"I have heals left too, if anyone still needs them. It's really the least I can do after you all just saved my @$$."
Simon laughs quietly.
"Especially you, big guy. If you hadn't have gotten here so quick, that thing could have had me right then. But, of course, you all have my thanks. I still don't think here would be a good place to stay the night, though. For one, he might have friends."
He points to the troll on the ground.
"And for two, if we only came here because it stood out from the landscape, anything else might as well. And we have to remember that not everyone will give us the benefit of the doubt when they see a den full of what they think of as monsters. We might be making ourselves targets by staying here."
The group assembles and heals Xanya. As they look at the corpse of the troll, they realize he is not carrying any valuables, equipment or even clothing really. Kiki begins to explore back into the room the troll came from, stealthily moving along, sticking to walls and ceilings as able.
You refresh the whispered message cantrip and Kiki heads off. She explores the room the troll came from and then heads down a hallway to the west. She reports back that the troll room has a fountain that still dispenses water, and the motif on it is the same as the idol in the other room you explored. The room to the west has a deep pit covered with some old rotted wood. The pit is in the northwest corner and has a foul and rotten smell. She is able to see that room 5 is likely where the troll nested. There is a lot of food scraps and small pieces of bones as well as troll feces there and intermixed amongst the refuse and nest there are some shiny blood covered treasures.
Quassine sees the shiny treasure, "Like you, there appears to be treasure in here. Should I both clean the search areas with prestidigitation and check for traps? Normally, I would just check for traps but with all of the rotting material inside the nest, we may want to clean it first?"
"I'm good now Simon, but thanks. And with this smell I don think any of us are seriously considering to stay here for the night."
Xanya wrinkles her nose and replies to Quassine. "Sounds like a plan. Just clean it and get rid of the smell already, no need to wait for us to confirm everythig. It's great that you are able to do such a thing though. There are no more creatures so we can just go in after Kiki." Xanya follows after Kiki and starts scanning the room for magic, checking out the statue and the pile of refuse.
"Clean away my brother, this place has quite the smell to it."
Quassine nods and begins to clean with prestidigitation and checks for traps;
The group moves into the next room, keeping their eyes peeled. Quassine finds no traps, and he starts using prestidigitation. It can only clean a 1' cube though and he finds that after a while it becomes quite tedious and time consuming. (It takes 100 castings just to clean a 10' x 10' area). He focuses on the worst areas, but some of it is just not meant for the spell. It will clean soiled items, but it cannot disintegrate a pile of troll feces or remove rotten uneaten food etc.
Inspecting the room, no one sees anything obvious or hidden. Xanya beams her detect magic around slowing turning in a circle, beaming the field around the entirety of the room.
The fountain does not appear to be magical, and the water in it appears to be naturally engineered to pool in the fountain and then exit through a drain at the base. The source and the exit are unknown and would require dismantling/destroying the fountain to determine how it works mechanically. A Knowledge Engineering check might determine possibilities for the seriously curious.
Moving into the western room, the group sees little bit of filthy treasure. Grouping the treasure together and perhaps rinsing it in the fountain in the other room, Quassine casts his prestidigitation on the accumulated items. You count up the small amount of coins and a few gems:
With Guidance from Xanya, the group tries to assess the value of the loot. While no one is trained in appraisals, you have have a rough idea of what gems are valuable and understand the concept of cuts and clarity, that you try to ballpark it.
Xanya feels most confident in her appraisal and the others give their guesses or aid other as is fit. The group is able to roughly determine the value of the items:
50 gp in coins
Gem: Aquamarine (400 gp)
Gem: Chrysoberyl (100 gp)
Gem: Red Spinel (55gp)
Gem: Zircon (50 gp)
Masterwork Dagger (302 gp)
The north end of the room has the pit, covered with old rotten wood. The group approaches it cautiously. No magic emanates from it, but the smell is also horrible.
"Wonder what it kept in the pit." He looks about the room at all the feces.
"It didn't use it for a bathroom. Let us have a look"
Goliath takes a look in the pit if you can see through holes or cracks in the wood if not he will slide the cover a bit out of the way to have a look.
Prodding a board gently to the side with your sword and looking down into the pit you can see that it too was indeed used as a pit toilet, in addition to other random garbage, refuse or just to throw things in for amusement. (Who knows what goes through a troll's dim witted mind).
You see a nasty mix of feces and some bones, some dirt, rocks, debris and other stuff perhaps dragged from elsewhere in this ruins, a lot of vermin, maggots, bugs, flies, etc. Much of the goo and sludge down there is not particularly identifiable. You can scarcely think of a more horrible place to be staring into and have to hold your breath to keep from gagging.
