Erm, very well. We won't question your motives. Can you tell us about this place, then? It seems like a magical place, with the carving further up, and this model of Absalom. Does does cave hold any special meaning to you? We have heard from a friend that you visit here when the moon is full..."
"I am honored to make your acquaintance, Gillman. My name is Seleena. What is yours?"
"Gillman tell us about he and this place and we give cloak to Gillman. Make bargain, you and us."
The gillman turns to face you each in succession, finally nodding at Rumble's offer.
Nice to meet you Seleena, and the rest of you. I am Uori, and I came here because this place is sacred to me and my people. The waters are calm, but they speak to me. In the past it was sacred to Aroden, and some of his influence still remains, though it wanes with the ebb and flow of the tides.
He indicates the model city with a flourish. The carvings above, they are all tied to rituals to give praise to Aroden. If you present yourself to him in a way that pleases him, he will show you favor, though he has been dead these long years. Here, the old man says, drawing forth a wand and handing it over to Rumble .
If your faith is strong, this too will protect you from harm.
The pilgrim steps aside, and motions to the city again. Take all the time you need to study, but I ask that you give this holy place the reverence that it deserves.
When you are done questioning him, he wades further into the pool and watches you quietly.
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"Thank you, Uori. Of course we will show the proper respect."
Aznive consults with the oread. "I'm not sure, Rumble. I thought you were most knowledgable among us with regards to religious practices. Could it have something to do with the carvings above? Those are about giving praise to Aroden. There's gravel and pebbles here, just as in the carving of the farmer. Or..." Aznive walks up to the edge of the water and studies the miniature city, paying special attention to the trinkets scattered about and to the Starstone cathedral. "could it be that we have to offer something? It seems a lot of people have left a token here."
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Easy come, easy go, Nikolai thinks as the group hands over the cloak to the gillman. He lets out a sigh, but goes to take a look at the rest of the items in the temple proper. "Search me on how to worship a dead god," he says with a shrug, examining the diorama of Absalom with mild curiosity. "Anyone got any bright ideas?"
Why pray to a dead god Kazzak thinks to himself with distain. He wonders whether he recalls anything about the worship of Aroden.
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Aznive looks at her companions and notices that they're as clueless as she is. Well, I did talk of standing up, didn't I?
Aroden, last of the Azlants. I know that Taldor hasn't been kind to you, but I hope that you don't hold that against me. Also, you probably can't hear me, being dead and all... Anyway, here goes nothing.
Aznive tries going over events once more. The four guises of Aroden, ways of showing respect. She's about to draw a furrow in the ground, as the farmer did, when something makes her change her mind. He motioned towards the city. Twice.
She gently steps into the water, looking at Uori for any signs of encouragement or disapproval. She makes her way over to the diorama and studies it for a moment. She then gently touches the Cathedral, bows her head and then places a golden Taldan crown between the other tokens.
Aznive looks at her companions and notices that they're as clueless as she is. Well, I did talk of standing up, didn't I?
Aroden, last of the Azlants. I know that Taldor hasn't been kind to you, but I hope that you don't hold that against me. Also, you probably can't hear me, being dead and all... Anyway, here goes nothing.
Aznive tries going over events once more. The four guises of Aroden, ways of showing respect. She's about to draw a furrow in the ground, as the farmer did, when something makes her change her mind. He motioned towards the city. Twice.
She gently steps into the water, looking at Uori for any signs of encouragement or disapproval. She makes her way over to the diorama and studies it for a moment. She then gently touches the Cathedral, bows her head and then places a golden Taldan crown between the other tokens.
Diorama description
Tiny trinkets such as ancient coins, polished semiprecious stones, and ornately braided loops of string are scattered throughout the diorama, and pale cave frogs clamber atop it. The smooth cavern floor is covered in gravel and pebbles along the edge of the pool, and several foot-long centipedes prowl among the gravel in their search for prey.
Carvings:
Merchant
The Merchant is depicted weighing and trading coins of different sizes, a reference to the holy text’s proverb that peace brings trade and prosperity to all people.
