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Marra studies the dwarf statue for a moment, reading the description in the book "Home is far behind, our kin scattered to the four winds, but we endure."
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Jhalan tries to gain the trust of the creature, but not being able to see it makes it hard on him.
Animal hides and furs have been laid out on the six dwarf-sized stone beds in this room. A crude set of dice lies scattered on the floor. A number of weapons have been stashed in a pile to the north.
Three of the beds have been slept in recently.
The pile of weapon contains mostly useless, rusted blade. There is one sword that stands out, though, which has the initials "N.S." engraved on the hilt.
[ooc]You can remove the blue box on the left side of the handout to reveal what the blade does
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Marra cast detect magic to look at the blade.
She is unable to determine its powers.
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Cacumattus looks around the room, and at the sword in particular.
"Look, this symbol engraved on the hilt, it's the glyph of the open road, a mark of enemies of the consortium. This should prove useful against any Aspis we encounter - ones that are still flesh, anyway," he adds, offering the blade to those of the party that are more adept at swordplay.
In the next house, the smell of incense is almost overpowering. Shelves full of jars and vases of different sizes line the walls. Three kobolds lie motionless in stone beds.
They're not moving because they are dead.
Three of the jars have a crude drawing of a lizard’s head on their labels, and each of the three jars contains a rusty red gel.
Some of the herbs and liquids in the jars and vases are alchemical substances, while others are intended for religious purposes.
The red gel is basilisk's blood. It can be used to restore petrification victims to life.
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Marra look in the jars commenting
"Some of the herbs and liquids in the jars and vases are alchemical substances, while others are intended for religious purposes"
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In the next room a stone pillar bearing numerous lines of runic text stands amid pieces of stone furniture and heaps of miscellaneous junk. The kobolds have decorated the stone surfaces with paintings of dragons, but the original inscriptions on the stone pillar are still partially legible.
This house used to be an infirmary.
There are numbers among the inscriptions, which are actually dates. The system differs from the Absalom reckoning system, though. Halfway through the list, the intervals between the dates suddenly become shorter and shorter.
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In the final room, many bits and pieces of metal lie on stone shelves carved into the walls. Several ornaments made from animal bones hang from the ceiling. A crude, one-foot-tall statue of a horned and winged creature stands on a stone table set next to a wall.
The bits of metal are trap parts
The creature depicted in the statue is a gargoyle.
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Heal
"Hmmm, obviously a sick bay for busted up tunnel rats" Pitbull pokes around the room. She sneers again at the writing.
***
Disarm
"Trap parts... could rebuild the traps around here, see how the kobolds like it"
She flicks through the metal bits.
Know (Nat)
Pitbull is too distracted by her new bits of machinery.
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Holman looks at the column for a moment, then states, "Well, that's interesting. These runes here are dates, but they're different from the dates as we reckon them in Absalom. Even more interesting is this - starting here, about halfway, the dates become more and more frequent. If this place used to be a hospital or something, these could be records of death, which might lend a clue as to what happened here..."
Marra checks the double doors, and there seems to be no traps. The doors open to a vast temple.
A huge block of intricately sculpted stone dominates the center of this vast temple chamber. To the east, a flight of stairs leads up to a walkway, which connects to the stone block’s surface. Six pillars lie around the edges of the room, each decorated with carved patterns of scales and dragon heads. Several large paintings of dragons adorn the floor.
A group of kobolds is frantically praying to a massive golden statue as if they wanted it to wake up. The winged statue is standing atop a fifteen-foot-tall block of stone, its back against a wall decorated with many gold-leaf murals depicting historical scenes. Suddenly, the statue starts moving, flexing its wings, and roaring in a voice resembling a metallic hunting horn.
There they are! a kobold screams as soon as it sees a door opening. The large figure looks toward the party and says You should not have come here! and starts moving menacingly toward the party as the kobolds stare in awe.
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Grimaldus
Marra
Pitbull
Holman
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Golden guardian
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Jhalan
Cacumattus
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Pitbull seizes the talisman from ( -->) her pocket, and breaks it open. Inside is a piece of metal with an ancient symbol engraved on it. Upon seeing it, the Golden Guardian immediately calms down and utters, Welcome, friends of Ashkurhall.
The kobolds are distraught by this turn of events, and starts jeering and shouting at the adventurers.
A blind kobold, clearly a leader of some sort, shouts in common What is this? You put a curse on our Golden God with that trinket!
There'more ruckus, and the leader shouts something else: How did you get past Stinkeye? Did you murder him?
There's questions... more questions...
The idiot human who collapsed the corridor was a friend of yours, wasn’t he?
You attacked kobolds a few weeks ago just outside these ruins, didn’t you?
The situation looks about to get out of hand, unless the party can provide a good explanation.
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"Friend? Certainly not. Not even a colleague, really. More of an associate. In fact I've never actually met him at all," Cacumattus hurries to reassure the kobolds. "We're after him to try to discover just what in the Abyss he's been up to and why he's been causing so much trouble for people like yourselves."
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With the immediate threat from the guardian now passed, Grim comes to stand behind Caumattus, the greatsword resting point-down on the floor and standing taller than the kobolds. He addresses the kobolds with a hard edge to his voice, "I think you'll want to settle yourselves down and listen to what we have to say...or it will end badly for you."
