The adventure

As they crossed the wooden bridge into a forested area, Vi echoed the sentiments they'd heard many times already:
"There are two things you need to know about Trynton. One: they've some of the best magic on the planet, and two: they'll take anything that's not nailed down."
Even before they got off the bridge they were met by a welcoming committee of forest mites. The tired and tattered friends avoided some more animated plants, identified as iron weeds, and headed for a large tree where they saw some Trynnies standing. In the base of the tree they met Chief Gari, who initially thought that they were Rapax spies. He, like other trynnies, seemed as if if he didn't quite have all his marbles. Once he'd calmed down out of his fervour about the rapax, he asked if they'd be willing to help with an infestation he had.
Of course they all said they'd be delighted, and he explained that they had rats in one of the boughs of their tree-city, and they needed exterminating. As he put it:
"Giant rats, and I mean giant: they're bigger... well, um, maybe as big as you are." his voice trailing off as he sized up Vi and Salva.
With Chief Gari's blessing, they entered Trynton. There were a lot of ladders and small chambers on their way up: they met 3 vile roaches, which Quentin magically webbed, some crawling creepers, a slow but powerful type of animated plant (Quentin wondered if they were the ancestors of the faster crimson poppies and iron weeds that they'd seen), 5 wolf spiders and a big dung beetle. None of the creatures was much of a challenge, but the first crawling creeper they met was a surprise and grabbed Shu Ting as she reached the top of a ladder. She died soon after they had killed the offending plant, which had managed to inject her with a cartload of poison. Quentin mourned their dear-departed friend with a tear or two before re-animating her with a dusting of another third of the magical powder they had found at the monastery. Death is enough to test the lack of faith of any atheist, but she remained wary of exploring her magical abilities further.
They did finally reach the open walkways and rope rails of Trynton, and waiting for them was a fountain of beautiful clear water, a drink of which washed away their wounds. They splashed the stuff around before moving on. In a little dwelling carved into a lesser tree trunk they found a chest trapped with daggers, which Salva managed to trip twice in quick succession. The daggers were amazingly sharp and well-aimed for an inanimate object, and the friends staggered back to the fountain, Margreet with a dagger in her neck and through a lung. The fountain did not disappoint, regenerating their gaping wounds quickly and painlessly.
On the third try, and with much apology, he did get the thing open, but they found a few measly coins inside. This section of Trynton was not large, but they found a rickety lift on a winch that could lift them higher yet.
The first thing that met them in the Upper Branches was another fountain. After their experiences with the previous one, they were keen to have a drink. As they sipped from cupped hands and, in Salva's case, a glass jar that he'd picked up somewhere, a voice spoke to each of them, asking a riddle. An astonishingly easy riddle, they thought, and Quentin voiced the answer, just in case anyone thought that he might not know. As they each thought the word, the voice whispered "Yes, I am"
There was no magical healing, but they all felt strangely empowered, and Quentin and Margreet enjoyed a sudden rush of understanding as they both realised that they could not only weave magic into shapes with words, but partly also with their minds.

They turned right at the T-junction where the fountain sprang, and walked into a wooden hut with a mossy sign over the entranceway saying 'Fuzzfas' Potion Palace'. Fuzzfas was in the middle of an experiment, and banging and crashing met them as they walked in. They found glass on the floor and some unpleasant goo on his desk, but Fuzzfas apologised for the mess, explaining that he must have missed "a step or two, or five", and welcomed them in.
Margreet and Quentin got very excited as they once again spent the group's cash on his lesser potions. Quentin mixed them discreetly in a corner, with Vi shielding him, while Margreet kept him talking. He was much more intelligent than the other Trynnies that they'd met, and conversed happily about Trynton; he recommended that they see the Shaman, which would require zuzu petals and his mystery potion, he was excited to hear from He'Li, and gave them an armful of potions to take to her, and he explained more about the history of Dominus, from his limited (he readily admitted) perspective. He must not have recognised Vi, because when he was talking about Phoonzang, the Cosmic Lord who was the god that the Higardi and trynnies worshipped, he shared a rumour that a Higardi called Vitalia Domina was the granddaughter of the chap.
