Roger.
Kerrec loads a bolt and assumes his normal position.
Toshio draws his hammer and assumes his customary role in front with his Barbarian ally.
The group descends a stair case that starts to the west but slowly turns 30 feet or so to end up entering from the west instead. As you descend a handful of lanterns mark the stairs with flickering light and you can tell there is a subtle but noticeable lean to the stairs as you go.
When you come to the final landing you all can note that the lean is pronounced enough that it would actually impact the ease of fighting giving an advantage to the party standing further east.
The engineering minded in the group will not that for this level to be slanted and the one above to not be would indicate the buildings above were placed after the event that caused the slant and construction was modified to account for it.
There is a stone door just around the corner from the steps hangs slightly ajar, the detailed carvings that once covered its surface defaced by chisel marks and hammer blows to the extent that only a few remnants of images (mostly of gemstones and crowns) remain.
Behind this door, two pillars support the ceiling in here. In many places the stone walls, floor, and ceiling are caked with ancient grime and soot. Alcoves in the north and south wall contain partially damaged statues of a man in robes clutching a book and a glaive. The entire room is canted toward the west, and whatever ancient upheaval caused the complex to tilt knocked the statues from their bases so that now they lean against the southern walls of their alcoves. Another stone door, this one closed lead further into the complex east.
Sweet
"Hope you don't mind if I'm a little cautious. If she took the time to hide the door, she might have invested in some traps, too."
Unlike the statue under Sandpoint these are solid cast bronze; the book and spear are part of the statue proper. (In theory these would be worth a decent amount if you could get them out of here...no small feat given heir size and dimensions.)
Camillo scours the hallway, pillars and floor with a watchful eye. Nothing seems out of place (other than the obvious chaos caused by the tilt) and the other door would seem to be untrapped and unlocked.
Rullis waits patiently as Camillo does his thing. "Is it okay?" he says after Camillo seems to pause for a bit.
"Yeah, as far as I can tell. I didn't check the sides of the room and I didn't look for secret doors or anything hidden like that. This door's not locked and does not appear to be trapped, either. Want me to open it? Or should I check around for other surprises?"
Kithian grins and steps towards the door with his falchion held high. "Unless you want me to bust it down, then please."
With a shake of the head, "As you wish." Camillo will open the door and step to the side as it opens.
Toshio looks on...
[ooc]I cheated and posted the map. Floor 3 on the Main Page]
This short hallway rises in a slope to the east. Five feet from the west
ern door, the floor is polished and shiny, unlike the dusty floor else
where. A pair of stone statues depicting stern men wielding glaives
stand in alcoves north and south of this section of the hallway. At the
eastern end stand two stone doors, their faces carved with strange
runes. Between the doors is a third alcove in which a partially col
lapsed statue sits. The top half of the statue is missing, leaving behind
a ragged stump of a torso.
"Hmmm, so this time it is men wielding glaives? The statue under Sandpoint was of a woman wielding a glaive as well yes? I wonder if it is significant?"
Kerrec walks over to the southern alcove and examines the statue. "I am willing to guess they are related Vidar. It seems this area is thick with buried warrens of ages past."
Rullis glances over at Camillo as they examine the chamber, "Which way now? Right or left?"
Left has worked for us in the past.
"Left it is then."
"Let us just be careful, if this is her sanctuary then it is likely she would have trapped the entrance to it just as master Duin stated."
"..."
"I know I would have..."
While the others check out the chamber, Camillo checks out the left passage as suggested.
Rullis taps his fingers on his spear as he patiently waits for Camillo to examine every inch of this doorway. "If this is going to take a while, I'm gonna grab a bite to eat." He swings his bag off and begins rummaging through it for some of his dried fish sticks. "I've been eating too much of that good food at the Rusty Dragon lately and now my stomach seems to be expecting it."
"Tell me about it, I miss the ale the most. At least you got to go back and have a few. I was stuck here having to eat my rations and having to look at two horses arses all day. Then I went out side and fed the mounts."
As you mill about the hall each of you notes that the clean floor plate seems to give way to some sort of mechanism that might cause a cage to trap someone in the hall? The device seems old and poorly maintained but at some point this hall was where intruders would likely find their intrusion pointedly ended.
As the group chats amongst itself Camillo checks the northern door and though he finds it locked, he does not believe anything sinister traps the door.
Are we ready to move on?
Camillo will attempt to unlock the northern door.
