Brayden finds nothing else unusual about the statue after the ritual is complete, besides its beauty and historical value.
Jasmine and the group move forward to see the sheer walls of the glacier dominating the northeast open courtyard, towering as high or higher than the central sanctum’s tall, spired dome on the courtyard’s south end. A wide set of stairs leads up into the sanctum itself, while a lone statue stands out as the only feature of the courtyard, whose walls are encased in thick ice.
Four humans ill-dressed for the cold weather hack at the glacial eastern wall of the courtyard with rusted picks. Each worker is covered in sweat as though working in 90-degree heat.
Overseeing the humans is a leathery-skinned man, short and squat, who looks to have just come out of weeks spent under the harsh desert sun of another world. He is dressed in bulky, bone-studded leather lined with furs. The man chuckles as he lashes with his whip at one of the workers, who has slipped and fallen into the shin-deep snow made of the workers’ glacial shavings.
An Osirion sand panther paces next to the leathery man, ever watchful of the workers who occupy the man's attention.
Despite her quiet feet, one of Jasmine's footfalls echoes through the temple, causing the man to look back and see the group behind him.
Player Initiative
Initiative (Round 1)
Brayden <= Up
Melufiuos <= Up
Evenstar <= Up
Basalte <= Up
Jasmine <= Up
Man+Panther
Professor F
The combined opening attacks of Basalte and Evenstar remove the man from the combat, as he now lies on the ground unconscious and dying. Melufiuos moves closer to the combat with his rapier ready.
Projectiles fly from Brayden's and Jasmine's weapons, but the cat avoids being hit by them.
Hissing with anger as its master falls, the cat strikes out at the closest target, Basalte. Although it attacks with a bite and two of its claws, it's unable to hurt the stony man.
As combat breaks out, the workers all drop their picks and cower together in the corner.
Initiative (Round 1-2)
Professor F <= Up
Brayden <= Up
Melufiuos <= Up
Evenstar <= Up
Basalte <= Up
Jasmine <= Up
Panther
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The professor hobbles into the room, rubbing his eyes and taking in the sight of the workers and the fallen Aspis.
"Oh dear, they sent quite the Aspis contingent today didn't they?"
He narrows his eyes at the large cat.
"Is that a giant rat? No, no, the ears aren't right. Some sort of feline... those can be quite dangerous! Do be careful"!
Using the cover provided by Basalte, the panther avoids Evenstar's powerful blow.
Using his wand, Professor F provides Brigh's blessings to the group.
Basalte's falchion leaves a deep gash along the panther's side, but it still remains a threat.
Although Brayden's arrow flies high over the cat, Melufiuos' rapier strikes true, piercing something important and ending the feline threat.
A couple of the workers cheer, while the other two still seem skeptical of your party's intentions.
On the man's body, the following items are found: tanglefoot bag, masterwork whip, spell component pouch, bronze Aspis Consortium badge, magic scroll, magical studded leather armor
He also possesses a bill of slave purchases bearing both the seal of a prominent slave market in Okeno as well as an Aspis Consortium golden seal.
Scroll of lesser restoration
+1 studded leather
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Evenstar quickly moves toward the slaves as the taskmaster and his pet are subdued.
"Fear not!" she says as she straps her polearm to her back. "We are here to help you, not harm you. Let us find a safe place for you to rest in warmth, and when we are finished with our tasks here, we will escort you out. You will be slaves no longer, but freemen like unto us."
She smiles at them, then searches in her pack for some provisions to share.
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Mel informs the others that the scroll is of lesser restoration and the leather is +1
-Posted with Wayfinder
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The professor, without much thought to the other Pathfinders' respective stances on slavery, hobbles over to the chained workers and makes a bold proclamation.
"With your masters beaten, you're all free now!!"
Standing there, he smacks his lips and wonders why they aren't all rushing past him to the exit.
"Are you all deaf as bats, didn't you hear --- oh, those..."
