Arma yells out in pain and launches straight back at the skum with her daggers with an angry shout. "Bite this!"
"You are hard to keep healthy Abigail." She stabs at the creature in front of her.
Relia stabs the skum in front of her, driving her spear deep into its side. Tessa takes aim at that one fighting Abigail, scoring a critical hit, her bolt impaling a vital organ!
Arma drives both blades into the back of the skum she's flanking with Relia. It falls to the ground. Abigail cuts down the remaining skum with another powerful slice of her axe!
"Yikes! Nice work, ladies. Abby, you alright?" Lyra asks with concern.
The three fishy humanoids lie bleeding in the dirt. One of them carries a map inscribed on a piece of whaleskin. The map reveals the northwestern contours of the island of Ancorato, with a few terrain landmarks and a symbol that resembles a tower. This symbol is also accompanied by another strange, curling glyph in an unfamiliar language.
Relia moves next to her, and casts Cure Moderate Wounds on Abigail. "They like to attack you. I appreciate that you take the hits for us. Most of us wouldn't survive."
"That is an interesting map. It will be interesting to explore that."
"Let's go back and rest. Check to see if the village needs anything, and then head out to the tower." Relia suggests.
You return to Talmandor's Bounty, where you report the discovery of the dais and the skum's map to Ramona. She calls for Perrell Beys, and the two examine the strange rune, but neither are able to decipher it. The governor then sends for Alba Divenvaar. The alchemist whips up an extract of comprehend languages and passes it to Ramona, who imbibes it and looks at the map again.
"I still don't know what language it is, but I can understand the rune now--'Transport prisoners here.'" She looks up at the lot of you. "This doesn't bode well. I want you to follow the map tomorrow morning and find out what's happening at this tower as soon as possible."
"Of course. We need to find out what prisoners are there."
Prisoners? I wonder of those are our missing people or if it's other prisoners. I don't have enough healing for this. I feel like a failure keeping people alive. Gozreh give me strength to do what is needed.
"Ladies if you will join me. I'll see what I can do to heal everyone this evening so tomorrow we can start out refreshed." She moves out of the way of the others, and channels energy.
"Good luck. I hope you find favor."
Father Eamon happily lends Abigail the bow. "Just bring it back in one piece!"
Once you are prepared, the four of you set out to follow the skum's map. The tower is about twelve miles north and west of the colony--the journey will take you all day as you make your way through trackless terrain. You follow the initial trail that you took the first few days here, traveling along the coast, but then you turn northward into the island's forests.
You catch glimpses of the wildlife on the island, mostly strange birds and small mammals. In the early afternoon, a light rain begins to fall, providing some relief from the heat but increasing the air's humidity. Ahead, in a grassy field pockmarked with piles of fallen stone and sparse trees stands a monument that is relatively free from damage. A path of broken white marble leads to it, and the grass is curiously cut and edged away from it. The monument itself is a smooth marble disk, about thirty feet in diameter, and marked with representations of the phases of the moon. A semicircular row of thirteen columns surrounds the northern side on a curved marble base, the ends of which have broken off and subsided into the ground. Two adjacent columns near the center are broken and the lintel between them is sundered. Two curved stone benches sit before the semicircle on either side of the path, and two stone buildings lie to the north.
As you draw near, two metallic sculptures of idealized women step forward to greet you. They sparkle in the light of the sun. One begins to speak in the Azlanti tongue. "Welcome to the shrine of Acavna, mortals. Have you come to offer praise to the goddess?"
Tessa replies in kind, switching to Azlanti without a second thought, "I have come to pay my respects, yes, but mainly to learn. Acavna fascinates me, and I would love to learn as much as I possibly can about the goddess and her religion- where I come from, we have heard only whispers."
She switches back to Common, "These are Celedons. They're constructs crafted for serving a deity- even after that goddess has died, it would seem. I told them that we wish to learn about the goddess. Just imagine! The treasure trove of artifacts that could be here. We could learn so much!"
The statue spreads its arms wide in a welcoming gesture. "Well, you have come to the right place. We would enjoy nothing but more but to instruct you in the worship of the Shield. I am Ariel, and she is Urlana. Please, sit. Make yourselves comfortable, and we will begin your education."
"Thank you very much. I would love to learn as much as you can tell me about your goddess- and the Azlanti? I know very little of your culture, sadly. It's why I came here in the first place. Really, just anything you could teach me, I would love to hear. "
Tessa turns to the others, "What do you all want to do? They're offering to teach about Acavna, which I am all for. But if you want to keep moving, I'll also be willing to come back later."
Relia studies the women. "We should go to the prison refreshed anyway. Go ahead and learn what you wish. Knowledge of Gozreh is enough for me. I'll wait just outside the circle."
Arma chews her lip in thought. She says, a little more quietly, "Mostly I just want to try and get a closer look at those constructs, though, eh, not too close. The servants of a dead god, the Azlanti were something else."
The celedons, who give their names as Ariel and Urlana, begin to lecture about their goddess.
Kind and compassionate, Acavna regarded humanity, especially the Azlanti, as something to be protected and cherished. From rural militias to elite city guards, many in Azlant praised Acavna and prayed to her for protection in times of peace as well as in times of war. Acavna looked most favorably upon those who were besieged or outnumbered.
An important story in her holy text tells of the siege of the city-state of Bilith-Vel. The invading army was approaching the city under cover of night, and while the besieged awaited attack, a lone guard prayed to Acavna for a revelation that she could use to save her city. As the army neared, the sliver of the crescent moon suddenly shone as bright as a full moon, revealing the attackers and giving the defending forces enough time to reposition and repel the invaders.
The sun has set fully now, but the celedons show no sign of planning to stop their lecture.
