Silas moves towards the next door as stealthily as he can, sniffing as he goes in case something is lurking inside.
This room on the ground floor in the northwest corner of the building has a hole punched through the wooden floorboards from beneath. The opening reveals a shaft twenty-five feet deep, ending in the sewer. Small pitons have been hammered into the shaft wall as an aid to climbing.
Nigel glances down the hole and says.
"Oh my. I believe we have some spelunking to do. Who's going first?"
"There is more on this floor. We should clear it before we head down. If these bugs followed us in and attacked while we were dangling from ropes...it would probably be bad." Silas says as he turns to go to the next un opened door.
Tilver nods. "Silas has a good idea. Let's make sure there's no other surprises."
Nigel looks deadpan to Silas. "I have no intention of dangling from a rope, but your thought is prudent." He says "Lead the way, gladiator."
DIRECTOR'S CUT SCENE
Our Heroes blaze through the ground floor, fighting summoned minor demons and discovering the Injection Room, where innocent victims are made into helpless thralls. They find (and destroy?) several vials of askara. They also find and free several prisoners - the innocent dwellers in this building when the cultists struck. Freeing those to the street, Our Heroes ascended the stairs to complete the cleansing of the building.
On the second floor, Our Heroes encountered more venom-shaped thralls, skirted a collapsing floor and finally encountered a pair of cult priests. These "Deep Brothers" of the Brotherhood of Venom had just murdered an Ebon Hand priest after a fevered argument about the right way to handle the venom-shaped thralls.
Our Heroes made short work of the two traitorous priests and seized the goods of all three Chaos worshipers:
+1 striking morningstar, +1 mace, +1 staff, Half Plate Armor, Steel Shield, chain shirt, crossbow (10 quarrels), wand of heal (3rd level), scroll of dispel magic (3rd level), scroll of heal (3rd level) , scroll of harm (4th level), invisibility potion, 1 dose of lich dust, 1 dose of giant scorpion venom, Thieves’ Tools (infiltrator), alchemist’s fire (moderate), climbing kit, broken square ring (x2), coiled viper amulet (x2), 64 gp, 29 sp.
_____________________________________________________________
And now the Apartment Building is cleared!
Having cleared the apartment building, Silas will secure a rope and drop it down into the hole in preparation for climbing down.
Nigel patiently waits until all have descended.
Once the way is clear at the bottom, he will jump into the hole, using Feather Fall to safely descend.
Dain and Magill climb down in their turn.
It’s not the first time you’ve seen these Broken-Square Rings. They’re the symbol of the Brotherhood of Venom.
And you’ve heard about askara much more recently.. It’s the poison that creates the venom-shaped thralls out of ordinary people.
Tilver mixes up an elixir and drinks it. He shuts his eyes for a moment in a bit of pain. "Damn thing always leaves me with really dry eyes." He rubs them and when he opens them back up, they are a pale, off-white shade.
Then the ex-gladiator lowers himself down the hole.
The sewer stinks. And it is pitch dark. You are in a large storm drain. Smaller sewer lines run off in all directions.
Silas wrinkles his nose at the terrible things he is detecting and says, "There are probably traps down here. " He waits for Tilver to lead on.
Dain whistles a little tune and chants something in spirit-tongue. A moment later, the point of his spear begins to glow brightly.
Doing his best to ignore them smell (parts of the Warrens smell worse), he examines the ground for signs of foot traffic.
Dain's examination reveals muddy prints coming to and from the west, but also to and from the north.
Are all the prints Dain sees humanoid? Shod feet?
"Ugh!" Tilver holds an arm over his nose, but it obviously doesn't do much to halt the smell. He squints into the darkness through which he can now see.
"Well, should we just follow this down and see where it leads?" He points to the west.
Silas nods as he holds his falchion ready and says, “Lead on, but be wary of any traps.”
Are all the prints Dain sees humanoid? Shod feet?
Yes.
Nigel taps his staff thrice on the ground and the orb alights.
"If the traps are magical, please allow me." He comments before following the group.
Moving west, you come to a rather new, rust- and grime-free iron door in the wall of the sewer. It's clearly incongruous in this setting.
Dain checks the ground again to see which way the tracks go.
They mostly stop here at the door.
Tilver inspects the door for any traps or inscriptions. "Well this seems to be out of place."
Dain points out the tracks. "Looks like this is...ummm...the main destination...for people who walk around in this sewer."
Nigel searches for magical auras in the immediate area.
"We should prepare ourselves for trouble. The probability of an encounter is heightened given the number of tracks." He comments.
No magic in the area.
"The door is trapped. Dain, do you want to take a look at it?" Tilver makes space for him, knowing the man's connection to the city gives him an advantage.
While Tilver examines the door, Dain is preoccupied with all the spirit activity around them. It takes him a moment to realize that the ex-gladiator is speaking to him.
"Hmmm? What? Take a look at....oh, the door. OK, let me see..." He gets some tools out of his pack and goes to work on the door. He appears to be talking to the door in spirit-tongue while he works.
It is a simple matter for Dain to slip a flat pick into the jamb, isolate the guide wire and pin it in place, then select a rake pick and open the door. The alarm bell remains silent and you are in.
From the locked door to the south, a set of steps clearly of newer construction than the sewer leads down to a large hall. This vast, open entry chamber, also newly built, is empty and quiet. The dark stones of the walls, floor, and ceiling are laid in strange patterns that catch the eye in a distracting, even disturbing manner that one can’t quite name.
A huge banner hangs on the western wall.
Guys... move your dudes.
"War."
Nigel states dryly.
"That banner means War. It's a Palastani tradition. What is a Palastani war banner doing in the sewers of Ptolus?"
Tilver treads carefully into the room, his head looking at the various different items in the room. When Nigel draws his attention to the war banner, he begins looking for other clues.
Silas enters the room and looks around for any defenders the cult has left behind.
Tilver points to the floor. "Looks like there are some well-trod areas. Perhaps we should mostly stick to them, just in case." He approaches one of the areas of dark stone and tries to examine how they might be laid out.
While the martials investigate the room, Nigel casts a spell on the entryway to alert him if they're to be flanked.
"I have secured our flank. We will not be surprised by any unannounced visitors from the sewers."
Examining the well-trod areas pointed out by Tilver, Magill and Dain look to see if any of the trails lead somewhere odd, like the tapestry, or a bit of wall. If so, they move to investigate. If not, they go and look behind the tapestry.
Yes, one of the well-trod areas leads to the northwest entrance, but another leads to a blank wall in the northeast.
"I vote for the blank wall. Hidden entrances take you to the best places. If we can figure out how to open it." Silas suggests.
Tilver nods. As he moves along the well-worn path to the northeast wall, he remarks, "Hey, Nigel, could that War Banner be valuable? Maybe a collector's item?"
Once there, he inspects the section of wall, looking for any hidden catches or hinges.
Tilver doesn't find anything but a blank wall of stone at the suspicious location.
Nigel replies, "I don't believe it to be."
He then casts detect Magic as he moves about the room.
There is definitely some magic in that northwest corner.
Nigel tries to zero in on the magica aura.
"Excuse me, but I believe there is some magic present here. I am trying to triangulate the source. Would someone mind check over there?" Nigel points to the northwest and asks the group as he moves about to reckon where the source is coming from.
Tilver goes to check the NW door for traps.
There is no NW door. It's a passageway. Tilver doesn't see any traps.
And I'm sorry, but the magic is in the NE corner, not NW. My mistake. Nigel, you think there may be an illusion present.