The party awoke in the Scarlet Shield Tavern, where the weight of the Queen’s looming trial pressed heavily on their minds. They spoke with Finn, Tilly, and Velara, debating loyalties and what charges might be brought against the Queen. At the Queen’s estate, she revealed her intentions to the party quite plainly: the ring must be denied, the evidence in the Balandel Courthouse destroyed. Though the party outwardly agreed, they decided among themselves to examine the evidence before choosing their course.
On their way back to the inn, they crossed paths with Archdruid Thalwen Myr, who demanded to know how they had visited all three distant groves in one night. She pressed them on the Verdant Reliquary and warned that they must soon choose between honesty and treachery. Uneasy but resolute, the party returned inside, where Momeline pried gossip from the tavern crowd, learning that Talan Windfern had not been seen in over a week. Lirielle pulled Garrin Dace aside, who confessed that the Archdruid had questioned him about the party and that he had revealed, perhaps foolishly, that Talan was arrested by the Queensguard last week.
That night, the group broke into the Balandel Courthouse. Ferinthria had to calm a frantic barking dog with her animal-speaking abilities, and Momeline slipped easily through the walls to a window from within. In the evidence chamber, they found three letters and stole two—the scrambled note from Lyrian Brightwind and a damning message from Serelion Thorneweave to Malrec—leaving the third behind. In the next room, the judge’s private chamber, Momeline solved a balance puzzle to unlock a chest and read a curious note from Serelion Vael, the owner of the Scarlet Shield Tavern. She chose not to take it, though. On the upper floor, they discovered the Archdruid’s handwritten plans beside a sleeping Druid of the Flame. With their prizes secured, they used the Twin Orbs of Displacement to secretly return to the Queen and discuss what they had found.
The Queen revealed that the Archdruid was hunting for Talan, who was hidden in the questioning chamber in her palace, and that his discovery could be disastrous. The party informed her that the cultists planned to assassinate Laerwen Sylvenblade, and they came up with a plan to send them to Fadrín with a Queensguard escort. Before sending them away, the Queen confided two more secrets: that Irielle Duskwhisper had been assigned to Saint Andral’s Church, a few hours’ ride from Balandel, and that Malrec, whom the druids of the flame were holding captive in their camp outside the city, must not live to testify.
While helping Laerwen escape, she warned Momeline that “they think it’s me, but it’s your friend,” hinting that Lirielle, not she, is destined to bear the Crown of Judgement. Later that night, Lirielle put on the crown herself and, unlike Momeline before her, felt a surge of agency within the vision it evoked. Just as she reached for control, the dream snapped away, leaving her shaken but certain that something greater lay within her grasp.
Slipping into the druids’ camp outside the city, the party carried out the Queen’s darker request. Though Momeline triggered a fire rune, she and Lirielle struck quickly, assassinating Malrec before he could cry out. They fled into the night, unseen and unheard, their hands now tied more tightly than ever to the Queen’s struggle to stay in power.