The hydra lay dead in the keep’s courtyard, but Southaven bore its scars. Dravencoles claimed its heart, Momeline pried free a tooth, and Ferinthria took a scale—trophies from the beast that had nearly destroyed them all. But there was no time for celebration.
The party walked through the streets, surveying the destruction. Rusty’s Tavern was gone, reduced to rubble and splintered wood. The blacksmith’s forge had fared no better. Rusty Ironbelly stood amid the wreckage of his life’s work, shoulders slumped in despair. The party gathered around him, offering what comfort they could—promises to rebuild, assurances that the town would rise again. Rusty nodded, but his eyes stayed fixed on the ruins.
Near the eastern wall, they met up with Talan Windfern and Velara with grim news. Landor reported that twenty percent of their soldiers had fallen in the assault on the bandits—roughly one hundred and thirty remained. Velara pulled the party aside with a different concern entirely: she implored them to be discreet about her relationship with Lyrian. Her father, Elrin, would never approve of her being with a half-elf from Lusteris.
Determined to learn where the hydra had come from, the party followed its tracks toward Blacktide Swamp. At the swamp’s edge, Momeline spotted movement—someone hiding in the brush. Lirielle and Ferinthria called out, trying to coax the figure into the open, but it wasn’t until Dravencoles commanded him to reveal himself that Edwin stepped forward, hands raised.
Edwin spun a convincing tale—he was scouting, just like Gareth Voss and Harlan Drexel, and was headed back to town. But when he refused the party’s offer of an escort, suspicion took hold. Confronted, Edwin bolted. Momeline tackled him before he made it three steps, and Lirielle locked him in place with a spell before forcing truth serum down his throat. Under Dravencoles’s interrogation—the party noted with some amusement that Edwin seemed particularly intimidated by him—the smuggler confessed everything.
He was a member of the Duskrunners, a thieves guild operating in the shadows of the valley. He had been smuggling people out of the locked-down town. More importantly, he knew of secret tunnels running beneath Southaven. One entrance was hidden in Rusty’s Tavern—Rusty himself knew nothing of it—and Edwin gave them the sequence of stones to tap. Another entrance lay somewhere in the keep, though he didn’t know how to access it. A third was in Mira Threadwick’s shop; she was secretly a Duskrunner herself. The party released Edwin with a warning: stay out of Southaven for twenty-four hours.
They turned back toward town, but the southern blockade on the Tradeway caught their attention. A woman sat caged among the bandits—someone the party couldn’t ignore. Ferinthria turned Momeline invisible, and the rogue crept forward to investigate. Inside the cage was Lena Alwin, Gareth Voss’s lover.
Momeline picked the lock silently, whispering for Lena to stay still, then positioned herself behind Marta The Knife, the bandit in charge. Lirielle, watching for signs of Momeline’s intentions through her footprints, saw what was coming. She launched a fireball into the guards, incinerating them and the barricade in one devastating blast.
Momeline struck from the shadows, her sneak attack nearly dropping Marta. Dravencoles cut down two more bandits. Ferinthria’s lightning bolt finished what Momeline had started. When the smoke cleared, Lena emerged from the cage and revealed an unexpected connection: Marta had been Gareth’s sweetheart years ago, before she left to join the Gilded Jackals. Clearly, old wounds had festered.
The party made their way back through Southaven toward the ruins of Rusty’s Tavern. But in an alleyway, they spotted a familiar face—Edwin, who was supposed to be gone for a day. Dravencoles caught him and demanded an explanation. Edwin stammered that a job had come up, one that paid too well to refuse. As he spoke, Momeline noticed a head peeking around a corner. She tackled the figure without looking—and felt a wet tongue across her face.
Beefy wagged her tail. Behind him stood Vanessa Tywin and her mother, Elen Tywin. Elen was sharp-tongued and rude with Momeline, and the party had seen enough. They flagged down a nearby guard and had Elen arrested, accusing her of attempting to flee Southaven during the lockdown. Let Elrin sort it out.
At the collapsed tavern, the party found the hidden entrance and prepared to descend. Brenlan caught up with them, asking to come along despite Velara’s objections. He had been training as a Cleric, he said, and wanted to help. The party agreed.
The tunnels were dark and winding. They walked for nearly an hour before coming to a sealed door on their left, its surface carved with serpent motifs. They turned to the snake creature from Lirielle’s component pouch, demanding she read the inscription. After some resistance—and Dravencoles casting Zone of Truth—she revealed the riddle: “I have a head and a tail but no body, but am not a snake. What am I?”
Momeline guessed wind and blew on the door. Nothing. Dravencoles said “coin,” and Ferinthria spotted a coin-shaped depression in the stone. They searched the snake creature’s belongings and found a strange coin—a serpent’s head on one side, its tail on the other. The moment they pressed it into the depression, the carved snakes began to slither, sliding out of position as the ancient door groaned open.
Beyond lay darkness. The party steeled themselves for whatever awaited on the other side.