Starfly Temple Encounters (19 Ready'reat 586 OY, 2/15/00 RL) Back when the party last left the Hilldale caverns, Axel and Fingle went towards town while Camen and Shinshi headed for parts unknown with the horn. They quickly decided the best place to go would be the druid's starfly temple. Shinshi pocketed the horn and they set off. Soon they found themselves attacked by skullbirds, big critters with skin pulled tight on their heads, 16 foot wingspans, slippery black feathers, and razor-sharp talons. The creatures were very interested in Shinshi, but they were eventually discouraged by the pair's adroit archery.

Once at the temple, Mojo told them they ought to talk to the Druid Coline, who was away. Mojo showed them to a nearby cave where they and the horn would be safely undetected. A day later Mojo sent the pre-arranged signal indicating they should come out. Camen and Shinshi arrived at the temple just as the Golden Lightning was vanishing into the distance with Fingle on board.

The party was soon discussing what to do with the horn. Coline indicated that they ought to turn it over to the druids. However, the adventurers were set on getting a seriously compensated for turning the thing over.

Around that time, a ship appeared on an inbound course for Miraburg. It soon became clear that it was a tinker gnome ship on a collision course with cliffs in the gravity plane near the temple. Soon an audible crash was heard, and Mojo went off to investigate. He returned to report a broken ship full of tinker gnomes and a lone human clinging to a piece of wreckage. Concerned that the human might be the evil telepath plaguing them, the party followed Mojo back to the crash site. They found Mojo lowering a vine down the cliff to the supposed dark one, but Mojo claimed he was none other than Elmarth d'Elmore.

When the being got to the top of the cliff, he certainly looked like Elmarth, although his shield bore the symbol of St. Cuthbert where before it had been blank. Coline used several divinations and said she could find no trace of evil or possession about him. Eventually the party decided he was not the evil one.

Back at the temple, they continued negotiating for the horn. Eventually Coline agreed to do her best to have a casino built for the party from a starfly plant within one year in return for the artifact. Reluctantly Axel handed her the horn. As she laid hands on it, her expression lit up in a disturbing manner. "Yes, master, I have it!," she said, and began a spell. The party instantly sensed something was very wrong, and they piled on top of her before the spell could be cast. As they finished binding and gagging the Druid, Mojo ran in to report that another ship was coming.

Somehow they convinced the hobbit that what they had done to his mistress was necessary, and went to see the ship. Outside, they saw a small galleon letting launching a longboat. The smaller boat rowed towards the temple through the gravity plane. Camen started sniping at the four crew of the boat as they drew near, but a robed crewman cast a spell and the boat became wrapped in fog. Just before the fog reached the temple, the galleon fired a ballista bolt that went high and missed. In the fog, the party eventually bested the robed priest of Ares and the two rowers. However, the broadsword expert on board escaped, albeit wounded. When someone stepped out of the fog to look around, only its highest pennant was visible: on the landward side of the temple!

The PCs rushed back through the temple toward the land side. Elmarth and Shinshi stopped to defeat three warriors attempting to take Coline. Axel and Camen stepped out the land door into another dense fog next to a field of writhing grass. Screams came from the fog. Stepping out of the fog, they saw the galleon going straight up. Fast. And out of fireball range. Then they saw the boulders tumbling over the rail of the galleon. They bolted for the temple, but one falling rock dislocated Axel's shoulder. As the rocks hit, the screaming in the fog abruptly ended. Mojo ran into the temple too at that moment.

As Mojo healed Axel's shoulder, he recounted how he had tried to hold the ship off with obscurement, entangle, and several skullbird friends of his. Although several men had made it in, they did not get out, and the ship appeared to be chased off.