Xeno looks into the well and hears the same suggestion as Menas, and she refutes it as well.
"Perhaps some things are rather left undisturbed. Let's move on, we have the katana, and the documents. Let's check that previous room." says Menas pertaining to the second kobold room.
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"Well, Xeno's ready to explore further. Hand me those holy waters, please." Dietrich takes them and hands them to Xeno.
"I'll lower you down, but I'm not ready to go looking over the side. Just give two quick tugs on the rope when you're ready to come back up"
Bracing himself, Dietrich lowers Xeno to the bottom of the well.
At the bottom of the well, Xeno finds the skeleton is ancient. He or she apparently died from the fall, judging by the wounds to the head and neck bones. A search reveals no treasure or other items.
When you bring the bones out of the well, you sense and hear that the haunt, while still continuing, has lost some of its power.
"We have everything that we need. Let's report back to the Li's."
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"Our mission is not complete until we hand the blade to its new owner. A lot can happen between here and now, lets not get careless."
They work well together and are very effective, but still not professionals yet. I do admit I am surprised at the skill they have attained thus far, there is still hope for them...
This room has a wide corridor exiting it toward the north, and a door to the south. Barrels and boxes of supplies fill the cramped chamber. You can see that the wide tunnel leading north from the room goes 40 feet before ending in a solid stone wall.
This room obviously serves as the kobolds’ storeroom, where they keep food rations and trap-making supplies. A cursory inspection suggests that most of the stores here are worthless, rotten, or too bulky to be worth carrying them back to Absalom.
The party is just about to leave when Dietrich finds, hidden in a bag of weevil-infested flour, four interesting vials crudely labeled in Draconic.
Gurk’s Fire Juice
The vials do not detect as magical (and nothing else in the room does, either).
This crossroads of stairs has one dominant feature: a crumbled statue in the southeast corner, once the image of a proud warrior chiseled roughly in granite. The statue’s helmeted head now rests on the floor, its lifeless stone eyes gazing toward the south. On the helmet, a single Kelish word is carved in the stone. The wide stairway to the north leads to a passage that ends in a cave-in ten feet past the foot of the stairs.
Looking into the larger room beyond, you see cracked and crumbling frescoes lining the walls of a large empty room. The sections of the frescoes not destroyed by the passing ages show Qadiran men engaged in battle. A rough stone tunnel leads off to the northwest, as if the ground simply cleft in two ages ago. A large pile of bones rests just inside the passage.
Leaving Asad's Keep, the sun seems to have moved only barely, though it feels like you've been inside the dungeon for a long time, indeed. The way back is just as arduous and you are appreciative - after turning in what you have found and your initial reports... - of a good night's rest in bed.
After Storn gives his respectful burial rights to the skeleton from the well, you all feel an odd relief, and Menas and Xeno hear, as if echoing through the centuries, a voice in their head, "Thank you for giving me peace."
In the morning, you gather together again and report to Venture-Captain Amara Li, head of the Lantern Lodge. The normally reserved and proper Li is unabashedly ecstatic upon receiving the jade katana of her ancestors and she showers you with praise, saying that she is always in your debt, and that you are always welcome within her Lantern Lodge. She also explains the matter of the letter written in Tian with the broken seal featuring a kirin flying amid three clouds. The letter introduced the ambassador as Xeng Li, and described the gift to Taliq Asad — a jade katana, a representation of the Li family’s honor and its ties to House Asad. It appears that the ambassador was treated very dishonorably indeed and likely never gave the trade agreement to Asad, still hidden as it was in the katana.
Whether you wish it or not, you receive a visit from Major Maldris, who has heard of your destruction of Maurit Zergo - the former Pathfinder who became the recently-turned ghoul - through his contacts in the Society and he expresses his congratulations to you for your good deed. “I know it was difficult,” he says. “The undead sometimes cling to life, but they always turn to evil. I did not know of her existence as a ghoul, but that was a hard lesson that you had to learn, to better serve the common good. As Pathfinders, we should always serve the common good and always fight for freedom.”
Trade Prince Aaqir al’Hakam is very appreciative of the trade agreements that you have given him, although he seems disappointed upon hearing of your return of the jade katana - or, its contents - to Amara Li, having expected it as Qadiran property.
Sometime later, regarding treasure dispersal, a Pathfinder Society accountant approaches you, "Hey, did you know you this pearl was a Pearl of Power? Only of the first order, but still!"
Aha! I guess we are not that perceptive enough!
The direly-wounded kobold, not perceived as much of a threat by the group, is left behind, forgotten, perhaps having slinked away to some dark corner. She then makes it to the stockroom, where she finds supplies to maintain herself while she recovers, nursing her wounds and her desire for revenge. As she gains strength, the kobold - now in a cleared-out dungeon - begins building traps, building the first weapons in a new assault on the Isle of Kortos and Absalom, once again directed from Asad's Keep!