---

---

The lightning bolt surged across the chamber and struck Xarann in the chest, sending him spiralling to the floor. The charge then arced into both Zandeyr and Viktor, dropping Zandeyr in a heap on the floor and knocking the wind out of Viktor.

Zane rushed to Zandeyr’s side and attempted to revive him, succeeding in bringing him back to groggy consciousness. Garn did the same for Xarann, who climbed to his feet slowly. Bannor sprinted toward the statue to get behind it and out of the line of fire while Viktor struggled to his feet.

Just as you had all recovered, a fireball emerged out of the darkness surrounding the statue’s head and exploded into Zandeyr, burning all nearby in a firey inferno.

This time Zandeyr was down for good, the injuries sustained too great, and for the second time a party member lay dead.

---

Zandeyr slowly came back to consciousness, after the bolts of lightning had knocked him cold, only to be horrified to see a ball of scorching flame hurtling toward him. Before he could move, the fire exploded all around him and he felt himself sinking, sinking, sinking…

Into Undeath.

He’d known all along Undeath was a scourge. Something to be eradicated from the face of the world. A pure evil, the more he studied it the more he wanted it purged.

And yet here he was. Dead, but not dead.

And now a voice emerged out of the darkness.

“A magician, a conjurer, a wizard. Bolts of sorcerous fury. That’s the power you seek, is it not? You’re changing - even more now that you’re with me. But there is more than one way to evolve. I can grant you your desire, should you wish it.

Simply choose: light, cold, or hell on earth?”

Zandeyr didn’t know how to react, this was outside of his scholarship, outside of his understanding, and rocking the foundations of his scientific beliefs.

He mumbled out a reply, unsure of every word: “Light… if I must choose… Cold is for the dead and hell on or perhaps in earth is for the Danes… that really only leaves me but the only choice. Light equates to life. I choose light. If I must…”

The voice replied with a smirk: “If you must choose? You would prefer I did? Very well, I shall. Hell it is. So much better I’m sure you’ll agree. Do you now understand now how valuable, how powerful, this living after death can be?”

Zandeyr feel the darkness lift, and opened your eyes to find Zane anxiously hauling him upright and toward the statue.

Something inside had changed - he no longer feel the overwhelming craving for power. Because now he had it.

---

Bannor frantically searched the base of the statue, and quickly discovered a well hidden entrance. Forgoing his usual caution, he ripped the door open and sprinted up the steps revealed inside.

At the top of the stairway was a small room, the inside of the statue head, and standing in there preparing a spell was a jackal-headed creature dressed in a colourful robe, and sporting gold glasses with ruby lenses. Bannor leapt across the room and buried his weapons into the creatures back, interrupting whatever devastating attack was about to be unleashed.

---

Viktor popped his wings again and flew through the air, crashing into the head of the statue. He reached around and realised the eye sockets were open, and inside he saw Bannor and the creature entangled. Everyone else sprinted across the room dragging Zandeyr with them, Garn concentrating on keeping Zandeyr alive, while Zane mounted the stairs with Xarann following close behind.

The jackal creature shoved Bannor away and spoke arcane words to Zane, who suddenly decided that his best course of action was to return to one of the open crypts so he could embrace an amber sarcophagi. Xarann conjured a witchbolt and sent it crashing into the beast, and Garn, having stablisied Zandeyr, smashed his hammer into it with furious might.

Viktor rushed up the stairs and into the room with weapon raised, but suddenly found the metal in his hands became scorchingly hot and he had to drop it to the ground. On his way up he saw his son walking determindly down, but there was no time to question why. Zandeyr joined Zane on his journey toward the amber chamber, still heeding the siren call of the power awaiting that Zane spoke of.

Under the barrage of blows and spells - now joined by Viktor with his sword - the creature fell to its knees. Garn held his weapon ready to deliver the final blow, and you were surprised when suddenly the jackal man started pleading for forgiveness, saying this was all a terrible mistake - he was merely doing his job protecting the temple, he could offer much knowledge and power if only he were spared.

