To the Precipice Quarter (Kuthona [XII] 31st, 4707 AR)

J. asked the heroes how they would like to proceed to the Precipice Quarter, and admitted that she hadn’t gotten out of the house much in the last few months. When asked where in particular she would like to go, J. shrugged and suggested that they head toward the Drownyard.

There were two main ways of reaching the Precipice Quarter from the Ivy District. The most direct route was through the mercantile Coins district and then along the edge of the Merchant’s Quarter. The second was through the Foreign Quarter and then through the Docks. The heroes knew that today was a market day, which meant that the Coins were packed with shoppers and merchants. On the other hand, even though there would be less traffic in the Docks, going through that neighborhood was not without its risks, as it was one of the city’s rougher districts.

During their walk through the city, J. asked the heroes questions about their lives and their adventures as Pathfinders. She had an obvious interest in the Pathfinder Society. She did not press the heroes to share more than they wished, but she was an enthusiastic audience to any stories that the heroes told. This was a chance for heroes who enjoyed talking about their backstories to shine a bit. J. was reluctant to talk about her past, particularly her experiences surrounding the earthquake itself. However, she was quite happy to speak of her rescue, praising the courage of the heroes. J. was star-struck for the rest of this expedition around the heroes. She pulled out copies of Pathfinder Chronicles featuring them and asked for autographs.

Looking for Trouble

The heroes eventually ran into trouble before they reached the Precipice District.

The heroes went through the Coins, where they ran into a group of young hotspur noblemen. These were young men who were dressed in the latest Qadiran-inspired fashions (turbans, flowing silk scarves, heavy eye shadow, and impressive jewelry). They mistook J. for an actual Eagle Knight and began throwing insults at her in Kelish and Common, such as calling her a cowardly abolitionist, and goading her to fight.

At the beginning of the encounter, the hotspurs surrounded Junia and shoved her around. When the heroes drew weapons, they also drew their weapons and attacked the heroes. They used their saps to deal nonlethal damage. The heroes distracted them with magic long enough for everyone to make an escape.

J. was shaken after the encounter, and took a few moments to collect herself.

The Drownyard

The Drownyard was surrounded by a tall, wrought iron fence. The key provided by Drandle Dreng unlocked the front gate.

The grounds of the old Tri-Towers Yard had been cleaned up in the last few months, and several old ruined school buildings that stood too close to the cliff’s edge were demolished. All of the gnarled old trees were removed and new flowering bushes and trees had been planted in their place. Despite these efforts, the few ruined classrooms that remained looked sad and forgotten. Just inside the gate sat a small, locked storage shed marked with the Pathfinder’s Glyph of the Open Road.

J. fell silent as she stepped on the grounds of her old school, as she had not been here since she was rescued four months earlier. She asked the heroes to remain quiet just for a moment while they remembered the children and adults who died there.

Once the moment had passed, she nodded, as if she had made a decision. She stated that she sensed something within the haunted classroom, and that it had something to teach her, something she needed to learn. She refused to change her mind about entering the haunted classroom. She did, however, listen to reason when the heroes suggested that they stand by to help should she get in over her head. J. insisted on staying in the classroom until she understood why she felt drawn to it.

The Supply Shed. The storage shed was once locked, but its lock was damaged and no longer functioned. It contained various supplies used by the archaeological teams that worked here including large rolls of twine, wooden stakes, brushes, sacks, shovels, trowels, and various measuring implements. A large sign hanging on the back of the shed read:

“Entry to above ground structure in the ‘Yard is strongly discouraged. It contains a dangerous supernatural force. Items in the yellow box are for emergencies only. Signed, V-C Dreng”

The yellow box beneath the sign contained 4 haunt siphons. A short note inside the box described the function of the haunt siphon. The box was mostly empty. It contained several holding slots for papers and vials as well as several empty cloth pouches.

The Classroom. The small classroom was all that remained of a once great school. School benches and chairs were scattered about in a haphazard fashion and a chalkboard hung crooked from a single nail on the western wall. The sound of the ocean beating against the cliffs in the distance was the only thing that broke the silence.

This was the classroom where J. and Grishan studied in their youth. The building completely collapsed during the earthquake. After J.’s rescue the classroom was partially rebuilt as a memorial for the dead.

Several children’s names were written next to small memorials with their portraits. The names included Badru Ahnkamen, Grishan Maldris, Cassiel Marlinchen, Stilonius Morilla, Anaretta Nimz, and Jaran Shamyyid.

Some of the heroes felt a slight vibration on the ground when they entered the classroom. As the sound of rumbling grew louder, the ground began to shake and the sky grew black. Dozens of spectral school children ran for the door, but just before they escaped there was a mighty cracking sound as the ceiling collapsed. All within the room took damage from falling beams. Additionally, some were frightened. The ceiling beams did not pin anyone within the room. After the haunt was destroyed, the debris vanished.

