The four adventurers, with their companion Wendella, rest peacefully in the beautiful realm of Celestia. They bask in the sense of accomplishment and relief at having ended the threat of demonic incursions, and having escaped with their lives. Satisfying as the rest period is, they realize, and are in fact reminded by Adara, that the time is nigh when they must return home and meet their obligation to return Wendella to her home.
Adara explains that the potential location of any new portal is subject to a complex arcane geometry. She can use the control orb to rotate or expand the position of the portals relative to a central hub, but they cannot escape the fact that at any given time, there are only certain places where they may emerge. Thus, she cannot guarantee the exact proximity of the emergent portal to their desired destination. The group expressed concern that the portal could deposit them in sold stone, or in the sky, or many many miles away. She reassures them that their emergence into solid stone is impossible, but cannot deny that there is a possibility that the resulting exit into the material plane, may not be conveniently located. She offers an alternative. “There is another path you may take. It is what you may call an inter-planar wormhole. It will without fail bring you where you want to go. However, it is no easy road, and not for the faint of heart. It will test your mettle.”
The companions consider this. Sartan speaks up, “So, we could die on the journey through the wormhole?”
Adara replies, “It has happened before.”
Cycek is ready to take the dangerous road, but his companions prefer the opposite approach. Davros expresses their point of view “If we take the guaranteed road, we are also guaranteed to have a dangerous road. But if we take the other way, we might have a longer road, and we might have a dangerous road, but we also might not encounter danger. So our choice is guaranteed danger, or merely probable danger.”
“Very well then,” says Adara, “Prepare yourselves. I will ready the portal.” She holds forth the glowing control orb, and slowly rotates it, a look of deep concentration on her angelic face.
Sartan meanwhile says his farewells to Eve, giving her a big hug, and telling her that she has been a great companion. She beams with delight at Sartan’s kind words. She says, “I will miss you Sartan, but my work must take me elsewhere. May we meet again someday.” She removes a dozen arrows from her quiver and gives six of them to Sartan and six to Cycek.
A green glows pours over the scene, and they turn to see that Adara has completed her preparation. The green, glowing portal has opened. Adara bids them step through. She says, “The time has come. Make haste. Return to your world, and bring this young lady home to her parents. You have done well. But just like Eve, your work is not done. Go forth and continue to fight on the side of good.”
The companions step into the portal and feel that now-familiar sense of weightlessness. Green light gives way to grey nothingness which slowly coalesces into a point of a blue so deep it is almost black. The weight of reality takes hold and they fall, tumbling like scattered dice onto the cold, stony ground of the dark wilderness.
It is cold. It is dark, and it takes some time for their eyes to make sense of their surroundings. A bright half moon hangs halfway to the horizon, and stars sparkle overhead. Pale blue moonlight picks out the edges of stones and stunted trees. Cycek gazes up at the sky, and recognizing the constellations, is able to gain a sense of direction. They pull out Carver’s map and examine it in the moonlight. Looking around, they think they can see the outlines of distant bluffs to the north, west, and south. They begin hiking, moving slowly east through dark, rugged outback. The world is still. They encounter no creatures, natural or otherwise. As the night wears on and the dim glow of pre-dawn awakens in the east, they find themselves on a narrow trail. Cycek detects the tracks of booted feet on the dusty ground, so he concludes that this no mere game trail. Again consulting the map, they guess that they are on the so-called “Thieves Highway” in the bluff lands northwest of the city.