Garn barely paused. He swung his hammer down, crushing the creatures head beneath the blow. This was not a time, nor place, for negotiation.

---

Zane felt his compulsion lift, and the cold and silence returned. Zandeyr limped up the stairs and pulled the creature’s coat off, shrugging it on - the fit was suprisingly good. Bannor put on the glasses and looked around, not seeing any changes, but certainly looking more presentable. Xarann studied a spellbook found in the room, but it was undecipherable to him.

Having sustained some bad injuries, and Zandeyr in particular needing rest, you retreated to the barbarian’s room, lit the fire with what meagre fuel you could find, and huddled together to get through the frozen rest.

---

You set off back into the cavernous chamber, thankful that all was quiet. Instead of heading to the unexplored corridor, you decided to try and open one of the unopened doors. The statue had taught you not to leave anything behind that might come back to haunt you.

Bannor quickly determined it was magically locked, which stumped you momentarily, before Kasimir stepped forward and offered to open it for you. Which he did with a few quiet words. The door swung open, and inside you saw many huge piles of what looked like treasure - gold, silver, weapons, armour, and more. Unfortunately standing amongst it all was another of the Amber Golems, who wasted no time charging into the doorway and attacking.

You managed to keep it more or less pinned in the doorway, withstanding a flurry of huge pounding fists while piece by piece you destroyed it. A well placed wall of lightning from Xarann kept it backed up, and it eventually shattered into amber rubble.

Inside the room you found six huge piles of untouched loot. There were thousands of coins, hundreds of gems, and much miscellany. Of particular note were two silvered rapiers with stunning pink glass hilts. Viktor flicked one over to Zane, while he picked up a superbly crafted Warhammer with a gold embossed head, testing it for weight and giving it a swing. Xarann noticed a ring made of shimmering pearls, and slipped it onto his finger. All three items were clearly magical.

---

---

---

---

Zandeyr too looked quickly around the room. Moving with both speed and purpose. He strode to each pile intently examining everything carefully, as if looking for specific things.

He snatched up the following items; a bronze crown with tiny gem-eyed dragon for spires, a gilded skull with red garnet eyes (which reminded you all of Bannor’s recent eye adventures), and an obsidian scepter with gold filigree.

With a strength he should not have, Zandeyr then dragged a life-sized wooden pony in front of the gilded chariot placing the livery upon it.

He then stood on the chariot, carefully adjusting his new robe, placed the crown on his head, and cradled the sceptre and the skull like an orb of the realm, striking a stance that was perfectly still, and looking distantly away as if positioned for an artist to paint his royal portrait.

There was a strange look on his face, and just for a moment he looked like an impressive monarch overseeing his great realm. There was something almost pure and regal about him. Something also terrifying and calming all at once. He no longer looked like the elderly archer you have known these past days. He was, for a moment, something else.

The moment passes, dust swirls in the air, and Zandeyr coughs, shrugs, and faintly, under his breath, almost as if to himself, muttered: ”Well… someone must lead the rabble when Strahd is gone…” was it a question or an affirmation?

Zandeyr climbed down slowly, almost feebly, removing the crown, and sceptre and placing them in his bulging backpack.

Almost absentmindedly he placed the skull back in the pile he retrieved it from, and wandered over to the other pile with the leather-bound tomes, flipping through the pages and says “Anyone want these?”.

He seemed so different from only a moment ago. His movements lethargic from his recent injuries, and the frailty of his age seemed to have returned.

With a slight smile he looked over to another pile and says ”Ummm… Those empty bottles could be good for making wine. We should give them to the Wizards”.

Gazing further he looked over at the trunk of dresses; “I wonder Zane, if those gowns will fit your lady friend?”

