- Nearing the Silver Tower, they came upon a heavily-armored knight standing beside a broken wagon in a stream. The wagon’s cargo was a large wooden box wrapped with sinister chains. The knight introduced himself as Sir Glendon of Dawn Glen, from the kingdom of Cloudrest.
- Tessel greeted him with great courtesy, and Valra did her best to do the same. It transpired that Sir Glendon had been hired to help some Seraphs deliver the mysterious box to the Silver Tower and to unlock it once it had arrived. However, the Seraphs had been recalled from the mission early, and the horse that had been pulling the wagon had bolted when the box started jostling. Apparently there was something alive inside the box, and Sir Glendon was having trouble deciding how (and whether) to continue his mission. Tessel used a spell of Detect Good & Evil and determined that there was a fiend inside the box, which helped clarify things greatly. Sir Glendon agreed to help the party kill whatever was inside. He used his key to undo the chains on the box, and Valra pushed off the lid to reveal a chain devil.
- The box’s chains abruptly sprung to life and sprouted razors, grabbing hold of several of the adventurers. Valra, wearing bulky armor, was unable to cast spells, but she did get some good hits with her short sword. Adamir tried to use his new magical scimitar, and Sir Glendon swung his greatsword over and over, but the chains proved to be tricky to hit. Ralnur’s axe proved to be the most helpful, and in his battle rage he smashed several of the chains, scattering their links into the stream.
- The chain devil retreated into the deeper parts of the stream, lashing out with its chains and using terrifying illusions to try to frighten the party. Tessel pursued and used her holy power to smite the devil. But it was Ardwyn who struck the final blow, cleverly using her Tagger Dagger to catch up to the devil and stabbing it with a sneak attack. Adamir gathered up the devil’s fiendish chains. Sir Glendon announced that he had seen enough of Rakos and would return to Cloudrest as soon as he could. Tessel congratulated Valra for her valiant display of martial prowess.
- They decided to try to use the box to sneak into the Silver Tower. Ardwyn hid inside the box, Adamir stealthily crept through the grass near the tower, while Valra turned both herself and Tessel into horses (using Mending to fix the broken wagon parts). After much coaching, Ralnur led them up to the door of the Silver Tower.
- Before he could knock, the door opened to reveal a very creepy mage with a wide grin and a black robe. Ralnur said that he was delivering the box, but the mage just told him to leave it outside and slammed the door. Not knowing exactly what to do next, Ralnur walked away. The horses and the box were very concerned by this. After a few minutes, the mage stepped out and cast a detection spell on the box, frowning when he discovered what was inside. Ralnur returned to the door again, this time asking for payment for the delivery. Luckily, the mage just assumed he was ignorant and dim-witted and tried to send him away again.
- When Ralnur stayed, asking to see Rath, the creepy mage began to lead him upstairs. The rest of the party finally emerged from hiding and stepped inside the tower, but this triggered a silent alarm, and the mage immediately noticed. Adamir took the initiative by tackling the mage and trying to tie him up, but the man just kept grinning (albeit in a very forced way) and teleported away in a puff of mist. Ardwyn searched the second floor, but found nothing except for creepy candles with red flame. These candles suddenly burst into a brighter flame simultaneously, and a voice whispered to Ralnur, “get out while you can”. They tried to ascend further, but they found their path blocked by a force field. Valra attempted to dispel it, but she wasn’t able to defeat the well-crafted spell.
- After a moment, they heard a familiar voice from the floor above. Rath had appeared and began asking questions. “Ardwyn, is that you? And... Tessel?” He cast a few detection spells before descending to meet them and dispelling the force field. “Well this was all just a big misunderstanding, then! Welcome to the Silver Tower!” Rath explained that all the creepiness was just a ruse meant to keep people away. It was the only way he believed he could prevent Baldric from seeing him as a threat. The creepy mage turned out to be a friendly student named Adrian.
- Rath took the party up to his office and began to explain what he had been up to. For years, he had been training his devoted remaining students in the arts of war, plotting to overthrow Baldric. More recently, he had been interviewing devils and other extraplanar entities, and he had discovered quite a lot. He knew about the pact between Baldric and Mephistopheles, and he knew that the Mantella was causing the soul sickness.
- Rath believed that Mephistopheles was planning to use the Mantella to finally become a god and take control of the Nine Hells, but he had discovered something that nobody else seemed to know: the Mantella could only be used by a mortal. Mephisto’s plan was doomed to failure! Rath shared this information with the devils, hoping to cause a rift between Mephistopheles and Baldric, and apparently it had worked. Fearing that Baldric might try to steal the Mantella for himself, Mephisto broke the pact and stripped his power. That was the good news. The bad news was that, even after it had gathered enough souls, the Mantella would continue sucking in souls until some mortal claimed its power. To stop the soul sickness, somebody would need to claim the Mantella...
