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To Cedrick; Cedrick, would you mind taking a look at these darts to see if they may be poisoned like the bolts? handing a dart to Cedrick.
The party continues down the sewers, coming to an intersection that leads to two dead ends where runoff water enters from the city above. Following the main tunnel further they come to a large branch in the tunnels. To the south and west are tunnel lines that end in large grates, rusted from ages of submersion in the foul and brackish water. To the east they see what appears to be an opening into a large room.
Someone constructed a large dam here made of wood scraps, ship beams, broken crates, and rocks. Beyond the dam is a room that once functioned as a catch basin for the sewers but now has dry, clean floors. In the northwest corner of the room, a sewer grate is set in the floor, and a huge chalk drawing of a rat about to pounce is sketched on the floor near the dam.
A lone man stands in the room, looking very bored.
The man is seemingly unaware of the party as Twigg creeps within range and fires off some wonderful gnomish magic at the man...
...and the magic connects, stunning the man and incapacitating him briefly.
Roary tears into the room, drawing his sword and aiming a vicious strike at the man while he is stunned. As the barbarian nears the man a surge of arcane energy coalesces in the air above him and launches itself at him in the form of an arrow shaped from pure acid. The projectile splatters across his spin, bathing his chest in the substance, which immediately begins eating into his skin.
His momentum pulls him forward even through the pain on his chest, and he takes a mighty swing at the dazed man, but something breaks his concentration at the last moment and his swing flies a little too wide, barely missing the man.
Cedrick takes aim at the dazed man and fires an arrow at him, connecting solidly with the shot. Gryne fires and almost hits Roary on accident, his focus pulled away at the last moment. Twigg launches a blast of acid at the man, hitting him and causing his armor to sizzle and burn, the acid eating into the man's skin. Makena deftly moves into position behind the man, her whirling dance accentuating her movements and obscuring them at the same time. Astarton draws his blade and moves into range of the man, ready to slice him down.
As Roary prepares his attack, the acid on his chest continues to burn into his skin, causing him to grimace in pain.
Roary lashes out at the man with a heavy strike, severing the man's arm and splattering Makena and Astarton with blood. The man crumples at Roary's feet, stone dead.
The only thing Twigg notices that is magical is the residual effects of the arcane trap that was surrounding the area of the trapdoor in the floor.
On the body you find a quarterstaff, a set of studded leather, and an odd trinket. Twigg will notice that the trinket has a faint aura of magic around it and will note that it was likely used as a means for safe-passage through the armed acid arrow trap.
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"Well, guess we won't be talking to anyone today...", Makena says half-jokingly while getting rid of the gory mass splattere over her arms. She starts walking back to the sewer tunnel they came from, and suddenly stops. She stares at the ground for a while and asks the group "Have you noticed this rat pattern on the floor? Does it mean something to any of you?" She kneels down and runs her hand through the surface, searching for anything out of the ordinary.
She then moves to the trapdoor and looks for traps.
Opening the trapdoor you see what appears to be an underground city, although on a smaller scale. Cedrick, being the intelligent sort and very skilled in his diverse knowledge, fills you in on what you are looking upon.
Cassomir Below was once a small neighborhood near the shore of Cassomir’s harbor. Built entirely of wooden buildings, the district burned to the ground twice before the authorities decided to make two changes to the sea level district: they ordered that all new buildings be made of stone, brick, or rock, and decided to raise the “street level” two stories higher than it was before, building giant rock walls topped by scaffolding and sheets of granite in order to do so. This sea level district used to flood twice a year, and by pushing the street level up, the flooding problem was averted as well. Businesses that rebuilt after the last fire soon found their main floors two stories below ground and so built their buildings skyward to be once again above ground. Soon streets were laid down that covered the old streets below. This process repeated two more times during Cassomir’s history until, eventually, the original levels were completely forgotten, new sewers for the current level were constructed atop Cassomir Below, and the memory of this original neighborhood fell out of Cassomir’s collective conscience.
Today, Cassomir Below is an abandoned neighborhood that looks more like a cavern than a city block. Buildings here are separated by high tunnels, 20 to 30 feet tall in places, whose roofs are the foundations of the sewers and buildings above. Each abandoned building here was once the ground floor of the buildings above, but today they’re totally cut off from the upper floors on the surface. The streets are dirty and dusty, and most of the buildings are abandoned. All of the buildings here extend right up to the top of the cavern. The cavern itself is completely unlit.
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Oh great, going underground again., I fought so hard to dig myself out of the caverns of earth and now I find myself going back there every adventure I travel on.
I am with you Roary.
Gryne will follow Roary down.
Once on the ground I will cast light on the head of one of my arrows so we can see what's ahead.
This should help Roary
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Astarton walks around in a daze, splattered with gore and ichor of all sorts. He makes his way back to the party about the time they head down into Cassomir Below and perks up a bit. "I haven't been down here since I was a kid. I wonder if my old hiding spots are still good. Oh, and I hope ole Jasper hasn't died since I've seen him last..."
Either he is completely detached from reality or he is lying to make himself feel better, either way you are sure he has never been here before.
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"Wow! Ash you've been here??" Twigg exclaims.
After a few moments, 'Well anyway, Ash! that's you. I want you to show me your hiding spots, I'm pretty good at hiding myself and this ole Jasper fellow sounds intriguing. Is he a magnet for flying goo like you?"