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Arcalinte facepalms and makes a disgusted noise at Isu's words.
"One, we DID get translation assistance, Isu. Tzayl's spell is still in effect, and it allows us to understand the kish...and for them to understand us. Two, show some situational awareness and some respect. Calling the kish 'primitive' is unbelievably patronizing!"
He walks to the front and opens his arms again to display he means no harm.
"Peace! We cloudwalkers wish no harm to you or the kish people. And I apologize for my friend's rude words. He is a warrior to a fault, but he means well."
The two kish stare unblinking at Arcalinte before one of them says "Like they said, you come speaking our language, but you are not kish. Disgusting." The other, slightly more cordial kish offers "You seem earnest, but those cloudwalkers who came before did as well - before they killed many of our people and defiled our Temple. You are not welcome here cloudwalkers. This place is sacred to us. A place of healing. Your presence here will only bring us more pain."
They continue to be on edge, but Arc's diplomatic attitude has earned you an opportunity to talk, for now.
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"Please understand, the cloudwalkers you speak of are enemies to us as well. Our only regret is we could not get here before they did and prevent the harm they caused your people. We will do our best to ease whatever pain we can. We are here because we wish to honor your people and your ancestors, that they may enlighten us as they enlighten you, so together we may take back the Temple and make the defilers pay."
He pauses.
"But if words are not enough, we are prepared to offer deeds instead. Name a test to earn your trust and we will prove our sincerity."
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Jellico agrees with the others. "Please believe us: pain is the last thing we're here for. In fact, we might be able to help alleviate some of that pain. If you help us, you'll be aiding in the capture of those who came before us and hurt you. Justice won't bring your people back, but it might go a long way toward helping those of you who are left to recover."
The two kish share a long look, plainly uncertain, before they whisper something between themselves.
"If it is not, the next ones who come will have to contend with the remnant. Why- what do you suggest?"
"These cloudwalkers. They are armed with weapons like the other ones. Whether what they say is true or not, they might contend against the shade. If it bests them, the ancestors will have spoken. If they best it, our duty will be done."
"..."
"Our ancestors will understand, will judge."
---
The other kish traces a path along their forehead, seemingly an affirmative. They add "Respect the House of Renewal, destroying nothing not worthy of destruction. Respect the will of the ancestors, for they judge you. This is a place for healing and restoration." The kish falls silent, seemingly feeling that they have already said too much.
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"Spectre, we don't know what kind of currency the kish use, I doubt it'd be considered legal tender back in the Pact Worlds," Arcalinte comments. He turns back to the kish.
He hears their discussion clearly, but says nothing. He could not expect them to trust him if he was not willing to trust them.
"Healing and restoration are the watchwords of Sarenrae, the goddess I worship. She would demand I treat such this place with the same respect you would, even if she is unknown here," He punctuates the statement by making the sign of the sun. "Shed light, act true, embody good, give charitably, shun intolerance, know patience, expose lies, and redeem evil," he chants.
The two kish seem a little taken aback by Arc's recitation, but they both touch their foreheads in acceptance. One says "We will say no more about the blight. You will recognize it, for it is not subtle." The second one simply traces a forehead pattern as the two of them step to the side of the room to allow you access to the door heading further east.
The kish watch you carefully as you move, as though worried that despite your words you might turn and attack them.
With Isu in the lead you head east to the central door leading deeper into the complex. It swings open readily, but getting through the opening proves to be a challenge for Isu's power armor. While Isu starts squeezing through Arc and Jelico head in first.
You find a hallway whose continuation eastward is buried under an incredible mass of rubble. Thankfully, doors branch off to the left and right. You open the left-side door to reveal a room that looks very much like a large supply closet. Dusty shelves holding the occasional empty box line the walls of this room. Metallic gizmos, possibly junk, sit scattered across the shelves. It appears as if very few people, kish or otherwise, have been here in quite some time.
Taking the right-side door, you find a large room that is much less dusty. The western side of this room is occupied by a tall desk built into the wall, half of which is under a large window blocked by a panel of opaque crystalline material. Ancient filing cabinets sit to the east side of the room. There are doors to the north and south, and stylized eyes are painted on the walls in a black, chalky substance.
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In the second room, Isu starts rifling through the desk and filing cabinets. "This one wonders why there are pieces business furniture in a holy place like this. This whole city is very strange; a once modern place that has fallen to ruin and occupied by technological primitives. They talk like they own the place but that obviously can not be. They are squatters."
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"A result of halfling devastation I'm sure," Ted chuckles as his top tosses the place.
Detect Magic
School divination
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range 60 ft.
Area cone-shaped emanation
Duration concentration, up to 1 minute/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
You detect all magic spells, effects, items, and objects (including those on or affecting creatures you can see), as well as hybrid items, in the area. You can’t detect magical traps in this way, as they are created with additional magic that wards them from this common spell. Each round you concentrate on the same area, you can determine if one magic source you detect is from a spell, magic item, or other effect, and the caster level (or item level) of the effect. You can’t determine if there are magic sources in areas you can’t see, or if there was a magic source in an area at one time but that has since expired.
