C2 E2 in brief

Gustav takes full blame for the carnival deaths and goes to jail so Molly and Bo can walk free. The group spends the episode under house arrest at the Nestled Nook, investigating a mystery none of them asked for. Over drinks the first night, Caleb sits on the floor to tell Nott they should run — she argues the loud ones are perfect camouflage for a goblin, and they agree to wait and fake it. By morning they’re all disguising themselves to slip past crownsguard and solve the case.

The investigation grinds through dead ends — the dead man was Enon Brinjay, 80, retired, lonely, doing odd jobs near the Ustaloch. Nobody knew him. Nobody noticed when he disappeared a week before the carnival. The only leads: Beau’s theory that the carnival is being framed, and Nott’s sighting of cloaked figures at 2 AM.

At three in the morning, the group sneaks to the carnival and questions the performers. Desmond reveals Gustav came from Shady Creek Run. Ornna points a finger at Kylre’s “untrustworthy intelligence.” Then Jester’s Detect Good and Evil finds a fiendish source radiating from the devil-toad — Kylre isn’t lizardfolk, he’s a fiend. Molly refuses to believe it. Minutes later, through Frumpkin’s eyes, Caleb watches Kylre step from a tent, flash red eyes, and drop two guards who begin transforming into husks. The fiend leaps north toward the Ustaloch. The mystery is solved. The session ends with two new husks rising while the group stands at the crime scene.

Unresolved: fighting the new husks, tracking Kylre to the lake, what to do about Toya, Gustav’s fate, and whether they can prove the carnival’s innocence before the crownsguard execute someone.