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Alic watches as Kubbup climbs all over the place and ends up on the other side. Shrugging his shoulders he begins his ascent out of the pit using the rope. Once out he shakes off a little. "Neat trick! Can you teach me how to do that? he says with a laugh. "Not used to working with people yet. Got to remember you all have..., a different skill set than I. Well what do you see over there? Is there something to help these lady's across? Most of them dont look like they are dressed to cross a rope." Alic takes his rope from the girls, winds it up and secures back on his bag. Standing up he watch's Kubbup on the other side.
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"Well I'll be! Tha' was spectacular."
Amethyst watches astonished as Kuppub shows off his amazing skills.
"Oooo them flasks could be useful."
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Alic jumps into the water and swim to the other side, however there is a 10 foot wall on the other side and you need to get up there.
Kubbup moves hand over hand and foot over foot to get to the other side in impressively froggy, I mean Grippli, style.
Everyone can now cross with a climb check . It is a fairly easy task to slide across on the rope and you may take 10.
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Smiling at her rather industrious companions, Hayali is careful when she takes her own turn, well aware of her failings as an academically inclined caster. "Thank you both for taking the trouble to help us out," she addresses Alic and Kubbup.
"What're you reaching for?" Hayali asks the Grippli curiously.
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"I don't think such skills can be taught. All grippli can stick to walls better than most other humanoids. It is a racial trait."
He looks across the pit to the other side. "I guess my mule will have to stay behind. I don't think I need any of those supplies right now, anyway. I'm sure we'll be back for it once we've explored the caves."
Kubbup opens up the cloth retrieved from the water to examine it.
Also, before heading deeper into the caves, Kubbup will create two uses of his daily poison and apply them to two of his arrows. He makes sure to put those two arrows to one side in his quiver, so he can choose to reach for poisoned or unpoisoned arrows as appropriate if combat breaks out.
About 50 ft. after the pit, the tunnel curves and you find a plank big enough to span the pit. 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.
The carvings here are different in style from the petroglyphs found elsewhere. It seems like there might have been a dozen carvings at some point, but only four are still decipherable. As best you can tell, they are images from the History and Future of Humanity, the principle holy text of Aroden.
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Hayali makes do with the dim light, but is suitably relieved when the area opens up and they're provided with rather a great deal more light in the shape of torches that line the walls. She can't help but notice the way the light flickers off the reliefs and realizes that she recognizes two of the images.
"Look, here - it's the Beggar, Aroden reminding us that humility reminds us that we are a single community." Hayali marvels at the carvings, wondering at how beautiful they must've been in the past. Just from the corner of her eye, she sees another. "Oh, and the Tailor, too - it's a reminder that we work best when we work together." She's speaking from her own perspective, but gestures to each of the reliefs, wanting to share the significance of them with the others.
After a moment, she pauses when another thought occurs to her. "But why are they here?"
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"hrm... These are pretty." Amethyst states while admiring the pictographs
"Yup... Hayali is right. The beggar, the tailor and der is... wha' does it say... yes the Sheppard too."
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Alic looks around, the innate beauty of the carvings not lost on him. Other than the artistic value they mean nothing to him. He has never cared for things of that nature, he never had the need too. He listens as Hayali and Amethyst speak. "Well, I guess these have something to do with why we are here, so we should probably try to figure out the others too, not that I'll be much help with this part of the journey." He looks around the rest of the cave from where he stands seeing what he can see. He places his hand on his sword just as a cation thinking "we are in a dark unknown cavern, who knows what's in here with us."
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Fialka looks through the pack with the others and takes the scroll entitled Mage Armour and holds it up inquisitively. "Does anyone mind if I use this? Might prevent any more vermin from biting me!" she asks sweetly, reading the incantations off the parchment if there are no objections. A shimmering suit of armour briefly appears round Fialka before vanishing from sight and the Psychic smiles. "Much better, some of these others will be useful! Barkskin to protect flesh and Feather step to avoid being tripped by rocks."
Moving on she looks at the pit with trepidation, then to her silk robes with a sigh. Fortunately, a rope is prepared and she crawls along it carefully, avoiding the splash. On the otherside she presses on, making sure to keep close, her natutal sense easily able to pierce the gloom of the cavern.
