- The group kept watch through the remainder of the night and, the following morning, discussed what to do.  Having no horses, their only option seemed to be walking to Flagstaff.  The took their belongings off the stage and secured them as much as possible in the lodge.  By just before midday, they had decided what to take with them and set off down the Highland Trail.

- They made good time heading out onto the plateau, covering almost half of the 30-mile distance to Flagstaff by nightfall.  Montana found them a decent place to camp, but all had the feeling it wasn't far enough away from the lodge and whatever is haunting the mountains.

- After dark, Percy went for a walk under the stars - partly to clear his head, and partly to have a "talk" with his "benefactor" - whether or not he could be heard.  He was still away from camp durning the first watch when Montana heard someone approaching the camp.  At first he thought was Percy coming back, but as the voice and footstep approached and he could make out more words, he recognized Jesse's voice.

- A darkness descended upon the camp as Jesse emerged into the firelight, putting a hand on George's shoulder and asking if he was "ready".  He eyes and the inside of his mouth were black as pitch.  A few words were exchanged, but "negotiations" were interrupted by the shadow inside Jesse's form lashing out at Montana and Kevin, and a dozen or so shadow "things" like they had seen at the lodge descended upon them.

- The insuing firefight started as Percy was making his way back to camp.  Montana's superior aim neutralized the "creature" in Jesse's likeness almost immediately, but the fight with the other shadow-things was far from over and all of them quickly found themselves set upon by two or more.  Percy thrust one into the fire - this seemed to hurt it initially, but as it was consumed the flames began giving it strength as it tried to pull him into the fire with it.  Montana began taking shots at the things on him as well as those harassing George and Milton.  Kevin had invoked his blessing which kept the group much safer than they would have otherwise been, and he began trying to destroy the others.

- As the tide began to turn in the group's favor, Lily was grabbed by three of the creatures.  She was being dragged up the side of a boulder and into the darkness when red flickering lightening began lashing out at everything around her.  She began screaming "no" and something about "not doing this again".  Even after the creatures fled, Lily contined pacing at the edge of the camp, red flickers surrounding her, as she mumbled angrily to herself - or to someone else...

- The group met up with a man called Lethan Stahzer - someone Kugrash recognized from a posted one of his drinking buddies hand shown him.  He'd been told the man was not to be trusted, and his friends told him they'd give him 500 gold if Stahzer never returned to the city of Erelan - no questions asked.

- Lethan gave them some about what was happening in the forest.  He'd seen kobold patrols and found a sizable encampment.  Usually this tribe keeps to the Kanath Mountains to the west, but something was emboldening them or bringing them down into the forest.  He'd also seen recent gnoll tracks and had a run-in with a nasty giant boar.  Worse, ettercaps and spiders have been moving down from the north.  The territory was known to him, but they seem to be spreading south, which means the expedition may be moving through more of their territory than previously assumed.

- The group made some discussion of what to do, ultimately deciding to head toward the West Gatekeeper tower both to check it out and to avoid the kobold encampment.  As they traveled deeper into the forest, Carmella had the increasing sensation that the forest was full of hatred - hatred for humans specifically.

- As they continued, they began encountering mats of webbing, and some dead things: giant spiders, ettercaps, and a winter wolf.  As they neared, they found themselves attacked by ettercaps and giant spiders, which they successfully fought off after a brief skirmish.

- Making it to the ruin of the tower, they were confronted by the ghost of a soldier speaking an unknown language...

- As they made their way into the northern highland pine forests, the stage was stopped a small band of apache indians.  Their leader attempted to convince or threaten Jesse to turn the stage and head back down to the plains.  He told them the "manitou" (demons) were restless in the region, and the white men only add to the unbalace.  As the gathering storm began pouring down on them and they withdrew and the stage continued on.

- After some discussion, the group decided they would stop at a hunting lodge called Howe's Camp about halfway to Flagstaff rather than risking getting caught after dark in the wilderness.  There were two men at the lodge, and they welcomed the travelers to stay for the evening.

- After settling in for the evening, however, they found the lodge beset by dark, shadowy creatures.  The resultant firefight eventually destroyed or drove off their attackers, but not before Jesse was engulfed by the shadows and vanished.  Venturing outside, they heard no sounds from the stable where their horses were sheltered, and the strong smell of fresh blood was inescapable...

- Percy sat down for an ... interesting ... conversation with the Man in the Pinstripe Suit.  He prodded the Man about his involvement with the "possessed" young girl.  The Man denied having done  anything "to" her - or even that he had any control over her ... "condition".  He did suggest to a similarity between the girl and Percy's "situation", and seemed to think it odd that Percy would want the girl to be "cured" as though something was "wrong" with her.  He did seem confident that the young girl would recover from her wounds, and alluded to her having been greivously injured before.

- The next day the three had a brief conversation with Jesse and George about the coming storm and whether they should wait for the repairs to be finished (which would take another day) or whether they should get the stage now, rig the best job they could, and continue before they were trapped on this side of the river.  The group decided they would leave the following morning.