After the heroes dealt with the haunt, J. thanked them for their guidance and protection, but her voice grew distant as if listening for a barely audible whisper. After a moment’s pause, she told them she was certain another restless force still called to her from below. Grishan agreed with her and sensed a vengeful supernatural presence emanating from inside the entrance to the necropolis.

Necropolis Hallway. The reek of death choked this narrow stone corridor, where a trio of corpses slowly rotted into the stone.

In total, the heroes found the following treasure on the bodies: three suits of leather armor, three short swords, three oils of magic weapon, two potions of cure light wounds, an unidentified scroll, a wand of lesser restoration (6 charges), and a wand of protection from evil (18 charges), a collection of excavation tools and sundry items, and 105 gp. The heroes additionally found a pair of ghostvision gloves, two potions of cure moderate wounds, two potions of remove fear, and another unidentified scroll. The magic items were each marked with a small Glyph of the Open Road, the symbol of the Pathfinder Society. The heroes recognized this symbol.

The Forgotten Friend. This wide chamber lay just beyond the hallway where the corpses met their end.

The spirit of a young girl with blond hair sat in the center of the room. As J. and the heroes approached, the spirit got up, turned around, and addressed J.

“I’ve been waiting for you a long time, Junia. Waiting for you to come back. Why did you leave me? Won’t you come back to me? Then we can all be friends again.”

J. was paralyzed, and could only mutter “Cassiel, Cassiel, I’m so sorry, please forgive me” over and over again. Grishan explained that this was the spirit of their friend Cassiel Marlinchen who died with him in the necropolis. When the heroes made a reasonable argument about why J. should be forgiven and Cassiel move on to her final rest, the spirit dissipated for good, and the spirits of several other children that were lurking nearby followed her into the afterlife.

Cassiel thanked the heroes profusely for freeing her spirit. When they managed to convince Cassiel to forgo her vengeance, J. smiled warmly and proclaimed that she wished to follow in the heroes’ footsteps and help other trapped spirits.

Since the heroes had not yet visited the Arboretum, Grishan reminded them as they left the Drownyard that they still had not collected his evidence. Junia asked the heroes to help Grishan find peace as well, so that she would no longer need to return to the Precipice Quarter.

When asked about the intelligence he gathered, Grishan admitted that there were many aspects of his life that were missing or incomplete; the exact location of the intelligence was one of those.

Arboretum Arcanis

The Arboretum Arcanis was located a short distance from the Drownyard.

Inside the dome of the Arboretum Arcanis, each greenhouse used to have its own magical temperature and moisture controls, and was watered by artificial clouds that rained only at night. The earthquake of 4698 AR turned the magical rain dark and acidic, causing the plants to melt away or transform into horrid mockeries of their former selves.

Most of the Arboretum lay in ruins and was inaccessible. The crystal dome was cracked, with a large central portion missing at its apex. Vines had grown through the cracks in the dome, so thick that the interior of the dome was shrouded in perpetual dim light, even on bright, sunny days. Large skylights in the Arboretum’s greenhouses opened the interior to the corrupting rains. These days, the artificial clouds crackled with soundless, purple lightning and emitted a slow drizzle of acidic water from time to time. This liquid eventually corrupted all living things it touched, but the corruption took days to take hold. The heroes had heard of this rain.

Standing before the Arboretum, Grishan had a sudden flash of memory. He told the heroes that he was sure that the packet was inside, and that he remembered that he placed it in a red lion statue that was part of a fountain. He didn't remember the location of the fountain.

The Foyer. The foyer of the Arboretum Arcanis was in shambles. Debris and dead or dying plant matter covered the mosaic-tiled floor. A gnarled black thorn tree still clung to life in a giant masonry planter. Two massive skylights in the ceiling afforded a view of low-hanging, purple and black clouds above; the crystal dome was completely obscured. Piles of rubble obscured most of what once may have been doorways, but a door to the west was free from debris.

The foyer was the lair of Majordomo Pip, a mandragora. Pip appeared as a short, gnarled, gnome-like figure with a beard of green mold, an oversized, misshapen and bulbous head, and long, branched fingers. On his back he had numerous small sack-like growths about the size of a child’s fist.

Majordomo Pip was quite well hidden amidst the exposed roots of the thorn trees when the heroes first arrived.

He detached himself from the tree as the heroes entered and made a low bow, greeting them politely in Common. He continued to speak with them respectfully. When the heroes attempted to enter the door to the west, he informed them that they must first pay a small fee for the privilege of visiting the garden: they must each grant him a small portion of their blood for ongoing research. In exchange, Pip promised to lead the heroes to the Master Gardener who he said would answer all of their questions.

When they all agreed, Pip approached each hero and transformed one of his fingers into a thin, translucent, syringe-like tube with a needle-sharp tip and withdrew a small amount of blood. The blood flowed through the needle and via a long, translucent vein to one of the nodules on his back. Once he had done this to all the heroes (including J., who reluctantly agreed since that was what the party decided), he led them into the door to the west.