After dispatching the mephits the ghost then spoke to the group. He said that the group had shown they were strong enough to take on the final challenge and set in place a new link to the Great Mastodon God. There was a winged flying beast that needed to be killed and then the last great mastodon needed to be killed with honor. By taking on this challenge and defeating both beasts the shaman could find his final rest.
n
However, the Strangers were worried about the keep being attacked while they were gone and they started to head out of the cave with Kina. The ghost stopped them and pointed back towards the final passage. The group continued forward so the ghost attacked to try and stop them. His attacks failed but before the group could get away they found themselves in the back cave with an opening to a scene from long ago. The shaman was placed in the area looking over a group of hunters trying to kill a mastodon. As they were attacking a dragon flew down and attacked. While they recognized the form of the ghost he looked as if he were alive and as if the group was outside.
n
The dragon swooped in and attacked the mastodon with flame, which also struck some of the party. Kina barely survived and Aramil directed her to go away from the battle. The shaman went down along with the hunters of the mastodon. The mastodon attacked the dragon and the group also attacked the dragon. While the party took damage the mastodon and dragon continued to fight with the mastodon being killed by the dragon. However, the dragon had been weakened enough that one more blow brought the dragon down. As both the dragon and the mastodon died the sense of being outside faded and the group found themselves in a cave. The shaman ghost rose up and thanked them, then gestured towards Kina indicating that she was now more than she was. He said he could rest now and faded out. Kina now found that she had the power to cure, like a cleric but she also had a feeling of being followed by spirits that hindered her movement while helping her to talk with the gods.
n
The group did find the remains of some other adventurers along with a few items of their gear still left. With this bit of loot they quickly headed out of the cave since there was no sign of the halfling and the cave ended. The fortunately found that the keep was still quiet and arranged for defense in case of attack. The Patriarch had assigned 6 Magn'Gard to help out so two stayed in the wizards tower while the other 4 were on watch at the keep. The keep guards were set to watch and a few hours after sunset there was a large bang on the front door of the keep.
n
Since the Jehovah's witnesses knew better than to come knocking at this residence and due to the late hour the guards reported a possible attack and the keep went into full defense mode. Kaylord and Coravel organized to guard the front door and the portal down stairs while Aramil took command of crossbowmen. Quis'Ari worked with Kina and Nora to set up a triage area where the wounded could come for healing. The golem was also placed in this room in order to protect the healers and the wounded. As the guards and Aramil looked out from the second story of the keep they could see a person with an axe who had just hit the door. As they watched another two people appeared and also pounded on the door. Aramil cast the spell pit and the two people right in front of the door fell into the pit. It also sounded like another two might have been caught in the pit based on the sound of cursing.
n
After this attack a lightening bolt shot towards the second story and hit Aramil. Katana looked but could not see anyone with her dark vision. The one person at the front door continued to beat on the door and another two lightning bolts hit the door and broke it apart. By this time the group was pretty sure that these were not your average magazine salesmen and they needed to be ready for other attacks from the portal or the door to the roof. After the door was broken the session was stopped in place for the battle to come.
n