Xanya is very happy when they find and clean the gems. "It's nice finding treasure down her. *Diamonds are a girl's best friend*. It'll help us pay for the divination for the turtle or we can exchange them for better gear, that fight against the troll showed that we could benefit quite a bit from being better equipped."
"Ugh, Goliath, let's just leave it. That pile is awful. In time it will decay and turn into earth. There might be more clues in there, but who knows how long it'll take to sift through everything. Let's just scout further. Kiki, will you take the lead? Though be wary of traps." She starts leaving the room, going back to the fountain as she waits for Goliath's reply.
Quassine looks at Goliath, "Can you please carry the treasure? Sorry that you are the party's pack horse Brother Goliath."
...
Quassine's face turns twisted as the hideous smell penetrates his nostrils, then pats Goliath on the shoulder with a smile to hold back the dry-heaves, "All yours big brother." Then walks away quickly to start searching for traps with (the rest of) his siblings back at the fountain.
"I can carry these if you like. I have a spare pouch they'd fit in on my belt. Anyways, let's go see about that statue. Or anything else that will get us out of here..."
Simon lingers near the entrance for as long as is feasible. He's not keen on going to far into the room.
"Ugh the smell is so bad. Kiki please continue to scout and let us check off to the right ahead. I am done with the smell here. It is no problem to carry the things brother Quassine."
Xanya recasts her message cantrip on everyone.
Kiki scouts onward, keeping an eye out for traps.
Kiki scouts ahead into Room 6 and aftering skittering around for some time returns a whisper with the all clear, saying it only contains another large fountain the same as the one in the prior room.
She scouts ahead to Room 7 and returns saying there is some runes carved on the walls and that the room contains a stylized thorn motif running along the base of the walls and at the ceiling.
Both rooms are long since empty, although contain some refuse and debris from the troll's mischief. They smell and debris here are not as bad as the prior rooms which appear to have been the troll's primary lairs.
Xanya's detect magic finds nothing of a magical nature in Room 6.
It appears likely to have been some sort of large presentation hall perhaps with a ceremonial purpose.
You wonder who or what would have dug this elaborate underground home so far from anything.
Quassine looks at Xanya, "Nothing magical in here Let's try the room Kiki is in ? I wish I had the knowledge to figure out these non-magical runes and motifs."
Xanya responds in a message, spreading it to everyone. "Let's keep our voices down eh? Who knows what else might be here? Though I guess it would have had to live with the troll then. WI wonder who built all these fountains. Are they just for fresh water or do they serve some other purpose? Building stuff underground is nice, we Derro do it too. If I drink an extract of comprehend languages I should be able to read the runes. I actually do have that prepared. Kiki can explore further while we check out the runes here. It only lasts for 2 minutes, so if there are more runes down here it would be nice to find them asap so I can read them before the magic runs out." She follows after Kiki on top of Cryxial, drinks the extract and starts reading the runes.
Xanya downs her extract and reads the runes which speak of a group named the Thorns of Manos. It isn't quite clear what the group's purpose was but it seems obvious they worshipped in a lawful manner, though the name of their deity if unknown to you. The Thorns may have been a sort of fraternal organization or something akin to a club of old rich guys with nothing better to do.
Xanya sends of whispered messages of what she finds as she waits for Kiki to report back. "The runes speak about a group named Thorns of Manos. They were lawful worshippers, though I don't know the name of their diety. Probably a fraternal organization. I wonder what they were doing out here though. Was this a city or somesuch in ages long past? If so where is the rest? Maybe looking further in here will let us discover more?"
Quassine shrugs and whispers, "I have no recollection of this group? Although, if they were around during our time, they were probably secretive? Or they are from a more recent era than our own? My guess is the city is all around us buried or this ruin is in the countryside but close to the city?"
Kiki heads off to the west stealthily
She circles around to the southern rooms and comes back in to the room you are in with the fountain.
She notes that in what would be room 8 there is a circle of standing stones assembled in the room, perhaps ceremonial, ritualistic or religious in significance. The long chamber to the east appeared to be a long forgotten treasure chamber, as there were several chest or strongbox looking things on the far end, emanating a glow of some sort. Her scouting revealed a lack of troll stink, refuse or mess, so perhaps the troll stayed out of these areas, or never ventured this far in.
The treasure hall had an exit at its far east end.
Quassine smiles, "Kiki, please take me along the same path you took to get back in this room directly to the treasure room so I can check for traps and detect magic."
Quassine searches for traps and detects magic.
Quassine do you have any particular areas you want to focus on? For example each section of the floor and then if clear, focus on each chest for example?
