The party spends a few minutes of diversionary dialog in order to reunite. Damek the Unpleasant (Fritz) spends much of this time explaining his intestinal distress to Riath and Ancasta, the acolytes. They decide (between themselves) that he is an “unfortunate” fellow, and perhaps a bit “unpleasant”. A mild confirmation of his moniker.
The upper floor of the Temple of Jovas is inhabited by spectral Nightmares and the sundered spirits of various elves involved in what was the original theft of the All-Seeing-Eye. After questioning several of the spirits, the party confronts the thief Hakaar, who is bound, spread-eagled, between a pair of trees.
Hakaar explains that they’re going to need his gloves (Gloves of Storing, it turns out. Capable of hiding an item under 10 lbs in each palm) which, unfortunately, are being worn by his “sundered” physical form and guarded by his pet Dire Wolf, “Frostfang”.
The blind, and babbling-mad form of Hakaar enters as if on cue, his hand resting on the back of a massive, slavering white wolf. Gunga Din (Randy) procures a raw steak from some undetermined location and proceeds to charm the beast. The party reasons with the looney thief well enough to convince him to surrender the gloves without a fight.
Wisp (Lisa) scouts the sanctuary below and signals that all is clear. In a clatter of armor and weapons, the party tiptoes across the sanctuary and descends into the depths below the temple. Here, they discover a mysterious chamber–lit by torches–that contains a black pool, in the center of which sits what they suspect is the All-Seeing Eye they’ve heard so much about.
Bob the Bold (Dennis), He-who-shall-not-be-named (Mike), and Damek lead the party into the chamber. As they do, a writhing mass of glistening black tentacles rises out of the pool and begins snatching at them. As several of the party members are quickly seized, the others valiantly impale the slimy tentacles. Akron (Ken S) launches a magic missile and a ray of flame. He-who-shall-not-be-named is caught and squeezed into unconsciousness. Vamleele (Soleil) and Wisp are seized, but manage to wriggle free. Damek and Gunga Din pepper the enemy with arrow-fire. One by one the tentacles are driven back into the pool.
On the steps leading down to the water’s edge, Akron collects an ivory wand decorated with black tentacles. It seems fairly clear what its purpose is. The ever-intrepid Gunga Din, wearing the Gloves of Storing, swims out and retrieves the All-Seeing Eye.
Damek devises a clever method for investigating the torchlit balconies that overlook the chamber. Unfortunately, part of his clever method involves throwing a mace. This breaks a semi-valuable ivory plate upon which is inscribed a spell. Convinced that he’d like a collection of plates, Damek secures another from the next balcony over, and finds that the balcony is guarded by spiders. And the flame on the torch is some kind of miniature phoenix or fire bat. Gunga Din decries the attempts to loot the temple of a god who is likely their patron. Damek is less concerned with whose temple he’s looting, but not eager to fight flaming bats and poisonous spiders, and so he yields to the rest of the party’s call to depart.
After a lengthly hike to Witchhenge, a brief meeting with Nezumi (the “Rat Boy” of the Brotherhood of the Black Swan) and a descent into darkness, the party finds themselves again in the large, water-filled chamber that held the spirit of the elven queen. She remains bound to the pedestal as they first found her. The pedestal is now glowing with a fierce green radiance, apparently in reaction to the presence of the All-Seeing Eye. This reveals two doors that went unnoticed before, in the far reaches of the room. The frog-hafling creatures that guard the elven queen flee at the burst of light, and Gunga Din swims out to the pedestal with the artifact.
He places it upon the pedestal and, in the following light-and-illusion show, the queen, the pedestal and the artifact are hidden by massive tree roots that seem to grow down from the ceiling of the cavern. So, the “world tree claims its own.”
While Damek is regaling the party with tales of the gold he imagines to be behind the revealed doors, a Woad–a spirit of the wood–greets the party and thanks them on behalf of Jovas. The being explains that they were summoned as champions of the gods, to return that which had been stolen. Having fulfilled that duty, each party member receives a gift.