Haerelben examines the statues in the fire cult lobby. One of them is unusually breezy. Lefty slips behind that statue and finds a stale room, undisturbed by the cult occupiers. Within, Theridan locates a pair of sarcophagi for short folk. Bromsby reads the twin Dethek inscriptions:
Rest well, Findon Stonemender, dream of hammer and chisel echoing in your halls.
Beloved Gitte, heavy are the hearts of all who knew ye.
Haerelben recollects the dwarven legend of a Stonemender who slew a kraken. Said Stonemender had a main squeeze, so it could be this pair.
Theren enlists Meega’s strength to open Findon’s stone lid. For the good of the mission, Theren retrieves a sapphire-eyed mask from the skeletal remains. Theren exchanges his hobgoblin graft for the new mask which gently sucks onto his face with a slight foomp. He can see and breathe easily despite having neither mouth nor nose holes. He next retrieves what seems to be an oak oar but with a sharp point instead of a grip. Bromsby reckons the mask and weapon are a set, designed for unimpeded combat under water. Martial master Meega accepts the set wondering when she would ever find the opportunity to use them.
Meega opens Gitte’s stone lid. Theren and Theridan examine the remains while everyone else capitalizes upon the secret room to grab some sleep. It is during the second watch that Haerelben and Lefty find Gitte’s lovely crown beneath some wood chips. Lefty dons the crown, and nothing terrible happens. Haerelben wonders about Gitte’s fish-like skeleton.
Rested, the party explores deeper into the cult. A hallway of symmetrically spaced doors, many of them secured by hasps on the outside, attracts Lefty’s attention. She hears faint snoring at the first unlocked door. Theridan opens the door just a tiny bit. The door thunks, waking the occupant who wonders whether it is already time for his watch. The roused cultist ignites into his work uniform of fire. Theridan backs away in time to avoid Bromsby’s conjured sphere of water that traps the fire guy in his room. Lefty is ejected farther into the hallway, isolated from the party but safe from the fire guy.
Meega, seizing the perfect timing, dons her new water breathing mask, hefts the new oar weapon, and charges into the sphere of water toward the fire guy. Meega knocks the fire guy to and fro with the oar axe from within the sphere while the fire guy fire punches at the sphere. When punching proves futile, he steams the place up with an equally futile scorching ray.
Theridan peaks down the stairs ahead where an efreeti oversees operation of a foundry worked by enslaved azers, salamanders, and dwarves. So far the tussle in the hallway has gone unnoticed from the commotion of the foundry. Theridan backs away.
A cult dullard exits his room and demands an explanation from isolated Lefty. Lefty ignites. The dullard is unsure whether ignition makes Lefty his superior. He yells down the hallway for others to wake up. Bromsby, observing the unfolding complication on the other side of his water sphere, shifts the sphere into the fire guy’s room. The sphere engulfs the fire guy and all his TPS reports. Meega wails on this floating, drowning, extinguished person. The hallway is now open for Theridan to thornwhip the dullard. The dullard retaliates by punching Bromsby. The sphere spell falters. A second fire guy emerges from his room and cones up some burning hands. Lefty gives him the claw treatment and Theren lends his crossbow. The fire guys begin launching fire balls into the clustered party. Bromsby drops and Haerelben retreats around the corner with a sliver of life.
Meega switches back to Giant Slayer and extinguishes the last bit of her fire guy. Theridan becomes a water elemental and absorbs the other fire guy, forcing him back into his room. Lefty finishes off the dullard. Theridan slams the last fire guy dead. Haerelben revives Bromsby. Theren, mind full of visions from his brother’s clockwork goldfish of the destruction of his ancestral village by the fire cult, impatiently heads for the locked doors to find and release the enemies of his enemies, extracting promises from the salamanders not to engage the neutral azers. The party barely has time to duck into one of the vacated rooms before a parade of liberated salamanders files past to wreak havoc on their former captors. Theren yells encouragingly in ignan, ¡Viva la revolucion!
Once the commotion of slaughter subsides, the party slips out of the living quarters. They meet several liberated azers and dwarfs. Theren encourages them to arm themselves from the many dead goblins and hobgoblins before showing them the way out of the cult area.
The party returns to the secret tomb of Findon and Gitte.