After an uneventful walk the group arrived at the Slumbering Drake where Sheliak greeted Lady Chauntess. She remembered Sheliak fondly and was interested to meet this group of adventurers. They found a table and ordered drink and food and settled in to enjoy the food and entertainment.
After the drinks arrived, Cedrine then chose to share with the group her reason for coming out this way. She had been raised in the dwarf holds of the Ul Dominor mountains, which formed the eastern border of the Kingdom of Morraine. Cendrine would have been content to stay in the mountains, defending her home but a revered uncle of her family, Rogar Kinnet, had gone down below many years ago for a trading mission with the humans of Cillamar. His last note to the family, received a few months prior, told of finding an ancient stone monolith, covered with runes that was an indicator of great treasure beneath. The family had not heard anything from him since.
Because of Cendrines bravery and ability in fighting, she had been selected as best able to defend herself and search for her uncle. She was also tasked to find the family heirloom he had been carrying, a jewel of magical qualities that had been held by the family for many generations. Her uncle had mentioned staying the tavern and inn the Slumbering Drake, so that was her first stop to try and find out what had happened to her uncle.
After telling her story Cedrine said that she was going to see if she could find out more information about her uncle and hope that Lady Chauntess might have more information. Sheliak offered to help and asked Lady Chauntess to come over and join them. The Lady was willing to answer questions for Cedrine . He liked to stop and stay at the tavern on occasion and she had last seen him several months ago, during the late fall. He mentioned that he thought he had found a place where there might be great treasure somewhere southeast of the town. He had found a stone monolith that seemed to indicate there might be treasure nearby. The next day he left and that was the last that Lady Chauntess had seen of him.
Lady Chauntess also mentioned that after she last saw Rogar, children of the town started disappearing when they went towards the southeast. The townspeople were becoming worried but searchers had not found anything to help them out. After hearing the story, the group volunteered to help Cendrine in finding her uncle and possibly finding out more information about the missing children. The group stocked up with weapons and potions and set off the next day to search for the monolith. They found the monolith along with a tunnel underneath.
The group entered the dark hallway and found a room with a crate and a door in it. When looking in the crate they saw a skull and attempted to retrieve it. While trying to get the skull a beam collapsed and the group was surrounded by skeletons. After a fierce battle, the skeletons were vanquished and the group was left in the room. The skull was examined and a small jewel was found in an eye socket. It was also found that the skull was dwarven and Cendrine felt that she had found her uncle. While she wanted to mourn she decided to go with the group to find out what had killed him.
The group continued to explore and found a trap door leading to a pool of water, small humanoids that attacked them, an owl bear with a pelt that was coated with odd crystals, a large tunnel with a chain to lower them down, a room filled with mushrooms and an assassin vine, a trapped room that almost crushed Sheliak, a giant door that almost blew them into a deep tunnel and a strange room that descended down to another layer.
Throughout all the caverns, the walls were covered with odd black crystals that would emit light when crushed. After a battle with more of the small humanoids, the group ended on a ledge overlooking a lake of water with a small island in the middle. In the center of the island was a large, black crystal that seemed similar to the black crystals seen on the walls in the caverns. There were several small people moving around on the island with one dressed colorfully. This person stayed close to the crystal. There were also several children tied up next to the crystal. A tall waterfall emptied into the chamber and kept the lake filled with water. The group was on a ledge about 60 feet above the lake. They had been spotted when things finished up.