He paused and looked down. “I could probably take them in for her. I read a book on sewing about seventy years ago… pinch both sides at the waist at the narrowest part, mark it up, turn it inside out"

He looked away deeper in thought. “I could take in the side seams to the waist will prevent the waist from puckering when you remove the excess fabric. Straight line stitch along the seams."

He looked back at the trunk. “Once I have sewn the new seam on the fabric of the dress, take in the same amount from the lining. Then, reattach the lining to the inside of the dress."

He clapped his hands excitedly together. “Yes that would do the trick” Looking directly at Zane with a serious look, he directed: “Grab those dresses young man!… We have some work to do!” A grin appeared on his face and his shoulders pushed back as if proud of himself for solving a great puzzle.

---

Zane grabbed up the dresses as instructed with only a fleeting glance to the others to check for judgement. Then catching the rapier thrown by his father, nodded to the second rapier still lying in the treasure pile as if to say “and the other one”.

Viktor looked over at Zandeyr with the concerned expression one gives an older relative who is not quite there anymore.

Bannor meanwhile was exploring the room, and pointed out that there were two small 3 foot wide crevices leading North, clearly the result of the walls collapsing slightly - perhaps from the power of the golems.

You made your way cautiously into the next room, once again feeling the visceral dread that meant there were amber sarcophagi nearby. The crevices opened into a largish room with a black marble staircase leading upstairs. And there were indeed three more amber blocks in the room, radiating pure evil. Kasimir stared intently at the nearest sarcophogus, and said that this was what his sister had been directing him toward.

As you moved inside you saw six wooden crates, four of which suddenly splintered and opened as hideous vampiric figures rose from them and attacked.

---

Zandeyr reacted quickly, suddenly saying something in a language that made your skin crawl and caused sulfurous smoke and fumes to spill from his mouth, ears, and eyes. Viktor recognised the language as infernal, and that Zandeyr had said two simple words: “Come hither”. And springing into existence came two hellish hounds, with obsidian black skin and flaming fanged faces bristling with teeth. Zane recoiled in horror, his darkest fears rising to the surface.

There was no time to undertand what Zandeyr was doing or how, as the vampires leapt on the four closest party members. One grappled Zandeyr to the ground and sunk her teeth deep into his neck, while two others slicing into Zane and Garn with their claws. You fought back hard using steel and spells - and with the dogs which attacked with flaming vigour. Viktor cast the creatures back, which gave you time to press the advantage and drop two of them.

Garn and Zane went to work on another, cutting it to pieces even as it scored and scratched, and Zandeyr was bitten once again, badly weakened as his neck was riddled with bite marks. The dogs flamed the remaining creature, and it eventually fell under Xarann’s concentrated blasts.

Panting with fear and exhaustion, you retreated to the treasure room. And had a huge debate about what on earth was happening.

Zane and Xarann demanded Zandeyr explain himself, which he tried - but failed - to do, his explanations doing little to convince anyone that this was normal. He refused - or couldn’t - dismiss the hellhounds, and Zane and Garn were on the verge of attacking the beasts to finish this craziness.

Viktor eventually calmed things and asked when exactly this power had come to him. Zandeyr told you it was after he had been killed in the statue chamber - a voice had offered him choices, and granted him the power to summon the hounds. Viktor then asked Bannor about his experience when he died at the tower, and Bannor revealed that he too had been talked to by a dark power, and granted the ability (he thinks) to raise dead creatures to life - and at the same time losing his eyes.

It seemed that dying in this land was creating a link to some infernal forces, and that these forces were offering dark gifts to the dead. This didn’t make things seem any safer, but it was at least an explanation.

Kasimir interrupted and told you he needed to approach the amber block his sister had guided him to. He said he was willing to take on whatever evil was within if it meant that his sister could be returned to life. He even agreed that you could kill him the moment it was over, if it turned out that the gift he was given was as evil as suspected. But let his people have a future. Still on edge, and still wary, you agreed that this was what you had come here for - some atonement for what you’d done to the mongrelfolk, some goodness. Even if it came at great cost.