Realizing they are all chained up, the Professor pulls out his tools of Brigh and gets to work teasing out the secrets of the various locks shackling the former slaves.
As he performs his work, the Professor does mention he's in the market for "inexpensive" (but free) labor as he plans to start a business sometime upon his return to Absalom.
All the slaves quickly come around once you set about feeding and freeing them, although one asks what all the rest are evidently thinking, "How do we get out of here? The last thing we remember before coming here is being on a ship and being forced to drink something that put us to sleep. After that we found ourselves here."
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"Troublesome. The Aspis must have a Tapestry of their own, which would cause you to leave a small dot behind you when you entered. Touching the dot will allow you to return home. When we are finished with your masters, we will help you look for those dots, or barring any success, we will confer with our masters. Stay here for now."
Realizing that he hadn't spoken that much since he's met his companions, Basalte tries to mumble something, decides against it, then returns to his silence. Then the earthen warrior moves to the south, weapon in hand, ready to slay the last ones of the Aspis.
Upon being questioned by Brayden, the slaves willingly tell you all they know. Although they've been nearly worked to death removing ice, they describe seeing the three guards you defeated earlier, as well as a half-elven woman in robes and her female human bodyguard in the room to the south. In addition, there's been about 20 other agents who've gone through the shrine in the past three weeks, some staying longer than others.
Although they aren't quite sure what role most of those agents played within the camp, they are quite sure the leader is a female half-orc who carries around a pair of kukris. One of them thinks he overheard her being called 'Leska.' This Leska left the shrine a few days ago with one of her lieutenants, a mysterious man with a Tian accent that didn't seem to be a member of the Aspis Consortium himself, as well as a ratfolk who arrived a few days earlier and had been treated with exceptional respect. Where they were going or how long they planned to be away, the slaves have no idea.
Having taken a few peeks into the south room, the slaves speak of a bronze mountain inside, which the group verifies a few minutes later when they move into that room.
A row of columns lines the inside of this tall, thin dome, each decorated with intricate carvings. The walls are completely covered in flowing script, etched into the red-brown stone with the delicacy of fine calligraphy. In the room’s center, a massive mountain of bronze rises nearly thirty feet. Several crates are visible on the south side of the stylized mountain, opposite the stepped entryway. The flicker of an unseen flame illuminates the room in dim light, the shadows shifting as if something were moving in front of its source.
The temple’s inner sanctum is an elaborate representation of Ragdya’s holy texts and major religious iconography, including the legendary mountain Bahmenu upon which he is said to reside. The elaborate carvings on the columns and walls depict scenes from the legendary deeds, from his youthful escapades stealing from the six-armed calikangs of Astangapur, to his wooing of his hundred brides, to his crossing the sea on the back of a celestial garuda.
As above, plus notice other deities from the Vudran pantheon playing roles in many of these scenes, including Likha, goddess of fables, Chamidu, goddess of beasts, Suyuddha, goddess of war, and Gruhastha, god of protection.
As Basalte leads the group around the mountain, he immediately notices a hooded woman wearing a chain shirt standing watch in the south part of the room. A look of momentary shock flashes over her features before she shouts out a warning behind her, "We have uninvited guests!"
Player Initiative Rolls
Initiative
Brayden <= Up
Evenstar <= Up
Basalte <= Up
Jasmine <= Up
Melufiuos <= Up
N
Professor
C
Thanks to the woman being flat-footed, Evenstar's bardiche slices completely through her. She falls to the floor and begins to bleed out.
Around the south side of the mountain, Evenstar sees a robed half-elf woman standing behind a paper covered desk and tightly grasping some scrolls.
Basalte kills the half-elf before she even has a spare moment to figure out what was going on.
As the rest of party filters south, everyone sees that the brass mountain at the sanctum’s center is hollow, and holds within it a great statue of Ragdya and a gold-and-gem-encrusted mosaic covering its inner surface. The interior is illuminated with two everburning torches. A narrow, 10-foot-high archway in the mountain’s southern face provides access to the statue.
