Looking over the remains of the defeated enemies, Edhas, Thorm, Dora and Wyndham all began to argue about the origins of the strange bloodlike substance. While each of them professed to know its origins, Edhas quietly began to bottle a few vials of the liquid, only to feel its pull to bottle more. Dora argued that the liquid was known as the Sap of Life and could potentially unlock the prison of Carceri, while Wyndham insisted it was the very substance of what makes a Changeling unique. Meanwhile, Thorm argued that it was a substance called The Voidharrow and was unstable and dangerous. All agreed its origins traced to Therizdun and the Carceric Plane. Unwilling to compromise, they settled on talking again after a rest. Although most of hte party slept surprisingly well, Dora and Edhas, both of whom possessed vials of the substance, slept restlessly, filled with nightmares of demonic origin. Rather than carry the burden they agreed to leave the substance in the basin for later.
convinced they had cleared the catacombs, they returned to the surface to investigate the other buildings before deciding on a path. Although they cleared the stairwell in the barracks building they found themselves in another building - identified by Sir Oakley as the Heroes Gate. Here they faced off against a series of threats including a rust monster, the only casualty of which was Sir Loin's weapon. From there, they went to the last unchecked building where statues and and other vestiges of Bahamut's glory were intact. Although evidence of spiders residing here was present, they were able to move unmolested to the rear of the building to a stairwell headed down.
Rather than backtrack to the barracks, they chose to head down here. The stairwell leveled out several times, plunging deeper and deeper into the mountain. When they finally emerged into a room with a vaulted ceiling - a set of large brass double doors dominated the northern wall while a smaller door was directly across from the stairs. Although the room was unoccupied, the splendor of the frescoes of the wall were indicative of the great Minotaur city, Saruun Khel. Images of bloodthirsty minotaurs dining with Baphomet dominated the interior. Rather than head to the double doors, they entered the eastern door to find themselves face to face with a ten foot minotaur, axe in hand. One look at one another and the creature barked, "Begon - this doesn't have to get ugly"
Choosing to investigate further they learned that the Minotaurs have been living here for hundreds of years in the vaults of Gardmore. Decades ago a tribe of gnolls arrived and both races began to struggle for position until a creature that calls himself Kashtari appeared. The Minotaur explained that Kashtari was also a minotaur but that he also worked to forge an uneasy peace with the gnolls. They have been at peace for years but several minotaurs do not trust the motivation of Kashtari and suspect he is working with the dragon that arrived shortly after him. They made a deal with the minotaur to move against Kashtari, so they could annihilate the gnolls. They were permitted to keep anything they obtained through this confrontation. Once removed, the minotaurs planned to move against the gnolls but are unwilling to go near the dragon who is unable to leave the large chamber to the north to threaten them.
With an agreement in place, the minotaur directed them to the feast hall of Baphomet to the North where they party found a waiting Kashtari and several demonic minions. "you aren't the first" was its only response. Over the course of the battle, it was clear that Kashtari was not a minotaur but an Oni Night Haunter, a shape changer capable of both brutal strength and devious magic. After nearly falling to the Oni, the party destroyed him and his minions and found themselves in the feast hall awaiting their next move. Oakley is convinced the final piece of the ritual will be with the Dragon.
