The party found shelter in the ruins of Princess Ahmos's palace. There they rested.
Samm began complaining of a headache. And very soon after he vanished. In his place was a wood elf, apparently a monk. Too weak to fight, but the wood elfshared his story.
He was a crewman on a Githzerai ship, on a mission to eradicate Githyanki Marauders. After a successful mission, the ship and its crew were damaged and in need of rest. While recovering, they were attacked by some unknown force. The wood elf was captured in the attack. And he soon found himself imprisoned in an ancient ruined city, ruled by a figure know as "The Thinker of Thoughts".
He was kept separated from other prisoners, and the guards were quite strong. He decided to bide his time by meditating.
Soon after he was contacted telepathically by a wizard named Sihirbaz. Si was imprisoned in a part of the city with an anti-magic field. He was unable to cast spells. But the guards were unaware that Si had psionic ability.
Si had come to Ares to investigate his theory that there might be a colony of Illithids there. The presence of a Githzerai encampment made him worry that they might be there seeking Illithids.
He had come to know that there was no large colony of Illithids. But "The Thinker" is, in fact, and Illithid. He has rebelled against his Elder Mind leader and set out to build his own colony. He seeks allies among Ares' underdark races, and with a sect of Thri-Kreen who secretly oppose the Githzerai settlers in Mud City.
Somehow (unknown to the wood elf Monk) Si had managed to craft a scroll and hide it in the prison. Using this scroll, the wood elf could invoke a spell that would cause his body to switch places with a specific ally of Si. This ally was Samm, who Si believed might be part of a rescue party.
Hence, the wood elf is here now, and Samm has been wisked away into the prison.
As the party rested, Perra investigated a collapsed section of floor in the palace ruins. In the level below, he saw a group of human soldiers who greeted him. These soldiers were happy to see him, and asked for rescue from the undead ruins. But Perra was able to see with his divine sense that these soldiers were in fact a troop of undead laying in wait to ambush them.
At the same time, a ghost appeared out of a wall in the ground level of the palace. This ghost entered Jedwin's body and took possession of him.
Battle commenced. Jedwin was eventually freed from control of the ghost. From his time possessed, he learned something about the party of undead soldiers.
During her reign Princess Ahmos was so powerful that a group of warlocks began to follow her, drawing their arcane power from her. When she tranformed to her current undead form, the warlocks also died but rose again in undeath, to be "Deathlocks".
The fight was difficult, but the deathlocks were defeated, and the ghost destroyed. At one point, Perra used a Banishment spell to force the ghost out of Jedwin. As ghosts are capable of moving at will between Ethereal and Material planes, the Ghost was able to return to the battle, but was never able to take possession of any other party members.
Once the undead were defeated, the party descended beneath the palace to find the underground river that the Kobold had described. They also found a boat and began to travel down the river in the direction of the ancient city.
The ranger warned them that this area was clearly being patrolled by someone.
Sure enough the party were ambushed by this patrol. Two driders, and many Duergar made up this group. One of the Duergar was a powerful warlord. And the group also had a troll with them.
The party defeated the patrol with great difficulty.
