Ku'ada peeks over Ceer's shoulder, and after a moment gives the group a summary of the Elvish, careful not to speak the activation phrase aloud.
"I can't make this out Ku'ada." Ceer whispers as he hands her the parchment. "Maybe you can make this out."
"Surely it can't just be as simple as reciting the deactivation phrase," Rheed says, seemingly from nowhere, "otherwise Kaeviel would have been able to do just that."
"My thoughts exactly..." Ku'ada replies, and continues on dubiously, "Except perhaps he could not speak Elvish? I could yell it out as we run away..." He finishes with a grin.
"I don't think this is going to help us deactivate that thing..."
"Rheed, what else did you see when you were down there?"
"I don't think this is going to help us deactivate that thing..."
"Rheed, what else did you see when you were down there?"
"Other than the huge metallic scorpion? There where a couple of bags, one that looked like it was full of food, the other seemed to belong to the halfling." Rheed answers quietly, "There was also a raised area at the far end of the chamber, full of broken statues... I didn't get close enough to see many details of them."
"Oh," He adds, whipping out another roll of paper and placing it in Ceers hand, "there was also this map of the local region."
Ceer looks at the map Rheed just handed him....
It appears to be a detailed map of the locations of many ruins in this area, with lots of writing and notes on it, but you can't make out the writing.
"Is it possible that the phrase is keyed to elven blood?" Rheed whispers to the group, "That might explain Kaeviel's failure... or perhaps the phrase was not recorded correctly on the map."
Ku'ada, you should be the one to read this. We can set a trap for it...in case the command doesn't work. I could make the area at the top of the stairs greasy and then we draw the creature up here. If the Ku'ada's command doesn't work, then we might be able to knock it down with the grease.
There might be clues to Tamika's whereabouts in those bags.
Of course, Rheed could always go back and try to bring back the bags...but that might create too much noise and leave him alone with the creature.
"Very well then, perhaps we shall find more clues beyond. Set your trap, and I will yell out the deactivation phrase. If we are lucky, it will be destroyed, otherwise it will be drawn up the steps, I am sure."
"I think we need to dispose of this creature here and now. Try the phrase, and if that doesn't work, we can figure out how to proceed. I've got my scimitar. I bet that will work a bit on it," the druid says, staring at the group attempting to interpret the scroll.
"Alright," Rheed says quietly, "if we are decided."
He slinks slowly to to left side of the stairs and draws his longsword and axe, waiting for the moment to strike should the guardian below react with hostility towards Ku'ada's attempt to deactivate it.
"Okay. I'll grease the area now if everyone is ready..."
Standing behind a pillar, Kuada cries out in Elven <The Lord's blazing wrath is quenched. Be still, Beast, and await the call of Fire.>
After Ku'ada speaks the elvish phrase, at first you think that nothing is happening. Then you hear the sound of the construct walking further into the room, very slowly. It continues, you think, all the way to the far end of the long chamber, and then stops.
Corvus looks almost disappointed at the lack of combat. "Well done," she mutters, her eyes glancing around for something to hit with her sword.
"Well done, Ku'ada!" Ceer says as he slaps him on the back.
"Don't look too glum Corvus. Hey, maybe we there is a shield down there for you! Let's go look!", he says as he starts down the stairs after snapping his fingers to dismiss the grease.
Rheed moves with the others into the room, retrieving his dagger and sheathing it. "That went well."
As he follows the others into the room, Ku'ada looks quite surprised that the phrase worked. "Thank you Ceer, but I fear that a few words spoken aloud hardly deserve such thanks." With a motion towards Rheed, "Perhaps we ought to congratulate Rheed here on his stealth instead."
"It wouldn't have done much good without someone able to use the notes I found," Rheed says modestly, "let's put it down to a team effort."
"Well spoken, friend!" Ku'ada says as he laughs.
"Proceed with caution everyone, I fear this might have been too easy," Mobutu adds, following with Bwenge, still with scimitar and shield at the ready position.
Back in the chamber below, you discover that the construct has crawled up and embedded itself into the wall at the far end of the chamber, quite high, near the ceiling. It is almost completely lost in the shadows, which are now more pervasive as the dim lights have faded to a low glow.
