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Faliana starts moving immediately after Juliet starts making a fuss. She gives the girl a reassuring pat on the hand and a wink before stating in a normal speaking voice as she moves to leave the tent, "You'll be fine! Probably up and out of here in a few days; just make sure to rest up."
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Faliana moves to pull brady back when he moves over to the slit in the wall. She doesn't get to him before he moves back but she does keep a solid hold on Dale's shoulder. "No, don't mess with that. According to our friend, that's what caused the Juliet and co. to start acting weird. We don't want to mess with it unless we have to."
When Dru makes her joke about snakes and cracks, Faliana's mouth goes flat and rigid. Her head starts to shake a little as if trying ot hold something back, before Fritania's laugh cracks through. "Haha! I like you, Dru, was it? Too bad my Fali couldn't like you... But speaking about cracks and snakes have you heard the one about the Qadarian Princess and the Cobra..."
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Even with them keeping an eye on him, knowing... Dale still manages to fool both Faliana and Tad, and ducks back to take a quick peek through the crack in the wall before he can be stopped!
You see something very very large, as it peers back out. You can't really see much of it, as it is far too close to the other side to allow you to see more then a few reddish-black scales and a glowing red eye staring back.
Whatever it is, you suspect it is not of the material plane... and does not seem at all benevolent!
But a sibilant oily voice suddenly invades your mind, whispering ...
... and a moment later, you're standing back from the crack, trying to process what just happened.
His reaction is similar to Brady's, as he steps back a moment later, looking slightly confused... but excited at the same time.
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"I've never seen anything like it! EVER! And that's saying something! It was HUGE though, with some red and black scales.. and I could only see one eye. Strange. Maybe it was a cyclops snake dragon from another plane of existence? But ya, it didn't seem super friendly either." Dale quickly pulls out his journal to write down what he saw just in case it fades from memory.
After a few moments he slams his book shut, stows it away and catches up with the others. "Right behind you!"
You head east down the hall, towards the pounding sound, and turn the corner to find another long hallway, similar to the one on the west side... though there are only two doors in this one, one at the far end, and another on the west side, farther down. The first is closed, like all the others, but the latter has been burst open, and you hear the pounding of metal on stone coming from there.
The hallway bears numerous mosaics of cyclopes astronomers in battle with smaller, serpent-headed humanoids. By the southern door, that leads back to the archaeologists camp, the wall murals depicts a different scene, that depicts stylized humans with conical hats debarking from graceful-looking ships. The humans lift up packages of spears, and swords, and stranger weapons as if offering them to the cyclopes battling the serpent-headed creatures along the eastern wall.
You can see why Juliet is excited by this place.
Both the floor and the walls along this hallway, and the one you just came down, are badly gouged and damaged... you can only assume from the Azlanti Monolith stomping its way down them.
As you approach the breached doorway, the pounding sounds is almost deafening.
Looking through the opening, you finally see the source... the Azlanti Monolith itself stands on the southern side of this large vaulted room, pounding its cold iron fists relentlessly on a pair of immense rune-covered stone doors separating this room from the chamber beyond. It has apparently been at it for a couple of days now, so the fact the doors are still standing is remarkable. But, you see that large cracks have formed along both of them... and even as you watch, you see some of those cracks noticeably widen and the door buckle slightly. Its journey here, and current attempts to destroy the door, have not gone without taking a toll on the golem however. It is far from the shiny polished version you saw back at the Azlant Ridge dig site. Signs of wear and degradation along its body are obvious.
But none of it keeps it from pounding on the door, over and over and over, as you watch.
Once you pull your eyes away from the Monolith, you realize that the room itself, is quite spectacular. The floor shows a stylized depiction of Golarion and its moon, traveling around the sun. The ceiling, and walls on all sides, are carved with stylized astronomical symbols, some immediately recognizable, others less so. The entire effect is one of the stars hanging above the world itself.
Along the north wall, there are four large panels, each eight feet above the ground, with a central gap a little over a foot across. Above the four panels are blocky letters, and below that more mosaics featuring the sway-backed cyclopes.
On the floor, beneath one of the panels, is a small golden token of the sun on a gold chain, apparently discarded here long ago.
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Dale takes a look at the room, his eyes settling on the door and the Monolith Quite the simple calculation really.. hrm..
With a know-it-all smile Dale then turns his attention to the rest of the room and the panels on the wall. "Another ancient language! The next time I get some free time I think I'll work on learning these old forgotten languages. It COULD come in handy one day." He heads over to the panels and stands on his tippy toes to get a better look.
Best you can figure, the door is nearly done. It's quite shocking that it has lasted as long as it has, to be honest, given the force the golem is bringing to bear, and the time it's been at it. There must be some very powerful magics at work.
You work that into your calculations, and come to the rather disturbing realization that within the hour, it will be through.
Tad goes over and examines the small sun-shaped token on the floor.
While he does so, Dale studies the ancient words inscribed over the panels.
It seems to start out talking about the moon within the void ... and then something about reflecting the sun but not hiding stars?
Hard to know for sure... it is the first time you've ever seen the language, and its alphabet is quite different than all those you've encountered before.
