After defeating the assassins in their secret hideout south of town and recovering some of the intelligence documents stored therein, the party returns to the city for a well-deserved rest. Elro, upon waking, finds the documents missing and a letter left in his room from the city spymaster. Apparently, one of the nobles in town has in her possession a Fire Ruby, one of many oddities and curios in her collection. The party approaches Lady Rine Rowich, hoping to get her permission to borrow the ruby. Though they cannot secure an audience with her directly, her curator hints that finding another of her collection, a stolen bronze dragon egg, might earn her favor enough to earn permission for the loan. Splitting up, they talk to some of their contacts around town. It seems the egg was stolen by the cutlists but never found; apparently it is protected from detection by magic along with Creios's missing Warp Dust. Lady Rowich, it turns out, also knows and is on working terms with J.J.'s patron The Collector. Putting their heads together, the party searches town for places blocked from magical sight and finds a hidden basement room under an abandoned dwelling. Inside, they find a portal to Ayk's prison chamber and reclaim several stolen items as well as some valuables left behind by the cultists when they fled, defeating the cult's water weird a second time in the process. They then call on Creios to seal the portal, hopefully in time to prevent any divine corruption from leaking out into the world. Now, they just need to borrow that ruby and perform the ritual to bind and defeat Creios's mentor's assailant.