Having settled into their new abilities as third-level adventurers, the company returned to the trail that had begun in the crypts beneath the Necropolis. Their next destination was the Crimson Lotus, a notorious establishment in the southern Guildsman District, close to Brewer's Close.
Their purpose was simple: investigate the brothel and discover whether it had any connection to the corpse desecrations, the ghouls beneath the Necropolis, or their increasingly troublesome friends in House Vladaam. The party entered in the evening, took a table overlooking the dancing area and began their enquiries.
Flint and Torvax, displaying a commendable dedication to investigative work, decided that the best way to gather information was to sample the establishment's services for themselves. Their enquiries upstairs eventually proved fruitful, with Torvax persuading his companion to reveal the existence of punishment dungeons beneath the building. Whether this counted as professional research was perhaps best left out of the report to Brother Fabien.
The company decided that asking questions was unlikely to uncover the whole truth. Instead, they would find their own way into the dungeons. Leaving the Crimson Lotus, they made their way around the back into Brewer's Close and located a manhole. Their special key opened it, and with the assistance of Flint and Hoot Hoot they discovered a concealed door leading into the building's hidden lower levels. Once the entrance to the brothel was secured behind them, the adventurers descended into the darkness.
What they found beneath the Crimson Lotus stripped away any pretence of respectable vice. The low ceiling bristled with spiked chains, while cages stood to either side of the chamber and directly ahead, each containing an exhausted and beaten prisoner. Others lay in pits in the floor. From the east came the groans of victims upon a rack; from the southeast came the screams of those being impaled upon spikes.
The party acted immediately, dispatching the torturers and beginning to free the prisoners. Unfortunately, in their haste they had also stepped into the killing ground of something far worse. The chains came alive.
A lesser chain demon revealed itself, animating the hundreds of hooked and spiked chains hanging from the ceiling. They whipped through the chamber like iron serpents, striking from every direction. Bragman suffered particularly badly, a hooked chain tearing into his chest and hauling him from his saddle. The party fought back, but their swords and arrows seemed barely able to penetrate the creature's supernatural defences. They were wearing it down, but the demon was hurting them just as quickly.
Then Torvax stepped forward and cast Magic Weapon upon Lúthien's sword. The difference was immediate. Lúthien struck twice, and on each blow he channelled the radiant power of his Smite. The second strike, which would have missed without Torvax's enchantment, found its mark. The demon finally collapsed, its body disintegrating into ash.
The prisoners were freed, though many were in a terrible condition, and the City Watch was summoned to deal with the aftermath. The adventurers, meanwhile, turned their attention to the evidence left behind by their captors. Among the spoils were two large, dark-red rubies surrounded by sinister gold settings. Torvax identified them as Curse Gems. Pressed against bare skin, the gems could inflict a terrible curse upon their victim, while the wielder experienced an intoxicating rush of euphoria and a temporary reversal of the curse's effects. Repeated use could even grant unnatural darkvision, accompanied by the unsettling glow of red eyes. Their addictive nature made them particularly disturbing. Fortunately, Torvax eventually discovered a way to strip them of their magical properties, leaving behind valuable gemstones that could be sold without quite so much concern about their next victim.
The deeper investigation revealed something even more disturbing. Strange devices had been installed above the torture chambers, apparently designed to capture the suffering of the victims in small phials. The resulting substance was Liquid Pain, a thick reddish alchemical drug distilled from torture and suffering. Its use apparently produced a state of intense ecstasy. The Crimson Lotus was therefore not simply a house of forbidden pleasures. It was operating a far darker trade, one involving pain, curses and the exploitation of human suffering.
The Watch soon raided the establishment, arresting staff for torture, false imprisonment and other crimes. Unfortunately, the people the party most wanted to question had already disappeared. One locked room remained inaccessible even to the Watch, however, and the adventurers were not about to let a locked door stand in their way.
Inside they encountered a Spectator, a strange aberrant guardian whose eyestalks immediately began unleashing magical attacks. One of its rays filled the chamber with fear, but Torvax had one final trick available. He activated the mysterious Pain Bracelet they had recovered beneath the temple, releasing its stored Scorching Ray. The Spectator was reduced to ash. The bracelet was reduced to rust however.
Still, among the remains the party found more gems, gold and, most importantly, another letter. The seal immediately caught their attention. It bore the insignia of House Vladaam, but the same mark was also associated with a workshop behind the Crimson Lotus in Brewer's Close. It was too precise a connection to ignore. The workshop would have to be investigated.
For the moment, the adventurers returned to their base. A few days later they received an unexpected visitor. Lieutenant Kiera Killhone had made enquiries through the Church, and Brother Fabien had decided that she could be trusted. They met at the Ghostly Minstrel in Delver's Square, choosing neutral ground in case the situation was less secure than it appeared. Kiera brought disappointing news. The suspects arrested during the raid had been released because none of the victims were willing to testify under oath. They were simply too frightened. The Crimson Lotus had reopened, and the party had acquired a reputation among people who were unlikely to forgive them for interfering with their business.
Kiera also had darker suspicions. Some members of the City Watch, she believed, were in the pay of criminal gangs. There were even judges whose loyalties might be purchased. The adventurers could no longer assume that the law would protect them simply because they carried Church papers. They would need to be careful.
Kiera knew something about that herself. She had already survived an attempt on her life, and the fact that her colleagues had been suspiciously slow to come to her aid had convinced her that reliable allies were in short supply. She offered the Curators work if they were interested.
In Ptolus, it seemed, finding someone you could trust was becoming almost as difficult as finding someone who didn't want to kill you. And somewhere behind the Crimson Lotus, in the workshops of Brewer's Close, waited the next piece of the puzzle.
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