In the corner, Quentin chuckled to her when they overheard that.
"That must make you a demi-god. You could start you own religion. Not 'the body of Christ', but 'the body of Vi'. Sounds better to me."
Vi ruffled her eyebrows and smiled hesitatingly.
"What positions would there be in your Church? I'd like to try the missionary position, if you'll have me." he continued.
Vi continued smiling, dismissing Fuzzfas' rumour as just that; a silly idea of a superstitious people. "It's probably only because I survived being with the Dark Savant, and they don't know how someone could have managed it" she replied. Karen just gave Quentin a dirty glare, but wasn't willing to distract Margreet and Fuzzfas by telling him off. Quentin smiled serenely as he and Vi continued to chat quietly; he explained the significance of 'the body of Christ'.
Eventually Margreet had finished pumping Fuzzfas, and they sold half his stock back to him, and kept the rest. Margreet had some ideas about further potion-mixing they could try. They tried it outside by the fountain of intelligence, which seemed to have nothing more to give them (except fresh water). It worked, in that she and Quentin could sense more potent magic in the resulting mixture, but they couldn't work out what it might do.
They passed a little temple with some flying sprites inside, wary of offending the Trynnies or the magical creatures inside.
Inside a larger house they met two more crawling creepers, on which Shu Ting extracted her revenge for her earlier experience (or deprivation of it). Salvador almost died from the lashing tendrils and Karen gagged helplessly from the evil stench they emitted. As they were about to leave the building they met four leaf sprites in a corridor. The little sprites were easy to chop up, since they couldn't fly out of reach or use their magic from long range, but they worried about encountering such creatures in the open.
They finished off a giant Vile Spider that was attacking a Trynnie patrol and walked past a small zoo hung between three trees. It had crocodiles, sprites and a bull-like beast called a Hogar which even had a name: Bobo! They walked on, past a junction to a spiral walkway that led up to a large room with a giant telescope in it. Here they met Madras, another senior Trynnie official, who introduced them to 'operation extermination'. He gave them a couple of firebombs and shared some interesting rumours with them. As Burz had hinted a few days ago, and Madras confirmed now, the Mook have some sort of device similar to the fabled Destinae Dominus, and are looking for an alliance with the Umpani or T'Rang ('thing-rangs, as he called them). His take on it was "You can get a look at the device because they're hoping for an alliance offer, if you don't mind using people... I don't." Margreet warmed to him immediately, even though the others pointed out to her that he had no boat at all. The giant telescope seemed to be sufficient for her.
Madras was helpful about the Destinae Dominus too. Rather than the story they'd heard many times already, about Marten stealing it and taking it to Marten's bluff, he said
"I don't know know where it is, but I do know who does know... It's Crock!" His moment of revelation was spoilt by the blank look on their faces. He explained that Crock lived in a shack in the swamp, but might need persuading to share his information. They decided that they liked Madras and set up camp for a rest in the downstairs section of his observatory. Salva scrounged a giant magnet from some of the abandoned equipment sitting there. Madras and he chatted a while about engineering: Salva explained some complex physics to Madras, whose mind seemed capable of grasping it despite his child-like take on other things (like many of the other trynnies), and Madras explained some basic principles about using magic in engineering.

The adventure

The six comrades set off for the strange city of Trynton, about which they'd heard so much, early in the morning. It was still dark as they set out, although lightening, and the dip in which the worn track of road ran seemed like an easy place to be ambushed in the wild countryside, full of out-sized animals. Vi and Quentin carried most of the load, and set the pace at a steady walk.
As they trudged, Margreet, whose sight had, if anything, improved since their arrival, saw something glint under a pile of mud and leaves. Shu Ting and Quentin seemed keenest to sate their curiosity, and as they brushed the debris aside, found a chain hauberk and a shield. They couldn't even find any bones, but the armour was welcome and they draped the mail over Karen. Vi took the shield.
