The party wakes to a humid and nippy day [DOY 128], having retrieved a very fun red glass sphere, which, with careful resource management, will allow Cyndra to trace the branch of Palendis (a magical item created by and for Wildfire circle druids) and the Nightfriend Loyalists who are using it for ill ends. They begin the day inside a temporarily and artificially peaceful area near the old temple to Rynathemat, still subject to an enchantment that confounds the directions of those who would seek it, by happenstance or on purpose. They reach the decision to follow Cyndra as she magically senses a direction (accurately) and a distance (not so accurately), but more importantly, everyone really enjoys having to shove spells into this thing as it attemps to drain itself of change every morning. This annoying red sphere is definitely gonna win the Best Magic Item of 2025 Award.

Shortly after leaving the enchanted region, they spot Rinnet, crane Hengeyokai ("Rinnet" being a diminutive of Rynethemat), in a tree. He flew directly to the closest location he could, relaying a story. After Arbal and Denro arrived in Silent Pines, they talked about the party that saved them from shadows (and the more tragic detail of Nimar's choice). But they were overheard- the next day, Arbal was questioned (and intimidated) by five foreigners- likely ninjas of the Wyrvern clan, a mostly-human ninja clan from the north of Aykaiton, long notable for being able to grow crops in hostile condition, but recently of note to watchers of these affairs for their employment of Eyaton, an fragile but dextrous humanoid construct type (the party would learn these details later). Of serious interest to them was Nyxara- including questioning which school she had learned her martial techniques at. While Arbal had mislead them as to the location of the temple (he had used a temple to Nylsanna, not abandoned but in infrequent use), the party immediately suspected that they would run into at least some of this force.

And indeed they did- when crossing the Iris river, they were assaulted by two ninja, a man and a woman, and several Eyaton- they hoped that their ability to strike true, combined with support from their construct allies (mostly poison darts) would win the day, but they were sorely mistaken. After striking down the kunoichi, the party almost defeated the ninja, but he fled by jumping into the river. The prarty here takes a small detour a bit north for a few hours, following the one Eyaton they didn't destroy north to a somewhat unusual shed, complete with some alarm system, a great deal of poison reagants, and other valuable materials that could be used to repair the Eyaton- or, more likely, to be sold for a good amount later. The party didn't spend too much time here, and headed back.

Upon arrival back at the border camp, they discover that troops from the Assembled Councils of Ghelmidais have been added to the local Isaï Memory troops and volunteers. More than just that, there's a celebrity- Ayiss Nileep, of the Council Report, a fun propaganda show that is at times visible in the night sky of several cities courtesy of Veragram (a magical device unable to transmit falsehood). She immediately confronts the party about accepting a magical item under false pretense, which Geddreng happily confesses to. Her implication is that "fame-seekers" would be more likely to arrive if they believed that magical gear was easy to aqcquire. Later, Geddreng takes her out for dinner (I think she even paid?) where matters of smaller importance are discussed.

Tracking south and east, the party continues the next day sees them retrace their steps to Taro Rows, where they find that Tivuren, the ex-archdruid of the Wildfire Circle, has departed. The party trains, and continues heading south east-ish. Two days later, a cold and dry day sees an interesting ranged battle versus kobolds and wolves. Since wolves don't have any ranged attacks, they and Skattebo settled for eventually getting close, at which points the wolves tried to trip Skattebo, failed, and ran away. The goblins were all killed during an exciting session of running through rocks and occasionally having line of sight. Immediately after the goblins were down, a plyshrild riding a black dragon wyrmling descends and demands some goods from the party. This encounter was much more definitive and could actually have resulted in party members being knocked out at least, or maybe even some gold stolen, but instead the players BRUTALLY destroyed their two assailants. I wanted much more out of your first dragon encounter, which is why next time the dragons will spawn from a special device until the PCs are dead and then the entire session can be revealed to be a dream.

After spending a bunch of time looting all the tiny bodies, the party contiuned on their way and find a stranger group of bandits- humans, clearly looking for them or someone like them. Lead by an experienced swordsman and with a mage of small but moderate power, the fight was actually going to be interesting until Dis’Kolandir lined them up like bowling pins and killed most of them with a single casting of olvine binding ice, rolling twice their hit point value on the nose. With all his allies pressed, Robeen Fire threw his ring into the rapid stream, and immediately had no idea who he was or why he was locked in melee with a very angry orc. While this should have been the end of the ring, Nyxara jumped into the water and found it almost instantly. Robeen revealed the entire setup as he understood it- after accepting what he knew would be a dangerous but well paying job, he went to the docks in Talsemi, where he would remember the ring being put on. Then he would wake up, weeks later, with pay for his time. Each time he went back he knew he might be up to absolutely anything, and he did not really understand the nature of the enchantment he was subjecting himself to- yet he did it several times. He happily helped the party train, but was laid low by heavy pollen count- for two days in a row!

The party is 23 beatpaces northwest of Alsenbire (about 30 miles), and as the elves measure days it is Fílótë 24th [DOY 137].