Moving around the others, and just climbing on top of the display table, Morana foregoes the spear to try and claw the held figurine. She hits it easily enough, but the sharp metal claws don't have quite enough force behind them to get through the hardened shellac to the real structure beneath.
Andrei, once again manages to level a fierce swing down atop the construct. He splits the thing in twain such that Suru is left holding two equal halves, a mirror of each other, in each hand.
The only one remaining is the one that has been focused on bringing down Brennan.
Through the pain, Brennan lashed out at the wooden construct. The pain in his thigh is excruciating, though, and hinders his strike. Once again he missed the little wooden toy as the thing moved in for another strike.
Brennan's injuries wear him down as he swings futiley at the thing, stumbling as he puts his weight wrong and causing the weapon to go wide.
The relentlessness of the little construct is unwavering as it continues after it's initial target, intent on removing the man's very presence. It hits him once, but the act of Brennan staggering back against the wall saves him from the second swing.
"Back off, Brennan!" Gustar then continues to aid Andrei, hoping that he can help the man find an opening.
Gustar brings his weapon around, but uses it more to corral the thing towards the others than actually hit it.
Surubi drops the two halves of the broken doll on the table and reaches for the last one. 'He' glances left to see why Gustar is telling Brennan to back off, and a high-pitched, almost strangled cry "Mister Darkblade!" escapes 'his' mouth at the sight of Brennan's many injuries. The scarfed-and-turbanned guide tries to grab Brennan's bane to pull it away from him, crying "Leave him alone!" at the senseless piece of wood and shellac.
Surubi's hands slip off the polished shellac. "Lady Morana, maybe your strong hands can hold this thing still for Mister Constantin - he seems to be the only one able to damage them!"
Morana huffs and pushes her shoulders together and up. "Maybe so.", he says, before she lunges forward to try and wrap the last one in her armor's grip.
Well, it looks like y'all have this under control. I'll just stay out of the way. One time, back on the farm, my father and two uncles cornered a sow in heat in old Besse's stall. I tried to help, but as it turned out... Z'ael jabbering along, quite content to fill the void with conversation.
Knowing he must act swiftly to prevent any further harm to his new companion, Andrei maneuvers through the scrum to get a clear shot at the last remaining guardian. Not trusting his ability to miss allies with a wild swing, Andrei pulls the pommel of his sword tight against his side and lunges forward, letting his legs and armored mass propel the point of the blade into the construct.
Hope that got its attention!
As the figurine ducks and dodges the frustrated grasps of both Suru and Morana, it was too preoccupied to notice that Gustar was easing it into Andrei's swing. Like with the others, his heavy two-handed swing crushes the thing as it crumbles to pieces.
The excitement ends as soon as the last one stops, while the room grows quiet once again. The most noise is the labored breathing of the combatants as they begin to wind down.
The gnome grabs his holy symbol and sees to Brennan. He inspects the damaged gears of the man, notices he's spilling quite a bit of oil, his clothes stained by red grease. "May the machinery of life be repaired and continue to tick .. on."
..
A surge of positive energy ripples through the room. "..tock."
Brennan was about to strike once more when the creature finally was smashed flat by Andrei's blow. "Nasty little slubber, I'll give it that." He started to pull away when Gutar grabbed his wounded leg, but desisted as he felt the healing energies.
"That's better. Thanks, little gnome."
He turned to the tapestry and the room at large. "Now, let's see what they were guarding."
Andrei takes a moment to catch his breath. "Whew!" he pants, "That was a nasty bit of work! Master Darkblade, are you recovered?"
Gustar tilts his head to the left and mutters ".. little gnome? .." before realizing that the following discussion would be utterly pointless. It was most likely the only gift paper that the man had to wrap a compliment in.
Brennan just grunted at Andrei before continuing his examination of the room. "Yeah"
A table displaying a three-dimensional diorama occupies much of the north side of this room. With a sculpted landscape and tiny stone and wooden statues, three of which you just fought, the diorama depicts an ancient battle between the city of Wati and an unidentified enemy.
