[Actual RP Date: 27 Jul 1999]

After getting her fortune told by the gypsy Korv, Madame Xanadu, Willow-the-Wisp joins Morning-Mist for breakfast in a pub known as the Snark's Nest, in the town of Ivory Sands. There, Willow takes an interest in three secretive strangers in dark clothes in a far corner of the pub, and she sidles up to Sheriff Turin – a Cervani buck – to strike up a conversation with him at the bar … while catching snippets of the travelers' conversation on the side.

What Willow picks up unnerves her, and things get even more tense when another group enters, and an old Khatta amongst the three travelers seems to take an interest in a young black Khatta amongst the newcomers. Willow heads outside, following two of the strangers, and discovers them performing some sort of strange rituals. She causes a scene, getting the attention of the sheriff, and it looks like the strangers will move along.

Willow gets to meet Jynx, who has travelled to Northern Shore to see his grandmother off on her journey. She investigates the area where the mages were performing their rituals, and finds a trace of powder that reminds her of the ashen powder that was on the fortune teller's card earlier. She decides to follow Sheriff Turin, fearing that he may be attacked while he sees the strangers out of town. Jynx accompanies, along with Burr, Willow's Savanite slave.

The group catches up with Sheriff Turin, who claims that the three strangers simply disappeared into the forest. Something foul is in the air, and all the more so when one of the three strangers – a human female named Wyrd – appears, and apparently is about to challenge the pursuers. Willow, however, discerns that Wyrd is actually going to sacrifice herself as some sort of foul ritual, and sics Burr on the cultist. Burr is lightly wounded in the scuffle, but the blade that did the deed was poisoned, and Willow hastily prepares an antidote, while waving off Jynx's attempts to get Burr to make use of a magic healing potion. The cultist is subdued, and Burr seems to be all right for the time being, as our heroes get a ride back to the town on a passing wagon, but Jynx begins to get a bit huffy, causing him to lose several points in Willow's estimate of him.