Zandu is unable to tell what the cloak's precise function is.
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Chortles looks over the edge with concern after having seen Zandu's mishap.
He grabs the rope and with teeth clenched he slowly makes his way down. He sings out to steady his nerves, "
I gave you love and cannot deny
It's not love that lasts a year or a season
But a love that began when I was a child
And that will not wither until death do take me.
My friends say often
That I must forget your image
But their counsel is as unfathomable to me
As is the returning tide.
I am all too sad and tearful
Like a white swan that has been torn
Sounding her death-call on a small grassy loch
Having been forsaken by all. "
Though the going proves difficult with the slippery walls, Chortles manages to make it down the rope with great care.
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After catching the other end of the 50 feet long rope, Saera ties it to the nearest stalagmite or other object that looks like it'll hold some weight.
"Done!" Saera announces when she arrives back at the pit again, staring down at those below.
"Was the cloak worth the trouble, or don't you know yet?"
Chortles is also unable to identify the cloak, and settles on the fact that it is magical and does something. Eventually, each group member is able to make it up the rope and safely to the other side.
The tunnels continue on, leading deeper beneath the Kortos Mounts until they eventually open into a large cavern. What must have once been beautifully carved reliefs and inscriptions have since weathered heavily, their features dulled and softened to the point that it is hard to distinguish what each once depicted. A wide tunnel exits the cavern on its far side, and blue-burning torches line the passageway’s walls.
Chortles sees that scattered throughout the cave are inscriptions from the History and Future of Humanity, the principle holy text of Aroden, and images that depict these passages. The carvings focus on parables that feature Aroden’s 12 guises, meant to illustrate his hopes for humanity: the artist, beggar, craftsman, farmer, fisherman, hunter, merchant, scholar, shepherd, soldier, tailor, and thief.
Chortles easily identifies several different depictions of Aroden. Perhaps the other carvings are of him, as well, in his different forms.
After examining the carvings amid the moss and moisture, the group moves on further into the cave. The soft light of the surrounding fungus mixes with the flickering glow of the nearby torches to reveal a grand chamber.
A large pool of water along the chamber’s southern edge reflects the blue and green radiance to illuminate the massive stalactites that cling to the ceiling overhead.
Two other tunnels branch off from this area, leading to the east and west. Rising up from the pool is a column of rock with steeply sloped sides and a flat top, as if someone had sawn off the top of a massive stalagmite.
A miniature city carved from this same stone occupies nearly the entire surface. Tiny trinkets such as ancient coins, polished semiprecious stones, and ornately braided loops of string are scattered throughout the diorama, and pale cave frogs clamber atop it.
The smooth cavern floor is covered in gravel and pebbles along the edge of the pool, and several foot-long centipedes prowl among the gravel in their search for prey.
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Rod takes some time to pull out some paper and a quill, meticulously replicating the inscriptions on the walls and trying to leave everything in it's place. After all, this was clearly a holy place, either to the gillmen or someone else. It'd be disrespectful...
Following after the group, Rod continues to makes notes, detailing what they find, until they stumble into the seemingly main cavern. Looking about, Rod begins to replicate it carefully, paying particular attention to the small intricate city carved into the very rock at the center of this pool. "It's hard to say... one heckuva find, though, eh? I recommend we try not to touch too much - at least not until we make some thorough notes. I imagine this will prove quite interesting for the Lodge to have. You'd think something like this would've been discovered already..."
The group moves into the larger cavern, its walls bathed in bluish light from the everburning torches in several sconces.
Here the cavern’s ceiling stretches 20 feet overhead and is crowded by dozens of stalactites, some measuring 10 feet long from base to tip. Despite the impressive geology, the cave’s focus is the sloping, 15-foot-deep pool and its tiny city. Rod examines the miniature city with interest.
Just beyond the city diorama, a lone creature kneels in the pool of water.
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Saera takes notes on the carvings, and what she's able to learn about their meaning.
"Okay, so the first one is the artist," Saera says while reading from her notes. "It's about painting Absalom in colors. the other I was able to decipher is the fisherman, and has to do with a great many people being able to accomplish big things."
When Saera notices the creature in the pool, she quietly observes it for a moment.
Saera gives the others a questioning look, not sure what she's looking at. She takes her musket, and prepares for the worst while keeping her distance.