You made your way back into the chamber, Garn leading Kasimir. You took up defensive positions around the sarcophogus, watching closely as Garn and Kasimir approached the pulsing darkness within.

And before any could react, Garn - not Kasimir - suddenly reached out and laid his hands on the amber block.

---

Garn threw his head back, arms rigid, shaking as dark power surged through him. His eyes stared sightlessly as a dark voice spoke in his mind.

“You’re searching for power, I know. Just like many others you come seeking the power over life and death. I am Zhudun, the Corpse Star. I am the master of death. However very few know there is a price. Death is a veil which surrounds the soul, if you want to take it away, you have to wear it yourself. That’s how I ended up here, but I can still share a little of that power with you. Just enough for you to make one very important decision.”

---

You watched in horror as Garn shuddered with the evil coursing through him. He lifted his hands off the amber block, and slowly turned around to face you.

What you saw wasn’t Garn. It was an undead creature, skin sallow, sunken, and clinging to his bones, his eyes full of darkness, and terror etched into his face.

---

Everyone backed away slowly. Kasimir stared in confusion and fear. The Garn creature look around at you, then down at his hands, where he saw what you were seeing. Then he spoke: “This party needed leadership. We are fighting something greater than ourselves, something that we can only fight with overwhelming power. And now I have taken that power so that we may use it against the devil Strahd.”

Silence greeted this, until Zane spoke out: “At what cost? What have we become that we would turn to such evil?”

Garn replied, “No cost is too great if it means freeing this land. Our deaths mean nothing.”

Zane pointed at Zandeyr and his pets, glanced at Bannor’s empty sockets, and shook his head. “This all means something, and not something good. One by one we are turning into darkness. We are losing what goodness we ever had.”

A grim silence followed. Viktor muttered a spell and determined that despite appearanes, this was not an undead Garn, and nor was it eveil. He sighed deeply as he relayed this truth, and suggested that it was too late now to turn back.

---

You moved up the stairs next, emerging into domed library lit by candelabra. The walls were covered in a fresco that depicts angels being set ablaze in a hell - almost too much even for angel-killers and hellhound summoners. Lining the walls were six enormous black marble bookcases, and on their shelves were thousands of perfectly preserved magical tomes.

Zandeyr grabbed a book, noticing there were no words on the spine or cover, and found the same thing when he opened it - blank pages all the way through. Other books he took down were the same. Xarann looked too, as did Bannor through his glasses, but there was nothing. Viktor noticed a oblong reading magnifier on a desk, and tried that with the same result. Eventually Bannor took the book back and seemed to focus closely through his new glasses. He revealed it was a spell book, but he couldn’t read the text. He traced some of the words on the spine onto a sheet of paper produced by Zandeyr, which Kasimir identified as possibly something to do with spells of scrying.

There were no exits from the room, so Bannor started checking the walls, and he found two hidden exits. The first revealed a staircase leading down, at the foot of which was another concealed door. Opening that led you back into the statue chamber.

Back upstairs, the other door opened to an enclosed room with no doors. Bannor searched and again found a hidden entrance. Pushing it open revealed a fifteen foot high room containing the trappings of royalty: ornate furniture, exquisite rugs and tapestries, and decorative statuary, with lit candelabras everywhere atop small tables. The beauty of the decor was undone by thick dust and cobwebs.

Standing in the center of the room was a magstic but decrepit skeletal figure clad in tattered deep red robes. Red pinpoints of light burnt in the skeleton’s eye sockets as it looked toward you. “Do I know you?” it asked.

---

You all froze, wondering if this was a real question or some kind of trap.

“I don’t recognise you, but then I don’t remember a lot of faces these days. Remind me - did I invite you here?”

Garn, through his new skin, cautiously answered. “Nooo, not as such. I mean, perhaps in a way you did?”

