Teller continues to perform, doing an interpretive dance that does not impress the crowd; some troublemakers begin taking potshots at Teller with darts. He then switches to playing his lute, which seems to calm the crowd, but doesn't stop the occasional dart from being flung towards him.

Seeking a better reception, Teller leaves the Stinking Hole and goes to the other bar in town - the Golden Chalice, an upscale establishment.

Blayne goes to the Keeper's Guild and asks one of the guards about Tammoh. She is told that they will not provide information on their clients. She sits on a bench nearby, and waits for Tammoh.

Tammoh leaves the Keeper's Guild and meets up with Blayne. He notices that Elsa is missing, and goes with Teller to the Stinking Hole to ask about her. Blayne prepares a divination spell.

In the bar, they learn that Elsa was taken out of town, towards the south, by several people. Tammoh and Teller return to Blayne, and the three set out to find Elsa.

After two and a half hours of traveling, the party encounters a small group of woodsmen, who claim to have seen two "big brutish guys" carrying Elsa to River City in a cart. Teller tips them with plasma. Blayne takes off her full-plate armor to give to Tammoh to carry, and the three jog down the path. After a short while, the party is able to see fresh trail marks made by a cart. Blayne gives Tammoh a cloak with which to conceal the full plate armor better.

After a short while, Tammoh spies the cart ahead on the path, and suggests the party move off the path. Blayne casts silence on her dagger, and prepares her mace. Tammoh and Teller follow Blayne, darting from tree to tree to catch up with the cart.

Eventually, the party is spotted, and the ogre and gargoyle driving the cart stop and get their weapons. Blayne throws her dagger out of spell's range and hides behind a tree, unnoticed, just in time to hear the gargoyle demand to know who they were.

Teller claims that the party is "just traveling through." The gargoyle doesn't buy this. Tammoh attempts to bluff, claiming that the chirping birds were giving him a headache. The gargoyle, surprised by the answer, demands to know why Teller and Tammoh weren't on the path. Teller just shrugged, trying to pass Tammoh off as a loony.

An invisible Blayne, however, picks up her dagger and sneaks up to the cart and tries to attack the padlock on the back door, to little success.

Tammoh tries to ask the gargoyle what he and the ogre were carrying, but the gargoyle refuses, stating that it was none of their business. Tammoh and Teller back off, and the two creatures return to the cart and ride off.

The party follows the cart from a respectable distance, when Blayne comes up with an idea to see what's inside: Tammoh conjures a Mage Hand, and uses it to carry a vial of acid up to the door's lock. Once there, he dumps the contents, causing the lock to fizzle and break. This, however, gets the attention of the Gargoyle, who notices the smell. He confers with the ogre, stops the cart, and walks back to the party.

The gargoyle was clearly suspicious: he was having no trouble whatsoever until the party shows up, so clearly, they must be involved in something. Blayne ignores his comment, suggesting that his complaints of the lock burning be taken up with whoever provided him with such defective goods. The gargoyle, clearly not looking to get into a debate, orders the party to take an alternate path. Seeing little choice, they agree.

While walking through the forest, Tammoh and Blayne decide that the Mariner's Guild is probably the group trying to obtain Elsa, since she has had prior dealings with the Thieves Guild. After a short while, the two come up with a plan to free Elsa, who is lying unconcious in the cart.

Tammoh and Blayne get a short distance ahead of the cart, and hide in wait in a ditch. Once the cart is close enough, Blayne casts a clairvoyance spell to provide Tammoh with information on what is happening. Tammoh then makes effective use of a Major Image:

A bright flash and thunderclap emminates from the inside of the cart. The gargoyle and ogre stop, go to the sides of the cart, and look in: Elsa's body is missing, but a piece of paper remains. Surprised, the gargoyle runs to the back of the cart and opens the door. An illusory Elsa drops from the ceiling of the cart and speeds past her captors, stopping only to taunt them.

The gargoyle takes flight and chases "Elsa" into the forest, and is frustrated by the illusion's uncanny ability to hide and dart among the trees. Blayne then casts a sleep spell on the Ogre, and attempts to heal Elsa. Although Elsa is still alive, the heal doesn't bring Elsa to conciousness, so Blayne drags Elsa's body out of the cart and into the forest. Shortly afterwards, the Ogre wakes up, but by this point, Blayne has gotten Elsa to relative safetly. Tammoh takes Elsa and carries her on his back while he, Teller, and Blayne escape.

Eventually, the three find a cave to hide in, and Tammoh "seals" the cave with an illusiory boulder while Blayne studies to regain spells. When she is done, Tammoh drops the illusion and prepares his own spells. After studying, Tammoh examines Elsa, and determines that, while she is unhurt, she has been poisoned with a neurological poison.