Izek, your six hill-folk and Helwa's dire wolf press higher into the slopes of Mount Ghakis. Visibility shifts by the hour as clouds roll low, turning the cliffs into walls of shadow and fog. The air around you is thin, and the stone grows sharp underfoot. Ice clings to the rocks in long, brittle sheaths, and the wind screams through narrow gullies without warning. You move along ledges that are at points no wider than a man's shoulders, and snowdrifts bury your tracks within minutes. With such a difficult quarry, how does your group look to find Bloodhorn?
Traversing Mount Ghakis' harsh peaks in blizzardly conditions, Izek tracked Sangzor with Helwa' tribe, but a full day of search found little more than snow and rock. They returned to the temple's annex to find Ajuni more frostbitten than their bone-chilled barbarian. Ghalwin caught Izek up on their adventure, and keeping in theme, the former captain advised that they could not save Kasimir from himself. Meanwhile, feeling a lightness that she had not experienced in months, Ajuni reflected on her journey with Tobias, and both expressed private gratitude towards Ghalwin, though they would never say it to his face.
Tending to Ajuni's cracked skin, Ezmerelda encouraged the sorceress to tap further into her divine abilities. With Delban's undying influence now purged, Ajuni found that she could access greater healing magic than she had before, and was able to restore the condition of her skin. Meanwhile, Tobias identified their mysterious book as a Tome of Understanding, and gave it to his sister as a reward for her new insight.
Izek convinced the barbarians that the party could help them find Sangzor after raiding the temple, and Helwa permitted him temporary leave. That evening, they headed down to open more doors. Ghalwin smote a book-hurling poltergeist in a destroyed wizard's bedchambers, where Ajuni found a hidden spell scroll that could produce a wall of fire. Further on, Tobias struggled to break the arcane locks of the vault doors and cut himself on his broken lockpick, so they relied on Ezmerelda's loud spellcraft to open a vault. As expected, amber sarcophagi were inside: they contained the minutes powers of Yog the Invincible and Great Taar Haak the Five-Headed Destroyer, as well as the seemingly empty tomb of Yrrga, the Eye of Shadows.
The Heralds continued to a plundered treasury, which Ezmerelda estimated once contained a Golem that had broke the room apart while chasing thieves. Tobias spotted strange illusory magic in a corner of the ceiling, which Ghalwin dispelled, and hundreds of skulls poured out from the recess. They threw a grappling hook up into the hole, and Ghalwin and Tobias explored the two hidden doors linking the alcove above. The gnome saw bodies in front of a smaller granite statue through the southern door, and wanted to avoid the enchantment magic that suffused the room. Instead, he opted to peak into the north room, which emanated an inconceivably powerful necromantic energy.
Standing in the middle of an ornate bedroom, a lich's eyes grew red, noticing Tobias despite his stealth. Orlev ben Khazan asked if the two knew each other, the gnome responded "not yet", and it uttered a word of power that killed Tobias on the spot. Ghalwin immediately fawned to Khazan, and once he realized that he was not being attacked, grabbed his friend's lifeless body and leapt to the floor below. The group ran to safety, and Ajuni desperately tried to revive Tobias. Her spell was just strong enough to pull his soul back into his body (exactly met the Revivify DC), and the party caught their breath in a moment of anguished confusion.
Entertained, Neferon called out as they moved close to his statue, offering tea and respite. They accepted his offer and had a short chat in his hovel, where the arcanaloth was both quite friendly and directly hostile. He answered further questions about Khazan's lichdom, and revealed that Segrei's Bright Blade had been brought to the temple by an adventurer centuries beforehand. Ghalwin expressed his want of the artifact, and Neferon agreed to give it to them, provided that the adventurers restored either the temple or Khazan's mind.
Through a secret entrance behind the statue, they found a great library, with illusion magic covering its thousands of preserved books. They sent in Ez alone, who found a hidden doorway; Ghalwin followed it to an antechamber and sensed that Khazan's bedroom lay not far beyond. Rather than push their luck with the lich, they headed down a spiral golden staircase to an amber vault. Two more amber sarcophagi lay inside, as was a destroyed one, next to a large fissure that cracked the room open. Six rotting wooden boxes were placed haphazardly among the vault, and Ghalwin sensed undead within them; as they stopped to discuss on the stairs, vampire spawn jumped from each to attack!