Sep 5, 2023 12:04 am
Once you’ve had time to recuperate, Ptemenib arranges another meeting with Sebti the Crocodile and Nakht Shepses to guide your initial search before you venture into the necropolis.
At the Grand Mausoleum, the three priests meet with you once more.
Sebti the Crocodile is the most keen to see mortal investigators resolve the crisis, and agrees to let you keep any riches you might find in the necropolis, though she urges you to remember the three rules of your earlier explorations in the necropolis.
When you agree, she continues, "I must entrust you with one of our greatest secrets. When the necropolis was first walled off nearly 1,800 years ago, more than a dozen necromantic detectors called elegiac compasses were concealed inside. These devices can sense large sources of necromantic energy, and church inquisitors have used them to track and subdue fell influences in the necropolis. As of 30 years ago, the last time they were used, five elegiac compasses remained functional and could possibly be used to triangulate the source of the undead uprising. I don’t know whether all of the elegiac compasses are still operational, but I am providing you with a map to their locations." She gives you a rough map.
"I suspect that a cult of atheist lamias called the Amushet might be behind the undead uprising, no doubt agitated by the church’s ill-advised exploration program. The lamias know bizarre magics and have been known to take paramours from the city’s populace, releasing them only after blinding them and driving them insane. The Amushet inhabit the Cenotaph of the Cynic in the necropolis, treating it as their personal playground." He indicates on the map where that is.
In his investigations of Wati’s grave-robbing gangs, Ptemenib regularly visits the necropolis, and has made contact with a clan of dark folk called the Xotl who dwell beneath Vizier’s Hill. Ptemenib suggests, "Seek out the Xotl leader, named Unwrapped Harmony, in the old villa of the Asetiti family. Among the less dangerous of the necropolis’s denizens, the dark folk are tolerated by the church, and I believe they could have information about the outbreak of undeath in the city." He sketches a quick map showing the villa’s location.
Ptemenib also suggests, "The Silver Chain likely had ways to enter the necropolis unnoticed, and any contacts or captives you have from your dealings with the gang might be able to tell you of such a means of bypassing the armies of ghouls and zombies besieging the necropolis’s gates."
To help you in your task, Sebti provides you with a lesser ectoplasmic metamagic rod from the Grand Mausoleum’s treasury.
At the Grand Mausoleum, the three priests meet with you once more.
Sebti the Crocodile
When you agree, she continues, "I must entrust you with one of our greatest secrets. When the necropolis was first walled off nearly 1,800 years ago, more than a dozen necromantic detectors called elegiac compasses were concealed inside. These devices can sense large sources of necromantic energy, and church inquisitors have used them to track and subdue fell influences in the necropolis. As of 30 years ago, the last time they were used, five elegiac compasses remained functional and could possibly be used to triangulate the source of the undead uprising. I don’t know whether all of the elegiac compasses are still operational, but I am providing you with a map to their locations." She gives you a rough map.
Nakht Shepses
Ptemenib
Ptemenib also suggests, "The Silver Chain likely had ways to enter the necropolis unnoticed, and any contacts or captives you have from your dealings with the gang might be able to tell you of such a means of bypassing the armies of ghouls and zombies besieging the necropolis’s gates."
To help you in your task, Sebti provides you with a lesser ectoplasmic metamagic rod from the Grand Mausoleum’s treasury.
