Roman Lumsk, a wealthy Caulish merchant, has been trying to hire investigators to look into the deaths of a number of his countrymen in Acryn.
The observant will have noticed that several members of the city watch seem to have taken it upon themselves to tear down the notices advertising the job.
The party go to the morgue and determine that two of the dead were murdered, but the body of the third, Andrei Markov, is missing.
As they go to examine the site of Markov's suicide and group of watchmen start to hassle them. Karlos attacks them and when it transpires that one of them has bled out, they decide there's nothing for it but to murder the others and eat the evidence.
As they examine the scene a young boy runs up screaming that his brother has been snatched. The party fight through a rundown warehouse complex and rescue the young man from a pair of True Council enforcers. Xavi (incorrectly) reassures Karlos that the kidnappers can't actually be True Council, so they murder them and eat the evidence.
From the rescued Vas, they learn that all the dead Caulish had recently visited the Palace of Games and it appears that Andrei has somehow used his friends to defraud the White Duke of a rather substantial sum of money.
Returning to report to their employer, they are called to the embassy where they meet with the White Duke and a crooked ambassador. Having determined that Andrei is likely alive and headed for Caul, the Duke encourages the party to give chase and try to return the thief to his clutches. Roman quietly suggests that perhaps they should look to the powerful Markov family to resolve the situation without further bloodshed.
Managing to get to Caul despite a rather dicey encounter with a wayfinder bandit and his flux barbarian minions, the party manage to meet with Sasha Markov who explains that her brother was disowned about a month ago and is shocked to learn of his involvement with organised crime. They are pointed in the direction of Andrei's old friends for their next lead.
Unfortunately they are unable to gain entry to the ritzy club where the young socialites gather, and end up sicking Xavi's gleam-dog on the bouncer. The resultant uproar spoils any chance of getting useful info from the friends and they end up fleeing back to the wayfinder's guild before the Watch arrives.
Xavi's Guild contacts eventually come through for the pair, and after a week killing time they learn of a high-end smithy that apparently seems to have been destabilised. Thinking that this is worth checking out the pair go to the shop, but the clerk isn't interested in assisting their investigation and Karlos' attempt to slip into the back room triggers wards that drop a bunch of paper and rope golems on them. Before leaving Xavi manages to get a glance at the owner and notices a slight fluxiness to him. They watch the store the rest of the day and Xavi notices that any flux nature of the goods made within vanishes as they move into the consensus, apparently the fluxshaped products of the workshop being suitable to become permanent as they a pulled across the threshold.
That evening they sneak back in and Karlos rituals the ability to bite a hole through the wards. Crawling into the workshop they confront 'Master Vin' and his war golems, stating that they are Guild investigators come to look into the destabilisation. When they refuse to leave a fight breaks out and eventually they manage to defeat the opponents, Vin exploding dramatically when his body hits the floor.
Noticing a thumping from a nearby chest the duo discover Andrei Markov lying inside, apparently having just come to after the destruction of his Surrogate. They pull him out and point out that the True Council is hot on his trail and a sticky fate awaits…unless of course he'd like to throw in his lot with the Wayfinder's Guild.
The party take Andrei back to the Wayfinder's Guild office and the officials there negotiate with him long into the night. Come the morning the party are informed that a deal has been struck with the young craftsman, and they are requested to return to Acryn and negotiate with the White Duke to ensure that all involved are satisfied by the outcome.
The party travel home and meet with their employers in the Caulish embassy, there they are able to persuade the Duke to accept the current state of affairs in exchange for a colossal payoff from the Guild and a promise that after faking a second death at the hands of Council hitmen, Andrei will never again let his true identity emerge. Whether or not the entrepreneur will abide by this agreement remains to be seen, but for now all parties are satisfied by the arrangement and the party are compensated handsomely.
Xavier uses his good standing with the Guild to get a frank answer about Leaf's fate and Howard Branch's current status. The guild officer makes it clear that Howard shouldn't be interfered with…so long as he remains in good standing with the Guild.
Later Xavi recieves a query from the True Council about the missing enforcers, Knuckle and Bone, and responds saying that he 'can't talk about it'. Shortly thereafter a pair of goons shows up and persuade him to spill the beans, coercing him into saying that the missing killers were eaten by a crocodile.
The council goons then show up in Karlos' room and grill him over the fate of the enforcers. When they mention that they know they were eaten, Karlos assumes Xavi has revealed all and murders the pair, poisoning one with Limb Drop and then roasting the other with arcane fire. He then naturally eats them both.
Realising that he is in deep shit with the True Council, he goes to the Palace of Games and offers to work off his debt to the White Duke. The crimeboss seems pretty horrified to learn that his minions were eaten, but also sees the use in having such an unscrupulous mage on staff. He agrees to retain Karlos' services for 'clean ups' and other jobs and further demands a 30% kickback on all his earnings going forward.
In Caul the Wayfinder's guild are quietly underwriting the advent of 'flux industry'. Utilising destabilised workshops and the talents of master shapers educated in the crafts they are duplicating, this can theoretically produce goods at a fraction of the costs of traditional labour.