The next morning, waking up to Norin preparing to depart, Quill has Gaia open the box again, but there are no treasures to be found, other than a moth who flies out of it. Quill unlocks the door for Norin, and they all peer outside, making sure there are no monsters lurking. Raenerys, who can see in the dark, sees no danger, so they quietly make their way out and head onwards towards the other side of the city.
On the way through the abandoned city streets, looking to the right, the party spots a few shrines in a side alley, dedicated to a few different gods, one of them Nuesis, the god Gaia suspects is the one that brought her back. While Quill wanders around to give offerings to each shrine to protect them on their journey, Norin and Raenerys sitting nearby taking a breather, Gaia sits down in front of Nuesis’ shrine, pulls off some of her skin from her arm, and puts it into the tray, praying for guidance. Suddenly, Norin reacts, telling everyone to hide, as they see a blue-green glow approaching around the corner. Quill quickly summons an illusory wall, while Gaia stands perfectly still, blending into the environment. She sees a group of ghosts floating past, looking towards the shrines, but as they don’t notice the group, they just continue on their way, towards where the party came from. Norin suggests that they hurry onwards before they return.
As they pass by an old skeleton, Gaia leans down to see if she can learn anything from it, casting a spell to speak with the dead. She asks the skeleton about the road ahead, which is apparently infected with goblins and orcs, and that they’re being fenced in. They figure this is a very old corpse, and that information might not be accurate. It doesn’t know anything specific about the forest outside, or anything about any monastery, indicating that the Monastery of Silence came after the city fell.
As the skeleton crumbles to dust, the spell complete, the party continues onwards, and eventually comes to a large town square for the underground city. Corpses and skeletons are scattered all around of all shapes and sizes, some new, most very old. In the middle of the square, near an old fountain, three giants are resting around a campfire. They seem to have rested for the night, possibly intending to move on, and don’t seem to be responsible for the scattered corpses considering how decayed they look.
Norin suggests a detour, and the party is about to agree with him, until they spot a Ring of Spell Storing on a nearby arm sticking out of the ground. Quill and Raenerys immediately recognizes it, and are unable to leave without acquiring it, as it might be very useful for them. They decide to make a plan to sneak up and steal the ring before the giants notice it, with Gaia as a backup to distract them if Quill, who will sneak up and steal it, is about to be detected.
Gaia flies up and over the giants, positioning herself behind them, while Raenerys holds back close to the wall, out of sight. Norin has retreated to a safe distance, while Quill has changed her appearance to look like a goblin. To everyone's surprise, Quill wanders in, making noise and singing, pretending to loot random corpses, making her way over to the ring. The giants, of course, are immediately suspicious, and make their way over to her, swords drawn, curious as to what is going on. Raenerys and Gaia has no idea what just happened.
One of the giants are holding back, holding a crossbow, aiming it at Quill, so Gaia flies down to get his attention, to show that they mean no harm. Just as Quill snags the ring and begins to escape, the two giants with swords start chasing her, spotting Raenerys hiding by the wall. The giant with the crossbow shoots one at Gaia, but as she doesn’t retaliate, but tries to show that they mean no harm, the giant calls out for the two others to retreat, just as they are about to swing their swords down at Raenerys. The situation is resolved amicably, with the giants letting them pass without trouble, but keeps a close eye on them as they pass. The others ask what the hell that was about, with Quill saying she misunderstood the plan. No matter, everyone made it out alive, so they continue through the square and down a street, away from the giants.
After a while, they come across a bridge carved out of stone in front of a massive wall filled with skeletons and urns, surrounding a gate leading onwards. The whole bridge is overrun by ghosts of warriors past, with Norin cursing to himself, saying that he hoped they would be able to avoid the ghosts. They don’t want to backtrack as they want to get out of the mountain as soon as possible, so they decide to sneak past, with Quill taking on the appearance of a dwarven guard, while the others tie their hands together to appear as prisoners.
The party plays their part, approaching the bridge. The ghosts all stare them down, with one ghost in particular, a lieutenant, turns around and stops them, saying “None may pass. The fallen has made this place their final charge, and they keep it still, awaiting the destined time.” the lieutenant asks what her purpose is, with Quill saying that she is bringing them in as prisoners for indecency. Surprisingly, the ghost buys her story, letting them pass, but the other ghosts keep staring her down. The party decides to make haste and not linger, passing through the gate.
Quill isn’t happy, so when the party has safely passed through and is out of sight, she returns to the ghosts, as they figure they are waiting to be relieved. As she approaches the lieutenant, he repeats the line from earlier, indicating that he has forgotten her already. She claims that she is here to relieve him and his troops, but when the lieutenant asks who the captain is, she fumbles, as she doesn’t know the name. She mumbles Kilia’s family name, but it doesn’t work, and she barely manages to lie her way out of a full-on attack by the dwarves by saying she will return.
When Quill returns to the others, they make haste, not wanting to linger in case the ghosts see through her lies. On the way through the labyrinth, they come across an old skeleton, who Gaia speaks to using her magic, learning that the family name of the captain would be Broodfist, a name both Quill and Raenerys recognize. The lieutenant's name is Torbran, called the Wielder of the First Axe. As the skeleton crumbles to dust, they continue until they finally reach a city in a large cavern, the final part before they reach the end. Norin recommends that they stay quiet and sleep without a light for the night, leading them to a house he clearly has used before, as he has supplies within. Quill uses a runic lock on the door, protecting them.
