The next morning the party arose and ate a quick breakfast. They left the large tent standing and placed branches against the outside as camouflage to make it harder for the horses to be seen. They placed feed for the horses, then grabbed their weapons and headed back into the tomb.
As before, Borovik, Bree and Preston required light spells to see in the dark halls. They hurried past the magic statues without looking into the darkness of the hoods. Pausing at the entrance to the mosaic room, they looked pensively toward the spot where the mosaic of the chimera had been. It had indeed tried to reassemble itself, but since half of its tiles had been thrown down the well, it could only half assemble itself. It looked fiercely at the party and tried to climb out of the floor, but in its current condition it was unsuccessful. Its three heads all howled and growled in fury.
"We better check the ball of bones trap," said Borovik. "It may have reassembled itself as well."
They went to the sun mosaic and slid it aside. Sure enough, there was a complete ball of bones sitting in the pit below the plate.
"Do you suppose it's a new ball of bones, or do you suppose the ashes magically became bones again?" asked Bree.
"Does it matter? It's still a ball of bones and it could still crush us," snorted Neega.
They carefully walked down the hall to the SE and avoided the trigger plate for the trap. When they re-entered the room at the end of the hall, they finally had some time to actually inspect it. They noticed the smell of incense and rich tapestries covering the walls. Examination of the tapestries revealed that, although they looked beautiful, they were in reality worn, faded and riddled with moth holes. An illusion spell made them look fine and new. They also discovered that there were six sarcophagi embedded in the walls behind the tapestries.
"Hmm, let's hope the bodies inside the sarcophagi remain there," said Mara. "I'm not in the mood to battle undead today."
"So, which way do we go next?" asked Kellen. "The door to the east or the double door to the north?"
"Flip a copper piece," suggested Preston. "Heads means go east and tails means go north."
They did just that and the flip came up heads. Approaching the door, they remembered the ancient gesture of Mystril and made the gesture as they opened it. When they entered the room, a ghost appeared.
"Oh, no!" groaned Neega. "A ghost!"
The ghost frowned and responded, "Well! If you're going to be rude, then just get out of my library! And don't even think about trying steal any of the books in the library!"
"No, Ma'am!" sputtered Borovik. "We have no intention of stealing from the library."
"Then why are you here?"
"We seek an outlaw who came to this tomb to use the pool of divination here. Have you seen a dwarf man dressed in purple leading an entourage?"
"No. The only one I have seen is the ghost, Jerrod Barclay. He came by here asking where the pool was. He said that finding it would free his spirit to go to its rest."
"Jerrod Barclay! We met him on the way here. I hope he found his rest!"
"I suppose he did. He never came back to tell me he didn't."
"So," asked Bree. "Why are you here? Why haven't you gone to your rest? And who were you in life?"
The ghost sighed and looked a little sad. "In life I was a woman named Ilda, an apprentice of Diderius. One day a valuable tome of his vanished and I was falsely blamed for stealing it, so I was banished from this dwelling. Not long after he died, I also died. My spirit was obsessed with returning the tome that was lost and I am trapped here until I accomplish that task."
"It might still be here in the tomb. While we are here, I suppose we could look for it and bring it back if we find it," Kellen said. "Would you describe it?"
"It was a weighty tome entitled 'Transubstantiality across Potentialities'," responded Ilda. "I would appreciate it if you looked."
Borovik continued, "Can you tell us where the divination pool is? The man we seek was headed there and may still be close by. Is there anything we need to know about the pool?"
Ilda responded, "The pool is reached by going through the doors to the north into the throne room. Don't forget the gesture of respect before you open the door and leave a tribute before the throne. You then exit the throne room through a door to the west. This leads into the dining hall. A door in the north wall of the dining opens into a corridor that takes you to the room with the divination pool.
"Diderius specialized in divination magic, and that is how he found the pool in the caverns of this cliff. He excavated the chambers around the pool and turned them into his living quarters. Since it allows those using it to see past many magical protections that blocked lesser divination magic, it became famous. Kings and wizards alike came bearing tribute. When he finally died, his dwelling here was converted into his tomb.
