After a break of several weeks for healing and training, you returned to the Pythoness House.  The overcast rainy days of spring were upon the city and you walked up to Oldtown during one of the near-constant drizzles.

As you entered the house and made your way to the stairs, Phen noticed that the statue you had seen last time looked different.  A secret compartment on it - a drawer - was open.  At first you thought something valuable had been removed, but on inspection it looked instead like a circular object needed to be placed within.  You noted this and moved on.

Reaching the third floor and your previous stopping point, you were immediately attacked by two large ratmen who rode dire rats.  They and a rat swarm made for a tough fight, but you prevailed.  You continued your explorations and found a former bedroom, and in it a journal from one of the previous occupants.

The journal offered clues to the mysteries of the Pythoness House, and made mention of the chaos cults that took it over and brought its destruction.  It described the circular disk needed to access the cellar, and warned of a ghost, a “cobbled man” and a demon that all lived within the building.  Using the clues, you began to search for the circular disk.

On a rooftop you encountered hell hounds and glimpsed the demon, but wisely retreated and found other places to explore.  You eventually found and cornered the Cobbledman.  He seemed crazed, and although it may have been possible to reason with him, it seemed too risky.  Although he was a dangerous foe, the battle was brief.  The only tense moment came when he managed to push Phen off a bridge.  He landed three stories below, badly hurt.  On the defeated Cobbledman’s body you found half of the disk.

From the journal, you knew the remaining portion of the disk was in the only square tower of the building, and that entry was through a secret door.  After much searching, you found a secret door on the ceiling of a room.  It was trapped, but Phen's clever use of mage hand saved the party from being crushed under a massive stone.  In the tower you found a cache of coins, and the second half of the key. 

With the key in hand, you headed back to the first-floor statue.  You rested while waiting for its secret compartment to open again.  Eventually it did, and when you placed the two pieces of the key in, the statue slid forward, revealing a ladder and passage straight down.  You climbed down, and emerged in a square, cold room, with a strange membrane covering a hole in the floor, and a giant’s skeleton in the corner.  As you got your bearings, the skeleton rose to its full height and advanced on you . . .