Turning and headong back north to explore, the party goes through the northern archway, the undead shuffling along behind. The relaxing splash of water echoes throughout this tiled room. A large, pristine pool occupies much of the chamber, and a statue of a warrior-maiden serves as the centerpiece, endlessly pouring water from an ornate jar. A large carving on the east wall depicts a frightening man who stares at the viewer, with half his body burnt and ruined and the other half young and healthy. A withered corpse lies in the northwest corner.
As Corb stares at the fountain and Khamul calls forth his zombies, part of the pool coalesces into the form of a woman. The creature perches on the statue in the middle of the pool and watches the party.
The form responds with a short sentence. "Blub blubub...."
Khamul isn't sure what the creature is.
The form responds in what seems to be an irritated tone. "Blub..blub blurb bub!"
The form relaxes ever so slightly. "Buble!..........
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"The Jeweled Sages kept her here to keep the fountain flowing. They had a conflict and this place was cursed as a result. It's lonely."
Turning back to the elemental, Khamul explains in Aquan, "Blub blub bubble Buble blub blub bubble."
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Khamul reports to his companions, "There was another company here-Torch's company I think she means-and the elemental here had this woman stay to keep it company but the woman withered away. It also told me that there is a secret door accessed by manipulating the mural."
Khamul moves over to the mural of his patron god and examines the cartouches on either side.
Khamul examines the cartouches and sees this.
Khamul easily discerns the puzzle of the mural and opens a secret door.
Going inside, the rich scent of palm wine, cinnamon, and myrrh fills this magically illuminated storehouse. Each wall has deep slots filled with papyrus scrolls. A white-and-black marble altar enveloped in faint wisps of faerie fire sits squarely in the center of the room. A ladder to the south leads up to a walkway, with more shelves and a golden sarcophagus.
This archive contains a trove of history from the Age of Destiny that the Jeweled Sages managed to preserve through the decline of the pharaohs and the purges directed against them. The altar is consecrated to Nethys.
Searching the shelves reveals a collection of spell scrolls: a scroll of bless, a scroll of magic weapon, a scroll of ghostbane dirge, and a scroll of resist energy. The chest on the walkway contains five bottles of holy water, a stack of ancient platinum coins, five spell component pouches, and three scholar’s outfits in red, yellow, and green, cut in a style common millennia ago.
Examining the sarcophagus, you notice a small shrine next to it.
Corb and Khamul begin to gather up the items, but Corb can't quite figure out how to drag the sarcophagus along.
Khamul checks the eastern door and finds a storage space that housed food and supplies for the fortress. The walls, floor, and ceiling are charred, and the burnt remnants of a few splintered boxes and barrels and a handful of corpses are scattered to the edges of the room.
Khamul leads the party back to the entrance and up that stairs. A small enclosed guard post above the gate offered protection from the elements. The wooden doors are loose on their hinges and fall with a loud crash if not opened with great care. A stone cabinet served as a weapons locker, while a tarnished bronze brazier dominates the center of the room.
Detecting for magic, Khamul finds five +1 bolts within a weapons locker. Going out of the guard shack and into the north end of the courtyard, Khamul finds a stable and passing through the stable he enters a smithy. Within the smithy he finds that most of the contents of this room are spoiled and worthless, though he does find two sealed vessels
full of salt crystals. One contains an application of silver weapon blanch, and the other contains one measure of ghost salt.
Having now explored the rest of the complex, the party heads back toward the bridge where the haunt was.
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Khamul will start up a fire in the smithy and pull out some of his own arrows. "Does anyone else have arrows? We should each take a few ghost salt or silver arrows just in case."
Once everyone is finished in the smithy, Khamul heaves his scythe alongside him and leads the way past the haunt with his zombies in front of him acting as guard.
Khamul sends his minions in first, who quickly set off a trap!
Suddenly a burning hot whirlwind appears, encompassing the first two zombies, filling the area with the smell of burning, rotted flesh!
One of the zombies avoids much of the damage, while the other takes the full brunt of it, wisp of smoke curling off of it as it contiues to shamble forward, unphased.
Looking around, the party sees, the arch around the north entrance to this hallway is covered with detailed carvings depicting the life and accomplishments of a female pharaoh. A charred corpse covered in flecks of glass is visible just inside the hallway.
Titus checks the body and finds this man appears to have been another Scarab Seeker. His pack holds notes about the ruins and correspondence from the Pathfinder Society leadership. His notes record his suspicions about a trap in the hallway and that he had located a switch to bypass it. Titus also discovers a broken scarab embossed wayfinder and a scroll of remove curse.
Our agents in Qadira unearthed documents that were taken out of Osirion during the interregnum. They speak of an ancient group of scholar revolutionaries that were suppressed by the pharaohs during the Second Age. We believe we’ve pinpointed the abandoned fortress where some of these sages hid from the purges with their treasures. The documents say these scholars held priceless histories of Ancient Osirion, which we need you to retrieve and return to Absalom.
Assemble a team of the Scarab Seekers and follow the instructions that arrived with this letter. We’ve set up a cover for you as merchants and prepared a caravan that should see you close to the fortress and provide transport for anything you recover.
If the Osirians discover your purpose, we can’t have it traced back to the Society. Once you go in, you’re on your own. Burn this letter and the other documents once you’ve memorized them, and keep the information they conveyed to yourself.
While examining the body, Titus notices a table in the chamber to the south, covered with broken ruby fragments.
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"Why does it seem that no one actually burns the letters when they are supposed to burn them?"
Khamul takes stock of the room and then makes his way to the table. "Perhaps we are too late. I fear this is one of the Sage Jewels, broken." Khamul detects magic on the room, particularly the broken ruby fragments.
Moving into the room to examine the broken ruby pieces, the party sees, a large columned chamber that shows signs of past comforts, but an ancient battle scorched the walls and ceiling, and cracked and smashed the floor and columns. The remnants of furniture are scattered against the walls, and piles of bodies are stacked in the sleeping alcoves along the south and west walls. A dais crowned with a great, round table rises from the floor in the south part of the room.
Three corpses sit around the table as if in conference, each dressed in fine silk robes. A slight breeze whistles through with a sound like a distant, murmuring voice, but there is no sense or meaning in it. An open hallway to the north leads to a natural cavern. Stairs lead downward in the northeast corner of the room, but were buried in stone when the wall collapsed.
As you enter the chamber, you begin to hear faint voices and footsteps back toward the courtyard.
Khamul examines the ruby pieces, but can't figure many more than what he has already supposed.