21st day of Corellon's time in the 22nd year of King Ulodanna Wolfswift (Day 17)

21^st day of Corellon’s time in the 22^nd year of King Ulodannan Wolfswift (Day 17):  On the morning of the fourth day after he was returned from the dead, Tyrion feels fully recovered and the party sets out once again for the statue.  They find it without incident and enter once again without resistance.  They find things mostly unchanged in the abandoned altar room, locate the trap door, and again climb down the deep shaft.  Once more, they venture down the hallway toward the watery room with the statue of the man holding the sword they seek.
This time, however, they agree on different tactics.  Instead of all entering the room, they send Keira, the dragonborn paladin into the room while Sjolander and Tyrion wait in the hallway.  She enters, once again disturbs the water, drawing the three serpents, but now immediately retreats back into the passage.  This tactic has the effect of preventing more than one of the serpents from attacking at a time, because only one of them can enter the hallway at a time.  It also prevents them from attacking anyone but the heavily armored paladin, since she blocks their way, and none of them can get past her without killing her first.

The tactic works and the adventurers quickly dispatch the serpent guardians.

Entering the watery room, they quickly manage to get the sword without further incident.  It is old and rusty and not currently usable as a weapon.  However, examination reveals that wrapped around the hilt is a piece of leather which was apparently supposed to be mistaken for the leather of the hilt itself.  Inside is a square of letters which seem to have no meaning:

EAST
WEST
DIRT
LEFT

The adventurers take a short time to try to follow the apparent directions, with Sjolander entering the water, going to the east, then to the west, and then to the left.  He cannot find any dirt, so he dives down, but finds nothing in the muck at the bottom of the pool.  Giving up, they return to Baron Silverkin’s keep in Linden with the sword and the mysterious leather bearing the letters.

Upon showing the sword to the Baron, he thanks them and rewards them.  He treats the sword with obvious reverence, but even upon oblique questioning, he reveals no knowledge of any message hidden on the hilt.

When the adventurers show him the leather with the letters, he doesn’t know what to make of it.  Turning to a red-haired dwarf in the room with him, who the adventurers have never seen before, he asks his opinion.

The dwarf says it looks like a form of goblin puzzle where the goblins write words in a pattern, but the words are not the key.  Hidden in the words is the word which is the real key to the puzzle.

The adventurers examine the words on the leather again with this in mind.  At first they find “LIST,” but that doesn’t seem to mean anything to anyone.  Then they find “TREE” and that triggers a response.  The Baron and the other natives of Woodlea Forest there with him immediately think of an ancient cypress tree that stands taller than any other in the forest on the banks of the Wildepond, just beyond the village of Wildepond, which is the next village up the road to the northwest from Linden.

The Baron thinks perhaps the tree might have something to do with the Silverkin family shield or amulet, both of which are still missing.  He asks the adventurers if they will go to the Wildepond, locate the ancient cypress, and try to see if it has anything to do with the missing items.

The adventurers agree that they will undertake this quest for the Baron.