The creature pondered this. “Strange. Well, if I didn’t invite you - they are you intruders?”

Garn replied. “Most definitely not. We have come here seeing knowledge… and power.”

“Well! Knowledge - yes, yes, knowledge. I… I can provide you with that, so much knowledge. If only I could recall how…”

Zandeyr cut in, asking if the books in the library could perhaps reveal themselves and their secrets.

“Library? What library? You are trying to trick me!”

Zandeyr was quick to mollify him. “Not at all, we hope only to share your great wisdom.”

The skeleton tapped his fingers on a large brass-bound blue leather book that lay on the table in front of him. “I have an idea. I am sure I do know something, in fact a lot, about what you seek. And I could give it all to you - and more. But there is one thing I need. It seems that I have, and this is a delicate subject, but I have misplaced my… name.”

Xarann raised his eyebrows at this, realising the importance of names. Zandeyr racked his memory for the words he’d discoverd in Strahd’s journal, and blurted out “Perhaps you are Maverus?”

The creature reared back, and spat out a viscious reply, and you could suddenly feel a great presence and power surging from him. “DO NOT presume to insult me. Be careful how you tread with such slander.”

Zandeyr held his hands up apologetically. He also tried to sneak a look at the book the creature was resting his hand on, but it made clear that getting any closer would be a mistake.

Viktor looked to Kasimir and pointedly asked if he know the name, given his long history in this land. Kasimir was pressed against the wall as far away as possible, and looked terrified. He shook his head no, and whispered “I do not know this name”.

Xarann asked if the skeletal figure knew the meaning of the other names they had found: “Shalx, Thangob, and Harkotha”.

It’s eyes almost twinkled as it answered. “Oh yes! Those are not names my elvish friend. Those are locks! I invented them, they’re rather good don’t you think? In any case, I tire of this. Leave, return if you wish, but realise that you must have the answer if you do.”

---

You backed out of the room, closing the doors behind you, confused but relieved not to have provoked the creature. You started do discuss how to find the name, before Kasimir interrupted. “We could just leave. I have what I came for - or at least Garn does - and there is nothing more for us here. We can ressurect my sister now, so let us leave this evil place.”

Garn turned to him. “I can’t promise that your sister will be the beneficiary of my power. My only goal now is to destroy Strahd and free this land.”

Kasimir stared. “But - no - no! This, this is not what we agreed?! I had your word that we would take this power to save my people. This is not a game, there is only once chance for us and you have stolen it.”

Garn replied. “You never had my word. And you do not have it now. I may use it as you ask, but if there are better ways I can use it then I will.”

Kasimir turned to the rest of you, begging for your help in persuading Garn.

Viktor tried to talk Garn around, but the strange undead looking Paladin wouldn’t budge. Zane tried too, putting aside the competitive grudge he and Garn held. Garn was unmoved.

Kasimir was mortified. You decided to return downstairs to check the unopened crypts, hoping for some revelation down there.

---

The first two crypt doors stood sealed, their cryptic warnings intact. Zandeyr marched up to one and spoke his favourite name: “Maverus”. The door exploded in a cloud of noxious pores, spreading over Zandeyr and the nearby Zane. Zane tried again on the other door, this time speaking “Maverus”, with the same poisonous result.

As Bannor proposed a plan to yell the words at the doors from a safe distance, Viktor suddenly understood the secret. The phrases on the doors matched the ‘names’ that you had found, in an obscure but logical way.

He strode up to the first door. The glyph said: “Thus angels die, and oblivion awaits”, and Viktor smiled as he said: “Thangob”. The door swung open, the glyph fading as it did so. Inside were three more sarcophagi, sitting brooding and waiting for someone to approach.

Viktor walked to the other door, reading the inscription again, “Herein arkane knowledge and thought: you should afear”. After a moment Victor spoke the word, “Harkotha”, and this crypt opened, revealing another three amber tombs.

