- The patrol headed north in search of the healer-mouse called Nendole.  As they approached the area in which her hut was rumored to reside, they encountered a number of crude, mouse-like totems hanging from the surrounding trees, and Hakett's superstition and believe in the mystical overwhelmed him - causing visual and auditory halucinations of fog and menacing crows.  The noise from his defiant cries attracted the attention of a nearby otter, whom Nipp just barely managed to convince that the armed guardmice would be more trouble than they're worth.

- Clove found the dead stump perched on the riverbank that contained the recluse's hut.  They eventually convinced the eccentric mouse to speak with them, and even got her to begrudgingly agree to help.  She sent them a bit further north to a pond to gather the necessary "springfire moss" - an plant which Nipp had never heard of.

- Locating the pond in a basin near the river, Nipp and Hakett went down to the water's edge to gather the very normal-looking moss, while Clove kept watch from the hilltop.  It wasn't long before she saw the forms of a small band of ferrets making their way through the forest directly toward their location.  More worrying, however, was the large mink now rising out of the water in front of Nipp and Hakett...