Disable Device
Muttering, "I knew I should have paid more attention."
Disable device
K
Camillo opens the door with ease after a false start. A wide stone ledge of red marble lines the curving walls of this room, which is well-lit by four burning skulls that sit in each corner. Three chairs rest in the room, and both stone ledges are covered with books, scrolls, teeth, bones, scrimshaw artwork, jars of deformed creatures soaking in brine, taxidermied animals and limbs, and other strange objects. To the north, a large round fountain filled with frothy blue water fills the room with the gentle sound of bubbling.
"This room has a religious feel, but I am afraid I cannot identify which deity it may associated with.
The pool looks benign, but those deformed creatures...less so."
"Deformed creatures.....We have seen such things before....." says Kerrec thoughtfully.
Kerrec asks for Abadar's guidance and when he has the opportunity he will Detect Evil on the fountain, concentrating as long as he can.
Toshio reguards the room with distaste. More foul dedications....Truly the clerics.heart wastwisted.
"Was it Naulia that worshiped here you think? Or is this something that was made by the goblins before her coming?"
Vidar gazes over the various objects for a moment.
"I doubt we will find anything worthwhile but..."
The skulls and fountain radiate faint magic. Undoubtedly the effects that keep the flames burning and the water bubbling. You can "see" that the fountain once might have held greater magics but those functions are broken and play like a shadow on the edges of your vision.
Camillo cautiously continues into the room, looking for likely places where a temporary trap might be left - something an occupant could remove when they were present and enable when they left.
Perception
With nothing of his own to contribute, Rullis simply nods approvingly at Kerrec's assessment. Rullis keeps back by the door, letting those more knowledgeable in such things proceed forward.
"There is no magic in this room, except Thematic magic to give it a sense of "life". "Household" magic you might call it."
Kithian stands in the room and turns in a circle, looking at everything.
"Ugly place.
Knowledge: Religion:
Mhmmm sure
"Another shrine to that whore's goddess. Probably the freaky one armed womans. If the shrine resides above, this apparently, is the cloistered trove of its worshipper's unholy treasures."
With a 'what did he just say' expression, Camillo nods, "Um, sure."
Looking around, he adds, "So you're thinking this is where she would have her personal stuff?" He starts searching for items that might be of interest. Bottles of preserved but unrecognizable bits of flesh don't count.
Perception
"Hmmm, mundane treasure possibly, I would imagine that what items of magic she possessed were upon her person. I detected nothing more here, but maybe there is more to this complex?"
Looking around with disgust, Vidar heads back into the corridor again.
"Take a few moments to check if you wish, I shall remaind here outside."
"Probably just where she kept he freaky stuff. You know, for her religion."
None the less, distasteful as it is, we should be thorough. She may have notes here pointing to hidden champions we have yet to discover.
Toshio sheathes his weapon and begins a thorough and systematic search of the place.
Kerrec walks over to the fountain. "I sense nothing evil here. Although I'm sure evil took place here."
Kerrec gazes into the fountain - curious to see magic at work in such a fashion.
In an attempt to be thorough the group pours through the various items throughout the shelves, looking over the documents and further investigating the minor magical auras and artifacts of "note".
Kithian's observation ends up being mostly right; what you have here is, in essence, a vault of Lamashtu texts and items of worship. The documentation is surprisingly thorough being equivalent to what might normally be held in chapels or churches of other religions in major city centers or locations that are aged and venerable.
Any of you that are trained in religious practice face a choice: Destroy a wellspring of vile documentation dedicated to one of Golarion's most perverted goddesses or take the knowledge contained herein to a holy site for more thorough study in the hopes of gleaning useful information in combating this horrific cult in the future but at the risk the knowledge survives?
The magical effects meanwhile are very subtle; the water seems to just "bubble" much as the flames seem to just flicker. There is apparently no source and no real discernable source of the "motion".
Regardless of the group's choice of what to do with the other documents, one red leather bound journal stuffed with parchments appears to be not only Nualia's personal journal but a variety of notes passed by her minions including Tsuto and the wizard Lyrie. A cursory glance shows that a more thorough reading should provide details on Nualia's rise to her current situation along with a variety of notes about Sandpoint, future plans but also the apparent history and knowledge this group managed to compile about the structure under the town and here under Thistletop.
Kithian shrugs as he looks through the items. "Better to hand this over to someon that can use it. Who the farg knows, maybe there is a cult of the little sum batches running around the area."