The train takes off once they're all aboard. Amahndar prays to the Silver Flame, Mevakri sleeps soundly, and Laharal reads the pamphlet, finding that he empathizes with the notion of "construct rights," so he goes into steerage to talk to the warforged more about it. The warforged says that their messiah, the Lord of Blades, will help them build a sovereign nation of their own, but Laharal says that they should use less aggressive, more diplomatic means to ensure their rights.
Mika sneaks into the cargo hold past the two dwarven guards and finds the lockbox. Inside is a very shiny ring, and she sneaks it back to her cabin. Laharal identifies it as being nonmagical, but it is made out of pure mithril, making it extremely valuable. Mika explores some more in steerage and ends up talking to a young noblewoman named Miss Nagel, who is traveling to "slum it" and visit Karrnath for the summer season.
Alyosha goes into steerage to see what's going on, and the young paladin is exhaustively preaching to the other passengers — mostly commoners — about the Silver Flame, despite his audience's indifference. Alyosha decides to put the paladin in his place and sends Yorick, his skull familiar, to claim to be an "evil spirit." The paladin draws his sword and destroys Yorick (though he emerges again a few minutes later in Alyosha's pack).
Mevakri also goes into steerage to see the other passengers, and also meets up with Miss Nagel. As they're both interested in what each other has to say, they end up having dinner together in Meva's quarters, where Miss Nagel shares nobles' gossip and fashion tips. Amahndar goes to steerage to talk to the paladin, who introduces himself as Zoder, who's on a crusade to evangelize to Karrnath. Noticing that Zoder's good-natured zeal is alienating him, Amahndar shares a parable about church bells; they're used as warnings for villages, but when they don't stop ringing, people learn to tune them out. Zoder takes this under advisement and thanks Amahndar for his counsel.
After dinner, a dwarf crewman and a warforged crewman go door to door in the cabins, asking about suspicious characters; they recognize Alyosha's dragonmark and tell him that a valuable ring has gone missing from the cargo hold. Alyosha agrees to help find the ring, and helps the crewmen interview the passengers. Laharal passes him the bag of holding (which contains the ring), and Alyosha "finds it" in the chamberpot. The ring is successfully returned to its place in the cargo hold, and Alyosha warns the rest of the party to watch itself, especially as the guards are suspicious now.
An hour later, Meva is keeping tabs on Mika, knowing that she took the ring, so she'll stay out of trouble. The conductor gets on the comm to tell everybody that the train will be stopping momentarily for repairs, but Amahndar and Alyosha are suspicious — the engine sounded fine. The conductor — a human with an Orien dragonmark, who Alyosha recognizes but can't place — the dwarf, and the warforged are heading toward the cargo hold, and now most everybody is suspicious — why go to the cargo hold if the engine is having trouble?
The party follows the crew to the cargo hold, and they notice there's an airship docked next to the stopped train. As the conductor tries to lock the door behind him, Amahndar sticks his foot in the door, and the crew draws weapons — the conductor a warhammer and the warforged a longsword. The dwarf grabs the lockbox. A combat breaks out, with Amahndar attempting to arrest the crew while the party provides support. When Mevakri reaches the hold, however, she calls for diplomacy — they don't have much of a quarrel with the crew except for them trying to steal the ring (which most of them can't feel too sorry about, since they tried to before anyway), and it's not really their fight. Amahndar, however, disagrees, because they're stealing something that's not theirs and they're bound by law.
The dwarf scrambles to the roof, but Alyosha's spells knock him out cold, and Mika scrambles to take out the newly arrived airship crew (an eladrin girl and a female archer are now on the open roof). The conductor parleys for him and his crew to leave the ring behind and just go on their way, but Amahndar's not having it, especially as he's got them on the ropes. Mevakri, however, doesn't want to fight (unless Amahndar gets more hurt — then she'll fight to defend him), but she will provide healing and support.
Finally, the conductor reveals himself, when Alyosha asks who he is — Kaleb Buckanen d'Orien, a House Orien traitor who blew up a train — and agrees to surrender, including the dwarf and the warforged. The eladrin and archer board their airship and take off. In steerage, Amahndar charges Zoder to guard the handcuffed Kaleb, and the ring is safely held onto. As the train needs someone with the Mark of Passage to pilot it, Alyosha drives it the rest of the way.
After the battle, Mika notices that her dagger is missing — it didn't fall off during combat, so where is it? She goes back to Miss Nagel, who is acting very suspiciously but won't give up the location. Finally, Mika notices extra pockets in her formal dress and realizes she's a pickpocket. Mika "seduces" Miss Nagel to come back to her room, then grabs the dagger (and the dress) and bodily hurls her off the train.
The Secret Origin of Kaleb Buckanen d'Orien
I meant to have a Streetwise check to know more details about who Kaleb is after his identity was revealed, but forgot to do so. Since Mevakri is so well-trained in Streetwise, I'll just reveal everything about him:
Kaleb Buckanen d'Orien was a smuggler for House Orien — officially, they don't exist, but they're an open secret in the house itself, because the Mark of Passage makes it easy to sneak things from one place to another (especially when you control most of the means of transportation). As such, he learned plenty of tricks of the trade and was a good and faithful member of House Orien during the Last War.
However, about 7 years ago, a train in Aundair on its way to Thaliost was derailed and most of the passengers aboard were killed, and Kaleb was identified as being responsible. The city of Thaliost used to belong to Aundair until being captured by Thrane about 70 years ago, and as such the native Aundairians, to this day, still resent Thrane taking over. The archbishop of Thaliost is known for using excessive force on the resistance movements there (which definitely doesn't help things). Kaleb's originally from Aundair — farm boy born and raised — and the train he destroyed had aboard a contingent of orcs, trolls, medusas, all kinds of monstrous mercenaries ordered up by the archbishop to help wipe out the rebels.
Kaleb was captured by House Orien, but escaped before he could be excoriated (a punishment for traitors to dragonmarked houses where the house will destroy the dragonmark by flaying the skin), and since then he's been on the run. Aundair, Thrane, and House Orien all have bounties posted for his arrest, but he's managed to avoid everyone who's come after him — mostly because of his in-depth knowledge of secret smuggling routes and underworld contacts.
It all seems so long ago...
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