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"Well done, Altorin! I certainly did not see that, and I'm quite impressed that you did. You've certainly saved us a great deal of injury and trouble with your keen eyes." Sir Durant is equally exuberant and encouraging toward Belmiir when he applies his cunning toward the hazard and gives them a safe way through.
"Ah, this looks rather treacherous. Hold just a moment, friends," the knight says. He turns to Belmiir and Eka, "The two of you still seem to be wounded. They are not especially grave wound from what I can see, but it may be best for us to deal with these things now rather than in an emergency. Come, let Iomedae's goodness bolster you."
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Belmiir nods in appreciation at the warning of the trap he had missed with a sigh of relief, he sets about disabling it. When everything is safe he says, despite me missing that last trap...I do usually have a sense for such things...I'll lead us down the passage if no one objects.. Belmiir pats Sir Durant on the shoulder after the Paladin heals him and hands him his wand of cure lt wounds... Use this on anyone who needs it gentle sir..
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Sir Durant stares bemused at the wand. "Eh...about that, Belmiir," he says, "Iomedae has claimed me as one of her champions, yes, but I um...well the goddess never deigned to give me the knowledge of spellcraft. I'm afraid I wouldn't even know which end of this wand to apply. So I'll let Cyclic hold onto your wand if that is agreeable to you both." Once he has the dwarf's approval, Durant will hand off the wand to Cyclic.
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The last of the healing complete, the group carefully descends the stairs -- cautious for any more traps.
Opening the thick wooden doors at the bottom of the stairs, the room beyond seems much larger than you would have expected. Tall vaulted ceilings disappear into darkness high above as candles and torches barely illuminate the lower reaches of this room. Along the lower wall are three cell doors, thick wooden affairs bracketed by solid steel bracings with small, six-inch square windows set high in them. Enormous crates, barrels, and sacks of goods are stacked neatly in the corner of the room. The floor is clean granite, etched with a wavy-line pattern that permeates throughout the entire room; the design even climbs the walls and disappears into the vaults above. A rat-shaped chalk drawing dominates the floor in the center of the room, clearly depicting a dire rat leaning forward as if to pounce. A man wielding a two headed skull-flail stands next to a walking corpse, its mouth hanging open in a silent scream. They have been obviously been waiting for your arrival as the corpse scrambles forward and lashes out with a withered claw.
Yellow creature
Qiroyo
Belmiir
Blue man
Cyclic
Altorin
Sir Durant
Eka
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Qiroyo is as surprised as Belmiir, but gathers himself. "This creature is a Huecuva, the diseased corpse of a heretical cleric who blasphemed and renounced his deity before meeting death. It has damage resistance that can only be bypassed by magic or silver weapons."
Qiroyo takes a very good look at it and has an idea
"Yes, that should work nicely."
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Belmiir stumbles up the stairs an Qiroyo takes advantage of the opening to blast the huecuva with a golden beam of Irorian goodness and chunks of its decrepit chest burn off with a flash. The man laughs like a true maniac. "Come to play then? Good luck! Your doom will only strengthen our rise!" He then steps a bit closer and stretches his arms wide, filling the cramped stairway with a foul burst that tears at your skin from within.
Yellow creature - 6 damage
Qiroyo - 6 damage <Need will save for half damage>
Belmiir - 6 damage <Need will save for half damage>
Blue man
Cyclic - 6 damage <Need will save for half damage>
Mange - 6 damage <Need will save for half damage>
Altorin - 6 damage <Need will save for half damage>
Sir Durant - 6 damage <Need will save for half damage>
Eka - 6 damage <Need will save for half damage>
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Cyclic is relatively unharmed by the negative energy but Mange, on the other hand, rwacts like he was zapped by a lightning bolt. The normally phlematic beast leaps almost straight in the air with a yelp and lands with a growl. Before Cyclic can guide him, the wolf tears around to the other side of the nasty priest and tries to take a piece out of him.
Fortunately, activating a wand is not hard and Cyclic utters the command word while hangin on for dear life with his other hand and casts Bless on the party.
Unfortunately Manges growl is worse than his bite.
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Eka hisses with displeasure as the negative energy tears through her flesh.
"It has damage resistance that can only be bypassed by magic or silver weapons."
