Day 16.The party travels North-East through the frozen desert on foot. Moon has taken ill, possibly sewer fever again, and lags behind the party. A group of Minotaur spot the party and immediately engage, in the ensuing battle Hildegard is knocked out but the party survives, capturing one of the Minotaur.

The prisoner names himself as Able, a soldier of a Minotaur scouting party. He refuses a cowardly release and instead chooses single combat with Grog. He is quickly defeated and the party moves on. Shiloh has exhausted himself in the battle, an attempt to cast detect magic leaves him unconscious.

The party travel until evening, they have come a total of 20 miles from Pashin. They camp with a small fire and a magical alarm.

Day 17. The party are awoken before dawn by a raiding party of bandits, Hildegard having to shout a warning as the magical alarm has run out. The bandits are cloaked and hooded in black - they attack with bows from a distance. When the party begins to fight back they flee, mounting horses and riding off.

The party travel on, Shiloh disguises their footprints by dragging shrubs over their trail. At night they camp, having come a total of 35 miles from Pashin.

Day 18. The party move on. Late in the afternoon they are visited by a mated pair of giant Eagles. The eagles are searching for two of their eggs, stolen by a band of draconians who have then gone to ground in the Harikas foothills. Ahead the party can see the foothills rising to a low mountain range. The party agree to help retrieve the eggs for the eagles, they are left an eagle feather whistle - when it is blown it will summon the eagles to the party. As the day fades the party makes camp, 50 miles from Pashin.

Day 19. The party moves on, travelling into the Harikas foothills. Moon is much improved, but Hildegard is feeling poorly - he takes little part in the actions. As the party travels through a natural cutting in the hills they are attacked from above by five Draconian soldiers.

The Draconians glide down onto the party; Grog however does not notice their presence and walks on - running back when the fighting starts. Shiloh is knocked unconscious by a Draconian, Grog has some difficulty when the first Draconian he kills turns to stone - with Grog's axe securely embedded in it. During the course of the battle Grog manages to loose two more swords in the same fashion.

Some minutes after they die, the stone Draconians turn to dust and free the entrapped weapons. The party backtracks and manages to get on top of the ridge from where they were attacked. Here they discover the Draconian camp and the missing eagle eggs.

The eagle parents are summoned via the feather whistle (it disintegrates after use). The parents are most grateful for the return of the eggs and leave two more feather whistles so that the party may summon the eagles again if they have the need. The eagles also mention the Mikku tribe - apparently they are friendly and are on the path ahead.

The party camp at the ex-draconian camp. Shiloh casts detect magic and is left feeling very tired. He does manage to discover however that the desert robes taken from the minotaurs are magical and all decide to wear them.

Day 20. The party travel for most of the day, eventually finding the Mikku encampment on sunset. Shiloh casts comprehend languages and is left feeling very tired afterwards.

The Mikku are indeed friendly and invite the party to their celebration. Their leader is named Alakar the Silent (a title he finds enormously funny) and the party is given salt with their meals as a token of goodwill. On hearing that the party has assisted the eagles find their eggs, Alakar generously donates his tent for the party to sleep.

Alakar attempts to talk the party out of going to the Ruins of Hurim, saying that they will not live through the experience. He takes the party to the Mikku Sage, Asmara - she is the oldest member of the tribe. On seeing the party she begins to chant, first pointing to Moon and intoning:

"The dead are restless. Spirits, driven by ancient jealousies and conflicts, fight in the graveyard over the soul of one believed forever beyond reach..."

Then she points at Hildegard:

"A figure of fire and damnation, forged from dragon's blood but seeming Abyss born, stands guard over a weapon of light long thought lost…"

She says no more on these prophesies, but does provided more information on the Ruins of Hurim - essentially it is certain death for any that enter the valley….

The party go to rest in Alakar's tent; Grog sleeps next door with a young Mikku woman that he has befriended named Daisy.

Day 21. The party are woken before dawn, a young girl with blue eyes enters the tent and speaks to them:

"You must hurry...the winds carry the voices of many spirits, and they are crying for help. You must keep the Key safe, otherwise all will be lost. In the temple of the betrayed, you must find The Shard of Light. It will lead you on the path you have been chosen to walk."

As soon as she finishes she departs. The party is immediately attacked by two air elementals - they fight for a short period and then the elementals leave.

The Mikku camp is awakened and rush to the aid of the party. On hearing of the encounter, Alakar and Asmara agree that the young girl was the ghost of Uleena, Alakar's daughter. Uleena had the gift of the Sage and was training under Asmara but she died almost a month ago when caught in an earthquake. Alakar finally believes that the party must truly enter the Ruins of Hurim, and the Mikku quickly break camp to lead them there.

The Mikku travel all day, the wounded members of the party are placed upon wagons and tended by healers during the day.

Day 22. The Mikku again break camp early, this time however only a few warriors travel with the party through narrow mountain trails. Around midday they are presented with the entrance to the valley, within lies the Ruins of Hurim.

Alakar leaves the party three days rations buried outside the valley entrance. He tells the party that the Mikku will travel on for about a day and then camp for a week or so. Alakar gives the party directions to the camp (should they survive) and wishes them luck, then he and the warriors leave.

Grog appears to have overindulged in the generosity of the Mikku and is of no current use to the party. At midday the party enter the valley, immediately they are attacked by 8 starving mountain lions. The lions attack ravenously and do substantial damage, in the end it is only Pecan's summoning of 2 giant eagles that tips the balance to the party. Pecan drags the other members of the party to a simple camp outside of the valley entrance and attempts what healing she can.

Day 23. Pecan continues healing until Moon awakes, around midafternoon the exhausted Pecan falls unconscious. Moon continues with the healing. Grog begins to feel better.