Arthas heads down to the main tavern room of The Defender's Heart early in the morning, before the rest of the party is awake. He has not slept, but instead spent the night praying feverously to Erastil. The smell of breakfast frying reaches him from the kitchen, but he does not order anything. He has not eaten in a few days, now. Arthas spends the next few hours talking to some of the Knights of the Pale based at the inn. He sells them some of the loot from the Tower of Estrod, and gives them the demonic texts and brazen head to destroy. Then, he waits in quiet prayer for the rest of the party. Eventually, they wake and join him, though Malak is still nowhere to be found. As the other party members are eating breakfast, Irabeth Tirabade approaches their table, accompanied by a dwarf. She explains that the dwarf's name is Aron Galakir, one of the local mercenaries who work with the Knights, and that he has a story to tell. Aron has been stationed at Drezen Citadel, an outpost near Anestral City consecrated to both Iomedae and Torag. Several days ago, the citadel's commander, Halgrim Fatherstone, was visited by Staunton Vhane. A few hours later, as Aron was working his post along the citadel's southern wall, the sky went dark, and the landscape changed precipitously, as though the entire building had been transported to some other place. Using his darkvision, Aron could make out a small army of demonic-looking creatures trying to scale the fortress's walls. As he was running to defend the citadel, Aron was snatched from the battlement by a large, winged beast with three heads. The beast carried the hapless dwarf across the blasted landscape, spiraling higher and higher, before eventually dropping him at the edge of a cliff. Aron believes that the creature meant to smash him on the rocks below, but the quick-thinking dwarf managed to grab at an overhand on the way down, expertly twisting in the air. He scrambled to safety as the beast winged away, lost and alone in a barren, foreign land. Aron wandered for a few days across the jagged, unfamiliar landscape. He had begun to lose hope when a vision of Iomedae appeared to him, beckoning for him to follow. He did so, clambering across ravines, and crawling at times through twisting tunnels. Often, great demons and foul beasts would appear in the distance, but the vision of Iomedae always lead him around these danger. Eventually, jut when the dwarf thought he could go no further, he found himself at the edge of the Hellmouth and in the ruins of Anestral City. The party decides that this citadel must be the one mentioned in Vhane's letter to Hosilla, and that they should proceed their immediately, to secure the sword of valor. They persuade Aron to draw them a rough (for a dwarf) sketch of the keep's layout, and even to describe the location of the citadel's secret vaults. Then, Lor leaps onto a table and calls for volunteers to join the party in the upcoming battle. The Knights of the Pale are forbidden by their oaths from leaving the capital while it is under attack, but several local heroes are persuaded to join the cause. The first to step forward is Arles Jhestander, a grizzled veteran known locally as the Hammer of Justice. He is joined first by Kamilo Dann (a local paladin whose brother was killed in the attack on Anestral City) and then by a cleric of Shelyn named Sosiel Vaenic. Finally, Aron himself agrees to join, partly for vengeance, but mostly for a share of any treasure the party finds. Their numbers bolstered, the team sets ut for the Hellmouth, Aron leading the way. As they leave the city, the ground becomes steeper, and great cliff walls rise up above them. The ground at their feat is littered with cracks that seem to have no bottom, and the stench of evil fills the air. After hours of walking, the ravine that they are following ends in a sheer wall of rock, and a single, narrow shaft drops down into the ground. Aron insists that this is the way that he came the day before. Arthas secures a rope to a nearby boulder, and the party descends into the shaft. Underground, they find a network of caves bisected by a waterfall and river. Lor and Nor walk across the water, but in the tight confines of the cave, they are doused by spray from the falls. Lor loses all sense of his identity-- for these are the fabled waters of the river Styx-- until Nor successful returns his memories with a heal spell. Elaryan uses dimension door to ferry the rest of the party across the dangerous waters. Beyond the river, the party is ambushed by swarms of ravenous, flying insects! The tiny creatures seem immune to most magic and all weapons, and the party is quickly overwhelmed. Kamilo and Arles run off into the darkness, clawing at their faces, while Elaryan tries to disperse the swarms with fireballs . In the narrow, twisting passageways, the flames do as much damage to the heroes as to their enemies. Finally, the party breaks through the swarms and discovers a massive, insect queen. A few well-placed arrows from Arthas-- and one final fireball from Elaryan-- are enough destroy the queen. As she dies, the swarms momentarily disperse, and the party flees before they can regroup. Taking stock of their situation, they realize that Sosiel has been slain and that Kamilo and Arles have disappeared entirely. Nor retrieves Sosiel's body, but is unable to find the other two heroes-- and the demonic swarms have begun to gather in even greater numbers throughout the caverns. Locating a second passage up, he party decides to escape to above-ground before the swarms can return in earnest. Everyone who played gains 1,000 XP for defeating the Vescavor queen. Nor and Arthas gain an additional 1,000 XP for successfully negotiating with Aron, and for rallying the town's heroes.