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Having been recently deceased, Nicodemus resists what his first impulse used to be when an incorporeal apparition appeared. Instead, Nicodemus sweeps his feathered cap off his head with aplomb, bowing deeply. "Nicodemus of the Pathfinder Society, at your service, Hearth Keeper. My friends and I are here to restore this resting place as best as we are able. Any guidance you might be able to provide in the best way to do so would be most appreciated." Under the guise of returning his cap to his head, Nicodemus keeps a sharp lookout to the apparition's reaction.
”Repair? You mean it’s worse than this?” Hearth Keeper gestures to the mess in the entryway and frowns worriedly. ”Tell me, what happened? I only just woke up.”
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Grandblade tries to replicate Shaonti respect by giving a greeting commonly used to honor wise ones.
Then he proceeds to ask the ghost for any information of value.
"Friend spirit Hearth Keeper, is there anything you can tell us about how the place has been since you have awoken? The slightest of details may be of great importance."
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"Melea Shemroe, pleased to meet you. To preface, we were allowed here by the quahs." Melea grimaces. "An errant member of our organization caused damage to this sacred place. We are here to fix it as best we can. We encountered a pair of ogres just inside. We didn't expect that, but don't know what lies ahead either."
She tilts her head vaguely at the spirit's behavior. "How are you awoken? Or is this the first time? Apologies for the prying. Per your account, I can't tell if you're a guardian, a resident, or something else entirely." As she asks, the aasimar pans around with magical sight, surreptitiously catching Hearth Keeper at the edges.
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The others are doing a much finer job of interacting with the 3rd person to come back from the dead in the room than he would so Bielsi begins inspecting the chamber and seeing what he can put right.
Clearly, the bones laying around on the floor are not right and he does what he can to put them back in place.
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”Repair? You mean it’s worse than this?” Hearth Keeper gestures to the mess in the entryway and frowns worriedly. ”Tell me, what happened? I only just woke up.”
"This is as far as our investigations have carried us thus far, but indeed, we suspect this is only the beginning of the damage that may lie beyond this chamber. Before we go any further with our investigations, could you provide guidance on how to best restore this chamber to its original state? Of course that's after my more doughty companions remove these offensive ogres." Nicodemus turns and nods to those in the party more stout in stature and strong of arm.
"Indeed, as my friend said, a misguided former member of our Society defiled this place, and we seek to make amends by restoring this somber place of repose and remembrance. After we received permission from the Council of the Quah to come here and make the attempt to restore this holy place."
Hearth-Keeper's translucent face frowns. "Another visitor? Hmm, I think so? It’s been a while, but I tend to lose track of time. There was a skeletal beast who looked over this place, but judging by the looks of things, it’s been blown up. And judging by the fact that I’m here, seems like something has gone wrong here! What did this errant visitor do? I would love to help fix things, but I'm afraid I haven't left this chamber in... in a very long time." She looks around the Pathfinders' faces, her own more cheerful than before and eager to help.
"And as for what I do here? Well, I'm not really sure myself. I guess I welcome visitors?" She shrugs apologetically. "And I just woke up, so I'm afraid I can't remember many details about this place."
"As for repairing this? Well..." she gestures with an incorporeal arm. "I think we could tidy up the place, don't you? And perhaps you could put this stone plate back together? I can't imagine how it got broken in the first place."
Melea sees that the stone plate is cracked deeply, but it doesn't seem to be missing any pieces. Nicodemus recognizes that it is clearly many times heavier than Grandblade's spell can handle.
"Well, if that's everything I can help you with, perhaps you could make those repairs? I think that would let me rest easily once more," Hearth Keeper asks humbly as she stares longingly at the broken stone.
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Nicodemus uses his wands of longstrider and heightened awareness, thanks Grandblade for restoring his mage armor spell with Nico's wand and drinks his mutagen. "Fate favors the prepared...or at least, I hope it does so from here on out..."
Then Nico moves to the door on the south, carefully checking it for traps.
"Oh fine," Hearth Keeper says, a scowl darkening her once-bright features. "Just leave me hanging here. 'What's the point of helping her - she's dead already'. No respect for the honored elders these days, I see." She crosses her arms and refuses to look at any of the Pathfinders.
Nicodemus does not notice anything dangerous on the door as he studies it.
Pillars of stone fill the room on the other side of the door. Each is etched with some sort of writing, but the inscriptions are chipped, scorched, or otherwise damaged or obscured. Around the pillars, Nicodemus can see another door leaving the room to the southwest. The air is still and quiet.
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"No doubt this is the 'maze' where our disgraceful predecessor 'blasted' the 'lightning dogs' with a fireball," Bielsi says. He shakes his head at the number of things he's just said that were either untrue or potentially untrue that came from the Pathfinder who came before them.
