[[Minh]] greeted the party at the [[Red Hall]]. She asked if they had any stimulants. Her movements were slow and imprecise. She couldn't find any stims in the Red Hall because the [[Red Priest]]s only do downers. Inside the Red Hall there was an atrium on the ground floor. In the middle of the atrium, guarded by two giant ant statues, the young [[Springville]] mayoral candidate [[Bartleby]] was meeting in the atrium alongside [[Sithica]] and [[Markafarcafus]] with the [[Awast]]ian [[Captain Eddard]]. [[Bemo]], in the form of his late adolescent sister [[Daisy]], attempted to enter the conference area but the giant ant statue picked him up by his shirt collar and dropped him outside. What little he did hear was Sithica expressing his concern that the [[primordial root]] his people depended on was a clone of the original primordial root, and that this might poorly affect their health. Minh became more lethargic over time, losing her ability to stand still. She guided them to her residence on the second floor, but her speech slurred. Instead of reading the numbers, she recognized her apartment by its smell. The party joined Minh's family for dinner. They explained Minh's lethargy as a result of having too much sex (for reproduction) with Eithan. The Red Priest thanked Bemo for bringing a dead body (he had been carrying a dead body, one of the pocket-watch wearing men who had cornered [[Bobby The Breeder]] in [[elder's path 11]]), as that was the custom whenever a guest came to dinner with a Red Priest for the first time. He complimented Bemo on his worldly, cultured education. While seated at dinner, Minh died. This did not concern her father as much as the party believed it should have. The party needed Minh to operate the dirigible to fly them to [[Outpost B]] and reunite with [[Old Man]]. Her father the Red Priest informed them that her soul was now in the third basement awaiting judgement, but would not leave the Red Hall. To get her soul back they would need to go down there and fetch her soul and bring it back and put it in her body again, using a small silver [[soul disc]] for transport. He gave them one such disc. In the first basement they found intake procedures for new recruits underway, but because intake for new recruits required a memory comb, none of the party wanted to do it. They had too many memories of crime. Instead, they returned to the Red Priest's apartment, retrieved the body of the pocket-watch wearer, and carried him down to subject him to the memory comb. Customer service in the first basement was poor, and the party could not persuade the staff to let them accompany the pocket-watch wearer's body into the second basement for his initiation. So Bemo demanded to see a supervisor. When the supervisor heart their entreaties, he was not persuaded. Eventually, the party gave up on persuasion and entered the back room themselves, where they found one portal door and a teleporting janitor. Accidentally, they walked a pattern on the floor that teleported them back to the main hall. It was here they pieced together that walking in certain patterns was how people in the Red Hall navigated around it. This was why there were no doors or stairs except in the public-facing areas. The party walked the pattern to enter the second basement initiation (L). There, the party found one of the Red Priests instructing new recruits on how to harvest the livers of [[siren]] while they were still alive. And [[Markafarcafus]] was their first subject. [[Eithan]] and [[Yuzu]] attempted to blend in as new recruits, but Eithan, after asking about the instructor’s childhood in order to set up a [[talking no jutsu]], was ordered to run laps. Instead, the party massacred the new recruits. Bemo transformed into the founder using his portrait mounted on the wall; Yuzu headshotted the instructor; Eithan swiped his staff. Using the founder’s image, Bemo learned of the pattern to walk to teleport to the third basement: 同じ. Yuzu, who was literate and knew this symbol, guided Bemo, Eithan, and Markafarcafus on how to walk it. Next: [[elder's path 13]]