- The three spent this day hiking back out to the Wollart Claim to check on Lisa and Una - and to see if they could find any trace of Mack.  Stopping by the cave, they found most of the dead animals hanging from the tree were gone - though the ropers were still present.  The only ones remaining seem to have been recently hung.  They also noticed that they could not feel the "presence" inside the cave.  They found a pack and some firearms, but no sign of Mack.  Inside the cave, they found piles of animal bones - and a few human ones.

- Continuing to the claim, they found Una inside the one-room cabin still in bed and breathing lightly but steadily.  Kevin offered what blessings and purifications he could, but admitted that the remaining healing would be up to the passage of time.  Montana had stepped outside when Lisa came walking around the side of the house.  She was startled to see them, but they managed to calm her down and talk a bit.  They inadvertently brought up some past traumatic memories about the girl and the family and Lisa eventually began to break down.  When they left, she was curled up in the bed, crying next to her sleeping daughter.

- As they left, Montana mentioned that he'd noticed blood on Lisa's apron.  Walking around the house where she'd come from, Percy found a dead fox with a length of rope tied around its neck, and several more lengths of rope nearby.  Following a path to the top of the hill, he found a small cemetery of sorts with two gravestones - one for Lisa's husband Alexandre, and one for their 12-year-old son John.

- The group returned to town and made ready to leave, making it across the rising ford as the rain began and continuing north toward Howe's Camp and Flagstaff...

- As the group made their way north toward the Matheye Forest, they became aware of a pack of norther jackals gaining size and approaching them from the west.  In order to avoid them, the group deviated from their route more and more to the east.  As they got closer, some of the company thought they saw at least one humanoid among the jackals.

- The course change, unfortunately, led them into an ankheg hive.  Due to Carmella's Pass Without Trace spell, however, the ankhegs were just as surprised as they were when a few fell through the mounds of loose earth and into their tunnels.

- The resulting skirmish was chaotic and unorganized, but those who had remained above finally managed to pull the others up and out of the holes and evacuate the area before they were completely overrun.  Before emerging, Kugrash noticed the ruins of masonry and possible carvings among the monstrous insects hive complex.

- Arriving at the edge of the forest by early evening, the group was introduced to the eighth and final member of their company: Lethan Stahzer.  Kugrash recognized the name and the likeness as someone his friend Joccan had warned him about back in Erelan...

- The group made ready for trouble and, one by one, made their way outside.  There, they found the town under attack by kobolds while something roared and screeched overhead.

- After finishing off a group of kobolds that had crawled up to their area through the storm drains in order to start fires further into the city, they were met by a detachment of soldiers who urged them on to the gate where the bulk of the fighting was taking place.

- Down near the gate, in the thick of the fighting, something large suddenly fell from the sky, completely obliterating some nearby buildings.  Emerging from the rubble was an enormous white dragon and a giant, eagle-like bird - both injured and fighting one another.  While the group took a couple of pot-shots at the dragon, few of the soldiers had the nerve to approach, and all of the kobolds had fled.  It was only moments before the dragon grabbed the great bird by the neck, and slammed it into the ground.

- The wyrm declared its victory before letting loose and icy blast that froze several streets and leaping into the sky.

- The town spent the next couple of days trying to re-secure the gate (which had been burned through), restore the destroyed and frozen areas of town, and tend to the wounded.

- Fyndwhyr came to visit them a couple of days later, asking if they were still committed to his expedition.  They told him they were, and that they had received information from a mysterious figure that if the expedition was to be a success, time was of the essence.  The party set out the following morning, making their way north...

- After further discussion with the stage operators, the group vote overall was to go ahead and let the local wainwright repair the stage properly, even if it cost more and set them back several days.  Jesse, the man technically "in charge" was the only dissenting voice, but was hesitant to go against everyone else on the journey (including 4 paying customers) and so he ultimately relented and made the necessary preparations.

- In the meantime, Kevin, Percy, and Montana joined with three townsfolk to find the bear that came through and killed a couple of men two days previous.  They tracked the enormous creature northeast across the river and up into the hills north of town, eventually coming to a cave opening, outside of which was a tree from which hung a couple dozen dead animals.  As they contimplated whether to go in or dynamite the entrance, they caught sight of a young girl who told them they should leave - becoming increasingly hysterical, talking about her "daddy".  Somehow, Montana recognized the girl as the daughter of a man he had saved from a burning building in Grayfalls three years earlier.  It was then that thick black smoke began pouring out of the cave.

- The group pulled back from the cave entrance.  Snarls, growls, and moving shadows began to issue from the cloud of smoke, and the townsfolk began shooting at it, but when this had no effect, quickly ran.  A woman - presumably the girl's mother - then arrived, looking for her daughter, Una.  As she began dragging the hysterical girl away from the smoking cave and the strange men, Percy pursued them - only to see a bright flash of light as the woman collapsed unconscious and Una began to float up off the ground, staring at him through yellow eyes and telling him threateningly that he "should have listened".