He pauses. "Do you think Hearth Keeper was the so-called 'towering monstrosity of glowing bone and decaying flesh'? If I ever meet this guy, I'm going to punch him in the gut. He gives explorers a bad name."
He nods as Felicitas begins repairing the pillars, but goes to look for any remains from the "lightning dogs."
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"Perhaps it'd be best to assess the damage throughout and then prioritize the use of the stone? Whenever someone tells me a magic item 'should' work to complete a complicated task, I count on it having half as many uses as compared to what's needed to complete the job." Nico moves toward the door to southwest.
Felicitas starts rubbing the stone egg on the closest pillar to the door, and the cracks running through it begin to fade. It is fairly obvious that several chunks and small pieces are missing though - probably scattered somewhere on the floor.
Beisi's ken eye doesn't spot any remains of lightning or dogs, but in his search he notices that the ceiling has been weakened in several places (mostly likely by liberal spell use). Worse, he spots Nicodemus about to step underneath a dangerous section! Thinking quickly, the oread pulls the ratfolk back out of danger as the Sepulcher creaks and a bit of dust falls from the ceiling.
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Bielsi continues a subvocal cursing of the man who caused all these problems, muttering a litany of unpleasant things that should happen to the man in the afterlife.
"Let's at least get this room stable before we move on. I'd hate for the place to collapse on us or behind us while we're exploring," he says.
He starts looking around for the places that need the most repairing, though taking a back seat to the more perceptive members of the party.
Working together, the Pathfinders quickly locate the scattered pieces of the pillars. As Felicitas puts the few back into the pillar closest to the door and rubs the stone egg over them, the column regains its polish and the words become clear once more.
However, the other pillars are still in a state of disrepair. Many of the stone fragments littering the floor are on the far side of the damaged ceiling sections.
Nicodemus doesn't see a way to stabilize the ceiling short of rebuilding it - it's not rigged to fall down, just damaged and unsteady.
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Bielsi sighs and looks around at the other damaged pillars. "Are we not going to be able to fully fix anything?" he asks, largely rhetorically.
But he nods. "Add it to the list. We can prioritize what needs to be fixed when we know the extent of the damage, everywhere. back the way we came?"
He heads back into the beginning chamber.
The translucent form of Hearth Keeper hangs in the air of the entrance chamber, the faint breeze from the doorway failing to stir her robes. As she spots the Pathfinders filing back in, she quickly turns her back to them, arms crossed.
Nicodemus does not find anything dangerous on the door. As he opens it, the Pathfinders see a recess in the floor of the room beyond that seems to have once contained water, but is now empty. A plaque sits on a stone shrine to the east, with two shallow indents flanking it on either side, carved out of the stone. At each of the four corners of this room are steles depicting Shoanti warriors in battle stances with various weapons in hand - bow in the northwest, bolas to the northeast, earth breaker in the southeast, and klar to the southwest. Two doors exit the room on the western side, one to the north and the other to the south.
Surprise Round and Round 1! Bold may act!
Felicitas (Surprise and Regular)
Biesi (Surprise and Regular)
Zarisha (Surprise and Regular)
Grandblade (Regular only)
Nicodemus (Surprise and Regular)
Haunt
Melea
Galilah
Azra (Surprise only)
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Bielsi doesn't have to know much to realize what is happening. People are greedy after death and there is little surer way of angering restless spirits than by taking something they prize.
As the sounds build, he quickly grabs the wooden bow out of the bag they've been carrying and respectfully settling it on the stele at the Northwest corner of the pool.
Bielsi carefully places the wooden weapon atop the stele, Zarisha following behind. The sounds of battle grow louder and louder as the room fills with ghostly, faceless soldiers that scream and charge in all directions seemingly at once. Amidst them all, four Shoanti warriors stand defiant - but weaponless. As they look down at their empty hands in horror and shame, the apparitions cut them down mercilessly. A few seconds later, the warriors reappear - only to be struck down again.
The faceless warriors also strike at the Pathfinders...
...opening wounds with ghostly weapons! Worse yet, the Pathfinders feel the ground beneath their feet grow soft, like sucking mud and boggy undergrowth.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Haunt
Melea (-5)
Galilah (-11)
Azra
Felicitas (-10)
Biesi (-6)
Zarisha (-10)
Grandblade (-5)
Nicodemus
As Nicodemus passes by, the wooden bow on the stele next to him falls from its precarious perch and clatters noisily on the ground, the sound oddly cutting through the din of battle.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Haunt
Melea (-5)
Galilah (-11)
Azra
Felicitas (-10)
Biesi (-6)
Zarisha (-10)
Grandblade (-5)
Nicodemus