The party decided to leave the sinkhole alone and head to get some intel on the potential cultists camped on the other side of the tomb. They took shelter for the night in some ruins on the way. Marla and Plendel mentioned that they'd found ancient scriptures on the site as part of their work, and had been translating them. They appeared, in part, to give reference to possible location's for Symbar, but it would take several weeks to finish the translation. The party were obviously interesting in this, as Hurst had briefed them on looking for clues to where Symbar might be. The apprentice mages stated that they were happy to pass any information on it on to the party, once they had finished the work.
Wulf noticed some movement in the trees whilst on watch in the night, and woke the others. A giant white spider emerged, presumably Xanatha who they had been told about. It charged at them but stopped short. Wulf ran away to a safe distance, until deeming the Spider to not be a threat. The spider spoke to them telepathically. It was quite playful, and enjoyed some banter. It then told them that it was after a powerful liquid, the Vile Water in King Hurian-Lo Apak's tomb, which it had recently felt the presence of since Gorak had opened the tomb after all this time. The liquid was pure corruption in a carafe, but would make the spider even more powerful, enough so to allow it to pass to the spirit realm and to fight the evils of Davokar. Xanatha also mentioned two other dark forces vying for the liquid: The Creeping Darkness, which was already laying waste to the land; and Xanatha's and deadly rival, Fangafa, Queen of Thorns, an ancient being of evil and darkness.
Xanatha proposed a deal. She would give the party information to get through the tomb, and take any treasure they wanted, providing they bought her back the Vile Water for her. They eventually agreed. She told them which route through the tomb avoided Fangafa's rift from the underworld (who could not break through to the vile water, as the passage was too narrow for her from her room), although told them a way to find themselves in Fangafa's rift form the sink hole, if they chose to go that way. She told them the other way - to the Kings Gate, with some tips on how to open it (although she didn't know exactly how, hence why she hadn't got in herself) - something to do with the runes outside the tomb and above the gate (she had seen Magister Senia open it). She would wait for them in the entrance hall of the tomb; it was hard for her to squeeze through the tunnels. She also offered to bite them, offering protection from the Creeping Darkness, but none accepted.
The next morning they went to the cultist camp. Wulf snuck up and saw four people. He identified two of them as Odako and Mal Rogan, seemingly joined in force. The party decided to leave them to it, not wanting to get into a pointless and potentially costly fight.
They then headed to the tomb. It was already open, and Xanatha was waiting, and at this point, Wulf decided to take the spider's bite. It didn't hurt, and no adverse effects appeared to happen. They saw the runes on the way in, which the apprentice mages translated for them (they had been brought along for safety and usefulness). The runes referenced "signing a prayer" and "bowing" in order to proceed. They also told heroic tales of King Hurian defeated a giant toad and a spider god, Oroke (Xanath's mother, if she was to be believed), retrieving some liquid from the spider in the process.
In the first room, they found corpses of Ordo Magica mages, and months' dead crew members from Gorak's band, and also an empty magical suit of armour, along with two shortswords. The corpses had been killed by dozens of stab wounds from all directions.
They proceeded to the Kings Gate using Xanatha's instructions, and found some more runes. Dusty runes on either side of the gate listed some of his top vassels, but there was a prayer above the gate, which looked to have been rubbed clean by a finger. It took a while to solve the riddle, but eventually Maddox rubbed his own finger through the prayer and bowed, causing the gate to open, without setting off any traps.
In the next area, they found the corpse of Senia, as well as some burn marks from one of her spells on the wall. The north path had some runes, stating that any who proceed would be cur to pieces. They headed south, and found a room with eight empty suits of armour, each paired with two shortswords. Wulf tried to talk to them, suspicious, but nothing happened. They snuck past and into the next room, through a rough hewn, narrow corridor. There was a large void in the floor, and a fifteen foot gap to get across the room. They heard some scraping noises, and suddenly, Fangafa appeared, looking terrifying, attacking with her tentacles. She did some serious damage to Lanky and also hurt Wulf, before they all managed to escape. They realised they'd been heading the wrong way, back to the entrance.
There was nothing for it but to head North. But before they did, Wulf decided to block off the way to the eight suits of armour, using the stone tables in the room. It was a good decision. When they headed to the next room, the armour came to life, but could not break through the stone.
The next room was the main tomb room, Hurian's headless body sat on a throne with a giant spear, the vile water to the side of it on a table, and a gate to another room, presumably for treasure. Maddox acted weirdly, heading for the water without consulting the others and not responding to them either. They both quickly attempted to stop him. He dragged them along, and grabbed the carrafe, but Lanky managed to get it out of his hand before he drank it, one drop falling to the floor. He had been possessed by King Hurian, the spirit trying to consume the vile water. The king's spirit then left Maddox as quickly as it had come.
Wulf took the water. They then managed to break into the treaure room quickly, but as they broke the seal, some sort of magical barrier was dropped, and the Creeping Darkness began to sweep into the room (the magic had kept it out so far), creating a horrible coldness and extinguishing all forms of light. They all had time to grab one treasure each from the pile, but Wulf got greedy, and fumbled around for a second treasure in the darkness. It was costly - as darkness descended, Lanky got well away from it, and Maddox was not far behind, but Wulf was caught in it. Whilst the spider's bite proved some resistance, a dark spike came out of the black and knocked him unconscious.
Maddox went back for him, dragging him out, shouting for Lanky to return to help. But the cold and the spikes were too much for him, also succumbing to it, not long after stabilising Wulf. Lanky came back to help, and realised it wanted the water. They threw it away, allowing the Creeping Darkness to consume it all. They had failed to get it for Xanatha. The darkness was then lifted as it left the tomb.
Once everyone was back on their feet, Maddox confronted Xanatha. She clearly wasn't pleased, but said she'd let them live if they could tell her a riddle she couldn't solve. Wulf asked her what the only word was in Common that had three double letters. She answered "Spiideerr" but he told her it was "Bookkeeper". She was impressed, and let them go.
Outside, they were confronted by Odako and Mal Rogan, demanding any treasures they had. The other two cultists were dead, the Creeping Darkness having killed them. Wulf simply called for Xanatha, who had fun ripping Odako to shreds, and chasing Mal Rogan into the forest.
It was tough going getting back, but they did so, as per Maddox's original plan, by making a raft and heading down-stream. The Ordo were thankful for the party rescuing Marla and Plendel, as well as the scriptures they had brought back with them, and were good on paying for the contract. This money, along with the precious treasures they had gained had certainly made the trip worth it. Hurst was pleased with the news on Symbar as well, though he would have to sit patiently while he waited on the final translation.
Rumours then came back from some of the barbarian tribes. A foreboding and freezing darkness was spreading along the Malgomar river, and across a large radius surrounding King Hurian's tomb. It was making boat travel along the river near impossible. It seemed that the Creeping Darkness had expanded massively following it's consumption of the Vile Water, and now that area of the forest was an even more treacherous place than before. There was already a talk of an unholy alliance of the Witches of Davokar and the Theurgs attempting to take it on. The party realised that whilst they had done well for themselves out of the mission, the repercussions for Davokar itself were massive. An ancient evil had been unleased tenfold upon the land.