Goodbye to the Horn, Exploring Hilldale Caverns (19-23 Ready'reat 586 OY, 2/28/00 RL) In the aftermath of the battle with the Flow Ghost raiders, Coline, showing no signs of possession, was freed of her gag and bonds. She claimed to have no memories of what happened after she had been handed the horn. It was decided that she would try to take the horn to her druid superiors again. At about this time Ilka, a human girl with plants sprouting from where her hair would be and another of Coline's followers, appeared to report that another ship was approaching the temple. As it hoved into sight, it appeared to be a groundling longship with white sails depicting a pair of hands holding a bag: the holy symbol of Zilchus. Coline was concerned that this might be yet another threat, and asked to be given the horn. She also said that she would be away for one day, and asked that those present (Shinshi, Axel, Camen, and Elmarth) remain at the temple to defend it. They agreed and Axel handed her the horn. She took it, went to the center of the temple, cast a spell and sank into the living wood of the shrine, disappearing.

Outside, the ship approached. Its name could be seen to be the Phoenix. A dark-skinned young human male in a fine suit of plate armor stood at the bow, with his hand on his furrowed brow. He looked up and hailed the assembly on the temple's dock, asking permission to come closer. They gave it, and he moved within conversational distance. He said that his name was Adalet, and that he was a paladin of Zilchus from Oerth. He claimed to have received a vision that an evil power known as Ice had been loosed on the sphere, and that his mission was to seek and destroy him. His vision had led him there and told him that it had been at work there, although he could sense no trace of it remaining. The party told him that the Flow Ghost served Ice, and which way it had gone. He asked for volunteers to come with him to aid in his quest, but they declined. The Phoenix quickly sailed, hoping to pick up on the Flow Ghost while the trail was still hot.

The time spent waiting for Coline to return was uneventful. When she arrived, she seemed anxious for the party to be moving along. She agreed to start construction on the casino as soon as possible, pending delivery of design plans. Mojo would be in charge of growing the starfly plant casino, and he spent some time discussing what he knew of starfly "ecology". His tentative plan was to grow it in Miraburg's gravity plane, then to fly it to the planned site.

Leaving the temple, the party set out for Hilldale. Camen left them, saying he wanted to try to get training from Kaiketsu. Axel, Shinshi, and Elmarth spent some time looking for the watchtowers that the old elvish map had indicated were near Hilldale. They eventually found the "eastern" one, but it appeared completely ruined.

Next they re-entered the Hilldale Caverns. They explored the main passages, poking around in streams and pools and examining large mushrooms. One bit of excitement was when they entered the cave from which the undead had issued the last time they had been in the cave. Shinshi went first, moving quietly into the darkness. He only barely fought off paralysis as a ghoul clawed at his face, and ducked back out of the tunnel. Elmarth went next and hacked down the ghoul and several skeletons, his way lit by a lantern held by Shinshi's unseen servant. These creatures guarded a small dais covered with dried blood, above which was a small hole in the wall. Axel used wraithform and entered the hole. As he did so, a fire glyph of warding erupted, but he was unharmed. Inside the cubby hole, he found a small pile of jewels. There was also a horn, very similar to the one Coline had just taken although not identical. Axel returned to material form off of the dais. Shinshi sent his unseen servant to retrieve the booty, but as it "stepped" onto the dais it was destroyed in a small display of magical fireworks. This seemed to be the end of the glyphs, and the contents of the hole were retrieved. The horn turned out to have a moderately strong magical aura.

The other event of note in the caverns was when a cave fisher tried to catch the party. They counter-attacked with missile weapons and drove it back into a crevice. When they threw burning oil in after it, it tried to crawl away across the ceiling of a large cavern. When it reached the center, Axel stated that he was going to fireball it. Shinshi and Elmarth quickly moved a good distance away, but Axel had judged the volumes well and only ended up barely singeing himself. The big arthropod was not so lucky and was blasted off the ceiling, but not killed. Shinshi and Elmarth returned and finished it off with deft bow and sword work.

They left the caverns and spent an uneventful night camping in the Hilldale ruins. Shinshi heard a large cat yowling in the distance on his watch, but saw nothing. The next day they returned to town on the topside during its evening. They did some shopping during the next topside day. Elmarth got a look at the Dardak, and was dismayed at the damage it had received in his absence. The head shipwright projected that repairs would be done in 3-4 months.