Little to our surprise, we caught up with Livia just as she was using the Scepter of Orr to punch a hole in the arcane seal guarding the city. Fortunately, no apparent calamities have come of her actions...so far. The wizards presumed this newly opened entrance safe, so we took the chance and pushed onward into Bava Nisos. However, the "city" we expected to be a mere pile of rubble turned out to be something far more sinister: a colossal titan! It seemed that the titan had existed in the city for so long that it had melded with the ruins, each indistinguishable from the other. At least, that was Isgarren's theory. We had little time to take in the magnitude of our surroundings as we tailed Livia. We quickly found her engaged in combat with a group of titanspawn acting in an unusually coordinated effort. We provided her backup, eventually warding off the spawn. With the enemy defeated, Isgarren mulled over their heightened behavior, believing the titanspawn's increased cooperation to be a sort of immune-system response to protect the titan. Though the party was more than ready to air their frustrations at Livia, they would have to wait yet again as we stumbled upon a nearby ruined camp. After a bit of snooping, we gathered that the camp appeared to have belonged to a trio of White Mantle, originally sent here on Caudecus's behalf. I investigated further, looking through the debris and abandoned personal effects to try to piece together their story. I uncovered some bizarre journal entries belonging to the White Mantle's youngest member, Judge. At first, I thought they were diary entries written in the form of some sort of poetry or prayer, and I assumed the kid had a bit of an artistic streak in him. But upon closer inspection, the writings appeared increasingly more deranged. Even more disturbing, they seemed to imply that a voice (maybe real, maybe imagined) kept beckoning to him in the night. From his descriptions, the whispers sounded like instructions to open the Mists gate. Given Judge's mental state, they may not be the most objective form of evidence. However, if true, they place responsibility squarely on the White Mantle for opening the Mists gate. I regrouped with the party in an attempt to relay the news. Instead, I walked smack dab into the middle of an even more heated argument than the first. This time, Anise's stress levels had hit a boiling point. She made her sentiments very clear to Livia, to put it mildly. The argument eventually came to a head, leaving team morale at an all-time low. Since no one else was in any mood to collaborate with Livia, I agreed to partner with her to push farther into the city. The others would remain together, surveying the rest of the area. The strategy would be to keep the group intact while everyone calms down. And me keeping an eye on Livia certainly doesn't hurt matters.