No one in Gorion's Company said a word or moved a muscle for at least a minute.
Lidia finally dared to look out the entrance. There was no sign of either the dragon or the Shade Lord. Everything was silent.
She went over to Yoshimo, examining him. He was covered with a thin sheen of sweat despite the cold, and his breathing was labored. The fit had now passed, and he was spent, lying limp upon the stone.
"I'm surprised, Valygar," Mazzy said, lowering her bow and turning away from the door. "You rail against magic and yet practice it yourself?"
"Spells destroy spells," he said. He knelt on Yoshimo's other side. "When I say that magic corrupts, I know of what I speak."
Aerie spoke up. "B-but even if you just dispel magic, that's still using it. And then that still supposedly corrupts you according to your own reasoning, doesn't it?"
If there was a time to have this discussion, Lidia thought, this surely wasn't it, not when the Shade Lord could be in the next room. She said to Valygar, "Still, whatever you did seems to have worked, at least for now."
She tried to wake Yoshimo, but he barely stirred. "He shouldn't get anywhere near the Shade Lord, especially if Merella's body is weakening."
"You think it is?" Valygar asked.
She looked like she'd aged twenty years since the last time we'd seen her. My guess is that the Shade Lord needs to find a new host soon and that he will try to take Yoshimo next. I can't think of any other reason why Yoshimo would be affected this way."
Mazzy bowed her head. "What a horrible fate. By failing in our mission to defeat the Shade Lord, I feel that my group bears some responsibility."
"He's not finished yet," Lidia said. "But it's not safe to move him anymore; we've pushed our luck as it is. And if we find some way to bar the door, the tiles in the next room will help keep him and anyone else here safe."
The whole group launched into a spirited debate over which of them should remain to look after Yoshimo. When one volunteered to stay, another pointed out why they should go instead. Eventually, coming to a stalemate, they decided to make camp and hope that rest would clear their minds. They'd put in a day's work of exploring, and the last near-miss with the Shade Lord had left them decidedly rattled.
They made a makeshift camp in the middle of the room, but they didn't light any fire beyond what was in their lanterns. They kept their voices low if they talked at all. Every now and again, they glanced over their shoulders towards the door. But no enemies appeared again.
Lidia had set up her bedroll in the corner and repaired her gambeson when she felt a light finger tap on her shoulder.
"Sorry…sorry to interrupt," Aerie said. "Have you got a moment? It's about that altar."
Lidia set aside her work and followed Aerie to the other side of the room, where the arms of Amaunator laid open around a stone platform.
Aerie explained: "I was leaning against that platform, and…and I think the top of it moved."
"You think there's something in there?" Lidia asked.
"I…I don't know. It's probably nothing," Aerie said.
Lidia felt along the edges of the altar. Sure enough, there was a thin ridge and a seam where the platform connected to the statue. She put both her hands against the edge, leaned in, and pushed.
The platform gave the tiniest budge, announcing its motion with a disgust-inducing stone-on-stone scrape.
"This might be worth looking into," Lidia said. "If you're worried about desecrating the place, the Shade Lord already did a thorough job. We'll rededicate the temple with some proper rites once we're done here."
"If…if you're sure," Aerie said.
"Let's get the others. If we move this thing, we'll need all the muscle we've got."
Even with Minsc, Valygar, Anomen, and Mazzy pitching in, the most they could do was move the slab a few inches back, abruptly stopped by the statue behind. A dusty smell arose from inside the altar, and in the dim light, it seemed to open to a void.
"I'll look," Lidia said, willing Azuredge to give a faint glow. She murmured a quick prayer, hoping that Amaunator would understand, not melting her face off or doing anything similarly unpleasant. The fact that the god was dead wasn't reassuring.
She peered inside, bringing the light to bear on the darkness inside the altar. Inside the altar were a scrap of paper, a mess of jumbled bones, and the glint of gold. This had once been a tomb, but it had been disturbed.
"There's something here," she said.
For a few moments, five members of the Company were able to lift the thin altar cover up. Aerie retrieved the contents, though she grumbled under her breath, "I don't ever, ever want to touch another skeleton, ever."
They placed the altar cover back, then laid the bones upon the altar, treating them as respectfully as possible while in the midst of what was technically grave-robbing. They were mixed together, but they appeared to be two sets of skeletons that once belonged to two fully grown humans.
The other items held a particular interest of their own. The gleam of gold had belonged to one of the third-circles; it was a perfect match to the one in Mazzy's pack. The scrap of paper was a folded note, tied shut with a string.
The note was the most unusual thing of them all, in that it appeared to be only a few years old, at most. After Aerie confirmed that the note held no hidden spells, Lidia opened the letter and read:
"This land near the Umar Hills is rich with mithral deposits, and I notice many other prospectors have joined me here to plunder its riches. So too have scoundrels and bandits been attracted to the area, and they prey mercilessly upon us. I have found an excellent hiding place for my mithral cache, one which even those thieves will never be able to locate. It is far to the northwest of the Imnesvale village, in a forest clearing in the south of the area, placed carefully within a standing column of rock. These columns are common in this area, and this column is different only in that its clearing is surrounded by a copse of trees. I intend to send this on to my family, so that if I happen not to make it home, one of them might track down my cache and benefit from it.
Idras Tombelthen."
"Anyone know anything about this?" Lidia asked.
Mazzy had been listening intently, as though she were trying to picture the location the note described. "Nothing but rumors, I'm afraid. Certainly not the kind worth investing in. That much is certain."
I'd say the same," Valygar said. "The story goes that the first lords here built up Imnesvale on account of the mithral, but it could never be proven."