Garyn was easily able to follow the tracks of the five giants back to their lair in the hills. Inside a large cave, he found evidence that the Qullan had been living there for some time. A search turned up a barrel about 2ft high, filled with fine wine and bearing Lady Redfern's seal. Rohit sequestered it inside the bag of holding.

A trail led from the cave towards the Villa Zarios, although there were no signs that it had been used recently. As Lady Redfern's vineyard came into view, three men in armor, patrolling with torches, could be seen near the manor house. It turned out to be Martok's brother, Addric, with two men that he had been training as guards. Addric admitted that "something fishy" was going on at the villa.

Turlough, the family's trusted adviser, had fallen ill and currently lay in a coma. Garyn examined him and concluded that the man had been poisoned. Since his "illness" had persisted for more than two months, it would appear that the poisoner was somebody at the villa. That narrowed it down to about fifty suspects. Martok stayed by the bedside of his childhood tutor, to make sure that nobody was able to come near him. Rohit spent the night on the roof of the manor house, ensuring that the guilty party didn't catch word of their arrival and make their escape.

In the morning, after eight hours of restful sleep, Garyn memorized his spells. Martok called together all of the inhabitants of the villa for a meeting. While Lukwind aided Martok's diplomacy with inspire competence, Elsa looked menacing and Garyn studied the faces of the crowd. Meanwhile, Gerald & Rohit snuck off to search the manor house for evidence.

When Martok mentioned that a wine barrel had been found in a cave in the hills, Antonio the majordomo visibly flinched. Four burly laborers standing alongside him looked very uncomfortable. Their expressions and body language had given them away, even before Rohit and Gerald returned with the poisons and map that they found in Antonio's room. It was now time for Lukwind and Elsa to play good cop / bad cop: it didn't take long for Antonio to admit that he served two masters. For the past five years, he had been accepting bribes to subtly undermine the vineyard's operations. The villainous patron of this skullduggery was none other than James Jonstone, Lord of Fernquay as well as owner of the adjacent vineyard. Antonio offered to testify against Lord Jonstone before the Imperial Inquisitors, as long as he himself escaped punishment.

Martok offered his apologies to the rest of the staff, who felt they had been unfairly blamed for the poor performance of the vineyard. He used the gold he had confiscated from Antonio's four associates to fund payment of a bonus to each worker. Over the next seven days, Garyn worked in the vineyard supervising the farmhands and showing them how to restore the grapevines after their extended neglect. In the evenings, he continued to study his spellbook.

In order to confirm Antonio's story, Lukwind disguised himself as the majordomo and went to pay James Jonstone a visit. Drinking elixirs of sneaking and hiding, Rohit and Garyn were his stealthy escort. Lukwind drank a potion of glibness, then knocked on the door of Lord Jonstone's country manor. When he met the nobleman, he attempted to fascinate him with his stunning oratory, but Lord Jonstone resisted. Garyn drew his bowstring taut, in case trouble should break out, but fortunately Lukwind was able to convince the aristocrat that he hadn't used any magic and that Lord Jonstone must have imagined it. When Lukwind mentioned that Martok had showed up at the Villa Zarios, James asked him to deliver a message: "if you convince Cecilia Redfern to sell her vineyard to me, then you can keep 5% of the price as a commission."

When they returned, Martok was extremely displeased that Lukwind had let slip such a valuable piece of information. Had he forgotten that his teammate was meant to be hiding from the Imperial Inquisition? Martok then had to explain his perilous situation to his mother and siblings. He maintained that he was justified in killing Osmundus Branwhait, given the indignities he had suffered at the lordling's hands in Helsmuth, not to mention the fact that he was hanging around Sweetmead like a vulture, with the intention of siezing Martok's family home. However, just because he was innocent of any crime, he didn't feel like subjecting himself to the Inquisitors' interrogation.

That night, Rohit returned to James Jonstone's manor to look for concrete evidence of the noble's involvement in sabotage. When he arrived, he saw a foreigner speaking with the lord. The man, dressed in mithral armor, asked James, "are you ready to go?" When they shook hands, the two of them disappeared. Thinking that Lord Jonstone might have teleported to Marchion to fetch the Inquisitors, Rohit hurried back to tell the others.

Something about that scene jogged Garyn's memory. He recalled that when the party had arrived in Silverthorne, a little over a month ago, they saw James and his wife Avri teleport into the city square accompanied by a Khemetian sorcerer by the name of Galon. Galon was a member of the Wayfarers' Society: an association of magic users who sold their teleportation services. Back then, Garyn had been on a mission to save the world. However, now things were different.

Just to be on the safe side, Martok spent the night in the Qullan lair. Garyn went with him, to keep a lookout for trouble. Meanwhile, Rohit snuck back to James Jonstone's manor to take advantage of the lord's absence. Unfortunately he didn't find any incriminating evidence, but he did manage to stuff his bag of holding with some lovely artwork.

The next day, Garyn, Gerald, Rohit & Lukwind returned to Marchion to tell Lady Cecilia Redfern everything that they had discovered. They showed her the barrel of wine and the map that led to the cave in the hills. She let them keep the wine, as a reward for excellent detective work. The Marchion Council of 12, of which Lady Redfern is a member, have chosen Richard Whitburn as the new mayor of the city, to replace the late Sir Dernavel Crakdfang. This means that the Merchants' Guild must now elect a new representative to a seat on the Council. Lord James Jonstone stood a very good chance of winning the election, since the money that he spends on lavish entertainment has made him many friends amongst the other merchants. However, if Antonio should testify before the Imperial Inquisition, the resulting scandal would no doubt ruin James' chances of a council seat. Therefore, she urged them to return to Villa Zarios and bring Antonio back to the city as soon as possible.

Lukwind and Garyn both had things that they wanted to do in the city, so it was up to Gerald and Rohit to fetch Antonio.