The first creatures they met were mobile plants, called crimson poppies, but the woody vines were hardly a challenge and they chopped the poppies apart, leaving just husks. More of a challenge, they found, was a small cloud of Twilight Bats, although, as Quentin pointed out when Margreet named them, Dawn Bats seemed a better name. The friends had been walking along a rocky outcrop, and were grateful for something to have their backs against as the quick bats flew in, accompanied by nine large forest mites. As the bats closed, Quentin flung a quick spell at them immobilising about half the cloud. Margreet, spared so much worry about being bitten, added a few extra chants to her whipping rocks, which splattered most of the mites. The bats, however, were tougher. Shu Ting sliced the lead bat in half, leaping to reach it, and then the battle proper started. The bats were tough, but being left floating and immobile in mid-air made them easier targets, and the friends worked through them slowly.
After an hour they reached a cemetary, and decided to look around. This, Vi told them, was Arnika's cemetary. It was surrounded by high walls, with a long, walled entranceway. They could see, at the end of the entranceway, more ghosts like the ones they'd found at the temple, but they weren't afraid of no ghosts.
They charged the 7 spirits with gusto, and Karen dissipated one as soon as they met, the solid air melting away into nothingness as her sword passed through it. The spirits were of Trynnie, but accompanied by a spirit of a priestess, they guessed, from her dress. Her spell failed, and the friends tore through the spirits quickly, but not quickly enough. She knocked Vi out with terror before hitting Shu Ting with a powerful energy blast. The little Malay killed her quickly enough in return, before padding at the scorches on her chest.
Vi recovered quickly enough, and they tracked down some more shuffling that they heard. Quentin, by heaving himself up the wall, could peer into one of the two large sections within the graveyard, each of which had its own boundary wall, and identified a mummy loping around the stones.
They found the gates to the section and sneaked up on the Mummy, using gravestones as cover. Their well-laid plan went awry, however, when the Mummy paralysed Karen and Shu Ting with a little scratch each from its two claws. Everyone else had a grand time beating the creature, but before it died it gave Quentin a suppurating scratch which rapidly bloomed into a bright red sore. Quentin was all for returning to Arnika to get a cure for this magical disease, but the others wanted a quick look around. He stayed with the paralysed Karen and Shu Ting to care for them (and himself) as they wandered off. He passed his time by scooping up the dust the dessicated mummy had scattered into, remembering that Antone had mentioned he used such stuff in making his custom weaponry.
Inside the main mausoleum the others found a chest and a decayed, stinking body, suspended, as if hanged, over a deep pit. When Vi reached out to it, her hand just went through, but all three felt a shiver in its presence. Salva untrapped the chest but it had nothing of value except a strange yellow potion. Looking around the graveyard they could see nothing likely to provide any more interest, and they were keen to get away from the evil spirit, so they fled to the others, who were coming round.
On seeing the potion Quentin snatched it and gulped it down, leaving Margreet's hand empty and mouth gawping. But he must have known that it was what he needed, because the redness spreading along his arm died, leaving a healthy, if still scratched, arm.
Karen and Shu Ting wanted to see the spirit for themselves, and both insisted on putting their hands through it. Quentin, on the other hand, rummaged through his stuff to find a vial of holy water, which seemed to annoy the spirit. Its radiance of fear had everyone but Shu Ting stepping out of the building, but she seemed entirely unfazed. Quentin, probably motivated by revenge for the disease he'd just escaped, splashed the water into the space where the spirit appeared to be.
There was an unearthly (amazingly enough, given the location) wail, and peace descended on the graveyard. The place seemed noticeably lighter, and day dawned there, as it had elsewhere.
"The weary path goes on and on" Quentin muttered, remembering a rhyme from his hiking days, and they left their little detour for the path to Trynton.
They passed little more on the hike, encountering another cloud of nine Twilight bats. Yet again, paralysis and insanity caused by Quentin's spells helped them deal with the hungry bats. They did see a line of giant birds, a little like short-necked and sharp-beaked ostriches, trailing an even larger bird, but for once the wildlife seemed content to leave them alone, and they reciprocated.