The group says their goodbyes to the Emerald Enclave scouts, and they begin discussing how to best explore the city. Marchmain sends Sebastian to scout the city, but it ends up being his final Flyte. Marchmain quietly mourns, and the group proceeds through the dead city with caution. They explore a building near the ruins, where they spot something moving within. Marchmain disappears into the shadows, and soon he discovers mushroom folk–vegepygmies–cowering in the building. He tosses them a ration, but they scatter. The rest of the group enters and explores what remains of the ruined building.
When they emerge, several figures greet them, bows at the ready, arrows nocked. They are yuan-ti, the ruthless snake folk. They demand that the group come with them to the Ras and that they lay down their weapons.
All piss and vinegar, Hamish is having none of their request, and he insults them, receiving a pair of arrows in retort. Combat erupts, and as the tide turns, the remaining yuan-ti flee, but they cannot outrun the party or their blades.
The group takes time to recover and hides the bodies of the yuan-ti in one of the ruined homes. At Malcolm’s behest, the group explores eastward toward the great rift of lava. They discover a building overgrown with tasty looking berries, and Malcolm heads in to grab some. Unfortunately, the plants spring to life and attempt to make a meal out of the hungry druid. The group fights to free their friend, and Hamish nearly perishes in the ensuing battle. The party burns out the ruined building to ensure the plant growth is contained. They do their best to tend to Hamish’s wounds, and then make their way to the rift.
The cliffs plummet 200 feet to the bubbling lava below. Across the stone archway, the group can see a small tribe of vegepygmies dancing and cavorting. They appear to have captured a grung and have him hog-tied with vines. After some dancing and shouting and singing, the vegepygmies hoist the struggling grung and carry him to the cliff. After a few moments of chanting, the leader directs the fellow vegepygmies, and they toss the grung into the lava below. Perhaps overcome by the furor of the moment, a pair of vegepygmies plunge into the lava after the grung sacrifice.
Once the vegepygmies have slowed down their celebrations, the group waves them over. The vegepygmies move in a column, and their leader approaches. She hisses loudly in the face of Malcolm, to the delight of her followers, and the tribe pushes past the party.
The group continues northward and clears buildings until they reach one that appears to be in better condition than the surrounding ruins. It is walled, and within the walled compound stands a shrine with a stone door flanked by tall monoliths. The monoliths depict a kamadan, a jaguar-like creature with a mane of writhing snakes. The party enters the compound cautiously. They are greeted by a strange gas, and within a moment, all but Rainblade and Marchmain fall unconscious!
Marchmain and Rainblade weather the assault of the kamadan mates as they rush to awaken their comrades. In a tooth and claw fight, the party finally manages to overcome the kamadans. Exhausted from the near-death adventure, the group gathers themselves and Hamish cooks a hearty meal. Once they’ve recuperated, they disperse to explore the shrine. Rainblade finds a trio of kittens tucked away in a cart behind the shrine. Within the shrine, the party discovers what appears to be a gladiatorial pit built into the floor. Doz and Marchmain cautiously make their way to the pit below, while Anton explores the entry floor, and Rainblade prepares a ritual to decipher the ancient language inscription. Anton discovers tiny holes in the relief above the inscription. Meanwhile, Doz and Marchmain discover the purpose of the gladiatorial pit. In short order, several painted clay statues march into the pit, wielding bronze spears and wooden shields. Combat ensues.
The group fights back against the dangerous clay warriors while Doz blocks the statues’ egress from the pit. One of the clay warriors walks along the wall of the pit and attacks its aggressors. After weathering many blows, it is finally destroyed by Rainblade. Unfortunately for the party, the statue reforms and re-enters the gladiatorial pit with its silent allies. Anton launches a firebolt at the re-emerged warrior, and it climbs out of the pit. The party undertakes a fighting retreat from the shrine. Anton is a breath too slow and weathers an assault by the painted assailant for it. Anton retreats to rejoin his comrade, and his attacker returns to the pit, ignoring Doz as it marches onward.
The party recovers briefly while Rainblade translates the writing on the shrine. It depicts part of a fable involving a kamadan known as Shagambi and a grung named Nangnang, who stole Shagambi’s spear. The party inspects the shrine further and attempts to bring together what clues they have gathered. The shrine was clearly built to serve as some sort of trial. Shagambi = wisdom. The puzzle cubes are key. The pedestal appears to have a stone cube hatch atop it. The four statues in the shrine proper are fashioned as if they should be wielding spears. The painted clay statues in the shrine below wield bronze spears and wooden shields. Marchmain suggests that the group may need to destroy the statues within the pit itself to recover their spears.
Ultimately, the group decides to explore their surroundings before returning to the shrine. The buildings to the north yield misadventures and treasure: a floor collapses beneath Goldtusk, and the group has a close brush with madness mist. However, Doz and Rainblade each discover small wooden figurines inlaid with silver: one depicting a kamadan and the other fashioned to resemble a snail shell.
Before returning to the shrine, the group examines the river more closely. It is fast-moving and churns as it speeds toward the falls. A single stout tree fords the river here, marking the likely safest spot to reach the remainder of the city.