Westward down deeper into the Wailing Caverns, Gan Jedi took it upon himself to scout ahead for the party. What he found was a spiraling climb upwards though a wide.open cavern. Between the pillars that connected to the ceiling high above, deadly vipers were making their nest.
As the party battled these vipers, errant spells sent tremors shaking through the rock. Stalactites were crashing down from above, almost crushing Zachariah Hallowhold as they did!
Eventually, the party found a small elven encampent; a group of the druids who had hunkered down around a ritual performed by the second leader of the fang; Lord Cobrahn. The elves were ready to fight, but then ...
Through a bold display of charisma and deft skills of negotiation, Servius Felheart and Kelrith Shalith managed to talk the elves down. One of the elves broke away from the scene, transformed into a bird before he fled deeper into the caverns. But for the rest, the confrontation managed to break Cobrahn and one of his felllows free from the harrowing nightmare that had enveloped them.
The party agreed to help the druids out, and plans began for a journey so they all could return back to the surface and escape the darkness -- Cobrahn and the other elf with him, as well as Muyoh, Nalpak, and Ebru.
Before actually departing, however, Zachariah decided to try and see what would happen if he took the previously acquired crystals from Fletcher Manor in Hillsbrad Foothills and infuse them into the ritual that Cobrahn had been performing.
As he did so, the caverns were quickly cast into an ominous darkness as the ritual absorbed the crystals wholesale.
Suddenly, time felt of the essence, and so the party made their swift exit.
On the way out, they learned that Cobrahn's true name was Jarlax -- and the other druid with him was Elhalan. Also in their exit, Servius used his felfires to scorch the cavern's wild growths as they passed them, to smoke the place out and cause chaos among however many elves were still down there.
Their exit was made with little trouble. Gan blazed the trail effectively and the rest followed after, and when they made it back to the camp it was a heartfelt reunion for Nara Wildmane and Tonga Runetotem to see old friends again.
They decided to spend the night there at the camp, so their journey could continue in the morning.
During that night, Jarlax decided to pass his druidic vestments to the party. With their magical powers, he told them, its wearer would possess the power to transform into a snake by sheer force of will.