"But you do need to be aware of the dangers of the pool, in case you decide to use it. If you ask a question, be specific and only ask about the physical world. No metaphysical questions. You may go insane if you don't follow those guidelines. And don't gaze into the pool unless you offer a sacrifice. Just looking into the pool without a sacrifice could be dangerous. It also seems that as time has gone by, the pool has demanded steeper and steeper sacrifices of those wishing to use it. By now it could be a fierce sacrifice indeed!
"Finally, a tribe of yuan-ti has moved into the caverns. Be careful as you explore."
"Thank you, Ilda," said Borovik. "You have been a great help."
The party bowed to Ilda and turned to the north. Repeating the ancient gesture, they opened the door and went in. The room was about 50 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The throne sat on massive dais and resembled a floating cloud concealing the sun. A regal and well-muscled 12 ft. high humanoid with a flowing white beard and a purple toga sat on the throne. Upon closer inspection, they noticed that there was nothing there except a clay golem. The amazing throne and regal being were created by a Major Image spell that had been made permanent.
There was a pile of tribute in front of the throne. The pile contained not only silver, gold necklaces and potions, but also copper pieces, inexpensive jewelry and pottery. As they looked, a magic mouth spoke to them with a beautiful voice, saying,
"Ye who seek Diderius' insight must first furnish tribute, that Diderius might work his mighty magic. Lay such tribute at my feet or depart."
Each of the party members placed a silver piece on the tribute pile, bowed to the golem then departed to the west. A set of stairs led down about 20 feet into another large room. As they began walking down the stairs, they noticed that the door to the room they had just exited had been labeled in chalk with the word "Danger".
"Looks like Varram and his crew didn't go in there," commented Mara. "I guess they didn't offer any tribute, either."
The dining hall was around 30 ft. deep and around 50 ft. wide. At the south end were 2 long stone tables, and a long marble table stood to the north. The party started to see 5 bearded devils seated at the marble table. Curiously, the devils made no move to attack them.
Using his best charismatic charm, Kellen addressed the devils, "Greetings, fine devils. We are surprised to see ones such as yourselves seated here in this tomb."
One of the devils turned and looked at Kellen with a bored expression, responding, "We currently work for the dwarf Varram. He has ordered us to stay here and guard the area. We have been here a good while waiting for him to return, but he hasn't come back yet." They still made no move to attack.
"Why are you guarding the area?"
"There is a treasure down the south hall. We presume he wants to retrieve it when he's finished with his business. But we were told not to interfere with anyone who wanted to go down and see the treasure."
Kellen looked at the rest of the party. Bree's eyes were bright at the mention of treasure. "Should we go take a look at it?" he asked.
"That's not why we're here, but I guess we could take a look," said Neega. The rest of the party agreed.
They turned down the hallway to the south. A stairway led down for about 40 ft. Halfway down the stairs, the remains of ropes and a wooden platform lay strewn across the steps. Looking up they saw a rectangular hole in the ceiling and realized it was the bottom end of the shaft they discovered in the trapped hallway. It seemed as if there must have been a dumbwaiter running through the shaft to facilitate movement of items between the 2 levels of the complex.
"Maybe the cultists avoided the throne room by climbing down the shaft," speculated Borovik.
Reaching the end of the hallway, they saw that the door had been spiked shut and the word "Danger" had been written in chalk on it.
"It looks like there was something about this room the devils didn't tell us," said Bree.
"Yeah," agreed Kellen. "They're probably hoping we perish from whatever danger is in the room."
They pried the spikes out of the door and cautiously opened it. Neega and Mara took point at the door and peered in. It appeared to be a bedchamber, probably used by Diderius himself.
There was an elegant bed, sets of bookshelves, a large wooden chest and a side table set with a silver ewer and 4 goblets.
"Well, I don't see anything dangerous," said Neega.
