The adventurers waded through calf-deep water (Mischief astride Shalora’s shoulders) past a side chamber wherein they found the bubbling source of the spring, squeezing along a narrow, damp, curving passage that eventually opened into a large, high-ceiling and surprisingly warm and dry cavern.
Peering past Akiro, Jiri could just make out a strange silhouette hugging the wall at the very end of the cavern... the thing shuffled, then launched itself through the air, gliding with preternatual silence at the party. The thing was a horror like none the companions had ever encountered, or could ever have conceived in their worst nightmares. The crab-like abomination had a lamprey mouth, twitching eyes on its sickly green legs, a pair of limp pincers, and several faded red, translucent blisters on its back that held what looked like human brains. It reeked of rotting flesh.
The horror landed immediately before Akiro at the entrance to the dry cave, but the paladin braced himself with his glaive and managed to strike first, burying the point of his weapon into its gelatinous, putrid flesh. It was a difficult to tell just how much harm he cad caused the thing, which gurgled and then stumbled sluggishly forward, pressing its razor-filled maw onto the Tian man, biting through his armour and deep into his flesh. The young warrior would have screamed in agony, had he been able to. Jiri tried to lure the monster away from Akiro; the thing managed to inflict more wounds on both the dwarf and the paladin before they were finally able to destroy it for good. Fortunately, Shalora was able to channel healing energy that closed the worst of her companions’ wounds as they were inflicted and kept them strong enough to win the battle.
Not even Iacobus had any clue what the horror might have been, though it was in all probability an undead version of its former self. Never had he heard of a demon, devil, or other outsider that remotely resembled this abomination. What was this Dominion of the Black with which Hunclay was so eager to make contact, and to what end, if this was one of its representatives?
The heroes found four locked iron chests resting on the east side of the cave, three relatively small, with the fourth twice as large as the others. All four chests radiated feint orange auras (abjuration), with the fourth one also radiating strong green (conjuration), silver (universal) and feint red (evocation) auras coming from within. The entire chamber had a purple aura (transmutation) -- presumably radiated by Hunclay’s “climate control” magic. The silver charm and the ring of keys recovered from Hunclay’s bedchamber opened the smaller chests, while the black key found on Hunclay’s body beneath the rubble of the Witch Tower opened the largest one.
The three small chests contained a total of 11,300 copper coins, 7,200 silver coins, 1,800 gold coins, and 60 platinum coins, all in small cloth pouches of 100 coins each (save for the platinum). Sitting atop an exquisite darkwood case inside the largest chest was an exquisite, narrow-necked gold and green glass vial containing a black dust, with three additional packets containing the same substance, which Iacobus identified as an enhanced Dust of Darkness. The shimmering black dust radiated an aura of feint evocation magic, and according to the magus, its application causes one creature to be coated in a layer of darkness for a short period of time, granting the creature partial concealment in normal light, and total concealment in dim light; it also dispels and counter the outlining effects (but not the blinding effects) of Glitterdust. Its enhanced properties, guessed the companions, might dispel the magical wall of light that kept Maffei prisoner in Hunclay’s cellar?
A scroll contained inside a mithral tube produced the strong silver (universal) aura, and one of five antique tomes inside the darkwood case radiated the strong green (conjuration) aura detected by Iacobus. All five tomes were written in languages unfamiliar to the companions -- the first four apparently in the same language. The fifth tome, with the strong aura of conjuration magic, was a massive, tattered and apparently very old volume, several hundred pages long (but also evidently missing pages, if not entire sections) and bound in black leather. The pages were scribed in cramped handwriting and included complex star charts and maps of strange, distant worlds. It also contained numerous illustrations of eerie monsters, including drawings of the guardian that the companions had just destroyed. Even though they were unable to read a single word of the text, the heroes deduced that this dark tome must be The Secrets of the Dreaming Dark, entries regarding which, in Hunclay’s journal, indicated that the wizard had been desperate to hide the text from Mr. Barlau/Aeteperax.
The magical tome in the darkwood case was
more tattered than this illustration would suggest
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