"Fascinating work! I wonder, hmm let me see!" Bouncing over to the work, clearly more in her element than hiking or fighting, Fialka takes time to study.
Unable to work out more than her colleagues, she nevertheless takes some rubbings of the patterns for later study when she has access to her books. "Hmm"
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Zilona watched the entire display of pit-crossing in silent amusement, making no effort to claim any of the items they found in Janira's satchel. When the group reaches the pictograph room she wanders absently to the middle of the chamber, looking slightly bored as she leans on the haft of her weapon. Her eyes are vaguely following the rest until they settle on Fialka at the last pictograph.
She wanders over to her and leans over the smaller woman's shoulder so she can press a finger onto part of the carving. "This kind of looks like a farmer working on a field. Is there a farmer in Aroden's texts? I'm not particularly familiar with it." She steps back and shrugs as if it doesn't matter particularly much. "Nice rubbings you made, though."
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Kubbup also follows the group and watches more than participates as the others explain the artwork.
"Who is this Aroden? A god? Is he related to gillmen and full moons? Perhaps that is why they come to this place every month?" he asks quietly.
Mostly, he keeps guard, longbow drawn, in case of trouble from deeper in the caves.
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"Good idea!" Noticing Fialka's efforts, Hayali agrees with the sentiment and draws out a few pieces of parchment from her scroll case and attempts to sketch out each of the images they've discerned. "We'll be wanting to see these again later when we're working on our reports. We should try and record them as closely as we can."
She's pleased at the figures they've found, aware that they've found something interesting. It does still tug at her, though.
"I wonder why they're here - what purpose do they serve? What are they supposed to mean?" she considered aloud. "Surely they're not only decoration?"
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.
This cavern is not unoccupied though. A lone gillmen kneels in the water, seeming thoughtful and unaware of your presence.
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"Umm, Aroden is the dead God? I think. I am sure he is an Azlanti and as the Gillman were at least cousins to that race then they might be connected..." Fialka says uncertainly as she finishes off the rubbings, thanking Zilona as they spot the last one with a smile. Finishing her work, Fialka places the rubbings into her scrapbook carefully, preparing to work on them for illustrations in her report.
Hearing Alic's warning, the Painter stands and brushes off the dust from her robes, tutting slightly at the mess. l"Hmm, maybe the illusive Gillman? Perfect! We can ask him what is afoot here rather than guessing!"
Waiting on the others, Fialka makes herself presentable by messing with her hair and shaking out her robes.
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She winks at Fialka as the other woman finishes, then wanders off after Alic as he starts poking around the rest of the cave. "Seems the most simple of solutions." She doesn't even make a token effort to clean herself up, and just stomps noisily up beside the hunter as non-threateningly as she can manage, all things considered.
Once she can see the person by the pool she cups her free hand over her mouth and raises her voice."We hate to trouble you, but would you happen to be a gillman? And are you sociable? We'd prefer it if you were."
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Seeing as everything in three
Toys room dates back to Aroden's time in Golarion. Amethyst has a brief thought. She sidles up to the rest of the group at the pool and sits down right at the edge and yells out in
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"Hold on," Hayali says, frowning slightly. "There's a city here, too! A... miniature one, it looks like?" There are plenty of people engaging with the other person there so she turns her attention to the strange structure.
If something goes wrong, she imagines her peers will make her rather immediately aware.
Considering the inscriptions they'd encountered had been related to people, she assumed that it was possible that they were related... But she truly didn't know. Maybe the man knew? Though she'd had every intention of leaving the matter of the gillman to their frineds, now she had a reason to speak with him herself.
Once they've got his attention, she would ask him, "Pardon us, sir, but do you know anything about the miniature city? Does it have anything to do with the inscriptions on the walls?" Remembering their mission, she also asks, "Oh, and if you don't mind, would you tell us what you're doing here?"
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Alic walks up behind Amethyst and whispers "A little more caution from now on please. Speaking as an experienced hunter, any creature that acts like nothing is going on when 6 armed creatures walk into its lair is either extremly stupid or EXTREMELY dangerous. We have no idea of who or what this creature is, so I say again, a little more caution from now on please." Alic steps back a few steps and stands ready to jump in and intereve is the need arises!