Quassine do you have any particular areas you want to focus on? For example each section of the floor and then if clear, focus on each chest for example?
"Great, no enemies, unless the statues or chests somehow attack us." Xanya gives a muffled laugh, still wary of enemies even though there were supposedly none. "No need for Kiki to guid us, we can all just go." She whispers again and proceed to ride around, casting guidance on herself then scanning for magic as she goes and looking for more runes to deciper.
Quassine carefully moves through the rooms that Kiki went through. She of course often uses the walls or ceiling so Quassine checks the floors cautiously as he moves. It is a slow process but he moves expertly. It takes about three minutes as he moves through each piece of the floor and makes his way into the final room with the treasure.
The group notes with great interest the ritualistic standing stones, but passes by in favor of the lure or the treasure hall. Xanya notes as she pauses to scan it taking some time as Quassine moves slowly across the floor ensuring the party's safe passage.
The stones seem to radiate moderate abjuration magic in an area focused in the center of circle of the stones. The stones do not have any runes or writing on them. The stone type itself differs greatly from the stonework of the underground area. The stones are a pale pinkish type of granite that you have not seen in this area yet.
... (and possibly sets off muahaha)
"More magical statues. This time they have an aura of abjuration, which probably means they are protection of some sort. I wish I knew what." She quickly casts a cantrip as she tries to remember what she knows about such statues.
If she doesn't figure out what the statues are Xanya will go to scan the chests as well.
"Strange this place is untouched by the troll."
"that might not be fully possible" Kiki looks at Quassine from her position on the wall "but I will lead you as close to my path as possible"
"Strange this place is untouched by the troll."
"Honestly not sure if that means it was smarter or dumber than us..."
Simon looks around nervously, hoping there was nothing to see. Or at least, if there was, that it was either friendly or easy to get around...
Perception
"hopefully it just didn't want to bother squeezing trough all those tunnels"
"Maybe the statues somehow warded it out of the area?" Xanya says and shakes her head.
Xanya takes a moment to reflect on her arcane knowledge, and what she has learned from the detect magic. Clearly some sort of abjuration focus in the center could indicate that the stones are guarding something in the middle or are a focal point of some protective magic. Either something is currently being guarded, or there is some magical ward perhaps in place or it is designed to protect something that is no longer there. It could also be part of a ritual.
It definitely would need some more inspection to determine the true nature of what is going on here.
You don't recall anything in the book you have, but in general such standing stones have been parts of magical defenses or structures, used in various ways long before your time even, and is not new. Many times they are divinatory in purpose and used for astrological purposes or for predicting seasons and the like, depending where and how the sun lines up with the stones.
These being underground and the strong aura of abjuration lead you to believe they are protecting, guarding or warding something, and its central focal point makes you think it is within the circle and not outside of it.
"The statues are probably protecting something in the circle, let's go and see." Xanya rides over to study the circle.
If no one discovers anything Xanya will sigh and say. "Pha, how boring, I'll check it out myself." Before riding into the circle.
Quassine joins in the search, "It could also protect those chests so I will also search the area before moving back on to the floor leading up to the chests, and the chests themselves? Or, it maybe something else we could use to find Father and/or make ourselves better?"
And Quassine's detect magic is also active.
There was no magic detected from the chests.
Xanya and Quassine find that the center of the standing stones contains a circular stone disc on the floor. It is cleverly set in the flagstones, but appears to be potentially a seal perhaps. It is mortared in to the floor. This appears to be the source of the abjuration.
Quassine looks at Xanya, "So it is either a jail, a grave, a stasis, or it is holding something? Do we want to open it?"
Xanya nods vigorously. "I'm too curious to not at least try to open it. Who knows what is inside? It could very well be a clue to finding our master. Still, I think we should check out the rest of the place before we do so, especially what is in the chests over there. They don't have any magical about them. No idea where the glow comes from, but it's not magical. Let's check the chests first and what is beyond then go down the other tunnel before coming back here." Assuming no one objects to that she'll go over to the chests to check them out.
Quassine kindly holds Xanya back, "Let me check the path first up to and around the chests for traps. This has not been done yet and you all may want to stay here as I check. I do not want to accidentally kill one of you on a missed trap."
"Fine, fine, have it your way." Xanya says as she waits impatiently on top of Cryxial right outside the area with the chest.
Quassine smiles before continuing knowing how much this time is wearing on Xanya's patience, "Well if you want, you can disarm the traps the "Xanya" way and we can heal you after? It would definitely meet your demands of expedience. But I will stand back as you "disarm" them." Quassine holds out both of his hands like an usher would for directing people including the signature kind smile. "Do keep in mind, the troll stayed away from this area."