The party hits Bookworm’s Treasure to gather some information. Togy cannot afford to purchase the Emerald Enclave manifesto, Bring Back the Balance (Of Nature), but Rishaw allows him to borrow it under his direct supervision. Emerald Enclave appears to be a conservation society advocating for plants and animals. Janky peruses some history of Black Staff Tower which traces its lineage back to Lord Grey (with an ‘e’) who parlayed a personal interest in wizardry into a book, So You Wanna Be a Wizard, and ultimately into the mercenary academy as it is known today. Reade chats with Rishaw about the posh Lightsinger Theater although Rishaw prefers books. Luth thumbs through some periodicals regarding Lord Neverember’s difficulties.
Smoll, Janky, Luth, and Togy break off to visit Phaulkonmere to check out the Emerald Enclave. They meet groundskeeper and manor steward Malanor who escorts them inside for an audience with the spirit of Jeryth Phaulkon, presently incarnating a portrait of her previous mortal form. Togy, Janky, and Smoll are inaugurated into Emerald Enclave to help protect nature and property rights of farmers. Malanor bestows some charms of restoration upon them [6 charges to cast greater restoration at 4 charges or lesser restoration at 2 charges, no recharge] as well as season passes to the manor gardens for rest and relaxation. If they need something to rest from, some outlying farms are being attacked by three scarecrows and the initiates need to handle the situation to prevent any more lost livestock or frightened farmers.
Reade hangs back at Troll Skull Manor to scrub the kitchen. He calmly notes when his cleaning bucket mysteriously gets kicked away and over. The same unseen malicious force hammers on pipes and scribes Last Call on a dirty window. Reade makes a follow-up visit to Rishaw. Rishaw finds records dating back to an 8th millennial Founder’s Day festival of the location before it was known as Troll Skull Manor. There was a fine tavern at the same location owned by a half elf, Lif. Lif, concludes Reade, must be the restless spirit even though it answers not to that name.
The party reunites at TSM to dress for the opera. Individual adaptations of “formal attire” are scrutinized and passed by the ushers / doormen / guards at the Lightsinger Theater, although Togy’s blackened moccasins require Janky’s soothing persuasion to pass muster. At intermission, the party files out of general admission, awkwardly alternating between butt- and crotch-to-face egress and heads to private box C. Luth knocks thrice and meets Mirt, local Harper representative. The entire party enlists with the Harpers, whether for the crescent moon harp brooch with no arcane power or for the no limits defense of all that is convenient to the Harper ethos. It just so happens that a mission is immediately available to rendezvous with Maxine, a conversant mare, in the know about something Zhentarim.
Reade, noting the end of intermission, slips away from the opera to recon Hlam’s cave. He is exhausted nearly to death with the attempt to climb the mountain and returns to sleep it off in the TSM kitchen.
The following day, while waiting for Reade to recover, the party locates and interrogates Maxine. She recollects a sun elf, Davil, and his bodyguard, Yagra, caught a ride from her and discussed the hiring of spies within the Xanathar. Luth writes a brief report and slips that into Mirt’s mailbox where it is federally protected from snooping.
While waiting on Reade’s exhaustion timers, the party kills time cleaning the STM tavern. Broxley, of the Fellowship of Innkeepers, Local 303, drops by to ensure that STM is not recklessly operating a tavern without FoI membership being in order. Broxley confirms rumors of the manor haunting, demonstrated when Reade’s drinking glass is ethereally slapped from his grasp at the mention of Lif. Broxley lets slip that their acquisition of STM was rivalled by Frewn’s Brews proprietor Emmek Frewn.
Janky slips away to catch up with private eye Vincent Trench at Tiger’s Eye who mentions being followed by giant rats. Possibly Janky’s arcanely acquired buddy Roscoe could shed light on that situation.
The party acquires mountain gear, for the second attempt to find Hlam, and camping gear, for staking out farms in pursuit of marauding scarecrows. The next morning, with Reade nominally recovered, the party climbs the nearby mountain range and easily locates paranoid Hlam. Janky manages to extract a warning from Hlam regarding threats on the city: Evil’s twin hides its face for now but expect that to change before winter’s end! When Janky later conveys the message to Vajra, she is just as puzzled as anyone but still declares the mission a success.
The party decides to close out the day on the farms of Undercliff, scene of the most recent scarecrow attacks. Hours into the stakeout, a screaming horse interrupts cookware cleaning. The party dashes through a farm in pursuit of a scarecrow who has just mangled a horse. As Smoll pursues it around the farmhouse, two more scarecrows intercept Reade and paralyze him. Once defeated, an examination of the scarecrows reveals they are animated constructs infused with the spirit of a slain, evil creature.