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You head down the stairs back to the underground level, passing through D12 and D13, and along the northerly route (with the unlocked gate) back to D19. That chamber, where the bulk of the battle took place, comes up with no magical auras. Perception Take 20 also comes up with nothing in room D19.
Locked bronze gates, identical to the one in area D12, block each of the entrances to this room. Idorii has disabled the northern gate’s lock—it still swings closed automatically, but it does not relock.
Two rows of columns support the vaulted ceiling of this large chamber. Inscribed hieroglyphs cover most of the room’s walls, but the southern wall is rough and unfinished. Three passages, each closed with a bronze gate, exit the room to the north, east, and west. The ceiling is 20 feet high in this chamber.
Looking about quietly and waiting to see if anyone sees anything of value that her distracted mind is causing her to miss.
Turel glances around him observing, "The priests must have used this hall for large gatherings or meetings, when the Cathedral of Nethys on the ground floor wouldn’t serve for one reason or another. The Hand must have been trying to figure out how to open these gates."
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Surveying the area, Ra paused and studied the southern wall.
"Hm. It looks as if the priests had planned for future expansion of the crypts from this location." He said.
He waived his hand, indicating the walls.
"As you can see, the southern wall is one of the few walls in the entire complex that is not tiled."
Turel smiles at the sylphs impetuousness. "Perhaps you should stay your hand for a moment Aleris." He then gently guides her to one side as he carefully examines the door.
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Neither Turel or Aleris finds anything suspicious about the double doors. They are unlocked and untrapped, and easily opened. If the doors are opened:
A large silver summoning circle is inlaid in the floor tiles near the center of this octagonal chamber. In the northeast corner of the room, a set of narrow steps leads up to a raised dais. A concave stone bench, almost a throne, perches atop the dais, flanked by two bronze braziers. Four columns carved in the form of fantastic creatures support the room’s vaulted ceiling.
If you proceed inside, remind me of your marching order again. ;) And please adjust your tokens on the map accordingly. ;)
"Let's not step on the summoning circle," Harmose says. "It's usually a pretty bad idea."
"I wish we had interrogated the members of the Scorched Hand a little more closely about this place." Turel notes softly as he observes the summoning chamber. Deciding not to risk summoning any guardians before the others had a chance to examine the area for magical auras, he stands his ground for now.
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The columns in the room are incredible examples of ancient sculpture. The column to the northeast depicts a beautiful, hawk-winged, succubuslike woman, while the southeast column is fashioned in the form of a feminine figure of billowing smoke or clouds crackling with electricity. The northwest column portrays a half-skeletal spellcaster of some kind, and the column to the southwest resembles a winged, angelic creature wearing a metallic mask.
The dais is 5 feet high, and the ceiling is 15 feet high in this room.
Moving up beside Kito near the end of the line.
Peering around the room, "This was a summoning room for calling creatures no of this world."
Frowning, Kito asks "Why would they put it in such an out of the way place?"
Kito blesses herself before concentrating on what the columns might be.
"Oh! That" pointing to skeletal figure "is why! Takarai, a powerful lich. Such an abomination should be destroyed! To even have a statue glorifying such a being is in bad taste!"
She then points to each of the statues and tells everyone who they most likely represent.
"As long as the lich does not arrive to slay us all, I am content with dealing with his image here." Turel responds to Kito, before turning to Polux. "What say you? Which side of the room do you wish to begin?"
Qari stays toward the back, not being nearly as learned as the others on historical facts. All she could do there was get in the way of the group, who needed to be able to see everything clearly. "This could be a good spot for a trap," she warns.
Kito grumbles that "They would probably forgive it for this, right?"
She seems to be trying to convince herself more than any of you. Right now, she isn't really sure. It is an undead, so that makes it alright, right?
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When you enter the room, two of the columns animate and move to attack. There is no surprise round.
Aleris, Harmose, Kito, Polux and Turel may act before the enemy. The two columns that animate are the hawk-winged succubuslike column representing Yamasha (northeast) and the feminine cloudlike representing Arcanotheign (southeast). I have added them to the map and larger images of them on a separate slide on the map.
Shatter Weapons (Ex) Whenever a character strikes a caryatid column with a weapon (magical or nonmagical), the weapon takes 3d6 points of damage. Apply the weapon's hardness normally. Weapons that take any amount of damage in excess of their hardness gain the broken quality.
