As the adventurers are having their breakfast and packing up the cart, they notice that Leosin and Carlon don't get up with them, and don't seem to be anywhere around. Later in the morning, Hooflepoof asks Noohar the cartmaster, "Have you seen Leosin or Carlon?"

"Leosin came to me last night and said they couldn't stay with the caravan and would be leaving early this morning. They asked me not to mention it until they were gone."

"Do you know which direction they went?"

"No, they left very early this morning, I didn't even hear them leave."

"Well, we can keep going without them, right?"

"Yeah, I think it should be fine."

Elfo, of course, is thinking about his Spider Staff. He keeps his eye out for Oyn, the fellow traveler who had asked him about it a couple days ago, and just as they are stopping for lunch, he sees him pulling his cart over to the side of the road. Elfo approaches Oyn.

"Why did you steal my staff?" Elfo asks aggressively.

"I'm sorry, I didn't steal anything," says Oyn.

"Bring me my staff!"

"I don't have it. I'm an honest man. I offered to buy it, but I wouldn't steal it."

"Well let me search your cart then!"

Oyn feels a little bit invaded, but he allows it. Elfo searches his cart, and finds nothing of interest, just normal traveling supplies, and a full load of exotic caged birds. "I would love to have a bird," says Elfo.

"Well it's my business, I'm taking them to Waterdeep to sell."

"Ok, well could I buy one?"

"Well I guess so," says Oyn. "That'll cost... one spider staff!"

Elfo recoils in fury, but Oyn quickly throws up his hands, saying "Just kidding, kidding! I don't have the staff, really. Those birds are worth about 100 GP each, plus 50 for a cage."

"Can't the bird just ride around on my shoulder?"

"No, no, not those birds. They're basically wild. They will just fly away."

Elfo decides he doesn't actually want a bird, and walks away without a word.

The rest of the day passes without incident. As night falls, and many of the carts in the caravan stop to set up camp, Noohar suggests that they should continue for a bit. "I'm pretty sure we're coming to the town of Daggerford, maybe we can get a real bed for the night."

They continue an hour or so past sunset, until they see a town in the distance. Almost as soon as they see it, they can hear loud voices coming from the town, and they can see flickering firelight as if something, of some sort, is happening there.

"Maybe it's being raided," says Hooflepoof.

"Can a couple of you guys sneak over there and see what's going on?" suggests Noohar.

"Sure, I'll go," says Hooflepoof, and Bilbo joins him. They go far enough away that nobody from their cart can see them, Elfo tags along just far enough to cast Invisibility over Bilbo, and Hooflepoof dons his Cape of Invisibility. Bilbo and Hooflepoof hold pinkies to stay together, and approach the town.

The closer they get, the more the town sounds good-natured and festive. The voices are cheering and laughing, and they can hear drums and stringed instruments. The lights of fires and torches dance on the walls of the town. Soon they can make out people dancing, in clothes dyed blue, antique gold, and coppery-orange, and some wearing star-shaped ceremonial masks. It seems like some sort of festival, though not familiar.

They walk invisibly into the town. The central square is full of revelers, dancing and drinking, but perhaps the most interesting thing is some clouds of sparks that are flying like fireworks above the crowd. Hooflepoof follows the source of the sparks, and finds a man on the steps of one of the buildings, dipping a large silver ladle into a big barrel of powder. Each time he gets a scoop of the powder, he waves it over a torch that burns nearby, and then flings it high into the sky, where it lights up in a shower of sparks.

Hooflepoof sneaks over and grabs a handful of the powder, then goes down and throws it in the fire in the center of the square, where it blows up in a cloud of sparks. Then just for fun, he does the same, but with two handfuls, creating an even bigger spark cloud. It is smokepowder, almost like gunpowder but not as explosive, and created with magic rather than chemistry. Hooflepoof empties one of his waterskins into a nearby plant and fills it up with the smokepowder.

Shortly thereafter, they notice a couple of familiar faces. On the steps overlooking the party, they are surprised to see Elbolin and Gourbain! Hooflepoof sneaks up and touches Elbolin on the shoulder. "It's me, Hooflepoof!" he says. "I'm invisible!"

"Hey Hooflepoof!" says Elbolin, looking around, not so much because he expects to see him, but because he doesn't know how else to talk to someone. "Why are you invisible?"

"We just came to town and weren't sure what was going on, so we decided to sneak in and check it out."

Elbolin tells them this is a festival called Lliira's Night, honoring the goddess Lliira, which takes place in Waterdeep and many towns in this area. It only goes for one night, but what a night it is! Everybody has a good time. Elbolin explains that after dropping off the dragon egg in Phandalin, they had gone to Waterdeep and traveled south on the Trade Way hoping to cross paths with the rest of the adventurers. They had heard about this festival while they were on the road, and decided to stop here in Daggerford to enjoy it. And how lucky to run into you at the same time!

Hooflepoof tells Elbolin that he will go back and tell the caravan what is going on. Elbolin and Gourbain stay to enjoy the festival.