Chapter 4: The Nasty Pits

Evening of the 21st Day of Toil, 997 V.R.

You don’t know what Lord Bartoz nor the mysterious Tribunal want with the Seals of Astaroth but you're sure their intentions can't be good, so you've decided to thwart these sinister forces by finding the seals first.

You're making your way to the "nasty pits" where you know Bartoz's work crews are also searching. This is a section of Iskandar's sewer system even the Rat Catcher's Guild don't enter. Still, Tilma is in her element here, and Berry's temporarily enhanced vision certainly helps a lot, as does the borrowed driftglobe, which casts an eerie light on the slimy stone walls.

The sluice gates in this area stopped working generations ago. The effluvium that finds its way here doesn't join the rest of the waste water that drains into the bay. The stuff in the cesspools is old, stagnant, and disgusting. Real nasty.

Berry heard the man say "two levels down" but that's misleading. According to Squiddly's map, first it's a spiral staircase 30 feet down, then southeast a quarter mile through a maze of chambers, and then a precarious descent on metal rungs set in a 60-foot vertical shaft.



You've just cleared the spiral staircase. The air stinks but the canaries seem okay.

You head southeast. An iron gate that would've been an obstacle to anyone bigger than Squiddly or Berry looks like it's been forced open by the work crews. The first few chambers are a mess of rusted pipes leaking foul water that pools on the floor. There appears to be some recent damage to some of the pipes and stonework because of the quake. As you pick your way past some of these, another tremor rocks the chamber, bursting one of the pipes, dumping brown sludge which you narrowly avoid. The tremor passes, but more may come.

You come across some major damage, probably caused by the main quake. Part of the chamber is caved in, and half the floor has collapsed into a rubble-filled hole. It looks like the work crews built a makeshift bridge—not much more than a couple of wood planks—over the gap, but the aftershock has partially collapsed it. The near end of the bridge has fallen into the hole and then jammed against the rocks about 10 below you. The chasm is small enough that an athletic person could make the jump, but clearly not the safest route. What do you do?

"I could make the jump and toss some rope over," suggests Berry, rubbing his chin in thought.

"You sure that you will manage? You know, you are small. Perhaps I should jump? I have longer legs." and she puts forward one of her legs.

"What I lack in height, I make up for flexibility and nimbleness-ness," the gnome winks at his long legged friend.

Berry's confident he can make it (DC10). And were his leap to fall short, there's the remains of the bridge down there to break his fall. Theoretically.

"Seems dangerous!", the thin youth stated, as he considered the gap from a safe distance. "Could we pick those planks up, perhaps with some arcane assistance, and use them to span the void?"

Then, looking at his diminutive but brave friend, he added "If you want to jump, I could assist you in more than one way..."

Testing the planks and the rocks with his mage hand, Laurent finds they're wedged in pretty tight. Given time and clever use of climbing gear and pickaxes you could no doubt retrieve the planks and rebuild the bridge.

Or you could climb down there, cross, and climb up the other side.

Or you could let Berry jump.

"Save your energies, old boy, I got this," Berry limbers up, stretching his arms and legs, then taking a run up, leaps...

Noticing repairs would appear overly time-consuming, Laurent turned back to his gnomish friend. "Allow me to bring Niveral's blessing upon you." He began intoning the odd, atonal chant that Tilma and Berry had already heard a number of times. He then extended both hands, as if to softly grasp the gnomes' shoulders.

Berry leaps across the chasm, no sweat! You rig some rope across the gap and make the crossing in no time.

You move on. In some areas the ceiling's so low Tilma and Laurent must stoop as you wade through knee-deep muck. In other areas the high, vaulted ceiling is supported by stone columns with massive, carved bases, and faded inscriptions in archaic script. Some of these columns lie toppled—long ago or in the recent quake, it's hard to tell in the dark.


Berry's the first to see it—a softly glowing object floating amongst the columns in the direction you're headed.

What do you do?