You held your applause, but all were impressed at Viktor’s mental gymnastics. You also decided that there was no point getting any closer to the amber temptations, and headed to the corridor at the other side of the statue chamber. It opened to another corridor that had three doors. The first you examined had another script, this one reading “May you venture onward? The risk undoes all good.” This time Zandeyr blurted out the answer - his favourite - “Maverus”. Another three sarcophagi were inside.

You were fairly certain that behind next door were the flameskulls you had seen from upstairs through the hole carved in the floor. Taking up defensive positions, Viktor read the glyph, “Should any pass through, all will be extinguished”, and answered with “Shalx”.

The door opened and behind it were the expected flaming skulls - three hovered within, each guarding a sarcophogus. A fireball shot out from one and exloded around the frontline, and Zane charged inside to engage. Garn followed, and Xarann cleverly trapped one of the three inside an ice dome that he conjured from the frigid air. Bannor snuck inside and finished off the first skull, while Viktor joined the fray.

The floating skulls fought back with bolts of flame, but the fierce melee and Zandeyr’s missiles from afar was too much, and before long they lay inert on the floor.

The final room was unlocked, and inside stood a massive metal and leather construct. It was covered in thick dust and cobwebs, and didn’t move under Bannor’s scrutiny, who in turn advise everyone to stay away.

It was at this point that Xarann noticed something: Kasimir was missing. No-one had seem him since you had come downstairs, and a quick search revealed nothing. With a sinking feeling you realised where he probably was.

You raced back upstairs into the skeleton lord’s chamber. Kasimir stood by his side, and the creature looked up as you entered. He stood taller now, and you could sense a swirling power in room. His red eyes glinted as he spoke, “Exethanter. That’s my name, Exethanter. Thanks to this young man I know that. In fact I remember everything. Including that I didn’t invite you here after all”.

And he smiled.

---

Garn stammered out a response, saying you never claimed that you were. The lich disagreed, but said it was of no consequence either way. Viktor turned his attention to Kasimir, asking in no uncertain terms what he had done.

Kasimir replied. “After your companion Garn’s betrayal, I saw my only hope was to appeal to Exethanter to grant me the power that was snatched away”.

Garn laughed mockingly and strenuously defended himself, saying that Kasimir’s claim on this dark gift ignored the greater peril this land was under, and that Garn’s only duty was to find and use whatever power was available to destroy that evil.

Kasimir asked how any power to ressurect could possibly fight Strahd, and how any need could be greater than that of a race doomed to extinction. He said he would give anything to save his race, any cost, any price.

Xarann jumped on this statement, asking if he would sacrifice all life, all living things, all existence, if it meant he could bring back his sister and his people. Kasimir scoffed at this, “of course not that is absurd, there would be no life to live in such a void. But my point stands - kill me, do what you must to me, but let my race survive”.

Xarann pressed harder, saying that there was no conflict with Kasimir’s wishes and your plans. If Kasimir was right, and there was no better use of Garn’s power, then the ressurection of his sister was all but guaranteed.

Kasimir shook his head. “You say ‘if’ there is no better use. How will you determine that? When could you possibly know the answer to that? For all I am aware you may never reach that decision, until the day you slay - or are slain - by Strahd.”

Xarann again repeated that there was no conflict, that the most likely outcome was what Kasimir hoped.

Kasimir then put you on the spot, desparation in his voice. “If my sister was here now, beside me, would you restore her?”

Viktor and Xarann started to answer “There is no conflict…” “We can’t answer that without first knowing…”

Kasmir shouted again, “Would you restore her?! Right now, would you do it??”

Garn, stoney faced, answered. “No. There is a greater purpose.”

Kasimir turned to Exethanter. “They will not help. I accept your offer. Give me the power and make them…”

Before he could finish, Bannor stepped out of the shadows. “I will do it. I will ressurect her.”

Kasimir paused. “You? How is that possible?”

