While Gadragyn airlines flew Helena & Rohit back to the Shamutanti Hills to seek some divine assistance with their treasure hunt, Lukwind, Elsa & Martok were sleeping off their Noumenia hangovers. Gerald went back to the docks, where the three ships were berthed, and conferred with the sailors. He asked them to row one of the tender boats to the end of the jetty, near where Lukwind had detected a secret door.

Lukwind awoke with a start. He had been having a nightmare where three circles of chanting figures stood around a large pool of black slime. Their robes and hoods completely concealed their features, while their chants echoed off the basalt walls like a chorus of croaking frogs and screaming children. A stunningly beautiful woman appeared to be leading the ceremony. Beneath her diaphanous gown, the eerie green torchlight glistened off her naked skin. She writhed sensuously atop a stone altar that was carved with craven images. She beckoned to Lukwind to join her. 

In this dream, Lukwind had six arms.

He went to find Gerald, so that they could compare notes. The six arms was reminiscent of the creatures depicted in the carvings in the crypt of Kyuss, beneath Mage Hill. The ceremony could have been part of any generic evil cult, but Gerald thought that the cthonic symbolism of the inky black pool was somehow significant. Elsa hadn't returned to the Golden Axe inn after the celebrations, but she finally showed up during the afternoon, muttering under her breath.  

The treasure hunters returned at the end of the day with a somewhat disappointing haul. Everybody had imagined the dragon's treasure to be, well, more.

Lukwind cast light on Gadragyn so that he would be able to see the secret door clearly through the murky water, then they dove into the river to investigate it closely. Barnacles had somehow been encouraged to grow in this area. If the door weren't opened regularly, then within a few weeks it would be sealed shut.

After sunset, Gerald, Rohit and Elsa hid inside the rowboat while everybody else slept inside one of the warehouses. Around midnight, Rohit heard the secret door creak open. He climbed out of the boat and onto the jetty. Gerald trained his detect evil in that direction, and soon enough sensed a moderate-strength aura under the water. It swam out into the river, directly beneath the boat, then surfaced some distance away. Remembering that Gerald had told him the Vivisectors were deaf, when it flew into the air Rohit shouted, "What are we doing Gerald, are we attacking?" This then woke up everybody except Lukwind. Gadragyn took to the air, flying out over the water and biting the Vivisector. It turned invisible, then they saw a large splash in the river below. It had fallen outside the range of Gerald's detect evil, so they had lost track of it completely.  

Rohit picked up his kusari-gama, which he had dropped in the excitement, and strolled back to the warehouse. When he passed Lukwind and Helena, who had come out to see what was happening, he shrugged. Gerald attempted to climb onto the jetty, but fell into the water with a loud splash.

Gadragyn picked Elsa up out of the boat and, with Martok riding on his back, dove into the water. Dancing lights provided illumination, while they hoped that Martok might be able to sense the Vivisector with detect magic. While they searched, Gerald frantically tried to scramble up one of the pylons onto the jetty while he scanned the water below for any sign of the creature. Gerald finally clambered onto the jetty, just as both he and Martok sensed the creature. Gadragyn heard the Vivisector swimming through the water and swam after it. Martok let himself float in the river, to avoid getting too close to the Vivisector's claws, and began shooting at it. It retreated inside the secret door, with Gadragyn and Elsa in close pursuit. Once they finished off the Vivisector, Gadragyn searched the room and discovered a lever. When he pulled it, the water quickly drained out of the room and a door opened at the other end. Standing there was a giant Vivisector (nicknamed "big momma") accompanied by four more of their kind. Gadragyn pulled the lever back as quickly as he could, closing the door on the monsters. Once again, the room filled with water and the outer door opened, enabling them to escape.

There was a massive upheval and the docks began to collapse, along with two of the warehouses. The vivisector lair began to rise up out of the ground, and Gerald & Lukwind (who were now in the water) began to be cooked alive. Gerald managed to climb back onto the remains of the jetty, but Lukwind wasn't able to keep his head above water. When the secret door rose above the water level, it opened and "big momma" flew out. Gadragyn charged, with Elsa & Rohit riding on his back. Martok and Helena both flew into the air and went invisible, while Lukwind hid underwater. Gerald climbed onto the docks, then made a running leap onto the side of the vivisector lair, drinking a potion of spider climb from his bandlier as he did so.

The vivisector lair continued to rise into the air, reaching an altitude of 100ft. It revealed itself to be made of metal, about 30ft high and 60ft across. Every round, Gerald fired his energy burst, but the Vivisectors refused to die. Gadragyn flew in through the open airlock, with Rohit, Elsa & Lukwind on his back, bull rushing one of the Vivisectors who was attacking Gerald and killing it. Then they closed the airlock, trapping Gerald, Helena & Martok outside with "big momma" and the 3 surviving Vivisectors. A few rounds later, Helena used dimension door to bring Gerald inside the airlock. However, he was already dead, impaled by a critical hit from a Vivisector's claws.

Rohit heard something scuttling about upstairs, and warned the others. Lukwind gave everyone an inspire courage with inspirational boost, then inspired greatness in Gadragyn. However, Elsa was the first one to climb the ladder to see what was up there. A creepy, spiderlike creature levelled its wand at her and blasted her with a green ray. However, she managed to resist the effect of the spell. Rohit was next up the ladder, tumbling into a flanking position and dealing considerable damage. Gadragyn followed, biting the creature. Elsa activated her boots of speed and unleashed an impressive attack, including a critical hit, that did 108 hit points in a single round. The creature was dead.