During the journey back to Sarta, a storm arose. The Inquisitive made it through, but with some minor damage. Arriving in port, Captain Greystone tells the party that it will be about a week before the ship is ready to sail again. During their time awaiting repairs, the party learned that a metal steamship crewed by goblins had been sighted in the waters north of Kaipara. Peregrine tried to spend as much time as possible wooing Amethyst until they left. He was able to tell her a lot about Lalasca and the shifter tribes there. He warned her to avoid camping in the open jungle – they are much more likely to meet with the shifters that way. Peregrine also gifted Amethyst with his messenger bird, Covinn, a long-tailed scarlet bird with long tail feathers. The bird can change the color of it’s feathers at will, allowing it to blend in with its surroundings, making it good at scouting. Peregrine hoped it would help to keep Amethyst out of trouble on her adventures.

The heroes then left Sarta and traveled to the island of Lalasca, hoping to find the Winterseed in the Firepeak. Arriving at the island, they began a skill challenge to get to the volcano without complications. Ardan and Durzo succeeded on perception checks to find the tracks of shifters to attempt to avoid them. After amethyst’s first failed stealth check using Covinn, the bird got stuck in a tree in a clearing populated by ogres. Durzo sneaked toward the clearing, while Lorgrim charged straight in. Amethyst used her captured goblin jetpack and the invisibility power of her feytouched armor to fly into the tree and rescue her familair. The Primitive ogres attacked with clubs and thrown rocks, knocking several party members about. Lorgrim was able to resist much of the effects of their attacks, but drew enough of the ogres wrath that he was felled. He was revived quickly, however, and helped to end the ogres. The party prevailed through a combination of sound tactics and several criticals. At one point in the fight, Naven tepeorted by passing through Otherside. there, he saw Frank, as expected, but also saw Zavi Crystalweave, the female gnome Naven met in Sarta. He was rather disturbed. A large diamond, cracked and chipped, was pried from the club of one of the ogres, and the party journeyed onward., continuing the skill challenge.

Amethyst’s second failed roll, a perception check, kept them from noticing nearby shifters until they had noticed the party and began trailing them. Durzo recommended fleeing into the jungle, but Ardan called out to the shifters, and used his Suggestion power to replace a diplomacy check with an arcana check. He convinced the shifters that the party was not a threat, and the shifters retreated.

The third failed check of the skill challenge belonged to Naven, who failed to notice a pit trap dug by another tribe of shifters a few hours later. Logrim stepped into the pit and was slightly injured. While the party gathered around the pit to help him, they were quickly surrounded by an overwhelming force of shifter hunters. The party attempted diplomacy again, and offered the diamond from the ogre’s club as tribute. Naven succeeded on a diplomacy check and, though they lost the gem, the heroes were released to continue their journey.

At last, the party arrived at the base of the Firepeak. A cave led into the volcano, which the heroes entered. The party followed the tunnel to a small cave. Durzo stealthily entered the cavern In the center of the cavern was a small stone pedestal. A glittering gem sat at its peak. Another tunnel led away from the cavern. A large crevice tore into the floor of the cave at one side, steam curling up from it. The cave floor around the crevice was covered with dark black sand. As Durzo approached the stone pedestal, it triggered a magical trap. The gem began firing magical rays, having a different effect each round. Stone elementals then rose from the floor, and silt elementals rose from the sand surrounding the crevice. The rest of the party ran in to engage the elementals. The elementals and trap frequently immobilized or slowed the heroes, allowing the silt elementals to do more damage with their attacks. Most of the party moved close to the magical stone trap to disable the device, which was done after a total of 4 successful arcana or thievery checks made as minor actions. Naven was beaten down by the elementals, but revived by Amethyst’s timely first aid. At one point, the earth elementals were able to use their quake stomp powers to slide half of the party into the crevice, though the heroes were not stuck long, able to either climb or teleport back out to finish off the guardians of the cave. Durzo was able to disassemble the pylon and remove the gem that served as a focus for the magical energies.

The party then took an extended rest in the cave before continuing, ending the session.