Ravan has left us, deciding that our group does not suit her needs. Apparently the Manticore mission was too difficult to deal with. We decide to head for the Woodcutter's place, to check on whether or not he's sufficiently pleased with the way we carried out his desired task. As we start to leave town, we are accosted by a small halfling riding a dog. She wants to join our group - though rebuffed, she persists. Finally, Grog offers to "test" her usefulness to the group. After a short bout between them, she seems inept and ineffective and has shown no useful skills. Aribeth will not take no for an answer, trailing behind our group on her dog, singing loudly in an irritating fashion, drawing the attention of any and all nearby.
       As we follow the trail into the forest, pursued by the halfling who continues to sing, we notice tracks. Some of us dismount, including Aurora and Grog. We are almost immediately attacked, several of the bandits concentrating on Eric. Most of the arrows fly at Eric, who has not yet dismounted and Brandon, who was in the lead. Brandon is soon badly wounded but Grog comes to his rescue, taking out his main opponent and healing the seriously injured rogue. Aurora fires her bow at one of the bandits and manages to kill him. Eric casts a spell putting one of his opponents to sleep, although the other two continue concentrating on him and his warhorse. When his horse is wounded, he dismounts and orders it to retreat - the bandit leader manages to attack and almost eviscerate the horse before he is surrounded by Whitefire, Eric & Aribeth, who fires into combat but manages to miss our party members. The bandit leader manages to gulp down a potion and disappear, escaping our surrounding people, although he has been so closely monitored. Eric tries to trap him with a Color Spray spell but fails. Using his ranger skills and assisted by his familiar, he tracks the escapee to a tree. We surround the tree and Eric commands the bandit to surrender but hears a refusal, the bandit leader claiming that if he gives up and gives information nothing could keep him from being killed. Although he is still invisible, his body appears as it falls from the tree - he has taken poison!!
       The bodies are searched and their equipment removed but each of the bodies has a vial of poison and the leader, a jar of contact poison. We gather up the equipment from all of the bandits. It includes a note that reads, "The caravan leaves in 2." When the unconscious bandit awakens, we begin questioning him. He asks to be killed but we refuse to grant him a quick death. He is informed that if he doesn't cooperate, we will take him to town and let the townsfolk deal with him. We tell him that if he cooperates, we will let him live but should he fail to help us, we don't care whether or not he dies. The bandit, Shawn Timmons, tells of three other encampments, and leads us to a cache with a permanent illusion spell on it. He, also, admits that they had received their orders from someone within the town - it took around a day for orders to be received. As for dangers in the area, he tells us of undead to the southeast and orcs in the neighborhood, as well as the Ettin in the tower near the town.

       We continue to the Woodcutter's place with the five dead bandits and discuss the fact that we took out the Manticore, hinting for the reward that we had been promised by him. He implies that we have already been sufficiently paid by Gribbon, our employer. As for the bandits, he says that their killing is just part of our job.
       We return to town with the five bandit bodies, going first to Gribbon's place at the edge of town. He seems unimpressed by the trophies and says that there is no bounty due us for eliminating 25% of the bandit threat. After talking it over, we agree to give Aribeth a 1/2 share of any monetary gain from this encounter, although we have still not agreed to accept her as a member of the group.
       We decide that none of the group should go around the town alone. We pair up as we go about our personal and group business. The gem is taken to a jeweler by Aurora and Aribeth but Aribeth decides to buy it instead of selling it. Eric and Grog take the equipment to Dar, the armorer and sell it to him but they decide that the group should keep the Dagger +1. Brandon and Whitefire go to Gribbon's Estate to try to get information about the defenses and layout of the estate. They also are trying to weasel out a little information about the bandits from him. Brandon sneaks in a comment about Shawn and mentions the locations of the other three bandit camps but Gribbon shows no reaction to any of this. Meanwhile, the other members of the party go about personal business. Aurora and Brandon buy light barding for their warhorses. Aurora and Eric buy more Alchemist's Fire and they stay up late and use the forge to attempt to make glass bulbs to make more Alchemist's Fire Arrows. Aurora succeeds in making her the task but Eric's are of inferior quality and shatter. Brandon uses a subterfuge, renting rooms in three different inns so that anyone observing would be confused. Eric manages still to get the pig smuggled into Grog's bed for his prank. Since Aribeth may have been put in danger by being seen with us, Eric invites her to stay the night, so that she will not be alone and vulnerable.