After hitting some shops to pick up supplies, the group headed back to Bren‘s for a good night’s sleep while waiting for Bren to arrive back home.

The next morning, our heroes met with Bren and his half-elf friend, Wolf, who worked for the Watch. Aric‘s name had been mentioned in connection with the Cult of Dragon Below. Wolf believed Aric was trying to follow a Draconic prophecy, though he wasn’t sure what the prophecy was. The Watch was sending Wolf east to King’s Port on an errand, so he asked the adventurers to check out an ancient shrine near a wharf in Sharn where a Morgrave University professor predicted a mark would surface that day. The group agreed.

The adventurers debated which should be their next move – the potential mark location or Morgrave University to see whether Professor Nephret had come up with any information for them. Since they were concerned that going to the mark location first would prevent them from meeting up with Professor Nephret later that day, Morgrave University won out and they headed off.

The professor wasn’t in her office, but a fellow professor let them know she was in the Archives.

They headed down to the Archives and discovered it was far too large to easily find anyone. A gold coin persuaded a student to divulge her location – the Relics section – and Draloch’s fearsome irritation persuaded him to abandon giving them incomprehensible directions and just led them to her.

The group found Professor Nephret poring over books amongst the relics. She was surprised to see the adventurers – she thought they would be meeting later in the afternoon – but she gamely told them what she had discovered so far. The Ashen Crown had passed through an ancient Elven kingdom, then Dukani. It was split apart during the Xoriat invasion. A Lady Daenae had contacted Professor Nephret about the Ashen Crown. The professor would get the group in contact with her.

The fellowship then headed to the harbor, Sharn’s cliffs above them. They headed down into an incredibly stench – they would be trudging through the sewers. Soon, the group came through a tunnel drain into a large chamber with an ornate door on the north end. A bridge that bisected the room ran over the sewage. A tunnel creature appeared, laughed, and ran through the door.

Our heroes battled two otyughs in the stinking muck. Draloch and Valen had the misfortune of being pulled into the sewage by the otyugh’s tentacles, but bravely carried on. After dispatching the smelly creatures, the group checked out the ornate door. Hadain had earlier tried to grab the door’s handle, but his hand bounced off.

While studying the area, Valen noticed something odd about the corner to the right of the door. Examining it, Hadain discovered a secret passage. Before heading through said passage, the group searched the stinking chamber and found two gems (worth 200 gold each!) in the poo water. Ick.

The group headed through a narrow passage into a square chamber which looked as though it hadn’t been disturbed in a long time. In the middle of the room was a fountain with an altar. A corridor filled with water led out of the room.

The altar contained a basin labeled with “I” and two containers, one labeled “V” and the other “III”. An inscription on the altar read, “The first is five. The second is three. But only a pure one will open me.”

There was much mumbling and many furrowed brows, when suddenly, Hadain saved the day! He filled the “V” container, dumped it into the “III” container, filled the “V” container again, dumped as much of it into “III” as he could, then filled the “I” container with the remainder. His companions were in awe of his cunning, and the water in the corridor leading out of the room stopped flowing and drained through the grated floor.

The group filed through the hallway into a room with a large bioluminescent jellyfish floating in the middle. Around the edge of the room were eight statues of aquatic life. The floor was grating, which, our heroes knew, was bad news.

Valen raged at the jellyfish, but the attack appeared to go through it. Valen looked crestfallen.

A rumbling sound began and the group saw water shooting down the hallway from which they had just come. Additionally, water came pouring from the ceiling in several spots of the room they were in. The showers weren’t completely unwanted – the sewage was finally washed from Draloch and Valen.

Fighting continued!

The adventurers soon discovered the jellyfish had an attack which caused them to attack a fellow group member. Not cool, jelly!

Valen pushed the jellyfish away from the door leading out of the room, so Hadain could try to open it.

Fighting continued!

Hadain opened the door – it opened to a one-hundred foot corridor.

Draloch fell!

There was widespread teammate-on-teammate violence! Gauth and Death were mere inches apart when…

Awk finished off the jelly! Hell yeah!

The group took a breather, then headed down the hallway. It ended in a stone wall, but Hadain discovered the door opened out. They peeked through and saw a one-hundred foot tall chamber with statues of octopi. In front of the comrades sat two saltwater pools.