With this information, Eka is unsure what to do. Not having either magical or silver weapons and no spells, she is not confident in her ability to do...anything against it. Noting Belmiir's alarm, she decides on a defensive tactic to keep it from attacking her team mates.
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As the evil tremor in the hall fades, Cyclic upon Mange pushes bravely forward into the room. The group is then blessed by the rider but the wolf has no luck with a bite. Altorin's freezing blast goes just wide, but provides enough distraction for Sir Durant to step in and get a solid hit in on the crazed man. The corpse lashes out at the paladin with full fury, but his armor is true against the gnarled claws.
A weak "help us" emanates from one of the cells in the far reaches of the room.
Yellow creature - 6 damage
Qiroyo - 3 damage
Belmiir - 3 damage
Blue man - 6 damage
Cyclic - 3 damage
Mange - 6 damage
Altorin - 6 damage
Sir Durant - 6 damage
Eka - 6 damage
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Belmiir's arrow hits the husk of the corpse straight on but cannot penetrate. The bearded man steps back and growls at Durant with a burst of greasy tendrils from his fingertips. "Fear me and the god who powers my rage!"
Yellow creature - 12 damage
Qiroyo - 3 damage
Belmiir - 3 damage
Blue man - 6 damage
Cyclic - 3 damage
Mange - 6 damage
Altorin - 6 damage
Sir Durant - 6 damage <Need will save vs fear, then frightened or shaken>
Eka - 6 damage
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Thankfully the priest stepped back giving Cyclic the opportunity to cast another spell without being hassled so she quickly casts a DC 16 doom on the priest and pulls her wand of stone shield out before Mange rushes forward again. Which he does.
Mange manages to get a mouthful of his leg and clamps down, shaking it vigorously, though not well enough to trip him.
"Good boy, Mange."
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Cyclic's spell rushes out (rolling the man's eyes back) as Mange leaps forward and nearly separates his leg from his body. He slumps to the ground with an anguished cry.
Yellow creature - 12 damage
Qiroyo - 3 damage
Belmiir - 3 damage
Blue man - 25 damage <unconscious>
Cyclic - 3 damage
Mange - 6 damage
Altorin - 6 damage
Sir Durant - 6 damage <Don't need the save anymore as the man is downed>
Eka - 6 damage
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Eka has been assessing the situation. She calls out: "Sir Durant! Edge your way around the undead one bit by bit!" She hopes he understands why she wants him to do this without having to spell it out for the evil being seething before her. Next, with a mental shrug as if to say "What if?", she takes a quick slash at the huecuva's form, just to see if she can do more than tickle the abomination.
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Sir Durant, being a trained and well-seasoned warrior, knows just what Eka is getting at as she calls out for a change in tactics. He moves quickly around the huecuva, then raises his blade and strikes at the undead heretic.
His cold iron blade fails, though, to bite through the monstrous thing's flesh.
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Although Altorin's blast coats the stairway rather than the foe, Eka and Durant combine to put the huecuva off-footed and Eka splits it in two. The top half of the body tries to claw itself away but collapses after a few unnatural lurches.
With the threat quelled, the voice returns from the cell.
"please help us..."
Qiroyo - 3 damage
Belmiir - 3 damage
Cyclic - 3 damage
Mange - 6 damage
Altorin - 6 damage
Sir Durant - 6 damage
Eka - 6 damage
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Half of the crates in this room are marked with gigantic red X’s, painted on with a wide brush. The supplies include flour, grains, sugar, coffee, tea, dried goods, and so on—everything the cult needed to supply its operations.
The bearded man laying dead on the ground has several items of particular value. The flail, his armor, and a curious amulet around his neck that resembles a world imploding.
He also has the keys to the cells. Once opened they reveal about twenty prisoners, in various states of health. All thank you profusely, but one -- the missing Pathfinder Cestis -- who is alive but appears to have been badly beaten, is helped up and makes his way over to you.
"A sight for sore eyes, to be sure. I'd hoped they'd of sent a team out to find me, but it always warms the heart to know that the Society cares."
Spotting the downed man, he looks into your eyes.