"We should still be careful," responded Mara. "You never know what kind of magic might be in here."
The party lined up: Mara and Neega in the front, Kellen and Borovik about 5 ft. behind them, and Bree and Preston at the rear. While still in the doorway Mara and Neega carefully looked around the room. Neither saw anything that might be a trap or any other sign of danger. Kellen cast Bardic Inspiration on both of them. Mara used Conjure Animals to summon 2 brown bears. She sent the bears ahead of them into the room and the 2 of them stepped in behind the bears.
As soon as they entered, 6 undead appeared.
"Wraiths! Specters!" called out Neega.
Two wraiths moved in front of Neega and Mara. One of the wraiths attacked Neega while the other attacked Mara, but both missed. There were 4 specters and two of them, being incorporeal, flew right through Mara and Neega, then out the door to get next to Borovik and Kellen in the second rank of the lineup. The first specter smacked at Kellen and the second threw a punch at Borovik. They both also missed. The final two specters flew through Mara and Neega, out the door, then through the rest of the party to get behind Preston and Bree at the rear of the group. The third specter managed to connect with a blow to Bree. She winced as she felt a wave of necrotic energy injure her. Additionally, the necrotic energy drained a significant amount of her total maximum health. The fourth specter slugged Preston, who likewise suffered necrotic damage and a significant loss of maximum possible health.
Kellen, seeing the danger Preston and Bree were in, cast the Blindness spell on the specter attacking Preston, hoping to impede its ability to hit. Unfortunately, the specter managed to dodge out of the way of the spell. Borovik attacked the specter he faced with a Magic Missiles spell. He gathered 5 glowing darts into his hand and threw them at the specter, which whistled sharply and shimmered as it took heavy damage.
Mara hit wraith the wraith facing her with her +1 scimitar. The magic infusing her weapon overrode the wraith's resistance to slashing damage, and it took the full amount. She then assumed a polar bear wildshape. She ordered the brown bears to position themselves behind the wraiths and attack them. The first bear attacked the wraith facing Mara but missed. The second bear attacked the wraith facing Neega. Although it hit, its damage was not magic, so the injury was only moderate.
Neega went into a Barbarian rage to increase her ability to hit and the amount of damage she could deliver. She took 2 mighty swings with Hazirawn at the wraith she faced. Both attacks hit and the magic infused in Hazirawn ensured that the wraith took the full slashing damage. Being undead, the wraith was immune to Hazirawn's necrotic damage, Nonetheless, it was now seriously injured and emitted what sounded vaguely like a groan.
"Ugh, incorporeal undead!" complained Hazirawn. "They don't bleed, and they have no taste!"
Bree pulled out her dagger of venom and successfully stabbed the specter she faced. Her magic dagger delivered the full amount of damage to the specter. Preston tried the Chill Touch spell on the specter he faced. He hit, but grimaced when he realized that the specter was immune to the necrotic damage from the spell. He felt somewhat encouraged when he saw that the specter became uncoordinated and would be disadvantaged the next time it attacked him.
The wraith fighting Neega again attacked, and this time hit. Neega took necrotic damage, but she was of strong enough constitution to avoid loss of maximum health. Mara's wraith opponent attacked and hit Mara. She suffered necrotic damage, but she also avoided the maximum health loss. In the second row the specter facing Kellen smacked and hit him. Kellen took necrotic damage, and he was not of strong enough constitution to avoid loss of maximum health. The specter facing Borovik in the second row and the one facing Bree in the rear threw their punches but missed. The fourth specter grabbed at Preston's arm, but its magically induced clumsiness made it easy for Preston to dodge out of the way.
Mara, now in polar bear form attacked the wraith in front of her and hit with both a bite and a swipe of the claws. The wraith took full damage and wavered unsteadily from its heavy injuries. As a bonus action, Mara used combat wildshape healing to remove about half the injuries she suffered. The brown bears again attacked the wraiths, both hitting and delivering a moderate amount of damage.
