The heroes decide to take their chances with the Black Tablet and take it with them back to Berador. They discover that the Black Tablet cannot be handled by any "safe" means as any non-living material other than earth or stone passes through the tablet. They cannot lift it with a rope or drop it in a sack. Fargrim offers the clever idea of coating the tablet in mud and then dropping it into a backpack. This works out quite well.
In the coffin with the tablet the heroes find several magical items which they divvy up among themselves for later use.
Anyone handling the Black Tablet has a sense of forboding and dread. After a few moments dozens chittering voices mumble unintelligibly and maddeningly in the mind of anyone carrying the tablet. A single voice speaks once in Common, "Find the key," and the other voices continue.
After some experimentation they discover that the voices seem harmless enough, but unnerving. Later Algea uses Comprehend Languages and listens to the voices. They mumble a great deal about death, destruction and hatred in Abyssal. He hears a few words that he knows are proper nouns, but he has no way to place them: Ashembelaldu, Certiakinryn and Imkinrisraka.
Later study and investigation reveals that a forgotten demon lord by the name of Certiakinryn is locked in the Abyssal prison of Ashembelaldu. Imkinrisraka is the key to the prison. It is broken into five pieces and they were purposely scattered and obscured so as to ensure that the demon lord would never be released. The Black Tablet provides the material and the instruction to perform a ritual which will reveal the location of one of the five shards of Imkinrisraka.
The heroes leave the dwarf temple to Moradin and find kobolds and goblins fighting on the doorstep. They watch as a massive battle unfolds with some two dozen combatants on each side. As the kobolds give ground and appear on the verge of losing the battle another horde of goblins charges in. Several are mounted on worgs. They rush in and wantonly slaughter everything in their path, goblin and kobold alike. As the battle draws to a close the heroes rush in and ambush the ambushers. The goblins put up a great fight, but they are no match for the heroes of Berador. One goblin, the warchief of the party, manages to escape on his wolf after all of his comrades fall.
The party makes its way to Dalton's Camp en route to Berador. On the way they notice that a great band of hundreds of goblins is gathering in the hills and appears to be pursuing them. They reach Dalton's Camp safely, but not long before the goblin war party. The heroes collect their reward from Kharas Fireaxe for the dwarf statuettes and set to helping to defend the town from the goblins.
The goblins surround the town and send a marshal to parley. They demand that the Black Tablet be turned over to them or they will raze the town and kill all within. They give the townfolk two days to decide. The heroes are intent on keeping the Black Tablet out of the hands of any evil creatures and work on defenses for the town.
On the next day a white dragon appears. It circles the town for many minutes and finally lands among the goblins. For several minutes the dragon appears to speak with the goblin leaders and then suddenly it attacks them. The dragon disperses the goblin horde by flying well out of range of their attacks and diving in to breathe its icy breath on them every minute or so.
After the goblins disperse the dragon makes its way to the town. The dragon seeks out any who will parley with him. He demands the Black Tablet for himself. The heroes refuse and pepper the dragon with fire and oil. The dragon flees back towards the mountains.
With the threat of the goblins gone, the heroes make preparations to set out for Berador carrying their evil burden. What will they do with the Black Tablet now?
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