The Catacombs

wars and times of peace, too. Unfortunately, this is not a place for historians—the Undercity is fraught with danger. Bandits and other criminals make their secret lairs here, in the deep reaches where no one goes. Horrible beasts and monsters also wander the buried streets and the natural caverns to which they now connect.

Even without the buried layers of urban settlement, the areas beneath Manifest would still be honeycombed with natural passages, caves, and natural catacombs. Underground streams have carved through the rock here for thousands of years, producing limestone caverns and winding tunnels. Of course, the presence of the land of the dead deep below the surface here might have had some supernatural influence on their creation, as well.

The Undercity is really two different places. There are the buried streets and natural caves (usually called the Catacombs), and there is the path down to the Veil of Souls, known most commonly as the Ghostwalk.

THE CATACOMBS

Stretching out mostly beneath the Portal Ward, the subterranean streets of the buried cities connect to a vast series of natural tunnels, mainly under Phantom

Hill, but extending far to the south (much farther than has ever been explored).

The buried streets are usually about fifteen or twenty feet wide but only about ten feet high (in some places, they are much lower than that). Rubble lies everywhere, often completely choking off a passage. The streets are winding and difficult to predict (particularly since collapsed or blocked areas are common).

Most of the old buildings are filled with rubble or are completely collapsed. A few, however, are open. While some of these serve as basements and cellars for structures above, most are completely sealed off from the surface—man-made caves. These make excellent hideouts for gangs and criminals.

There are rumors that enclaves of ne’er-do-wells have set up thriving communities beneath the streets of Manifest. Others say that the Piran Sedestadel have used their spells to shore up and light one area three blocks square and two stories high that they now use as a secret library and retreat. Perhaps most disturbing of all is a small but persistent supposition that the

Deathwarden dwarves do not take all corpses down to the Veil of Souls. Rather, the rumor goes, they pass their own judgment as to whether or not a particular individual deserves to have his body in the afterlife, and those corpses they deem unworthy are simply stacked in the Undercity like so much cordwood.

The truth, though, is much more mundane. Some small groups have managed to set up residence in the

Catacombs, but these are never either comfortable nor completely safe. For example, a woman named Mavyrs (female half-elf Rog5) runs a gang of 13 cutthroats and thieves (six War1, seven Rog1) who are hiding from both the authorities and the Golden. They use an old set of row houses, some half-collapsed, as their secret base. Because they are row houses, there are many entrances, but the group has all but two of them trapped with poisoned spring-darts and collapsing ceilings. They use just one to go in and out—the other is their secret way out, to be used only if one of their enemies ever tracks them to their lair.

The streets of the Undercity eventually run into a series of natural limestone caves and tunnels. These vary greatly in size—in some places, even the smallest halfling has a difficult time squeezing through an opening or crawling down a tunnel. In other places, the water has carved out vast caverns filled with dripping stalagmites and lime-encrusted columns. Water-filled pools, cold underground streams, and thick patches of fungus and slime are common in these damp caves.

These caves are home to all the usual types of subterranean creatures. But where these monsters usually are only found extremely far from civilization, the tunnels make it possible for them to now wander only a few feet below the streets of modern Manifest. On occasion, one or two even find their way up into the city streets (almost always at night). Adventurers are always encouraged to spend any free time they have exploring the Undercity (and hopefully killing any monsters that have taken up residence there).

Gathering of Thanatos

This dismal cavern is accessed from the lowest levels of the buried city—then going down from there. It lies below the western portion of the Portal Ward. The cave itself is 300 feet across and 60 feet high. In the center of its broken, uneven natural floor lies a round building of black marble columns and dark stained glass. The architecture is covered in macabre carvings and statues— skulls, bones, and symbols of death and undeath.

This strange structure is the secret meeting place of the spellcasters generally referred to as the Necromancers of Night Alley. The seemingly quiet cavern teems with undead, located in a dungeon complex built beneath the rotunda. The building itself provides a meeting room, a laboratory, and some living quarters for almost two dozen necromancers, although they are not all here at once. All of them have personal quarters and laboratories hidden in the city above—the locations of which they usually keep secret from one another (necromancers are generally a suspicious and untrusting lot).

The dungeons hold large chambers for storing corporeal undead, which are packed in as if they were crates. There are also sepulchers where wraiths, shadows, spectres, and other incorporeal undead gather and wait until they are needed by their living masters.

There is even a lich named Rissachatiros (Wiz12/Clr6) who controls a large portion of the dungeons. It’s likely that the lich seeks to eventually usurp control of the complex, but for now, he allies himself with the necromancers.

