After refusing to give up the ring, the group engage Elijah in combat. After a few attempts to escape, he was dealt a killing blow by Kadath. Kadath points out the magic upon the ring, as well as a few other items, then pulls out a sending stone to contact Erwin.

Evangeline takes the silver ring and begins to examine it and consult her book. She discovers its magical properties as well as its origin. It was forged by Velsharoon in the fires of the hells from the silver found in the shadowfell. It has passed through several hands throughout the ages, but no known names. Fix also prays for Gond’s guidance on the ring and is informed it can only be destroyed in the cold fires of the shadowfell.

Forsythe rummages through Elijah’s pockets and pouches, finding a few other items. A potion of longevity, a ring of protection, and a coal of fire starting are taken and identified. He then finds a spot to rest.

Zybella finally reaches back out to Fix with the information she found about this trap. She discovered Yagoril utilized these traps for prisoners and other unwanted guests of the city. It was nearly impossible to make it out without the guidance of the maze-maker. It is rumored there is a trap such as this in the pass through the Clock of Kala.

Forsythe and Evangeline begin to look about the room for any other exits and discover writing on the wall, “Carefully tread, retrace your steps, look behind, you may regret.” After a brief discussion, they head back the way they had come, going through the doors in reverse order. The further they go, the more sounds that follow, each one getting louder and more personal. As they leave the trap, they begin hearing whispering voices of loved ones. Fix continues to remind the group not to look back and continue onward.

When they come back out on the street, Forsythe sees the ethereal inhabitants of the city going about their daily lives. Since they seem to ignore the group, they continue to the edge of the city where they came in. Kadath gets an idea and closes his eyes, turns around, and steps backward out of the city. Seeing that it worked, the others followed suit. As each step down, a skeletal hand successfully grabs Fix, Evangeline, and Buckly, however, the arms are quickly removed from the rest of the skeleton under the city.

Just beyond the city, they make camp and sleep the rest of the evening. Fix is awakened by Zybella quite early. She informs him that Brumond had made it home and that he had seen Lady Gaera in Qi. She also lets him know Joyve had still not returned home. Once the connection was dropped, Fix reiterates who can come to the estate to Philethis, then contacts Joyve.

Joyce informs Fix that Gavyn had gotten weaker so she stayed in Ephremon for a while to allow the healers to examine him and they should be good to go soon. Upon Fix’s request, she teleports to the Skyfields first, then takes the group with her, Gavyn, and one of her healers, Chino, to Qi.

In Qi, Fix checked in with his family and got Gavyn to bed. While the others wait, Forsythe, in unrecognized forms, goes to the tavern and finds Devin. Devin lets him know things must be happening because he saw Lady Gaera Baruvis in town. He also lets Forsythe know she was most likely at the Crown’s Tavern. Taking that information, he traveled to the Crown’s tavern and saw Funae take a tray to the upper level. He finds a table and scries on her. He discovers Funae is not just a servant, learns that Davakri shares the wards around the Trentson estate are strong, and that Eshuto advises to draw Kofic to Wyrfall. Gaera shows frustration and intention to attack while the entire Trentson family was in town.

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The group spends some time discussing how to leave Uxphon and how to get the 5 freed slaves out as well. Fix calls upon Zybella to send Joyve to aid in teleporting those 5, as well as Jhorn and Gavyn. Juric encouraged teleportation to Ephremon and had already agreed to aid the others in supplies to travel their separate ways. During this time, Evangeline communes with Denier to learn about the magical ink. She learns the ink was foreign to the book and that it will fade with time.

Neberos comes in after a bit of time and informs the group that guards are traveling door-to-door to inspect homes for the attackers. After Joyve teleports the others, Forsythe transforms the group into clouds. Hovering high in the air, they watch the guards come to the Methuk estate, inspect, and leave. Seemingly not finding anything. 

The group decide to travel to the Cloudcrystal Skyfields in search of the ruins of Yagoril. Flying over the fields, they see large shards of crystals floating in the air, and smaller shards shimmering from the ground beneath. They spot a traveling group, land, and meet Thomas, a crystal merchant. They learn he takes a harvest of the crystals to Qi to sell at the market. He also warns them of the “City of Bones,” which he had never seen himself, but had heard rumors of people disappearing in the area. They all pick up some shards from the ground for various future purposes.

Evangeline sits and focuses on the drawing of the bones attempting to locate it. After one failed attempt which made her nauseous, she finally succeeds and leads the group to the city. As they come upon the city, Kadath trips on a larger shard and finds another card. The Moon card, altered to look more like a pearl, is believed to have the symbol of Cyric. Voices also begin to whisper to the group, getting louder as they get closer to the city, “We’ll take you where you’ll want to go, but getting out, you’ll be too slow.”

Kadath enters the city first, realizing that once he crossed the threshold, the voices stopped. He also turned to see about stepping back down and found the city had a barrier. Knowing what they may need is within, the group join Kadath in the city. As they wander through the city, toward the concentrated area of magic in the center, they see the streets are large cobblestone, but the buildings are made of bone and mortar.

When they reach the center building, they enter the main floor, an empty room with stairs going up and another set heading down. They decide to follow the stairs up and find themselves in a multidimensional trap. Finding 8 distinct doors, they begin to experiment. They discover that when they cross a threshold of a door, the area seems to reset, but whatever is done to the doors remains the same.

They recall some information that may help them find their path out of this trap:
Second major city to be built, quickly rose to be first in this' class in magic and science, third to fall by its own demise, last to actually die.