Elbolin runs until all the stirges give up trying to catch him. Then after a brief pause to catch his breath, he makes his way back to the cart, fearing the worst for his friend Gourbain, whom he last saw in a cloud of stirges, and with one attached to him, sucking his blood.

It takes Elbolin quite a while to get back to their camp, and he sneaks back carefully, observing what he can from a distance. He sees no sign of Gourbain. A few stirges flit about around a thick cloud of fog, centered right around the flickering campfire, the light of which barely pierces the fog.

After observing what he can from behind some bushes, he jumps up and runs deep into the cloud. By the flickering light he can tell he is near the campfire, but though he whispers as loud as he dares, "Gourbain, Gourbain!", there is no answer. After fumbling around in the fog for a bit, he makes his way to their cart, which is right on the edge of the cloud. He finds a bedroll, and drags it under the cart. As he slides himself under, he bumps into... Gourbain, who, having the same idea, is wrapped up in a bedroll and hiding from the winged pests. "That fog cloud is one of my spells," he says. "It seems to really confuse the stirges."

They stay hidden there all night, and now and again Gourbain renews the fog cloud spell. They do manage to get some rest, and by morning's light the stirges are nowhere to be found.

The other group of adventurers set up camp for the night near the two friendly ladies from their caravan. Elfo goes over to talk to them. They introduce themselves as Werond Torohar, a teamster for one of the carts, and Green Imsa, a traveler who is human but quite literally green, from head to toe.

"So, is Green your real name?" asks Elfo.

"Well, no, but it's been my nickname since I was a child," answers Imsa.

"It's very descriptive..."

Green Imsa blushes, awkwardly. "Yeah, it's some kind of condition I've had all my life. I'm going to Waterdeep to see if I can find a cure. I hear there are some very good medicine men there."

Black Barry butts in, "... so, is there also a Blue Imsa?"

"No," says Imsa quietly. "Just me."

Meanwhile, Leosin approaches Hooflepoof around the campfire, and asks if he can borrow his Cloak of Invisibility. "Maybe if I take a look around at the carts, I can figure out which ones are the cultists."

"What, you want to use it just to stalk people?" teases Hooflepoof.

"Well, to stalk the cultists, yeah..." answers Leosin cheerfully. "That's kind of what we're here for."

Hooflepoof, somewhat reluctantly, hands over his cloak, and retires to his tent for the night, but he doesn't rest well. His sleep is troubled by nightmares of the screams and the smell of those awful fungi. Bilbo and Elfo also find themselves not well rested in the morning; although the addictive soup made them feel vigorously renewed the night before, their energy seems to drain off quickly.

Leosin gives back Hooflepoof's Cloak of Invisibility over breakfast, and tells him that he thinks he's identified two of the cultist carts, at least he's pretty sure. He took a peek at what they were carrying, and it looked an awful lot like stolen loot. Hooflepoof asks about the buxom sisters, but Leosin didn't learn anything about them.

They continue north in the morning, and the road is much cheerier now that they have passed out of the Fields of the Dead. Some birds come out to sing, and the sun shines over fields of small red and yellow flowers.

As they are taking a short break to water the horses, a stranger approaches Elfo. He introduces himself as Oyn Evenmor, a merchant with the caravan. He had noticed the Spider Staff that Elfo is carrying.

"That's a pretty cool staff," he says. "Any chance you'd want to part with it? I'll give you 5 gold pieces for it."

Of course, Elfo isn't very interested, but he asks Oyn what he is carrying. Oyn tells him he is carrying exotic birds, so Elfo offers to trade him the staff for some birds. "What would you do with an exotic bird?" Oyn asks, "anyway they're rather expensive. That staff doesn't look that special. Tell you what, though, I'll give you 6 GP for it."

Elfo opens up his purse and shows him all his Gold Pieces. Leosin, who is nearby, holds his head in his hand, shaking it in disbelief.

But Oyn is a stubborn man who doesn't give up that easily. "Ok, well how about 10 GP?"

"No way," says Elfo. "This is no ordinary staff. It can summon spiders and command them." He taps it several times on the ground, but nothing apparent happens. As it turns out, he takes command of a spider under a nearby blade of grass, and it responds with a tiny little "yes, my lord", but it's too small for anyone to notice.

"Ok, sorry, sorry," says Oyn, raising his hands in surrender. "I just thought it was cool looking. If you won't take... even 15 Gold Pieces for it, that's ok, I get it."

Elfo doesn't respond, so Oyn says "well, I'll be around if you change your mind," and ambles back to his cart.