Kubbup shakes out the bundle of cloth, revealing it to be a cloak.
The gillman looks at each Pathfinder as he or she speaks, but his expression says little, and he says nothing at all.
"Greetings," the gillman finally responds "I am Uori, and you have entered a cave sacred to my people. It was once sacred to Aroden as well, but the dead god's influence has faded from this place as those carvings have weathered and melted away.
"Soon, his influence shall be gone completely. If you wish to perform any rituals to the dead god of humanity, I suggest you do so soon."
Uori nods to Kubbup and carefully watches the group. Where did you find this? Did you see its owner?
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Noticing they had been left behind, Fialka rushes after her friends and smiles brightly at Uori, taking in their surroundings. Torn between investigating the city and finding out what she can from the Gillman, she decides it is best to respond to his obviously probing question.
"I am sorry if he was a friend! We found this cloak at the bottom of the water pit in the entrance. Surely you saw it? No signs of the owner though I'm afraid."
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Alic loosens his grip on his sword a little feeling the momentary tension begin to ease. Being more of a fighter and not so much of a diplomat he leaves the gillman to the others and walks up to the city to take a closer look
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Uori looks slightly relieved. No sign of the owner, then perhaps they still live. I hope to see them again. She came here, much like me, to listen to the waters and commune with the spirits. This pool is pure and sacred to my people. There are others in these caves though. I am deaf and yet I can hear them, cannot you?
There are three exits from this room. The first is the way you came in, the other two lead deeper into the system.
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After everyone has decided to do or not do any rituals Amethyst states "How bout we go that way. " she says pointing north
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Kubbup does make out very faint sounds, but cannot determine if they are echos of the group's own footsteps, or the sounds of something deeper into the cave complex.
I am reading your lips and I can hear the spirits of those deeper. I come to listen to the waters, but I can barely hear them over the noise. Uori replies.
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"Our mission is to find out why your people come here? If we clear out these caves for you will you help us to understand your purpose in coming here?" Alic knowing the only way to contribute to the knowledge effort is to kill things. Plus he thinks if the gillman tells them what they need to know things will also go a bit faster than them trying to figure them out for themselves. Alic does admit to himself that he is curious about all this now
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I have already told you. We come to listen to the waters and meditate beside the sacred pool. Do you have anything else, or shall I return to my communion?
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"Fascinating! Sacred waters hmm. Hey. would you like a portrait drawing?" Fialka asks, making sure she is facing the Gillman as she speaks. "I could incorporate the miniature city here. Hey what is the model representing?"
If Uori accepts her proposal, Fialka takes her time to paint a portrait of him quickly. If not she will wander over to the city within the pool and begin to sketch it for an entry in the chronicle, planning to recreate it's likeness later.
You may draw me if you wish. The city is not a thing of my people, but of those of Aroden. I know little of it.
Uori plans to walk back to his pool and resumes his position kneeling beside it. If no-one else speaks to him that is exactly what he does.
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Zilona splashes the surface of the water lightly with her foot as the others are talking to the Gillman. "His answers seem vague and unconvincing, but his sort tend to be that way. I think we've at least learned a good bit about the intention of the Gillmen, and gained a little extra with finding this shrine to a dead god." She makes a sound suspiciously like she is swallowing back a touch of laughter.
While she doesn't have any particular regard for Aroden, she sees no reason to pass up information that her new employers might desire. She only recognized one of the rituals herself, about farming. So she uses the butt of her scythe to scratch out four small furrows in the ground much like the man in the image had been tending. "I doubt this place can really do much of anything. It has no divine behind it and someone else is claiming it."
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Interested in these rituals, Hayali takes a moment to consider the inscriptions they had seen. Standing before the city, she considers what the first of the inscriptions she'd seen meant. Humility? It was a good trait to have, at least with others. To Kubbup, she notes: "It's a shame, though - I'm actually quite vain, so I don't know that humility is something I'd be good at."
She steps over to the image of the tailor and considers the image. Satisfied that it's a matter of wrapping the city, like in the carving, she removes one of her scarves from her person and uses prestidigitation to make it long enough to circle the building.
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As Hayali steps away from the city you feel a warm glow fill you bodies and there is a faint light briefly from the city.
Uori watches on with mild interest as the glow ebbs away.