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The captives rouse slowly, and they become scared as they realize what has happened to them. As they shake off their torpor, you can see that two of the adults have the weathered, tanned look of farm workers. These two men recognize each other, and move close together, remaining fairly quiet, except for asking for water.
The other man awakens, and asks for Master Usadin, and seems quite upset that he is not here. It seems that this man, Aderfi, is an assistant to Usadin, who is an engineer. They were doing their inspection rounds when they were attacked on entering the access point. They were set upon by several masked men and captured. He is amazed to be alive, because he thought he had been fed to the spiders. He says the spiders definitely were obeying the commands of his captors.
The man tells you that, while captured, he heard his captors talking about whether or not to transport them somewhere. There was some debate among the captors before the spiders were set on him, but he doesn't know where they were talking about sending them.
Hazrahi says, That's fine but we should ask the locals to keep a closer eye on the spiders, lest we be forced to fight them again. We don't know who's part of this cult.
After discussing the pros and cons of returning the spiders to the villagers, the group decides to return them to the villagers, but to keep an eye on the spider farm. The spiders are somewhat difficult to get up the ladder, but they are able to bring the spiders, and the prisoners, back up out of the hole. A short time later, the group has successfully returned them to the little village.
Naya is overjoyed at the success of your mission, and gives each of you a hug. "Thank you so much for returning them to us! They are extremely precious, almost irreplaceable!" She checks the spiders, and is not terribly happy about the wounds one of them seems to have sustained. After verifying that the wounds are minor and cosmetic, she presents you with your reward (reward: 500 gp)
The families of the children are contacted, and there is a tearful reunion, complete with tears of joy and a gift of several pigs and some gold. The owner of the farm where the peasants worked is contacted as well, and though he seems less pleased with the idea of rewarding you, he is caught up in the spirit of the celebration, and gives you a reward, as well. (reward: 160 gp = 30+30+50+50)
Aderfi thanks you again for saving him, and invites you to celebrate with him in Kuntan. He also promises you a reward once you return to the city. Though his master is dead, he intends to return to work at the Engineer's Guild. He offers that creatures often wander into the aqueduct, and that he might be able to give your names to the heads of the guild as people who can take care of problems like that, if you want.
You are still faced with the questions of what is in the box, as well as whatever questions you have about these cultists. What would you like to do?
Hazrahi accepts Aderfi's offer to let his superiors at the aqueduct know about the party. You never know when we might need a job.
He suggests that the party spend a day or two in the village, and see how people react to them. The paladin is interested in going to the local tavern, if there is one, and trying out the occasional Detect Evil to see who's not happy to see them.
He also keeps a sharp eye out for anyone wearing a pendant like the ones they found in the spider nest.
Is there any place in the village where they can get some Holy Water to destroy that altar?
This very small village doesn't have much in the way of shops or temples. There's a family with a keg of beer, and they seem to be the local equivalent of a tavern. People are happier to see you now than they were when you were first arrived, and after a bit of discussion, it turns out that someone has a vial of water blessed by Mityara, goddess of the hearth available. She'd be willing to sell it for 25 gp.
Hazrahi speaks to his friends in a low voice. Should we use party money to buy this vial of Holy Water for the altar destruction? Should we tell people about the cult? That might be the easiest way to get the cultists to show up. No doubt they will seek us out to take revenge.
Hazrahi suggests they return to the altar at the earliest opportunity and destroy it before the cult can take any other actions. He also suggests that, now that the party has rescued all the missing villagers, they burn the webs.
After catching their breath, the group heads back to the aqueduct-turned-spiders-nest in the late afternoon with the Holy Water with the intention of destroying the altar and burning the webs.
You get there without incident, and are able to get down into the space as you did previously. Things appear to be as you left them.
Hazrahi knows that to remove the stain on this place, the altar must be destroyed and the Holy water sprinkled over it. The altar, which is covered, as previously discussed, with large amounts of bloody copper, is made of a thick, black wood. How do you intend to destroy the altar?