The barracks are in complete disarray. A section of the wall in the dining hall has crumbled, leaving debris scattered across the floor. The kitchen area and surrounding rooms are full of rats scavenging for food. Silver cleans out the infestation with some sanitizing fire spells before heading to the other rooms on the first floor. The remaining rooms on the first floor include a storage area and several officers' private bedrooms.

The second floor of the barracks contains a large bunk room with a separate weapons storage area. Most of the bunks in this room have rotted and collapsed into worthless heaps of wood. When Silver and Zendril reach the top of the stairs, they are beset by several large spiders. During the battle, Zendril is poisoned by one the spiders, and becomes very ill. A healing potion helps restore some color to his face, but he remains weak for next half hour afterward. After the battle, they decide to get some fresh air, and meet up with Theranion and Nataya outside.

The central keep is a fairly large building, about 200 feet on a side and 40 feet high, with towers extending another 20 feet into the sky. Despite a hundred years of neglect, the walls are in good condition, and appear structurally sound. The keep is also surrounded by a deep moat, with the bridge as the only way across. It is currently drawn halfway up; too far up to jump and grab, but low enough that a rope of suitable length could be used to climb up.

While Nataya prepares her rope and grappling hook, Silver decides to put his swimming skills to good use. He is barely up the opposite bank, however, when a giant constrictor snake bursts from the water and strikes at him. It misses by mere inches as he hastily dodges its attack and kicks it with his heel. As the snake prepares for another strike, Silver draws his sword and attacks.

The snake strikes again and wraps around him, but not before he sinks the sword deep into its hide. As the snake tries to squeeze the life out of him, he desperately twists the sword to aggravate the snake's wound. A minute later, and the snake collapses to the ground, releasing its grip on (a slightly thinner-looking?) Silver.

Shaken, but undeterred, Silver waits for the others to cross the drawbridge before proceeding to the front doors. The doors are old and faded, but still as solid as they had been a hundred years ago. The doors open into a large entrance hall, 50 feet wide and 35 feet deep, with a vaulted ceiling and a sweeping second-floor balcony. The far wall is dominated by a cathedral-style central window, which looks out to an inner courtyard.

The group is barely inside, when two groups of mongrelmen rush into the entrance hall from the side corridors. A frantic melee ensues, and the party unleashes a barrage of spells to hold back the onslaught. Battered but victorious, the party nurses their wounds for an hour before proceeding to explore the keep.

Silver has come away from the battle with only a few scratches, and decides to scout ahead while the rest of the group has a chance to catch their breath. He sneaks up the stairs of the north tower, making silent notes of any and all creatures he sees. Among those he observes include groups of mongrelmen, gnolls, and flinds. They are engages in various activities, either standing guard, lazily patrolling the hallways, or just lounging around.

Silver finds this discovery a bit worrisome. Gnolls and flinds commonly use abandoned castles and such for their own strongholds, but he knows from experience that mongrelmen are subterranean dwellers, and do not normally associate with above-ground creatures. In fact, the only way these creature would ever cooperate is if they were under the command of a more powerful creature.

Once Silver returns to the party with his report, the group heads first to the eastern hallway on the second floor, and proceeds to clean the area of creatures, room-by-room. With surprise on their side for a change, they breeze through several of the rooms before reaching the rear of the keep. Upon entering a small study, however, Theranion�s eyes light up. He begins rifling through the rows of old books lining the large bookcase along the wall.

After he is done, the group opens a second door, which opens to a large room that appears to be the lord's bed chamber. In the room are two giant beetles, which have turned the broken furniture into a makeshift lair. Silver readies his sword, but Nataya signals for him to wait. She recognizes that these beetles are non-aggressive vegetarians, and are easily frightened away. After Theranion carefully walks around them and opens the windows, Nataya lets out a loud shout and charges the beetles. The beetles immediately take to the air, fleeing out the window...