Cupla Baeta, Osirio DuSirc, Ari Cole, Ava, and a changeling under the name Ithraeheste Fr'Aviir - These are our, for lack of a better word, heroes. The five of them had come to Aretrian to seek gold, and glory; though this job wouldn't satisfy the second item, the first would be easily found with a job from the City Guard; to exterminate a particularly annoying band of kobolds in the Undercroft of the city. However, the whims of the vast city are not always kind, and the kobolds managed to find the adventurers unaware, knocking them unconscious. Ava is the first to wake, though the others are soon to follow, with aid from Ava's surprisingly painful methods of waking fallen allies.
Taking a look around, the five are in a cage, though it would seem the kobolds neglected to lock it. Also, they've neglected to confiscate your equipment (They aren't the brightest). Outside the cage is what appears to be a largely natural cavern, widened somewhat with tools. A dim blue light comes from a number of glowing mosses, fungi, and lichens. Cutting through the soothing blue light is a shocking red one stemming from a pool of lava set in the ground about ten feet from the cage. Around it stand six kobolds, chanting in Draconic.
The kobolds are chanting the following:
"Arise Blood-Mother, and save us from our hovels; lead us to your palace in the Depths, to your domain; take us from this purgatory! Hear us and accept our offering!"
Neither of you are familiar with the chant, nor the Blood-Mother. The Depths, though, probably refer to what the populace of Aretrian know as the Caverns, which lie beneath the Undercroft.
This aside, to the south there stands two shrines. Culpa alone recognizes the deity they're dedicated to; Tarulk, the Blood-Mother, and one of the goddesses of the kobolds. The shrines are bloodstained, and a mangled corpse of unknown species lies upon it.
* = Lava pit
k = kobold
O = Cage (And, by extension, the players)
☼ = Shrine of Tarulk