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Spectre looks to Isu, the group's wisest member.
"An astute observation--one I had not yet calculated. I assume it is correct."
When Ted mentions the halfling devastation, Spectre also agrees. "Perhaps it is not too late for you, after all. Once a plurality of our group understands the danger, we will be better able to stop the cult."
He then helps Jelico work through the filing cabinets.
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Arcalinte takes a closer look at the murals to decipher their meaning.
"Ominous...That's for certain," he says. "I don't think 'squatters' is the right word, Isu. 'Inheritors,' more likely. This place has clearly gone through a Class 0 apocalyptic scenario, possibly even a Class 2 if it's planet-wide. Given how they reference their ancestors being present in these structures, I imagine those ancestors may have literally built these places, with the kish of today descended from the survivors of whatever collapse this society experienced."
Ted notices a prominent magical aura in the supply closet just as Isu spots something interesting buried under a pile of indecipherable mechanical gizmos. Isu fishes out a pale green crystal shard that pulses with an inner light.
Whatever might've once been on or in the desk is long gone, but inside the file cabinets you find an array of sleeves of some gossamer-like substance, holding traces of grey powder. There's no sign of any documents that survived the test of time.
While Isu attunes to the crystal, Arc checks over the area with the eyes in the southern room. He doesn't come across anything more threatening than an inanimate desk and a bunch of old filing cabinets. The door heading further south also seems safe to his eyes. As a result, he gives it an open and leads the way further south.
The room you all enter is very large and for the most part intact. Two rows of lockers made from a ceramic-like material occupy the western end of this room, while the lockers that line the walls of the eastern half are covered with murals depicting sick and injured kish being bathed in a greenish light and stepping away completely healed. Other more beatific-looking kish look down from the top parts of the walls and the ceiling, giving the large room the impression of an ancient cathedral. Fresh charcoal drawings cover the door to the northeast, while the southeast corner of the room is filled with a large mass of rubble. The southern central part of the also has a mound of rubble up against the wall.
The door to the north-east is freshly covered in a charcoal depiction of a humanoid figure resembling a kish. Its face is a blur of black lines. Black arrows surround it like a cloud or aura. The style of this drawing doesn't match that of the others in the room, and its material suggests it is meant to remain here only impermanently.
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"This place is too quiet."
Detect Magic
School divination
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range 60 ft.
Area cone-shaped emanation
Duration concentration, up to 1 minute/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
You detect all magic spells, effects, items, and objects (including those on or affecting creatures you can see), as well as hybrid items, in the area. You can’t detect magical traps in this way, as they are created with additional magic that wards them from this common spell. Each round you concentrate on the same area, you can determine if one magic source you detect is from a spell, magic item, or other effect, and the caster level (or item level) of the effect. You can’t determine if there are magic sources in areas you can’t see, or if there was a magic source in an area at one time but that has since expired.
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Arcalinte points out at the ceiling.
"These seem to be representations of the Kish's ancestors, spirits watching over and judging petitioners."
Then he indicates the other markings.
"These are warnings. Not meant to last like the ancestors. Recently made, I think. It appears they're warning of two different hazards...some sort of...arrow trap maybe? And then we have what appear to some sort of hostile spirit, maybe even something like a fiendish outsider. Keep your eyes open as we proceed. We're clearly walking into danger."
You search through the lockers one by one, but find them to have been long ago stripped bare. Ted sweeps around the room with detect magic and doesn't encounter any magical auras about.
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Isu heads over to the door to the next room, ready to proceed, but he does stop at the pile of rubble. Then he looks at the pile of rubble in the central part of the room.
"This building is very unstable. Sir Ted, you may refrain from throwing explosives, this one is thinking."
If his investigations don't prove fruitful, Isu will try to squeeze through the next door.
Isu notes that the ceiling is partially caved in by rubble to the south end of the room. It doesn't look particularly stable. Although he doesn't spot anything buried underneath the rubble, in between gaps in the cement and ceramic chunks, he notices that there's a door that leads to the outside of the complex. If one were so inclined, you could spend an hour or two clearing rubble to get access to the door.
Arc looks over the eastern side of the room and spots something interesting. Along the hinge of the door leading to the north east are clusters of web-like filaments. Said filaments seem to have been woven together into a taunt mesh that would flex upon opening the door. It looks a little like some kind of primitive triggering mechanism, though what it connects to is on the other side of the door.
Ted accidentally starts by pulling one of the fibrous threads, causing the whole array to suddenly whip tight against the door's hinge. The trap triggers! Luckily for Ted, the trap wasn't designed to injure anyone on this side of the door. Instead, you hear a dulled resounding cacophony as projectiles strike the opposite side of the door in a barrage that lasts a full five seconds. The door vibrates and shakes with the impacts, but holds.
The threads surrounding the door's hinge slacken and fall the ground. It seems the trap was a once-off.