Myantha catches a small glint in the wall.. perhaps an uneven seal or barely perceptible draft. Either way, she just barely finds a door at the end of the hallway. Opening it, she finds another hallway lined with burial niches. The occupants of these niches have long since faded mostly to dust, but what relics remain suggest this area to have possibly interred priests of Pharasma. Pharasmic holy symbols adorn each niche, but any further epitaphs or writings have long since worn away.
As the party moves through inspecting the funeral niches, you find a total of seven ancient holy symbols of Pharasma are found among the wrappings.
The party also turns up a wand among all of the detritus of death, and when Suheyla casts her spell, its aura lights up as the magic becomes visible.
The party retraces their steps, dragging the unconscious alchemist along behind them.
As the intrepid adventurers check out the path that the alchemist tried escaping down, they find a long hallway, with a closed door at the end.. but they hear a voice speaking from beyond the door. The words are unintelligible, but the tone is unmistakably upset.
You hear what may be a female voice, extremely agitated, but the actual words are indistinguishable. However, your acute observations of the door lead you to believe the door is neither locked nor trapped.
Abaal slams the door open to reveal a large chamber with a vaulted ceiling, and unlike the rest of the ossuary, bears a distinct impression of habitation rather than abandonment. Lit candelabras reveal old tapestries hanging from the walls to ward off the subterranean chill, and a threadbare carpet covers the floor. Shabby furniture—a few chairs and tables, an armoire, and a dresser—flanks a large canopied bed in the center of the room, topped with satin sheets and a heap of lumpy pillows. A zombie and two skeletons, all in formal female dress obviously scavenged from elsewhere in the catacombs and decades or centuries out of style stand in the back corner. The zombie in back is obviously the source of the noise the party heard, as she spins around at the abrupt and unannounced entry of the party.
"You killed my lover, and now I am next I see! Typical adventurers.. kill and loot everything!" she yells at you.
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Levin slips into the room. "Let me do the talking," he whispers to Abaal, patting the bigger man's knee as he passes. "Don't you look ravishing! If your lover was one of the ones that attacked us earlier, I'm terribly sorry to say he won't be coming back. But I would stress that he attacked us, and we were forced to defend ourselves. I'm Levin Hessel, and these are my companions."
The zombie scowls down at the little Halfling. "All he wanted, was to bring forth life from death.. to rescue me.. he never hurt anyone, and stayed in his books! Yet you dare to say he attacked you?!"
her hand moves towards a pouch on her belt...
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Levin holds up his hands in a pleading gesture, one toward the zombie woman and the other toward his allies. Maybe we can avoid this fight altogether. "Wait, wait," he says, thinking quickly. "I wasn't entirely honest, he's still alive. He did attack us, but we subdued him. We were going to take him with us, but... I can see he means a great deal to you." He looks back toward his allies. "He's back behind the others."
Her hand pauses as Levin keeps talking..
"Fine! So you kept him as a prisoner for those gods blasted priests.. I will sooner die than be dragged before them. It will be more merciful that way!" she says.
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"Nobody," he emphasizes, with a glance at Rex, "is proposing we take you back before the priests. In fact, I have an offer for you. We return him to you, and you all leave here and find somewhere else to, ah, work. I promise it's best for everyone-- if the priests upstairs find out you're still here, more people will be sent down here after you. And they might not be so reasonable.
"We'll even place you under our personal protection. Here." Levin chants and motions as if unfurling a scroll. A large piece of parchment appears in midair. It reads:
I hereby agree to vacate the premises beneath the Pharasmin Temple, and to refrain from coming within five hundred (500) feet thereof. In return, I can expect full protection from the residents of said temple and from the city guard. This protection will be provided by Levin Hessel (hereafter referred to as Protector). Protector may allow this protection to be enforced by any party deemed qualified by both Protector and myself.
"This is a contract saying that if you leave the area and stay away from the temple, you have my personal guarantee that nothing will happen to you." He hands her an illusory pen. "Sign at the bottom."
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"Ahem. Levinpleez. Not to quibble but might I add one point to your contract being a scribe myself I have had the opportunity read many such articles and well, I do believe you are leaving off an important point."
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Kiri raises an eyebrow at Levin's offer for the two to leave.
"How exactly do you propose we smuggle these two out of here, even if we were inclined to do so? We must pass the portal we entered into, where we will encounter the Pharasmites. Certainly they will realize that six entered, while eight departed. Will this not create a stir? Furthermore, our task was to discover the cause of the undead disturbances here. Are we to only assure them that the problem is solved, rather than showing them those that we have caught creating the problems?"
The proposed solution does not seem to sit well with the elf.
"While this seems obvious, I must also point out that most of you wanted to kill the alchemist outright not ten minutes ago, but now you propose to let him go?"
For once, Kiri's voice seems to raise slightly.
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"I'm sure we'll be fine," he says to Abaal, "A deal is a deal, right?"
"Terribly sorry, Kiri. Maybe I should've explained my reasoning better. I find it unlikely that our alchemist has been down here longer than the temple has been up there, and anyway he gets his supplies somewhere. Clearly, he has his own way of coming and going; I'm only suggesting he use it. As for our plans for him, I only have everyone's best interests at heart. Then, he forced our hand and we had to take him down; and it seemed much more merciful to give him a quick death than to hand him over to the Pharasmin priests. Now, he and all of us have been presented with a much better option. Wouldn't you agree?"
He turns back to the zombie woman. "So... Do we have a deal?"
The zombie woman looks back and forth between the speaking members of the party in confusion and bewilderment. "You won't kill me? You swear this?" she asks, reading the document. She motions impatiently over her shoulder, and her handmaiden skeletons turn to stand with their backs against the wall, silently awaiting their mistresses command. Finished reading Levins spectral page, she looks at the party closer. "You are obviously not of the church.. yet you are doing the churches work. I personally have nothing against the Pharasmins, although Svilennious would be having an attack of the heart right now.. were he awake. Your word you will not pursue me once I leave this room?"
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Levin shakes his head. "Nope. We've been hired by the church to clear out what's down here; we aren't required to kill you, and have no interest in pursuing you. If you leave with our protection, it's a win-win."
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The zombie woman pauses momentarily, before grabbing the spectral pen and signing her name on the spectral paper. "I do mind, good sir.." she says to Rex "But I can appreciate your caution as well. I was like you not too long ago.. This condition of mine is not of my choosing, I assure you." Her words trail off in.. disappointment? Morose wishing? either way, the pain is evident. "I will tell you there are three ways out that I know of. Two lead upstairs to the priests.. I am assuming you came through the main door, and there is a secret door going up a spiral staircase in the room beyond the lab. Then there is a tunnel to the outside, and that is how I came down here originally. Svilenious found out about this place when he was an acolyte... before he was thrown out of the Church above us for his interests."