04. Dues for the Dead

Chitkree sends Tikcha to keep watch from the passage deeper into the catacombs as they rest.

Tikcha flies over and perches on the statue. The floor of the room at the end of the stairs is about 20 feet below that of the hallway leading into it. Tikcha sees a door by the foot of the stairs as well as a hallway.

Vess, you recognise the statue as depicting Jergal, an ancient deity and what is considered the original god of the dead in Faerûn, preceding Kelemvor's ascension to godhood. This tells you just how old these lower parts of the catacombs actually are.

You make your way down the wooden stairs. They groan and creak horribly with each step and you quickly decide to walk as carefully as possible on your way down as you can't quite tell whether they can actually carry your weight. Twice as Zrukz & Vess steps forward, the cracking noises make you believe that they are about to come down, but you just about make it all the way down in one piece. You're not looking forward to go back up however.

As you reach the bottom, you peek down the passage and can see it end with another set of stone steps as well as an opening to the room a little before that. There is also still the door just to the right of the passage.

Chitkree, you send Tikcha down the passage and looks into the opening. She sees a semi-circular room with walls lined with nearly a hundred loculi, each containing the bones of one or more deceased citizens of Phlan. An obelisk stands in the centre of the chamber, its four faces are covered in mysterious runes. She flies to the stairs and can see that they continue down and around a corner.

As Tikcha starts to return, you open the door to a square room, roughly 20 ft across. The ceiling, far above, is capped with grates through which the afternoon sun lights up the room. Shackles are bolted to the walls and an iron lockbox is fastened to the wall. The lid to the lockbox is open, revealing several wooden stakes inside. Though it is difficult to be sure, a hinged gate in the grate seems to be open and a length of rope ending in a grappling hook lays in a heap on the floor in front of you beside a short, rusted iron bar.

Your attention is however more drawn to the four zombies banging against a solid looking door on the other side of the room.