Crypt of Velsharoon

Having purged the mysterious crypt of undead and shadowy moss, the party takes a moment to gather their thoughts. Grageon tends to the screaming Jamendithas (by giving him a hefty kick in the ribs to snap him out of it) who feigns bravery but is clearly shellshocked from his six-second disappearance.

The corpses are searched and nothing of value is find - save for the Aurilian symbol which the strongest undead was wearing as part of its disguise. Meanwhile, Izz discovers an inscription beneath the statue of the Velsharoon worshipper. Grageon's paladin senses tingle as he concludes that this statue has been desecrated for a significant length of time - perhaps as long as it has stood here.

COMES WITH SUNSHINE
LEAVES WITH NIGHT
HIDES IN DARKNESS
DOES NOT BITE
ALWAYS JOINED TO ITS CASTER
NEVER STRAYS FROM ITS MASTER

Izz senses movement through the wall to the north of the statue, though neither he nor Grageon can determine what they hear. Grageon knocks on the wall while Izz proceeds to comb the walls with his hands in the hopes of finding an illusion. He does not, and concludes that the inscription must be important. Someone - or something - on the other side of the wall knocks back. With all of his might, Grageon attempts to break through the wall. He hits it so hard that a number of bricks dislodge, but discovers that the wall is extremely thick. He also concludes that the inscription must be important.

Grageon wields his morningstar, glowing bright with the divine power of Tempus, and casts shadows in all directions. When the statue's shadow falls upon the northern wall, it sinks into the floor... revealing Merric. The room has no entrances or exits, save for the one the party has just discovered. Merric mumbles something about arriving via the stairs despite a clear lack of stairs. Inside the room, on the wall next to the door, is a strange pattern of stone.

The party proceeds to spend upwards of two hours pondering this pattern, the statue and the inscription.

• Grageon wields his righteous morningstar and casts shadows in every conceivable shape at every conceivable angle in the hidden room.
• Merric and Izz poke the dark squares in all conceivable patterns.
• Izz gets frustrated, becomes ethereal and walks into the patterned wall. He finds solid stone in all directions.
• Merric examines the statue for anything arcane. In an unexpected burst of intellect, he determines that the statue itself is functioning as some kind of complicated lock. The magic itself, however, is far beyond even Jaric's understanding.
• Izz mentally maps the stone pattern onto the floor of the statue platform - which is smooth stone, with no squares - and hops around where he believes the dark squares would be.
• Merric climbs the statue and discovers significant wear on the roof, in roughly the shape and size of the statue. He also notes that there is some wear on the statue from repeated climbing over the years. His conclusion is that the statue raises up.
• Between Merric and Izz, they attempt to mimic the statue's pose and cast shadows. In front, behind, on top. It's ineffective.
• Izz becomes ethereal again and searches beneath the statue, finding a hollowed out cylinder with a stone ladder.

The party decide to destroy the statue. It's evil anyway, right? It takes some time but between the three of them they turn it into a pile of rocks. If nothing else, it's therapeutic. Except for Jamendithas who flinches at every clang of steel against stone. Now that the ladder is revealed, Merric climbs down it. Approximately five hundred feet down, his feet meet solid ground. There is nowhere to go... it appears that the statue was supposed to rise with the ladder. Merric climbs back up and informs the party of this development.

Frustrated, the party doubles back with their prisoner to Vellgard Manor with the intention of taking the prisoner to the priests of the Raven Queen. Izz carefully tracks their movement in the sewer in an attempt to locate the crypt's location within Neverdeath. Upon return, they give the mansion proper a thorough search for any papers which may hint at the owner or the activities. They find nothing, though agree that they can likely pull some strings with their Neverwinter contacts to get such information.

Neverdeath

Clerics of the Raven Queen

Upon arriving at Neverdeath, Merric nudges Jamendithas forward. Jamendithas produces his letter of summons and musters a "hello" before immediately looking over his shoulder. The guards open the gates and step aside. Jamendithas heads directly towards the central building with the Shadar-Kai prisoner. The party decides to follow, unsure of Jamendithas' mindset and intent. Inside, the party meets an extremely well-armoured cleric of the Raven queen. He takes one look at the prisoner and is immediately on guard, stating that the Shadar-Kai are renowned allies of his deity. Grageon explains his betrayal and produces the brooch of Yathrinshee as evidence. The cleric sentences the prisoner to death and beheads him the second the party gives its consent.

Cleaning the blood from his blade and sheathing it, he takes a seat and explains recent events to the party. The dead have been rising, and they were alerted to the transport of prisoners into the graveyard. They kept all of this quiet - particularly from Neverember - and ensured all gates and walls were monitored constantly to prevent the ingress of prisoners and egress of the dead. In recent times, they've seen no signs of prisoner convoys and the dead walk perhaps once each tenday. He believed the situation to be under control and is visibly distraught at the revelation that there is a secret passage in.

He pledges to spend some time tending to Jamendithas, offers his support wherever possible, and gives the party free reign of the graveyard. Izz jumps on this opportunity to track his way to the crypt. It leads the party to a courtyard with hedged statues. One statue is missing, leading Izz to conclude that he's found his mark.

Courtyard

In the centre of the courtyard, swinging from the fountain, is a hanged man in ice-white robes. He's flanked by corpses which look far less ceremonial but wear the tell-tale snowflake of Auril. Merric and Grageon investigate the corpses to determine the cause of death. They conclude:

• The hanged man was simply hanged.
• One of the corpses was clawed and bitten to death. Further investigation concludes that it was something humanoid in side - not a small dog or a hulking worg.
• The other corpse is pockmarked with fang piercings. It was clearly poisoned by a giant spider or such.

Merric cuts down the hanged man and drags all three corpses towards a grassy clearing to allow them some dignity in death. Izz investigates the missing statue and finds numerous tracks - of spiders, of webbed feet, and of heavy boots - all of which lead away from the statue and towards the fountain. As he follows them to see where they lead, Merric's wooden sword resonates with magical warning. He alerts the party of the danger as two hulking, shadowy hounds leap over distant hedges and begin to charge at the party. Merric and Izz rain a hail of arrows upon the hounds while Grageon ties them up in melee combat, struggling to keep his balance under the weight of their attacks but certainly giving as good as he gets.

Merric notices that the hanged man is stirring to life amidst the combat. It rises to its feet and slings a spectral noose which wraps tight around Merric's neck, the pressure suffocating him as if being hanged. The risen dead screams at Merric, as if replaying its death.

"How the mighty have fallen. The Bitch Queen consorts with The Revenancer. The Frostmaiden will freeze over the seas and your graves."

The combat plays out, the hounds slowly falling as arrows, fire bolts and morningstar blows brutalise them from all directions. Merric escapes the spectral noose which immediately wraps itself around the neck of Izz, bringing him within an inch of trading fates with the hanged man. Merric channels all of his rage into his wooden sword, driving it through the hanged man and freeing Izz of his noose. Izz immediately looses an arrow at the remaining hound, catapulting it a good twenty feet away from the blood-soaked Grageon.

The courtyard falls silent once more.

Izz continues his tracking and follows the footprints to a stone table in a shaded area. He investigates the table and discovers that the top consists of two halves which can be slid apart. Doing so, the table opens up to reveal a runic emblem with a spherical indentation in the middle. The party concludes that this must be the shadow crossing, and that the three keys they have heard of must be spherical in nature.

Taking a moment to formulate a plan, the four agree that they should inform the Raven Queen priest of this development before preparing for the Council of the Alliance in the morning.