After Ef Utan’s fight, we decided to leave the pits. Kenari took her winnings and was able to free 10 slaves from their condition. Ef Utan is leading us back to Gertrude’s house when he notices that we are being followed by House Cavendish affiliates (you know, it’s handy that everyone here wears these house colors) and those affiliates, in turn, are being followed by a female Githyanki.

Kenari and I dimension door to the Githyanki – immediately behind her and realize that she is quick on her feet and a little twitchy. Turns out her name is Squick. As we’re talking to her, Fyn does his usual thing and loudly calls out to the Cavendish tails, inviting them for a drink at Aunt Gertrude’s house. While we walk back to Gertrude’s (if we weren’t a weird group before) Melchior gives the two Cavendish people The Good News.

I stay on the porch with Fyn and Melchior, while Fyn talks to the Cavendish crew. They tell Fyn they had just heard about us….Fyn rather adroitly points out to the these two (who may not be the brightest) that they are sitting on the front porch of their House’s primary rival. The two finally grasp the position they are in and get a little more talkative. They tell Fyn that Justin Cavendish’s favorite brothel is the The Silver Feather and he goes there a few times a week. Fyn sends them on their way with some gold and loud expressions of appreciation.

The rest of the crew talks to Squib who says that she knows we’re looking for Corbus and that she can help. She lays a map out on the table that’s marked with a route that crosses a half dozen planes. It runs from Carrigmore to Idrisil to the Plane of Shadows to the Astral. The map is burned and incomplete.

Squick is apparently a big fan of the Seven Stars and so she wants to help us. Fyn briefly talks to Squick in Githyanki. She seems surprised.

Aunt Gertrude returns to the house and Fyn starts to lay it on….I’m not really clear what he’s even trying to achieve here, but it doesn’t matter because Aunt Gertrude is apparently immune to Fyn. She slaps him briskly. And so Aunt Gertrude is one of my very favorite people. We go in to dinner and it’s a riot. Apparently everyone forgot how to behave – all at once – and in spectacular fashion. While we are dining, Squick takes it in her head to cut Fyn’s food and feed him like a baby and I just can’t help the hysterical laughter that boils out. I forget what Aunt Gertrude says – but all of a sudden Squick rears up like she’s going to try to smack her – Ef Utan (quick on his feet that guy) catches Squick’s hand – jostling the table – and Aunt Gertrude tells us “knock it off children.” So we do.

In the morning, we take our leave of Aunt Gertrude and Kenari plane shifts to the Astral plane to wait for Corbus. Squick comes with us. We arrive in the blank silver void that is the Astral and look around. Ef Utan sees a glint like off glass sort of to the west. Lenata speaks to the plane – we are about 50 miles from where we wanted to be. There are no powerful beings between us and the portal and Corbus has not arrived. We allow ourselves to fall in the right direction and eventually stop at a pool portal that leads to the Shadow plane. Ef Utan notices the glint again off in the distance. Fyn analyzes the portal and says that it is 2 way. He notes the key to it and tells us that on the other side he can see a blasted landscape with stunted, leafless trees that is all dark – just variations in shade.

We decide to wait here so we can talk to Corbus – we don’t want to trap him or get into a fight. Kenari notices the glint too and so she and I decide to investigate. I look at Fyn and tell him to STAY. We dimension door towards the glint and eventually find a humanoid figure that appears to be made of clear glass – and it creepily follows as we move about – but does not react when I touch it. Since it doesn’t seem to be any kind of a threat, we dimension door back to the group. It follows us. So that’s not creepy. The Captain thinks it’s an Observer – the kind of thing that shows up at big events. They were supposedly made by psionic gods. As the Captain checks it out – she realizes she can see how it views us – except for Melchior. For a moment, the image shifts for her and she tells us she sees wild space and asteroids that are joined by huge clear tubes and behind those asteroids are a flickering array of lights coming from unstable planar rifts leading into multiple different planes of existence. Violet starts squirming and squeaking and the vision ends.