Before moving on, it is decided that the spellcasters require rest before they can continue because their mana has been exhausted (due to the fluctuations in the ambient magic here, as well as the recent battles). Meran listens intently at the nearby cave exits to see if there is a safer place to hide. He hears moaning and scratching at all of the caves except the one they came from and the one to the south. It is decided that they will stay in the main area for the night.

A few hours into their rest, as Meran is standing watch, Neith wakes to find two ghouls shambling towards Meran to attack him. Meran is obviously unaware, so Neith yells that they are being attacked and jumps into the fray. The ghouls are defeated after a few moments, and everyone goes back to sleep.

In the morning Elowisyl’s magic scroll opens up and a message from Erillas is seen. He says that Yeador is still researching the ley-line magic and does not know anything further as of yet. However, they received word that the mission to Calese was successful; agents of the cult were attempting to build a Gate in a forest near the city, but the party that was sent killed all those involved and destroyed the gate before it could be activated. They were also able to convince the Council in Calese that it is in their best interest to help Tymirr fight the Terrors, and they are supposedly sending an army of Tall Ones to Tymirr to assist.

Erillas also relates that the large force of Terrors amassed at South Tymirr is beginning to move towards the city. There have already been several small skirmishes outside the city but they are continuing to push towards the river. However, several large groups of Terrors were seen breaking off to the north and east. It can be assumed that the cult knows of the plans to disable their network of gates and are sending Terrors to kill any interlopers at the nexus sites. King Arayen has dispatched 10 riders to pursue and kill each group of Terrors, but they hold little hope that the riders will be able to reach them before they get to Jerech.

Erillas’ final note emphasizes that speed is of the essence. “You must discover the secrets of Jerech and return to the city as soon as possible,” he writes.

Armed with this disturbing news, the party readies for their journey and decides which way they should go. Meran is able to discern that the roughly hewn passage (which does not appear to have been dug by miners) has the most traffic, though it looks like great care has been taken to cover their tracks. The party chooses this route, and they pack to leave. They taking nothing of the supplies in the room, as they are planning on returning for it.

The party notices that the passage does not contain part of the rail system they noticed in the rest of the caves, and since it was cut quickly into the rock and with little skill, pieces have broken from the ceiling and it is difficult to maneuver. After nearly a half mile, the passage ascends quickly and they find their way up a set of roughly hewn stairs.

They emerge into a room that looks like a sub-basement of a building. There is a large steel door in front of them with a circular hole 6 inches in diameter on either side. Galandil remarks that these are probably “murderholes” designed to help defend this area from attack. They wait and listen and hear no one on the other side, so they decide to proceed.

Atentir turns himself into a bat and flies through one of the murderholes. Searching around on the other side, he sees nothing save a bunch of tables, four rooms to the left with closed doors, and a large steel door ahead. There is also no latch on the door; only a keyhole from either side. Returning, he tells the others what he saw.

Celeb attempts to pick the lock and though it is very difficult, he is successful. However when the door opens Elowisyl and the other spellcasters sense that a powerful magic has been deactivated. They continue through the door and begin to search the floor.

Finding little in the open area, which appears to be a guard station, they move towards the large steel door. Meran feels that the door is very cold, and sees what seems to be mist coming from underneath it. Celeb picks this lock as well, and everyone moves cautiously in.

It is even colder in here. It appears to be a holding area, and the main area splits off into six cells. The party looks into each of the cells, and sees skeletons of dead prisoners as well as some rags in the cells. The second-to-last cell has two zombies in it, and they move towards the bars when they see the light. The last door is made of wood and seems to be the source of the cold; the portion cut out of the door for viewing is completely frozen over.

Galandil senses magic in the last cell, as well as the one with the zombies. The party decides to try and gain access to the last cell first. Meran uses his axe to smash away the ice from the door, and they see inside that there is ice piled up several feet high, the highest point being in the corner. On top of the ice Meran can see something protruding, and it looks like the hilt of a sword.

