After attempting to solve the riddle of one of the temple statues, the party decides to follow the left-hand passage out of the statue room. It goes straight for a few dozen feet before making a sharp left. The passage leads the party to a small room dominated by a large pedestal displaying a brilliant glowing gem, which lights up the whole room.

Roc, wanting a bit of treasure, removes the gem from its pedestal. Immediately, several shadow creatures step out from their hiding places, the light from the gem no longer keeping them at bay. The party finds themselves in an ambush, and must fight their way back out of the room. Roc gets an idea that helps the party, by using the gem's glowing light to fend off the creatures as they try to attack.

The creatures are defeated, and the party opens a doorway leading to the next room. This room shows signs of a collapsing ceiling from years of disrepair. The walls of this room are covered in relief murals and strange writings, which Theranion eagerly begins to study. While the party takes a brief rest, Theranion attempts to decipher the writings to determine if they hold any clues to the current infestation within the temple.

He discovers the writings tell of a battle long ago between the ancient sun god and his nemesis, a powerful lord from the Plane of Shadow. This lord wanted to establish a base of power on the Prime Material plane, and spread his influence to every living creature in the land. Though the lord was defeated, the writings say he was not destroyed. They also warn that the lord will most certainly try again once he has regained enough power to cross over from the Plane of Shadow.

The writings provide the party with a vital clue as to the source of the infestation within the temple, and they begin to search the rubble in the room for any other hidden clues or writings. Within a small compartment of one of the broken pillars, they find several old parchments, one of which contains some verses which Theranion recognizes are from the Ritual of the Morning. Though part of the ritual is missing, it brings them one step closer to solving the statue's riddle.

When further searching turns up no new information, the party returns to the main hallway to tackle the problem of the wall of shadows that barred their progress down the hall earlier. They try several methods, including attempting a Dispel Magic. When everything else they try fails, they finally try to use the gem they found (the only item they hadn't tried yet). When touched to the wall, the gem flashes brightly, destroying the shadow wall and using up the gem's stored energy.

They continue down the hallway a few dozen feet before finding that the passage has collapsed, making it impassable. There is a side passage here, which leads to a small chasm with an old stone bridge across it. They cross the bridge and enter into a room that has been partially compromised by a pool of lava. They maneuver around the pool to another small room to the north. It is here they encounter several more shadow creatures, including a new breed of creatures known as Shadow Fiends.

The party quickly backs out of the room and back out to the bridge. Once across, Theranion pulls out a vial containing Oil of Slipperiness, and smashes the vial on the stone bridge. The regular shadow creatures try to venture across, but lose their footing and are easily pushed over the sides using the party's quarterstaffs. The Shadow Fiends, however, are powerful jumpers and easily leap across the chasm, pouncing on the party members as they land.

Nataya attempts use her Turn Undead ability on the creatures, and is successful in forcing half of them to flee. The tide of battle quickly turns in favor of the party, as they are now able to concentrate their firepower on the two remaining creatures. Afterward, the party hunts down the remaining creatures that fled and destroy them.

With the creatures out of the way, the party returns to the small room to the north, and find a second statue like the first. This one, however, speaks of the Test of the Noon Ritual. The party thoroughly checks the room and the one before it for any clues to this new test. In a cubbyhole concealed by a stone plaque, they find parchments containing parts of the noon ritual, but there is too much missing from the pages to make out the whole thing. It does, however, provide them with a possible clue to the correct answer for the Test of the Morning Ritual.

They return to the first statue, and make a second attempt at the test it gives. Again they fail, but with the knowledge they have gained thus far, they reason that there must be a set of parchments containing an Evening Ritual somewhere in the temple. These may provide them with the last clue they need to solve the riddles, and gain whatever useful magic the statues protect. It is simply a matter of finding them.

To that end, the party begins searching for a way around the rockslide, and looks for any secret panels in the walls. In the room with the small pool of lava, they find a door concealed by soot and time. It leads to what appears to be a burial chamber with a collapsed wall at the south end opening up to the main hallway.

When they enter the room, 3 ghostly visages appear before them, two of which appear to have once been bodyguards, and the other a teenage boy dressed in ceremonial clothes. This boy was one of the last priests of Amaunator, murdered by dark forces just before the downfall of the temple. The two guards next to him were the guards charged with protecting him in life. Because of their failure, however, they are now forced to guard over him in death.

He then explains that the temple remained undisturbed for many generations, until the shadow creatures began infecting the temple. Their coming was no accident, as an ancient evil was directing them. This evil, he explains, is a powerful lord from the plane of Shadow, and one of Amaunator's most powerful enemies. As in ancient times, this lord is attempting to break through from his world into this one, and establish a base of power from which he can spread his darkness across the lands. This time however, he is using the temple of the ancient sun god as his base of power.

The young priest tells the party that the shadow lord has already managed to gain a foothold in this realm, by infecting and controlling the body of a host from this world. With each passing day, the lord's powers grow as the barrier between his world and this one grows ever thinner. The shadow lord has to be stopped soon, for once he has breached the barrier between the worlds, his army of creatures from the Plane of Shadow will be able to cross over into this realm.

As guardian of the temple, the young priest alone had the power to banish the lord from the mortal host when the shadow lord first infected it. However, several of the lord's minions found and violated his tomb, and tossed his remains into some dark corner of the temple. With his grave disturbed, the priest no longer has the power to confront the shadow lord. He asks the party to find and return his remains. In return, he will provide the party with the means to banish the lord back to his own realm.

The party agrees to help, and immediately begins to search the area. Theranion then remembers a scene from earlier, where the party encountered a pack of wolves near the entrance of the temple. He recalls that they were tearing and chewing at what appeared to be a small, mummified body. They rush back to the room containing the torn body, meeting with more resistance now that the purpose of the body has been discovered.

Upon returning the body to the burial chamber, the priest points to a small stone in the wall of sarcophagus, which opens a secret compartment in the base. Inside are 2 items. One is a small black stone with what appears to be a pattern of swirling mists inside, and the other is a large golden pendant with 3 'pie-slice' sections.

The priest explains that the pendant is part of the ancient talisman of Amaunator, a powerful tool against undead creatures. To complete the pendant, the party must find the 3 pieces of Amaunator's holy symbol, which can only be recovered by solving the riddles of the statues. Once completed, the talisman will protect the wearer from the draining attacks of undead, can Dispel Darkness or Dispel Shadows once per day, and can cast Sunray once per day.

The dark swirling stone, he explains, is a special ward against the shadow lord's "pet", a shadow dragon that he bribed into guarding the entrance to the lord's altar chamber. The priest prepared the stone using the last of his power soon after the arrival of the dragon. Since the party is not powerful enough to win a fight against the dragon, the priest tells them to use the stone, staying within 10 feet of it at all times. It will cloak the party from the dragon's senses, so that they may safely sneak past the dragon and into the shadow lord's altar chamber.

With that, the young priest and the 2 bodyguards fade away with a faint 'thank you', their spirits at peace once more..