The Thri-Kreen, the insectoids who had ambushed the party when they first ventured upon the desert, attacked the nomads in force one evening, carrying off fifteen men and thirty women, along with one-hundred thirty-seven herd beasts. The party agreed to accompany the nomads on a raid to Tuath's Rest, where the Thri-Kreen were living in caves in the hills, to recover the captives before they were eaten.

The party helped scout and plan the attack, and Gim Torson called up a storm as a distraction, but he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, and it became a race to defeat the Thri-Kreen and recover the prisoners before the caves in which they were imprisoned flooded. Winther, who summoned a fire elemental to attack the Thri-Kreen, was also successful, but ended up with an intelligent, self-willed, and very independent, if immature and brash, fire elemental, who assisted in the assault only for the chaotic fun of it.

During the assault on the caves, the Thri-Kreen Queen was on the verge of defeating the party and the nomads with her magic and guards, when Basgoot in desperation surrendered himself to the control of the sword. The sword killed the Queen and then cracked open the mountain, starting an earthquake that collapsed the Thri-Kreen caves. Luckily, all the party and the surviving nomads escaped the cave-in, carrying Basgoot, who had again collapsed into unconsciousness.

Basgoot had again changed, and now had pointed ears, hardened talon-like nails, an inhuman look to his face, deep crimson skin slightly scaled, black hair, and completely black eyes. He was seven feet tall, and weighed 400 pounds. His skin had also become incredibly tough.

During the attack Jamie broke open one of the strange clay balls from the chest they had found in the Fire Giant's Tower, releasing another of the shadow creatures.

Magic.  During this adventure the party picked up fourteen semi-transparent resinous jewels in nine colors. (These turned out to be ten point powerstones, and each of the following people have one: Gim, Shay, Basgoot, Winter, and Derendeth.) They also got twenty semi-transparent, flexible bladders full of viscous liquid in eight colors, all packed into a small box of smooth, reddish, slightly grainy material.