Chapter One: The Iron Sphere of Sthombo

The Pater waits a long, dry beat before answering. "I wasn't aware I'd given permission for you to examine the crypt. However, I can assure you that as there is virtually no chance the Patriarch will allow the sealing stone to be moved, it wouldn't take more than a moment or two to see all there is to see, were such an examination to be allowed to take place."

"My advice to you is that you endeavor not to draw anyone else into this intrigue. Quite enough lives have already been lost over the matter of this lump of iron. The guards who were slain when it was taken. Edvers Kells, guilty or no. The men who pursued you. The scholars from Banwod. Be mindful. That is my advice." He sighs and cracks his neck. "I'd best inside. If you wish to see the crypt, bring an offering and I will see if it can be arranged. In any case, may Nethuns' fork shatter your obstacles and may his net ensnare your troubles." He desultorily makes the sign of Nethuns with his right hand and turns to leave.

The acolyte lingers, watching the Pater and the other acolyte leave towards the north corner of the temple. He leans in close. "Don't let him dissuade you from investigating the Devil of the Sewers. The creature is real. Perhaps it is in league with your enemies. Inquire among those who deal with the criminal element of this city, they will know of it!"

Without giving you a chance to reply, he hurries to catch up with the others.

5 GP or the equivalent value in consumable goods is usually enough to grease the clerics of a large urban temple into doing you a minor favor.

Looks like Leth will be the tiebreaker for whether you try to go down to the crypt or not.

Heading back into the temple through the main entrance, Felor explains to an acolyte the party's wish to be taken down into the catacombs. The acolyte nods and heads into a side passage, emerging some moments later with none other than Pater Ligbone, who gives you a dour smirk and a knowing nod. "Frater Thrumius, escort them down," he says to the acolyte. "Keep an eye on them. A reminder, the sealing stone and the engravings are not to be touched. Nothing is to be disturbed in the catacombs. They are a place of holy rest. Is that quite clear to all of you?"

The acolyte leads you through a side chamber, down several narrow flights of stairs, into a winding hallway that leads to more stairs, ending in a low-ceilinged antechamber lit with tallow candles. Before you is a closed door. A table stands to your right. Upon the table sits a painted idol of Nethuns draped with wilted wildflowers. A long rectangular bronze platter lays before the idol, heavy with offerings: coins, strings of colored glass beads, cones of perfume, an embryonic horse. The acolyte stands beside the table and gives the platter a meaningful look.

Frater Thrumius, somewhat green in the ways of maximizing donations, moves toward the door to unlock it as soon as Leth's coins clink into the platter. He takes a candle from a niche in the wall and beckons the party to follow him inside.

Beyond the door, the Frater leads you through a musty stone vault. Sarcophagi line the walls; burial plaques cover the floor. He takes you about sixty feet in, to a steep set of stairs cut into the floor. You descend several flights, past two more levels of catacombs, before the stairs end in a natural-looking cavern that branches off in several directions. The sarcophagi down here are cruder, and less common than the small bronze caskets and urns crammed into every bit of empty space. By the flickering candlelight you can see many side rooms that are full of naked bones piled into various states of organization: whole skeletons here, a mound of skulls there.

The Frater occasionally points out certain individuals he finds notable. "There lies the Hierophant of the Thousand-Year-Tsunami," he says, pointing to a casket that would be utterly nondescript if not for the melted candles and dried flowers crufted around it. "That is the Third Patriarch, Nethcho the One-Eyed," he names a stone urn set in a niche over a doorway.