@ Cassie...Piu Piu SAVED THE DAY!
I had used the die another day spell first, then that SP cost one
(Don't know how the "MegaBlob" is going to work because that's what he has now in MM4
)
@ DS - I was using Mom's party when it was their turn to start looking for Merline, so I had Mom, Grandpa, Dee and Piu Piu. I actually stumbled upon the settlement with their party
Note: I did get the quest with Salome's party before they went missing, so I don't think it mattered which party found the settlement after that but before all the ingredients were found.