Further examination of the shed fails to turn up anything of interest - no enchanted gardening tools, no possessed flower pots, and no long-lost relics of Imperial Lung Wa. With no other obvious way to proceed short of breaking through the shed's back wall, it seems prudent to move on to the next set of doors.
The large double-doors that mark the estate's main entrance are worn and covered with deep gouges in the wood that look as though they would match the paws of the poor possessed bear. After looking them over Hepsubia determines the doors to be free of traps and other hazards and Zithembe doesn't detect any magical auras coming from them either. Once everyone is ready to proceed, you swing the doors open. Light floods into what appears to have once been the estate's entry hall. A tattered rug adorns the floor of this short, forlorn room. Pieces of a broken weapon rack lie on the floor in front of a statue of a stern Tian-Shu man wearing ceremonial armor and holding a long-bladed sword above his head - the same man whose spirit you saw leave the slain body. Doors lead out of this hall to the west and east.
All is quiet.
As you peer into the room with Detect Magic, you catch an aura coming from the statue.
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Maria picks up a small stone from the courtyard, "when in doubt about a danger, throw something at it and record the results."
But, she waits to hear from Zith once she sees him using some sort of magical divination. If he provides no information and no one stops her, she whips the stone at the statue, following it with a few more just in case.
She runs out of stones but hopefully some of them did something.
While you're unable to determine the exact spell, you do determine that it's a single aura of evocation that radiates from the statue.
While Zithembe focuses determining the statue's enchantment, Sylvak readies his weapon and Maria takes the very sensible approach of throwing some stones to see if the statue reacts. Maria's got pretty good aim and has no trouble hitting her target but the statue endures the indignity of being pelted with rocks and does not move.
Rumble, tired of all the tip-toeing about, finally decides to conduct a test of his own and boldly steps forward into the hall...but nothing happens.
Deciding that the room itself seems safe enough, for now, Maria follows Rumble inside. She begins a circuitous path around the room, inspecting it for anything of interest. The room bears the hallmarks of having served as a bear's den for years - shattered porcelain and ruined furniture litters the floor and torn remnants of banners and flags hang on the walls, their meanings long since consigned to history. While she doesn't turn up anything that looks like an important relic, the others notice that when she moves in front of the eastern door the statue's mouth slowly twists into a snarl...
Anyone looking closely enough notices that it seems like the bear avoided the eastern door.
Hepsubia doesn't see any traps as she also moves into the room and begins looking about but when she goes to touch the eastern door the statue raises its sword, pointing at her as its mouth opens again in another snarl...and suddenly expels a gout of fire!
But it seems like she found a trap just the same! Or rather, found the trigger for it. Whoever built this place sure didn't want anyone mucking around in the eastern wing without permission. On the bright side, after the initial gout of the fire the stature returns to its inert state and doesn't seem to react any further to Hepsubia's presence.
Deciding to leave the matter of the eastern wing for the time being - especially after the fire show - Rumble stomps over to the western door and once everyone is ready, boots it open in proper dwarven fashion. The door slams back against the wall with a *BANG!*, revealing a short hallway with two more doors leading off to the north and to the south. Another statue similar to the one in the entrance hall stands next to the wall on the opposite end of the hallway.
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Rumble almost drops his hammer when Zithembe walks past him and into the hall. "WHA' IN THA BLAZES! Dih anyone else see tha'?! 'e looks diffurent now! Wha' happen to yah Z?"
"Now yah want tah play Dwarven Trapfindin', eh? Ih's a lotta fun, open 'er up Sylvak! Tha more tha merrier!"
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Feeling bold, Zithembe strides forward into the hallway as he examines the two new doors and the surrounding area for magical auras. This time his magic sight doesn't turn up anything, not even on the statue at the end of the hallway. With no obvious auras to worry about he then flings open both the northern and southern doors with a flourish, kicking up copious amounts of dust and dirt as he does.
To the south, Zithembe can see what appears to be the remains of a once-opulent bedroom suite, now reduced to ruin and showing now-familiar signs of the bear's presence. What's left of the bed and bedding is heavily soiled and piled up in one corner, indicating that the bear may have used it as a den of sorts.
When he turns to look to the north, the shabti can see a small room that was likely once a study of some sort - the remains of two large, cushy chairs can be seen sitting in front of an old fireplace and shelves filled with moldering, crumbling books line the walls.
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Sylvak shrugs and follows along with his companions. "If the spirit of whoever lived here was in that bear," he reasons while peering into the bedroom/den, "then he might have hidden some of his favorite things in here where he slept... maybe even something our employer might be interested in?"
With that, he steps into the room and begins searching...
Further exploration of the western wing of the estate, ultimately consisting of two bedrooms and the study, fails to yield anything that would be of interest to Mai Chun and so you turn your attention to the once-warded east wing. The trap that had been placed upon the statue hasn't reset as of yet, if it can even reset at all, and so this time you have no trouble proceeding beyond the door and into another short hallway that also has doors leading away to the north and south.