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Rod walks about the model city as his face contorts about in a wide array of emotions and reactions to the creation. "Fascinating... it's a full recreation of Absalom. Look, the Star Cathedral, and... I think that's the Lodge... or where it should be. Lemme see... someone's gone through some painstaking detail with this. Be careful around here, it'd be a shame to wreck anyth--"
Rod pauses on one of his paces around the model, blinking at the creature in the water. Was this... one of the gillmen? Rod cleared his throat, folding his notebook up and holding it at his side. Rod straightened up, bowing in a very rigid, but deliberate motion; a holdover from his dad's rigorous lessons. "Er-hrm... my apologies. We did not expect to find anyone here. Er..." Rod's sights darted back to his more cautious allies, grimacing a bit before opting to be the more diplomatic one and introduce himself.
"Erm... we didn't mean to interrupt, sir, but if you can spare the time, we'd like to ask a few questions." Rod stepped cautiously into the pool, hoping to meet the creature on turf more comfortable to him... or her... whatever. He extended a hand and offered as genuine a smile as he could muster. "My name is Rod Benteft. My colleagues and I are with the Pathfinder Society. And... you are?"
As Rod approaches the creature, it does not respond to his voice. The creature is humanoid, with one ear pressed to the water, and Rod can see that it has gills in the side of its neck.
Finally, it catches movement out of the corner of its eye, and looks intently in Rod's direction. It seems to be watching his lips, but did not seem to catch what he said.
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Rod waits for a bit, hoping for a respond. But the seeming confusion makes itself apparent to him after a moment. It dawns on Rod that he may not speak Common. He racked his brain, trying to guess what this gillman may speak (after all, he had gills, was kneeling in water, looks like a guy... must be a gillman, right?)
"I don't suppose anyone knows how to speak Aquan, do they?" he asked, straightening up. His mind flickered with an idea - his dad taught him something of a universal way to greet someone. How did it go again...?
Placing his palms together, Rod bowed low with his eyes closed, before standing back up, saying 'Hello' in every language he knew, praying the gillman would understand at least one.
Chortles determines that this is one of the 'gillmen' they had been searching for.
Drawing closer to the shore of the pool of water he is immersed in, the creature watches the group, and determining they do not appear hostile, responds in halting speech.
"I do...speak common," he says. "Who...are you? What...are you doing...here."
The gillman's speech is halting, and he watches each of the group's mouths intently when they speak.
Zandu notices the gillman has piercing blue eyes, which dwell on him as the gillman responds.
"I am Uori," he says. "I am...here to listen to...these holy waters," he says. "I hope you...will respect this...place," he adds.
"I do not...worship the dead...god of humanity," the gillman responds to Rod. "Neither...did we make...this," he says, pointing to the Absalom diorama.
This bright blue eyes sparkle as he continues. "This site...is sacred to the gillmen. It... was once sacred to Aroden... as well, but... over the past century, the carvings in the nearby room...have weathered and melted, and...soon Aroden’s influence ...will have faded completely."
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Zandu ponders to himself I bet uncle Karela could make a fortune outa a place like this, even after the power is gone.
Zandu snaps out of his thought process... "Fading, anything worth seeing before it's gone?"
while speaking Zandu fumbles with his waterskin as he tries to get it uncorked as to capture some of Zandu's™ Magical Healing Waters of Aroden
"Though I find...this shrine...to Aroden interesting...it is a...relic...of the past. I...it is all...worth seeing...I suppose. But...there are other...creatures that have...invaded...this place," he says, pointing to the south.
"I...have heard...strange sounds from...that direction."
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Rod looked at the model, before nodding back at the gillman, then south at the cave he points to. "Please continue with your prayers. We will investigate, and ensure it is safe for you and your fellow pilgrims."
Rod takes a few more notes in his notebook, before clapping it closed and placing it back in his pack and drawing his sword. "Welp, seems we were right; not entirely safe in here."
As Yagga and Saera move forward, they hear some movement of several creatures down the southern passage of the tunnel. Despite the extra noise Saera caused, it does not appear anything is coming toward them.
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Saera motions the others to come over. "Let's beat up whatever's inside, 'kay?"
She laughs softly at Rod's comment. "I grew up around pirates. I heard new curses every day."
"And I agree, lovely and filthy are a nice combination." Saera says this with a mischievous grin, but then continues to focus on what's ahead.
The cave’s damp air becomes increasingly stale as the group continues down through the tunnel where they heard noises, and as they approach the end of the tunnel, the stench of decay grows increasingly evident.
The passage turns to the east and opens into a small cavern littered with bits of broken glass, rotting pieces of paper, and other unusable detritus. The body of a male dhampir lies facedown toward the back of the cavern.
They soon discover the source of the sounds they had heard, as several rotting corpses move to attack.
"Unnnnn..."
Sorted Initiative Bold may act
Chortles
Rod
Saera
Undead
Zandu
Yagga