Its tickling abilities are no better than an ordinary feather, at least when applied to gnomes.
There are also two as-yet sealed doors in the room at the bottom of the stairs.
Valt runs his hands over the seal, and as it cracks away from the stone beneath it manages after a while to convince the door to open. The room revealed is no different from the other two in terms of amount of dust and cobwebs; it's clearly not been significantly disturbed for decades or more. It is in shape a long corridor extending north, with alcoves on either side every ten feet or so. In the nearer alcoves, linen-wrapped bodies are laid out on stone biers.
Nothing appears to be moving in the room as you look down the corridor, and in the light of the ioun torch you think you can see that it ends in another set of double doors.
Kyra makes her way forward into the hallway, stopping to examine the body in the first alcove. She pokes and prods and does her best to determine if the wrappings around the bodies have been disturbed at all.
She also thinks about whether there might by any religious significance to the method of wrapping the linen.
Kyra's keen eyes detect faded symbols carved into the stone above the bodies and next to the niches. However, she and Arnthoth both also hear rustling in some of the niches ahead of the party. Thus, no one is surprised (though some may be disquieted) to see four skulls with spiderlike limbs come scuttling out of the niches towards the party. Before anyone can react they've moved up on Valt and Arnthoth, chelicerae clattering...clattering impotently against the pair's armor, as none of them can get purchase.
Round 1:
Initiative order
Spiders-acted
Kyra
Arnthoth & Wolfie
Ravaan
Keno
Valt
Chochok
Kyra draws her scimitar and casts Bless
Round 1 (final):
Arnthoth smashes the rightmost one into goo, sending fragments of ancient bone and bits of spider flying. Raavan, you're pretty sure these aren't undead, but don't know enough to say more at the moment. Two crossbow bolts and a bite aren't enough to dent the composure of one of the skull spiders.
Round 2:
Initiative order
Spiders-acted
Kyra
Arnthoth & Wolfie
Ravaan
Keno
Valt
Chochok
The three remaining try to bite the frontliners again, with a similar lack of success.
Arnthoth narrowly misses this time.
Keno's crossbow bolt sails off into the darkness.
Kyra stands at the rear with her scimitar in one hand and her holy symbol in the other, ready to act.
Raavan casts guidance on Valt.
Arnthoth smashes another one! Chochok is unable to get a clean shot past the people between him and the tiny creatures.
Round 2 (final):
Valt's jaws snap shut on one of the remaining two skull spiders, leaving it a twitching mass of dying flesh.
Round 3:
Initiative order
Spiders-acted
Kyra
Arnthoth & Wolfie
Ravaan
Keno
Valt
Chochok
The last spider is still unable to get its fangs through Valt's armor.
The final spider falls to Arnthoth's axe.
Between all of you, you find and identify symbols set above and beside each niche. They're recognizably Pharasmin iconography, but strangely and subtly different from what you've seen at the Cathedral and the active areas of the Ossuary.
In your investigations of the bodies, you notice that the first one any of you touch is extraordinarily fragile, and crumbles into dust and small fragments when disturbed. Even the breeze of your passage is enough to damage the bodies if you walk by them too quickly. The bodies used as nests by the spiders are little more than heaped bits of rotted cloth and bone.
At the far end of the hall is a set of double doors.
Valt notices no traps.
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Even the breeze of your passage is enough to damage the bodies if you walk by them too quickly.
Chochok runs back and forth down the hallway.
---
Chochok offers, "Let us look through the third door before we head further this way. We found a feather in the first one; perhaps the third one also holds something that we will need later in our exploration."
Even the breeze of your passage is enough to damage the bodies if you walk by them too quickly.
Chochok runs back and forth down the hallway.
Valt devotes his attention to the third sealed door, and it soon yields to his ministrations. On the other side is the mirror image of the room with the feather statue, though this one has a set of double doors on the northern half of the west wall. The statue on the map is strange--it's of a creature with the lower body of a coiling serpent and the upper torso of a humanoid woman; in place of a head there is a disk with a seven-pointed star, and three pairs of wings sprout from her back. Her crossed arms hold a quill and a whip. The statue is likely made from brass or copper, as it is covered in verdigris; the oxide covering makes it difficult (but not impossible) to see the outline of runes covering the statue.
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"Lissala." Raavan says, pointing to the statue. "Ancient Thassilonian goddess of runes, fate, and reward for service. Her worship has died out in modern times."
Noting the differences between this room at the feather room, he wonders aloud. "Those doors. Perhaps we should look behind the statue in the other room when we are done here."
Raavan once again casts detect magic and scans the area.
The statue has a faint magical aura, but the quill has a distinct aura of its own.
ETA: Arnthoth, you're pretty sure that the quill isn't actually part of the statue.
"Ah yes, Ravaan has it correct. The ancient Thassalonian goddess Lissala."
Kyra inches closer to the statue to examine it. She goes so far as to touch the statue to feel the green oxidation with her fingers.
Raavan, the quill has a strong conjuration aura, rather like the feather from the other statue. It also looks like a real feather; you're pretty sure you could just lift it out, but there's no obvious way that the other feather would slot into it. Keno, you find no secret compartment.
"Whoah! Something's up with this statue!"