In their treetop penthouse in Shae Lias, the members of The Salvation Times were ambushed in a nighttime raid by a rakshasa and a group a sky raiders riding upon soarsleds.
They had been sent to recover the Oracle of War by the missing salvage broker Irulan Karnach who had left Salvation outpost several months earlier (when the outpost came under attack from a warforged colossus).
The party defeated the attackers and learned from a surviving raider that Karnach wanted the Oracle of War for reasons that might be related to a mysterious crystal skull she had found long ago. Also, they learned that Karnach was waiting for the raiders in a safehouse somewhere in Sharn.
Lastly, they learned that Karnach was part of the Order of the Emerald Claw, a renegade order of Karrnathi patriots and worshippers of the Blood of Vol. The order had been formally disbanded by the nation of Karrnath but continued to operate underground in independent cells and wage war against enemies of their nation. There were also dark rumors that the order served a mysterious higher power whose very existence was unknown to the wider world.
Soon after, Sebastian completed the repairs on the Oracle, the artifact immediately spouted purple smoke and repeated a cryptic verse from the Draconic Prophecy that it had spoken once before:
When dark lanterns flicker in the light of the silver torch,
the King in Green rides north on a bolt of steel. Two nations
prepare for war, as all eyes turn to Sky Blue.
Having heard the verse again, the adventurers sought out Flamewind in the hopes of understanding its meaning. In her chamber at Morgrave University, the sphinx was deep in her studies, pouring over ancient tomes and scrolls pertaining to the Draconic Prophecy. Upon hearing the verse spoken by the Oracle, she revealed part of a verse that she had also discovered in her studies:
The dog of war dances on water by the light of the silver torch.
Flamewind surmised that the two verses taken together were a warning of dire events to come. Tensions were brewing between Breland and Thrane. The powderkeg would be sparked by an event involving a Thranish Spy operating in the Brelish royal court of Wroat. The adventurers were advised to take the lightning rail to Wroat to find this spy before an international incident occurred which would lead to war.
Sebastian was eager to join the party on the train (and leave behind the gambling debts owed to the Boromar Clan). But Ivelo d’Medani warned the party that leaving Sharn now would allow Irulan Karnach a chance to escape. Nevertheless, the adventurers resolved to go to Wroat to prevent the outbreak of war and deal with Karnach at a later time.
On the train to Wroat, the party mingled with the nobility headed to an aristocratic gathering in the capital city. While socializing with the Brelish nobles, the party was ambushed by a pair of half-elf assassins. Though one of the assassins was killed and the other was subdued, the surviving assassin consumed poison shortly after revealing that they were agents sent by the Order of the Emerald Claw to retrieve the Oracle of War… And they would not be the last.