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cattered throughout the cave are inscriptions from the History and Future of Humanity, the principle holy text of Aroden, and images that depict these passages. The carvings focus on parables that feature Aroden’s 12 guises, meant to illustrate his hopes for humanity: the artist, beggar, craftsman, farmer, fisherman, hunter, merchant, scholar, shepherd, soldier, tailor, and thief.
You are able to decipher four of the inscriptions:
The Farmer is depicted plowing four lines in a field, retelling Aroden’s prophecy that humankind would prepare the rocky earth for planting and over Generations wear the pebbles down into fertile soil.
The Fisherman is depicted hauling in an enormous catch of small fish to take back to Absalom, illustrating Aroden’s declaration that a great host of creatures could accomplish a great task, whether that be taming the wilds or feeding a nation.
The Hunter is depicted slaying a giant Serpentine creature and then parading a trophy through the city streets — a sign to all humanity that the wilds are safe to inhabit once the monsters are slain.
The Shepherd is depicted herding animals out of a crowded city to the pastures beyond, just as Aroden blessed leaders with the foresight to direct people to the tasks and places that best suit them.
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Lore, Eryndir and Akiko proceed further into the cave. The soft light of the surrounding fungus mixes with the flickering glow of the nearby torches to reveal a grand chamber. A large pool of water along the chamber’s southern edge reflects the blue and green radiance to illuminate the massive stalactites that cling to the ceiling overhead. Two other tunnels branch off from this area, leading to the east and west. Rising up from the pool is a column of rock with steeply sloped sides and a flat top, as if someone had sawn off the top of a massive stalagmite. A miniature city carved from this same stone occupies nearly the entire surface. Tiny trinkets such as ancient coins, polished semiprecious stones, and ornately braided loops of string are scattered throughout the diorama, and pale cave frogs clamber atop it. The smooth cavern floor is covered in gravel and pebbles along the edge of the pool, and several foot-long centipedes prowl among the gravel in their search for prey.
Here the cavern’s ceiling stretches 20 feet overhead and is crowded by dozens of stalactites, some measuring 10 feet long from base to tip. Despite the impressive geology, the cave’s focus is the sloping, 15-foot-deep pool and its tiny city. Kneeling in the water is a lone gillman pilgrim.
Akiko draws her lines in front of the tiny city. Completing this ritual grants all of you a +1 luck bonus on Fortitude saves against poison.
There are small blind cave fishes in the water.
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Gorwyn, accompanied by his eidolon Conflaviel, accompanies the others into the cave, and is very fascinated with the drawings depicting the aspects of Aroden.
When Uori begins speaking to them, Gorwyn says, "Do your people worship Aroden? This map... this altar... it seems to retain some power. Is it possible that he's not completely lost?"
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"The pit at the entrance was suddenly there, about a year ago. Nobody of us knows where it came from and why it is there. I have not seen any dangers in this cave, but from time to time pilgrims just disappear. They leave for the cave and never came back." Uori answers to Akiko's question. "We do not worship Aroden. He's a human god I think, but some of us still feel some magic in this cave. Once there were a log of humen in this cave worshipping Aroden, but over the years they stopped to do that and now the altar stands abandoned."
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"We worship the old Azlanti gods. We don't know what happened to them, but we never go further into the cave. I can't believe they are doing some sort of apotheosis, we usually stay in this room and meditate to listen to the pure waters. If you don't mind, I'd like to continue meditating before the full moon is over. Good luck on your journey and I hope you find what you are looking for." With these words the gillman turns back to the water and closes his eyes.
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The cave’s damp air becomes increasingly stale as you continue down through this tunnel, and as they Approach this area, the stench of decay grows increasingly evident. The passage turns to the east and opens into a small cavern littered with bits of broken glass, rotting pieces of paper, and other unusable detritus. The body of a male dhampir lies facedown toward the back of the cavern.
Around the dead body you can see three gillman zombies.
Eryndir
Bayushi
Lore
Gorwyn
Periel
Zombies
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Gorwyn nods to Conflaviel, and points at the northernmost zombie. The two of them start to move in that direction, so as to get into a flanking position. They can't get quite that far this round without provoking an AoO, so they stop one square short.
(Positions updated on map.)
Gorwyn then draws his morningstar. Conflaviel draws a morningstar as it moves, and swipes at the northernmost zombie once it gets there.