The party begins 23 beatpaces northwest of Alsenbire (about 30 miles), and as the elves measure days it is Fílótë 24th [DOY 137]- the third day of heavy pollen in a row, leaving Robeen Fire in misery. The small construct that follows them around doesn't suffer from the pollen, and won't be mentioned again this summary, even though he's totally still with the party and Skattebo still intends to upgrade the little guy. Seeing smoke, they move to a recent battlefield, finding a human woman and a man, chained to a large tree, while demons pick at the fallen for items, gold, or perhaps something worse. Four chopper demons, man-sized gray skinned creatures each with an eye where its mouth should be, along with a bat demon, a lithe creature with spines on its tail and bat-like features, and a bearded demon, stand over a dead Oni, its magic items already repurposed for the demons. For some reason the players asked the names of the two more powerful demons after defeating them, and it was Irunatuk (the bearded demon), Ni Ka Bo (the Bat demon).

After defeating the demons, they freed the man (an easily picked lock was all that held him) and the woman (these magic shackles ended up needing to be opened with a key). The man, Rilar, left almost immediately- the woman introduced herself as Lara Brin, and revealed herself to be a succubus relatively quickly, and, after failing to charm the barbarian, shifted to the ethereal plane and carried on with her demony days. The party looted the magical items and continued on, but this day wasn't over- they fought a gorgon and a griffon (they're friends!), and, while trying to rest, were attacked by an air elemental. The net effect of all of this was a mild delay to the next day (pleasantly warm and with no further pollen), but they still arived just fine at Alsenbire. They paid a bit to rush installation of gemsockets in some weapons, replenished the few supplies they required, sold some armor and weapons at almost retail prices, and ignored mediocre-ish deals on horses. Horses haven't been for sale because they have all been commandeered up until this point- these merchants had a special arrangement on import, a special stamp that no one was looking to buy. Not even Skattebo was interested, even though he spent two entire encounters being kited by goblins- once on wolfback and once just because they hid in some cool rocks. Since the party didn't buy horses, the main effect of this encounter was to make me not feel bad about any such future encounters. Robeen Fire departs, happy to return to a life where he doesn't get up to highly sketchy nonsense.


Batna, an eleven year old human boy wearing clothes where each part is a different color, was looking for Cyndra. He had a note from Tivuren.
"I have followed the Ember Remnant here. The branch of Palendis is somewhere southeast of here, but the Dirnlat Loyalists have begun spreading rumors about me, the Ember Remnant, and I suspect even you- especially amongst the savague humanoids that are present as part of this incursion. Probably even the demons and elementals, to whatever amount that matters. I got well and drunk with a goblin who gave a passable description of you and said you had some magic jewel, and described Arinthia claiming that she was part vampire and her eyes could be used to let a demon stay in the physical realm. Quintar is described as an archdruid whose staff can let you command beasts and fire, but last I saw it it was barely magic at all. If Batna gave you this note, I guess you know what you are getting into, but I still don’t know if it is really worth it. They can summon a few animals, but it will take them weeks to build something like they had last time, and they shouldn’t have any access to fiends this far south so it should be some time before the pain starts again- and maybe they’ll be caught."

Geddreng went looking for a thieves' guild, and while there wasn't what would be one in a city, there were those who knew the signs. He met a thiefess who knew when the Dirnlat Loyalists had been in town, and who they had tried to talk with. This lead Geddreng to a bar, but the bartender (Armen) who might have known more wasn't around. The party left town instead of tracking him down.

On the way out of town, Salenis Raven- spots Nyxara, and begins interrogating her in broad daylight. She is deputy placeholer but answers to one captain Bentaro Neral, who in turn answers directly to Laro Fane, General of Northwest Assembled Councils of Ghelmidias armies. The party quite reasonably grapples her and beats her unconscious, then Geddreng mimics a guard and persuades the other guards that she's a friend who is quite drunk. This works great! They pull her far away from the city, rouse her, and ask her a bunch of questions, which she eventually answers- she's one of multiple people tasked with several targets (none of whom are related to Nyxara in any way). Her questions about Master Iliphar didn't get any useful answers, but they were quite informative for one Dralynxia Nyxara Montalle. According to her, Master Iliphar had been seen (or at least identified) destroying the southern safehouses of the Wyvern clan, and Nyxara, known to them as a student of his at the Nocturnal Sgail, was also sighted north of the border of Isaï Memory, causing her to be added to the list of questions this totally normal group of airship-deposited military employees were to ask about.

Salenis is released, and the party heads south east, trying to find the Dirnlat Loyalist's new hideout- which, after two days, they do. A third day allows them to observe from a distance, where they find that Tivuren has been captured and is let out at dawn and dusk briefly, and that the druids in question also sometimes take trips out of their strange earthen fortress, which appears to have been somewhat recently pulled out of the forest floor.

According to the elves it is the dawn of Aiqasóma 3rd [DOY 143], and it is cold and dry.