It’s the morning of the second day since the four villagers left Kassen on the quest for the Everflame. They eat breakfast, do their studying and praying, break camp, and return to the crypt. They walk through the pool room to the southwest exit door, which they believes leads to the big central blank space on the map they’ve been making. The key they found in the firepit room opens the door. With Galvor in the lead, they creep down the hallway to a second door. Valeros and Chastity are lugging the enormous tower shields from the golem room. Galvor crouches to open the door, with Valeros holding a tower shield directly behind him.

As the door swings open, the party hears a click and then the sound of rattling machinery fills the corridor. The room ahead is circular, with a deep pit around a central pillar, doors in the west and south walls, and a short walkway across the pit. Seconds after the door opens, crossbow bolts shoot out of the central pillar and hit Galvor and Valeros, who’s been sticking his head out from behind the shield. There’s no serious damage; the bolts have rounded tips. The pillar fires again seconds later. Galvor and Valeros move into the room. Valeros carries the tower shield in front of himself for cover, but Galvor trusts his agility to keep him safe as he crosses the walkway and easily disables the pillar’s firing mechanism. Moving to the south wall, he attempts to open the door, but is unable to do so until the gears finish their cycle and the rattling machinery runs down. The door unlocks itself with a soft click.

Galvor, Valeros, Ezren and Chastity are standing in the room where they’ve just killed a large beetle. There are exits south to a burny barbecue smell, or east to the wailing they’ve been hearing since they entered the crypt. They go east. Sneaking carefully along the corridor, Galvor comes to a locked door. The wailing is coming from the other side, and now the party can make out words like “skeletons” and “they’re gonna get me”.

Galvor checks the door to see if it’s locked. The second he touches it, the wailing stops. Galvor manages to get the door unlocked but can’t push it open; it’s barricaded on the other side. Valeros steps forward and gives it a good shove, and as the door grinds open a few inches a crossbow bolt pings off his armor. Undaunted, he pushes again, and the next bolt bounces off the door frame next to his head. The third, as he slams the door fully open, goes wild. The room is pitch black, lit only by the glow of Chastity’s holy symbol in the hallway behind Valeros. An unkempt villager crouches in the corner of the room, clutching a small table protectively in front of himself and waving a crossbow like a truncheon.

The starving wolves surprisingly formidable opponents, especially once they remember to use their trip attack. Ezren has some luck bonking a wolf on the head with his magically animated staff. Galvor is able to stay mostly out of harm’s way, jumping in occasionally to chop off an ear or scratch a paw here and there. Valeros and Chastity engage the wolves at close hand and bear the brunt of the attack. Valeros has been pretty chewed up and Chastity used most of her healing magic by the time all three wolves are dispatched.

Chastity uses the rest of her magic to heal everyone, and they settle back down to sleep. The rest of the night passes uneventfully. During breakfast, the group debates who did what wrong in the wolf fight. Inexperienced as they are, the four companions find themselves unable to bicker and walk at the same time, and the frequent stops for arguing slow them down. It’s almost noon when they arrive at the shores of the Gray Lake.

It’s a gloomy afternoon in late autumn. The noontime bells are ringing in the temple as our heroes gather in the town square to undertake their solemn task. This is the first time in a few years that the quest for the Everflame has been designated as a rite of passage for the young people of Kassen. As the townsfolk slowly fill the square, the four villagers take each other’s measure.

Galvor has obviously been chosen to retrieve the Everflame because his father practically owns the town. Ezren, the nonathletic antisocial apprentice of the wizard Holgast, might have been selected for the quest out of pity. Chastity, outcast and orphan, stands on the edge of the group stroking her long scimitar. No one really understands why she’s there; she mutters something about magic. Valeros is excited to get outside town and have an adventure, and waves cheerfully at his proud family.