"Do you want Medved up front with you lot? Or are you okay with him and his nose back here, in case we get surprised from behind?"
This large dirt room is mostly empty and is noteworthy only for the fact that the timbers have fallen from the ceiling in the far end of the room creating a loose pile of damp earth and splintered wood.
"I hope nobody was under there when it fell."
"Nobody important, at least. If more lizard people got squished, I am not going to shed any tears for them."
Augier sniffs at the shoddy digging. Complete amateurs.
The outsiders carefully wind around a narrow tunnel that turns tout their left casting light upon the beam-supported dit walls, weapons ready, prepared for trouble.
Upon entering the dugout cavern, the party sees nothing but an empty chamber.
Feeling down hearted at the lack of anything of interest, Zirul rests his sword on his shoulder and continue headed south through the tunnels.
Augier follows.
Cerilis follows along after the others as well
The party moves carefully around the passageway into the heat cavern. Still casting light and ready for action. This cavern is lit with a couple of sunrods so that the light from the ensconced sources reflects brightly off of the five foot tall statue, carved of ivory and inlaid with gold.
The statue sits raised upon a dias and depicts a human face on a snake-like body with no limbs.
There are a few skeletal remains strewn about the room of souls who made it this far, but were unlucky enough to end there journey in these caverns, The statue is hand-crafted and appears to be clean.
[ooc]Feel free to make whatever skill checks that you wish, but you will need to make a successful appraise check to determine the value of the large statue.
The statue appears to be worth about 5,000 gp. It weighs the equivalent of 8,000 gp.
Augier casts Detect Magic and sweeps the room, concentrating on the statue
Augier spontaneously combusts.
"Whaaaaat," says Ravenna in a long, flat tone.
Finally, after scrutinizing the statue, she says, "Does this mean... there's an evil snake-cult in this town? THAT IS SO GREAT! We will defeat them and drive the serpents out of Orlane!" She brandishes her rapier with a swish.
Augier does not discern any magical properties from the snake statue or anything else in the area.
He does notice that the weasel sent with you by Ramne takes an exceptionally long stare at it.
It seems our druid friend is sensing stuff through the weasel.
We should leave the statue for later, can't let ourselves be bogged down by something that big.
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The elven ranger stepped forward "If I were an evil cultist dedicated to an evil snake deity I'd be sneaky and snakey..." he said as he continued walking towards the statue "Which means I'm about to find something or require healing."
Jax proceeds to inspect the statue and the dias, looking for hidden buttons, triggers or compartment.
The statue produces no effects upon inspection. It is just an over-indulgent depiction of some strange and fascinating creature.
Ravenna shrugs. "I guess sometimes a statue is just a statue."
Zirul remembers hearing about a sort of snake god cult that worships a snake with a human head often referred to as Naga. This statue resembles what he has heard of, but he cannot remember how vast the religion is or what practies they partake in.
Leading the way, Jax takes the group down a different narrow passageway into an unchecked room.
The temperature seems to drop a bit as a gaping maw suddenly appears and snaps loudly at Jax's neck, missing.
initiative
This humanoid creature has long, sharp teeth, and its pallid flesh is stretched tightly over its starved frame.
Two more lurk behind it as the party discovers the true reason for the barred door.
The creatures meet the intruders in a line, side by side, giving the party some leeway as to how to attack.
Cerilis steps up beside Jax and attacks the creature in front of him.
Augier casts magic missile at the one right in front of Cerillis.
Zirul will attack the nearest enemy to him.