After a few more hours the tunnel ceases its descent, and becomes more or less level. You walk for a little longer, and then the tunnel opens out into an enormous cavern that stretches away before you to the southwest. It must be at least 1000' across, and 700' wide. The ceiling arches a good 300' overhead. Up there grow strangely glowing mosses and lichens, which illuminate the scene in a dim, eerie light.
Before you is a small city. You see quite a number of low buildings, along with a number of towers. Much to your surprise, the city is not a ruin. Indeed, you see a fair number of Cynidiceans walking about here. All of them are masked.
Towards the centre of the cavern is a large lake. On the higher ground on the far side of the lake, you see a confusing wilderness of stalactites, stalagmites and strange rock formations. You also see a low hill over there, with smoke issuing from its summit. Around certain parts of the perimeter of the lake are fields where strange plants grow. You see more people tending the fields.
Immediately to your left is a stout walled building, topped by two towers. A gate faces you. Over it hangs the symbol of the followers of Gorm: an image of a strong, bearded man.
No one is paying any attention to you.
Aldarin looks around. "Now this is a real interesting setup. Wonder what a place costs here?"
"You know it would be nice to sleep in a warm bed tonight. Maybe we can find an inn or something here." comments Raz.
"Well, well. I guess we will get to see if they will attack a single or smaller group, considering we are the minority now," says Britan.
Raz frowns. "You you really think they'll attack?"
Raz looks worried.
"Idun be praised.... what a marvelous place," Sharone speaks with awe. "Perhaps we should move cautiously, we may not be appreciated without proper introductions."
She looks around the group.
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark," Beth says. "Wherever that is. I thought the Zargons had these lower levels all locked up."
Raz nods. "Guess getting a room at a inn is going to be out of the question huh?" Taking notice of the masks Raz asks, "Did anyone happen to grab any masks off of the others we killed?"
The masks the people are wearing are of various and sundry creatures: birds, wolves, cats, Bill Clinton, etc. etc.
Farad shakes his head. "I wouldn't even attempt to impersonate these people. They are weirder than even we could imagine."
Humphrey says, "I think that I slept better last night in that cave then I will here. Being that we are non-masked we are sure to grab someone's attention."
"Hey let's just enter the city like we would any other surface city and see what happens. We just walk up and enter and roam around and check things out and if they question us then we can go from there, and if nothing happens and once we are satisfied there is no danger then we go to a bar or whatever and ask questions," suggests Britan.
"No, we were asked by the Gorms to clear out these areas. Lets knock on the fortress' door and see if they are willing to help us."
Raz frowns again. "Let's think about this a moment before we act. What do the mages have? If it does come to a fight...with us against this city, I'd like to be prepared."
"If we're talking sheer firepower," Beth says, "I've got a magic missile, the lightning bolt, plus my wand of paralyization, although I do have another less hard-hitting trick or two up my sleeve."
Farad says, "Now let's carry on."
Ayazin says, "Wait a minute, now... I'm not sure that the Gorm people wanted us to 'clean out' these areas, that is, just to go around killing everyone. If we did, there would be no one left to worship Gorm! No, I'm certain that we simply need to remove the influence of the evil Zargon and return the city to the balance it once had. We should talk to the Gorm temple, but let's not say that we are here to bring death and destruction to all."
Farad sighs. "I'm glad others of you realize the obvious. This is why I think we should go and talk to the Gorm. The ones that live down here would surely know where other areas of evil are."
"Well let's get on with it then," says Kelar as he moves towards the tower. "This looks like a good place to start."
Walking up to the gate of the temple, which is open, you are confronted by a guard or an acolyte in a Gorm mask.
"What is your business?" he asks.
He seems to be a bit uncomfortable addressing you. As best as you can tell, he is not at ease in dealing with unmasked people.
Kelar takes the initiative.
"Hello good sir. We are travlers and are looking to find a place to eat and relax. Could you direct us somewhere?" he asks, keeping his hands near his swords but trying not to be threatening.
The guard relaxes a bit.
"Down to the corner, then make a right," he says. "The House of the Happy Mushroom has the best beer in town."
Raz nods at the man, looking quite happy at the prospect of a beer.
"Thanks," he replies.
Britan perks up and says "The best beer in town, now thats where we need to go because I for one could use a good stiff beer!"
"Agreed," replies Raz with a broad smile.
Farad clears his throat, drawing attention to himself. Politely, he asks, "Good sir. Thank you for the directions. But that is not the only reason we stopped by your fortress. We have also recently met with your bretheren which reside up above in the pyramid proper. They charged us with clearing away the evils of this place, and we have done so through five levels of the pyramid already."