Undercity: Upper Level Undercity: Upper Level

(Newer Undercity) (Newer Undercity)

The Tombyards The Tombyards Grand Portal Grand Portal

Devil’s Cellar Devil’s Cellar

Market Ward Market Ward

HQ of the Golden of the Golden Phantom Hill Phantom Hill Forestview Forestview

Key Key Xastarcholos’ Xastarcholos’ Hoard Hoard

Oo Oo

UNUN TBT OR R MI I LI I ES Oozes Undead Undead Brigands / Thieves Brigands / Thieves Orcs Orcs Minotaurs Minotaurs Lizardfolk Lizardfolk Ettercaps Ettercaps / Spiders / Spiders

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Lastly, the dungeons hold a few living captives, necessary for study and experimentation. These poor souls were abducted from the city streets above, and it’s likely that they will never see the light of day again.

The Gathering of Thanatos is filled with horrible soul-damning traps and life-essence protections. For example, there are areas that living creatures simply cannot enter unless an invisibility to undead spell is cast on the character.

The necromancers are closely aligned with the forces on Xaphan. There is a large temple to Orcus in the center of the round building where ghastly rites are performed (another reason why living captives are kept in the dungeon).

A few grave robbers and criminals in the employ of the necromancers know the location of the Gathering of Thanatos. Most, however, are not entrusted with such a secret and meet with their employers elsewhere in the Catacombs. In fact, it is fearfully whispered among the lackeys that anyone who does find out where the cavern lies eventually gets invited to “participate in an important experiment” and is never seen or heard from again.

Headquarters of the Golden

The Golden, the city’s primary thieves’ guild, keeps its headquarters in the buried city. They use what was once an entire city block, including a tavern, a number of houses, and a school. The thieves use these buildings much as they were originally intended—as homes, as a gathering place, and as a training facility.

The tavern is still operational under its “new management” and is now called Onethumb’s Place, named for its proprietor, “Onethumb” Mugree (male half-orc Rog4).

The tavernhas an attached theater where the Golden holds formal guild meetings.

The school is used to train young thieves. A large sampling of locks, traps, and other devices are there to practice upon, as well as trainers who test their charges’ lockpicking, listening, and sneaking skills.

The entire headquarters is well guarded, and lookouts are stationed far down the access corridors to allow plenty of warning should the City Watch (or a pesky band of adventurers) happen upon the site. The sentries use secret paths and passages to get back much more quickly than the intruders can.

The Chimes of Time Sixteen years ago, a gathering of mind flayers thrived beneath the city. Powerful adventurers slew many of them and drove the rest away. What they found when the illithids left was a huge set of bronze chimes, 20 feet high, suspended in a tall cave. When these chimes are rung, strange random magical effects occur, all having to do with minor readjustments to the flow of time. For example, an inanimate object might suddenly age to dust, events of the last 10 minutes might suddenly replay themselves backward and then forward again, or a character might disappear for a minute—actually having been sent 60 seconds into the future. No one knows how to control these effects. All attempts to dismantle and remove the chimes ended in complete failure.

So far, they have proven to be impervious to all known spells.

Thus, the chimes hang in this cave, alone and unused. Occasionally, adventurers exploring the area investigate the chimes or are hired to escort a sage or a wizard so that he or she can study them for a time. What no one suspects, however, is that the routed mind flayers want their chimes back and intend to return soon to drive away the human cattle so that they may get back to their own work with the chimes.

The Devil’s Cellar

A powerful party of adventurers, with earth-moving spells at their command, once dug an exploratory shaft down from a portion of the buried city in hopes of discovering a way into a rumored ancient treasure vault.

Their attempt failed (general opinion is that no such vault exists). A group of bandits with delusions of grandeur much later decided to establish a hideout for themselves in the Undercity. To accomplish this, they went down the shaft, now known as the Devil’s Cellar, and they worked for well over a year, digging out chambers spreading from the central shaft at different levels.

The group disappeared one day, never to be heard from again. No one was greatly surprised, since they

Undercity: Lower Level Undercity: Lower Level

(Older Undercity) (Older Undercity)

Grand Grand Portal Portal

The Gathering The Gathering of Thanatos of Thanatos

Key Key

MA A Manticores Manticores MIMI Minotaurs UNUN Undead Undead NENE Necromancers Necromancers OROR Orcs NANA Naga Naga HAHA Hag Hag MEME Medusas Medusas

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