Neega hit her opponent with her first attack and the wraith vanished into a mist with a whispering sigh. Having heard Preston cry out in pain, she was determined to go to his aid. She squeezed past Borovok and Bree to get behind the specter who was attacking Preston. She hit it with her second attack and the damage brought it close to death. Preston followed up by attacking the specter with his quarterstaff. He hit but the damage was just shy of what was needed to destroy it. Nonetheless, it was so weakened that it seemed to be gradually fading from view.
Kellen pulled out his rapier and wounded the specter in front of him, although the damage was small, since Kellen's rapier was not magic. Borovik aimed 2 magic missiles at his opponent specter and the third at Kellen's opponent. He destroyed his opponent and delivered force damage to Kellen's opponent. Bree again stabbed her enemy with the dagger of venom. The whimpering specter shuddered from its damage.
The remaining wraith attacked Mara, but its aim was bad and it missed. Kellen's enemy attempted to grab him, but he twisted away from the ghostly grasp. Bree's opponent connected with a punch, but Bree used her Uncanny Dodge Reaction to halve the damage. This time she avoided any further reduction to her maximum health. The specter that had bedeviled Preston decided that Neega was a greater threat, so it switched its targeting to her. It briefly touched her arm and Neega took some damage but suffered no maximum hit point damage.
Mara attacked the remaining wraith with teeth and claws, delivering a fair amount of damage. She ordered the first brown bear to continue attacking the final wraith and it perished under the bear's blows. She ordered the second brown bear to go attack the specter battling Kellen and Borovik. The bear hit and delivered enough damage to put the specter in serious trouble. Kellen and Borovik teamed up against the remaining specter in the second rank of the lineup. Borovik blasted it out of existence with force damage from his Magic Missiles.
Bree decided she couldn't sustain another blow from her undead enemy, so she used her bonus action to disengage from the specter. She ran around behind Neega and from there fired her shortbow at the specter. She hit and, despite the specter resisting some of the damage, it was now hissing and close to death. Neega targeted the specter in front of her. She missed with her first strike but hit with second and the specter faded into nothingness. Preston turned to the specter from whom Bree had just fled and targeted it with his quarterstaff, but he missed.
The final specter, the only one of the undead left, targeted Neega but missed. With his opponents dead, Kellen ran up next to the remaining specter and attacked with his rapier. He hit and the damage was enough to destroy it.
Mara dismissed the brown bears and resumed her half-elf form to heal her comrades. Bree was restored to full health, while Preston and Neega were restored to nearly full health. When various party members worried about their loss of maximum health, Borovik explained that the health loss would be reversed after a long rest. That brought a sigh of relief.
"I propose we search for the treasure in the room," said Bree. "Better we should have it than Varram and his crew."
They looked in the bookshelves and Borovik gasped. "Wow! These scrolls and treatises contain rare information about spell casting practices in ancient Netheril! Scholars would be willing to pay us hundreds of gold pieces for them! And they have been magically preserved from the ravages of time!"
"Okay!" grinned Bree. "They will go into my Portable Hole so we can take them back to Waterdeep."
They next opened up the chest and found seven silken robes inside as well as 2 scrolls of protection from energy and a ring set with an amethyst. Picking up the ring, Borovik sensed it was magic, but couldn't tell what the magic was. The airtight chest had kept the robes from rotting, so they looked as if they were new. Preston looked longingly at a beautiful purple robe, and the party agreed to let him have it. The rest of the items went into Bree's Portable Hole.
Borovik studied the silver ewer and 4 goblets on the table next to the bed. He guessed that they might be magic, so he did Detect Magic as a ritual. He noticed a glow of magic around the ewer.
"Hmm. This ewer seems to be magic. Let's take it and goblets with us."
They next examined the bed, since the fine coverings looked like they would be worth looting. Alas, the elegant bed was an illusion. The true bed was worn and rotted, and nothing was worth taking. However, during the examination Mara found a crumbling book stuck between the bed and the wall.