Farad looks around, as if watching for listeners. He lowers his voice. "Perhaps if you could invite us in, or send someone out to meet us, we could discuss our progress, and how best our services might still be put to use by your order. But please be quick, for as a military mind, you realize the importance of surprise during an attack, and standing out here we are losing that advantage. The more people take note of us, the harder our task shall be."
The guard thinks about this for a moment, then excuses himself and goes into the guard house. You hear him conversing with someone else in there, though the words are not clear. After a minute or two he returns with another masked man, evidently a corporal.
"I'll take you to the priest," this newcomer says, and leads you into the temple proper.
The temple is a dim and solemn place, as befitting a serious cult like that of Gorm. In a chair by the altar you find an old man, his head drooping from the weight of the gold mask that he wears.
The corporal whispers to him, and then stands aside.
"Tell me your story," he says in a creaky old voice.
Farad repeats his tale. The old man listens quietly.
"Have you cleared the most evil of all areas? That area which lies directly beneath the main entrance level of the pyramid? If you have done that, then your task is done. For it is in the catacombs beneath the pyramid that Zargon himself lives, if the legends are to be believed.
"Down here," he continues, "The cult of Zargon is the most powerful...but it does not have the heart and soul of the people anymore. None of the cults do. The people prefer...to live in their dream worlds. If Zargon truly does live in the catacombs above, then his death will cause his cult to wither away. But I do not think that many people down here would even notice."
Farad shakes his head. "It appears we've missed some areas then. We found this tunnel heading down to this underground city and thought we had reached the bottom of the pyramid."
"You are many thousands of feet below the pyramid, young man."
Farad reaches for the maps. Beth, thinking he's going to go for a grope in her pockets, slaps Farad's hand. Then she takes the maps out and gives them to Farad. "I'm still catching up with our latest movements," she says.
Farad refuses to take them, and instead pulls out his own maps. He always keeps his own set, not trusting others to get things right.
Farad looks at the maps. "We've explored these five levels, killing all sort of vermin: from slimes and gargoyles to dopplegangers and undead. So the catacombs are even further below this lower level?"
"There are more catacombs below this city, but the ones I am talking about are directly below the pyramid."
He looks at both Farad's and Beth's maps.
"The entrance is there," he says, pointing to the room where the rat-masked men fled downstairs (room 53 on Beth's maps).
The elf looks at the old priest. "Do you happen to have any maps of the catacombs?"
"I do not," he replies in his creaky voice. "Those few who have ever ventured down there...have never returned."
Farad smiles. "A challenge then. I think that will be all we need. We'll travel back this way once more and let you know of our success or failure up above. Then I think we'll tackle the catacombs below this city too. I don't wish to leave the job half finished."
The grey elf looks at the others. "Shall we be off? Back up the tunnel and to the missing levels below the pyramid."
Beth nods. "Sounds good. I wonder, thought; when we've finally dispatched this Zargon fellow, will we really have taken care of the problem? It sounds like these people giving themselves over to the dreamworld might now be just as responsible for the decline of this civilizaition as this Zargon fellow."
Farad shrugs. "Not our problem. One of the reasons any civilization declines is a growing moral decay of its citizens. If these people choose to dream away their lives rather than make an honest living, then they are doomed. But by removing Zargon at least we can give them a choice in the matter decided by their own hands, and not some outside influence that has taken advantage of the situation."
"Besides whose to say that Zargon isn't the one causing this dreamworld type of thing. Won't know untill he is gone," says Kelar. "Let's get going."
Humphrey looks baffled. "I am confused. Are we going up or down?"
Britan looks over to Humphrey. "Well by the sounds of it I would say both, first we go up to where the rat face men ran from us then we go down the stairs they ran down!"
Humphrey's smile almost falters. "I was afraid of that. We have a long upwards hike to do."
"You know, Farad," pipes up Gamvik. "You need to lighten up. Somebody needs to poke you in the butt with a knitting needle."
Farad shakes his head. "And here I thought I was being a bit more jovial of late. Well, let's be off. It's a long trek back to the pyramid."
"A long trek is what this seems to be turning into. Well lets get to it. Those rat men have probalbly warned everyone over there that we are here," says Kelar.
Farad shrugs. "I wouldn't worry about that too much. We will have been gone for several days, and they probably will have thought we've moved on."
You say goodbye to the old priest, leave the temple, and set off back up to the pyramid. As you feared, it is a long, slow climb, and it takes you the rest of the day. By the time you reach the last level of the pyramid that you have explored, it is late and you are all very tired. You make for the room where you battled the doppelgangers, clear it out, and camp for the night.