They continued tracing their steps next to the wall, in order to get closer to the entrance that Valygar had mentioned. He'd hoped against hope that they could sneak behind and avoid those creatures altogether.
Gently, quietly the Company went, following to where the wall was broken and reduced to rubble. Past the debris, they turned what used to be a corner and found themselves at the temple's front entrance, bringing their small lights to bear upon it.
With partially collapsed walls flanking it, the entrance was now an empty, free-standing front about twice the height of a human and supported mainly by four pillars. The pillars had been chipped and stripped, with the white scratches and faint traces of gold leaf to prove it. However, they still retained an etched pattern of thin lines, straight and true from base to lintel.
Above these pillars, the lintel's design centered around a circle about the size of a small shield. Etched straight lines, like the sun's rays, radiated from this circle. On the left was the image of a thick book and on the right a scepter. The circle was ringed by stern block letters: Let the light shine forth and judge thee. All these images were traced in fine yet strong lines by a sure hand, and the long years had not yet worn them away.
But the center itself was pitted and gouged around its edges, and it seemed to open to a void. A sharp eye could spot faint tendrils like black smoke, stirring around the edges and occasionally spilling out into the night.
They passed under the pillars and found themselves in a kind of antechamber. The walls were broken on the left and right. In front of them, however, was a solid brick wall, with no weakness or crack. That same hand which had traced the designs upon the entrance had also carved the outline of a door on this wall, but this door was no more useful as an entrance than the wall was.
Aerie lifted up a hand and made a gentle sweeping motion, intoning a chant in a low breath. As she did so, Valygar seemed ill at ease, but it soon passed.
Aerie stepped back, surveying the door's outline one more time. "There's very little magic here," she said slowly, her voice quivering a little as a new fear dawned on her. "I think—I think the last spell cast here was very strong, and it...it sealed this door from the inside."
"Hopefully they got out," Lidia said, half to herself, kneeling to check the cold, limp body curled in front of this false door.
It was Anath in full wolf-guise: she was long, lean, and covered with a fine grey-brown fur, limbs ending in short, stubby, furry fingers and clawed paws. Seemingly, she had fallen from the top of this wall, which loomed about fifteen feet above, but she had no injuries on her head, or any broken limbs or ribs. It hadn't been the fall that killed her.
If they took a step or two back from the sealed door, the Company could more clearly see the writhing, contorted shapes atop of the temple, and the swell of the hill behind it, and what it was, exactly, they were guarding.
In the midst of the shadows was a massive clear crystal, six feet tall and irregularly shaped in a roughly cut length, marred with chips and flaws within and without.
Valygar's memory had been sound. It seemed that the only way forward was to throw themselves to the shadows.
"Boo says that if we have some sort of plan, now would be the time to put it into action," Minsc said. "Otherwise, I propose rushing in with swords forward!"
"Minsc, they don't have any hides to pierce," Valygar said. "Would swords even do any good?"
"Buddy, I haven't been dragged through sewers and mountains to have my gutting abilities questioned here," the sword said.
Lidia had a sudden thought. She said, "I don't suppose anyone has a spell of sanctuary handy."
"Sorry," Aerie said. "I didn't think to prepare it today."
"Nor did I," Anomen said. "Where is your thought tending?"
"A straight fight would be suicide," Lidia said. "But if we can pass through instead — I've got a ward that will keep the shadows from touching us,"
"We've been traveling through constant peril in these infernal woods," Anomen said incredulously, "and you bring this forward now?"
Lidia said, "I can only cast this ward seven times each day, these things have gotten the drop on us every time, and, more to the point, the protection lasts for only half a minute at most. But if the entrance is where Valygar thinks, then half a minute may be all we need."
They laid out their plan for daring the shadows. For getting to the entrance, Valygar laid out the clearest directions he could to a group that was essentially rushing in blind.
"The spot is protected by a trapdoor from the outside, but it's not magically sealed," he said. "We'll meet there and force the door—it shouldn't be a problem."