Farmer
The Farmer is depicted plowing four lines in a field, retelling Aroden’s prophecy that humankind would prepare the rocky earth for planting and over generations wear the pebbles down into fertile soil.
Fisherman
The Fisherman is depicted hauling in an enormous catch of small fish to take back to Absalom, illustrating Aroden’s declaration that a great host of creatures could accomplish a great task, whether that be taming the wilds or feeding a nation.
Scholar:
The Scholar is depicted writing on a piece of parchment and then reading from it to passersby, just as Aroden was said to smile on those who recorded history and other knowledge to share it with others.
Oh, and if/when Uori sees you (he's swimming around), he will smile encouragingly at your efforts.
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Aznive figures she's at least somewhat on the right track from the gillman's encouragment, but she knows she's missing something. Her thoughts keep going in circles, and she starts talking to herself to make some sense of things.
"Right, this is just like some puzzle that Master João would give as a lesson. Consider the options and start from the parts that you're sure of: We have to pay respect to Aroden. We know that it's connected to the carvings we found up there. There were twelve of them originally, but only four are left legibly. The other eight might have held clues, but they're gone now. No use crying over spoiled blood..."
"That leaves four actions. Plowing the field, hauling fish to the city to feed the people, weighing coins for peace and prosperity, and spreading knowledge. The field might make sense here, with the pebbles and all. The fishing, no clue. There's water, but no fish. And would good would it do to drop a fish onto the diorama? For that matter, what about the toads up there? Obviously they weren't left as offerings to Aroden, like the coins and trinkets might've been. The coins might be offered to suggest trade and prosperity, but obviously that alone wasn't enough. And then there's the spreading of information. Nothing here suggests any such thing. Unless that's what the toads are here for, signifying knowledge? Or does that hang on the very reason why we're here, the whole Pathfinder thing? That's too convenient to be coincidence..."
She looks around one last time, scanning for something (something obvious maybe?) that she might have missed. "And then we have these bugs here. Big bugs. They might just be here as guardians or something, scaring off unwanted visitors. I don't see how they could have anything to do with the guises of Aroden. Unless they're meant to be food for the toads in the city, since they're down here in the 'fertile soil'?" Nah, that can't be right. I won't drop a foot-long vermin onto such a delicate city, like some sort of monster rampaging through Absalom.
Aznive runs her hands through her hair again, her knot has long come undone from all the thinking and fussing. "It's no use. You can't figure it out, so just go with your gut instinct." With some measure of determination, she sets her heel in the gravel-strewn flood and walks backwards with her heel dragging through the pebbles, making a furrow in the ground. She repeats this to mark four parallel lines in the dirt, then walks back over to the minature city in the water. She cups her hands, draws in a bit of water and pours a few droplets over some of the toads. She then turns herself to Uori, digs out the Pathfinder's journal that Janira gave her, holds it aloft and proclaims in a clear voice. "We have come here seeking knowledge, to explore and report, to spread this knowledge back to where we came from. Please grant us your blessing."
Aznive is truely at her wits end and will consider even her wildest plan. She goes back to the shore, picks up one of the centipedes and carefully lowers it onto the diorama of the cities. "Here, toadies. Food?"
There is no reaction to the centipede or the water, and Uori wades up as you produce the journal and read it.
Nothing happens at first, until Uori grabs your wrist and helps you lower the journal onto the city after you read.
There is a faint pulse of magical energy.
The gillman then points to the furrows you made in the ground.
Aroden's power is tied to the city. You can only gain his blessing by interacting directly with it.
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Aznive breathes a sigh of relief as she feels the pulse of magical energy. We did it! The feeling of thiumph is quickly squashed by the realization that the task is only one-quarter done. Still, with some (divine?) inspiration, she pushes on. She redoes the knot in her hair, pulls up her shirt sleeves and wades into the water again. Let's crack on.
She notices the fish swimming about and drops her hands in the water. with a swift gesture, she tries to catch one.
Her martial training pays off and with her first try she catches one of the fish, holding on right. Now, it has to interact with the city. Aznive wades towards the city and gently touches the fish to the city, hoping that this is enough. she tries various other actions after that: holding the fish against the Cathedral, holding it in front of one of the frogs, and finally putting it down in the middle of the city.