Three shields with different designs are displayed upon a rack against the east wall. The shield on the right is a light wooden shield identical to the shields carried by the soldiers in the diorama. It bears Ancient Osiriani hieroglyphs that spell the name “Akhentepi,” marking those soldiers as under the command of Akhentepi. The light wooden shield on the left does not appear to be Osirian in origin. The center shield is unusual in that it is a light steel shield shaped like a scarab; it matches the one borne by Akhentepi in the engravings on the door of the trapped hallway. As Gustar had discerned earlier there is a single faint aura, of the conjuration school, emanating from the middle shield of the three on the east wall.
Various weapons hang from another rack along the south wall. The rack holds a composite shortbow, a khopesh, and a spear. Arrayed around the room are five small chests and a clay urn. The chests are of good craftsmanship but less ornate than the one found in the room with the chariot. Each of the chests are sealed with wax.
Gustar nods and points at the wooden shield. "That one is a typical Mwangi shield. You can see it in the .. never mind, I won't bore you with that, but the Mwangi Expanse is at least two hundred miles away from here! Interesting! Also, can one of you identify potions and elixers? Because I cannot and we got three vials that require identifying. I'll see if I can find anything in the two books we just found that could tell us a thing or two about this diorama."
The gnome then proceeds to flip through the books, hoping to catch something about a Mwangi campaign.
Gustar scans the pages of the book of campaigns, and most of what he can find is that the Mwangi campaign is the one that both lasted the longest and brought Akhentepi the majority of his notoriety. There isn't much in the way of specifics beyond just what it did to elevate the man to general.
"And for what it is worth, that shield" and the gnome points at the one in the middle, "radiates conjuration magic. I do not know what that means, but it's worth checking out if we can take it with us."
"If there's nothing else here, maybe we should go back to the southern room? And yeah, don't leave anything of value behind. We can always srop it in the main room to collect on our way out if no one wants to carry it."
"If everyone is okay, I'll see about the shield. Can anyone tell what the vials in the box were?" Surubi retrieves the bow dropped during the combat and walks to the eastern room, looks around and stops to look at the shield specifically.
Suru inspects the shield that was said to have an aura, and can't find any sign of danger associated with it, seemingly hanging from the rack in a manner common for display. Other than that the room seems to end here with all the different accoutrements of war associated with Akhentepi.
Well, mother uses vials at home for all sorts of things... fragrances, spices, tonics... you name it.
Gustar takes a closer look at the chests and the clay urn. He wonders the purpose and use of the wax: is it a sign that these objects are used to carry and contain parts of the deceased?
He then takes a look at the light shield. A short prayer to Brigh to invoke her blessing is followed by an incantation to reveal arcane aura's.
Gustar is concerned about the wax seals, but realizes that considering this doesn't look like the actual sarcophagus portion of the crypt, that the organs would not likely be present here.
"Wax, huh?" Wonder what's in here. Should we peek?" Brennan pulls a knife from nowhere and begins cutting into the wax seal on the urn.
"Funeral gifts I suppose that needed preservation to stand the test of time. Going by what I know you should not find human organs inside. Also, this shield is exquisite! It has the power to heal its wearer and protect him or her from swarms!!" the gnome blurts, continueing to explain the specifics of the shield's power in great detail.
Surubi removes the shield from the wall and brings it to Gustar. "Perhaps with your ability to heal the rest of the group..." 'he' nods toward Brennan "you should use this. This one has dealt with the vermin of the desert before; they're not to be trifled with." 'He' holds the shield out for Gustar to take.
"This one will go look at those two gilded books about Akhentepi and those vials as well."
Andrei stands by quietly.
The book-lore may be vaguely interesting, but no paladin of Irori am I. Surely there is more to our presence here? I will not believe I was called to this place to destroy a few dancing dolls and recover a musty tome!
The paladin catches his discordant train of thought and mentally reprimands himself. Faithless fool, to think such things! Forgive me, Lady of Graves. I remain loyal and trusting in you, however unworthy I am for your service!
Resheathing his sword with a dull rasping sound, Andrei temples his fingers to avoid fidgeting.
Last time you got distracted, you triggered a trap which nearly killed that man, Brennan. Be still.
"Perhaps we should press on, and save the reading for a time back at the surface?"
The chests and urn sealed in wax are easy to break the seal on, and inside can be found various things. Amongst them all there is found a three pound sack of coins and several scroll tubes holding papyrus records, private memos, expense ledgers, speeches, and private correspondence. The urn, however, holds what appears to be a fragrant oil of some sort.
