The journey to the apartment was uneventful. The party surveyed the building, noticing that there were no exterior windows. Strange. The gnome was sent towards the roof, where they noticed that the building was inaccessible from the interior, only an exhaust vent. If only they could turn gaseous… but no. The front door seemed to be the only way in. So they entered through the front door. Instantly, things went awry. A glob of purple jelly fell on Diggin’s head, attempting to melt him before being consumed by fire. Beyond the front door lay what appeared to be the remains of a cocoon, now crawling with brightly colored, presumably poisonous millipedes. As the party worked to address these issues, two horribly transformed residents from the apartment next door burst through the door and joined the battle. The group was victorious, but had taken damage, so healing took place.
From this begins a careful investigation of the partially destroyed apartment. Most of the locks have been broken and it is clear there are numerous signs of violent acts. A hole in the adjacent wall is large enough to peer inside, revealing more broken cocoons, millipedes etc. There are few signs of a previous occupant. Another cocoon blocks the passage to the second floor so the group cuts it open to emerge a partially transformed human, who is swiftly killed by the group. Another door leads to a bedroom which has a hole in the floor, obviously dug from below. It appears to lead to the sewer and on investigation reveals a rope ladder attached to the wall of the shaft.
They explored another door and defeated a few demons, one of whom gave them the key to the room next door, occupied by several apartment dwellers with similar stories. One night, while they were sleeping, armed, masked figures broke into the apartment and captured them. Some were dragged away, never to be seen again. Veiga connects this story to vials and syringes containing a strange, viscous liquid they had found earlier. His hypothesis is that cultists are injecting people with the substance, transforming them into ugly creatures in cocoons. Terrible.
The hostage is freed and the party explores the hole. It leads to the sewers that lead to the Old Town underground. An investigation is made and a new metal door is discovered. The door opens but an alarm sounds. The party goes down a flight of stairs beyond the door but is faced with a smoke screen that blocks their view. As the smoke begins to clear a horrifying sight unfolds. Twelve giant rats are split into two wings and surround twelve rat men. Each rat mane has a large musket. Behind them are four cultist rat men riding on another giant rat gang with a mane of tentacles. The Zal falls and fires a fireball from the staff he had just acquired, blowing many away. The rat king and several surrounding rat men remain standing. In the ensuing melee the party is badly hurt by magic and missile attacks fired from the hallucinated wall that covers the peephole and a nearby corridor. They defeat the rat kings and charge in pursuit of the fleeing survivors.
They enter the rat hole, kill the remaining defenders, and regroup. They observe the entrance hall and try to piece together a workable solution. Veiga urges further action, but many of the group are injured and it seems wiser to retreat. Veiga is eventually victorious, and the party uses an illusionary screen to conceal their advance to the entrance. It turns out to be locked, and attempts to open it are unsuccessful, so it is decided to break contact.
While walking with the crowd on a large bridge, they become the target of an attack. Warriors and at least one mage charge from different parts of the crowd. Veiga fires a soundburst spell, stunning a group of attackers and killing six bystanders, while Xal prepares a sleep spell. Diggin charges into melee combat, under magical attack; Veiga is also hit by a magical acid bolt. Diggin slashes through the stunned attackers and incapacitates two more with Xal’s sleep spell, but they are quickly killed by Fingers and his allies. The crowd flees, and the party takes them with them. There is no sign of any further attack… Perhaps the intensity of the reaction was enough to deter further violence. Perhaps not. The party is understandably suspicious, but they return to the lodgings and sell many of the rifles they had looted from the ratmen. This left them fairly flush with cash, and they moved to a house near the city’s southern entrance, hoping that having some distance between themselves and Delver’s Square might be to their advantage.
They calmed down and looked around for a bit. Eventually they decided to go back to the apartment, to at least see if there was any more loot they could take. They found the apartment burned to the ground. Probably… probably by order of the city council, considering the depraved experiments and horrific transformations. Or maybe it was something the cult did in an attempt to cover up their experiments. Either way, the roof, the roof, the roof was on fire.
They began excavating the rubble near where the sewer entrance had been, and after a few hours the sewer was accessible again.
