The party and the Visitors set about decoupling the Disassembler from the Dragonfly - a project that took several hours. As they worked, they discussed their next moves; Viktor let slip that the group was set to meet with Adaka later today, a revelation that drew cross stares and serious objections from Shimmer, Sabrina, and Fie. To ease their fears, it was decided that the salvageable portions of the Disassembler would loaded into the Nightwolf, and then the party would escort the Visitors to Hnigalimar to meet with Cephandrius' staff at the manor and begin setting about repairs to the Dragonfly.

Arriving at the manor in the early afternoon, Solva and Asyn began working with Sabrina and Shimmer to get the Visitors settled into the estate and begin documenting what supplies would be needed to get their ship space-worthy again while Spirie met with the party to lay out what information his network had discovered about what the situation in Varheim. The Eladrin fleet was fortunately much further off than originally anticipated - it had set itself several weeks off the coast of southern Hrim, giving Freythor's growing army more time than originally thought to plan and march south. The political situation in Varheim was another question entirely - with several factions holding portions of the city and open fighting in the streets, the erstwhile capital of Alrek II was largely a free-for-all. Alrek himself had managed to escape the city and had again ensconced himself in Haloga on the other side of the Great Bay, but that left his holdings on the northern shore without his direct influence, forcing him to work through his remaining loyal vassals in the city. Skara had thus far refused to commit troops to Freythor's gambit and had even begun organizing support for Alrek in Varheim.

With much to ponder about their next potential move, the party returned to the Nightwolf and set off to the Glacier Rift for their meeting with Adaka. Arriving just as dusk settled, they found the assassin waiting for them, exiting her ship much as she had disappeared in Hul Golgrim. Reviewing the remnants of the Disassembler, Adaka was both fascinated and worried - something about the construct made Her concerned as well, but Adaka was uncertain what, explaining Her messages were not always clear. However, a more immediate matter concerned her even more: while she would agree to their contract and murder the other two Eladrin royals, before they could all discuss the logistics, the Wolves would arrive in the morning and likely want to try and take her ship, since they had lost out on a trophy in her mask. While she could potentially just kill the Vodoni, if any escaped, it would be direct evidence that the party had tricked them...

Adaka called forth a floating magical disc to take possession of the Disassembler parts and headed off to the nearby caves to see if she could figure out how to keep them from attempting to repair themselves again as the party set to bed down in their ship. The night, however, was far from a quiet one, as the sounds of wolves and yeti fighting on the ridgeline were broken by a terrible noise - one accompanied by a wave of panic and fear that washed over the valley. As Vondal and Viktor drew the short straws to ascend to the mangonel deck, they saw only the results of whatever beast caused the noise - the mangled corpses of yeti and wolves...

In the morning, as the Vodoni came down into the Rift, Remus found the party already there, Viktor surveying Adaka's ship with the mask, trying to figure out how to enter. After a brief discussion and goodbyes between the paladin and the Conqueror, the wolves loaded into the remaining Nightwolf, and the party watched both ships ascend into the roiling snow clouds that seemed to always cover the region.

Not long after the Vodoni had left, Adaka returned from the caves, satisfied with how the matter had panned out. Retrieving her mask from Viktor, she sat down with the five in the galley of the Nightwolf to review the North's plans for war, the timeline of their troop movements, and the best timing for the assassinations of Paelias and then the brothers. Agreement struck, she returned to her ship to begin preparations, and the party made the trip back to Hnigalimar.

Asyn was already working with Sabrina and Shimmer on locating proper local wood for enchanting to approximate the soarwood normally used on the Dragonfly. The situation outside well in hand, everyone headed inside to finally settle in themselves, but the party was not back more than half an hour before Solva entered the grand hall, a worried look on her face, to announce 'visitors' in the courtyard...

Outside, surrounded by the manors' archers and other men-at-arms, waited a retinue of five Eladrin familiar to Cephandrius - Azaki and his guardians.