"You've done well. Rescued us all. Stopped ol' Dalirio there in his tracks. But I don't think he's the big fish. No. Ever since we've been here there's been visits from other creatures. Dark- or gray-skinned humanoids with enormous gray eyes who came frequently to negotiate with Dalirio there. I didn't actually see it, knocked out as I was, but some of the folk here tell me these humanoids always left with a fresh supply of captives and took them who knows where. We would have been in the next sort, I'm sure. Anyways, you've restored some semblance of peace to the city. How long that peace will last is for the gods to know."
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"Glad we found you. By the way, is this yours?"
She handshim the wayfinder with his initials.
"Unless we know where to start looking, we may want tojust hang around here until these things come back for questioning. Or we could revive the priest and see if he would be willing to talk. Well, if he is revivable after Mange got through with him. Speaking of which."
Mange has returned to being his old self, resting in a corner somewhere and looking like he would like to turn invisible. Cyclic casts a quick stabilize spell on the priest and goes over to see if there is still life there.
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As the huecuva fell before her blade, Eka's head cocked curiously to the side. Huh. Not asss hard asss I thought. Tough flesh though. She stares down at its form for a bit, as if contemplating something.
Gesturing to the freed prisoners, she attempts to speak gently: "Iss it posssible to heal thesse people asss well? Then we can get them out of here. I'm ssure they're ssick of thiss plasse ."
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When Cestis steps out of the cell, Sir Durant seizes his hand and shakes it firmly. "Glad we made it in time, then," he says, a look of concern about the cultists' activities upon his face. "Let's get you and these other people back up to the surface and we can start working on getting you all back home."
As he guides the freed captives back toward the stairs, he glances over toward the crates, trying to identify who was shipping these supplies by looking for some kind of mark or insignia.
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Belmiir shares his wand for the benfit of all as the prisoners shuffle out and up the stairs.
With the copious blood spilling into the cracks of the rat mosaic on the floor, it takes a moment, but Cyclic realizes that she has prevented the death of Dalirio Teppish by mere seconds. He will make a worthy subject for interrogation as this all wraps up.
(Indeed you discover that subsequent interrogation finds out that Dalirio, a priest of the god of the End Times -- Groetus, had recently joined forces with a nearby druidic cult known as "Nature’s Cataclysm" and tasked with the kidnappings. To this day, he refuses to say why or for whom, despite considerable threat of pain).
Sir Durant is unable to make heads or tails of the contraband cargo, it seems to be haphazardly stolen from a dozen inbound and outbound ports.
Qiroyo and Altorin make careful notes of the various captives stories, but again there seems to be no rhyme or reason. More importantly, none saw where the others were taken by the strange grey men. Belmiir suspects they might be Derro.
Once the prisoners are brought to the surface and Dalirio's body to the proper authorities, it is time to debrief with the Venture Captain.
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VC Themis gathers you (and Cestis) again in her office and expresses gratitude on a job well done. Examining the amulet you found, she laments. "My oh my, this is nearly an artifact, this does not bode well for it being in the hands of a mundane "slaver's guild", if that's what this was. No there must be more to this. We will certainly post a watch on the places you visited, see if there are any return visits by these little grey men. I suggest you stay in town for a bit. We may need you."
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It takes but a week for you to be summoned to the lodge in Cassomir again.
Upon your arrival, the Venture-Captain sits behind her enormous blackwood desk in the Pathfinder lodge in Cassomir and clears her throat with the hint of a smile. “Thanks again for remaining in town, your loyalty to this lodge shall not be forgotten."
Her mood then darkens. "I regret to inform you that my friend, the Countess Arieta Patrizia, is dead. She escaped her capture by the fiends who operate beneath Cassomir only to succumb to disease and wounds incurred in Cassomir’s disgusting sewers. Ordinarily, this would be a matter for the Taldan authorities, but Arieta came to me directly after escaping and recounted a story that leads me to the natural conclusion that only the Pathfinder Society can resolve this issue.”