Berry crouches and points in the direction of the glowing thing.

Tilma readies her crossbow and scouts the surroundings for eventual danger.

Laurent seeks to hide himself behind some obstacle, if possible still keeping his eyes on the gently glowing light. He sought to distinguish the specific coloration emanating from the light source: was it green or violet, as the stones from the Seal? Was it immobile?

"Fish?"

It does look vaguely like a glowing fish. But it's hovering several feet above the water's surface. The strange creature warily draws nearer but keeps its distance. Emotions radiate from it and push into your thoughts: confusion, loneliness, and an image of a smiling halfling woman surrounded by birds.

What do you do?

Laurent observed the glowing, floating fish, gobsmacked. What kind of being could this be? He wracked his brain as he recalled the long hours passed reviewing the learned bestiaries both mundane and supernatural.

"Maude?" whispers Berry looking at Tilma, indicating the globe.

"Yea, I think that's her." she is partially glad to have found the fish and partially disappointed that it happened so soon. As she had hoped to keep the globe for a longer period of time.
"What do we do guys? It is attracted by the globe and I believe it to be pacific. But I don't think that it's a good idea to bring him along. If anything were to happen to it the woman upstairs would be sad. And I don't want to leave the globe behind either. It will be helpful further, when it gets darker. "

"Who’s to say it won’t be helpful to us? Maybe it will cast even better light in its bowl. The lady thought she’d lost her Maude anyway, so if anything happens.." Berry shrugs.

Berry’s crossbow is ready, and focussing with his new found vision he tries to spot the movement.

There's a splashing and a rippling, and then silence. Whatever it is, it's in the water to your left. The next chamber has a dry floor. If it's a water creature it might not be able to follow. Do you stay and fight, or keep moving?

"I have a bad feeling about this," Berry scans around, ready to fire if something shows it’s head.

"Bowl?" Tilma says confused and starts to check the orb from all sides to see if it serves as a fishbowl. "Are you sure that it's a fishbowl?" When suddenly the presence of someone or something is felt Tilma stops her inspection and readies her crossbow. The bolt is placed on the weapon and ready to fire at any second. She looks for a possible target.

"Looks like a fishbowl and we've been sent to catch a fish with it!"

From his hiding place, Laurent listened to the exchange while seemingly trying to measure the distance from his position to the fantastic Macropinna microstoma specimen.

"I think I can protect it while we try to get her out of thie place and away from whatever that was..."

Laurent stepped away from his cover, and approached as close as necessary for his incantation to reach the fascinating ichthyic specimen. Holding his holy symbol forward while uttering the secret runes of avoidance, he traced a glyph in the air towards Maude. As he did so, he imagined the sentient fish in a bowl of pure water with the Bird-lady next to her, trying to impress upon Maude that the gesture was a comforting and protective one.

Berry brings his crossbow to bear, ready to fire.

Berry fires!

Having granted a slight degree of protection to Maude, Laurent attempted to move away from the double-headed abomination. Once at a safe distance, he intoned the words of power required to tear the slightest gap in the veil between this world and the plane of frigid elemental energy. A pinprick would suffice, but any miscalculation by the spell-weaver, any broader breach, would cause the incantation to collapse. With practice Laurent had mastered this elementary evocation, and yet it always marvelled the young man that such powers could be meddled with at all. As the final gestures were completed he focused his mind at directing the ray towards the threatening creature.

The moment the two headed reptilian emerges Gilman instantly back steps to gain distance and releases the bolt in the beast's open mouth. After which she whistles to Maude to get her to follow her, hoping that the fish understands her intent.

Tilma winces as the scratches may be just scratches, they still hurt a little. When she notices the absence of the canaries she frowns and then shrugs. "Luckily I bought multiple. Maude, you should get in water a little before we go. " she points Maude to the water.
Once the fish has refreshed itself she says to everyone "On we go?"

Berry nods, "Good shooting T."

