Ara further explored the cavern he found himself in. He discovered the goblins he had fought had some sort of old surgical wound, as if something had been embedded under the skin. Eventually Ara encountered the Myconid, a fungal race of with a group consciousness previously met by Magnus. They gave Ara a vision of goblins deep in the bowels of the earth, in a large, partially-collapsed stone building, hacking and stomping on the Myconid’s fungal body. Ara learned his mind was resisting joining the group consciousness; their efforts were blocked somehow. And as suddenly as he disappeared from the group, he reappeared in the cellar of the tavern.

Meanwhile, the party decoded the mysterious pages they had found, and discovered they contained instructions for making a “dead drop;” a method for selling and trading goods in the open world, without the need for a fence or carting items to a town.

Deeply unsettled by recent events, upon his return Ara decided to leave the party and made to go, but was convinced to stay by news of the attempted murder of Keen during his absence. It was then that Levani, through novel combination of Thaumaturgy, Message and subtle casting, penetrated Ara’s mind, pretending to be the voice of Rillifane. Thus disguised, she convinced Ara he was on a holy quest to protect the party, and that travelling with them would lead to enlightenment.

The party had a sore but uneventful night. In the morning they kept their appointment with Masym, priestess of Syf, in the hopes of learning something about the rent in the sky, the visions of goblins and myconid, and the blue potion they had been injected with.

Masym told the party of Moradin Kinslayer, the first Dwarf, who was said to have founded the twin cities of High and Low Thorimfel millenia ago, and of the cataclysmic destruction of the cities as punishment for Moradin’s hubris, an act on the scale of recent events, but not especially revealing otherwise. She did suggest that the party might find answers if they could discover the ruins of Low Thorimfel, which she thought might be under the Stone Forest, an area of rocky hills north and west of Whitebridge.

Masym informed Yuna that her condition, which she called being “spellsick,” would continue unless she could find a guide to help her channel her divine powers, and learn to control them. Yuna said nothing to the party about this.

Before they left, Masym cast a Greater Restoration on Magnus, attempting to help him recover his lost memories. He had a brief flash of working in his study as a young man, but could not recall details. She said that some powerful magical block was preventing him from remembering what he had forgotten. With time, he may recover more.

The party left Whitebridge and travelled north, back into the forest, on the trail of Anthol the Younger. They discovered a fairy ring in a large, circular meadow deep in the forest, surrround by strange and unfamiliar vegetation. Magus noted there were four moons in the sky, though the tear remained unchanged.

The fairy ring contained five stone hands with index fingers extended, and a sixth holding a large brass plate, on which were five oversized brass rings with stones of different colors. There was also a frog wearing a frog hat.

Ara took one of the rings and placed it on one of the stone fingers, which caused a firey explosion from a prismatic wall that enclosed the meadow. The damage killed the frog, which immediately reverted to the form of an eldery Dwarf, now unconscious. Yuna healed the party, including the Dwarf, who turned back into a frog the moment he regained consciousness.

Gods Impersonated: One

Lengthy NPC Monologues Avoided: Zero

Weather Forecast: Capricious

Myconid Rating: Joy