Watching Santoval, Anton moves to join the group. "Better to have those potions ready when we might really need them - such as when someone in our group goes rushing into an ambush with more courage than sense!" he says, shrugging, a smirk on his face.
"Yarroth, I'll follow your lead - your keen senses can see further than my eyes can. Just holler loudly if you fall into a pit or something. I think we should check that unknown passage in the hallway, just to be thorough. Let's keep our eyes out for a keyhole for that key Santoval found."
The room with the beetle had another stairway leading west. Back after you exited the room with the pits, there was a hallway leading west. Which way do you guys head?
"I suggest we take the stairs west. It is closer and I dont really want to jump over those pits again. But if you all decide, we can go all he way back there. "
"Let's check the stairs, then."
As the party makes their way back to the room where the altercation with the beetle took place, Anton moves cautiously around the pit marks where the beetle's acid scorched the floor towards the stairs leading down.
"Shall I go first?"
The stairs lead down to a short hallway. There is door to the south and another stairway that continues the hallway upward. In front of the doorway a pile of bones are arranged in some sort of symbol. It forms the shape of a moth.
The symbol could be the butterfly of Desna.
The symbol could be the butterfly of Desna.
"I agree with you Santoval. This is strange, and warrents our investigation."
Anton put his extended thumbs together and outstretches his fingers in a representation of a winged butterfly, whispering a prayer or litany to himself.
"Something important is here, my friends."
Anton moves towards the door calmly, and inspects it closely for a moment, then attempts to open it.
You hear nothing on the other side of the door. The door appears to be barred from the other side, and will take a little more strength to open.
Yarroth lends his shoulder to help open the door.
Assist-Strength:
Hearing the voice from behind the door, a puzzled looks crosses his face.
"Hello? We're Anton, Santoval and Yarroth, sent from Kassen, and we've been fighting our way through the creatures and dark spirits that have infested this tomb!"
"Strange, that language seems familiar - like something from childhood, or a dream." Anton instinctively reaches for his kapenia - the Varisian family scarf tied around his left arm.
"The tongue you speaks seems familiar, but I do not know it. Do you speak Common?"
"Yes, I speak it. Hold on. I will open the door."
There is sound of wood scraping and dragging.
Kerren opens the door and comes into the room.
"Do you have food or water? I am glad to meet you. I'm Kerren. I am so happy you are not skeletons." Kerren looks around the room. "I see my symbol scared the skeletons away. Sarenrae and Desna protected us." A fox walks behind Kerren and jumps into his arm. "This is Crevin. I ran out of food and water."
Then Kerren takes a breath.
Yarroth sets his pack down and starts to rummage through it to find something for the man and his fox to eat. He removes 2 rations, as well as his water bottle, and hands them over to the Varisian.
"There you go. Hope that will tide you over. So how did you end up here? Were you with the townsfolk who came out here to 'prepare' the tomb for our arrival?"
"Yeah, We're from Kassen." Reaching for the food Kerren adds, "Thank you very much." He hands his fox some food in between talking and chewing. "We had a a great trap planned that was going to drop a bunch of sticky hay and sticks on whoever got stuck. We got here and we camped outside after unloading our supplies. Then in the middle of the night we were attacked by a lot of skeletons. There was a leader yelling at them in a language I didn't understand. I ran inside the crypt. I was being chased by two skeletons and we ended up in that room. We ended up killing them and..."
Kerren pauses, looks around, "Where are the others, did you find them?"
Anton smiles as he watches the man give the bit of food to his animal companion. "Crevin - the cunning one no doubt!" he says, offering his open palms in a non-threatening, friendly way to the fox to discern his scent. Then, turning to the newcomer, his brow furrows.
"Kerren, I'm sorry to tell you this, but many of the villagers we came across were slain. There was a man holed up in a room like yourself. He shot me." Anton winces mockingly. "Eventually we were able to speak with him and discovered that his sister had been abducted by some creature within the crypt. We are searching for her and any other survivors."
"I would gladly join you in your search for anyone else. Just give us a minute to finish this wonderful meal."
Handing the last bite to Crevin Kerren gathers his belongings.
