As Fluffy Fluffy is running away and looks over her shoulder to see kaea kill pomin, she also notices something else. Kaea momentarily bends over as if in pain or discomfort, and his eyes flicker back from glowing red to white and brown. But as quickly as it happened, he is standing up straight again, his eyes as red as ever, raising his sickle above his head. The member of the club_and_hammer closest to him grows suddenly wrinkled and frail as if he aged years in only a moment, and then falls to his knees under his own weight. The other soldiers follow suit, all kneeling in front of the god. And then Fluffy is out of the Gardens, and they are out of sight. She runs full tilt back down to the crypt, unsure if Kaea will follow.
Dave the Average meanwhile is transfixed by the gaze of the skeleton he uncovered. It begins to rise from its coffin. Halt comes into the chamber waving the glowing candle holder as if to frighten the skeleton off, but it has no effect. The skeleton seems to Halt not to be attacking Dave, but to be scrutinizing him, and if wishing to communicate in some way. It leaves its polearm in the coffin as it rises. He decides to settle in to see what happens.
The skeleton brings its hand back and strikes at the still entranced Dave. It scrapes harmlessly over his armor. It strikes again, dealing no damage this time either. Halt, after watching his friend get slapped at multiple times, decides it's probably time to act, and looses an arrow at the skeleton's head. He misses horribly, however, and it strikes Dave, reopening the shoulder wound from their earlier fight against the bandits in the forest.
A drop of blood reaches the ground, and as soon as it strikes, Dave falls out of his trance and the skeleton steps aside as if to grant them access to the chamber behind the burial wall. At this point, Fluffy arrives, transforms into a black widow to enter through the lock, and then transforms back into a bear on the other side. stol, who had been cowering in the corner the whole time, yelps as she transforms, curling into a fetal position and whimpering.
Fluffy fills the party in on what happened up in the Gardens, leaving out some details such as that killing gautil was not in fact an accident. They decide to prepare for Kaea's potential arrival by placing the skeleton in front of the entrance, and walk into the glowing chamber behind the wall, Stol nervously following.
The chamber is lit in purple light, but from no discernible source. It is as if the air itself is glowing. It is bare aside from a large stone coffin in the center. The coffin's sides are covered in orcish writing similar to that in the adjoining chamber, and on its lid is an engraving of none other than kidal, a staff and a mace both crossed over her chest.
From the coffin emanates a voice. "You have been judged worthy," it says. "What is it you desire?" The party tells Kidal of their troubles with moktan, and of the blight. "With regards to Moktan," she says, "your designs may align with mine. And if you are looking for a way to defeat the Blight, you have sought help in the right place." A hidden compartment opens on the side of the coffin. Inside is a small knife, glowing writing running down the flat of its blade. The blade edge and the stone in the pommel also glow purple. Next to the knife is a vial of purple liquid. "Use these as tools in your war," Kidal says. "Dip any blade into the liquid, and it will be as bane to the Blight." Dave and Halt take the knife and the vial respectively.
"Now, as for Moktan," the voice says. Kidal tells the party that she was the most powerful orcish magician who ever lived. As the orcs have slowly abandoned their warlike ways, Moktan has been losing power, while she has been gaining territory in the Domain of Death. Those skeleton guards bear the symbol of the anvil and sickle moon because it is as much her emblem as his. She has no designs on the Domain of War, she says, but wishes to recapture death's kingdom from Moktan so that she might care for the dead in their own time, rather than rushing them to their demise through war.
"The God of Death and War's power over the kingdom of death comes only through war," she says, "and without it his power wanes. The way I see it, you have two choices. You can stay aligned to Moktan, help him bring down the government of Folendemkar and bring the orcs under his heel. He will keep all promises he made to you. David, your mother will be brought back to life, and Pomin, who you tried to talk him out of killing, will likewise live again. You will live powerful lives beside the God of Death on his endless campaigns. Or, you can betray him, and join me. I desire no war, only power over his domain. I will care for the dead, and his power will wane. I will have the power to bring back your mother and Pomin as well. It is your choice." The party chooses to side with Kidal. Then, a knock comes on the thick stone door.
The group devises a plan. They will pretend to be fighting the skeletons when Kidal opens the door to let Kaea in. Then, they can draw him into a fight in the center of the room and ambush him. They begin the staged fight, and the door opens.
Kaea is not standing there alone. He is holding captive karen, the councilmember in charge of supply and distribution that Fluffy encountered before in her wanderings through the tunnels. Seeing the fight, he throws Karen against the wall near Stol and rushes to join in. Dave accidentally injures the skeleton he is fighting, and Kaea is quick to finish him off. But, with their quarry in the center of the room, Dave screams "Now!" and slashes downwards at Kaea.
The chaos of the fight catches him by surprise, and he receives a near-fatal gash across his chest and leg. He falls down to the ground, bleeding. Not fully prepared, Halt looses an arrow at the ground next to Kaea while scath harmlessly leaps over him. With a roar, Fluffy, still in bear form, rears up on hind legs and comes down on Kaea, crushing him.
Kaea finally defeated, the party takes a deep breath. The two words "thank you" come from the coffin, and then it is silent. The three remaining skeletons set up guard in front of Kidal's burial chamber. Laying beside Kaea's body is the sickle, its handle broken off from the blade. The party decides to take the blade with them. They approach the burial chamber to leave the handle there, but a skeleton simply holds out its hand to take it and deliver it itself. The handle and blade will remain separate.
They help Karen up to Danid's chambers. On the way, they encounter some straggling spores which simply screech and dart away at the approach of the knife. They find Danid alive and well, albeit confused. Halt remains to care for Karen and Dave and Fluffy walk to the Gardens. There, the Club and Hammer sit on the ground, the Blight staying away from them. Gautil is still dead, but Pomin is sitting up, massaging the place on her neck where the wound was. The remaining Blight flee at Dave's approach, and the infected mushrooms return to normal.
Elsewhere in Folendemkar, the executioner turned executionee is beginning his transition back into daily life. He remembers little of what came before, but is now being retrained as a mushroom farmer. The undead guards raised by the_necromancer were beheaded by another contingent of Club and Hammer, their remains destroyed. In mokrab's workshop, an egg timer is discovered, along with two short paragraphs scrawled in one of Lord Cornelius's books beside it:
Dear Reader,
Kindly set the dial marked "year" from -70,000,001 to -70,000,000, and set the dial marked "day" from 1 to 2. Then, kindly press the large red button. You will be rewarded.
Yours truly,
Lord Cornelius Flinnigan Bartholomew Zimmer Esquire, Transcendant Mage of Exalted Glory, He who has Seen the Future and Molded the Past, Defender of Time
A small cult begins to form around this timer and note, waiting for the reward promised.
As for the party, while many still don't trust them, the leadership of Folendemkar, encouraged by Danid and Karen, has decided to pardon them in the name of peace. They are allowed their weapons and gear back, and housed until the time comes for them to leave. Stol is outfitted in a short sword, leather armor, and a helmet a bit too big for him, all spoils of some raid from long ago. He even manages to sneak some halfling pipeleaf from the stores.
It is now up to them all to decide where their next adventure will take them!