To the north, you discover the remnants of the estate's kitchen as well as several small rooms that were likely once servants' quarters. As with the west wing, none of these rooms yield anything of interest or value. But to the south...that is another matter entirely. Upon discerning that this door is locked but thankfully not trapped or warded, Hepsubia takes some time carefully working with the lock and eventually manages to pick it open.
In stark contrast to the decaying ruin of the rest of the manor, this combination of bedroom and office is almost pristine save for a thick layer of dust. One wall contains shelves bearing books and scrolls, and another wall is covered with an enormous map of central Tian Xia. On the desk lay several sheets of thick paper, their script indecipherable under ages of dust.
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Searching through the wrecked rooms, Maria patiently covers the others with her bow. Taking a quick look through each as they move into the next she is quite surprised they have yet to be attacked. She whispers her suspicions, "I went to an old estate like this that was packed full of mites and corrupted critters so I've been pretty high strung, but I guess maybe this one may actually be mostly abandoned... or that bear thing did its job really well."
She covers Sylvak from the hallway, readying to shoot anything she sees attacking him.
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"Let's take all the books and scrolls, and papers; that's the stuff she said she wanted," Sylvak offers, still keeping his sword at the ready.
"I can carry a fair bit if you want to start loading up my pack... does anyone have one of those syphons from the last mission, in case we haven't seen the last of that spirit?"
As the minutes pass and nothing leaps out, you all begin to relax and suspect that the bear probably did do its job quite well. Now free to focus on searching the room more thoroughly, you come across numerous things of interest:
The books on the shelves are military treatises and the scrolls are military orders detailing troop movements in the dying days of Lung Wa. While quite heavy - nearly 200 pounds in total - you're certain that these would be of historical interest to Mai Chun.
The giant map of the region that became Shokuro is highly detailed and someone with a steady hand appears to have carefully marked several remote locations in various mountain ranges. The border of the map is an intricate depiction of the Dragon Empires zodiac. Although the map looks to be delicate, it should be possible to remove it from the wall if proper care is taken.
While the books and the map are certain to be worthwhile acquisitions, the papers on the desk are more uncertain. They seem to be a series of one-sided correspondences from an adjutant of the last Lung Wa emperor to General Chiang Zhen, surely the original owner of this estate. Except...they're all written in Tien. But even if none of you have any immediate means of reading the letters, Mai Chun would certainly be able to translate them.
Other than the books, map, and papers there are a few other items scattered about the room that are likely worth some coin if not historical value. A fine calligraphy set, probably worth about 100 gold or so, sits atop the desk. Within the drawers you also discover a gold ring, worth 300 gold, as well as 50 gold in loose coins. Last of all, you notice that the naginata leaning against the desk seems to be of masterwork quality.
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Maria moves into the room once no threats are discovered. Shushing her allies that are quick to pack everything up and rush out, "oh pish, I think we can take our time here to figure out exactly what we have. I don't recall being given a short deadline to return and I'd like to try to figure out a few things before we go back to our host."
She begins inspecting the military orders and the map, trying to figure out the connections. Looking annoyed at the language barrier present in the letters, she pulls out a scroll, "the vendor said this would let one of us read any written language, but it only lasts 10 minutes. Should we try to use it here or save it?"
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"Are yah sayin yah want me tah read? Fur ten whole minutes?!" Rumble groans as Maria pulls out the scroll. Bemoaning his fate, the dwarf collapses onto the bed and waits for the inevitable pile of paper for him to read get sorted out. Be a blacksmith, they said. You'll never have to read, they said. WELL LOOK AT ME NOW.
Since there's no need to rush - Mai Chun didn't give you a deadline - you're able to take as much time as you need to pack up all of the books and papers and for Hepsubia to very carefully remove the map from the wall without damaging it. There's some discussion on using the scroll that Maria had purchased in order to read the letters you found but ultimately you decide to wait and save it for a rainy day. Perhaps if Mai Chun is unable to read and translate the papers herself you can make use of it but for now it seems prudent to hold on to it.
With the ruins of the estate explored and the threat of the bear resolved there's little else to be done but make the return trip to Ashima with your findings. By the time you find yourselves walking up to Mai Chun's house once more the hour is twilight, the sun almost completely out of sight below the horizon. As if expecting you - or perhaps she simply heard your approaching footsteps - the screen door bangs open as Mai Chun rushes out to greet you.
"You've returned! And not empty-handed, I see," she remarks, gesturing to your heavy packs. "Quickly, come in, come in! I want to hear everything - don't spare the details," she beams, gesturing for everyone to enter.
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"AN' THA WORS' PART WAH THAT AYE DINAE EVEN GEH AH CHANCE TA SWING MA SLEDGE!" Rumble adds to Sylvak's succinct summary. "Wors' expedition evah..." he grumbles as he takes a seat to unstrap his boots before entering the house, while the rest of his companions add their comments to the excursion.
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