Venture-Captain Themis rises and paces back and forth behind her desk. “Arieta told me of an artifact she saw while in captivity below Cassomir. This artifact, called the jet rat, is known to us, but we must confirm that what she saw is indeed true. She claims to have seen it transform normal rats into something bigger, more vile and mean. If that’s true, the artifact she saw down there is old, evil, and should be stored safely in the vaults beneath the Grand Lodge in Absalom where we can study, catalog, and examine it. Worse, she claims to have seen this object in the hands of derros, vile Darklands creatures that we all have long suspected are somehow responsible for the Cassomir kidnappings. I have a map here that shows the location of the sewer grate Arieta was dropped through when she was kidnapped. She could not, due to her illness, recall much about how she got to the location where they kept her in captivity, but she knows where they dropped her into the sewers and you’ll find that location on this map.”
Venture-Captain Themis stops pacing and eyes you across her desk. “Bring me back this artifact—if you happen to free a few more captured Taldans along the way, that’s good news, but the artifact is your mission. Any questions?”
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"Ssewerss and ratss. We will be exterminatorss. And get you that artifact." In an aside to the others, Eka mentions: "I want to buy some assid flasskss before we go, in casse we run into any sswarmss down there."
Belmir nods Nagji's logic...and adds, I think I'll buy some alchemical silver weapon blanch, as well; I've heard wererats, are vulnerable to such material. I'll also purchase another alchemist fire for myself.. Belmir pauses for a moment taping his chin and continues, perhaps even, a tanglefoot bag might be useful...
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"My sympathies for your loss, Venture-captain," Sir Durant says with a bow. "We will ensure that her death is not in vain by completing this mission and retrieving the artifact. Speaking of which, I don't have much experience with handling artifacts; should we take any special precautions in transporting it back here?"
The knight shifts uncomfortably for a moment before letting what is obviously bothering him out, "And are you certain the local constabulary should not be informed at least of the derro problem? I have heard the Darklanders can be quite cunning in their cruelty."
Sir Durant tries to recall what he can of Countess Patrizia.
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"Wise preparations indeed. Sir Durant, I do not know the power of the artifact, nor it's size. Use your judgement as to the dangers it might present."
Venture Captain Themis unrolls her map of the town on the table.
"Before dying of her wounds, Arieta recounted to me the long story of her capture, perhaps I should share the details. She described the derros grabbing her from her villa in Old Cassomir, binding and gagging her, and then dragging her through the night streets to a sewer grate in the heart of the Imperial Naval Shipyards. They took her through a dizzying number of sewer turns before binding her legs and lowering her down a ladder into the strangest thing Arieta had seen—there, beneath the surface of Cassomir, was an entire city block of houses, streets, and even lamps, signs, and hitching posts, as though a section of Cassomir was just bricked over and forgotten."
Turning to her window and with an air of sadness, Themis continues.
"Over many days, Arieta witnessed the derros using the black rat statue to make bigger, meaner, and more brutal rats. She saw new slaves come in, she saw old slaves go out, and she waited and watched. She claims to have seen dozens of other prisoners, some of whom she recognized as fellow prominent citizens of the empire. This goes beyond the recent kidnappings in the Imperial Naval Shipyards that you all quelled—it even goes beyond Cassomir’s normal and storied disappearances. This is another level of madness and I can’t help but think that the jet rat might have something to do with that.”
Turning back to you, the Venture Captain sits once again.
"She managed to escape when one of the small blue creatures guarding her pen accidentally left the cage open after feeding time. She hid in Cassomir Below for a day before climbing the ladder into the sewers, where she was attacked by rats and only managed to escape by diving into the sewer itself to swim away. Over a few confusing days she managed to fight off more rats, even as she began to feel terribly ill and was slowly getting weak from lack of food. Finally, she found a way out and made her way to me, only to recount her story in shallow words and pass on to the Great Beyond."
“As for the Derros, Sir Durant, Arieta said she never saw more than a handful together. Pathfinders of your stature should be able to easily dispatch them and recover the artifact. I don't want to alert the authorities too hastily. It may interfere with our plans, and cause the prisoners to be harmed before we can rescue them.”
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Making your way to the Imperial Naval Shipyards, you can quickly find a grate leading to the sewers. A trap door of sorts permits access to the sewers themselves, though it is a 20 foot drop. Murky puddles dot the tile floor below, which gently slopes toward the room’s center where some of the puddles are very slowly draining into a large, 10-foot-by-10-foot drain. Thick, sticky webs cover most of the corners of the room, and several large vermin appear to be caught in the webs. The sound of running water can be heard to the north.