At the bottom of the stairs, there is a T intersection. A foot of water covers the floor. The floor is uneven and broken under the water. The far wall is covered with cylindrical holes, some appear to hold mummified corpses. The stone giant leads the party through several passages before stopping at a blank wall. It touches the wall, and it iris's out. Water pours into the new hallway. The party is lead through several rooms and hallways. Glimpses of light are visible down side passages and rooms, but the statue is moving too quickly to investigate.
After climbing over a hundred stairs, the party comes to a manmade cave entrance on an island outcropping. The island is in the middle of a lake in a monstrous cavern with sheer walls. A grey-blue light illuminates from above. The island is about two-hundred feet from the cliffside, which goes up at least a thousand feet. Waterfalls pour off of the cliff's face at several points. The party is led by the silent black statue aroudn a dry causeway aroudn the island to the cliff edge, into a cave back into the smooth grey Stupa stone.
The party climbs over a thousand feet of stairs, occasionally punctuated by exiting to the cliff face and taking a ledge to the next passageway. The tunnels in the Stupa stone area are very uneven, with the ceiling at strange angles. The stairs are still rough set stone, and are properly oriented.
The giant eventually leads the party to a partially flooded room. Water pours in one entrance above, while it flows out several below. The statue hands Roshan's form to Sulam. The door the party entered iris's shut, with the stone giant still in the hallway. All of the other exits, excepting the one that the water flows in through, also iris shut. The room begins to fill with cold ater. Sarad verifies that the party's water breathing magic is still working.
The water fills the room over ten minutes. When the water level passes the water pouring entrance, the party swims upward through the passageway. It leads thousands of feet upward, finally opening into the large silty room at the bottom of the Stupa. The party makes its way out of the Stupa and returns the Kirit where the group rests for the night.
The party is too seriously injured to explore the underground the next day, and so rests another day. Pathik hears rumors that Edrajala is planning open rebellion, and passes the information on to the King Regent.
Kvin uses the extra day to cast a divination. Kvin asks how to locate the source of the insects and save Chendra's family. "Guild hall, drain pipe, necropolis, then in / ausdi, shrijupalla, Charon's boat, escape." Ausdi means forest, and shrijupalla means plague.
The party asks for a guide to the sewers, and receives the same one (Yamaduta in disguise) as before. Saheed sees the party off. Saheed tells us to call his name, and he will see what we see. The party enters through the same grocery.
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(34) The sewer leads to a round chamber. The major exists have bronze doors controlled by winches inside the chamber. Only passage the parted entered and the passage to the left are open. Sewage slowly flows from the left passage past the group. Smaller holes higher on the walls emit smaller streams of sewage. The party's guide says that the path to the left goes to the coast. Pathik opens the door to the right. Backed up sewage pours through. After a few moments, the flow slows and the party advanced through the doorway.
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(40) The party comes to a set of stairs. As the party considers its options, a shambling figure approaches from down the hallway (41). Chendra turns it, and it collapses. (40) Pathik sneaks upstairs. At the top of the steps is a closed door. Indirect sunlight can be seen under the door, and chanting voices can be heard. (42) The party quickly checks the side passage to verify that it connects to previously seen passages, then advances past the stairwell (41). (43) Going further, fewer and fewer corpses are found.
(44) A bit further on, a corpse is found covered with another ochre jelly. Two more jellies approach the party along the ceiling. A few magic missiles and thrown daggers puncture the ameobas and the party continues on.
(45) The passageway ends in a bronze door. The door has no handle. Chendra phases through the door. It opens to a round room with two other exits. A foot of relatively clean water flows from the right to left. He phases back through and rejoins the party.
(46) The party backtracks and explores a new side passage. The corpses become fewer and fewer, and eventually stop as the passage becomes natural caverns. (47) At a Y intersection, a body wearing rags is found. It looks like it was slain by the burn hole in its chest. Perhaps it was hit by the light wands Edrajala is selling. As the party inspects the body, it sits up, but is quickly laid to rest again by the swords of Sarad and Sulam. Cleaning up, Pathik hears laughing again, possibly another imp.
(48) The party quickly checks out dead end. Behind, the party hears a clicking sound approach, then move away. (47) The party backs up. (49) After quickly verifying that one of the two remaining passages connects back to the entrance, (50) the party heads down the last passage. The party decides that this must not be the necropolis, and that they are off track. (35) The party backtracks to the sewers.
(51) The sewers lead to the junction room previously explored by Chendra. Most notably, the water in this area has become significantly cleaner.
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Pathik listens carefully and hears voices to the left. (53) He scouts over. The passage ends in an ajar door. Pathik hears a male voice talking about seeing rats. Peering in, he sees a dirty man asleep on a pile of baskets. The walls are peeling plaster. He doesn't see the source of the voices. Using a mirror, he seen another untouchable talking to someone Pathik can't see. The man continues to argue that he has seen rats. Pathik only hears mumbling replies. The man runs for a far door screaming and shouting.
The party decides that the basement area isn't worth exploring and goes right. (54) The passage opens into a large natural cavern. The water is two feet deep near the entrance. Pathik hears the clicking approaching again and stays behind to deal with the pesky imp. Moving slightly in, the floor slopes downward until the water is four feet deep. Further to the right, it deepends further. Sarad feels something brush against his leg. The party backs away. Meanwhile, the imp moves past Pathik, who jumps it and slays it in one quick stroke. At nearly the same time, something grabs at Sarad's leg. Sarad swings at it, and it stops grabbing. A bloated human hand floats to the surface.
