March 25, 118
Passing through the secret entrance, the party move through a hallway before arriving at a door. Inside is a room decorated in bones, feathers, totems, and other shamanistic trappings. Evidently, this is the home of the bugbear spellcaster that they previously fought. They take some time to search the room, but they find nothing of interest. If the various shamanistic items inside have any use, none of the party are able discern what it might be.
Moving past this room, they arrive at (as far as they know) the last unexplored room in the complex. Inside, it is a large crypt, in which all of the coffins have been stacked to the side. The rest of the room contains a large, confortable-looking bed and a large wooden chest. Searching the room, they find nothing else of interest, except that the chest appears to be locked.
Ash-Daughter is able to pick the lock, and inside the chest is filled with coins, mostly of the copper and silver variety. Digging through the chest, they find that it also contains some black gems, several golden bracelets, two potions, and a silver necklace. Ellyanna determines that the potions and the necklace are magical.
While Ellyanna tries to identify the items, the rest of the party check out the bed, wondering if it's the same as the one they found beneath Frosthaven. Although it looks similar, it doesn't seem to be magical and they don't feel any different while lying on it. They leave it alone after Ellyanna finishes studying the items, which she determines are a Potion of Fire Giant Strength, a Potion of Clairvoyance, and a Necklace of Fireballs. They distribute the items among themselves.
Putting off further investigation of the pool room for now, the party head up the stairs and find themselves at ground level, inside a temple of some sort. The far end of the room contains a double door and two narrow, slit-like windows that offer a view of the outside. The temple looks to be similar to the shrine they found below, but unused. Where the shrine below contained a bloodstained altar and human bones hanging from the ceiling, the shrine above contains a clean, unmarked altar and empty hooks hanging from the ceiling.
Moving forward through the building, the party open the doors and look through. They find that they are in an ancient, ruined city. Only the building that they're in is still intact; the rest consist of little more than foundation stones and the occasional intact wall. However, they also see that there are several figures hiding in the ruins, watching them. They immediately back into the building and close the doors behind them.
While Ash-Daughter keeps an eye out through the windows, the rest of the party ask Feyrith if she knows where they are. She tells them that there is supposedly an ancient city on the northern slopes of the dragon's mountain, so that's probably where they are.
Several minutes pass while Ash-Daughter stays on watch, but the figures outside do not move. Suspecting that they are waiting to ambush the party, the group discuss their options. They decide to send Ellyanna out, dressed in the black robes, posing as an ally of the undead. When she steps out, they do not attack, but neither do they respond to her at all.
Eventually, the party decide that they should finish investigating the pool down below before they deal with the figures outside, so they head back down into the complex. Leaving Feyrith on watch in case the mysterious figures follow them in, the rest of the party return to the pool.
Knowing that the pool reacted when blood was dripped into it, they decide to retrieve one of the bugbear corpses and use its blood. They drag the corpse in and slit its throat, draining as much blood as they can into the pool. However, it seems to have no effect.
The party stop to discuss why the blood isn't doing anything. Eventually, they decide that it might be because it isn't fresh enough, of possibly because they blood must be drawn using the black dagger. Ellyanna volunteers to test their theory by cutting herself with the dagger and bleeding into the pool, but the hardier Kaplan insists that he take her place instead.
Kaplan steps in front of the pool and Ellyanna cuts his wrist with the dagger. As his blood spreads throughough the pool, they begin to see an image appear. The image is of a series of quivering, rubbery, mustard-yellow overlapping scales, with metal wires running across them, periodically anchored into the scales with nails and metal braces.
Kaplan keeps bleeding until he nearly faints from blood loss; at the last moment, Calanon heals him and closes the wound. At this point, the blood covers about three-quarters of the pool's surface. Wanting to see the full image, they heal up Kaplan and repeat the process until the whole surface is covered.
Once the full image is visible, they see one more detail: near the edge of the pool, they can see what appears to be the start of a colossal eye. Acting on a hunch based on the incription before the room ("Speak the Name of the Master") Dark Star speaks aloud the name "Zargon".
The image shifts as the eye moves toward the center of the pool, but the adventurers each see only a split second of movement before their minds are enveloped with searing pain. Most of the party are immediately incapacitated; only Dark Star and Calanon retain their senses. Immediately, they avert their gazes from the pool and begin healing their companions and dragged them out of the room. Dark Star risks a quick glance back at the pool, but again his mind is filled with searing pain.
Feyrith rejoins the group outside of the room and helps to heal them. They return to the secret area where the White Elf commoners are hiding and rest for an hour to recover.
Once they're recovered, the party return to the room where they fought the black ooze and double-check the statues. Comparing the four statues to the image they saw in the pools, they realize that it seems to match the depiction of Zargon. Given that it also seemed to react when Dark Star said the name "Zargon", it seems quite possible that they were seeing Zargon itself.
They return to the pool room, but this time, Dark Star goes in alone with his eyes closed. They tie a rope around him and the rest of the party holds it, ready to pull him out if anything goes wrong. Dark Star attempts to communicate with Zargon while inside, but his efforts produce no reaction whatsoever.
Eventually, Dark Star decides to risk taking another look at the pool. He discovers that the image is gone, and only the oily black substance remains.
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