Bannor tore the glasses off his face. “Look at me. Look at my eyes. I have accepted a gift too, and that gift did this to me. But I will use it to help you. I have that power.”

Kasimir was silent for a moment. He looked to Xarann, who nodded. “If you speak true, and I trust that you do, then… I accept. And I thank you, unlike your undead friend.” Bannor stepped back into the shadows and you felt the tension in the room subside.

Exethanter looked almost disappointed.

---

You then started to question Exethanter, who seemed eager to share his knowledge with you once Kasimir stood down. He told you that the Amber Temple was his fortress, that he had made his way here in times past and communed with the Dark Powers within to become what he now was - immortal.

The Temple had been built by a secret society of good aligned wizards thousands of years ago. It was built as a vault to protect the evil vestiges and forbidden knowledge they had amassed from ever being discovered and used, the temple dedicated to a god of secrets to keep it hidden until the end of time.

Somewhat predictably, the wizards were corrupted by the very evil they tried to contain. Exethanter discovered the Temple himself, all within dead, and has spent the past hundreds of years learning from and feeding the powers within. He wants not to hoard the secrets but to share them openly.

In time Strahd came to the Temple, also seeking succor from the Dark Powers within. Exethanter helped him in his quest, and the Powers found themselves a creature who’s darkness almost eclipsed their own. Strahd murdered his brother to seal the pact with the Dark Powers, and became the immortal Vampire he now was. Barovia too was sealed beyond time and place, imprisoning the land and Strahd himself.

Exethanter explained that he and Strahd are sustained by, and provide sustenence too, the Dark Forces. He believes his recent forgetful state was explained by the fact that he had lapsed in his duty to the Powers - a mistake he won’t make again. His red gemlike eyes glittered strongly as he said this.

When questioned as to whether destroying the Amber blocks was a way to free the land, Exethanter strongly suggested not. He believed that the one shattered sarcophagi was likely the cause of the destruction of the wizards, and he suspect a great deal move evil was unleashed as result of that shattering.

Zandeyr asked about the library, and Exethanter explained it held hundreds of spell books and dark arcane knowledge. He was happy to release the books from their hidden state, but you deduced it would be unwise to study the evil within too closely. And as for the spells, they were unreadable by any of you, Kasimir excepted. Even Zandeyr couldn’t absorb the scripts, despite his claims to be a powerful wizard now.

---

Having exhausted your questions, you withdrew with Exethanter’s permission. He told Kasimir that he still had a boon to grant him should he wish it.

You spent a few more hourse finishing your exploration of the Temple, cleaning out a hive of Ghast’s from the final sarcophagi chamber, and returning to another to fight a Death Slaad that fought harder than the Ghast’s but fell none-the-less. You also discovered a mortuary like series of chambers that held the amberfied remains of the wizards who had fallen in this evil place.

Bannor took you back to the room containing the idle construct. After some examination from Xarann (who concluded it was a complete mystery), Zandeyr was summonsed and he immediately noticed a triangular indent on the constructs chest. From the necklace around his neck he pulled the amulet you had found on Vilnius - it would be a perfect fit. Despite some scepticism from Bannor and Zane, you took up defensive positions and Zandeyr inserted the amulet. The creature creaked into life, and turned it’s head to Zandeyr.

Zandeyr looked at it, then told it to follow him out of the room. It obeyed. He led it to the treasure room and handed it everything it could carry, taking extra care with the empty bottles. He attached the chariot to the creature and it dutifully towed it around as you worked at taking the most valuable items.

Finally it was time to leave. You exited the Temple, relishing the feel of the visceral evil roll off you as you rejoined the icy world outside. Unfortunately Zandeyr’s new guardian was unable to pass the boundary of the Temple, so he disabled it on the threshold, leaving it to stand guard as a warning to those that follow.

---

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Sessions played: 16, 25, 30 March, 6 & 13 April, 2020