Prospecti Crypts

Catacomb Room Descriptions

Statue of Vavaalrav — A skeletal humanoid figure, depicting the psychopomp usher Vavaalrav, stands sentinel at the center of this three-way intersection. Its breastplate, robes, and delicate veil are sculpted in incredible detail, and three thin chains attached to brass holy symbols of Aroden hang around the statue’s neck. Three hallways extend from this point: the east hall ending in a large set of bronze-plated double doors; the north carries a faint illumination around the curve to the west; and the southwest hall leads back up to the cleared out crypts monitored by the Graycloaks guards.
Hall of the Dead — This spacious stone hall measures well over a hundred feet long, its dusty marble floor tiles punctuated at regular intervals by floor-to-ceiling columns that stretch thirty feet high and curve near the top to form impressive decorative arches. Slivers of light seep through narrow gaps in the ceiling and dimly illuminate the hall. At the chamber’s western end are two enormous bronze-plated doors flanked by stone statues depicting holy warriors wearing distinctive cylindrical helms. On the hall’s eastern wall, a massive symbol of the eye of Aroden looms above a statue depicting a different high priest, this one cast in bronze, atop a wide stone dais. Inset into the hall’s floors are dozens of bronze-plated rectangular burial plates measuring roughly three feet by six feet. Four hallways, each along the northern wall, lead out of the chamber, and a door stands in the northeast corner. (Note: The two central Prospecti statues here animated and were destroyed, the remains scattered across the center of the hall.)
Family Columbaria — Cinerary urns of all shapes and sizes cover the carved stone shelves that line the walls of these matching burial chambers. The columbaria are connected by way of an adjoining hallway, and both rooms sit slightly lower than the rest of the Catacombs on this level. Steep stone stairs to the west, south, and east rise about three feet and lead out of the columbaria. At the northern end of the western chamber, a narrow tunnel winds into the darkness.
Arcosolia Halls — The catacombs’ widest hallways connect the various columbaria and cubicula of the burial grounds. Several of the halls feature ornate arcosolia—arching alcoves carved into the wall that house particularly important corpses, sealed behind a panel of stone emblazoned with the holy trappings of Aroden.
Priests' Crypt — The west and east walls of this long, narrow chamber have been meticulously excavated to create a dozen narrow burial shafts perpendicular to the chamber walls. The walls of each niche are inlaid with large brass plates.
Intersection — To the north, a broad portcullis blocks the hallway, which ascends by way of shallow stone steps. East, the corridor terminates in a dense pile of stone rubble. The doorway south of the wreckage is constructed in the same style as the rest of this level of the Catacombs; the northern tunnel, by contrast, is roughly carved from the living rock and winds down steep earthen stairs, presumably to a lower level of the necropolis. Fixed to the wall between this makeshift tunnel and the portcullis is a plain brass box about two feet square and one foot deep, in the center of which is a vertical slot.
Reliquary Enclave — Two bronze-plated iron doors, one to the north and the other to the south, allow access to the hallway that bisects this small hexagonal enclave. Floor-to-ceiling metal bars spaced a few inches apart from one another separate the walkway from the rest of the central chamber. Visible through the bars, dozens of spectacular funerary relics and precious objects line the walls. Urns, rings, lanterns, ornamental weapons and armor, and countless other treasures rest on bronze-plated shelves. The metal bars sport no obvious means of unhinging or otherwise opening them. (Note: The trap here has been disabled.)
Bridge and Xitelberak's Nest — Exterior light pours into the Catacombs from where the hall exits the gloomy underground and briefly becomes an open-air walkway that spans the cliffside. A low stone wall lines the western edge of the bridge, offering the slightest protection from accidentally falling off the bridge and onto the next rocky ledge a hundred feet below. Above, a cavern ceiling dotted with pointy stalactites looms twenty feet over the bridge. The stalactites’ ridges and nooks are, inexplicably, festooned with colorful ribbons, religious symbol–bedecked chains, ecclesiastical necklaces, and other rope-like ornaments of religious significance. To the west, a naturally formed stone arch creates a similar span across the chasm. (Note: The roper, Xitelberak, lives here. An uneasy truth has been bartered with temporary gifts.)
Ext. Narrow Arch — The Catacombs open into a natural stone archway that spans two sides of the cliff into which the tunnels are constructed. To the east, another walkway spans the chasm, albeit twenty feet higher than the archway and composed of flagstone. A rocky overhang serves as a sort of ceiling forty feet above; the overhang’s underside is studded with stalactites and, oddly, a variety of necklaces, ropes, and ribbons.
Locked Stairwell — A simple door made of iron bars and an iron lock plate separates the spiral staircase here from the rest of the hallway. The lock plate makes it impossible to reach the switch that unlocks the door from the southern side, although the clever application of spells allowed the party to gain entry. The spiral stairs only lead up, to a stone lattice plate, carefully moved aside to gain access to a safe (or safer) place to rest in the (mostly) cleared-out crypts above.
Hallway of the 12 Guises — When Aroden walked the world disguised, he took on one of twelve guises: artist, beggar, craftsman or artisan, farmer, fisher, hunter, merchant, scholar, shepherd, soldier, tailor, and thief. This hallway terminates in a large pair of stone doors depicting Aroden leading an army of his faithful into righteous battle and is lined on either side with depictions of Aroden's guises, six to each part of the hallway. (Note: The haunt here has been exorcized.)
Tomb of the Hero — This ten-foot-wide hallway forms a ring. Exiting the ring are a large pair of stone doors to the south and a hall that quickly ends in caved-in rubble to the west. Just north of the cave-in, a narrow, hollowed-out tunnel in the twenty-foot-tall ceiling also indicates a potential point of egress. (Note: The black puddings residing in this hall have been destroyed and the remnants of their gelatinous forms cover much of the lower half of the ring harmlessly.)