Shadow's on the Middle Pass

18th of Rimefall
Sheriff Lawrence sent us out a follow-up to a case a few weeks ago. Apparently, Adah’s group got willing to talk after a while. Lawrence has an informant at Narb’s going by the name of Higs who can point us in the right direction.
 
We headed east across the Middle Pass. As night came closer, I finally attempted to allow myself to see through the darkness. Whispering words and hand movements that I remember spoken through my camp years ago, I close my eyes. When I open them, the shadows themselves have clarity. I look up and I can see stars that had been concealed from me before. The world lacks some of its previous contrast, shadows no longer doing as much as to define form. I will no longer be in darkness. I thank him for his eyes.
 
We met some Elementores at Narb’s this evening, George the human, Sarah the elf, and Connor the Halfling. They were interested in talking to Cass. She did not share their enthusiasm. By the way she carries Ember, she does not seem to take kindly to their trade. Part of me seems inclined to agree. No intelligent creature should live in bondage like that.
 
Higs, though he did try to free us of some of our coin, did tell us about activity near the Plainsedge Covert.
 
Oliver went incorporeal again. Makes you wonder if he really is fully on this plane.
 
19th of Rimefall.
Started the day doing the daily calisthenics with Morning and the rest. It seemed like a good morning until George cornered Cass in the hallway. He let her know that he was aware of the elemental on her person.
 
We traveled to the Plainsedge Covert today. As we approached a path heading into the wood, two bandits try to shoot us down. Ember and Oliver took some damage but we had them tied up in very little time. But we made a ruckus of the whole combat affair.
 
Having seen a campfire in the distance in the woods, we went to investigate. Oliver tried to sneak in to get a closer look at the camp but tripped and cast light upon a tree, having each branch glowing like candlelight. Not that it mattered. The campsite was abandoned, all useful evidence pecked away. By the time we got back to our captives, whatever fellows they had had slit their throat. It seems the remaining bandits had teleported away.
 
As I buried the bandits, I saw some eyes staring back at me. Scouts from my friends that reside in this wood. I resolved to sneak away during my watch and see what they knew.
 
20th of Rimefall
Morning allowed me to slip away in the night.
 
Going to -------------------, he told me what he knows. The bandits had set up camp there a few weeks ago. As it was on the edge of the forest, the ------------ did not mind their intrusion. The bandits had been dealing in what I deduce to be strong magical items. Dealers would teleport in at the same site as the bandits escaped and trade with the bandits. The main leadership of this cell seems to be a goliath, an elf with a staff, and a halfling, all dressed in dark clothing. Likely Shadow of the Valley. Our encounter with their lackeys made them aware of our presence.
 
I refer this back to my companions in the morning when I return.
 
Morning had got what seems to be a magical gun from one of the bandits’ tents. While Cass tried to detect magic on the item, she also picked up on my amulet. She insisted on knowing what it was for but Morning and Oliver defended my right to privacy in this matter. I appreciated this.
 
We shall return to Deadplains with the intel we gathered.
 
---------Missing Journal Excerpt----------------------------