You set up double watches through the night, with Tlad as part of every watch as he is aware of his surroundings as he trances. Besh wakes in the night, realising that Biff has not woken him for his watch. He looks around and Biff is nowhere to be seen. Besh has been learning elvish over the last few days so asks Tlad what happened to Biff. Tlad explains that while everyone was asleep, Biff revealed his true self as Vasraena Melarn, the matriarch of his tribe. As odd as it is that she is there, especially after all this time, she demonstrates knowledge that only someone from his tribe could offer. As he prostrated himself to her, she explained that she was there to retrieve the Eye of Zaltec. She demands that Tlad give her the black skull amulet, and then she fetches the Eye from your gear. She told Tlad to wake nobody and then disappeared. Besh wakes you all and repeats the story. You are all sure now that Biff is the doppelganger, but not knowing where he may have gone you decide to finish your rest and continue on your way. When you wake again you have a long discussion about where to proceed next. You know that you will need one more skeleton key, but you are also aware that there are many unexplored areas remaining in this tomb. You decide to explore this level fully and head out towards the main staircase. As you leave the secret areas, b'Urp has a closer look at the water filled stone font. As the water begins to swirl, eerie light emanates from within the basin. Slowly, an image resolves on the water's surface. b'Urp sees the point of view of some large creature moving through the tomb. It approaches a large stone door which opens as the creature nears it. It passes through into the room with the zombies painting scenes of woe. Suddenly the creature notices a swirling pattern in the air near it. It lunges towards it and suddenly a heavily armoured arm bursts out from the font grabbing at b'Urp. B'Urp reacts quickly and kicks and punches the arm with great skill and accuracy. So much that the arm snaps off. As this happens the water calms and no image can be seen. You walk back to the door with oval holes at head height on the main staircase. As you approach, two humanoid heads stick out of the holes, each covered in putrid flesh and gnashing on an iron bit bolted to a chain bridle. You smash them with maces. You then look through the holes to see what is in the room. The first thing you see is that the undead you just smashed had been harnessed to chains that, if the zombies had moved away, would have resulted in them pulling the door up and open via a pulley system. Grizz turns to a lizard and enters the room. Six glass cauldrons brimming with humanoid bones line the walls of this tomb, at the center of which stands an ancient chariot bearing a bronze sarcophagus with treasure strewn atop it. Paintings on the chariot's body show a tall bird with a long, sharp beak. On the south wall, a bronze shield bears the embossed image of a Chultan warrior carrying a spear, below an inscription that reads, "Bow before no one." Four bronze statues stand on pedestals to either side of the shield. They depict Chultan warriors: one holding a sword, two with spears, and one missing its face. Pulling on one of the chains along with two more of you lifting the door means Grizz is able to open the door. You all step through as he holds the door open. When he releases the door bÚrp attempts to hold the door open by holding a shortsword vertically. Not a chance, the sword bends and snaps and the doors lock shut again. Trayzeal goes and looks at the treasure on the sarcophagus. An amulet catches his eye so he picks it up. Suddenly several things happen at once. Strange shadows shift across the walls, forming the outline of a long-legged bird. Its beak stabs at Trayzeal as a voice echoes through his mind: "You will do as I command!" Once again, Trayzeal becomes host to another mind as the trickster god Papazotl inhabits him, changing his personality. He gazes at you all in a now haughty manner as if he now considers you to be inferior to him and obligated to honour his every wish. As this happens, Skeletons start forming in the cauldrons, climbing out and attacking. Meanwhile the hunter on the bronze shield animates and starts shooting arrows of force at you that slam into you HARD. You all dive for cover from the force arrows as you fight the skeletons, but the arrows seem to pass through solid objects and only damage their intended target. Besh calls upon the power of his god and destroys many of the skeletons, but bones continue to form in the cauldrons with a never ending stream of skeletons coming out. Things are looking bad. Tlad turns into mist and goes out through one of the face holes in the door. "Destroy the cauldrons", shouts bÚrp, so you all target your attacks on the glass cauldrons that the skeletons are pouring from, eventually breaking them all. Javelin grabs the shield and places it face down on the ground which stops its attacks. You then break up the remaining skeletons and stop for a rest. You grab the rest of the treasure from this room (which is a good haul) and Grizz covers the shield and brings that. The amulet that Trayzeal had grabbed is an amulet of health: As you are resting, bÚrp becomes aware of his senses being drawn to the wall in the east of the room. He can see the outline of a door faintly glowing as well as a nearby hidden button. He feels the echo of a female grung voice in his head, calling him to rescue her. He opens the secret door and reveals a passage. Ancient cobwebs fill this narrow corridor, whose midpoint features an arched alcove. Within the alcove, a dusty bottle stands on a table. bÚrp is drawn to the far end of the passage and another secret door so after a perfunctory look ignores it and moves to the end of the passage. However Trayzeal looks and does not like what he sees. He sees a strange tiny creature trapped in the bottle. It is yelling at him in a muffled and incomprehensible tongue. It points at him and then points at the stopper of the bottle. Trayzeal cannot bear to see creatures imprisoned, so he grabs the bottle and pulls out the stopper. Smoke pours out of the bottle and flows into the tomb of Papazotl, incorporating into a large version of the creature that was in the bottle. She casts a spell on herself and then laughs at you "HA HA HA, YOU MORTALS ARE SUCH FOOLS. SUCH WEALTH YOU COULD HAVE HAD. RICHES AND POWER BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS. IF YOU HAD THE WIT YOU COULD HAVE BARGAINED WHATEVER YOU WANTED FROM ME. BUT NO, YOU RELEASE ME WITHOUT NEGOTIATION. FOOLS I SAY AGAIN." She then waves her hand and mutters an incantation, but nothing happens. She looks briefly confused. "WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS? NO MATTER" she shouts. She then waves her hand again, turning into smoke and pouring out the face holes into the central staircase and out of sight. Distraction over, bÚrp returns his attention to the second secret door which he opens. The air here reeks of sulfur and brimstone. On the floor of this chamber, a pentagram traced in salt surrounds an ornate sarcophagus, its lid covered with figurines of prancing frog-like humanoids. bÚrp realises that this is the tomb of Nangnang, as it looks exactly the same as the chamber he dreamt in the fane of the night serpent. "No", he says, "No, I will not be part of this. All grung are evil". He turns and leaves, shutting the secret door behind him and leaving you to follow bÚrp the grung as he returns to the tomb of Papazotl.
