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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 2737719" data-attributes="member: 143">Welcome to the story!First off, it's my opinion that this series of modules, while excellent, is absolutely lethal. I'd recommend either 5-6 PCs or have PCs be a level higher than that recommended (I noticed that the Shackled City hardcover added an extra module early in the series, so I guess Paizo recognized the same thing). There are lots of places where parties can be overwhelmed real, real quick (I'm thinking of the dragons, but also the kuo-tua shrine in "Zenith Trajectory", and any of the bad guys who cast blasphemy... and there are a lot!). Also, I'd be sure to allow PCs downtime between the modules, especially as they hit that sweet spot of power, 8-12th level. One of the reasons my fictional heroes were so overwhelmed is because I didn't put in much quiet time between situations, so there was little chance to prepare new spells or make magic items. Back to the adventure:* * * * * Chapter 495“Grimlocks,” Hodge said, the word coming out as a curse.  He followed that with several other juicy epithets, directed at their enemies, the rain, the mucky slickness of the pipe, and the universe in general. “Silence yourself,” Umbar said, from ahead of the former miner.  “The creatures have phenomenal hearing, and will detect us coming.”“I doubt that they will miss us, regardless,” Beorna noted, as the four armored dwarves clanked their way down the sloping shaft of the pipe.  For humans, the pipe would have been incredibly difficult to traverse, but even for the squat dwarves, used to tight underground spaces, the descent was far from easy.  The water draining from the street above drove down at them, making each step treacherous, and the surrounding walls were slick with layered muck and filth that had accumulated over time.  Arun was in the lead, and he used his shield and right arm as wedges to steady his progress as he made his way forward.  They bore no light sources, as Arun’s sword was in its scabbard and the four needed no external illumination with their darkvision in any case. The pipe continued straight for about sixty yards.  Occasionally small drains opened onto it, a foot in diameter or less.  They kept a close eye also for hidden doors or other possible digressions, but saw nothing.  Arun paused frequently to seek out hints of Taint, but likewise his divinations proved empty. Finally they came to an oddity, a break in the pipe.  The water collected here in a frothing pool about four paces across that drained into the continuation of the pipe on its far side.  The break had obviously been opened by the recent quakes, and they could see that a wide crevice, two feet above the level of the water, appeared to extend for some distance into darkness to their right.  Arun tried to move toward the crevice, but he stumbled and nearly slipped into the pool.  Beorna’s steadying hand was upon him in an instant, drawing him back. “Careful,” she said.  “Take my shield for a moment,” he said, divesting himself of the bulky object before extending himself again toward the crevice.  This time he made it, grasping onto the tenuous edges of the crevice and pulling himself up into it. “It goes back quite a ways,” he told the others.  “It was probably opened by the quakes, but there are definite signs that it’s been cleared and widened.  It looks like another passage, extending further below the city.”“Well, let’s get this over with, then,” Hodge said from back in the pipe.Arun took his shield back from Beorna, and working together they were all able to make the transition into the new corridor.  This tunnel was even tighter than the pipe, despite the effort that had gone into widening it, but it was drier, and they quickly were able to descend for about another fifty or sixty yards before the tunnel widened and opened onto a chamber of worked stone. This room clearly predated the earthquakes, but it likewise showed signs of recent damage.  The place was maybe thirty feet square.  The tunnel they’d negotiated entered onto a wall that was flanked by a pair of massive stone hearths, now quiet and dark with debris.  Additional rubble cluttered the floor, possibly from furniture, for the ceiling appeared to be mostly intact, with just a few small cracks.  A small, low rough-hewn passage exited to their right, and directly ahead of them on the far side of the room gaped an empty round doorway with a thick stone threshold.  Wooden shards of what might have once been the door were scattered across the floor on both sides of that opening; they could see what looked like an even larger room beyond. Arun looked around, a strong suspicion dawning in his mind.  While the others checked for any traces of their quarry, he crossed to the round doorway, bending to examine the curving lintel.  The rune he found there confirmed what he’d expected to find. “Jzadirune,” he said.  “We’re in Jzadirune.”Hodge and Beorna both understood the significance of that name, having heard the tales of Arun’s first journey to this place.  But Umbar shook his head.  “What does that mean?”Arun opened his mouth to speak, but he did not get a chance to immediately elaborate, for a round object flashed past his eyes, and the room was filled with an explosion of blinding light and surging heat.  The flare blinded him, but he could hear the sounds of scurrying feet approaching from the larger room, accompanied by an inhuman croaking noise from many throats.  Drawing his sword, he lifted his shield in time to take the first heavy blow that clanged solidly against the bulwark, driving him back.</blockquote>

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