Finally done with the Keep's first level, we begin the descent through the winding staircase, aware that things were probably going to get serious from that moment on. So far we had dealt only with cowardly mercenaries and frail undead guardians and had yet to find any member of Kalarel's inner circle or of his cult.
As we begin going down, Ceteribus suddenly feels a surge of heat emanating from the stone and as he takes it out of his pack, it emanates a bright orange coloured light. Under this light, we notice strange writings on the wall that weren't visible before. None of us can decipher the writing except Ceteribus, who in a sudden burst of understanding is able to translate the inscriptions. Written on the wall was "Path to the stars, between light and shadow, seek the shadow. In Heaven there is also darkness and light." We can also see an engraving with the same symbol that was carved in the ring we had found with the stone. Ceteribus touches the ring to the synbol on the wall, but nothing happens. We decide to carry on, as none of us is able to understand the meaning of those cryptic writings, and nothing else seemed to be happening.
At the bottom of the stairs, we find ourselves in a small crypt. All around the crypt there are eight tombs, carved with similar writings to the ones we found before. In the middle of the room we find a staircase leading down, with a plaque inscribed with the sentence "In Heaven there is also darkness and light" written in Common. On the plaque, a symbol was carved matching the one on the ring. All of the tombs were perfectly sealed, with no sign of being disturbed for ages. Ceteribus attempts to read the inscriptions, but this time he is unable to do so. He then decides to do as before and touches the ring to the symbol carved on the plaque. This time however, something actually happened. One of the tomb's lids slid open and inside it we find not a corpse but a journal and a golden key.
We quickly find that the journal belonged to a previous owner of the mysterious stone, who recounts the tale of it's discovery. There was once a young scholar who studied the stars and had undergone a great journey in search for knowledge. During his journey, he had encountered an old sage, who possessed great wisdom but was also quite mad. From that moment on they traveled together and as they did the scholar learned much from the old hermit. At the end of their journey, the old man told the young scholar that he had found heaven on earth and that it was time for him to leave. Before that, however, he gave the scholar a small wooden box containing the magical stone and a note with the phrase "In Heaven there is also darkness and light" written on it. He then suddenly vanished. Throughout the ages, the stone had been passed on from one owner to another. These were always wise people, who could harness the stone's powers. The journal describes that the stone can grant it's wearer great power, but that after some time it must be passed on to a new owner, because it was too much for any single man to handle. Prolonged exposure to the stone's effect caused great addiction and could possibly even cause death.
Well, at this point Ceteribus starts to worry about his chances. The journal made it very clear that the stone could only be passed on to a willing disciple. Discarding it would do no good, as he would continue to suffer the stone's ill effects. The rest of us however, had a good laugh at the thought of him dying from addiction to the stone, and were rather glad we weren't the ones to touch it first. He tries to force the stone on us but he is out of luck. None of us is a willing disciple :). He would have to find some way of getting rid of it, or he was doomed. More laughing ensued, and we decided to be more careful with what we touch in the future. Nonetheless, we wondered what connection the stone might have with the rift to the Shadowfell. All we could think of was that it had once belonged to one of the wizards who had closed the rift when it was last opened.
We take the journal and the key with us and begin our descent down the staircase, intent on investigating this matter further at another time, if the chance arose.
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