The actual grove was more exciting than they anticipated: when they reached a large clearing they found some sort of giant spider sitting in its web where it had three cocooned packages delicately strung. Tarracyn checked with the grove's warden, McGuffin, whether they should kill it, and got confirmation and a discount on the herbs they were buying. The four of them made short work of the spider and found that the three packages were people - a dead and desiccated elf, an unconscious halfling ranger and an unconscious human girl.

An investigation of the tree revealed a secret door leading into an underground lair and so they went down to have a better look... The lair was earthen, a bit like a burrow for a person. It seemed to be empty, but then they found the lizard kobolds which they managed to avoid fighting. Then the halfling ranger came to find them. It transpired that he had been collecting herbs for his trainer, Taerannon, and had encountered the spider in the clearing like the party. He had set about it with his sword, but them a man in a black cloak had turned up and clubbed his over the head.

The party were enraged at such behaviour and resolved to find this man as what he had done was tantamount to murder. It seems that the burrow was intersected by the underwater river and on the far side was a cave with light coming from it. They went to talk to the occupant of the cave.
Whoever he was, he claimed he was alone and knew 'of no man', but throughout the conversation he remained hidden behind a rock, even when he played some pipes and charmed Akima. Frustrated and without answers to their questions, the party departed, but Brigette stayed behind and stole a peek at the man: who was a satyr!

They resolved to leave, but as they went to go, another satyr turned up - the brother of the first. He had a club and a black cloak... the party asked him if he'd seen anything and he said he had something for them - a tune on the pan pipes! Tarracyn and Akima fell asleep so Brigette and Yliruin launched into combat with the half-man, for him to be finished off by their male companion as he regained consciousness.

Then, weirdly, Tarracyn had an attack of conscience and insisted on going back to see the first satyr to tell him what had happened. Needless to say, he wasn't happy but somehow managed not to end up in a fight with the group - perhaps because he knew that he and his brother had been up to no good anyway.

They spent a pleasant evening in the pub and Brigette made a lover out of bard called Eadhros, before they headed off in the morning. On the return journey they paid a visit to a witch who 'predicted' their futures, much to their general amusement.

However, on the way back, they encountered the Inquisition arresting an 11 year old girl for witch-craft: a crime for which she had already been determined to be guilty and for which the penalty was death by the flame. Their group conscience couldn't possibly allow this to go ahead, and so they did what they could to stir the villagers against the penalty and get the local priests to intervene. This wasn't very successful as most of the villagers had seen her throw some sort of lightning at a young man in the market square... Eventually they stole the warrant and destroyed it, so that when asked for proof of the girl's guilt Captain Kramer, the Inquisition's executioner, had none. The girl was saved!

Well, temporarily at least. While Kramer rode for Vortis City and a second copy of his warrant, the party rode for the Academy to tell the staff about the girl and ask them to intervene, for she was being held in the jail in the village until Captain Kramer returned. High Priest DuPuis assured the group that everything that could be done would be done, paid them for their services and asked them if they were free to go to Vortis City in four days time.

They whiled away four days quite pleasantly, and even met a new adventurer - a young female elf druid called Lily, who had a dog that Yliruin calls He-mutt. The five of them got on well and showed Lily where everything was and who everybody was. Excitingly, Akima managed to wrangle a kiss out of her beloved Delphinius but then didn't get to speak to him properly before she had to go to Vortis City.

The High Priest gave them a number of packages and letters to deliver and advised them to stay in the City for a few days because the Festival of Lanterns was in a few days time and would be fun. He even paid them in advance so they had some money to spend. He gated them to the outskirts of the city, which was fairly daunting in itself as Lily and Akima had never been to a city before and were generally overwhelmed by the size and number of everything. They had to deliver a package to one Dr Gregor Morse, the foremost physician in the country and a lovely little old chap who invited them to dinner at a restaurant on its opening night and at the expense of the Czar. The group accepted.

Next they had to deliver tax forms (which took them two attempts) and deliver a scroll to Marquis Elendil at one of his shops - either Elendil's Wares (spell component supplies) or Securicor Arcanum (magical security systems for all budgets). This they did, and established that the Marquis was going to be their ride back to the Academy.

Their final stop was the Adventurer's Guild where they had to deliver a letter to the Guildmaster, a half-elf man called Marcus who always sat on the door in spite of his station. He took the opportunity to show them around the place and sign them up for a year's membership. They then took in the sights of the city. Tarracyn visited the barber, bought a suit and visited the various gardens, while Brigette and Yliruin took in the gladiatorial arenas and bought dresses. Akima and Lily visited the new Academy of Arcane Arts and came away feeling that its proprietor was... 'the most pompous man I have ever met' (Akima's own words). Lily decided to stay with the caged animals in the park while the others went to dinner with Dr Morse.

The dinner was pleasant, with Elven wine flowing freely. The four adventurers-in-training were joined by the doctor and his nephew, Anthony, who was a soldier, and two visiting foreign ambassadors from the nation of Akhir. They were Nimaatre and Sunera and were very interested in understanding how Lanixan society worked, both on its own and when interacting with other cultures such as the elves. There was a big debate about arranged marriages and then a soldier came to tell Dr Morse that there had been a murder.

Dr Morse asked the party to investigate as the City Watch was too understaffed and stretched thin at the moment to look into it, and he was worried because this was the second murder in two days and both victims had been killed the same way - hands amputated and heart cut out. The party agreed... gah!

The upshot of the adventure was that they prevented a half-drow from brining Laveth into the world, and although they nearly failed, they managed to kill her before she completed the ritual. During this adventure, Brigette met Tobias, who she fell in love with, and later joined her, Akima and Tarracyn as they combated in the Trial of Champions. They won, too, placing Lord Elendil, their sponsor, in the highly prestidigious position of Favoured Lord of Lanixa. Tobias asked Brigette to marry him, and she agreed. They were wed soon after, but were on their honeymoon at the time of the Cataclysm, which Akima, Yliruin, Laconfir and Brookes went with Delphinius to investigate. While Yliruin and Brigetter stayed as students at the Academy, Tarracyn became part-time teaching staff due to his amazinf climbing skills, and Akima turned out to be one of the Chosen of Gomez, and was shipped off to learn about bardic music from Lydia.