Game Date: August 16, 687 PD

As 1st Group rushed forward to battle the Markirans, there was a sudden shimmering in the air, and Alidin vanished. A moment later, he was replaced by a very surprised-looking Belinar, who had been in the woods south of Silvercloud guarding the group's cart with Edge. A moment later, Edge replaced Brick in similar fashion. The incident was the second mysterious teleport the group has experienced in the past week (the first being Tone's unexpected tripto Highmoon along with Alidin, Tone, Brick, and Oster), and no explanation hasbeen offered. The new arrivals were surprised, but reacted with warrior's instincts to the attack by the Markirans, whose fury was not deterred by the sudden change in opponents.

Derrick quickly cast a dust devil spell, holding back the majority of the bats and two of the Markirans. But the clerics soon broke free from the dust cloud and entered the battle with bat claws and spells. One called down a flamestrike, inflicting great damage early on, but Derrick was ready with healing spells and the party perserved. A fourth cleric arrived soon, but not before Tone had frozen another with a hold person spell. Tone also summoned a gang of goblins to aid in the battle, including the infamous Goblin #12, who wreaked havoc with a torch and his trusty implement. The battle was moving in the party's favor until one of the Markirans, struck by a powerful blow from Belinar, howled…and began to change. Her skin sprouted fur, limbs stretched, and ears elongated, and soon the group was facing its first werebat. The creature savagely attacked with claws and bite, seriously wounding Derrick and clawing Belinar and the Edge. Meanwhile, the dust cloud expired, releasing several cursebats to do battle.

At one point in the combat, Tone espied a young woman in tattered clothing fleeing from the scene near the crawlspace entrance. He sent Azimuth to follow her. The young woman was Larina Farmer of 4th group , previously a captive of the Markirans, who had managed to escape while 1st group was distracting the clerics. The cat watched Rina as she fled and stopped to bathe in a stream. Upon learning of this, Tone paused in battle to watch her through Azimuth's eyes; when he came back, a cursebat was lunging into his face, clawing his head. Tone raised power from the spilled blood of the wound and “pornographic energy” generated by watching Rina, yielding magic missiles shaped like tiny reclining naked Rinas, with which he killed the cursebats. The group drove the werebat into the sky, and savagely attacked it when it dove down again. Eventually, the party's warriors struck the beast down.

The group triumphantly ordered the goblins to construct a funeral pyre for the Markirans while they looted the cave. After a difficult debate, they decided to burn the surviving cloaks of the bat as unholy relics. They looted the Markiran lair and emerged, only to find the goblins happily dancing and roasting meat on the pyre. Fearing the worst, Derrick asked the goblins if they were eating a dead Markiran. The goblins were evasive at first, but finally reached into the fire, offered Derrick a chunk of meat on a stick, and said, “Kebob?” Tone dismissed the goblins, and the group left the forest and returned to Viscara.

Back in town, they went to the church, where Father Weege treated their wounds. Upon learning that Derrick had been bitten by the werebat, he insisted that he receive the belladonna treatment to stave off lycanthropy. While Derrick was convalescing from the poison, Tone, suffering a crisis of faith, went into the forest to meditate. He encountered a cleric/ranger of Mielikki who told him a little of the Lady of the Forest's faith, and also informed him of Gregora's plan to declare war on Tulmish.

After Derrick had recovered, the party set off for Highmoon to report the results of Alidin and Brick's atonement quest to the high priest of Corellon. They arrived in Bluetree three days later, marking their first visit to that city since its transformation. On the way in, they met Baltor, Otho's uncle, and informed him of the fate of his nephew. Baltor told them what had happened to Bluetree, and contended that Otho was too tough to die in a prison escape attempt. As the group approached the tree, they suddenly saw an unexpected figure: Rina, who was fleeing the city along with the rest of 4th group (see 4th Group session updates for August 15, 687 PD, for details). Tone insisted on detaining and interrogating her as the rest of 4th group raced into the woods. While this occurred, black-bladed daggers began to fly at the group, and Rina briefly glimpsed a man in black hurling one. The group took shelter in a bean shop,where Tone gave Rina the third degree. Satisfied with her explanation of capture by the Markirans, the group agreed to escort Rina back down the road to rejoin her companions. Along the way, they encountered gnomes dragging a heavy machine. Upon seeing Rina, the gnomes fearfully activated their machine, calling her “The Red-headed Defenestrator,” and sought to escape, but themachine blew up; Flem and Chris of 4th group later encountered a chunk of theremains with several surviving gnomes (see 4th group session updates for August 15, 687 PD). A short distance down the road, a gnome dropped out of the sky and struck Derrick in the back. Ther gnome, abbreviated “Cappie,” accompanied the group down the road, searching for a vital missing part to the machine which had flown away along with her.

The small band traveled down the road, with Edge following Chris and Flem's trail. The going was not entirely smooth; Derrick cast detect evil on Rina and the gnome as the two argued over Rina's actions against the gnomes of Bluetree. Rina radiated a streak of evil, prompting Tone to ask her, “Why are you evil?” Before she could answer, the travelers heard screams in the night, followed by the familiar ellowing of the undead dwarf Gruumstead Nightforger, whom 1st group had released from his tomb three years before. Tone flew into the sky and saw the dwarf in a nearby clearing, menacing a man with a broken leg. The party attacked, striking at the dwarf with fire spells, silver blades, and, in Cappie's case, a gnomish machine. Tone scooped the wounded man out of harm's way. Nightforger jerked and whirled among them, his limbs and head flailing unnaturally as he attacked, and crushed several of Edge's ribs in one powerful hand. The monster was wounded, however, and Derrick finished him off by casting dispel evil. Not wishing to take chances, they dismembered the remains and burned them,laying Gruumstead Nightforger to rest at last.

The group paused for healing by Derrick and Rina. Derrick repaired the leg of the injured man, who acted rather suspicious and claimed to be meeting a woman for a midnight rendezvous in the forest. He refused an escort back to Bluetree and left the scene. He had previously said that his leg was broken, not by the undead, but by an object from the sky; it turned out to be Cappie's missing part. The grateful gnome thanked the group for their help and left the scene. A short time later, Rina and the group caught up with Flem and Chris, and the two adventuring bands spent the night together. Flem introduced them to his turtle, who gave them all cryptic messages: Tone and Derrick were warned that they would soon be tested, Belinar was told that his family would soon be coming for him, and Edge was told that he should soon go home. Chris and Rina copied spells from Tone's spellbook. The two groups made camp in the forest and fell asleep.