: he has the Baroness in his pocket.
He leads them back toward the center of power, and they follow.
While that problem escalates, Fable visits a harvester’s shop and spends her share of the bounty on a blue dragon heart, which she devours greedily in a back alley of Azmar.
Fern eventually gets bored waiting at the tavern and reunites with Fable. Together, they head to the library, which turns out to be an outlet of the College of Ioun. There, they run into Ned Snakeskin, who has apparently crawled his way back through the Sapest desert after the events at Crackjaw. They also meet Wilbur, the simulacrum of a gnome wizard.
Fable rents a book on Sapest history, and the party learns more about the wider situation from Ned. The goblins, the diamond crisis, and ACE all seem connected to a larger economic transformation. ACE is not simply a gun shop or arms dealer; it is a sprawling conglomerate that rose to power only a few years ago, drove many local businesses out of the market, and has steadily taken over huge portions of the Sapest economy. It justifies its expansion by claiming that its weapons are “taming the wild Sapest.”
Back at the Baroness’s court, Nys and Behzad discover just how deep ACE’s influence runs. Sand effectively intimidates Baroness Liliana Sev, holding some invisible knowledge or leverage over her. To the party’s surprise, the Baroness reimburses Sand for his “trouble and time” and warns the party not to ruffle too many feathers.
Benedict Sev escorts them back toward the tavern and quietly advises them to leave Azmar at first light.
The episode ends with the truth beginning to settle in: the party may have saved Azmar from the Crown’s immediate scheme, but the city is already caught in another kind of occupation. ACE has money, guns, political leverage, and secrets powerful enough to make the Baroness bend.
The party has walked headfirst into a conspiracy in the desert.