Elowisyl uses the Tree Knife to cut through the wooden door, and pushes it open. He and Meran venture into the room, and see a dead man’s skeleton wearing leather armor sprawled out to the left on the floor. Very carefully, Meran climbs up to the top of the ice and attempts to pull out the sword. He pulls mightily, but it does not budge.

Elowisyl uses his Beast Belt to increase his strength, and yanks with all of his might. The sword comes loose, and he sees that it is a gigantic two-hander. It is made of the whitest silver, and the air around it crackles from the cold it creates. He has found the fabled Frost Blade!

On the poor dead fellow, besides the leather armor the party finds a large scabbard. The designs on the scabbard seem to match the sword, and it indeed fits. Elowisyl decides that he should carry it, since he has skill in wielding large blades.

Elowisyl decides to try out the frost blade on the nearby zombies, since they cannot attack through the cell bars. He stabs them with it and they are frozen from the insides as the blades pierce them. While searching the zombies, they find that one of them wears a pair of brown leather boots. Upon removing them, Galandil certifies that they are indeed magical.

Meran tries the boots on warily, hoping that they are not somehow cursed. However after attuning himself to these new items, he finds that they are very useful. Called the Boots of Featherfall, they allow him to fall from any height and they will slow his descent. Also, if he has fallen headfirst the boots will right him. Pleased with their new finds, the group decides to move on.

As they are leaving the holding area, the party hears a great cracking from behind them in the last room. A few moments later a huge troll, covered in ice and frost, angrily attacks them. He seems intent on killing Elowisyl, since he is currently holding the Frost Blade (which the unlucky hero in the leather armor had stabbed him with and undetermined amount of time ago).

The troll swipes at Elowisyl and does massive damage to him, and Atentir attempts to grab him out of harm’s way. The others stab at the troll and Galandil fires an Elemental Bolt at him, and finally he falls. The party healers attend to everyone and then they move on.

Skipping the rooms to the left, they ascend the staircase and find themselves on another sub-level. There is a dining area here, and a large room straight ahead. The place looks hastily evacuated, with chairs thrown about and papers laying around. Galandil finds a couple of books that pique his interest: “Creatures of the Deep Desert” and “Mysteries of the Brain and Thinking Organs.” Another smaller room is to the left.

They walk into the smaller room and find that this was a practice area. Empty weapon and armor racks line the walls, and there are two sparring circles on the floor. The party searches around and Galandil uses his ability to sense magic to scan the room. He finds a magical source behind one of the bookshelves, and looks behind it to find a small dagger in a scabbard.

The dagger looks ornate but normal enough, though when it is drawn Galandil is very surprised: it immediately grows to the size of a short sword. Atentir has skill with a short sword, so he takes the blade. After studying it further, he finds that it will also block any melee attacks directed at him.

The party moves on and finds another staircase at the end of the hall. They ascend it and find themselves on what appears to be on the top level, because above them is a thick layer of white marble, the same as they saw on the top of the ridge. Meran checks the map and determines that they are most likely directly beneath the slab they saw.

This floor has a hallway to the left, and one straight ahead that goes all the way to the end of the floor. The party listens intently and hears grunting sounds coming from the hallway ahead of them. They make their way to the end of the hall and go into the first door. This is a library, and it is ransacked just as the other areas on the floor below were. Galandil finds a few other useful books, entitled “Performing Surgeries on the Dead,” “Planes of Eternity” and “The Collected Wisdom of Our Lady Selena.” He puts these into his backpack.

The next room they enter is the last one on this floor. They listen and hear the deep grunting sounds again, but decide to head into the door anyway. In front of them they see two huge beasts that were once trolls, but are now undead ghoulish versions. Behind them is seen a set of bars and behind them is what once was a lavishly styled bedroom. It is now horrible and filthy, and the stench is nearly unbearable. There is a large bureau with a cracked mirror, and several other pieces of furniture. A filthy feather bed is occupied by the emaciated form of a woman in her 70’s or 80’s. She has a crazed expression and is as filthy as her surroundings. As the party enters the room she cries “Thieves! Murderers! Kill them all!”