Other than the bags of equipment left by Dardin and Kaeviel, there is not much to be found: until you search the far end of the chamber. On the back side of the pillar in the far left corner, you find that another construct built of similar materials- this one in the shape of a large serpent- has been skewered to the wall with a large spear. Telltale scorch marks on the haft of the spear show that someone likely died holding it shortly after destroying the snake construct, long ago. The angle of the view and the light is such that the spear is almost entirely hidden from view unless you go around the side of the pillar. The spear gives off a faint magical aura.
On the platform, the legs and feet of several more statues stand amidst "pools" of melted bronze. They must have been destroyed centuries ago.
Inside Dardin's pack, you find a lot of typical adventuring gear and a lot of food. Inside Kaeviel's pack you find more meager rations, some coins (12 platinum pieces) tucked in a small pouch, and an "inside" pocket with another note--- also written in a strange form of shorthand that you cannot read. Rheed feels there is something vaguely familiar about the writing. It reminds him of Tameka.
"This looks familiar," Rheed says faintly, holding the strange note, "I think... I think Tameka had some notes written like this."
Rheed trails of and remains silent after this, remembering the doomed expedition on which he met Tameka, and thinking of her uncertain fate.
Ku'ada walks to the spear, intrigued, and makes a go at identifying it.
The spear is a +1 spear which can cast chill metal once per day as a swift action on a creature or object it touches if the wielder speaks the word "ringa."
The map shows what you guess to be about a 10-mile radius area. You recognize the symbol where the temple of Chak'ro is marked, at least, because it was written using the elvish runes. Other than that you can't tell what the markings mean. Chak'ro is about in the center of the map, slightly east. To the north and west, there seems to be a cluster of ruin sites spaced out about a third of a mile from one another. Several of them have things written next to them and one of them is circled. There are other ruins and markings around the map, but you're not sure what they mean yet.
Ku'ada comments to the rest on his discoveries with the spear, but refuses to touch it; He is troubled by the stain at the end, where a man had been consumed by fire. Leaving the spear, Ku'ada takes a look at the map, and if produced, the note. Ku'ada attempts to bend his linguistic skills to the task.
"Well, perhaps one of you could make use this..." Ceer says as he examines the spear.
"Perhaps we should take a look at those. Especially the one that is circled." he says indicated the circled ruins on the map.
Ku'ada looks at the pair of documents - the map and the note - but unfortunately is not able to decipher much of their contents. He can only tell that they were likely written by two different people using a similar language. There are similar patterns amongst the words, but the symbols and markings themselves look different. Ku'ada's best guess is that these are written in some sort invented language used for writing confidential messages and notes.
"Perhaps Dardin will know what the notes say," Rheed says, gathering himself, "it might be some form of Pathfinder Society shorthand... but barring any revelations on that front, those ruins do look like the most promising avenue of investigation once we get him back to civilization."
"Good idea...let's go talk to Dardin."
"So who's taking the spear?"
"I suspect Corvus would be able to put it to best use," Rheed says, moving over to the spear and looking more closely at the construct impaled by it.
Rheed begins to tinker with the serpentine construct attached to the wall.
Rheed tries to get the head of the serpent to come off, but it's been there quite some time and it's quite old. He'll have to work at it for a while if he wants to take it with him.
Cursing quietly under his breath, Rheed stops his work on the serpent to look to the others, "This might take a little longer than I thought, damn thing's all jammed up, do you mind holding up for a few more minutes while I get this off? It looks like a pretty unusual piece."
Mo'butu couldn't help himself. He inspected the spear that Ku'Ada had identified. "Mind if I hold it," he asked the collected group. It was amazingly finely crafted, that was for sure, he decided after waving it around for a bit.
AFter a few moments, he approached Corvus. "One of us could probably put this to the best use. If you want it, you may certinaly have it."
Mo'butu couldn't help himself. He inspected the spear that Ku'Ada had identified. "Mind if I hold it," he asked the collected group. It was amazingly finely crafted, that was for sure, he decided after waving it around for a bit.
AFter a few moments, he approached Corvus. "One of us could probably put this to the best use. If you want it, you may certinaly have it."
Corvus eyes the spear and taking it lightly in both hands, gives a few exploratory swings and lunges. "It's nicely balanced and very pretty...but I always go with what I know." She hands the spear to Mo'butu.
Hefting her sword as if it weighed no more than a dagger, she smiles wide enough to show all her teeth as she twirls the greatsword with a satisfied air.
"Much better. You keep the spear."