As we prepared to meet with these “exiles” the Whistlers and Foresters told us about, Avery appeared to have some sort of…magical surge is the best I can describe it. There is an overwhelming mass of divination magic about her, and it seems to be negatively impacting her health when it acts up. I did what I could to shore up what defenses she appears to have, but I'll need more time and resources to properly diagnose and treat it if things continue to get worse. Today's surge came with another premonition, relating to tea and the “blood of the devil”, which put us on edge given our imminent trek to visit the exiles and their apparent involvement with the Devil's Blood plant.

The actual journey over to the exiles was thankfully uneventful. There was an odd shift in the terrain part of the way there, which we disregarded at the time as one of the least odd things we've encountered thus far. What was more surprising was the state of the small town the exiles had. Given what we had heard of them, I half-expected to find a rough camp of people scraping by, but the town itself looked surprisingly well kept, given the circumstances. We spoke with a woman named Arna, the town's self-described second-in-command, and learned quite a few things. Primarily, that there is an ancient arch nearby that those originally from elsewhere had been magically teleported through to get here, and said arch appears to also serve as the center of a massive barrier imprisoning those exiled through it. Any exiles from the arch are unable to get through an invisible barrier, though any children born of said exiles have no such restriction.

The exiles also follow an interesting ritual where they bond themselves with wisps. Allegedly, this serves to protect them from the various dangers of the area, like the sort we encountered on our first night. Oddly, the wisps are also bound to the barrier, and anyone bound to a wisp cannot be too far away from it, lest they die, effectively limiting how far an exile can go, barrier or no. While I'm sure there's more to learn there, we had more pressing concerns. For one, the leader of the town out on a hunting trip, so any diplomatic discussions would have to wait until he returned. We also learned about yet another faction, which, if we are to take Arna at her word, is lead by one Mary Golightly.

THE Mary Golightly. Legendary warrior, bane of the battlefield, subject of song and epics, Hero of the Great War, no-one-else-is-allowed-to-have-her-name-because-of-how-much-she-is-revered Mary Golightly. Also well over 500 years old, disappeared from history under unknown circumstances Mary Golightly. If it weren't for the older texts I'd encountered, or the faded engraving on the archway, I wouldn't have entertained the idea. I'm still not sure I want to believe it.

Our day was far from done, but our conversation with Arna did indicate two things. There was a violent schism in the exiles, leading to Mary's group leaving, and that the group still in town have a strong disdain for Whistlers. Not the worst I've seen, but I wouldn't be surprised if their group is the one that poisoned Fern's settlement. Confronting them immediately would do us no favors, however, so we took our leave after explaining our situation, as well as our intention to return to speak with their leader.

As we were wrapping up our discussion with Arna, a mysterious figure appeared in the distance, though it appeared only some of us could see them. Deciding venturing after a strange person in an unfamiliar forest this far from any means of support would be firmly in the domain of a “bad idea”, we decided to set it aside to worry about another day. This newly reclaimed valley certainly has far more locals that we'd expected.

And as if to put a nice bow on the visit, a short way away from the exiles' town we discovered someone had slipped us a note. One telling us not to believe Arna's lies.