The trail gradually veers northeast and they find themselves on familiar terrain. The sky has begun to lighten, and they see a billowing cloud of orange-brown smoke and dust silhouetted against the pale glow of dawn in the east. They realize they are approaching the smoking ruins of the Xodar’s lair. The dust and smoke of the collapse is surely venting from the collapsed cavern and out the open pit in the labyrinth at the top of the bluff. They follow the trail past the back entry to the lair, through a series of ancient archways, and down the stone stairway where they had encountered the hobgoblin stone-rollers several days ago. Retracing their route, they find their way back to the location where they, in the company of Carver and Ursula, had been confronted by Hack and his minions. There is no longer any sign of a battle having taken place, as if the scene has been cleaned up. As the morning progresses, they find their way back to the road and the begin heading south. Within an hour they hear the sound of an approaching horse cart. They greet the farming couple driving the cart. The wife is wary, but the husband is open to conversation. He tells them of a situation that has emerged in Shadowfurst. The mayor has been arrested, and the guards are searching for “the Shadowfurst Four.” The gates are shut, and the guards are searching every cart in and out of the city. They had come to the city yesterday with a load of goats for market, only to wait in line so long, they ended up staying the night. Now they are heading back to their farm. The man says that he has never seen anything like it. When asked why the mayor has been arrested, the man replies that he’s not sure, but it has something to do with the disappearance of his daughter, and his implication in someone being murdered. Wendella becomes upset during this conversation and interjects that there is no way her father should be held responsible for the things she had done. The farmer, upon hearing this, recognizes Wendella. He says that he has always liked the mayor and doesn’t believe the rumors. He gives the rest of the group an appraising look, and concludes the obvious: this is the “Shadowfurst Five.” He looks around furtively, and speaks in a hushed tone. “You seem like good folks. Be careful approaching the city. They’re looking for you. They have guards at the gate, searching people. Questioning people. And they have some kind of huge creature behind the door, intimidating people. Be careful.” And turning to Wendella he says, “I’m glad to see you’re OK. I knew what they said couldn’t be true.”
They says their farewells to the couple, but before they continue on their way, they decide that Wendella will be much too easy to identify if they are seen by city guards. Davros happens to have a makeup kit, so they decide to improvise a disguise. They make up her face as if she is some kind of traveling performer
They are still an hour north of the city, and it is mid-morning, when they come upon a man in distress. He is awkwardly rolling a hand cart, in which a boy, apparently his son, is curled up, motionless. He calls to the group for help. “My son is hurt! Please help.” Mishok moves to help while the others hang back, readying themselves in case of a trap. The man tells the story of a fishing trip gone wrong. They always come fishing in the spring, but today his son caught an unusual, aggressive fish. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It had a stinger in it’s tail. It jabbed my son, Skip. He began to shake, then fell unconscious. And my luck is not with me today… this cart is broken and will barely roll. I’ll never make it to town for help. Can you help me!”
Mishok calls upon Divoc to provide a blessing of protection against poison. The merciful deity bestows the blessing and the boy comes out of his paralysis. Furthermore, Mishok extends his hand and miraculously repairs the broken cart. The fisherman is overjoyed! In his gratitude he offers Mishok some silver pieces as well as a wand. The wand, he explains, has provided him and his son protection from bad weather, such as cold, and lightning. The wand, in fact, is a wand of Protection from Energy, and Mishok is certain it will be useful some day. Before they part ways, Mishok asks what the man might know about what is happening in Shadowfurst. The man is not sure, but he heard from some travelers that the city is in a state of martial law. The city is locked down and no one is allowed out on the streets.
They experience the Shadowfurst situation for themselves before long. It is mid-morning when they approach a long backlog of farm and merchant carts queued up outside the North Gate. Disgruntled, impatient rural folks mill about, glancing at the five travelers with some interest. The adventurers survey the scene and see guards with crossbows keeping watch upon the walls. Other guards inspect the carts at the head of the line. They discuss options to get in the gate, considering various schemes such as posing as guards, or sneaking in along the riverbank, or simply confronting the guards. Finally, they decide to slink away before they are seen. They backtrack a good distance up the road, and find a place to cross the river that is somewhat less treacherous. The river here passes over a relatively shallow shoal of rocks. Cycek leads the way and leaps from rock to rock, picking his way across. Sartan and Davros follow his route and are soon across the river as well. Mishok, however, in less lucky. He slips off a stone and plunges into the cold, rushing water. Luckily, he is able to grab a rock just ten feet downstream, and hold on for dear life. Cycek uses his immovable rod to swing over to Mishok and grab him. He manages to drag him ashore, wet, cold, and embarrassed, but safe.
Using Carver’s map, they find their way to another segment of the “Thieves’ Highway.” They take it around the west side of the city, where it winds its way down into a crevasse before emerging at the back of the Shadowfurst Stoneyard. Wendella explains that this is where many of the smugglers and gang members in town would access the trails to move their loot discretely into or out of town. They wait in the shadows of the cliff wall and observe the activities in the Stoneyard. It is lunchtime, and the few workers they see appear to be on break, idly strolling around. They decide to wait here until nightfall, so they can move with a reduced chance of detection.