The Storm Guard began their planning for a gala at Castle Shard.  The intent was to invite nobles, dignitaries, the church hierarchy, etc., to the ball in order to find out if any were under the control of Argus Shaw.

But first, some experimentation was done using the newly-crafted “deactivation circlet”.  Carric coaxed Fennic into putting it on to try and restore Fennic’s memories.  The circlet worked, but the process was painful.  The party decided to not attempt to use it on any nobles during the event itself.

As for the gala, the plan was to have Raelen greet the guests as they arrive, and then send them up to gather in the ballroom in the second floor of Castle Shard.  Once all the guests had arrived and were mingling, Carric would use the customized tracking uber-stone to scan the entire crowd.

The party began and guests started to arrive.  As the Storm Guard took to various positions, no one noticed as Aliaster Vladaam approached Ebrahim.  Using a Suggestion spell, he persuaded Ebrahim to head over to the Vladaam Estate to receive a “worm treatment” to remove the tracking stone in his head.  Ebrahim succumbed to the suggestion, and left unnoticed.

Soon after, all the guests had arrived, and the party gathered in the center of the ballroom to use the uber-stone. But where was Ebrahim?  Without much concern, Carric sent Simon out to look for him.

Activating the uber-stone, the party saw only one guest currently had a tracking stone within them. Unfortunately, it was their sometime-ally, Aliaster Vladaam.   He was finishing his drink and casually leaving.  Carric proceeded to follow him, with Irina and Phen close behind.  Raelen had to stay behind and continue to play gracious host.

Outside the castle, Aliaster began his stroll home.  Phen followed close by via stealth, with Irina and Carric at a further distance.  Minutes passed as all made their way south in the Nobles Quarter.  Blocks ahead, Simon located Ebrahim, who had entered Vladaam grounds.  Simon flew back and reported this to Carric, who then sent the owl on to fetch Raelen.

At the Vladaam estate, Ebrahim was allowed through the gate and into the home, and Aliaster followed shortly.  Phen reached the gate, used Disguise Self, and appearing as Gattara Vladaam bluffed his way in and to the front door.  Moments later Carric and Irina arrived and tried to coordinate a plan, but Phen had given his earring to Irina -- there was no way to contact him.  Instead, Carric tried to bluff his way in, but was denied by the guards, leaving him and Irina to retreat and scale the wall.  

Inside Vladaam Manor, Ebrahim was invited to take a seat.  Phen's former mentor Valdus then appeared and with a quick spell, Ebrahim was magically held in place . . .  his suspicions starting to overwhelm the suggestion spell.   At that point, Ebrahim's "family" of Daeva and Massoud stepped out from the rear dining hall.  They forced Ebrahim to floor as Dr. Luth approached with a small box containing the brain-worm Aliaster had shown you days before. 

Phen, still standing at the open door disguised as Gattara, attacked and killed Dr. Luth on the spot, beginning the battle.

Valdus, sensing the coming combat, turned Massoud invisible, and then fled.  Ebrahim, freed of paralysis, used the Ring of Bigby’s Hand to shove Massoud off of him.  Massoud and Daeva responded by going all-out against Ebrahim.  The battle underway, Carric used Dimension Door to bring himself and Irina to the melee.

Phen raced into the manor and began fighting off a minion of Valdus’, while Carric blasted away at Daeva, pushing him off Ebrahim.  Ebrahim followed Daeva into the dining room and struck some key blows, but was brought down by the combined attacks by Daeva and Massoud.  Weapons and spells were launched across the room as the outnumbered Storm Guard tried to hold their own.

Moments later, Raelen arrived on horseback and teleported to the doorway, charged in and attacked Daeva, driving him away from Ebrahim’s unconscious body.   Daeva staggered backward, healed himself, and began to look for an escape route, running upstairs.   Phen, racing into the kitchen, found Valdus, who responded with a Cone of Cold that killed the entire kitchen staff, and wounded both Phen and the still-invisible Massoud.

Carric tried to pin down the remaining enemies in the foyer with a well-placed hypnotic pattern.  It worked, dazing both Daeva and Massoud.  Raelen then raced upstairs and delivered a near-mortal wound to the stunned Daeva.

Downstairs, Phen chased Valdus out a side door and ignited his Exploding Armor.  Valdus was hurt, but wouldn’t be killed so easily: he blasted Phen with another Cone of Cold, dropping him.

Irina raced to Ebrahim's side and woke him with a healing potion while Carric headed upstairs to help Raelen. By the time Carric arrived, Raelen had delivered the killing blow to Daeva and had already turned back to find Massoud.   Carric, however, did find Aliaster Vladaam, still under the spell of a slaad-stone, eyeing Daeva’s body and readying a spell.  Before he could cast it, Carric used an Eyebite spell of his own to put him to sleep.  He then tried to use the Deactivation Circlet on Aliaster but something went wrong and the device instead shattered.

On the main floor, Massoud, having come to his senses, moved toward Ebrahim.  Raelen attacked from behind, and a moment later Ebrahim drove his elven blade into his former “brother” for the killing blow. 

Outside, Phen came to consciousness in the slurry of ice and snow left from the Cone of Cold.   Valdus had escaped again.  The party quickly tied up Aliaster and collected themselves to decide what to do next…