A paper-covered desk, a chair, and several crates of goods fill up the rest of the southern half of the room.
Gear found on the human woman: potion of cure light wounds, antitoxin, masterwork chain shirt, daggers (3), sap, cold-weather outfit, sunrods (4), bronze Aspis Consortium badge, 17 gp
Gear found on half-elf woman: 7 scrolls, spellbook, spell component pouch, silver Aspis Consortium badge, 5 gp
Scroll of Bear’s Endurance
Scroll of Cause Fear
Scroll of Charm Person
Scroll of False Life
Both are Scrolls of Identify
Scroll of Tongues
0-level Wizard spells: All
1-level Wizard spells: comprehend languages, expeditious retreat, mage armor, magic missile, burning hands, charm person, feather fall
A map on the table is also identified as magical. It's a detailed map, albeit somewhat allegorical and stylized, of the Vudran peninsula. A detailed examination identifies a Know Direction scroll hidden within.
There are also items stuffed in crates, as well as statues lying about wrapped in blankets.
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The professor glances over several of the scrolls, waving his hand at some of them.
"Unintelligible penmanship on many of those -- why, in my day we'd simply tear up a scroll like that and make the wizard rewrite it!"
After pointing out the function of what he claims are better examples of a proper scroll, the professor hobbles over to the crates and statues and sees what he may uncover there.
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"I'm not exactly sure," Evenstar responds. "We are to stop these interlopers from looting this place. I am not sure to what extent we have eliminated the opposition, though the slaves did describe more bosses, I believe."
Evenstar looks carefully around at the brass mountain.
"Perhaps there are more clues to discover in here."
Other than the various magical items already found in the room, Professor F's detects no further instances of magic.
Evenstar takes her time to do a thorough examination of the room. She discovers a small golden statuette of a many-armed and grotesquely tusked seminaked woman resting in one of the crates wrapped and packed for transport.
She also finds a much larger statue wrapped in blankets and tied with tough twine, lying on it's side beneath the desk. Unwrapping the statue, it depicts a gentle-looking man.
This statue represents Meenashdu, god of charity and almsgiving.
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The professor squints at the statue.
"Meenashdu... goddess of charity and almsgiving. I'm not sure of her politics, but popular with the poor, nonetheless."
Hobbling about the room like a lost puppy, the professor eventually points his nose towards the direction they just came from.
"Certainly appears that way. We should take our time and search each room on our way out, just in case we missed something hidden..."
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"Hold it, there must be more to it."
The earthling meditates on the carvings for a while, before he summarizes what they have learned.
"We've been told that this place is built in symmetry, that all shrines are built facing the symbolic mountain of the Vanaras, the Bahmenu, birthplace of the god Ragdya, the center of the universe."
"We've found numerous shrines devoted to Vanaran gods, namely Meenashdu - goddess of charity and almsgiving - where the brazier was consuming the prayer book. We've just found a larger statue representing the same goddess. Maybe it could fit in the shrine dedicated to this goddess?"
"We've recovered a statue of the god Likha, on which was carved the words Sigurdanda Virgandya. Also a book called Mizravrtta Brahmodya, which the Aspis tried to burn."
"My conclusion is the following. We put back the statue to where is belongs, see if it unlocks anything. Look for other statues, other places to set them. Maybe that is the key to the mountain's heart."
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Mel sighs at the professor, "Man did I hate all that practicing my writing!" But after he looks at the scrolls the professor dismissed, he begins to see the wisdom in writing neatly. "Wow, you're right. I think this one may be bear's endurance, but I agree, the rest are still a mystery"
He is a bit lost himself as to what to do next until the rock speaks. His eyes light up. "Yes, symmetry! That should tell us where we haven't looked yet. Ahh, the wisdom of the mountain.." At that last, he smiles at Basalte.