So time for an update.
The party made it's way back to the Earth Temple, meeting Melock who had been brought back to life a slightly changed man this time, still a Raven, but connected to the Earth. It's time to return to the Bison Khan and Rainman grasslands to report on their scouting trip. The cleansed Harpies and their queen remain at the Giant Finger Holes, a new faction to add to the already complicated politics of the oasis. There's a wedding too, one of the Rangers is wed to the Red Thorn chieftain's daughter, to cement relationships between the clans, a ploy more than likely to make it difficult for the Prairie Thunder clan to oust the Red Thorns from their powerful position as guardians of the area.
One evening an ancient horror is fought, a giant Cliff toad warped by chaos, destroying limbs and swallowing folk. Inside it's belly an ancient crystal is found, part of the water spirit that once dwelled in the pools of the Earth Temple and now by the looks of it trapped far below ground.
At last the Wandering Rangers leave, heading first to a place where they can try and summon the long dead Yelmalion who had been in possession of the Golden map now held by the Sun County party previously encountered at the Temple. It seems that a trip to Yelmalio Hill or the old temple in Sun County is in order, the spirit promising to help when they arrive.
Next stop on the way home is a ruined Second Age trading post, a failed venture to open up a trade route with the Eastern lands...