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"Come now, all of you, calm down." Holman calls out, hands raised, then faces the kobold leader. "We are not here to cause trouble for your people. We did not curse your guardian, merely used a talisman that it recognizes as belonging to friends of those that built this place. As for 'Stinkeye', I can only assume you mean the reptilian creature we encountered? He is safe, completely unharmed, though perhaps not happy about being kept in his room." He smile briefly, then continues. "As for the other human, he is no friend of ours, but he is a colleague of sorts. We were sent here to retrieve him, to keep him from causing any more trouble for your people."
Cacumattus bluffs his way through his association with Sharrowsmith, while Grimaldus only enrages the kobolds further with his words. Holman returns some quiet to the kobolds by explaining the talisman, and offering some solace that Stinkeye is still alive.
That one! the blind man says while pointing vaguely in the direction of Jhalan, Marra and Pitbull, answer my question! You attacked a few weeks ago, didn't you? And you were stealing stuff here, weren't you?
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Marra glares back at the Kobolds, "Yes we attacked a few weeks ago, but only to save the dwarfs and other locals your tribe were attempting to kill! We have come to take take the idiot human away where I'm sure he will face charges for the trouble he has caused. Besides, your god has accepted our present, why do you question us now? Do you want to incurred his wrath upon your fellow Kobolds by showing us hostility when he welcomed us?"
The remarks by Marra, and the answers to the questions seem to diffuse the situation. The blind leader of the kobold goes to check on Stinkeye, and takes a couple of kobolds with him.
Meanwhile, the guardian urges the pathfinders forward. You look nothing like the dwarves I encountered millennia ago, yet you are the bearer of their talisman. Come up here... he says as he points to the Hammer of Torag structure in the middle of the room and prove me your worth.
From here, you can see a series of murals. The true bearer of the talisman should be familiar with what they depict.
The first mural depicts a dwarf in a cave gazing up and shielding her eyes with a hand. ()
The second mural depicts a fireball with long, trailing streaks descending from the sky. ()
The third mural depicts two dwarves locked in battle. One of them has long, braided hair while the other is bald. ()
The fourth mural depicts four complex symbols arranged on the four points of a compass rose slanted slightly to the right. ()
The fifth mural depicts rolling hills with dark gray, rocky soil, punctuated with veins of gold. A vine covered in lavender flowers crushes a giant lizard like a constricting serpent. ()
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The first mural means nothing to Pitbull.
The second one triggers a thought...
Know (Geo)
The third might be that story she thinks she remembered.
Know (Loc)
The fourth picture...well some sort of compass bearing?
Perception
The fifth - sounds like the Bandu Hills they were just in recently
Know (Geo)
Nobody seems to have any clue about the first mural...
The second mural depicts a historical event called the Rain of Stars. Before recorded history, a fireball fell from the heavens and crashed into the land now called Numeria. Modern scholars believe the fireball was a vessel of some sort.
The bald dwarf in the third mural is a duergar. According to legend, an outcast god turned their heads bald and their skin ashen gray. They are infamous slavers who believe that the surface dwarves are traitors of their race and that other creatures are fit only for service and torment.
In the fourth mural, the symbol set on the south point of the compass rose is a stylized version of the symbol engraved on the piece of metal that the PCs found inside the dwarven talisman.
This mural depicts the westernmost part of the Bandu Hills.
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Marra attempts to answer the first mural using her flashy Oratory skill.
Then continues pontificating on to the second mural "It oviously is about the Rain of Stars, before recorded history (but if it was really before recorded history how would we know about it?) A fireball that fell from the heavens and crashed into the land of Numeria. Modern scholars conjecture the fireball was really vessel of some sort."
Marra spins a long story on the first mural, only to come to the point in the second drawing, after which Holman, Pitbull and Cacumattus fill in on drawing two to five.
The sixth mural depicts a map with many rooms, some crude, others skillfully carved and rich in detail.
This mural depicts a stylized version of Ashkurhall, the dwarven settlement whose ruins the party is exploring. The map quite accurately shows how the parts that were built later are architecturally more impressive.
The seventh mural depicts a dwarf with his eyes cast to the ground and his hand held against his chest.
The dwarf looks worried and has lost much weight. It is likely that the dwarf depicted has a terminal disease.
The eighth mural depicts a demonlike creature with horns and wings.
The creature is a monstrous humanoid called a gargoyle. Gargoyles are best known for their ability to freeze in place to look like a statue. They are also ageless beings, and over time, their appearance changes to match the surrounding architecture.
The ninth mural depicts a humanoid with bulbous eyes and bowed legs. The creature is a grippli, a member of the same race of humanoids from whom the Pathfinders gained the dwarven talisman.
The final mural depicts a dwarf whose weapons and armor are made of wood and stone rather than metal. His skin bears numerous simple tattoos, and several bright feathers adorn his beard.
The dwarf in the mural is a Taralu. These jungle dwarves practice a version of ancestor worship alongside the worship of totems based on local creatures, particularly dragons and wyverns. These dwarves have a small but notable presence within the city of Kibwe.