While the group continues to travel towards Jerech, Meran (using the map and his Ring of Direction) decides that they are still too far south, and must travel to the northwest.

Camping another night before they reach the city, the party decides to take shelter on the side of a dune. They build no fire, and therefore are very chilly during the night. While Elowisyl is on watch, he sees some movement a few feet away as sand from the dune appears to be sliding down. He takes up arms and wakes the rest of the group in time to see a humanoid being with ghost-white skin, black eyes, and huge claws and teeth emerge from a tunnel in the side of the dune. It is quickly joined by three others, who move to attack the party.

As the ghouls approach, their presence terrifies some members of the party causing them to react more slowly. The ghouls are soon defeated, however, and the party searches them for any useful items. While they are doing this the disembodied torso of one of the ghouls attacks Meran, biting savagely into his leg. As it does so, Meran feels the life force being sucked out of him and into the ghoul. Galandil reacts quickly and sends an elemental bolt towards the beast, exploding its head into many pieces.

Searching the nearby area, the group finds a small tunnel and a “nest” inside the dune where the ghouls were apparently living. They see some rags and destroyed armor, but little else. It is decided that they should move the camp to the other side of the dune in case there are more of the undead in the area.

In the morning they pack up their gear and move on towards the city. On their way they encounter an area entirely of rock, with small and large holes honeycombed into the ground. They skirt the edge of this and continue to the west, but two large Terrors stir and emerge from the holes, moving to attack. They are soon defeated, and the party decides to move further to the south to avoid the rocky areas.

Later in the day they finally see the ridge to the west of the city, and soon come upon the Salt Oasis. The Oasis, and indeed the entire area, has almost completely covered with sand; the ridge itself only is 50 feet high, and the only visible structure is the top of the city’s colosieum. Any animal or plant life that once existed here no longer remains, and the Oasis itself is only a foot or two of water at its deepest.

Meran sees ahead of them, apparently covering the whole area to the north, rows and rows of small bumps in the sand. Remembering from the warnings about the city that these are likely small (cat-sized) larvae of Terrors that will leap and attack if disturbed.

Atentir transforms himself into a crow and circles the area, looking for any threats or entry points. He is unable to see anything except that the small bumps cover the entire area of the city except for the ridge. He flies over the ridge and sees nothing of note.

The party decides to circle around to the west and ascend the ridge. As they reach the midpoint, they see part of a structure protruding from the sand and rock at the top of the ridge. It looks to be a slab of pure white marble, unharmed by the elements but covered in several inches of sand. They begin to sweep the sand off of it, and see that it is a rectangle of about 100×150 feet. In the center there are a number of runes encompassed in a large circle. The runes translate to “SELINA GUIDES OUR HAND.” Below the inscription is a symbol of two crescent moons facing each other.

As the inscription is read, immediately six mummies ascend from around the slab and begin to attack. Their faces are wrapped, but they are clothed in full armor and carry longswords and shields. As they approach both Atentir and Celeb are terrified, Celeb taking flight to the south and Atentir to the north. The others are similarly scared, but manage to stand their ground.

After a protracted battle, Galandil is beaten into unconsciousness as well as Meran. Elowisyl and Neith continue attacking and Elowisyl manages to heal Meran, who helps them defeat the last of the mummies. After the battle Galandil is healed and the others return. They search the pile of destroyed mummies and find that they carry nothing but their weapons and armor.