The road to Elventree was anything but easy. Hours into its journey, the contingent was set upon by a pair of bloodthirsty ogres, leaving the friends battered, their last remaining coach barely drivable. As they gathered themselves, Luna having broken an arm after being blasted from the carriage, a red, leathery-winged creature appeared before them, threatening that more vile ogres awaited them on Elua's Ride. The fiend then vanished.
The promised encounter occurred a short while later, with large stones raining down on the companions from either side of the forested valley through which they were traveling. The melee was gruesome; five more ogres assailed the contingent, the friends claiming victory only after the dwarf, Spitbeard, was slain, his head caved in by one of the brute's clubs. Their wagon, too, was destroyed in the battle. Wrought with injuries, they continued on through the night (having slept the better part of the previous day), and arrived in Elventree late the next morning. On the streets of the shaded village, Markel encountered Fiernoth Freemantle, the forester first met in the temple of Mielikki in Hillsfar. Fiernoth greeted Markel warmly, and introduced to him his uncle, Sir Regallo Flambaster, a diviner of some local fame, called upon from Yûlash to help uncover the fate of a band of Elventree's hunters, recently gone missing in the forest.
The rest of the companions rented rooms at the Swaying Bough Inn, then all of them called to Moonsilver, High Herald to all the Dales. Moonsilver proved amiable to the friends' cause, pledging Elventree's support; reassured, the friends returned to the inn for some much-needed rest. They slept well into the next day, awoken by a commotion outside: Fiernoth and Regallo Flambaster had returned from Cormanthor, the latter swooning and in desperate need of a cleric. Through Fiernoth they learned that the uncle had been "mind-blasted" by some kind of magical scrying ward, though not before he relayed visions of armored men and a ring of blue fire, which Moonsilver presumed to be a portal.
The friends agreed to accompany Fiernoth back into the forest; at the bidding of Moonsilver, they also accepted the company of one Azil Greyfoot, a slippery-fingered halfling from Melvaunt. Soltrius and Hadrian stayed behind, intending to recover the wagon and spices left abandoned on the road; Luna, too, remained, her arm still badly injured. And so, seven companions delved into Cormanthor, finding the blue portal and the blades of many soldiers defending it. The armored men were Zhents, and they battled the contingent fiercely, but when the companions seemed outmatched, the Zhents' own mage turned against his allies, slaying them with spells and causing several to flee outright, the Zhent swordcaptain included.
The mage, they learned, was possessed by some other being, that believed to be the same black essence the friends had encountered near the Eshen Glade, several days earlier. This "shadow spirit," as it came to be called, proffered the release of Elventree's hunters (who had actually been captured by the Zhents) upon completion of these tasks: that the contingent would travel through the portal to Zhentil Keep, locate a wizardess named Jelescavia Runesurr, and recover a golden artifact from a temple called the Chalice of the Dead Three. After the spirit also informed the friends that the fourth captured hunter was yet imprisoned in the notorious city, they knew they had little choice but to agree.
Left behind were Lefwain, who had remained hidden in a tree during the party's discourse with the spirit, and Fiernoth, who was too grievously injured to contunue on. When finally the gnome tried to escape back to Elventree, he was captured by the Zhent swordcaptain and baited to help the soldiers return through the portal. The plan failed, the shadow spirit slew the Zhent assailants, and Lefwain fed Fiernoth a Zhent poison that he believed to be a curing potion. The forester died there, and Lefwain was ordered by the spirit to fetch back the lone Zhent who had escaped during the skirmish. The Zhent dueled Lefwain, but the gnome's dagger ultimately prevailed, and he returned to the portal grove, still captive and with nothing else to do but wait.
The other end of the portal opened in a store room beneath a Zhent armory; upon exiting, the friends took to the streets of Zhentil Keep and its many taverns, searching for leads. Meanwhile, Penrith and Addledasher arrived in Elventree seeking their friends, but finding only Luna. Late that night, a mostly-recovered Regallo divined the demise of an ally in Cormanthor (Fiernoth's, of course, though the wizard knew this not), and bade Luna to accept a casting that would transport her to the place where the fates deemed her most needed. She agreed, and found herself in a dark and silent chamber.
Not knowing where she might be, Luna set a light and uncovered a long wooden box stowed beneath the stone floor. The box was a coffin, and its ancient skeleton attacked her, nearly to her end. When finally she defeated it, Luna discovered a golden dragon's horn beneath where it had lain; she took it, found an escape passage, and snuck out of the basement of what proved to be a temple. Luna found herself on the streets of an unknown city (Zhentil Keep), alone, and at night.
Meanwhile, the rest of the companions learned little from visiting many taverns, the few leads they uncovered pointing to an area of the city known as the "inner quarter." This was a guarded sector, and the friends made it inside with the help of a goodly priest of Deneir named Halfast Mercantor who they encountered on the streets nearby. The friends skulked about the inner quarter for some time, finding, to their amazement, Luna!
They set up for the night at an inn called the Steadfast's Citadel, exchanging tales and information. In the morning, the party stood divided on its course of action; half traveled the city, visiting the hall of records (and learning that Jelescavia Runesurr had seemingly died decades earlier), and the other half returned to the armory and the portal room in its basement. There was set a ambush by Zhents, who battled the companions fervidly. But when the tide swayed in favor of the Zhentilar and their leader, one "High Imperceptor of Bane," Penrith and Addledasher emerged from behind crates, attacking the contingent's enemies. Penrith was killed in the battle by a cloud of black ash that spewed forth from the severed neck of the imperceptor; solemn, the friends learned that the pair had arrived in the portal room by the same magic used to transport Luna below the Chalice of the Dead Three, cast by the hand of Regallo Flambaster.
This half of the contingent, which now included Vennel, Luna, Halfast, Azil, and Addledasher, returned through the portal to learn what had befallen. Shortly thereafter, Markel, Mercurius and Achran came forth as well. The shadow spirit proved true to its word, releasing Lefwain, the three hunters, and Fiernoth's body. The fourth hunter, a half-elf named Temrillis, was still captive in Zhentil Keep, although the spirit insisted that this was not its own doing. Then, having accepted the golden horn and information regarding Jelescavia, the shadow spirit departed into the woods, still controlling the body of one truly ill-fated Zhent mage.
The following day, the party returned to Elventree to a mixed reception of tears and praise. Soon thereafter, Moonsilver journeyed with a small escort into Cormanthor in search of the Sy'Tel'Quessir, and the companions convened with Lethedluin, Moonsilver's half-elven associate, and Master Vollangar, a mage of local renown, at the cottage called the House of the Harp. There, the contingent determined its course to be Melvaunt, Soltrius for trading spices and all in search of answers to the brooding conflict between Hillsfar, Zhentil Keep, Cormanthor, and the Dalelands.
