After getting really depressed over the unappealing options of destroying the War Tree before it got too strong or actually trying to control it, Silvana had a brainstorm and decided the thing to do was move the tree to Silverton and throw it against Rakni. In the best of all possible worlds, Rakni would have to pull out some heavy artillery, which would make the other extraplanars realize how much of a threat she is, Rillathorn would go down with the tree, which would leave a power vacuum in Lifeblood that could be filled by Silver Feather, Stooping Hawk, or some other Good-aligned types, the Western army could safely get at least to Banzeel, and the Easterners would be out a yugoloth and a bunch of farastu. Though Plant Dude resisted the idea (since he wants to hang on to all the energy that came into Lifeblood when the yugoloth was eaten), Silver Feather, Froot Loop, and Hajmola ganged up on him and got him to agree; unfortunately, the tree is still bonded to Stealth rather than Rillathorn, and the party is probably going to have to go into Silverton with it.
Since there's no telling what the timing on this mess is going to be (though it's likely to happen soon with Froot Loop and Haj involved), the party started heading toward the former Nirduk base, hoping to use the pentagram there to gather some helpful NPCs for the assault.
On the first day out, the party encountered some random gnoll archers, who had just enough treasure to reimburse Thorongil for Beeel's membership in the C-Ra Fighters' Guild. Later that afternoon, the party had a bit more of a challenge from sixteen ogres with a bag of beans and a really big egg. The egg is the right size for a roc egg but seems more reptilian; the party contacted Argon, who said he'd come out to pick it up. The ogre leader spoke Eastern common and seemed to have some tactical training, so the ogres were probably an established mercenary band. They were also carrying a lot of money, so somebody must want that egg pretty badly...
As the party camped near the egg, a figure that looked like a barbazu came by just to tell the party that while they might have thought that there would be opposition to their plan, they can rest assured they have support. (He was awfully restrained for a barbazu, consdering they're usually berserk fighters.) Presumably this means that the barbazu represented a group of devils that was sponsoring the Easterners, but since Asmodeus and Rakni have been feuding for centuries, we didn't really think the devils (or anyone besides Rakni and the Easterners themselves) would have a problem with it in the first place.
The following morning, Argon arrived with his familiar, which looked a bit like a gold dragon. They were able to determine that the egg will hatch into a reptilian analogue of a roc from an alternate prime; it normally flies around and eats giant sea snakes. The critter is big and dumb, but it'd make a good flying mount for a small group of people. Argon took custody of Xagye (who probably wouldn't survive a visit to Rakni and probably would be targeted by the party's enemies if left to her own devices in the C-Ra area), the egg, and a message for the folks back home (mainly inquiring if Tremere or Derdriu might be available for our little jaunt to Silverton) and reminded the party that they should decide what they want with the wishes he owes them (since he'll be leaving the Hollerith Temple fairly soon).
The party realized that there weren't many helpful NPCs to be summoned, so they decided to tempt fate and head back to C-Ra to spend some of their new treasure on spell components (particularly diamond dust for stoneskins). They arrived safely before nightfall, though a pair of ravens kept them under surveillance the whole way. Silvator was still away, but his assistant was eager to extol the virtues of a not-entirely-tested new magical device called a Shieldstone. The top-of-the-line Shieldstone, which retails for 1000ep, is known to take a brooch/necklace slot and provide +8 to AC the round it's activated, followed by bonuses of 4, 2, and 1; how it works and details about burnout are unknown -- there's (allegedly) no report of anyone trying to use it more than once.
After purchasing the spell components (and no Shieldstones), the party decided its safest option for the night was a Leomund's Shelter in Silvator's courtyard. (The assistant still charged us half-price for the accomodation, which he probably pocketed; he also seems to have sold peeks at the shelter to curious passersby.) Around 10pm that night, the assistant knocked on the door and announced that the party had a visitor; an invisible creature snuck during that chat but was detected and faerie fired. The visitor turned out to be the Red Mage, and the obnoxious invisible twit was his familiar Flambeau, self-proclaimed Lord of Balors (yeah, right). As discussed on his page, Thayo was mainly dropping by to try unloading his fire ring on Ganeth; there's no duel planned at the moment, but the overall ring/aging situation is unresolved.
The Red Mage also informed the party Elbret may have tried to a cut a deal with the Spiders (though this intelligence was allegedly overheard by Flambeau, so its veracity is a bit suspect); since Thayo doesn't approve of dealing with them (mainly because it's very hard to pull off a "correct" deal) and Elbret wasn't going to get the ring in any case, the two parted company. Elbret's new beau is a half-elf (possibly a half-drow) who goes by Lexar; since he likes to magically disguise himself as a high elf and claimed to have detailed plans of the Banzeel sewers, he's the prime suspect for the mystery Barshen. The Red Mage suspects that Elbret's plan is to lure adventurers to Silverton to fight the Spiders and then pick them off on their way out to get their items -- something to keep in mind when the party takes the killer tree to Rakni's doorstep.
The Red Mage would like to know what the Spiders are up to under the old School of Magic, so he plans to pick up Jenx and accompany the party to Silverton for a scouting mission; he claims to know the location of a suitable target pentagram. The plan is for everyone to meet up at the Nirduk base ("Chez Ganeth") after a week and use the pentagram there to teleport out (assuming it hasn't been buried again, that is). The Red Mage said that he and Jenx would scout around the SOM while the party "does [its] stuff on the ether," which in retrospect leaves a nagging question: How did he know what the party plans to do in Silverton?