On the Wonders of Ironpeak: Chapter 14

I considered it impossible for the day to be any more turbulent, yet here we are. Once it was apparent that we were far away from the place we started from, we sent out a scouting party while some of us stayed back to tend to the survivors and I tried to make myself useful by trying to figure out if any of the contents of Avoraths library.
There were some interesting leads, and I indentified that we must be located at Mount Cinderheart, very close to a junction of the magical laylines that flow through Ironpeak. The Wellspring of tears mentioned in Bean's vision supposedly also is such a junction, though its location remains elusive to us. I tried to open up to the magical aura surrounding us, and while there was certainly some connection there, I couldn't make any practical use on it. Instead I got busy turning some furniture into firewood.
 
The scouting mission was able to come back with enough hunted game to bring us through the night without going hungry, but that wouldn't get us anywhere closer to Diobri. Unexpectedly, they also brought back another adventurer who introduced himself as Malekai Snow. He was appearantly looking for Avorath and his lair, and couldn't quite believe it that we survived the encounter.
He promised his friend who was scouting nearby could be helpful to us, but I couldn't wait for tomorrow. During the night I tried for hours to get the energy source Kniv destroyed back running, but the magic is far outside my expertise. The power itself is fully gone, seemingly disappearing from this plane of existance together with Avorath's soul remnants.
 
In the morning we, joined by dozens of survivors, departed to find Sloana, Malekai's friend. After a while we were able to find her near some ritual place, and what a sight that initial meeting was! Moments before, she was fighting a demonic, four-legged creature I couldn't identify, about 3 times larger than herself. She seems to be quite the battle-hardened magic wielder, shw was unfazed by the fight. I think her magic is druidic in nature? I've never had dealings with druids before, everything about her felt a bit foreign and mysterious. On the way back to a mountain hut I explained our story to her, she was very interested in learning what happened in the past few days.
 
When we arrived back into lower parts of the mountain where trees still grow, she began casting a ritual so strong it tore apart the plane itself and opened a portal through nature's connections (?) to a place in the woods close to Diobri. I am so relieved that she managed to save us and that I won't be called responsible for 80 deaths by the history books...
 
For her help, Sloana asked us to deliver a lockbox to a Githyanki in Dimmaw. As Dimmaw is the next big settlement on our path to Ferrumhold, we happily obliged.
 
Malekai, interested in investigating the remains of the necromant himself offered also to join us, which we accepted as well. A ranger skilled with survival and the wilds will surely help us in our quests.
 
Immediately after stepping through the portal, I realized how much I had missed the remaining warmth of autumn, even though it's still harsh compared to the temperate climate back home. I'll need to tinker around more or buy proper winter equipment and a better pair of boots once we get back to civilization.