After running from the Notheasauvite army, they have been on the road, offering their medical services in exchange for goods and services while keeping out of the way of the dragon's army swooping through the world. They met Talia, who was in urgent need of care for a burn, who in turn offered them a ride to get away from this place.

On their way through the oppressive mists, they reach a crossroads where a five other noisy figures are wandering aimlessly. Much to Rhea's chagrin, Talia offers the lot to take them along to the next destination, and so they all crowd into the small vardo.

Chapter 1 - Dementlieu

After what feels like hours, the group finally arrives in Dementlieu, which is evidently not where Talia was meant to bring them. The group, colorful and misfit as they are in this extravagant city, is directed towards the outskirts of the town, where the houses of the 'three odd gabels' stand, who gladly take in the group in exchange for a small musical number from the bards. They stay the night there, in which they learn a bit about the on-goings of the city and some of the mysterious dangers haunting the street - but not too worry, the Ray Agency is already on it.

The Ray Agency, as it turns out, is run by Talia's uncles. As the group pays them a visit the next day, they gladly take the group in and welcome Talia with open arms, and inform her of a letter they received. The letter adresses Talia in particular, but also her companions, sent by a Firan Zal’honan who warns of grave dangers and expects to meet the group at the duchess' masquerade ball to talk with them. That ball, it seems, is out of the party's league, though. Alanik Ray offers the group to help out in the agency to gain the needed prestige for an invitation. So, after another night at the place of the three odd gabels and one missing cart later, theyre on their way to investigate a case at the opera house.

The case at first seems to be one of mere jealously, as the main singer - Adelaide - got replaced by another one. We quickly realize though that the new 'star of the show', Marie-Claire, indeed seems to be lacking the talent for such a role, and yet everyone else at the opera house seems to be utterly enthralled.
As the party digs deeper into the mystery, they find letters from a mysterious friend of Marie-Claire's and a secret entrance in her room leading down into a hideout under the city. After a short, violent quarrel, they manage to speak with the resident, who turns out to be Claire de l'Opera, who holds a grudge against Adelaide for trying to murder her and killing her friend - Marie-Claire's mother. The group promises to keep their plot secret in exchange for invitations to the masquerade ball.

After another night at the gabels' home, they head to the library to conduct some research, which turns up largely fruitless besides some information about the city, until Talia finds a note and bloodied tarokka cards in a book, sending her into a panic attack.
After that experience, Talia's uncles insist on her staying at the agency and extend that invitation to the rest of the party, who all accept - except for Paul, who'd rather stay with the old ladies, who are probably most definitely hags. Basil asks Alanik for some advice with his book, which Alanik deduces is made from skin. Basil's own skin, to be exact.

The next day, the party is put onto a different case, but not before dressing up in very 'inconspicuous', Dementlieu-style outfits. The group is then sent to investigate a case of a girl who returned after going missing - one of many such cases - who is in the hospital after her arm melted off in a freak accident. They trace the case back to a wax museum in the city, the Maison du Cire, and heads there to continue the investigation.
Before we can enter, Talia gets spooked by a person she recognizes and flees. After failing to find her, Basil waits outside to catch her uncles when they return, while the rest of the group heads into the house of wax.
Inside, the group stumbles over some disquieting discoveries - wax figurines looking like members of the party and people close to them. After heading into the 'Horrors of the War' exhibit, featuring some gruesome and triggering scenes of not only Talia, but Rhea and Tacita in their Notheasauvite uniforms, Tacita remembers the doctor and violently confronts them for being a traitor and renegade, causing a panic among the visitors of the museum and drawing the attention of the owner. Meanwhile, Paul snuck away to examine the backgrounds, finding not only more of figurines of the party in progress, but the missing people - including the owner of the museum - locked away and in bad shape.
The fake Alexander du Cire attacks, but is quickly beaten down by the party, including Basil, Talia and the uncles who enter in just the right time, and the captives can be freed. It seems that Alexander du Cire, both the real and the fake one, saw the party in his dreams and created figurines in their image.

The next day starts somewhat awkward, with Rhea avoiding Tacita after the events of the day prior. Talia encourages her to apologize with a mug of coffee and Paul as emotional backup, and that goes over as smoothly as you'd imagine.
That is followed up by a day of dance lessons, etiquette and developing fake aliases for the masquerade ball under the tutelage of Arthur Sedgwick, as fitting in during the masquerade ball is of utmost importance.
The next day is the day of the masquerade ball, starting off with hours spent at a salon to give the party the necessary makeover and makeup, followed by getting dressed in the costumes and dresses that the three odd gabels made for the group. After a day of preparations, the party hops onto the ferries over to the mansion of Duchess Saidra d'Honaire.
Iside the masquerade ball, the party splits up, each with their own tasks of finding this mysterious Firan and keeping an eye on the stars of the opera. As the duchess enters the stage, announcing the opera troupe's show, Rhea sees her not as just a noblewoman, but an eerie wraith. No one else seems to notice - or pretends they don't, and the show continues, until Marie-Claire enters the stage and charms the entire audience with her enchanted amulet, so that Claire can join her and expose Adelaide as the fraud and murderer she is. The duchess, angered by this, approaches Adelaide, not only expelling her from their society, but entirely disintegrates her.
Talia, meanwhile, had been approached by a familiar figure - the Dragon Reborn, her sister Renarin. The two have a talk, in which Renarin tries to convince Talia to trust her and follow her, despite Renarin killing their parents as they tried to keep Talia away from Renarin and her righteous 'war to end all wars'. The rest of the party try to stop them from leaving, only to be sent out of the venue by a Mass Suggestion spell, shortly followed by an upset Talia.
Just as Tacita and Basil report tha Firan is waiting for them inside, as they have found him, chaos breaks out inside as the quarrel caught the duchess' attention - only to be burned by Renarin. The group attempts to flee with the panicked guests, pursued by an enraged Renarin, and barely manage to reach a set of boats waiting for them, along with Firan Zal’honan, who helps them escape as the island is consumed by fire.

Shaken and confused as the party is, they meet up with Alanik and Arthur and return to the agency, where Firan explains why he contacted the party. The mists are falling apart, affecting not only the domains, but the material plane as well, and his visions told him that this group is key to stop it. The Dragon is not the cause, but certainly making it worse, and also harder for the group while she is hunting us down, so he concocts a plan for us to head to another domain - Borca - and lay low while he tries to shake her off their trail.
Unfortunately for the party, it turns out that the Arthur that was with them was a spy from the Dragonsworn's group, and thus all plans for sidequest investigations are abandoned and we head straight for the Vistaniy caravan that is supposed to take us out of the city.

The vistani are more than happy to help a fellow vistani and her friends in need, even if Moira, the niece of the raunie Elisabeta Argintari, can't help but have a little fun at the expense of them all. She makes up for it with a tarokka reading later that evening.