"Yes, well done," the young man said, catching his breath after the short, but vicious, encounter. He looked about, seeking clearer water somewhere in this area. "Do you need healing, Tilma?" he asked, noticing her scratches and the absent bird cage.

All of the water down here is filthy, but you clean yourselves up as best as you can. Moving on, you hear or glimpse critters in the water but none decide to trouble you.

When you arrive at last at the mouth of the vertical shaft, you immediately notice several things.

Part of the wall of the shaft has collapsed—the part where there's supposed to be metal rungs.

Three ropes, no doubt used by the Bartoz work crew, descend into the darkness.

The canaries are starting to show signs of distress.

What do you do?

"Ummm, guys? Did we bring something to protect us from the gas?" she looks down worried. She worries for Maude, wondering if she will have water down there. But also for herself and her friends. "Will there be water for Maude there? And how about the danger of Bartoz's men and perhaps other creatures? We could drop a torch down and hope it explodes their asses. But in case it doesn't explode it might attract their attention. Or if it explodes it might cause a cave in?"

"I have the bandana I use for night burglaries, but don't know if it will help," Berry wraps a piece of black material over his mouth and nose, tying it al the back.

Based on Squiddly's description, there should be more of this filthy water down there. Unless something drastic has changed because of the quakes.

With her experience in the city's sewers, Tilma knows an explosion can cause tunnel collapse. Especially if already weakend by these quakes. But it sure would be an effective way to clear the way of threats. Those work crews aren't all thugs though; at least some of them are just regular guys who needed a job.

How are you going down the shaft?

Berry unrolls the new rope he bought in the market, looking for something solid to tie it to.

There's no shortage of hang points to secure your new rope. One of the three ropes left behind by Bartoz's work crew are lashed to a nearby iron grate; the other two are affixed to pitons hammered into the rock.

"We should lower one of us down there, preferably someone who can see in the dark," the young man stated, his voice somewhat strained. "If the noxious fumes are intolerable, we can hoist our volunteer back. If he or she sees no major risk, the rest of us can climb down; and at the slightest sign of trouble, we can pull the person back, hopefully without alerting anyone, or anything below… ". He basically, spoke towards Timbers: the young scholar feared that the impetuous gnome would take an irreversible risk.

"As the lightest of us, no offense Tilma, I'm happy to do that. This new vision might be useful too."

You secure the silk cord and Tilma belays Berry down into the shaft. Laurent uses his magic to maintain communication.

Down, down, down... twenty-five feet down... thirty-five... forty-five... past the dangling ends of the work crew's ropes.

Berry, you see the bottom of the shaft is filled with rubble from the collapse. There seems to be an opening down there but you need to get lower to see.

That's when you smell it. Your eyes water and you begin to gag. The canary has gone unconscious in its cage at your hip.

What do you do?

Berry tugs the rope to indicate they should pull him back up.

"Up! Up!"

Breaking out of his semi-trance state — induced by the repeated castings of the messaging enchantment, Laurent rushed behind Tilma and grabbed the silken rope with both hands and began pulling, while exclaiming "Pull! Pull! Something's happening down there!".

Berry takes some deep breaths once back to the relatively fresh air.

"Given the other ropes, presumably our competitors have made it down already, so it could be safer in the tunnels. Now I know where the air turns foul, I could hold my breath to see if it helps. Not sure the canary is much use."

"You're right, we have a clearer idea of the threat," Laurent stated, feeling better now that his gnomish companion seemed to breath more naturally.

"Regarding Bartoz' men, I'm not sure. Either the way is safer down the tunnel, or they're dead a few yards down the passage. We don't know, and can't really know... The Keeper of Whispers can strengthen our bodies against the gas, for a while, at least. But it's something I'd rather do for all of us at the same time. If you're going scouting on your own, I have little to offer. What do you think?"

"I think let me take another turn down there, see if I can make it to the tunnel. If it's safe, we can all go down."

Berry recovers, and so dies the canary. The gnome bravely descends again, only this time he holds his breath just before he reaches the gas...

