Myre lashes out with his dagger as Narayan moves past him.
The dagger doesn't even graze the graceful Nagaji as Myre is pummeled into unconsciousness and continues to burn.
With combat over, Amiri lets go of her rage.
The flames slowly die down from a rather crispy, but still living, Keeper Myre.
If the air is clear and breathable in the area where the necromancer is smoldering, Amiri goes there.
Narayan finds the keeper is wearing two rings, has three scrolls on him, and a potion. He has a pouch full of spell components and a separate pouch with what looks like materials for ring forging and scroll creation.
Also on the keeper is a key ring with keys for all the doors on Rupman's vat. On a separate string is another key. Pendergast does what he can, but the smell persists. The group eventually moves to the one room where the smell is kept out, what appears to be Myre's Retreat.
A small cot lies in one corner of this room, opposite a desk and
rickety wooden chair. A door to the north hangs ajar, revealing
a small water closet in the alcove beyond.
The desk contains Myre’s journal, which describes his experiences exploring the catacombs under Carrion Hill, and has some pretty wild observations about just how much is left to be uncovered. A sample excerpt reads “The Numerians were keen to be away after ransacking the Hill, as the scale of the tunnels below daunted them. They kept finding more and more parts of the old libraries behind false doors and secret rooms. Eventually they decided simply to flood the tunnels, but this failed them too, for the ancients were keen intellects, and their tunnels do not flood easily. It is possible that whole series of chambers such as the Sunless Grove lie waiting to be uncovered.”
The journal goes on to detail the discovery of the incantation in the Pnakotic Manuscripts to open the portal at the Sunless Grove, as well as Myre’s obvious excitement at the prospect of using the portal to contact “keen intellects beyond the human shell.” The last entry is from a few days ago, and simply says “Tomorrow the Old Gods shall speak once more, and we Keepers shall be in attendance to learn from them.”
The desk also contains some ledgers of customers, a bag of 100 gp, and some fine writing implements worth 100 gp. Myre’s spellbooks are kept on a shelf built into the side of the desk.
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Having cast a spell to be able to read the scrolls, Parrym shares what they are.
"I can use these, so can carry them if you wish. But I am sure others can also...".
"So, let us explore to make sure there are no secret passages or hidden doors... while checking the ledgers for any other information. But it seems we must move on to explore the next place?".
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The Inspector flips open his Discerning Wayfinder and scans the Keeper's possessions.
"This ring possesses the same protective qualities as the one that Miss Amiri is wearing , although I cannot discern what this other ring is. The potion provides moderate healing. Perhaps Mister Singh would find them both beneficial?"
"Strange...by those notes, he seemed more a seeker of knowledge than someone who's end goal was to unleash something terrible into this world."
A thorough search of the room, vats, and other portions of the building reveal nothing of interest.
"Good idea, Imhakaru. Let's restrain and get him awake. Hopefully he'll have some useful information."
Myre wakes with a start as the smelling salts are brought under his nose. He blinks and looks around, unsure of where he is, even testing the bonds he has been placed in before becoming fully cognizant with a start. He lets out a terrified howl demanding, "Why haven't you killed me? I can hear the beast coming for my soul!"
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Parrym casts Enhanced Diplomacy, before coming forward, behind Pendergast: "The might God Ketephys, not from any Beyond but well here, is a master of the Hunt, and no Beast can resist him. Just his servant brushed your zombies and you aside. Trust us, we will fight and defeat any Beast! Save your soul as the Inspector said..." then, whispering: "He might even give you a nip of his hip flask!"
Myre begins babbling, pitch rising as he continues, "It's all Crove's fault! He's the one who convinced us it was a good idea, that we could summon an Elder god into the world! Hyve had his doubts, and Baskerwhel was crazy enough, Marshan had thefundsandwhyhaven'tyoukilledmeyetIcanhearitcomingOHGODSABOVEJUST" By the time Myre has gotten through his entire repetitious and not-quite-helpful statements he's nearly shattering glass and his face is a creamy off-white with fear.