You note the words for moon, void, sun, and stars are all emphasized in some way, mostly in that they are done up a little fancier then the others. You will realize that each of those emphasized words happens to fall above a different panel on the wall.
On closer examination, you all can see that there are three mosaics beneath the panels, each depicting a different scene.
The first is an image showing the large doors ajar, and three snake-like tails slithering free of it. The second mosaic shows four cyclopes, each with a small stone disc, placing them into the panels. The last mosaic shows beams radiating from the panels, pushing back the serpentine tails.
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Brady sidles up to Dale, surprised to find that he's kind of making sense of the Cyclopean language. He offers a question to the scholar to try to confirm a pattern that's beginning to make sense. "So, that symbol there indicates that what follows will be a definite article? Which is why that one doesn't mean the same here as it does over there?"
When he has a moment to examine the murals and panels, he starts to get a picture of what they mean. "Whatever that thing is doing over there," he doesn't bother to point it out, as the smashing is too obvious, "I think we're going to want to find those four disks. They may be the only thing that can save us at the end of the day."
He does point to the mural of the snakes escaping, and looks at Dale as he addresses the whole party.
"If that means that the eye we saw behind the crack is going to get out, we need the right tools to fight back."
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I would disagree with your ruling on the knowledge engineering, but I don't think it likely matters here: I added in the bold.
Perfect Recall: At 2nd level, a mindchemist has honed his memory. When making a Knowledge check, he may add his Intelligence bonus on the check a second time. Thus, a mindchemist with 5 ranks in Knowledge (history) and a +2 Intelligence bonus has a total skill bonus of +9 (5 + 2 + 2) using this ability. The mindchemist can also use this ability when making an Intelligence check to remember something.
Dale rubs his chin a bit, as he looks at the large doors "No good friends. Math doesn't lie, and its saying we've got an hour TOPS before that door is more like gravel on the floor."
As he looks at the symbols on the panels it takes a far longer time of writing them out in his journal and building some conclusions. "Well, I THINK I've got the general gyst of what they are saying, but its pretty basic. If we want I can mix up something that'll translate that in a snap though. Well, 60 snaps... or one minute."
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Dale nods in confirmation with Brady, a bit surprised at his understanding of the matter Who said half orcs were all brawn and no brains?
"Those discs sure do seem to be the key to stopping this. Unless of course one of you finds another control cube that we can take control of this golem with. Or perhaps if it didn't fight back we could destroy it before it destroys the wall? We'd need something pretty strong though for that."
Dale pushes his hair back out of his eyes and stows his book and ink, ready to continue the hunt for the discs. Now where did they say they hid those discs they found again?
The description Juliet gave of the discs definitely sounds about the right size to fit the openings you see in the panels. You know she mentioned that they had already found two such discs, and put them somewhere safe... though they didn't mention where that was.
Arletta told Dru and Faliana where that was... but neither of them have mentioned it yet. She also showed them what was likely a third one... but they haven't mentioned that yet either.
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Once Fritania has finished telling her lewd story about the princess and the snake. She gives a pause, before rolling her eyes with a 'fine'. Addressing everyone, she clears her throat. "Fali's been pestering me to tell you about what we learned in the tent back there. I think we should get you men to pay us or something for saving your sorry asses back there, but Fali's saying that's also not good. Seeing as we haven't had anyone following us, this is probably the best time."
"The shining tablets that Juliet was talking about are probably back in that slit in the wall, the glow coming from It being the two tablets Juliet and company found. Our friend has a third tablet as well. I'm really hoping we don't need the tablets, though. Getting the two from the slit and convincing our friend to give us the third is not going to be easy..."
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"Well, if we've only got an hour, we better decide quickly. I don't relish the thought of trying to retrieve anything from that crack." Brady shivers at the thought. "So, what are our options after that?"
"Dale, you mentioned the control cube. What do you want to bet that's in the crack too? Why else is the monolith trying to free the serpent-thing if its not under that thing's control?" Brady shudders again.
"That leaves trying to physically stop the monolith." He looks up at the the enormous construct. "That doesn't sound good either!"
He thinks about all their options...
"Well, since we might need it in the end, Monty has the right idea; we might as well get the disk that Arletta has. For safe-keeping, if nothing else. I'll go get it." He does just that, heading back the way they came.
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Dale listens to Faliana/Fritania about what happened in the tent "Oh really? I was too busy spying on notes to overhear I guess. Sounds like you two did great work in there. You are right, we should go get that disk, they could be the key to this whole thing and we need to make sure they stay safe."
Dale heads off with Brady to the tents.
Dale and Brady head back to the temporary camp to get the disc from Arletta, while the monolith continues to pound on the door, the cracks starting to show.
You start to wonder if perhaps they aren't working under some external influence as well.
Especially given it was those two who looked through the crack at whatever was inside the room.
Otherwise, you can find no more clues in the room you're in, after checking it out thoroughly!
