Battle continues in the cavern. Cycek and Eve join Sartan on the catwalk. They check Ekso’s body for any additional items of interest, and then carry the corpse to the lip of the platform and prepare to dump it into the water.
Hack and Skinny Minny survive their battle, and head toward the spiral staircase. Catching sight of Sartan and Mishok disposing of Ekso’s body, he bellows, “Damn you, you killed my ticket out of here! He owes me money! I worked long and hard looking for this gem, now I want my payment. Where’s Della!?”
Sartan yells back at him, “What the fuck do you care!? Take your gem and get out of here!”
Meanwhile, Wendella has awoken and she groggily asks, then demands to know where she is. Mishok and Coriander try to calm and reason with her.
Up in the gem lab, Davros begins firing arrows down the shaft, dealing a series of deadly blows to the dreadful creature below. With a final shot, the creature swells, and then bursts, spraying gunk and maggots everywhere. A towering black misty form emerges, wavering in the dark, and a booming, deep, disturbing voice rings forth, “You! You think you’ve stopped my emergence into your world. You’ve only delayed the inevitable. A minor inconvenience, but one I won’t forget. I have 18 more lives to claim, and yours shall number among them.” With that the looming figure vanishes. This abyssal proclamation resounds through the cavern and the rooms above, and thus is heard by Wendella, Mishok, Davros, Hack and any other bystanders.
Hack is freaked out by this as one more freakish event on top of his fight with the freakish worm creatures, and he bolts for the spiral staircase.
Mishok and Coriander come to an agreement that they should start moving toward the exit. She thinks she knows the way out. She remembers being brought through a tunnel and then the gate with the riddling creature in glass. The two drag Wendella away through the dining room.
Downstairs, Sartan, Cycek, and Eve run down the catwalk and attempt to leap over the river. Only Cycek makes it safely. The other two land in the water, at the shoreline, and scramble at the wet stone, trying to get out. They soon do, but not before Sartan is bitten by an underwater creature. The ascend the staircase.
Mishok and company hear the voices of Hack and his crew as they bang around in Ekso’s room, and shortly seen to hear celebratory shouts.
Sartan, Cycek and Eve emerge into Ekso’s room just in time to see the west door slam shut. They also notice that the desk has been moved, the rug tossed aside, and a lid opened in the floor, revealing a 2x2x2 stone void in the floor, containing an empty burlap sack. They surmise that Hack has left through the west door and they run off in pursuit. Eve, exhausted, lays down on Ekso’s bed.
Cycek manages to catch up to Hack and Skinny Minnie when Hack slips and falls on the persistent grease spell. Hack gets up and keeps running, but Skinny Minnie deals Cycek a nasty knock with her club, before high-tailing it after her leader.
Mishok and Davros are standing guard at the mouth of the other corridor when Wendella starts making a fuss. Davros punches her and knocks her out again. Coriander begins to take her toward the stairs, followed by Mishok, while Davros begins to head toward the opposite side of the room.