During the night, while Raenerys keeps one of the watches, she suddenly sees a figure through the ancient glass, attempting to get in. At first it looks like a human trying to make its way through the window and in the door, but it is soon revealed to be part of the body of a much bigger and more disturbing looking creature, walking on four legs, with several arms protruding through its mouth. Raenerys uses a spell to peer through its eyes, revealing that the creature sees through several sets of eyeballs around its body. As she observes it, it attempts to make its way inside through the roof, but the building is too well fortified, as it continues onwards, away from their location.
When she tells the others about it the next morning, Norin is worried, calling it a body snatcher, which uses corpses to lure people close. The puppets it throws around have little intelligence, but the being itself will stop at nothing to get its prey. They decide to waste no time, wanting to make it out before it catches up to them, using several ways to throw off their scent and hindering its path by laying traps behind them. After sneaking through the city over the next several hours, they finally see light up ahead, from an “A”-shaped opening in the wall. The party runs for it, with the body snatcher now hot on their tail. Quill throws up a wall of fire, but it just runs straight through it, with the party just barely making it outside before it catches up to them. It doesn’t seem to appreciate the light, as it retreats as soon as the daylight from outside hits it.
Safely through on the other side, the party takes a breather, discussing how to approach it. Down the valley between the mountains they spot the forest that is their destination, with a swamp surrounding it, and a river leading down the mountain into the forest. There is a vast valley north of them, reaching further than their eyes can see. They at first suggest heading into the forest and then return for Norin to teleport him back to his home, but they instead decide to teleport back now, rest for a day in a cozy bed, then return the next day to make their way to the forest.
Norin gets close to the others, as Quill prepares to teleport them back. Just as she does, they hear a roar from above, as a dragon flies overhead. They don’t see what color it is before they find themselves back in the tavern in Dol’karak. The bartender is immediately startled by their sudden arrival, prompting the rest of the patrons to turn around to see what the commotion is. Philip walks over, patting Norin on the back, asking if they made it over safely, with Norin meekly confirming so. Philip buys Norin an ale, after telling them where they can find the local “library”. The party decides to leave Norin in the tavern, with Raenerys asking him to stay for a bit to socialize, trying to help him overcome his social anxiety. He agrees, and gives her a hug, which she reluctantly reciprocates.
The party spends the rest of the evening studying the old books of the library, which is little more than a small home filled with bookshelves, containing both old and new books. They look through the ones that look oldest, finding that the city under the mountain was called Nor Vathun, while the captain of the guard was Eldren Broodfist. He has long since passed, but the family tree indicates that there might be some living relatives around that might help them let the ghosts rest.
Heading back to the tavern, having learned what they can, they find that Norin has retreated to his house, but Philip greets them, asking them about their journey underground. Quill decides to regale the patrons with stories about their journey, while Raenerys tells Philip to stand up for Norin if anyone should pick on him. Philip agrees, saying that he only wants what’s best for him. The party then heads to sleep, waking up the next day to a rainy and gloomy sky.
While eating breakfast, Gaia asks the innkeeper about any dragons roaming around, with him saying there are several, but quite territorial, so they keep to themselves. He isn’t surprised that one resides on the other side of the mountain. Worried that they might face the dragon, but with nothing they can do about it, they decide to teleport over, preparing for the worst.
Luckily, there is no dragon in sight when they emerge on the other side, but the weather is just as bad, if not worse, with a heavy rainfall reducing their visibility and speed. Not wanting to linger, they follow the river down the valley until they eventually reach the forest edge after traveling for most of the day. They see the edge, with vibrant green grass surrounding the beautiful trees, even this late in the year. Gaia recognizes the smells and sounds from the area, so it is clear that she has been here before, and there are several flowers of the same kind they found remnants of in the book.
Worried, Gaia reaches out to the divines to ask if they need permission to enter the forest, with her response being a firm “yes”. She reaches down to touch the grass, but to her horror, it withers and dies as soon as she puts her hand on it. The others do the same, but the grass seems fine when they touch it. Not wanting to kill the forest, Gaia is reluctant to enter, but the roar from behind, and the sound of wings descending, forces them to take refuge within.
Gaia leaves a trail of dead grass where she walks, and the tree she hides behind begins to wither and lose its color, while a massive thud from the dragon landing just outside the treeline shakes the ground beneath them. The dragon smells around, then exclaims “mmmm… halfling… I haven’t tasted such a sweet treat in a while.” Not wanting to become dragon food, the party sneaks away before the dragon finds them, which then retreats soon after as the party escapes.
The party walks for a few hours into the forest, not knowing exactly where they should go, walking in circles. A branch can be heard breaking from behind them. Turning around, they see two centaurs holding a bow and arrow each, aimed straight at them. They seem to focus on Gaia, telling them that they are not permitted in the forest. The party however, explains that they are looking for a way to help her get better. The centaurs falter, lowering their bows, before saying that “Elm” might give them the answers they want, beckoning for them to follow.