August 21, Year 3488 (SE 118)
After resting the night at an inn, the party awaken and plan their day. Zedlyn and Flossaria decide to go visit Iskander and Arik to report their progress, while the rest of the group go to see Hadia to report their findings about the lizardfolk.
Zedlyn and Flossaria arrive at Iskander's mansion and are greeted by Iluva, Iskander's wife, an elven woman. She calls Iskander and Arik for them, and they report their progress. Iskander is annoyed that they haven't actually retrieved the holy symbol of Kord yet, but grudgingly admits that, yes, at least they know where it is and are still working towards it. Arik encourages them to hurry, as he's getting tired of being cooped up in Iskander's home, not working towards his goal.
The rest of the party go to the Viskhan police station to speak with Lieutenant Hadia. She's not in when they arrive, so they're forced to wait an hour or two until she returns from her rounds. During this wait, Zedlyn and Flossaria arrive at the police station as well. When Hadia returns, she takes them to her office and they report in. They tell her that they've found where the lizardfolk live, but she replies that, since her jurisdiction is limited to the city, she can't help. She suggests they speak with the army, but also warns them that the flooding season is coming soon, so the army is very busy with preparations for the war with Cappadarnia to continue and may not be available to help them. For her part, Viskha has not had much success investigating into the lizardfolk's contact in Viskha; apparently, the gang has doubled down after they caught Adokas following them, and many of the merchants he identified have gone missing.
Next, the party ask Hadia to take them to the captive cultist who was carrying the same holy symbol that they found in the Temple of the Iron God. She does so, bringing them to the nearby prison and leading them, and the prisoner, to an interrogation room. The prisoner turns out to be an extremely nondescript, average looking man. They attempt to use magic to get him to confess - first, Flossaria magically compels him to "remember" his connection to the holy symbol; when he says that he cannot, despite the magical compulsion, she tries forcing him to "confess" whether he's lying. But either the magic doesn't work or he really isn't lying, as the prisoner continues to maintain that he knows nothing about the symbol.
Sharla tries next. Asking everyone to leave the room (except Hadia, who must be there to oversee the process), she uses a spell to hypnotize the prisoner. She pulls out the party's copy of the holy symbol and tries to convince him, while under hypnosis, that she is a fellow member of the cult, so he can safely talk to her. This doesn't work either; while he seems to believe the hypnotic suggestions, he angrily explains that he remembers nothing; there's a blank spot in his memory between leaving his home village years ago for Viskha, and standing at a murder scene being taken away by the guards.
Unable to do anything else with the prisoner, the party give up. They decide not to bother with the army's help, and set out immediately for Barar; travelling on horseback for the rest of the day.
August 22, Year 3488 (SE 118)
Most of this day is spent travelling; they take a few short breaks for P'hla to identify the magical items that they previously found in the caves - a sword, a wand, and a rope. The sword turns out to be a magical longsword that is enchanted to be particularly deadly to the undead, which Flossaria takes. The wand is a wand of paralysis, containing a number of charges that will completely paralyse the target when used. They give it to P'hla. Finally, the rope is a Rope of Climbing, which Zedlyn takes, to be used by the party as a whole.
No longer slowed by caravan wagons or injured party members, the party arrive at Barar by the end of the day. Jalessa returns to the Temple of Kib, while the rest of the party find an inn and rest for the night.
August 23, Year 3488 (SE 118)
In the morning, the party do a bit of shopping before heading out, purchasing a rope ladder to help them handle the many chasms and cliffs in the cave to the north, along with some iron pitons. They then head out for the caves, which takes them about an hour.
Back at the caves, nothing much seems to have changed since they left, and they decide to return to the ledge where they fought the harpies. They use the rope ladder, secured with the pitons, to descend down the fifty-foot chasm, leaving it behind in case it's needed for a quick escape. At the bottom of the cliff, two things have changed. First, the dead carrion crawler has continued to decompose; the horrible smell nauseates P'hla and Flossaria, though the rest of the party manage to resist. Second, the rubble that was blocking the eastern passage has been moved; it's now blocking the western passage instead.
They decide to leave the rubble undisturbed for now, and explore the eastern passage. It leads to a narrow passageway that slopes upwards, then turns to the south. To the south, it continues forwards and upwards before curving to the west. At several points, branches in the passage lead to caved-in dead ends. Sharla and Zedlyn use their gnomish knowledge to attempt to identify whether the cave-ins are natural or artificial; they find no evidence of artificial tampering. Returning to the fifty-foot cliff, they decide to check the cave-in there as well, finding that it, unlike the others, appears to be artificial - there are marks from tools on the walls and ceiling.
Back in the passage, Iriellis searches for tracks and finds that the tunnel has been traversed by others, as recently as a few days ago. The tracks appear to be made by clawed, rather than bare or booted, feet, but neither she nor Tamat can identify exactly what they are.
At the end of the passage, where it curves to the west, it descends into a pool of water and continues underwater. The group decide to send the Robe of Climbing, with a Light spell cast on it, snaking ahead into the water. The water is murky, and within twenty feet all they can see if a muffled point of light. Suddenly, something grabs the rope at the other end and pulls hard. Zedlyn and Flossaria, who are holding it, manage to hold on, and the scream for everyone else to come help. P'hla, still nauseated from the decomposing carrion crawler, stays back, but everyone else grabs the rope and pulls. With a mighty effort, they tear the rope away from whatever was holding it, pulling it back out of the water. Aware that they're disturbed something in or beyond the water, they draw their weapons, as two indistinct shapes move towards them from the water...
