My earlier comments about no gems? False. Ever so wonderfully false. Our latest unusual and fantastic creature to fight were walking emeralds. I gaped in wonder and excitement as my comrades behind and below me marched forward to fight these amazing beasts. I wasn't sure if I wanted them tamed, destroyed, or bred. The problem with options #1 and #2 is that they utterly destroyed the scouting party that had replaced our watch, the Steady Steins. E-Parin sent us and the Red Halves to track the killers and destroy them. Ro-Batoul had spotted the tracks most handily, so our party was in the lead. They were tough to take down, but so well worth it. Emeralds showered everywhere! Ro-Batoul estimated the overall value to be around 5000 gold pieces. My wings shook with anticipation. We split the emeralds with the Red Halves, giving us approximately 2500 gold pieces...which calculates out to a little over 400 gold pieces. What a beautiful day!

Previously we had some difficulties with some sort of incorporal undead creature. He was very difficult to combat. I was deeply frustrated as I had take the time expend a spell to improve my attack, turn invisible and move into place, and then create a magical earthen hammer that would damage it only to miss more than hitting it. It was very difficult to hit, even with the extra focus I poured into the combat. BUT, the gems makes me not feel so badly. I fully plan on making the bag of gems my bed, perhaps using feedsacks as a cushion. I consider it my duty to be protectorate of the collected gems for the party's sake.

I only hope that the gems and valuables will be rampant in the Bitter Peaks. Rampant, in this setting, would involve even a small amount of jewels. I have heard of some sprytes that search the Bitter Peaks and the Crystal Fields; I hope to perhaps bump into them during our tenure in the Peaks. It can be quite advantageous to have a lot of flying searchers. The only valuable item so far recovered started with a glint on the side of the road I caught while scouting ahead of the party a little. Flying has a few advantages, including spotting. It turned out to be a silverish disc. While I was disappointed with the lack of gems, I was most anxious for Ro-Batoul to identify it. I am discovering that Ro-Batoul is very good with this sort of thing; he will be a great resource on this trip. These are his findings so far:

It's 300 years old.
Abzeth is the last person to touch it.
Abzeth is a Verrick.
It was made by Kelquare, who was also Verrick.
It provides food 3 times a day for four people.
It's worth a pretty agate at least ... Hopefully enough to split among the party and still get me an agate. We'll see. The funny part is that he did all the loresight to find out this information, then he cleaned it off, where it read in very clear Verrick, Made by Kelquare. I guess we should wash what we study first.

We have had several small skirmishes with random odd creatures, including dire wolverines, gargoyle-like creatures, and some seriously nasty rock troll types that have symbiotic relationships with insect swarms. I found these particular wing-trembling as any self preserving spryte is going to avoid combat with flying opponents. Another advantage of flying happens to include staying out of reach of land-bound creatures. The rock troll-like creature ripped open his own chest to let loose the swarm, so we kept our focus on destroying the larger creatures. Fortunately for us, the swarm couldn't seem to survive without the symbiotic creature for too long. Varrell ran to camp and back quickly to inform them of the new creature, and there was later a huge meeting to inform everybody of the creature and what little was known.

Otherwise, it's been a quiet journey.