As the gnome prepared to descend, Laurent intoned the odd, atonal prayer that guided a clearer mind to those engaging in intricate exercises.

Berry expertly slides down the rope and drops lightly on the mound of rubble.

A broken pickaxe amid shifted rubble is evidence the work crew tried to dig through the debris to access the sewer tunnels to the east, but then for some reason decided to abandon that in favor of the natural tunnel to the south exposed by the collapse. In a bit of a hurry too, if the abandoned shoe Berry spots a few feet into the earthen passage is any indication.

What do you do?

The canary seems to be okay on this second descent.

The canary seems okay as you move into the tunnel. Your vision begins to shift. It feels like the dragonfly tea's effect is fading. Fortunately your eyes are naturally made for the dark. The lightless tunnel curves gently southwest. It smells of mold and rotting wood.

Does Berry keep scouting? Or do Tilma & Laurent descend now?

Once he's established the canary is ok, Berry stops holding his breath to see how the air is, "At the bottom. Canary seems ok, stand by"

"I'll keep pestering you with questions, so you can reply back. If you don't get a question for more than ten heartbeats, it's because you've moved too far," Laurent responded, pointing downwards with his index finger sporting a rolled coil of copper wire and pointing in the general direction his saw his companion go.

Turning to Tilma, he added "Sounds like he made it through, friend. We should prepare to follow, but we must have a way to raise someone up this shaft, by pulling a rope from below... a pulley system or some such. I fear that if we have to flee from below, and it comes to climbing up that rope, some of us might not have the stamina to climb and hold their breath." He was obviously thinking of himself and his weak arms, though expressing himself in generic terms. "Do you think we can do it, with the three dangling ropes?"

Berry checks the air. It's safe (for now). With access to the nasty pits blocked off by the rubble, it only smells of the clean earth exposed by the collapse.

What do you do?

Assuming the communication is still open, Berry gives the all clear to the others, warning the where to start holding their breath.

With Berry's guidance Laurent and Tilma make their descent.

Tilma descends alongside Laurent at first and keeps her breath when the mage indicates it. The last few meters she decides to hasten the descent. Although usually agile she messes up due to holding her breath because if the gas.

She slams down at the bottom, bruising her arm and probably also her but. Her tailbone is aching and her pride is hurt a little as well. Still she gets up and takes a look around. Not finding anything that piques her interest she steps towards Berry. "You ok Berry? Did you see anything interesting around? Is that the way?" she points down the tunnel.

The three of you (and Maude) are now at the bottom of the shaft.

As Berry noted earlier, a broken pickaxe amid shifted rubble is evidence the work crew tried to dig through the debris to access the sewer tunnels to the east, but then for some reason decided to abandon that in favor of the natural tunnel to the south exposed by the collapse. In a bit of a hurry too, if the abandoned shoe lying a few feet into the earthen passage is any indication. The narrow, earthen tunnel curves gently southwest. It smells of mold and rotting wood.

What do you do?

"Do you want me to heal that, Tilma?" Laurent asked, sincere concern and a considerable dose of guilt in his voice.

Once the three had settled in the lower area, Laurent made ready to head down the only open passageway available to the party. Before setting off, the wizard-priest intoned his chant and granted a degree of fortune to Timbers. "If you're the one leading the path, this prayer might help you achieve what you want."

"Thank you old friend, I'll scout ahead."

Berry pulls his mask back up, just in case, and starts to creep down the tunnel ahead of the others, crossbow loaded and ready.

"Thanks, but no need. With a good night's sleep it will heal itself." she replies to Laurent's proposition.
Tilma readies her crossbow and covers her small sized friend. "Be careful. But just in case I'm right behind you."

Deeper into the tunnel you go, southwest across uneven ground. Here and there, you come across strange, malformed creatures—a six-legged lizard here, a three-eyed frog munching on a purple beetle there. You are reminded of the two-headed crocodile that bit Tilma. Something is mutating the creatures down here!

