As we left our band of chaotic adventurers they'd clearly decided that being heroes was for chumps. They'd struck a deal with a group of rogues (if only Tanic had been there!), they'd planted evidence in a mayor's residence, and now they were ignoring the threat of mutant goblins in the countryside.
They did mention that encounter to Mirrodin on arrival, a conversation that went something like this:
"As I recall I sent you to Neverwinter to seek the a cleric's help," Mirrodin said, getting in the first word. "By my math you should have been back two days ago."
"Some stuff came up," Velic replied, really not wanting to get into how they lost the gem. "And we found evidence of mutant goblins in the countryside."
"And what evidence would that be?" Velic then regaled him with the story of the smoke haunt and the over large goblin footprints. "Ah, I see," the wizard replied. "So you took care of them then."
"No, we thought it best to leave it to you."
"Then where have you been all this time?" This went on for a bit until Mirrodin reminded Velic that they needed his help to teleport them to the borders of the Anauroch Desert.
Realizing they had no choice Velic said "We . . . lost the gem. It took 2 days to get it back."
"Lost it?" Mirrodin asked.
"It was lifted from the gnome," Velic elaborated, praying that the wizard would not ask how exactly they'd retrieved it.
But before he could ask anything more the gnome piped in. "It won't happen again," he said. "I've purchased a secret pocket. No one's going to lift it now!"
"Pick-pocketed then is it?" the wizard asked, sounding amused. "I trust you understand now why I didn't entrust my piece to your little band?" Velic didn't respond, after which the wizard led them to his study and cast a teleportation circle on the group. The next instant they were out from his inquiring gaze and in a small town situated on The Black Road just west of the desert.
There they bought horses and provisions. A middle aged man, watching them buy up every item not nailed down concluded that they were heading to the desert and pulled them aside. He introduced himself as Vernor Pratt, archaeologist. An archaeologist that specialized in ancient Netharese culture. He told them of a Netharese tomb he was unable to get to, due to a wind storm, and offered substantial rewards (including a Brazen Egg) if they returned the artifacts from inside to him.
If you followed the link to the Anauroch then you know that it was once a lush plain giving way to a civilization of high magic thousands of years before. And you'd know that their reckless use of magic broke the weave in that area, creating ever changing pockets of primal magic. What fun!
However, if you're a member of The Group Eventually Known As Delicious Cupcakes (I've got to find a more abbreviated description) then you didn't bother with any of that shit. You don't bother to learn about where you're going in the very library that told you to head to this desolate wasteland. You don't prevail upon smarter minds to explain the dangers. Do you ask about any important to know of dangers from the people in the village that borders this chaotic land? Nope, just walk straight in. After all, we are THE GROUP EVENTUALLY KNOWN AS DELICIOUS CUPCAKES!
Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock when they entered this expanse and were attacked by a group of 2 Yrthak while in a wild magic zone. Vex started things off with an attempt at hold person. Unfortunately the percentile dice giveth and the percentile dice taketh away. This time they chose to take Vex's spell and turn it into strange music. Zubat recognized the effect and warned the others of the danger. So what to do?
Well if you're a member of TGEKADC then you use your go to response: Bitch at the DM. The DM who was currently biting his fucking tongue to keep from giving them the insanely easy way out of this fight. Eventually Beth realized something: THEY HAD HORSES! In fact they were standing right beside them! Whether the survival of said horses in such a zone was dumb luck or the result of a DM's leniency we'll never know . . .
I tell you it was hard to not target the horses. It really was.
So they mounted up and galloped away, casting orisons every hundred feet or so, until they came to an area that wasn't to their magic as an arsonist is to a building. Vex then successfully cast hold person on one of the bird monsters, causing it to plummet from the sky. The rest of the maniacal group descended upon it as starving cannibals to a man on a walkabout. It was really quite disgusting . . .
The other yrthak didn't survive much longer.