The undead trolls bound out of the room and attack the party, except for Galandil who is still in the library. Atentir changes into a dog and begins to attack them, and the other party members follow with blade and arrow strikes. One of the trolls lands a heavy fist on Atentir, smashing him to the ground and knocking him out completely. Blood pours from his canine snout and he looks like he might be dead.

Powerful sword strikes take down the trolls, but as Galandil rushes from the library to assist, he hears two more trolls smashing their way out of the room by the stairs to attack. The party is able to take them down in record time, however, and they step over the corpses to the room with the cell.

The woman inside is now completely hysterical, screaming that the party is a group of thieves and murderers and that they must be killed. Galandil attempts to calm her down, and explains that they are not there to kill her, but to rescue her. She calms down a bit but it is apparent that her surroundings and long tenure here have driven her somewhat mad.

While still glaring angrily, she calmly explains to Galandil that she does not need rescuing because this is her home. She asks why they have come, and Galandil explains that there is an evil here that is a plague upon the land.

The woman asks what this plague is, and Galandil explains about the Terrors. She scoffs and says “The Ch’zak are not evil. They are mindless vessels for Selena’s will. They were sent here to help us in our crusade.”

Galandil asks us who she is referring to as “we,” and what their crusade is about. She reveals that she is a member of a group called The Order of the Red Tower which follows the Goddess of Purity, Selena. She refers several times to their goal of cleansing the Colored Lands of those who are impure. She explains that this was their lair, but they had to move on to a different location. She was left here to “guard” the lair, she says, and that her son Alexander led the rest of the group to the deep desert.

Meran states his opinion several times throughout the conversation that the party should just kill the woman and be done with it. The other party members ignore him.

Galandil says that the Terrors are mindless, and that they will kill her and those in her Order as well. She says that her Order has very powerful members, and they have found ways of magically controlling the Terrors to do their bidding.

After conversing for a few minutes she exclaims that they have revealed themselves, and that she knows who sent them. “You were sent by that fool Arayen, were you not?” The party asks her what her relationship with Arayen is, and she replies “Arayen’s relationship to my son and I? Betrayer.”

Elowisyl opens his scroll and writes to Erillas, telling him to ask the King about this woman. Erillas replies that the king has no idea who this woman is, and to ask her her name.

The woman realizes what the scroll can do, and she says “You can use this thing to communicate with Arayen?” Elowisyl nods and asks her to tell them her name. At first she refuses, but then seemingly a realization comes to her, and she says “This is perfect. Almost poetic. My name is Corrina Drem.”

Erillas writes back a few moments later that after he spoke the name to the King, he seemed somewhat overcome and left the room. The party asks him to find out more, but Erillas responds that the King has locked himself in his room and will not answer his knocks.

Elowisyl asks the woman again what her relationship with Arayen is, and she says to ask him. Erillas reports that he smashed through King Arayen’s door with his sword, Steelslayer, and that the King is nowhere to be found — he must have escaped through a hidden passage.

Attempting to reason with the woman, Elowisyl tells her that “Look around you, this town is dead, as is everyone in it.” She replies that “But we survived the event that brought the Ch’zak to us. We were chosen by Selena to carry out her will.”

Elowisyl tells her that the god he follows has very similar tenets to Selena, and that she must search inside herself and understand that the destruction of the Colored Lands and its peoples cannot be Selena’s will. The woman appears at first that she is going to falter, but she looks suspiciously at all of them and says “You are trying to trick me into betraying my Order! Selena’s Grace will purify the Colored Lands! You will never discover our secrets.”

Since it seems that though they have gleaned much information from her, their attempts to reach her have failed. The party discusses what to do next.