At length, you come to a branching. South and slightly upward, mushrooms dot the rocky ground, silhouetted against a soft, amber glow further on. Several sets of clawed footprints head due West into the other branch, which slopes gently downward. You can just make out a faint turquoise glow and a distant splish-splashing.

Conspicuously absent are the work crew's footprints. Which way did they go?

What do you do?

"Watery critters to the west, fungal florescence to the south..." the young man stated without suggesting a response. "I have no power to discern which path is more fruitful, or less dangerous. What do you think?"

"Til, These prints, are these claw marks anything you recognise?"

Berry is no expert, but he tries to identify the claw marks or at least get an idea of the size of the things.

The tracks apppear to have been made by a half-dozen two-legged creatures with partially-webbed feet. Judging by the length of their stride Berry reckons they're about the height of a man, 5 or 6 feet.

Which way do you go?

"If we follow the tracks, we are at a greater risk of getting into a fight. If we assume that all five Seals were designed to be equally protected, we know that there should be a dweomer of avoidance, or antipathy, shrouding each portal. In principle sentient beings should avoid the places where the enchanted orbs are to be found. Without knowing more about the makers of these tracks, I'd assume they have a degree of sentience that would plunge them under the effect of the charm of avoidance. If we assume that to be the case, then wherever the sentient creatures are, the orbs should not be..."

He paused to scratch his head, "Of course, there are many assumptions in what I've said. Could be whatever creatures made these tracks have already found, and perhaps defiled, the seal... no charm of avoidance then. Perhaps it's just the coward in me not willing to get into another scuffle...", he added, shrugging.

Films takes a closer look at the marks on the floor but doesn't see anything more than Berry. "Sorry Berry, but
I don't know what these creatures are. My best guess would be Sahuagin. But I have no way to be sure." She gets up and looks at Laurent, "Yo are no coward, pal. You are down here with us crazy people. No coward would do that. However there is also an opposite possibility to the one you evoked. These creatures could be here to protect the orbs. The other orbs had cockatrices after all. Who knows, perhaps they were there before Bartoz started to use them as body disposals. Perhaps who ever created seals made arrangements for them to be guarded? It was Astaroth who made them, right?" the last question did not require an answer.

The ground shudders—another tremor! The canaries squawk in their cages as a shower of dirt falls ominously from the tunnel roof. Maude hovers uncertainly left then right, waiting for you to decide which tunnel branch to follow

"Let's head south. I agree with Laurent, not sure I want to run into whatever made those tracks."

"Ok, ok. You win, you win. Let's go where you decided. After all it's two against one. If we don't find the orbs, not my fault." she just shrugs and waves for Berry to continue leading the way.

As the tremors shook the passage, Laurent looked at the vaulted ceiling with obvious fear. He swallowed hard thinking of the millions of tonnes of rock and earth that were poised to crush them instantly if any number of uncontrollable factors played against the trio. They'd be three more carcasses marinating in the miasma of mutation-inducing sludge. Or crushed like so many ants under the soles of indifferent passersby.

With such dreadful thoughts in mind, he moved south after Berry. Tilma had made some good points, perhaps his advice had not been wise. 'We'll see soon enough', he thought.

You follow the southern tunnel branch. Rocky ground gives way to spongy earth rife with fungal growths. Some fuzzy patches of mold glow dimly, softly illuminating the tunnel. Other mushrooms grow round and squat, while others stand tall as men, gnarled and silent like ancient sentinels to this secret place.

As you move, soft whispers brush against the edges of your minds. It's not unlike Maude's rudimentary telepathic communication, but this is something more intelligent. There's no clear message though, just a presence. You know you're being watched.

The twisting tunnel widens and turns west, and is soon joined by a swiftly flowing underground stream of stinky water. You eventually emerge into a cavern lit by glowing fungi. The stream flows onto a rock shelf and over the edge into a pool about forty feet below. As you emerge from the tunnel and onto the shelf, the mind-whispers assail you with more urgency.

