New Party! While the dwarves who took Dragonfang Mountain recover, we meet the Caravan Crew: dwarven arcane brothers Obin the Fortress and Ibin the Scorcher, VS the shifter spore druid, Eero the goliath monk, and the return of ZaZa the goblin rogue, who once served a nixie for a year and has the gills to prove it. They're taking some mules loaded up with iron, steel, and leather from Llorkh up into the mountains in winter, delivering to Runedarth. Along the way, they hear possible fire beetles in the hills, encounter a tannery where they buy more leather and learn about several surrounding hexes, VS makes friends with Petunia the giant goat, and they make their way past Sapphire Falls to arrive safely at Runedarth.