Then it happened, something broke! I changed the plugs because I was getting an ever-so-slight hesitation at start and I knew they were the originals (with 85K on them). When I did that, the #1 plug was coated in oil. Turns out the valve cover gasket also has 3 center areas for the plug tunnels and I had a leak at #1. A new VC gasket set (the updated one, there are two) solved that issue. Timing chain looked great, and so did all of the rest of the motor internals. Easy job, too.