"Intruders. Surface dwellers."

"Unwelcome! Stop them!"

"Subdue them, put them with the other one."

"Let them be. Perhaps they will leave."

Look as hard as you might, you see no creatures that might be speaking to you or to each other. What do you do?

"Umm... Guys? Do you hear those weird voices in your heads as well? Or is it me who's going crazy. I'm starting to think that those mushrooms are intelligent." she looks at the murky, stinking water. It has been some time since Maude last went into water, if she remembers right. "Maude, go wet yourself a little. Just be careful. Who knows what foul things are in there." she pats the fisher a little to encourage it.

"No, not the water!"
"Accursed men-fish lurk there!"
"Yes! Let the gogglers take them!"

Tilma spots some movement to her right. Come to think of it, some of those mushrooms do look like very much like people! But then all is still and quiet again save for the gurgling splashing of the stream.

"On the other hand, Maude stay away from the water. Guys be wary of the water people." she then raises her voice and shouts out in the room, "Hey! You! Who are you!? We're here to find some orbs. Do you know where they are? One is green, the other purple."

Berry waits as Tilma tries to communicate, at the same time looking around for potential exits.

Laurent observed the lush fungal tapestry with a mix of awe and concern. He knew the spores of such growth could cause harm, and yet the place seemed peaceful, unthreatening enough. As voices spoke within his mind, his eyes reflexively darted about, seeking their sources. Since Tilma had attempted to speak out in her ordinary voice, the young scholar saw no use in adding his own voice to the cacophony. He continued to observe silently, while pondering what might be the best course of action. Driven by curiosity, he attempted to use his own mind to reach out to this strange form of sentience: 'Can you hear me?', he thought out as loudly as he could.

The myconid beings do not respond to your direct words, but seem to gather your intentions through your thoughts and emotions. They bristle, and the various openings on their bodies flare.

"So, they are here for the Spore Cradles, like the others of their kind ..."
"You see? I told you more would come. They will try to take the Spore Cradles from us!"
"We must imprison them before they disturb the balance any further!"

While the myconids debate how they wish to treat you, Berry looks for additional exits. None are obvious, although the waterfalls obscure his vision. The water must come from a fissure in the roof, perhaps leading to the harbour.

While he scans for exits, he notices there are bubbles forming on the surface of the lake. A bulbous, fishy head emerges from the water, along with the tips of a trident. It moves stealthily forward, with more clusters of bubbles forming behind it.

"I'll try to hold them back!" Laurent cried out, ready to interpose himself between the emerging fish creatures and his comrades. As he stepped forward, his hands gestured in a form of defensive casting, the same one as he had used on Maude in their prior encounter. He extended his arms wide open, with his quarterstaff held vertically on his right hand, a mix of greeting and ritual incantation.

"Ok Timbers! Seems like a combat is upon us! Get ready to rain your bolts upon that fish man!" she says to her companion in an energetic tone as she readies her crossbow and points it, over Laurent's shoulder, at the approaching creature. Then she calls out louder, "Wait a minute mushroom guys! We'll deal with the fish guy and then we'll chat. You might want to hear us out!"

Berry is ready for anything, crossbow loaded, waiting, hoping this can resolved without bloodshed.

As the party turns and readies their spells and weapons, three fishmen emerge from the water, gurgling and waving crude yet cruel tridents. They have adorned themselves with trinkets made of odd objects from the surface - one wears a broken bottle on a cord around his neck like a medallion; another wears a ragged fishnet shawl; the third adorns itself with dozens of forks and spoons that dangle from threads and glint in the pale, colourful light of this place. They rush at you, gurgling violently!



INITIATIVE:


Terrain Features: Slippery rocks, pool of water, bioluminescent fungi, glowing spores floating in the air and water.

Stepping forward once more, Laurent exclaims towards the fishmen in a powerful voice for an average-sized frame: "Do not attempt to stop us, Deep Ones! Speak before you regret your haste!"