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In attendance:

1 November 1108

As the “day” nears its end, the party moves a short distance away from the river and makes camp. Bigby studies the Chaos Wand that he retrieved from the Green Slaad and learns how to operate it. Then, the party settles down and the “night” hours pass by without incident.

2 November 1108

After a short trek up the river, they encounter a handful of Dretch demons hiding in the chasms. Within a minute, two Hezrou demons teleport in to attack the party. One remains at a distance, using his spells while concealed in a crevice as the second attacks directly. A quartet of Blue Slaadi also begins rushing to the scene.

Despite the added strength from the demons (whose origin and motivations remain a mystery), the party manages to defeat the Slaadi, killing one of the Hezrou and two of the Blues in the process. The remaining forces - including most of the Dretch flee back toward the river. After a brief round of magical healing, the party follows.

At the river, they find a magical field anchored on both banks by chaos rocks. They also find the other Hezrou and Blues. The battle is short and fierce and the demons and Blues fall quickly.

As his soldiers fall, a previously invisible Green-Gray Slaad reveals himself on the far side of the river canyon when he attacks Bigby with a spell. Bigby, however, has a Chaos Wand and manages to absorb the spell. Then, Aramil uses a Jump spell to traverse the canyon to reach the Green-Gray. But he lands in a precarious position and is pushed off the ledge before he can pose a threat. However, his tactic occupies the Slaad just long enough for Bigby to Dimension Door the rest of the party across. Faced with such a serious threat, the Slaad chooses to commit suicide by breaking his Chaos Wand. Pavo does his best to absorb the resulting blast, but the size difference between the two prevents him from saving the other party members.

In the end, the blast bloodies, but does not kill the party. Bigby then studies the magical field over the river and then disrupts it by disintegrating one of the anchor stones.

Ust'olda's original report was that there were two Greens at this river. However, since he was uncertain, the party decides to spend the rest of the day trekking to the edge of the prison plane. Roderick casts a Find the Path spell to help them traverse the crevice-filled path along the river. With that assistance, they make their way to the Blood Gate - which forms the source of the river.

The Blood Gate is a horrific sight and since there are no more Slaadi in sight, the party decides to spend as little time here as possible. Still, the sight of intact bodies falling through the gate, screaming in terror as they rend each other into animate body parts will haunt them for the rest of the day and beyond.

XP awarded: 2,900 for Bigby, Aramil, and Roderick; 3,900 for Vincent and Pavo.