We leave the pillared room and head back to the tower. Olsen leads the way…

The ladder that we came down has gone. We move furniture around in order to be able to climb up. Olsen clambers up and is instantly assailed with two javelins. They both bounce off his helmet. He advances and engages. Nailen attempts to scramble up to help his friend. They both slip over on oily straw. The lizardmen then lob torches and set light to the oil further up the corridor. We retreat back, close the door into the room and descend.

We make our way to the balcony over the watery room. Olsen climbs heroically down the rungs to check how deep the water is. He takes his armour off so that he won’t sink… The water is knee deep! And the bottom is solid.

We descend and start to wade out. There is a step into slightly deeper water, but Olsen still manages to keep his balance. Another step comes a bit later. We head towards the side of the room and it gets shallower again. At the main exit we discover that the step we were walking along ends. Olsen strips off his armour, planning to swim out, while Rufus heads back to get a bench.

Olsen discovers that the water is only about 5′ deep. He wades and swims his way out, occasionally dipping below the surface. He finds the punt and returns with it. We load Salmer onto the punt and pole across the chamber, calling to Rufus. We get no response and so Nailen and Olsen climb back up the rungs.

There’s no noise coming from the room. One of the tables has been moved. Beside it is a guttering torch and Rufus’ helmet.

We scout about and eventually notice a glow from the skull chamber. Rufus is lying on the altar, wearing a crown, pectoral and armband/manacles. Nailen and Olsen attempt to grab Rufus. Nailen is overcome by violent images and cannot contribute. Olsen is more heroic and manages to rescue Rufus. We make it back to the punt and escape.

We punt through the night, and when dawn breaks we realise that we are lost! We can see a collection of buildings, including a tower surrounded by a stone wall to the north east. We aim for it and get there approx 20 mins later. We are tired and hungry. Rufus and Salmer are still unconscious…

There’s a landing stage, so we land. Above the gatehouse is a black flag with a white skull on it. Nailen recognises it as being the same symbol as was on the black knight who we rescued Helena from.

As we finish tying up the punt, we see a tall man. He greets us and Nailen explains our plight. He introduces himself as Clavados and welcomes us as Thanes of Lord Uther and invites us inside. We go through an outer courtyard into an inner courtyard. A low octagonal tower dominates this area. He facade of a temple is to one side, a taller tower to the other. He takes us into none of these, but into some somewhat cold, bare rooms. A servant appears to light a fire and attend to the wounded.

Clavados re-appears, with another man in black robes, but shorter and plumper. Clavados introduces him as Tyrwhitt, a priest of Zalatun and one of the three Lords Spiritual of Itea.

We explain to them about what we found below Ashwell tower – it’s a useful discussion.

We take Salmer and Rufus to the temple.