"Fair enough, ser Andrei. Let us decide on who takes what for now, give the room one more sweep - who knows if we missed a hidden treasure - and then move on to the other side?", but when Surubi presents him the shield, he waves it away. "That shield is made for humans, not gnomes. I could tower behind it!"
That being said, the gnome readies himself to aid Surubi in giving the room one more thorough look.
"I prefer to eschew a shield for a two-handed weapon," says Andrei as he declines the shield. "If it is unclaimed I will willingly carry its weight, and the weight of our other finds."
"And this one uses a longbow and a two-handed weapon also. It appears that only you would really benefit from the shield. That said, if you still do not want it, Andrei please carry it as you said."
"Let's check the other stairs??"
Surubi hands the shield to Andrei and goes to the open chest in the western part of the room. 'He' removes the two golden books from inside and begins to carefully look through them. "One moment; this one will pack these away safely so they are not damaged, then on to the other stairs."
Surubi packs the gold books away in 'his' pack and tries momentarily to identify the vials of liquid before putting them in a belt pouch.
Surubi also sniffs the scented oil to see if 'he' recognizes anything.
"Brennan, can you carry all the things in that other chest, or should we ask Andrei to assist you?" 'he' asks as he looks toward the door Gustar indicated the party should exit through.
At Gustar's suggestion, Z'ael heads out of the room towards the other stairs, uncharacteristically silent.
The books, considering their material composition, are significantly weighty. Trying to skim is difficult as well, but glossing over them, they seem to mostly be purely historical reference more than embellished and storied exploits.
Dabbing a bit of each potion, Suru is able to discern that the first one can provide minor healing, and the third one allows someone to see in the dark for a few hours.
Other than the fact that the oil within the urn has a strong perfume odor, Suru cannot tell much else about it.
Once the group has sorted amongst themselves the weight of the select treasures they have decided to take with them, they head toward the southern stairwell, which like the northern, ends in a set of double doors at the bottom.
Andrei assumes that the heavy tomes are a burden for him to bear, and nestles them carefully in his pack. He makes sure to cushion them against impact by wrapping them in his cloak and blanket, and ensures that nothing sharp is nearby to do damage if the pack is dropped.
"Lead on, worthy trap-smiths. I shall endeavor not to trigger any more surprises!"
"This one will try to prevent anything from surprising the group." Surubi says as they walk. "This one believes one of the vials from the other chest is a curative elixir, and another provides sight in the dark; the third remains a mystery." Once at the southern stairwell, Surubi prepares to look on the stairs for traps, and then search the door for traps--assisting Brennan if he, as usual, starts those two tasks himself.
Searching both the stairs and doors, Suru and Brennan are confident that neither of them are trapped or dangerous. They proceed to open the doors to large chamber beyond, roughly the size of the rooms on the opposite side of the stairs.
A massive mirror stretches across the southern wall of this chamber, flanked by two statues. The statue to the east depicts a tall, gaunt woman in a flowing, hooded gown, holding an hourglass which has so far been easily recogized by a few as Pharasma. The figure to the west is that of the enigmatic jackal-headed man, that has yet to be recognized, carrying a scepter or staff in his hand.
Stone double doors, standing slightly ajar, lead to the east and west. Torch holders sculpted in the shape of bird skulls are built in each corner, and a thin layer of dust covers every surface. The mirror reflects both the light, and everyone's visage, and one other person. The extra man amongst the group looks like all the previously discovered images of Akhentepi, a human man with bronzed skin in his forties, wearing white ceremonial robes and a headdress. His visage is stern and disapproving, and you realize that your's is also.
Daggers dropped into Brennan's hands as he saw the new figure, eyes tracking back and forth to see where the reflection was coming from. What sort of illusion is this?
No matter which way Brennan looks, the extra person is not amongst them, even by following where he shows up in the reflection to where he should be with them.
Andrei closes his eyes and extends his senses, trying to determine if the reflection is mere illusion or an evil presence.
Andrei does not detect any evil presence within the room.
"This is ever so clever!" the gnome exclamated with more than a little excitement. He put up an imitation of a storyteller telling a horror story to lil' gnomes around the campfire when he added,"You're walking with the dead now, best turn back while you still can!"
"I agree, it is a clever warning," comments Andrei. "I feel no malice here - no specter is this. I presume it is illusionary? I have little expertise in that subject."