As they finally near the wolves' den, they encounter a small pack of wolves prowling the area outside. Nataya tries to use her animal empathy on them, but is blocked by some greater malevolence within their minds. The wolves attack with intensity and cunning, and their unnaturally large size boasts of fierce strength. As each wolf is slain in turn, their corpses release a foul black mist which dissipates into the air, leaving behind the dead form of a normal grey wolf. After the last wolf has fallen, Nataya silently mourns them, and swears under her breath to take vengeance on those responsible for the unholy transformation of the wolves.

As the group finally makes it inside the cave that serves as the wolves' den, they encounter the older members of the wolf pack, each horribly transformed. The wolves are not alone, however. As the wolves engage the party, shadows move along the cave walls and circle around behind. These turn out to be creatures of living shadow, and the party finds themselves surrounded and trapped.

Though the party eventually manages to overpower the wolves and the shadow creatures, the strength-draining attacks of the shadow creatures leaves the party members sick and weak for the better part of an hour before the affects wear off. Tired and nearly out of spells, the party returns outside only to hear more howls off in the distance within the depths of the wood. It has become clear to the party that the woods have fallen victim to some unknown dark magic, and whatever is causing it is most likely behind the murders in the Umar Hills.

They wearily continue deeper into the woods, following the distant howls as best they can. After an hour's travel, they come to the site of several old, crumbling ruins that appear to have been a temple complex long ago. The buildings themselves have been reduced to nothing more than a few moss-covered walls and piles of stone from fallen columns. In the center of one of the crumbling buildings is a huge crystal which gives off a faint light, similar in hue to sunlight, but much dimmer. About 30 feet on either side are the remains of the building's walls, with 2 tinted glass windows still intact.

While Theranion examines the crystal, Roc and Zendril scour the area around the walls, curious about the 2 windows that have somehow survived intact. As it turns out, the glass in these windows isn't glass at all, but some kind of dense translucent material with highly reflective surfaces. Zendril moves the window a bit on its hinges, and discovers that the 'glass' reflects the crystal's light into bright patterns on the ground and the opposite wall. Hitting on an idea, he and Roc tilt the 2 windows so they reflect the crystal's light back onto itself, effectively doubling its brightness and creating a bright pattern of light upon the ground around the party.

As they do this, they suddenly hear something moving in the darkness beyond the pattern of light, and small flashes of glowing yellow eyes appear out of the darkness all around them. The party finds itself surrounded by shadow creatures on all sides, and prepare to draw their weapons. Oddly, the shadow creatures do not advance, staying well away from the pattern of light shimmering on the ground around the party.

While the party knows shadow creatures have an aversion to light, the pattern of light from the crystal shouldn't be bright enough to be a problem. Rather, as Theranion quickly surmises, the light must have some magical property which keeps the creatures at bay. This is small comfort, as the creatures have the party surrounded and accurate counts of how many creatures there are is made difficult by their constantly shifting movements around the camp. The party rests within the confines of the protective pattern of light for the moment, trying to come up with a plan to defeat or escape from the shadow creatures.

Zendril begins a careful survey of the immediate area, hoping to find some means out of their current situation. From the one corner of his vision, he notices a slight shimmering on a section of the lit floor. Upon examination, he discovers a shadowy illusion covering a stone staircase leading down under the temple complex. The shifting light from the crystal had partially dispelled the illusion where it touched, which was just enough to reveal it to a pair of sharp eyes.

Given few other options, and fairly certain the shadow creatures would not be able to pursue them, the party begins to descend the stairs into the dark depths of the ruined temple. As they descended the stairs, the darkness of the stairs pressed in around them. A nagging feeling started to well up in each party member; a feeling that they were somehow being herded, forced from the outside world into a lair of darkness...