"Look!" she exclaimed. "Here is the book that Ilda was looking for! It had been here in Diderius' bed chamber all along. It looks like he was the one who lost it and it wasn't stolen, after all."
"Wow!" said Neega. "We should take take it back to her so she can return it to its shelf and finally find her rest."
The book went into the Portable Hole.
No more treasure was found in the room, so they decided to leave.
"Do you think the devils will attack us when they realize that we didn't die in the room?" asked Kellen.
"We should be prepared in case they do," answered Mara.
"So, let's make a plan for how we will battle them," said Borovik.
Drawing on his arcane knowledge of devils, he explained to the group, "Don't use fire or poison on them. If you have magical weapons, use them. They can hit you with their glaives even if you are 10 ft. away. The glaive may inflict an infernal wound, which will continue to bleed and damage you until it's closed. And they can also hit you with their beards, which can poison you."
"These guys sound tough. Mara and Neega should be in front. The rest of you should be in the back and don't let them get close to you," said Bree. "If need be, I will run up to a devil, stab it, then use my bonus action to disengage and get back out of the way."
"If we take a short rest here, I can regain some of my magical energy," said Borovik.
The party agreed and they took a short rest. Kellen, Neega and Preston returned to healthy after resting. Borovik regained some of his magical energy.
"Be prepared to use your Potions of Healing," said Mara. "My magical energy is running low."
"I suggest we get their attention, then draw them into the hallway," said Neega. "That will make it harder for them to surround us and easier for us to shield those in back."
"Good idea," agreed Kellen.
Mara cast Conjure Animals to summon a polar bear, cast Protection from Poison on herself and Neega, then assumed a polar bear wildshape.
They lined up in the hallway with the summoned polar bear at the head of the stairs, Mara and Neega behind it, Kellen and Borovik next, with Preston and Bree at the rear. Although the summoned polar bear was not very stealthy, the bored devils failed to notice it, so the party caught them by surprise. Mara ordered the polar bear to run into the room and attack the nearest devil. The fight was on.
The bear hit one of the devils sitting on the near side of the table with its claws and did a small amount of damage. The devils howled in alarm. Going into a rage, Neega stepped to the top of the stairs and pulled out Hazirawn, with Mara moving up close behind. Mara and Neega held their actions until a devil came within range of their weapons. Bree, Kellen, Preston and Borovik also moved up and held their actions until such time as a devil came into view at the top of the stairs.
Most of the devils were too shocked to react, but the devil injured by the bear did have the presence of mind to jump up and return the blow. The bear received damage but avoided poisoning and the infernal wound. Mara then called the bear to run back toward the stairs. As the bear ran off, the devil swiped at it and hit with its glaive. The bear growled fiercely as its injuries mounted.
The devils ran after the bear in hot pursuit when 2 of them noticed that Neega and Mara were waiting at the top of the stairs. They changed course to run to them, one devil running up to Mara and the other devil running up to Neega. They didn't have time to actually make an attack before the party used their held actions to strike. The other 3 devils ran up to surround the summoned polar bear.
As soon as she could see that a devil now faced Mara, Bree shot an arrow at it, but missed. Kellen then attempted to charm this devil with Crown of Madness, but it managed to dodge out of the way of the spell. Borovik hit the same devil with the Melf's Acid Arrow spell, splashing acid on it and burning it. Neega attacked the devil facing her, hitting it with one of her strokes and leaving a gash on its leg. Mara placed 2 powerful blows with teeth and claws on the devil who had run up to her. It screeched and cursed as it staggered from its injuries. Preston targeted the devil with Chill Touch and gave it a good blast of necrotic energy. It succumbed to its injuries.
"Back to the Nine Hells with you!" he cried out triumphantly.
Because the devils had been caught by surprise and they had to expend a good deal of time reaching the party, some of the party members got the chance for a second attack before the devils got any blows in. The first devil was now dead, so Bree shot her arrow at the devil that faced Neega, hit and caused a small amount of damage with her non-magical shortbow. Kellen also shot a bolt at the same devil. He hit and, although his weapon wasn't magic, he did enough damage so that the devil yelped in pain.
