Episode 1: Pradesh

"Great, let's go!" Lio says. You set off, the four turtle monks brandishing their weapons with relish. At first they seem to be the expert guides they claim to be, helping you navigate the unfamiliar and treacherous surroundings. More and more frequently though, they begin arguing amongst themselves about which is the right way when encountering a fork or crossroads. Despite their bickering they do agree on their intended destination: a rat-cult lair they discovered last night. It's abandoned but they think you might find clues.

Just as you're starting to seriously doubt the turtles even know what they're doing, they point to an opening set in the stonework to your left. "Through there," Lio whispers. "We took a peek but didn't touch anything. And it seems to go further than just the one room we saw."



You duck through, descend a few slick stone steps, and find yourselves in a small, squarish room. The green effluent drains out of a pipe poking out of the north wall above your heads and splashes into a channel cut across the floor. The gutter disappears into a small grate in the east wall, and to the west, a darkened stone archway. Your light sources reveal symbols scratched into the floor and walls here much like back at the house. Against the south wall is a wooden plinth cluttered with unlit, half-melted candles and the bones of some unidentified animal, as well as what at first appears to be a pile of leaves but turns out to be a twisted mass of desiccated rat carcasses.

The carcass hardly makes a sound when it hits the water. The effluent carries it west through the archway. Nothing else happens.

As Erden remains unresponsive to Lio, Rafiel loses his patience and slips into the water, clearly intending to make his way west beyond the archway.