Davros and Cycek wait impatiently into the closet, and after some minutes of hearing nothing, they open the door and look around Goerth’s empty room. It turns out to be not as empty as they had thought. They hear a voice utter some incomprehensible syllables and suddenly a jagged iron crown materializes atop Davros’s head. Goerth materializes as well. He levitates near the ceiling, one of the eye flaps on his skull cap is snapped open revealing a blue crystal eye that glows with malice. That malicious gaze inspires Davros to pull out his rapier and stab Cycek. An instant later another Duergar appears and lashes out at Cycek, delivering a glancing blow.

Goerth, floating above the combatants, moves into the opposite corner of the room. Cycek follows him, attempting to leap up and slash at him. He misses, and lands atop a pile of broken debris. Davros follows and stabs his elf companion again. This vicious wound brings Cycek crashing to the ground, unconscious and dying.

Down the corridor, the others hear the commotion and come running. They arrive in time to enter the fray. Davros breaks free of the charm that had spurred him to attack Cycek. He sees his companion lying bloodied amid the debris and moves to help him. Meanwhile, the others clash with their Duergar foes, and soon bring them both down.

Examining the bodies, they discover that Goerth had wielded a high-quality morning star, crafted by Durgeddin. The crystalline eyes in his head appear to be precious sapphires. They do not trust the power in those gems, so they leave them alone. But, they concoct another plan. They will take Goerth’s head, and leave his body behind, making it appear as if his own guard had betrayed him. They toss the body of that guard down the chasm. 

Creeping around the edge of the chasm, they are spotted by Ghared from across the way. She calls out to them, “Did you succeed? Did you take care of Nightscale?” Mishok replies, “We sure did – the dragon is dead. Come see!” Ghared and her guard disappear from view and the party hustles down the ladder.