"Eat steel!" yelled Neega as she delivered 2 blows with Hazirawn to the devil facing her. It collapsed to the floor.
Since he couldn't see any more targets, Borovik decided to hold his action until another devil came to the top of the stairs.
The devil which had been injured by the summoned bear continued attacking the bear. It hit with its beard and further injured the bear but missed with its glaive. One of the devils surrounding the bear saw 2 of its companions fall to enemies on the stairs, so it ran around behind its the devil next to it to get to Neega and attack her. As this devil ran out of the bear's melee range, the bear swiped at the devil with its claws and gave it a little damage. Borovik saw the devil position itself in front of Neega and loosed his held Melf's Acid Arrow spell at it. The spell hit and added acid burns to the devil's damage. This devil then hit Neega with its beard but failed to poison her. It missed with its glaive.
One of the other devils next to the bear decided to join its companion attacking the front line of the enemies on the stairs. It ran down a couple of steps to position itself in front of Mara and attacked. It hit with its beard and gave her some injuries, but her resistance to poisoning kept her from being poisoned. It then attacked with its glaive and, although Kellen used his Bardic Inspiration ability to reduce the chances that the attack would succeed, it was not enough to prevent the devil from hitting. She took damage but was able to maintain concentration and her Summon Animal spell did not end. However, the injury resulted in an infernal wound. Red blood flowed over the white fur on her shoulder.
As Mara prepared to attack the devil in return, she felt a pang of pain from the infernal wound and took a little more damage. Realizing she could close the infernal wound with magical healing, she used combat wildshape healing to restore some health. Casting the new spell made her lose concentration on the summoned bear, and it vanished. She then turned her attention to the devil who had just struck her. She hit it with bite and claws, biting its arm and slashing it across the face.
Both Preston and Bree attacked the devil battling Mara, Preston with a Chill Touch spell and Bree with her short bow. Unfortunately, both missed. Kellen had more success with his Crown of Madness spell, casting it at the devil facing Neega. This time the spell landed, and the devil fell under Kellen's charm. Borovik hit Mara's opponent with his Magic Missiles and did a moderate amount of damage. This devil was now panting and looking pained. Neega saw that Kellen had charmed the devil facing her, so she turned and targeted the devil attacking Mara. Two mighty blows with Hazirawn sent it back to Avernus.
Now that its bear opponent had vanished, the only devil yet to engage the party realized its one remaining companion needed some help, so it rushed down the stairs to attack Mara. It hit with its beard and did a small amount of damage but failed to poison her. She was hit by the glaive, and again sustained an infernal wound. She growled fiercely and bared her teeth at the devil as a new bleeding wound opened up on her side. Kellen ordered the charmed devil to attack its ally. It hit with its beard but missed with its glaive, dealing some damage to the other devil. Having finished its attack, it shook its head and threw off Kellen's charm.
Mara felt another pang from the new infernal wound and suffered some more damage. She used her combat wildshape healing to heal herself and close up the infernal wound. She then attacked the devil who had newly appeared before her. She gave it 2 good blows and it screamed curses in infernal as nasty lacerations appeared on its chest and shoulder. Preston hit the devil with Chill Touch, adding to its misery with necrotic damage.
Bree hit the devil Mara faced with an arrow from her shortbow, doing a small amount of damage. Kellen successfully cast Vicious Mockery at the same devil, giving it psychic damage and causing its movement to become clumsy. By now, it was unsteady on its feet. Borovik finished off the devil with Magic Missiles. Neega saw that the charmed devil had thrown off the charm, so she attacked it. Two blows from Hazirawn killed it.
"Ah! Finally, some blood flows over my blade!" crooned Hazirawn.
"Hurray!" cried Neega. "Now all we have to do is go through that door to the north and get to the divination pool! We can finally capture Varram!"
