From the darkness of the tunnel the party could hear the moaning and screeching of approaching worm zombies. Radegast stepped into the tunnel, spying the shambling creatures. She cast thunderwave and quickly backpedalled. The force of the bard's spell rocked the cave network, causing the ground to roil and buckle and sending plumes of rock dust falling from the ceiling. "Uh oh," Radegast said. The ceiling of the tunnel began to cave in, pelting Radegast, Theryn, and Varien with sharp shards of rock as they jumped to safety. A cloud of dust belched forth from the tunnel mouth. Theryn spat gravel from his mouth and glared in the bard’s direction. As the dust settled, the party could see that the tunnel had half-filled with rubble at least three feet deep in places, but was still passable. The shapes of struggling worm zombies could be seen trying to lurch towards them, their progress slowed by the difficult terrain. Xylon stepped up and cast burning hands , filling the tunnel with a cone of fire. One of the worm zombies freed itself and slashed at Theryn with its ragged claws, and spat a worm onto the monk. Theryn groaned as the creature began chewing its way inside him. On the surface, Erwen and Alec kept mostly to themselves as the Harper and Gauntlet agents systematically dismantled the Red Wizards’ operations at Old Owl Well. They folded up what remained of the wizards’ tent and rifled through the portable writing desk and chest of drawers, looking for clues as to Hamun Kost’s purpose at the ziggurat. They piled the Red Wizards’ instruments and supplies onto a wagon, which they then hitched their horses to. The men also dragged all the zombie corpses some distance away from the ziggurat before setting them alight. “These foul necromancers used their undead servants like draft horses,” Captain Kraklos sneered. “Disgusting.” “Well, you've got to hand it to them,” Garmen Ulreth said, “undead make a cheap source of labour.” Kraklos shook his head. The Harpers and Gauntlets gave Erwen and his owlbear a wide berth, but Captain Kraklos was quick to engage Alec in a conversation about the Order of the Gauntlet and its ethos. Hours passed. The men set up their own camp, complete with bedrolls and a campfire, and positioned scouts atop the ziggurat to watch for trouble. For his part, Erwen spent his time amusing himself with his druidcraft by conjuring unpleasant smells and releasing them from the various Harpers and Gauntlet agents milling around the campsite. Much to his amusement, they began berating their cook for feeding them some disagreeable dinner. He was concerned for Who, who was still acting strangely. The Owlbear was hunched over, lethargic, though his heart pounded at great speed. Running out of patience, Erwen told Who to go off into the hills and hunt for food. The owlbear looked at Erwen, looked at the tower, and with a curt nod of its beak obeyed, putting as much distance between itself and the tower as it could. "I am going underground after my friends," Erwen said to the party of paladins and scouts. "If anything happens to that Owlbear while I am gone, you will have me to deal with." "So, the bear cub can speak!" one of the Harper agents said, chuckling. Alec chose to speak further with Captain Kraklos about the Order of the Gauntlet. "Someone has to watch our horses," he said to Erwen. Erwen nodded and entered the rift where the Red Wizards’ tent. He noticed that Lightbringer, the mace the party had discovered in Wave Echo Cave, was glowing with radiant light, and had been since the spring equinox a few days ago. "Neat," the Halfling said. He cast pass without trace on himself and descended into the ziggurat. Walking carefully down the stone steps, he passed through an open door and found himself inside a once-grand chamber. The light from his magical mace pushed enough of the darkness back to reveal a huge open pit in the centre of the green stone floor, and as Erwen watched, writhing tendrils of sickening green vapour slithered up from the depths of the pit, breaking apart and fading away as they rose into the chamber. Erwen took note of the 30 foot pillars supporting the roof of the grand chamber and saw how several of them nearest the pit had been knocked down by some unknown force in ages past. He saw immense stone double doors leading to the north. Walking up to the doors, Erwen saw a piece of parchment affixed to their exterior. "Don't Open Worms Inside," the Halfling read. Shrugging, he walked to the edge of the pit and looked down into the green gloom. He spied a cave entrance in the side of the pit and noticed a grappling hook and rope tethered nearby, hanging just outside the lip of the cave. Nodding to himself, he wildshaped into spider form and picked his way down the side of the chasm. Bob cast firebolt at the screeching worm zombie in the tunnel. The bolt of flame blasted the creature, sending scorched worms dropping from the creature’s waving limbs. Varien swung with Talon and sliced into the worm zombie confronting Theryn. Theryn struck the zombie twice with his bo staff and punched it. Radegast darted in, stabbed with her rapier, and darted out. Xylon cast burning hands again. The worm zombie crumbled into cinders. Theryn spied a creeping boil approaching. He bashed it with his bo staff. Radegast decided to help Xylon identify weaknesses in the worm zombies. Xylon figured they were immune to being poisoned. He cast chromatic orb . His chromatic orb missed, and he cast mage hand to facepalm himself. Wary of the worm digging into him, Theryn struck his chest with his bo staff, crushing the wriggling creature. Varien slashed at the second worm zombie, which fell apart. The creeping boil exploded, showering Theryn with