"Ready when you are."
"What time of day is it? I lost track since being stuck in that room."
"What time of day is it? I lost track since being stuck in that room."
"I don't really know either - possibly afternoon, but was it evening when we entered the crypt?" Anton starts counting on his fingers, then stops somewhat embarrassed. "At any rate, we should get moving - the sooner we can clear this crypt, the sooner we can be on our way back to Kassen. I've got a date with this certain tavern we... - um, I mean, it will be good to be back home once again."
Yarroth smiles at Anton's slip of the tongue. "Yes it will be nice to be back home. But let us keep our minds on the hear and now, so we can enjoy the 'hero's welcome' when we do return!"
Turning toward Santoval, "I notice you are wounded sir. I can give you some small relief but only once a day. Would you like some assistance?"
Kerren hits Santoval with a healing hex.
The stairs lead to a large room. You enter from the north east side. The southern half of this lofty chamber has a lowered floor, with stairs on either side to reach the bottom. Standing in the lower section facing north is a tall wooden statue of Kassen grasping a gigantic wooden shield in each hand. One of the shields is inscribed with the word “home,” while the other reads “family.”
There is another doorway in the north wall (upper section) and a door in the south wall (lower section).
"I can send some lights ahead of us to the end of intersection."
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"Since this place was designed originally to test folks who were reaching adulthood, it seems that we should check out these shields for any sort of secret or trap. Remember the pillow room, how it was designed for us to work together?"
Santoval begins examining the statue and the shields, looking for mechanisms.
"A very sound idea, Santoval. Perhaps we should check the rest of the room as well?"
"How is that guy going to fight properly with two shields?" Anton says. "Oh right, it's just a wooden statue."
Seeing Yarroth and Santoval give the room a careful inspection, he asks them if they see anything strange or suspicious.
"Those two tend to have the sharp eyes, but I bet that I have the sharpest sword!" he says as an aside, jokingly, to Kerren.
The statue is in the lower section of the room to the south, you will need to go downstairs to examine it more closely.
Kerren smiles with Anton. Since the others are looking the room and statue over Kerren looks around too. There is something about the statue that sparks a thought.
"Um... guys. That statue reminds me of a wood golem. It burns but is immune to a lot of magic.
Can someone give me a tourch?
I think we should all have one if we can or at least have one close at hand."
So it's not just a statue? Are you saying that thing can...I don't know, attack us? I was just joking about the two shield thing, honest."
Anton tosses a spare torch to Kerren. "Just in case."
He looks at the inscriptions on the wooden shields the statue - golem - is holding and scratches his head. "Home...family. This might take somebody who you know, reads a bit more than I do to figure it out. Reminds me of something I might have skimmed over in a Pathfinder Chronicle book my uncle had...I tended to go more for the action and fighting parts."
Kerren lights his torch and does to the bottom of the statue to check it out.
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"It looks like the statue is depressing a plate or something. There might be something we have to say or do to get the statue to move...then again, it looks like a wooden statue, we should be able to get a rope around it and pull it off the plate."
Santoval stands and scratches his scraggly whiskers as he looks at the statue. I need a shave...
"It could be a riddle...If nobody has any thoughts on it, I say we work together and brute force it."
Does anyone follow Kerren down the stairs?
Yarroth follows Kerren to the stairs and watches the statue as well as the priest, to see if he triggers some action from one or the other.
"Let's get a good look at this wooden fellow and the surrounding area." Anton says, descending to ground level with Kerren and Yarroth.
"Do you think it would respond to spoken words? Worth a try." Anton stand back and shouts at the statue. Home... "KASSEN!" Family... "VIELLO!"
Anton steps back quickly and crouches out of the statue's "path". "Did it work?"
When Kerren reaches the bottom floor that statues lurches into motion. As it steps from the pedestal the steps of the stairs rotate to become a ramp instead.
Yarroth keeps his footing as he slides down the ramp, but Anton slips and falls prone on the lower level.
The statues lunges like it is going to bash Kerren with its shields.
Santoval's sword cuts deeply into the wooden statue.
The statue slams Kerren and Santoval with its two shields, smashing them hard.