Stepping through the brilliant white light, the party left the crumbling Garden behind them and entered...somewhere else. As the light from the portal faded, each one found themselves home again: Thomasin appeared in the Grove, Farid in the Anaurach Desert, Xerix was back among his healed people, Leif was in a deep forest near an ancient city, and Endeleban was inside one of the rooms in the great Library of Suzail. Cautious and suspicious, each indidual tested their new environment, some with more acceptance than others. Thomasin's honest nature was the first to pierce the illusionary veil; with Ash's help, the bard proceeded to "waken" his companions. Instead of home, they had appeared on a platform, rising high into a strange, star-lit space. Columns ringed the platform, and a collonade led away from a central dais, adorned with a portal stone that matched the one from the Garden.

After a brief rest, the party decided to explore the obvious path before them. Travelling down a seemingly endless curving corridor formed by the arching columns to either side, the party eventually came to an intersection that apparantly led to another platform and portal. Continuing on, the party passed several more platforms before deciding that the portals probably led to various locations on Toril, though no markings indicted the ultimate destination. Ash warned against randomly trying the portals, considering the trouble they had entering the last one. The wood giant suggested that the Pathways would eventually lead to the ancient elven city of Myth Drannor, deep in the heart of Cormanthor. From there, he claimed, he would be able to lead the party out of the forest and towards home. Farid initially resisted heading towards the Path's terminus, opting instead to try his luck through one of the unknown portals, but he eventually relented to Ash's reasoning and joined the party's trek further down the path.

Meanwhile, Endeleban, bored with the debate about staying together, decided to scout ahead. Soon, he came to a part of the Path that was draped in gossamer strands, forming a delicate curtain that shrouded the thick columns. Using his magic to make himself invisible, the mage explored further, only to discover a large tunnel, apparently made of webs, stretching off into the gaseous space beyond the Path. Suddenly, the mage spotted two large, dark, multi-legged shapes approaching, and realization hit. Returning to the party, Endelban warned them about what lay ahead just moments before the first arrows started flying.

The party ducked for cover from the arrows, seeking their source. Suddenly, two giant spiders dropped down from the webs above, launching themselves into the attack. Farid rolled away, then went off to find Endeleban. Leif fell to a viscious attack, and was only barely pulled away and healed in time by Ash. Thomasin, armed only with a small hunting knife, contributed what he could, while Xerix deparately tried to throw a spider off the edge of the path. Faird, meanwhile, found himself engaged in battle with two lithe, dark, humanoid forms - dark elves. He held his own until a third - a female priestess - arrived and managed to counter his spells as well as bind him into a cocoon of webs. Having dispatched the spiders, the rest of the party came to Farid's aid, only to have the battle turned against them. In the fray, one of the dark elves disarmed Leif, sending Darkfire hurling off the edge of the Path and into the space beyond. Unwilling to leave his lost weapon, the half elf lowered himself off the edge of the Path, descending down into the unknown expanse below him...

Their resources spent and their efforts proving fruitless, the party managed to regroup and form a retreat. Ash rescued Farid from the webs, and Endeleban burned his way out of a similar cocoon nearby. As more spider reinforcements arrived, the party retreated, heading back to the last portal they had passed, a portal marked with a strange, unknown symbol resembling a harp. While Farid and Ash help back the spiders' advance, Thomasin opened the portal and all eventually stepped through, leaving Leif to his own fate...and abandoning the three Ba'alstones to the Void...

Emerging from the white light for the second time in as many days, the party found themselves outside at night, under a pale half-moon. Around them, the scents of autumn wafted on the chill air, and a sense of familiarity and peace embraced them...only to be suddenly shattered by the ringing battle cry of a band of stocky humanoids , who leapt to the attack. From the woods beyond, a clear voice called out "Orc ambush!", but then the battle was met...