DR 5/—
Immunity to Magic (Ex) A caryatid column is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below.
A transmute rock to mud spell deals 1d6 points of damage per caster level to a caryatid column, with no saving throw.
Transmute mud to rock immediately heals any and all damage currently suffered by a caryatid column.
A stone to flesh spell does not actually change the column's structure but negates its damage reduction and immunity to magic for 1 round.
"Oh dammit! These creatures can shatter the weapons that hit them. They're sort of like golems with preprogrammed instructions of who to hit and who to... " He pauses, a thought flashing through his brain like lightning. "...who to ignore. Who would THEY ignore? Does anyone have a Nethys holy symbol? This is a Nethys holy temple, I bet that's what these things are programmed to leave alone! Let's retreat and see if we can improvise the symbol."
Turel nods in reply and retreats to the entrance of the summoning chamber, readying his fists to strike should the construct attempt to exit the chamber. "Ra-Kefer! Help me block the exit here!"
Looking over at Kito, "I doubt that they would care for our reasoning. Nythys is a fickle.." Eyes widening as the column starts to move.
Whirling around to stare at Harmose and quickly shuffling out of the room.
Hearing Hermose's warning, Kito backs out of the chamber. Statues that break weapons? That doesn't sound good!
Once the statues have calmed down, Kito asks "So, should we go get some clubs along with holy symbols? If weapons are going to break against the creatures, sounds like we want something really cheap to use as weapons!"
Looking around, "Are we sure that the holy symbol will work? Are there prayers we should use instead?"
Chuckling, Kito says "The reason I suggested grabbing clubs was in case the holy symbols didn't work." Gesturing towards the area where the statues are, she continues "I don't think most people were allowed in there, so it is quite possible that it took something only a high ranking priest of Nethys would have. It could even be a passcode -- probably a parable of the faith."
"The holy symbols are a good idea, but it is a better idea to have a back up plan for if it doesn't work."
Nodding and looking down, "I get that I just wanted to make sure."
"I have a fair idea of what the Nethys holy symbol looks like," Harmose says. "His symbol is the two-toned mask in Black and White, and his holy weapon is a quarterstaff, so clubs bearing the Nethys holy symbol could be appropriate."
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Harmose's best guess supports Kito's guess that the solution would probably involve something to do with something a high priest would have, but others not so much. Something trivial like a holy symbol that pretty much anyone would carry with them would be too common to serve as an effective identifier.
"Perhaps we should continue our search of the Crypt? A solution may reveal itself with further exploration." Turel suggests.
"I agree with Turel. Let's see what else we find, and see if a solution pops up to deal with those statues. There might be a bunch of those holy symbols hidden somewhere."
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Turel points out the secret door which lays ajar leading to an unexplored room. "Perhaps this room holds some answers?"
A stone effigy of a humanoid figure stands at the north end of this room, its arms spread in a gesture of supplication, or as if commanding an object to rise in the air. The figure’s face is devoid of detail, with only vague contours where the eyes and nose should be. An extensive series of hieroglyphs covers the western wall, opposite a stone bench that stands against the eastern wall.
As Turel looks over the room over yonder, Polux goes to work on the doors pointed out by Aleris - "I've got it Aleris"
Nodding and quietly following after the others.
Kito wanders over to the room Turel pointed out.
Seeing the hieroglyphs, she casts detect magic and examines the room. "Strange that all the other sculptures are so detailed, but this one isn't."
Harmose also wants to read the hieroglyphs. Anything interesting here?
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I'm going to assume that the group of you are roughly distributed between D14 and the west doors in D13. Aleris and Polux at the west doors in D13; Turel, Harmose and Kito in D14, others somewhere in-between. I have adjusted your map positions accordingly.
Polux also finds no traps on the D13 doors. He greatly exceeds the DC of the locks and very easily clicks open the locking mechanism of the doors. Tell me if you also open those doors; I'm going to assume you don't unless you explicitly say so. They are now, however, unlocked.
Kito and Harmose examine the hieroglyphs on the western wall of D14. They are in Ancient Osiriani. The Ancient Osiriani hieroglyphs on the western wall are written in a poetic style in an ancient dialect and are particularly difficult to follow, but if translated, they read as follows.