She then notices the coins again, and ponders for a while before inspiration hits here. "Right, I offered a coin, but that wasn't it. But that also wasn't what the merchant did. He didn't offer, he traded." Aznive studies the coins in the city for a moment. She then takes a golden crown from her pouch, as she had done before. Only this time, she also picks up a coin from the city, one that strikes her fancy and that looks about the same weight as her Taldan coin. She weighs them against each other in her hands and then places her coin in the city, while she pockets the other one.
Finally, she turns her attention to the shore again, hoping to figure on the farmer's guise this time. "It has to interact with the city." City, city... Aznive scoops up a small handful of pebbles from one of the furrows she made earlier and takes them to the city. She looks for a flat surface in the diorama, somewhere to place the rocks. Wear them down into fertile soil? She takes a small tool from her backpack and taps on the pebbles, gently at first so as not to harm the diorama. If it seems to work, she continues working, grinding the pebbles to small rubble. She then scoops up the dust and places it back on the ground.
Done?
When Aznive touches the fish to the city, there is another pulse of energy.
Later, when she removes one of the coins after having placed one, she feels another faint approving energy.
When the soil hits the city, you are again rewarded.
Uori nods approvingly.
And you as well. Exercise caution, I can feel the presence of others here, not so altruistic as yourselves.
Prof. Faust
Nikolai
Seleena
Aznive
Rumblerock
Kazzak
Corpses
The cave’s damp air becomes increasingly stale as you continue down through this tunnel, and as you approach this area, the stench of decay grows increasingly evident. The passage turns to the east and opens into a small cavern littered with bits of broken glass, rotting pieces of paper, and other unusable detritus. A corpse lies facedown toward the back of the cavern.
Also in the room are what appear to be 3 dead gillmen, their flesh rotten and stinking, yet still they stand and shamble towards you when they see you.
Up next:
Kazzak, Nikolai, Faust, Monsters, all of you guys again
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Seleena moves to stand behind Kazzak. As she nocks an arrow she says, "Slashing weapons, if you have them. I don't..." then shoots an arrow at the Zombie standing alone to the south.
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Next up: Nikolai and Faust
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"And that one's a dhampir," Nikolai says, gesturing to the unmoving corpse as he draws a handaxe. "Or at least, he used to be." Nikolai brushes past the large half-orc as he moves towards the southern zombie, slashing the blade at the creature's neck. "Decapitations, right?" He slashes at the zombie as it comes for him, but his eyes widen in surprise as it dodges out of the way. "Dammit, nobody told me they can dodge! Stop fighting back, you're already dead!"
Attacking the zombie! Using my cold iron handaxe.
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"Well, at least the dhampir is dead. I mean, unlike the zombies. ...who are also dead, but still walking. Agh, you know what I mean."
Aznive gracefully moving into the cavern, until she is in a position to strike a zombie. She draws her rapier on the move, as she has done a thousand times before in training. "A blade might be more useful, but not for me. Master João taught me the rapier, and that is my weapon. Let's see what this does to them." With a flourish, Aznive tries to stick her rapier squarely in the zombie's torso.
Faust tries to draw a bead, but none of the undead come into view. Kazzak casts a spell for a bit of luck, which he'll need as two of the corpses stumble through the refuse and are upon him.
The southern corpse shrugs off Nikolai's attack and tries to knock him to the ground, but the dead man's attack bounces harmlessly off Nikolai's armor.
Next up: The party!
Seleena's arrow finds it's mark but shatters upon impact on the decayed flesh. Aznive's weapon is similarly ineffective, but does punch through a bit.
Rumble steps up and distracts the dull undead to give Kazzak a better strike.
Next up: Nikolai, Kazzak, Faust
Nikolai hacks off an arm at the shoulder but the undead fishman doesn't seem to notice.
Faust throws a bomb with deadly accuracy, catching some of his companions in the fiery blast.
Next up: Kazzak gets 2 AoOs and his full turn.