Having learned that the Balacazar family was interested in hiring private protection for Dullin, a young performer in their family, you headed off to a warehouse in the Guildsman’s District where the Balacazars were conducting interviews.

You spoke with Mr. Kobayashi, the family’s usual representative, who was impressed with your qualifications, and doubly-so by your previous experience dealing with the chaos cultists (whom you told the family that you suspected of being behind the plot).  Within a few days, you heard back from Mr. Kobayashi, and the job was yours.  However, he had also hired your sometime-rivals Nargul and Selune to ensure a large enough protection force.

The Balacazar boy would be performing in a play, and you were contracted to protect him through the dress rehearsal and three performances.  You spent dress rehearsal scouting the Cloud Theater, determining how to best guard the boy.  Though Selune was reluctant to relinquish any control or concessions to you, she did eventually warm a bit to Carric, and while you weren’t pleasant to each other, you were able to work together.

With a plan in place, opening night arrived.  Many city officials and nobles showed up, including the Vladaams.  Carric cast Detect Chaositech and scouted the early-entering crowd.   He learned that the Vladaams were in possession of chaositech (not an unexpected surprise) but also saw a lone man with some chaositech item entering and sitting near the front.  Phen used Mage Hand to pick the man’s pocket, and came away with a chaositech smoke bomb.  

The play began, and all was uneventful until intermission.   A planned smoke-effect went off as part of the performance, and while one cultist searched for his now-missing smoke bomb, another one, whom Carric had not found, activated his.  Black smoke billowed around the crowd in the first few rows of the theater, causing some noise and disturbance among the crowd.

Meanwhile, Raelen had escorted Dullin to his dressing room and was arguing with the boy’s voice coach, when the cultists made their move.  The outside wall of the dressing room collapsed as a cultist digging team, lead by a dwarf, entered and attacked.

As Raelen alerted everyone upstairs via magic earring, he held off the cultists as best he could.  Yasin and Phen leapt up and over the seats upstairs, somersaulted gracefully onto the stage, and made their way downstairs, with Carric and Selune following.   Phen past Nargul and alerted the barbarian in the way he thought most effective (“Food! Downstairs!”).  Everyone was racing to reinforce Raelen.

You didn’t make it in time.  Just as the rest of the party arrived, Raelen fell under the cultist attacks.   As a cult magic user waved his chaos-tattooed hand menacingly at Dullin, Yasin pulled the boy to safety, eventually hiding him upstairs away from the battle.  Carric began blasting the cultists, as Phen rained down crossbow bolts.  Nargul finally entered the fray, exchanging blows with the formidable dwarf cultist.  One by one the cultists fell, and Carric eventually worked his way around to feed a potion to Raelen.  The dwarf was the last to fall, but eventually all the cultists were defeated.

A few minutes were then spent explaining things to Mr. Kobayashi.  He was very pleased that Dullin was unhurt, and was surprised that this all had transpired in a way where the performance could still go on with only slight delay.  The remainder of the night and remaining performances were uneventful.

Though one of the smoke-bomb throwing cultists was captured, he refused to provide any useful information.  It was no matter, however, since by following the pitch-dark tunnel that now lead into the Cloud Theater dressing room, the party made their way to an alley in Oldtown, across from which a suspicious-looking (near abandoned) apartment building lie.

Finally, after months of searching, you had a concrete lead on the cultist’s location.  You took the Balacazar’s payment and began to prepare yourselves for your next assault against the chaos cults.