Catacombs of Wrath

The Catacombs of Wrath is an ancient Thassilonian complex beneath the town of Sandpoint.

Recent Events
The Regulars stumbled onto the Catacombs while exploring the tunnels beneath the Sandpoint Glassworks. Here they defeated Koruvus, a former goblin champion turned mutant monstrosity by something in the Catacombs, as well as a small flying demon who confronted the adventurers in the cathedral and summoned misshapen monsters from the runewell.

Layout
The complex contains a red marble statue determined to be of Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath, depicting her holding the ranseur traditionally associated with her and holding a large book adorned with a seven-pointed star.

"Take that statue you found down below in the catacombs, for example. I believe it depicts Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath. Bakrakhan was her domain, part of the Empire. I think it stood more or less where we are today. A rage-filled woman wielding a ranseur, with a headdress of hooks and blades - that's how she was described, how she appears in most traditional depictions."

-- Brodert Quink

The complex also contains:


 * prison cells
 * a room of pits holding ancient-beyond-belief zombies
 * evidence of human or humanoid experimentation (skeletal remains with three arms or a an enormous misshapen skull or a too-long ribcage)
 * a chamber that levitates anything within it
 * a shrine with an altar that holds filthy water
 * a cathedral with a pulpit upon which sits a runewell
 * stairs leading down, blocked by a collapse
 * stairs leading up, blocked by a collapse, that may have once emerged in the area between Tower Street and Junker's Way

History
Zarku believes the catacombs were originally a facility dedicated to building monsters. The cells were were victims of the experimentation would be held, most likely those who displeased the Runelord of Wrath.

Thassilonian Fragments
Zarku Frallino recovered and translated a collection of Thassilonian parchment fragments, preserved for millennia by the enchantments laid upon the catacombs.

Much of it is correspondence. Many fragments are in the same hasty script, while others appear to have been dictated to scribes. Other fragments appear to be pieces from tomes, either magical in nature or religious (hymns dedicated to Lamashtu, several ritual bestiaries).

Example pieces:

"...for the management of the Hellstorm Flume. I shall have more sinspawn ready for your hordes as soon as I receive the acolytes I require to assist me with my research..."

"Lady Alaznist,

''Your armies grow mighty and our borders teem with the instruments of your wrath. Bakrakhan shall remain secure. We stand ready to fall upon Karzoug's forces if his greed for territory should prove irresistible. Yet you ever demand more, which I struggle to provide..."''

"...do not revoke the gift of your trust and remove from me the free hand with which I have accomplished so much in your honor.

-- Your servant, Xaliasa"

"...despite all the gold I have poured into their hands, the minds I have bent to my will! Will it never be revealed to me? I believe ever more strongly that it is the only place where I can survive the coming conflict..."

"Every novice and initiate knows the division of the schools of magic according to the rewards of rule:''


 * Envy, by which the magician may suppress magic other than her own,
 * Gluttony, through which school the mage may satisfy her hunger for life's forces,
 * Greed, to enhance the value of things or to adorn the self,
 * Lust, through which the desires of others may be manipulated or one's own can be satisfied,
 * Pride, the pursuit of the perfection of the mage's appearance through trickery and illusion.
 * Sloth, used to summon agents from beyond to work the mage's will without effort or to create what is needed at will,
 * and Wrath, undisguised raw power channeled and wielded against others."