The episode picks up exactly where Episode 74 left off — the party standing at the entrance of the hags' cave, victorious and nursing their wounds. Forge tends to the injured with a Cure Wounds, and after a quick look around, the group decides to explore the cave before moving on.

What looks like a cramped, bone-strewn den turns out to be a stash worth investigating. Despite middling investigation rolls, the party uncovers a substantial hoard: over 12,000 gold pieces, two art objects (a carved ivory statuette of an ox and a gold birdcage with electrum filigree, each valued at 250 gold), a spell scroll of Seeming, three potions of healing, a potion of greater healing, a ring of swimming, a small packet of mysterious grayish sand, and a small glowing yellow diamond.

The party distributes the healing potions and sets about identifying the unknowns. Anton spends an hour studying the packet of sand and identifies it as Dust of Disappearance — throw it into the air and every creature and object within ten feet becomes invisible for several minutes. It goes to Gemma for safekeeping, with the understanding it could be used tactically if things get dire. Willa identifies the glowing yellow diamond as an Elemental Gem of Earth — break it and a full Earth Elemental answers the call. The party briefly debates giving it a name before pocketing it for a moment of need.

Notably absent from all of this: any sense of evil on Anton's Divine Sense. The loot is clean.

The party makes camp in the clearing outside the cave — the bones and gristle inside being less than inviting — and settles in for the night. Gemma sleeps peacefully for once; no jewelry box nightmares, no disturbances. Before drifting off, Gemma takes an interest in the Dancing Shortsword recovered from earlier adventures that Anton no longer needs. He gives her a quick lesson, and to everyone's surprise, she takes to it naturally — Willa and Porkchop watching with quiet approval from the sidelines.

Morning arrives without incident, and before the party breaks camp, Forge reaches out through his magical sending stone to his old companion Tuck, imprisoned somewhere within Ironhelm. The message is direct: they're outside the town with allies, and they're coming for him. The response comes back terse and coded. “Below ground, second level, southern cells, two guards up top, more below, cultists everywhere, don't trust the Watch, there's a mage, come during the festival.” It is everything they need.

The party also weighs up their remaining stash and very briefly entertains the idea of buying land near Ironhelm before the cult drives the property values down further. Gemma is perhaps too enthusiastic about this plan.

As the party descends from the hills toward Ironhelm, Forge spots what Spider Lily's note made clear they already suspected: the town is occupied. Cindersworn are woven into the city's defenses. Going in as themselves feels like walking into a trap.

The scroll of Seeming, recovered from the cave, could change all of their appearances at once — but before they even have a chance to use it, fortune intervenes.

A caravan rattles down the road ahead of them, painted in brilliant golds, violets, and greens. Across its side, in sweeping letters: "The Great Pitchoux’s Extraordinary Illusions, Purveyor of Wonders, Oddities, and Necessary Deceptions." At the reins sits Wort, a wide-mouthed bullywug whose enormous eyes meet theirs before he drags a long tongue across one of them and lets out a satisfied croak. From somewhere inside the caravan, a muffled voice calls out to stop, and the whole side of the cart unfolds in a cascade of velvet curtains and glittering merchandise.

The gnome who hops down, The Great Pitchous himself, impeccably dressed, rapier at his hip and a plumed hat on his head, greets them as if he has been expecting them. He's heading to Ironhelm for the Greenfall Revel, a month-long celebration honoring Silvanus, the turning of seasons, and a halfling woman who may or may not have built a wall. His shop is stocked with exactly what the party needs: costumes, masks, robes, Disguise Self spell scrolls, a forgery kit, potions of invisibility, a Deck of Illusions — and one particularly impressive item: a Mirror of Life Trapping, which can imprison any creature that sees its reflection, stored in small cells within the mirror itself.

The party goes on an enthusiastic shopping spree. They buy four costumes, four masks, four robes, a collection of spell scrolls, and more. For the mirror, priced at 18,000 gold,  they negotiate. Gemma rolls a Persuasion check, and Poychoux brings it down to 15,000. The party trades in their art objects, the Ria-Touched Longsword (which Anton sells with the flair of a legend, dropping the name of the Soul Survivors — to which Pitchoux immediately offers more gold), and between the cave haul and the rest of their accumulated valuables, they manage to cover the cost almost exactly. Pitchoux nearly cleans out his own stock. The command word for the mirror is revealed to be Excelsior, which is immediately tested and immediately stopped before it accidentally traps the bullywug.

Before parting ways, Pitchoux mentions that his caravan will be parked in the main thoroughfare during the festival, should they need anything else. He heads toward town. The party follows, shortly after.

With the Seeming scroll cast by Gemma, the party takes on new appearances. Anton becomes a heavyset old woman. Gemma transforms into an older male elf with short hair. Willa takes the form of a younger girl. Forge becomes a middle-aged half-elf woman. All four also wear festival masks and princess costumes purchased from Pitchoux, layering the magical disguise beneath the physical one.

They approach the main gate of Ironhelm. Two guards in dark greens, each wearing an ash-streaked red sash — a Cindersworn mark — watch the crowd filter in. One asks them to lift their masks. The party obliges: Anton reveals the old woman's face with practiced nonchalance, and the guards wave them through with nothing more than a quip. The spell holds.

Inside, they enter Rat's Market,  a dense and bustling thoroughfare of merchants, travelers, and opportunists that serves as Ironhelm's face to the outside world. The Greenfall Revel is well underway, with colorful stalls, performers, and costumed revelers filling the streets. The town itself is compact and rugged, built against a sloping hillside with a stone wall along its perimeter, and the Sump — Ironhelm's prison — confirmed to be underground in the south of town.

With the clock ticking on their disguise spell, the party heads toward the Brook Borough, the rougher, more industrious southern quarter, home to warehouses, government buildings, and a heavier guard presence. They're looking for someone willing to talk — preferably about the Cindersworn, Spider Lily, and whatever is happening on the streets of Ironhelm.

They find a fisherman named Jimmy loading his cart near the docks. A carefully worded — and occasionally not-so-carefully worded — conversation yields everything they need. Spider Lily has taken over the town's defenses. The Watch is working for her now. And the festival's biggest night is coming tomorrow: at sundown, priests conduct a ceremony at the water, launching the night festivities as the crowd floods from the waterfront into Rat's Market. It is exactly the kind of distraction the party needs.

One more piece falls into place. The Cindersworn wear red robes. Some will wear masks during the festival. If the party could get their hands on a few cultists — or at least their faces — they could walk into the Sump looking like they belong there.

The session ends with the party still disguised, still in the streets, and the festival's biggest night fast approaching. The plan is forming. The clock is running.