"Keeper Myre, I, for one, believe you had no malicious intent for your part in all this. It is too bad your quest for knowledge made such a disastrous turn. The beast shall not claim your life, we cannot afford that to happen, as it seems it will only make it stronger. On behalf of everyone who has and will die from this terrible situation that has gone awry, as well as those who still live, and yet suffer for it...you are forgiven."
With Myre dealt with there are only two names remaining: Hyve, in the abandoned church of Aroden and Crove, in his asylum.
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"Well, I doubt he will come back as a zombie... he was the one animating these corpses, Pendergast? You saw some spells to that effect in his book? We have to have the Crows come here, to see whose bodies were animated, maybe they were stolen and have family who which to bury them. And to cart off this one too. Then, off to follow Imhakaru...".
The rain is unceasing and only looks to be getting worse as you travel to your next destination: Elm Way Church. You manage to catch a Crow Sergeant's attention as you travel, letting her know of Myre and the zombie corpses in his vats. She promises to look into it as soon as she can before assisting some of her men in keeping the citizens orderly in front of a carriage house.
With the closeness of the alleyways and the buildings looming overhead it is nearly impossible to stay dry. The streets are getting harder and harder to walk through, especially going uphill as the water tries to pull your legs out from under you. The church, when you reach it, is not very impressive. Standing only 40 feet long at its largest side it is a single story structure made from middenstone in architectural stylings made famous after the fall of Tar-Baphon.
The interior of the church is cold and damp. Two man-sized statues stand to each side of the room, both draped with gray sheets. Dozens of sagging bookshelves stand along the walls, and a stone altar has been converted into a table. The shelves contain hundreds of tomes about history, focusing on the last 2,000 years of Ustalav.
Proceeding carefully you start checking rooms in the church. The first opens into a bedroom, only containing a cot and a lamp. Just off of that is a storage room, filled with food, water, lamp oil, ink, paper, and other sundries and supplies. Across the main aisle of the church you open a door to a waterlogged room, rain coming in from a hole in the ceiling. The western portion of the room has about four inches of water, though it looks like it is draining through a crack to the alley outside. The final door you check is locked, and the one key that didn't go to anything that Myre had on him also does not fit.
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"They are probably vicious gargoyles, and removing the sheets awakens them."
Maybe he's joking?
The Inspector draws out the same set of masterwork picks that he used at the vats and immediately goes to work on the lock.
And just as before, he frowns. "Deja vu..."
"...honestly, is there only one locksmith in town?"
The Inspector opens the door.
The statues are nothing more than old pieces representing Aroden, probably from when this building was still a church.
The room beyond the locked door is empty, save for a wooden trap door set in the floor, obviously a relatively recent addition to the building’s older architecture. Beyond the trap door, a wooden ladder descends 20 feet into darkness.
"Anyone care to shine a light down there so we can have a better idea of what we're getting into? Otherwise I'm ready to lead the way."
"Thank you sir. I shall take good care of it while it is in my possession!"
Amiri clips the Wayfinder onto her belt. If everyone is ready, Amiri shines the light down to see if anything is in the way of taking a 20' jump down to the floor.
This large, low-ceilinged chamber may once have been part of an extensive basement or subcellar, but the worked stone walls have long since crumbled to reveal uneven stone beyond. A sunken area in the center of the room contains a small pond of stagnant water that reaches around a single pillar of rock supporting the ceiling. A slick-looking circular tunnel extends south. To the southwest and northeast, several tables cluttered with what appears to be alchemical equipment stand around two more stone pillars.
Hunched over the table to the southwest a robed man is frantically mixing beakers and working with various liquids, sword belted at his side. Every now and then you catch brief glimpses of his face, which is gagged with some form of leather thong.
Amiri sees the individual in the lower room. She readies herself for action, but waits for one of the more charismatic members of the party to open up a parlay.