Evening: The Company talk at length with Ru'laija as to what they should do next. After several hours of discussion, Jeremi decides to take a chance and removes the Black Opal Eye from its current location in the standing stone and inserts it into the hole carved into the nearby obelisk. Everyone feels a wave of power wash over them, and the two possessed female Jade Elves writhe with pain. After a few seconds, they relax again, and seem to be free of whatever power had possessed them. The two blue colored gems turn red to match the third one, and then all three disintegrate into dust. The ancient power of the three witches has been destroyed. The Company are still left to wonder why Thakur sher Ikhtiar sought to release this power. They also are keenly aware that his "hellcat" companion is still presumedly alive and roaming unchecked throughout Bima Hara.
A larger issue they have to face is the death of Thakur. People will shortly begin to notice the disappearance of the head of one of the most prominent houses in Bima Hara. They also wonder about the other minor members of the house, and the continued presence of the Ivory Tigers society. However, they put all that behind them and agree to simply bury Thakur's body deep in the forest. Ru'laija promises to do what she can to prevent his body from being discovered, and the Company then return to the city for rest before continuing down into the Banevault.
The 5th of Darkel
Morning: The Company return down into the Banevault. They note that the door which Jeremi stone-shaped with his divine magick seems to have held fast, which they are actually quite surprised by. He re-shapes the stone, and once again they enter into the den of evil artifacts. Retracing their steps, they avoid the traps discovered previously, and find the room where they encountered Gerasimos. They finish searching that room and find nothing useful, and so continue down a short hallway through a series of doors. At the end of hall is a small square room. The Company enter the room and are beset upon by a ghostly spectre of a figure, who is able to drain the very lifeforce from the companions. Jeremi recognizes it immediately as an abomination against nature: one of the undead, a dead spirit presumedly animated by the sheer raw power of evil present in the Banevault. Uso, Sebastian, and Si'lara are repeatedly attacked and feel their bodies become weaker as the spectre drains them of their power. Jeremi calls upon the holy power of �ton to repel the creature, but he does not have the power. His connection to �ton seems weak of late, perhaps due to long exposure to the evil contained in the Banevault. Luckily, Uso is able to help out. That morning he memorized several versions of a spell that empowers normal weapons with magical strength. Using their temporarily magical weapons, the Company eventually defeat the hideous spectre. Uso, Sebastian, and Si'alara are extremely tired and on the verge of collapse after having lost so much vital energy, but the Company decide to press on, hoping to soon come to an end of the lower area of the Banevault.
Afternoon: Going up a flight of stairs, the Company encounter several small animated humanoids made of bronze, squatting in the corner. They snap to attention when the Company enter the room, as if waiting for instructions or direction. However, the Company do not seem to possess whatever knowledge or item is necessary to give commands to the vault-builders, and so they briefly glance about the room before moving on. The room itself has a door in the south wall, set in the middle of an elaborate, but now very faded and chipped, frescoe that features tall, winged humanoids with flaming swords on either side of the door.
Through the door to the South, continued searching of the Banevault reveals of a very odd, large room. The floor of this odd-shaped room lies about 3 feet below the level of the door, and 6-inch blue tiles cover the floor and the walls up to a level just below the bottom of the door. Here and there, at the top of the level of the tiles, a rectangular grate covers a hole about 10 inches wide and 6 inches high. Near the middle of the room, two tall columns made of glass rise from floor to ceiling.They are filled with water,and each also contains what appears to be a giant, monstrous octopus. Between them, hanging down from the ceiling to a point about 6 feet from the floor, you see a steel cylinder. The bottom of the cylinder has a heavy, hinged metal cap with a circular wheel-valve in the middle of it.
The Company search the room thoroughly and discover a secret door hidden in the south-east corner of the room. Sebastian opens the door and the Company enter a short hallway. While in the hallway, they hear a noise, as if someone if following them. Retracing their steps, they return back to the large, oddly-shaped room, but see nothing. Jeremi once again calls upon his divine power, and creates an effect that reveals all invisible objects in the room. They immediately see a large, hideously ugly green-skinned woman, and a battle begins. The hag uses foul arcane magick to attack the members of the Company, but is eventually brought low by the combined efforts of the Company. They have no idea how long the hag has been following them down here in the Banevault, but come to the conclusion that she is the same woman that the holy warrior Kalimat saw enter the Banevault some days ago.
Having defeated the hag, the Company loot her body, finding a ring, a bone ring, a wand,