- Believing the girl to be possessed, Percy and Montana immediately attacked - Percy's 'bolt' spell nearly killing her.  As the woman regained consciousness, Kevin was over the girl, using his divine blessing to save her life - though she was still greivously injured.  They carried her back to her house, and advised the woman, Lisa, as to her care and need to see a doctor.

- The three returned to Clark's Ford where they had a brief conversation with one of the men who'd accompanied them - he hadn't seen the other two, nor did he have any interest in pursuing the matter futher.  After Montana and Kevin retired for the night, Percy was having a drink at the Sagebrush saloon when he saw a familiar man in a pinstriped suit.  The man smiled, and walked over to his table asking "So, what do you think of miss Una...?"

- As the rest of the group began fighting the jackal in the street, Mido ran up and into the inn.  Inside, he found more jackals and the tavern area a complete wreck.  The  jackal there suddenly transformed into a monstrous humanoid-jackal.  I tried to grab Mido with its claws, but he slipped out of its reach.  Unfortunately, when he met it eyes he passed out and collapsed.  Waking in a dark chamber later, he found himself being addressed by someone else.  This person told him that they must abandon their expedition or they would all die.  There was a flash of light and Mido passed out again - but just before he did, he caught sight of the speaker: a creature with man's torso but the lower body of a great lion.

- Meanwhile, the others entered the inn and killed or drove off the remaining jackals.  They found the entire establishment wrecked, and the ominous words "we are watching you" gouged into the floors of their rooms.  They searched the inn and the surrounding area, but found no trace of their friend.  They helped the innkeeper clean up the place and stayed the night there.  Mido turned up around 4am, having awakened in the tunnel between the Hillside district and the Undercroft.  He woke them up and relayed what he had "learned".

- In the following days, they sent word to Fyndwhyr at the keep about this new possible threat to the expedition, ultimately deciding they would proceed but warily.  Mido, Jaydah, and Carmella all received thier 50% payment advance to prepare for the expedition, and the group decided they would pool and divide the 300gp 4 ways, so as not to leave Kugrash out.

- Kugrash met up with his friend Joccan a couple of times - once to "celebrate" their armwrestling match, and once more.... unplanned.  Kugrash questioned Joccan about the jackal creatures, and the man seemed to know something about them - suggesting they were part of a dangerous organization, and that Kugrash would be better off leaving town.  The second time they met, Joccan had actually come to find him.  The man was wearing a hooded cloak and acting wary.  He showed Kugrash a wanted poster of a man called Lethan Stahzer.  Joccan told him he believed this man was involved with the expedition or with Fyndwhyr, and was not to be trusted.  He offered Kugrash 500gp if he could get Stahzer arrested - or even if he could just "prevent" him from returning to the Plain.  No questions asked.

- It was a couple of nights later when the group was awakened n the middle of the night by the keep's alarm bell.  Looking outside, they could see a couple of flickering fires further down the hillside, as well as movement in the streets.  As well, they could hear the distant din of shouts and commotion - and a tremendous roar from overhead...

- The following day, the group spent some time cleaning up and getting ready for the banquet at the lord's manor that night - where they were to get some details about the expedition they'd been hired for.  Kugrash meanwhile, went looking for an instrument-maker who could "fix up" his axe-flute and ended up in an arm-wrestling contest with a man called Joccan in the Avenue Tavern.  He lost the contest, but barely - and his opponent's reaction to the victory seemed a little overly-humble for his demeanor.

- At the banquet - after a "fine" meal and more casual conversation with those present - their host, the archivist Eughenn Fyndwhyr, explained their objective.  He had found some old maps which contained some markings of unknown structures deep in the northern wilderness.  Their intention was to travel to these locations and investigate.  His hope seemed to be that one may be the remains of an ancient and unknown city.  They were to depart in a week's time.

- Returning from the banquet later that evening, they found the lights in the street near their inn mysteriously extinquished, casting the street into darkness.  Remembering their encounter from the previous evening, they approached cautiously.  As they did so, they could hear occasional shouts, crashes, and breaking glass coming from the inn - and they saw a  wolf-like creature emerge from the shadows coming toward them - baring its fangs and growling...

- As the shootout began, Jesse and George managed to press the stage foward while Percy, Kevin, and Montana exchanged a few bullets with the bandits.  There were relatively few casualties on either side by the time of their escape.  George was the only one who'd taken a particularly hard hit, and Kevin was able to call upon his Higher Authority to heal it before anyone really knew what had happened.

- The group proceded on to Gainer, where they spent a somewhat uneventful evening at the run-down hotel along the Highland Trail.  The following day they discovered the right rear wheel of the stage had developed some issues.  A few spokes were fractured and it was flexing worryingly.  This slowed their progress somewhat.  During one of their stops, they were meet by a traveling preacher who warned them about a beast that had recently come through Clark's Ford and killed a couple of men.

- Upon arriving in Clark's Ford, Jesse went to find a wainwright to repair the stage's wheel while the others headed to the Sagebrush saloon.  There they met a few men organizing a hunting party to go after the bear that had killed their friends...