6th day of Corellon's time in the 22nd year of King Ulodannan Wolfswift (Day 2)

6^th day of Corellon’s time in the 22^nd year of King Ulodannan Wolfswift (Day 2):  The party awakes to a hearty breakfast and is then taken before Baron Silverkin, who tells them that about 20 years ago, his son went off to war carrying the Silverkin family sword, shield, and amulet.  He never reached the battle and was never heard of again.  Recently, he heard that there was a man in Highbush who had a map that showed the location of the sword and he dispatched soldiers to get it.  It was these soldiers who were apparently ambushed by the goblins.  The case which the party returned to the Baron contained the map.
He believes the map shows that the sword is located at “the statue,” an ancient and worn statue in the forest the antiquity of which has long been forgotten.  He offers his captain of his guard, a dwarf named Xanros Tarmikos to escort them to the statue along with an elf servant named Thoeak Silentread and he asks them to retrieve the sword.

They ride about half a day’s journey into the forest to the northwest and find the statue in a clearing in the forest.  Captain Tarmikos leaves them and Thoeak absolutely refuses to go into the clearing with them, due to stories that the area is haunted.  So, they go alone.

At the base of the statue they find a door in the stone, but it is trapped.  They succeed in disarming the trap, but when they open the door, they are immediately attacked by “bushes” which encircle the clearing.  After a brief fight, they defeat the bushes and enter beneath the statue.

Stairs lead down to a room which appears to have been an ancient altar room.  The top of the altar is broken open and there is dirt beneath.  As soon as they enter the room, they are approached by a ragged man who appears from the shadows in the corner.  He turns out to be a wererat who immediately changes form and attacks them.  The sound of the battle disturbs giant ants who live beneath the altar who emerge and join the battle.  Once again, the heroes are successful and they kill both the wererat and the ants.

A search of the room reveals a trapdoor on the other side of the altar.   Beneath it is a shaft which turns out to be about 60 feet deep.  They descend by means of ancient, rusted bars set in the stone wall of the shaft to form a ladder.  At the bottom is a hallway at the end of which is a door.  Inside the door is a room with a ceiling so tall it rises away to darkness.  There is a narrow walkway on the wall with the door, but the rest of the room is a pool of muddy, stinky, stagnant water.  In the center of the pool is another statue which bears in its outstretched arms a old, rusted sword.

One of the party enters the water to get to the statue, but as soon as the surface is disturbed, three huge snakes appear out of the darkness above, slithering down the stone walls.  When they reach the bottom, the crawl and swim over to the heroes and attack.  Though they fought with valor, it is quickly clear that they are overpowered by the snakes, which soon render all three of the adventurers unconscious.  At that point they slither back up into the darkness.

Worry for his new masters having overcome his fear of the clearing and the statue, Thoeak came looking for the adventurers and discovers them all three unconscious.  He manages to pull their bodies out of the room and get the door closed, but in the meantime, Tyrion died.

Safely outside, the party loads the drow’s body on his horse, mounts up, and rides back to Linden.  There, they report to the Baron that they found the sword, but they couldn’t retrieve it.  However, they promise they will go back, if only they can get their comrade returned to life.  The Baron and, frankly, everyone else, is surprised that they would care about bringing a drow back to life, but the Baron finally agrees to pay for the ritual if the adventurers promise to pay him back in service, which they do.

Unfortunately, the nearest cleric who can perform such a ritual is a good five days’ journey away, so it will take about ten days to get a message to him and expect his return.  In the meantime, the Baron offers to let Sjolander and Keira stay in his keep.  They secure Tyrion’s body at the small village temple and settle down to wait.