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Jirani adjusts his clothing a bit, and retrieves his weapons. "None the worse for wear, Tess. The farther passage was my original idea, Olik, but since you used that scroll... remember, the statue had a Kelish word on it, too, that you may be able to translate now. I'm not sure if your spell will last long enough if challenges delay us in that further passage first. We can always come back after we examine the statue."
Opening the door you come into another room. Three rounded alcoves in this chamber contain the rotting remains of scroll shelves, honeycombing from floor to ceiling. Scattered amid the compromised shelving are damaged scrolls, and a number of still-sealed scroll tubes. A glimmering trickle of water seeps down from the ceiling in the northwest corner of the room. In the northeast the room opens into an adjoining room.
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Olik gives Tamarie time to check for traps and Tessara to check for magic before looking through the scrolls. He won't open the sealed ones but will look for labels and as well as the headings of any that are opened. In the interest of reading through things latter he collects up any scrolls that seem to be legible or sealed.
"This room is a treasure trove of information. The contracts may well be here. Let's collect up anything readable so we can look through it later."
Amid a particularly thick patch of fungus in the southeast sits a pale and crusty froglike humanoid. That almost blends in with the mold
Tamarie lets an arrow fly. It sticks into the creature.
The arrow definitely seems to wound the creature but it doesn't put it down. It trembles and twitches as it stands and lurches forward. His skin is patchy and dry, like a squid left out in the sun and sand. His bulbous eyes open, and light stabs out from them. The creature moves toward Tamarie.
The light from the creatures eyes is so bright but after a few moments your eyes are able to adjust.
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"Too late, but thanks auntie! I'll try to avoid its gaze, next time." Tamarie shouts as she closes her eyes and attacks the square the creature was last seen. She holds her breath as the arrow flies, and fears she may have missed it, when it starts to make the sound that most things make when they encounter her arrows.
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Jirani draws his sword. He keeps his gaze on the floor, and relies on his peripheral vision to find Tamarie's feet near the doorway. He takes his position next to her, closes his eyes, and braces for an attack, ready to reciprocate when the creature gives away its position.
"I'm standing to your right, Tamarie, with my eyes closed!" he tells her.
Tamarie does indeed get another arrow into the creature. Jirani follows up with a solid strike, finishing up where Tamarie left off, dropping the creature to the floor as the light, literally, fades from it's eyes.
With the creature slain, Tessara returns to checking for magic. Not finding anything Olik and Jirani start taking any of the scrolls that may still be intact and legible, collecting a dozen or so good ones from the rest of rotten or destroyed scrolls.
After gathering the scrolls you move into the adjoining room. This large room looks like it was once a scribing chamber. The remains of many desks are scattered about, and amid the rubble is a number of long-dried inkwells, other writing utensils, and scraps of paper. These things are covered with black mold and patches of light green mushrooms. There is a closed door to the north.
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Olik walks over to Jirani and recasts light upon his javelin as he looks about the writing room. "When time permits we should search through here, there may be items of interest. For now though let's check the door and get to the statue." While Tamarie checks the door Olik will take the time to do a brief search for anything of more interest than dried inkpots.
Checking the door, you don't notice any apparent threats. Opening the door it leads into a hallway. At the end of this corridor sits a sinister-looking fountain in a rounded alcove. A five-headed hydra, displayed in cross formation, protrudes from the middle of the rounded wall. The hydra’s heads all face directly down the hallway. Its top head’s mouth is firmly shut, its socketed eyes staring darkly down the corridor, and its head fin is flared and up. On that head fin, a single Kelish word is carved into the stone. The other four heads have toothy mouths open wide and reclined head fins; these obviously served as spouts for the fountain. Just below the mouths is a ceramic basin. The basin has been dry for many long centuries now. A little ways down the hallway is another door leading to the north, the other end of the corridor opens into the room you started from.
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"Well looks like our toad like little friend here had a bit of a collectors streak in him." Olik shows the group the items he's found in the creatures nesting area and then stows them as they move to the next room.
Intrigued by the hydra statue Olik takes a close look at it and notes the Kelish word without speaking it.
"These statues seem like defensive structures. Back when the fortress was held they could be activated to strike anyone in the hallways they face. Interesting that they seem tied to the elements. When we have a moment it might be interesting to activate each in turn."
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Jirani chuckles at Malik's joke. "Yes, but be sure to hand me the contracts before you soak them with you. Hm... that reminds me... I got a scroll case just for these when we found them. When we take a breather, I'll roll them up together in the new case - maybe it'll offer them more protection on the last leg of the trip."
"I guess the broken statue will be 'Earth'? Still, let's confirm it. We'll check this door, too, on the way back," he indicates the door on the north side of the hall with the hydra, as he leads the way back to the first room with the broken skeletons.
You return to the headless statue, where Olik takes a moment to look at the singular Kelish word on the statues helmet.
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As Olik moves to examine the collapsed passage, Jirani voices his agreement with Olik's apparent suspicion, "I was wondering the same thing. If the first one blew a gust of wind, and the second seemed primed to spray a force of water, how else could this one harness the power of its element than with a cave-in? Probably good for us that it appears to be nonfunctional. Surely this didn't cause the destruction of the whole keep, though? That would be a short-sighted engineer to design such a defense.
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"I would agree but perhaps it was set off to either trap someone back behind this section or as a last resort to cut off the section of the fortress behind this rubble. Of course it may be that this damage was from whatever destroyed the fortress and the statues effect was never used." He pauses a moment. "But I suppose we have neither the time nor the equipment to get through. Why don't we take a look at the rooms remaining to be searched."
You come back to the corridor with the hydra statue. Checking the door it appears to be stuck.
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Olik briefly considers using the statues command word as Tamarie passes it but lets the moment pass with a quiet chuckle. "Your sentiment brings me great confidence." he laughs. Olik looks next to Jirani, "Shall we put our shoulders to it and see what's in this room?"
Heh thanks, that's what I get for trying to post quickly. :) And no worries I chuckle each time you find/correct something.
As a side note I'm pretty sure Tam didn't even look at that door! :)