Mara resumed half-elf form so she could talk to her comrades, then responded, "Wait a minute! I'm nearly out of magical energy! If he's in there, we may be in for another battle. I'm not sure I'm up for that."
"Aw, Mara, I really want to wrap up this mission," pleaded Bree.
"I have to see if he's there!" Neega added insistently.
"Alright," said Mara sourly. "But if he and his minions are in there, I am running the other way as fast as I can. I don't think I have another battle in me for today."
They went through the door to the north and entered a corridor that turned to the left after about 10 ft. After another 30 ft., there was another door. Bree crept quietly up the hall and listened at the door. There was no sound on the other side. She opened the door and peeked in. She couldn't see any sign of Varram or his crew within the limits of her light spell. She motioned for Kellen to come forward and look with his darkvision. The room was about 40 ft. wide, and he could see the pool about 50 ft. in front of him. The far end of the chamber was lost in the shadows. There was no sign of Varram, but there was a dead cultist on the floor. Blood stains were everywhere, and arrows littered the floor.
Kellen motioned for the rest of the party to come in. Once inside they could see the back wall, which was 80 ft. from the door. They looked around the room and saw a door to the south that bulged outward, like the broken door in the Mosaic room had done. They surmised that it led to the hallway between this room and the Mosaic room, and that the door was bulging because of debris from the ceiling collapse in the hallway.
The pool was 40 ft. in diameter and sat close to the back wall. It was dry at the moment. There was a sluice running from the south wall to the pool, and it was fed by a pipe through the wall. Borovik realized that the pipe was the same height off the floor as the pipe in the well room that drained water from the basin. That must be how water got into the pool.
Mara examined the body of the cultist and determined that the cultist had not died from arrows, but from a dagger wound. She called Borovik over to take a look at the body and the wound. Borovik studied the wound, and after some thought said, "I think this wound came from a dragontooth dagger."
"What's that?" asked Mara.
"It's a ceremonial dagger favored by the Cult of the Dragon."
"So, does that mean that Varram sacrificed one of his fellow cultists in order to satisfy the demands of the divination pool?"
"It sure looks that way."
Mara shook her head in disbelief and horror.
Bree, Kellen and Neega carefully looked at the placement of the arrows and their orientation on the floor. They couldn't really figure out where the arrows had been shot from, so they asked Borovik to come take a look. He scratched his chin and finally said, "I think they were shot out of the double doors to the north."
"So, we know that danger comes from the north and that looks like the way we have to go to find Varram, or his body," said Mara. "I suggest that we go back to our cave for a long rest before we proceed further."
The rest of the party agreed. Bree scooped up 5 of the arrows on the floor that seemed to be usable and added them to her quiver. They retraced their steps back to the library. There they gave the ancient tome to Ilda, and she joyously replaced it in its place on the bookshelves.
"Diderius had accused me of stealing the book, and all this time he himself had lost it!" she exclaimed.
Then she paused and asked, "I wonder why he never used his divination powers to figure out where it was."
"Huh, good question," said Borovik.
"Well, my duty here is ended and I will go to my rest. Thank you, my friends."
With that, she vanished.
They exited the tomb, noticing it was late afternoon. They made their way to the cave and were happy to find that the horses had not been stolen or eaten by trolls.
After eating an evening meal, Borovik turned to Preston and said, "It's possible that the magic ring we found requires that a user attune themselves to it before it will work for them. Let's use the ring to teach you how to attune to magical items."
He pulled the amethyst ring out of Bree's Portable Hole and continued, "You have to spend an hour examining and studying the item. As you attune, you should come to understand the nature of its magic."
Preston took the ring and studied it for an hour. He discovered that it was a ring of poison resistance, and that it did require a user to attune to it.
Borovik smiled and said, "Wear it, Preston. It will help you avoid being poisoned if we battle any Yuan-ti."
That night, when Talis sent Mara a message asking how the mission was going, she responded, "Defeated wraiths, specters and bearded devils. Discovered divination pool where we expected to find Varram. He wasn't there."