When they awoke, they explored another set of tunnels and found that the majority of the area has been turned into an underground garden where sickly looking plants are attempting to grow by the dim light given off by the luminous fungi. Tai quietly entered into the next set of rooms and discovered the gardener quietly humming to himself while working. The gardener turned out to be a very large man armed with a sithe. Tai crept up on him and knocked him out as they proceeded further into the area.
At the end of the long hallway, they found the quarters of the gardener, and adjoined to his room was a door with a very intricate lock. Killian was successful in opening it after a bit of effort and they entered. Inside they found a statue of a dragon with the name ‘Ashardalon’ inscribed upon it. As Killian was inspecting it further, an inky black shadow creature attacked him. Rykasha stepped in to help and the shadow turned on her. As the shadow touched Rykasha’s skin, she was instantly weakened, and when she retaliated her weapon would pass right through the creature most of the time. Finally, with a combined effort, the party was able to hit it enough to cause it to die. As it died, the black shell of the creature shattered like glass and fell to the floor. The spirit inside fled through the top of the ceiling and a flash of memory was given to each of the party members.
Now that the room was empty of creatures, Killian had more time to examine the area and found a loose stone with some gold behind it. He also had time to investigate the runes in front of the statue and discovered that the statue has similar effects as the one that they carted to Amityville. Not willing to risk any possible curses that accompanied these types of statues, they left the dragon statue behind and went into the adjoining room to the north. In here, they found the remains of a library that had been severely ransacked. Tomes and books laid everywhere, but a few interesting items were found, and another path leading north was also discovered.
Farther into the area they traveled until they came to another intricately locked door. Killian tried it a few times, and was finally able to pick the lock. When they entered, they found a very organized study room detailing precipitation logs, patterns of growth and all manners of things related to belak’s work. Killian was investigating a book he found in the case when it belched fire directly at him. Narrowly blocking the fire, he inadvertently set aflame the office. Alton stepped forward and used his divine powers to stop the blaze, but the room showed signs that the party had been here. Leaving the study and going into the adjoining room, they found that the southern wall had crumbled away leading into an enormous cavern where they heard echoes of voices in the distance.