Merappi's Basement

To visit Merappi's place, enter the Deep Places at Crossed Blades, via the Archaeologist's tunnel, and proceed down to the Deepstone Passage. Merappi's is first on the left. On your first meeting Merappi will tell you that to prevent him joining in the fight against the Elderkind, his familiar has been kidnapped by an Elderkind Assassin who fled into his cellar. When you offer to join him in rescuing the familiar he gives you a small square of cloth and invites you to pick something from his treasure horde that will aid you.

As you reach for something in the treasure horde you are suddenly whisked away into the cellar, no treasure, no Merappi. The cellar is full of nasty "Elderkind Vermin", a rat that when killed spawns a WereRat creature called a "Familiar's Nightmare". When killed these drop a nice 3,000 GP. Head south down the side passage then north up the central passage. Here you will encounter an imprisoned familiar called Richter who tells you that although it is too late for him, there are other familiar's who may yet be saved. He also intuitively tells you to look out for Red, Yellow, Blue and Blue.

Return south to the end of the central passage and enter one of the doors. You will find yourself in a room with 3 coloured portals. Using the correct portal takes you to the next portal room, using the wrong one sends you to the aptly named "Pit of Despair" a tedious place to get out of filled with "Elderkind Blood Cats". If you find yourself in the Pit, either battle southwards to the exit, use Merappi's cloth to return to him, or portal out with your portal stone.

The correct sequence for the first 4 portals was given to you by Richter, the others are supposedly found by trial and error. Fortunately for you the full correct sequence for the Western set of portal rooms is an open secret in 12DS. So sparing a grateful thought for the poor devil that spent so much time in the Pit of Despair, and then shared his hard earned knowledge, pass the portals in the following manner.

Red, Yellow, Blue, Blue, Yellow, Blue, Red, Yellow, Blue.

The Eastern set of portal rooms have a different sequence. If someone would like to discover it and add it to this book then all kudos to them

After passing the portal rooms you will find yourself in a room with 2 doors. Here EZ Pickens will greet you and advise you not to strain yourself too much. The doors are riddle doors, answer the riddle correctly and EZ will open the door for you, inviting you to discover the 13th Dark Secret. I won't spoil it for you here

You now proceed along the "Path of Anguish" where you will encounter many "Elderkind Guard Dogs" which of course have True Seeing. These drop 7,500 GP when killed, but also spawn a hard hitting Werewolf called a "Familiar's Suffering" which drops 15,000 GP when killed. With a little care, 3 is the most you will encounter at any one time. During multiple encounters kill each spawned Werewolf before killing the next dog, as being mobbed by 3 Werewolves can be interesting.

The "Path of Anguish" leads to a room called the "Familiar's End" This is actually a safe area, where you witness the familiar's being killed thru a viewing gallery. Rest here before proceeding to the "Assassin's Keep" which is crawling with Elderkind Vermin, Blood Cats, and Guard Dogs. Depending upon your capabilities and panache, either kill these one group at a time or kite them all into one huge melee. I personally like to clear away the riffraff one group at a time before tackling the Boss.

The boss of the area is the "Elderkind Assassin" who is quite easy to kill. However, upon death he spawns a Familiar's Nightmare, followed by a Familiar's Pain, a Familiar's Suffering, and finally a "Familiar's Death" who is a hard hitting monk type creature. Finally defeated he drops 20,000 GP, 50,000 GP, and a "Bottle of Holding" containing a familiar's essence. Take this bottle back to Merappi for your reward by using the small square of cloth he gave you.

The first time you give a bottle to Merappi, he is so pleased to get his familiar back, that he rewards you with an item called a "Dragoneye's Inspiration" This is your own personal "Bard in a Box" which sings an inspirational song once per day. And each further time you give him a bottle he will infuse your Dragoneye's Inspiration with more magic as your reward, and it will sing a more inspiring song.


DI Level   BAB Bonus   Temp HP   Regen @ lvl40   Duration
00          +10              250          60/round          10 Rounds
01          +11              275          60/round          11 Rounds
02          +12              300          60/round          12 Rounds
03          +13              325          60/round          13 Rounds
04          +14              350          60/round          14 Rounds
05          +15              375          60/round          15 Rounds
06          +16              400          60/round          16 Rounds
07          +17              425          60/round          17 Rounds
08          +18              450          60/round          18 Rounds
09          +19              475          60/round          19 Rounds
10          +20              500          60/round          20 Rounds

As a final happy note (sorry) to this book, the Elderkind Blood Cats, Guard Dogs, Familiar's Pains, and Familiar's Sufferings, and of course the Familiar's Death all give Epic XP, and a full turn around Merappi's Basement will net you around 650,000 GP.

I would like any publishing contract awarded to my next sister who will be arriving in the near future.

Fantastic book Lucy This will come in handy indeed thank for writing this book and I am sure it will help others.

you will receive a publish contract soon.  

PUBLISH CONTRACT HAS BEEN RECEIVED: DONE!
L0BSTER

For the sake of completion, the right side is different, talking to some special heads.

Make sure your colors match, or you'll end up risking the pit.

Red, Yellow, Blue, Blue, Red, Yellow, Red, Blue, Yellow