- Following Mido's cries, they found him tangled in the vines of yet another blight, and being dragged toward the ruin of a stone tower.  They fought off the remaining plant creatures and decided to investigate the tower, which they believed to be the ruin they had been searching for.

- Only the first 15 feet or so of this tower remained, and it was almost entirely occupied by a large, twisted tree.  As they approached, the tree animated and began lashing out at them with snake-like roots and branches.  They engaged the creature long enough to decide they didn't have the resouces to destroy it - but not before Jaydah caught sight of a grotesque statue of a woman tangled in the tree's roots.

- Continuing much further west, they at last arrived at their original destination: the ruin of some sort of settlement.  As they approached, they were met by an old woman with a bag full of bones.  She told them there would be no treasure to be found in this place - only a mad demon and piles of bones...

- The group continue northward toward a tower mark they'd seen on maps of the region.  They avoided an area containing a giggling presense that unsettled them.  Upon arriving at the region, they found the discrepancies between the map versions they had were causing problems.  They discussed the direction they should take as Carmella turned herself into a squirrel to climb a tree and try to get a better look from above the forest canopy.

- The group decided to continue eastward toward their ultimate goal.  As they passed through an area of thick undergrowth, they found themselves attacked by animate vines and twigs.  The resulting skirmish separated the group somewhat, and as the last of the plant creatures fell or fled, they heard a call from Mido who was being dragged away...

- The howling wind and the gathering of ghostly entities around the base of the tower - pounding on the tower's ghostly door - caused Eughenn and some of the others to hesitate, but Kugrash, Mido, and Jaydah pushed their way through the ephemeral forms and into the tower.  Inside they found the ghostly forms of soldiers attempting to barricade the doors against those outside.

- While they watched what was unfolding, their presense seemed to disturb something else present in the tower.  They heard a growling voice from above, and the rattle of bones as a number of humanoid skeletons in the room pulled themselves up and began assaulting them.  Outside, the ghostly humanoids pounding on the door began shuddering and transforming into ghostly, wolf-like creatures, which then began attacking.

- There were a number of ensuing skirmishes with ghostly and skeletal attackers.  On the upper floor, the group again was confronted by the ghost of a commander-like figure, and again they attempted to engage in conversation that, at times, appeared close to violence.  This was avoided successfully again, however - and subsequently, the ghostly forms disappated and the skeletal figures collapsed.

- The group spent some time searching the tower for preserved or magical items that may be of use to them, finding a few.  After a brief conversation about the best way to proceed, they began heading north toward their primary objective - only to be met almost immediately by the ghostly form of the wraith they had seen on the river (or one nearly identical to it).

- The wraith once again began questioning them in its harsh voice with words they could not understand.  The howling wind resumed, and snow and ice began building up and threatening to cover them as Jaydah did her best to understand any of its words.  As its pitch increased, she began hearing other voices - voices asking them why they had come into the cursed lands and if their intention was to defy the will of "the goddess".  Jaydah defiantly told it that they did, in fact, and the wraith vanished - along with the snow an ice.

- After a brief exchange, the ghost disappated and the group approached the ruined tower.  The inside was unnaturally cold, and they found the skeletal remnants of a number of humanoids.  As the investigated, they found themselves attacked by the ghostly forms of soldiers.

- On the upper floor of the tower, they found a table with an old map.  There was an imposing skeleton in rusted heavy armor in large chair at the far end of the table, and from it manifested a ghostly figure that attempted to communicate with them.  While they were unable to understand much of what was said, the "conversation" did not escalate to combat.

- The group compared notes w/ the map and discovered some discrepancies between it and the one they had.  They made a sketch and some notes before leaving.

- After a brief conversation, the group decided to make their way to the East tower before continuing north to their primary target.  They made camp about half-way, and approach the tower the following morning.  As they did so, they came upon a chaotic, ghostly scene...

- 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...