The party descends into the crystal caves and comes upon a cave of corpses. Almost immediately, they are attacked by fell taints that lash at their bodies with tentacled grips. The party defeats their enemies, but while searching the dead bodies for clues, Inferno tries to slip a piece of paper into his pocket unnoticed. Codren puts his hand on his arm and quietly tells him that the whole party should have a look. The paper details several names indicating the deceased are merchants and their group is made out of people headed from Restwell Keep.
Venturing further, a passage of sharp, overgrown crystals blocks the party’s way. The party tries various methods to slip past, barge through, or blow up the crystals. As they slowly make their way, the crystals begin to call to their minds. Codren, convinced he is exceedingly warm, is influenced to remove his armor, but he manages to recover his senses. Willicae throws away gold with abandon, convinced he should purchase a crystal. Inferno, heavily damaged in his attempts, receives assistance from Willicae and Codren, and he finally crosses to the other side with his companions.
There the path diverges. The companions choose to investigate a cubed room with slots in the floor, ceiling and walls. On the ground is a puzzle with glowing rods and a message which reads “When three runes are held tight without waste or want, you will be worthy of a great power.” After some trial and error, the party solves the puzzle, dispelling an illusion of a wall in the far side of the room. There they find a fell beholder gauth who is waiting to devour the mental energies of any being smart enough to pass the puzzle.
The gauth proves a tough adversary, and the party must utilize much of its resources. In the end, victorious, the party loots a pair of magical Boots of Jaunting.
Looking to end their expedition and find the final way into the deep scar, the party encounters a canyon with deep cliffs leading up to more lashers and a gigantic shard golem. One of the lashers warps reality and switches places with Codren, leaving him stranded at the canyon’s highest levels right next to the golem. The golem punishes Codren, battering him to unconsciousness before his friends can rescue him. Eventually, the party turns the tide of battle and shatters the golem, leaving a glowing Chaos Shard, an evil sliver of great power. Willicae determines that he is strong-willed enough to resist its pull, and retrieves it.
Unfortunately, there is no deeper route to the Scar. As the party turns to leave, their summoned dwarf companion Tarloc, desperate to magic powers, finds a Frostwolf Pelt in a murky pool. The party returns to the sorceror Wish-eye where Inferno offers a tale that tells much but omits many items.
Wish-eye tells Inferno to leave and speaks privately with Will and Codren.