Warden decides to read the spooky book, casting Comprehend Languages. He learns the title of the book, the Codex Anathema. It's not written in the traditional sense, you concentrate on a page and if you have the fortitude, it grants you knowledge.
Warden learns that the Daelkyr knew about the Gatekeepers plans to seal them Khyber, they were shockingly well informed. They knew the location and nature of all the seals, and how they might be broken. If they've known this, why has it taken them 9000 years to start breaking them?
Warden falls asleep! But he doesn't sleep, he's a warforged??
Warden dreams that he's in a red room, sat in a velvet arm chair. There is a mechanical monkey sat in front of him, banging cymbals together.
The monkey sings Happy Birthday to Warden.
Warden wakes up and is confused. It is his birthday?
The party proceeds into the tunnel.
After a few hours, Kalshana brushes against a pillar and causes it to collapse. It was load bearing, below a natural cistern, which was now collapsing and flooding the tunnel. Dax' Athla and Warden got washed away.
They regrouped and Kalshana flew out of the hole they made to scout the area. She couldn't see anything of interest.
They sleep.
22nd Eyre 998 YK
They are awoken by a hauntingly beautiful song. It continues for the whole day.
At some point during the day, they entered a section of tunnel that was immaculately clean, and smooth. No dust, no rocks, nothing.
Warden sends his familiar, in the form of a bat, to scout periodically.
After some time, Breek returns and warns that he detected a "roiling mass" on the ceiling ahead. Kalshana mentions this is like the sewers in Sharn.
Dax scouts and sees cracks in the ceiling, but not roiling mass.
They regroup and discuss. Dax, Warden and Llyr will attempt to sneak past the cracks. Terfel and Kalshana will stay behind and go after, as they are wearing armour.
As Dax and Warden go beneath the cracks, a giant yellow ooze drops down on them.
Combat! The ooze keeps splitting into smaller oozes, down to Tiny sized!
Dax is almost injured, but they manage to defeat the oozes.
They continue and the haunting song stops when they rest. It wakes them up again in the morning.
23rd Eyre 998 YK
They travel all day, and as night approaches they exit the tunnels into a lush, green valley. The valley is dotted with hills which are themselves sprinkled with caves, and in those cave openings are small winged humanoids.
Harpies!
The harpies sing and manage to charm Dax and Llyr. There is an awful lot of them.
The harpies surround the party, and a raven feathered one with solid black eyes approaches.
Her name is Mieno and she is suspicious of the characters, she demands to know who they are and how they found this place.
They manage to convince her that they don't mean any harm, and explain their purpose.
Mieno allows them to charge the amulet, and takes them to a natural fountain formed of crystal to submerge it in. This is the place where "the energy of the valley is strongest".
Dax drinks some of the water, she immediately gains the benefit of a long rest.
Dax and Terfel fill their waterskins with water from the fountain, with permission from Mieno.
They need to charge the amulet for 24 hours. Mieno says they must leave when this is done, and forget the way back.