The party backs up to the shallow water near the wall and moves around the cavern. (55) The first exit found slopes slightly away. Water flows into it. (56) Further along the cavern edge, man-made steps rise out of the water and a tunnel continues on. (57) Continuing onward, another passage admits a stream of water. Chendra summons magical light to illumate the room. It is clear that there are no more exists from the cavern.
(56) The steps seem most interesting. (58) At the end of the passage is a sturdy wooden door. Pathik listens and hears people speaking beyond. Pathik wills himself out of phase and steps through the wall to check out the room beyond. (59) In the huge room beyond, hordes of blue uniformed Edrajala guard quietly kneel. A staircase and balcony are at the far end. While this is interesting information, the party decides that it isn't directly related to their mission and move on.
(57) The party heads back to the incoming flow of water. The natural passage has a low ceiling and a very uneven floor. The party has to duck to enter. The passage curves to the right. (60) After curving almost back on itself, the passageway begins curing back to the left. At this point, a dry passage continues straight ahead. (61) The dry passageway leads to a set of dry natural passages. (62, 63, 64) The party explores the passages and come back to the underground stream. (62, 62, 60, 64) To be complete, the party returns to the spot they exited the stream and follow the stream up.
Moving on, the party encounters three four foot long ants. They sniff the party. The party moves to the walls, but the ants continue sniffing the party. Sulam gives one of the ants some food, which it quickly eats. Given more food, it takes the food and heads upstream. The party follows. The party has to jog to keep up with the giant ant. (65) After a while the passage forks. The stream continues in from the right, but the ant heads left. A faint red light is visible down that direction.
(66) Pathik scouts ahead. It looks like another hive! Pathik quickly sneaks back and the party hastily moves back towards the cavern.
(65, 64, 60) On the way back, the party notes that somone has been wiping the party's chalkmarks off the walls. Concerned that another imp is following, Pathik stays behind and waits for it. (57) As the party enters the large room, something flaps by overhead. Chendra blasts it with a magic missile, and it splashes into the lake outside of the party's light range. Pathik rejoins the party.
(55) The party heads to the unexplored exit from the lake. The passage slopes upward out of the water as the ceiling drops. (67) Eventually the passageway becomes too narrow to pass. Pathik listens and hears a distant whine or squeek. A screatch is followed by a tapping. It sounds like it comes from below. Uncertain of the significance, and having hit a dead end, the party returns.
(34, 68) The party tries another side passageway, coming to another round room with bronze portals. As the party enters, a pair of thirty-five foot long centipedes pour out of a small drain pipe above. Sarad and Sulam quickly cut the beasts down. (69) Moving on, the party reaches another junction room. Water flows past the party from the right exit. The party moves upstream, down a very long passage.
(70) A thousand foot from the last room, the party comes to a crack in the left wall, leading up out of the sewage. (71) Moving in, a hollowed out passage is found, supported with timbers. The passage slopes upward. (72) It quickly becomes clear that the party is moving through an ancient mine. The timber frames are ancient and calcified. Faded graffiti flakes off of the walls throughout the area. (73) At a junction, an unlit brass lantern hangs from a support. Pathik grabs it, but finds himself stuck to it! As he tries to pull himself from it, a pseudopod lashes out from the support to strike. The freakish creature is quickly cut down and Pathik is able to pull himself away from it.
(74, 73, 75) The party continues through the mines, finding dead ends and more faint graffiti. (76, 77, 78) The mines are quiet, and the party quickly reaches a natural cavern.
(79) The party moves through, coming to a man-carved junction. Pathik listens and hears screaming to the right. (80) Heading that way, the party comes to a room with a stone spiral staircase leading up. The room has finished plastered walled, cracked in parts. Pathik listens through the trap door at the top of the stairs and hears nothing. He uses his mental disciplines to phase through the floor, finding himself in a basement full of furniture. A desk sits on the trap door. Pathik crawls out of the basement through a half-window, finding himself on the streets of the north shore district. He quickly orients himself and returns to the party.
(81) The party continues straight through the spiral staircase room, coming to a closed and locked door. Pathik fails to pick the lock, but the guide successfully does. The passage opens into a basement room. Some of the walls are stone, others are wood. On the wood wall across is a door. Unknown objects lay under tarps. Pathik scouts the basement out and the party leaves.
(82, 83) The left passage out of the room with the spiral staircase leaves back into series of deadends. (84, 85, 86, 87) The right passage leads to the several basements.
(79) Backing up to the previous intersection, the party continues straight through instead of turning right. (88, 89) Moving on, the stonework changes character. It is no longer rough stone, but smooth dark stone. (90) Further on, the party comes to passageways with shelves carved into the walls. Corpses rest in the shelves. At last, the party has reached the necropolis. Ahead the party sees a half-dozen men with torches wearing dark clothes. They are carrying a body sized form in fabric. The men call out to the party and approaches. Chendra claims that the party is rat hunting. One of the men says that the party doesn't look like members of the grave diggers union, and wants to know why we are armed. Chendra explains that this is our standard equipment, and we were hired to exterminate rats. The man replies that rats aren't usually the problem, the dead that rise are.
Suddenly a brain mole attacks Pathik mentally. Pathik yells "Brain mole!" and teleports away. Saheed speaks mentally to Sulam that the brain mole can be outrun. (88) The party flees back and regroups. Saheed tells Sulam mentally that the brain mole only attacks those who are psionically active.