After some time, Tessa raises her hand, "Teachers Ariel and Urlana, as much as I find your tales fascinating, we are weak mortal beings that need rest. Might we find shelter somewhere in the temple until morning?"
"Yes, of course," says Urlana. The celedon gestures for you to follow her into one of the small buildings north of the central circle. The building has a pitched stone roofs and columns on all four corners, with open window spaces that admit light and air. Inside is a simple stone table flanked with stone benches, suitable for temporary gatherings or prayers. A modest-sized darkwood chest sits in one corner of the room.
"You are welcome to use this place to rest. We will continue your lessons in the morning."
"I doubt it. I'm currently using them for their assigned purpose: to care for the temple and to teach visitors about their goddess. In the absolute best-case scenario, we might be able to persuade them to leave the temple and come with us back to town, and serve as pseudo-guardians and teachers there. However, given that they've been here for almost ten thousand years, I doubt we'll manage it. Once we have a bit more free time, I'll likely return here- we could learn so much about the Azlanti here- and keep learning, but I can likely persuade them to let us leave if you all want to push on."
Once the guardians are gone, Tessa checks the chest, "I do wonder what's in here, though. I hope they don't see this as desecrating the temple or looting." she muses
Inside the chest are 230 gp in Azlant-minted gold coins, as well as a magic pearl and a stone tablet carved with a depiction of a strange, twisted tower on an island.
"The Mordant Spire? Wow, my mother went there years ago. I didn't realize it was so old, though. I wonder what this is...."
Tessa holds up the pearl, studying it with a magical eye.
Relia will follow the others into the building. "It's very interesting, but we can't continue tomorrow morning. We need to get to the prison. Urlana do you know anything about a prison nearby?"
Urlana pauses for a moment. "No," she says in Common. "Sorry."
It seems like she knows a few words in your language, but not enough to elaborate.
Urlana pauses again, then says, "That is irrelevant to your education."
Tessa gets the feeling that things might go badly if they aren't careful, and steps in, "Teachers, we have come here to learn, yes, but, with your permission, might we leave to get some of our friends? I know that, back where we came from- just a day's journey away- there are scholars and priests who would be most enthusiastic to learn from you the teachings of Acavna. However, we must tell them that we found your temple. May we have a leave of absence from your lessons to bring you more students?"
"Our last pupil promised she would return as well, but that was months ago. She never came back. It had been ages since we had encountered any humans to instruct. We must fulfill our holy purpose," Urlana says.
Overhearing the conversation, Ariel joins her fellow celedon. "You must stay here for your own good. Your education is of paramount importance."
"Your last pupil? Where did they go?" Tessa asks, "We can bring them back as well, if you want. Would you accept a tribute from us, left here to assure our return?"
"Her name is Eliza. She went to the tower you inquired about," Ariel says. "It is several miles north of here."
The two celedons look at each for a moment, then Urlana turns back to you. "No tribute is needed. If you promise to return and inform us of Eliza's fate, and to bring more students for us to instruct, then we will allow you to leave."
"Thank you, teachers. I would stay here far longer now if I could, and will return as soon as I am able." Tessa bows to the constructs, and turns back to her friends,
"Well, they'll let us leave. And, someone named Eliza was through here several months ago, and went to our prison- a few miles north of here. Any questions for the ten-thousand-year-old statues that you want me to translate?"
Throughout the lesson, as Arma does not know Azlanti, she watched the movements of the celedons, looking for any sign of corrosion or degradation in the ancient constructs, and afterwards starts furiously writing notes and making sketches of the celedons.
"No questions. Mostly because I'm gettin' a little, uh, what's the phrase, weirded out." She taps her chin with her pen. "What can I say, their passion for teaching is...overwhelming."
"I'm very glad they are letting us return later." she gives the constructs a worried look. "I was afraid they wouldn't."
"I mean, it's not that surprising they take their job seriously. It's been upwards of 10,000 years since they were able to fulfill their designated purpose. You would be a little desperate too if you were in their position."
In the morning, you leave the shrine behind as you continue to the north. You travel for about a mile before the forest gives way to shattered fragments of rock and stone, the barest recognizable remnants of a lost civilization. Jutting from the grass and shrubs is a stone promenade, ten feet wide with intermittent flights of short steps that climb up a gentle slope—miraculously unchanged despite titanic upheaval of the past. Walkways extend east and west briefly before terminating into hills of wind-eroded stone rubble that might have once been buildings. A solitary, seemingly intact tower is visible on the northern horizon, approximately a mile away.
Relia studies the ruins carefully, "There's the tower. What an amazing find. This is what we came on this expedition for to find ruins like this."
She looks at the approach to the tower.
Tessa pretends not to notice Abigail's pointed comment.
Relia agrees with Abigail's suggestion. She finds a spot with a good view of the road and the tower and settles down to wait.
From your hiding spot, you keep an eye on the approach to the tower. After an hour or so, you hear a clinking noise coming from the undergrowth to the north, steadily growing in volume. A swarm of what appear to be thousands of steel ball bearings emerges, pressing the bushes flat. The balls somehow move in perfect cohesion, rolling in formation and leaving a swath of flattened ground behind them. They appear to be sweeping the area.
The swarm rolls right past your hiding spot, not noticing you.
Tessa recognizes this as a warden jack swarm. It may even be the same one whose tracks you discovered when you first arrived on the island.
"Well, it's a construct. I don't know too much beyond that- and constructs certainly can be sentient, as you just saw- but, given the name, I would guess that it's little more than a programmed sentry. However, it may be following orders from ten millennia ago, and practically wild. However, it could also have recent orders, just like the clockwork spy we found back in town." Tessa muses, "It's really fascinating. So much of this is unknown to modern scholars, I really don't know. And I'm mostly just speculating."