I seemed to have not taken any notes on this session, so this is all coming from memory, please correct me if I’m wrong about any of this stuff.
When we last ventured to the Great Basin:
It was 22 Fireharvest 1763. After receiving payment for the raid on the Kerkrad after it seemed clear that your contact within the Syndicate was not going to delivery any more information.
Later on, while Redfern was in his room, a massive about of venomous snakes slithered up from under his bed. Distressed, Redfern tried to control the snakes with some evolutionary abilities for Blue Eyes, but ultimately failed to lure then out the window. Finding himself short on allies, with Zorro, Breagan and Wil all away from the islands, Redfern was forced to turn to somebody he has a strained relationship with: Oisin. Oisin was able to help, but not immediately, as he had to transcribe fireball into his spellbook. Several fireballs later, the 300 snakes were mere corpses in the bathtub.
After the rest of the task force returned, they endeavored to learn more about what caused the snake infestation, but to little avail. Tracking the tunnel under Redfern’s bed, which looked man-made, only lead to a brief trip to the sewers before Zorro remembered that he had recently learned Greater Detect Magic which can traces spells cast longer ago then regular Detect Magic and offer the option to learn the magic fingerprints of the caster. While both Zorro and later Oisin cast this spell, they were only able to learn that the snakes were not conjured, but where controlled by somebody. Either of them managed to learn the fingerprints of this individual.
On the 28th of Fireharvest, while walking home, a business man from the Atreides Duchy bumped into Breagan. Apologizing profusely, he then stated that she must have dropped something and handed her an unmarked envelop. Oisin checked for traps and even opened it from afar with mage hand before the task force retreated to their work room to investigate the contents. The envelop contained a letter written by Niwa Sura, the contact in the Syndicate. Within, she explained that Cylex is being manufactured by the Syndicate, overseen by Ichijou Torime, the original creator of the substance under the direction of Daimyo Riku in the city of Machi, whom the Syndicate had abducted. Additionally, the Cylex which exploded in Taerwyn had already been sold to a Eichhornchen named Hans. Since that explosion consumed all of the available Cylex, a new transfer was arranged in the town of Duquin in the Kingdom of Trobreryn for the night of the 32nd. It seems that the Eichhornchen party paid 100,000 gp for one barrel of Cylex, as well as that Voracious was negotiating on behalf of the Syndicate and another Eichhornchen named Marius Kleinheisterkamp is involved. Background checks on Marius show that he was a demolitions expert in the Eichen Kingdom who was honorably discharged after an explosion injured him. After being discharged, he seems to have mostly fallen off the grid. After this information dump, the letter started talking about the upcoming Niven Lantern Festival on the 10th of Shimmerfall. She mentioned that the Task Force would have to find a way to get onto the official invite list and that this is one of the only events where outsiders aren’t under constant surveillance in the Niven Imperial Palace.
Zorro asked Marchi Elenek to issue an order to notify him if Marius passed through any Eichen checkpoints. During his conversation, he also expressed interest in the Lantern Festival after remembering that Marchi is good friends with Ikoma Sakome, one of the representatives from the Niven Imperium. She invited Zorro to join her during her next lunch with Ikoma, scheduled for 30th Fireharvest at The Blue Crow.