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Fritannia's eyes go wide when she hears that Brady, the man who scared Arletta into her tent, and the so-so socially conscious Dale declare they are going to pick up the tablet. She rushes after them, before trying her best to overtake. "I, uh, should probably go with you... just in case, you know... Arletta trusts us, if nothing else. Now hurry up ya lazy scalywags!"
When she catches up with Monty she slows to his pace. Faliana smoothly takes over and gives him a glance and a conspiratorial smile, before leaning over and whispering, 'Something seem off to you, too? You want to keep an eye on Dale or Brady, just in case?'
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Faliana finally catches up to Monty when he gets to the tent. Out of breath, she gulps in some air and then sputters out. "He's right! *pant, pant* We found out *pant* what the disk is for! *pant* We'll also *pant* have to dig out *pant* the two your companions *pant* put through that scary slot. *pant* We can show you if needed!"
She then turns to Monty and comments, "You move too fast!"
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Dale watches everyone run past him and Brady "Geez aren't they in a hurry! I wonder what the problem is, we better keep up!" Dale picks up the pace as well, not wanting to be left behind or miss any of the excitement!
As they get to the tent a paper blows in the wind from the running Faliana "Ooo what's this?" Dale snatches it and starts reading while the others chit chat with the sick woman.
As Monty rushes past Dale and Brady, into the main room with the archaeologists, they look up to see what's going on. Juliet almost immediately gets annoyed, when she sees him hurrying off towards the camp site.
"Hey, I said to leave her alone!" She yells. Her mood is not improved when Brady and Dale come through, then Faliana almost running.
"What is wrong with you people?!" She adds, exasperated, as she starts to follow you in.
Inside the side room, Arletta's suddenly peaceful hideout is suddenly beset with activity, as Monty sticks his furry face into her tent and starts telling her to to give him things she has no desire to hand over.
"What? No." She replies in sudden confusion, instinctively clutching a leather satchel. "I'm not giving you anything. Where are the other two? Go away!"
As both Brady and Dale come in, she gets even more defensive.
She looks relived to see Faliana appear, and calms slightly, but Juliet wanders in just behind her, and she gets all nervous again.
"What's this about discs?" Juliet says, as she overhears Faliana's breathless words. "Did you find another? I can take those off your hands. We need to keep them safe, we think they're very important!"
Arletta's eyes are dancing back and forth between Juliet and Faliana.
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Brady finds himself surprised to be agreeing with Juliet, but agree he does! "That might be the first sensical thing I've heard you say since we got here, but you're right; we have to keep the discs safe. I know just where we can put it."
He looks at Arletta, frightened and clutching the satchel, and kneels down towards her in sympathy. "I'll just take that from you, and then you don't have to worry about it anymore. It's quite simple; I can keep it very safe!"
He's not forcing anything or threatening anyone. His body language is not that of a person trying to get their way, rather, he holds his arms out in the manner of a person who could not conceive of any alternative.
Arletta's eyes go wide at Brady's words, as they shift back to Juliet and she clutches the satchel closer.
"What are you...?" She hisses.
"Wait, what's that?" Juliet says, in behind, hearing Brady's words. "Arletta has one of the discs?"
She gives Arletta a stern disapproving look. "Is that true, Arletta? What were you thinking? You know we're looking for those. They're far too important to be keeping in your tent! C'mon now, hand it it over, we'll store it with the others, where they'll all be safe."
She too holds out her hand, expectantly.
Arletta looks miserable.
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In the background Dale will finish looking over the piece of paper he found before starting to describe what they found down below with the door and the golem smashing it. "Well, I must say, here are the facts people! That golem is trying to smash down that door, and will in less than an hour now. Behind that door is an unpleasant serpent of... not good." He shivers a bit at the memory.
"There are some spaces for those discs to be set into that will do a number of things, one of which is to fight this... serpent thing. These discs are VERY important to do that. However, it looks like maybe we could just stop the golem from smashing the door down in the first place yes?" He does nod along with the importance of keeping the discs safe.
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Monty looks around and sighs, stepping into a stance.
Everyone, back off from the girl!
He looks to Faliana and shakes his head.
You might want to get that disc away from here, now... If anyone...
He gives Dale and Brady a look.
And I do mean ANYONE tries to stop you, I can stop them without hurting them... to much. Juliet, you to. Back off.
Juliet looks at Monty with annoyance. "This is my site, sir." She says, irritated. "Though we do appreciate your assistance in the past, and current, that does not give you the right to threaten me or my people! You seem only interested in disrupting the work we're doing here. If you're not here to study, then perhaps you should leave! I'll be sure to include all of this in my next report!"
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Monty rubs his forehead in confusion.
Juliet. Where is your report.
He stares her down and looks at her.
Think Juliet. THINK! Have you EVER missed a report before? How many have you missed already? Something is wrong, you know something is wrong, and it has to do with that serpent, which you conveniently neglected to mention! How can you possibly write an honest report and leave that out?
Realizing he's getting no where, he suddenly stops, wide eyed and points behind Juliet.
The golem! It's going to wreck the pricesless mosiac!
With that said he whispers to Faliana.
All on you now!
And scampers away as fast as he can! Which is, to be fair, pretty fast!