acid. Bob used his healing kit on Theryn, who had taken a considerable beating. Erwen-Spider crept up behind Xylon and suddenly webbed him with his spinneret. He dropped out of spider form. "What did I miss?" he asked the rest of the party. “Erwen!” his companions shouted. Xylon struggled and broke the webbing around him, giving Erwen an annoyed look. “Anyone hurt?” Erwen asked? “The only thing hurt here is Xylon's pride,” Bob said. "Hey, I'm hurt plenty," Theryn gasped. Varien healed himself. Bob used a healing word on Theryn. Echoing down the tunnel came the blood-curdling sound of a woman screaming. The party tensed. “This place was shut up for hundreds of years,” Bob whispered. “Who could still be alive down here?” Radegast thought for a moment.. "Either that is an obvious trap, or Theryn's Lady in Red might have been kidnapped and dragged down here." “That would explain the blood trail,” Theryn said, pointing at the fresh splashes of red along the walls of the tunnel. Erwen rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "This is why it's taken us a day to figure out what's going on here," he said, charging ahead into the tunnel. The party walked over a crunching carpet of worm husks as they probed deeper into the tunnel. The winding tunnel opened into a larger cavern, the stale air heavy with moisture. They saw two humanoid forms locked in an embrace near a pile of casks and crates. “What in the name of Sune?” Varien hissed. The first figure was hugging the second in an embrace that would have been sensual save for the stream of worms vomiting forth from its open mouth, spilling out onto the face of the second figure. Theryn shook his head slowly. “That’s the second Red Wizard,” he said quietly, pointing at the shivering female form, which bore the wounds of the recent battle. The woman was helpless as the creature continued to vomit worms into her open mouth. The tiny green worms slithered their way down her throat. She convulsed, her eyes rolling back in her head. "This is sick," Radegast whispered. “This ends now!” Theryn hissed, readying his bo staff. He called upon his ki reserves and charged in stealthily, bashing the first creature with his staff and causing it to drop the woman, who flailed on the ground as if in the throes of a seizure. The creature stumbled back, stunned by Theryn's relentless attack. It had once been human, but was now a shambling mass of worm-ridden flesh, every orifice on its head crammed with writhing green worms. Radegast grabbed the woman's arm and dragged her to safety. Bob cast fire bolt. Varien rushed in to smite the creature. The creature took the hits from the party in stride, and as they watched, its wounds began to close up. Erwen harnessed the power of nature and summoned two brown bears, and then wildshaped into bear form. The party’s eyes widened at the conjured bears, who roared and then attacked the wormspawn with the fury of the forest. Theryn struck the creature again with a flurry of blows, killing it. “Okay, what do I do?” Radegast said to herself as she tried to help the choking woman. “Chest compressions? Uh, do I induce vomiting?” Xylon couldn’t help but admire the Red Wizard’s scantily clad frame. “She looks fine to me,” he leered. Radegast was about to send a cutting word in Xylon’s direction when the woman ceased struggling on the ground in front of her. Her eyelids snapped open. In place of her eyes were now the tiny mouths of two green worms, which began screaming with rage at Radegast. “What did you bring her over here for?” Bob asked, horrified. With a wave of her hand the Red Wizard, now in thrall to the green worms, cast a ray of sickness on Radegast, who stumbled away, vomiting the contents of her stomach. She lurched to her feet and clawed at Xylon. “Oh, hells!” Xylon shouted, repulsed as he could see the shapes of worms crawling beneath the woman’s skin. Theryn turned and leaped towards the infested Red Wizard, striking her hard with his bo staff over and over again. “Not your first time doing that, is it Theryn?” Bob asked. Erwen-Bear roared with laughter. Bob cast firebolt at the woman, blowing a hole in her midsection from which a cascade of worms spilled out. Xylon cast chromatic orb . The woman crumpled under the onslaught of magical and mundane weapons. With a final screech, she fell to the stone floor in a splash of bile, guts, and wriggling worms, which slithered into crevasses in the rock and disappeared. Radegast kept vomiting, leaning against the cavern wall. Ignoning the bard’s distress, Theryn searched the boxes. Judging by the amount of dust and cobwebs, they had been placed in this tunnel long, long ago. Some of them held long-spoiled and desiccated rations. Xylon found some scraps of parchment atop a crate that looked like they had been written on. Radegast wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and felt a little steadier. She got up and examined the corpse. "Anyone mind if I take this woman's ineffectual armor?" she asked, pointing at the red bikini. “You never know when I might need a disguise.” Xylon grinned lecherously. Theryn opened one of the crates and found nestled inside two mantles, one made of blue fabric with silver trim, and the other of green fabric with gold trim. Hidden inside the crate was also a golden medallion on a fine silver chain. The medallion was stamped with some sort of coat of arms. Xylon saw some casks of wine and opened one, finding it empty. He realized that whatever alcohol might have been held inside at one time had long since evaporated with the passage of the centuries. A tear formed in his eye. “Not the booze,” he whispered to himself. The party proceeded to burn the two corpses, just to be on the safe side.