Grizz, Besh, Thazma and Javlin spend the night in the tower near the river crossing. Through the night you see snakes moving hither and yon, and at one point Grizz needs to shroud the interior of the tower in shadow to hide from snakes that enter. In the morning you discuss whether to proceed to the tomb with only eight puzzle boxes, but you are pretty sure that you will need all nine. Instead you decide that you will go back to the entrance of the Fane in the hope that one of your companions has survived. At around mid-day, the snakes suddenly start heading back to the Fane so you are able to leave the tower. You find a spot near the entrance to the palace and wait. Back in the Fane, b'Urp and Trayzeal hide in the darkness above the underground lake. You can see Yuan-Ti waiting for you on the shore with bows drawn. Trayzeal quietly slips down into the water and slips across the lake and towards the shore. He bursts out of the water near the exit, surprising a broodguard who he wounds, he then tries to flee the area. However as he does so, one of the Yuan-ti magically suggests that he stays still and Trayzeal is forced to comply. Meanwhile b'Urp is climbing across the ceiling of the chamber. He uses his elemental ability to make a splashing in the water which attracts the hydra. Finding no foe to attack the Hydra moves towards the shore. Seeing many bodies it launches itself out, ripping at a Yuan-ti with it's 5 heads. The yuan-ti and their servants scatter to either side, most of them running to the northern door. However this still leaves Trayzeal in the exit tunnel with 4 enemies. One of them claws him and the compulsion to stay is removed. Trayzeal flees down the passage with 4 Yuan-ti and broodguard in hot pursuit. The hydra kills another yuan-ti and drags the body into the water. Seizing the opportunity, b'Urp leaps down from the ceiling onto the shore and flees out the tunnel. Grizz, Besh, Javlin and Thazma see Trayzeal running from the palace with Yuan-ti in pursuit, but you are easily able to defeat them. b'Urp bounds out from behind and yells "run, there and many more and they will soon be coming out". You all return to the tower for a short rest and to catch each other up about what has happened. You know that Orvex and Shmesh have either been killed or captured, but you also know that there is no way you can survive another journey to the Fane. As you now have all 9 of the puzzle boxes you decide to make your way to the tomb entrance. As you journey to the tomb you note that you are being tracked by a small tribe of grung. They look odd to b'Urp, but as they keep their distance you pay them no heed. You arrive back at the tomb entrance and spend some time working out what to do. You re-read the message on the obelisk: Grizz, remembering his dream has a look through the bushes on the east side of the tunnels, but finds nothing of interest. You go to look at the statues. They are representations of the nine trickster gods. Remembering what you have found and the stories that Orvex told you, you realise that each statue faces its enemy. But there are only eight statues down this dim tunnel. You realise that there is no statue to Unkh, the flail snail. You also realise that Unkh is the only trickster god who has no enemies. Besh then enters the tunnel and as he does containers of oil in front of every statue flair to life. Grizz takes this as another sign that Besh is the chosen one and bows down to him. b'Urp goes to the end of the tunnel and looks for a secret door. Success. Opening it reveals a statue of Unkh, and hanging off the statue is a golden pendant shaped like an eye. Thazma assesses it and finds divination magic. b'Urp decides to wear it. It has no immediate effect, but as he passes near the obelisk he feels it pulling at him towards the bushes Grizz examined before. b'Urp climbs partway up the cliff-face and follows where the amulet leads him, and he finds that the wall behind the bushes is illusory. He passes through, scaring a flock of bats who fly out. But finds what they take to be the true entrance to the tomb. You all head down the passage. A slab of worked stone blocks the overgrown tunnel some twenty feet from the entrance. Grinning skulls mark the edges of the slab, in the center of which are nine cube-shaped cavities arranged in three rows of three. You quickly realise that this is the key. You place the Unkh cube in the centre, and then the opposing gods across from each other until all nine cavities are full. The nine cubes flare with light, then disappear. Growling like an angry beast, the slab begins to slide up into the ceiling. Another slab blocks the hallway twenty feet beyond the first door. An iron lever is set into the door's surface, with a graven stone skull leering down from above. Besh moves forward, but as he gets halfway the skull's jaws creak open, and a skeletal hand holding a crystal hourglass-style timer emerges from within. With a click, the timer rotates and sand starts to trickle into its lower globe. Besh backs into the previous passageway, but Trayzeal sees that the sand will run out in less than 10 seconds. He runs down the passage and pulls the lever. Suddenly the floor between the two doors splits open along a central seam, revealing a long 20 foot deep pit lined with spikes. Trayzeal falls, but his grip on the lever saves him. As he dangles, the sand in the hourglass finishes falling, he hand retracts and the second door sinks into the floor. Trayzeal pulls himself up into the new passageway and then pulls the lever up. The floor returns to it's previous state and you are all able to follow. A moss-covered corridor extends beyond the second door. Tree roots hang from the sagging ceiling, and the air reeks of rot and damp. Ahead, a bas-relief carving of a bearded devil's face adorns the wall at a T-shaped intersection. The devil's open mouth is a well of utter darkness. You move up the passage, setting off one dart trap and finding two others. When you arrive at the T intersection, to the left you see an iron grate on the ground and creepers and vines cling to the walls. At the end of this corridor is an arched crystal window, six feet wide and ten feet high. Through it, you can see a dark chamber. To the right, a grand chamber opens ahead, fifty feet across and plunging down into darkness below. A stone balcony winds around the walls to connect four archways. Other balcony levels are visible below, with corridors radiating off in all directions. To the north, a stone staircase descends to the lower levels. You head to the right and as you approach you see two things. A hunched figure glares up at you from the balcony below, wearing a mask that is a replica of the devil face at the tomb entrance. Without saying a word, the figure steps out of sight. On the balcony across from you you see a skeleton standing there, swaying slightly. It's head is an odd shape, as if it was too tall and it has been carved into the shape of a triangle. It's head slowly turns towards you and as it sees you it's jaw drops and it throws its arms in the air as it starts to run towards a northern passageway. Trayzeal pulls out his bow and shoots the thing. It immediately shatters. You move across and take the skull. From this space there are too many choices. Passages lead everywhere and stairs lead down to other balconies off which more corridors radiate. You decide to stay on this level for now and move on. You pass by a magnetic statue that causes you some trouble, find a fountain which you drink from that has various effects. In b'Urp's case he completely loses his voice. You then move to the south down what seems like a dead end passage but on examination hides two secret doors. One of the doors leads to a stairway going down and the other opens up into a chamber. The secret door opens behind a throne in a niche in the wall. In the throne slumps a corpse wears a black mask made of papier-mâché and feathers. You see similar corpses on the other side of the chamber, but a stone sarcophagus on a stepped dias stands between them. You cannot see the whole room from this vantage. Remembering the warning to 'don the mask or be seen', b'Urp takes the mask from the corpse and puts it on. He then signals to Grizz that he is about to enter the chamber. Grizz misunderstands his signal and moves around the throne entering the chamber himself. He sees the entire room. This vaulted tomb is overgrown with moss and creepers. A stone sarcophagus rests on a stepped dais in the middle of the floor. On the wall behind the sarcophagus, two large statues of bears grip a five-foot-diameter bronze disk embossed with a dozen glaring eyes. Six desiccated corpses slump on thrones in niches along the walls. Each corpse wears a black mask made of papier-mâché and feathers (except for the one b'Urp is wearing). An arched crystal window to the east offers a view of the tunnel beyond. As soon as Grizz enters the chamber the eyes on the bronze disk fix on him, then the corpses start to move and stumble towards him. Roll initiative...
