The adventurers stand amid the slimy, sticky wreckage of the dining room. Bewildered but ever-gracious, Cumin and Coriander persuade the hungry “guests” to partake in some lovely leek soup. Neither of the pint-sized pair seem to understand what happened, but they insist that they will clean up the mess.

Exploring the pantry, the adenturers find it well stocked with flour, salted meats, dried fruits, canned vegetables, and more. “Enough to last for many months,” declares Coriander. Waldo helps himself to some apricots.

Wrenn steps out to the foyer to check on their frightened companion, Ferdinand, Matreous’ adjutant from Candlekeep. The others follow, but are curious about what else they may find in this strange, dangerous place. They find the door immediately across the hall from the foyer to be ajar. They push it open and find a nicely appointed study. Canvas oil paints adorn three of the walls, while the entire far wall is a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. Even more books are resting on several large scarlet armchairs and small wooden tables. A calico cat hops down from a chair cushion. Waldo speaks to the cat, learning that its name is Rags, and that she is rather friendly. He asks whether there is anything to fear around here. Rags asserts that she’s not afraid of anything around the place, but she finds the faerie dragons to be annoying. When asked about Fluffy, she doesn’t know what happened to him, but she doesn’t miss him. Rags wends her way around Waldo’s legs, until she loses interest and leaves.

Exploring the room, they suspiciously pull down the paintings. The paintings depict a landscape scene with a large green dragon emerging from a grove of pine trees, a study of a pegasus in flight, and a portrait of a unicorn in a wooded glade. They do not find anything untoward about these paintings.

Many of the books stacked on the corner reading tables appear to be volumes of Fystandia’s memoirs: her life story told from her prespective. Interesting though they may be, their attention is drawn by another large book featuring the familiar countenance of Mordenkainen. The spine of this book bears a large, ornate capital letter I. This book is another one authored by Mordenkainen discussing something known as the Blood War: an ages-long battle raging between demons and devils. In it, he pontificates on the importance of maintaining balance between the warring parties, and all the planes of existence for that matter.

An inspection of the bookcase reveals that when the bottom leftmost book is pulled, the bookcase slides forward to reveal a passage behind. Stairs lead down to a corridor with a couple of closed doors. Listening at one door, they hear a faint grunting, croak. Bravely pushing the door open, they are met with a warty toad sitting on a stone floor that is painted with a ten-foot-diameter circle of intricate runes. There’s an empty wooden bookstand opposite the door and bronze braziers at the other three cardinal points of the circle. Whatever material they contained has long ago burned to cinders, but the room still smells of charcoal and sulfur. When they step into the room, the toad immediately transforms into a small fiendish creature with wings, horns, and a tail. It attacks with sharp teeth and claws! The adventurers are ready for anything and this point and they slay it before it can do any appreciable damage. Curious about the runes, DU.EE recognizes them as draconic, but they don’t form anything intelligible to him. They place one of the Mordenkainen books on the bookstand, but nothing happens.

The abandon this room and try another door. Pushing it open, they are struck by the smell of astringent chemicals. Long wooden tables stretch across the room, laden with vials, beakers, and flasks holding various liquids and powders. Books are stacked between the glassware and chemicals. Yellowed paper charts and blackboards full of complex formulas cover the walls. One particular book immediately catches their attention: a large book with the by-now familiar portrait of Mordenkainen. This book bears a fancy letter B on its spine and features a study of Alchemical Science. Four clay figures rest on a table in the middle of the room. They range from a rudimentary, barely humanoid shape to a small, winged body so lifelike that it almost appears to be a real creature that is merely asleep. It wears a tiny apron. Among the items on the worktables, they gather an assortment of alchemical materials that maybe valued at up to 50gp. They also find two vials containing healing potions.

After some discussion, they decide to investigate the one remaining door in this basement area. They detect a sticky slime trail that leads for beneath that door, and down the hallway, diminshing to a mere tacky residue as it heads up the stairs. They are suspicious but they don’t hear anything, so they open the door. Smells of alcohol and brine permeate this room. Glass vessels large and small stand in rows on the floor and tables, ranging from one foot to six feet tall. Inside each vessel is the body of a creature floating in clear liquid. Among the pickled menagerie, they notice a mushroom with a humanoid appearance, a giant fire beetle, a horrid lizard-rooster creature, and other unidentifiable monstrosities. One four-foot-tall container is missing its lid and has no occupant. Noteworthy among the vessels is one in which a nasty purple tadpole-like creatures seems to stir. Shaking the jar, they find that this specimen is indeed alive. It swirls around and leers at them with an evil eye. A couple of the group take this jarred specimen into the “summoning” room and set it in the center of the circle. Before they can observe any kind of result, they hear a cry for help. Returning to the specimen room they see that several disembodied hands have unscrewed the lid of their jar from within and have leapt upon the unsuspecting investigators. They fight off these grabby, clawed menaces, tering them digit from digit, but not before Lis is choked nearly to death by one of them.

Fed up with seemingly harmless items attacking them, they decide that they are not taking any chances with the remaining creepy specimens. They smash all the jars and hack the bodies, leaving a disgusting mess of chemicals, slime, shattered glass, and aberrant body parts heaped in the corner.