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The saddle bears both a small engraving of a horse, and a name beside that: Desert Wind, and, above, a rider on the horse, with the name: Larraz Virtanne.
"Yes. The saddle has your name on it along with his name, Desert Wind and a picture of you riding him. But we have more to do and little time. What can you tell us of this college?"
Larraz silence and mourning is suddenly shattered when he hears that Desert Wind is well.
He opens his mouth to speak... but does not manage to speak and his face simply because filled with joy, tears welling up in his eyes.
Wiping them clean, he takes a deep breath: "I thank you. For looking for our friends' bodies, for saving me, and for enabling me to reunite with my companion.
But, yes... this College.
Well, when I felt that it was safe to do so, I explored Goldenflame College to better know where to fight if I had to end like that...
As such, I am familiar with this location.
What do you wish to know or find?
Though I simply want to find Desert Wind and return home to Katapesh, to find relief from the chaos of this last month, I am more than willing to help you in whatever way I can... Oh, wait?"
He looks at all of you, to see if any need healing.
You see that though tired, even exhausted, and probably deeply terrified of his ordeal, he is willing to explore and fight alongside you.
"There are Plague Zombies here. So we must be cautious for I know from hard experience that even a single one is a match for me in a fight."
"Oh... I am not much into books. But, well, there is a big statue up in the dean's room. On the top floor. That would be some important relic."
Larraz stands up straight, rubs his face, and looks at Kamil: "Okay, let's go. It is upstairs. We can take one of the stairs..."
He looks around, to see if you are ready to go.
Kamil is so ready that he actually opens the doors... pushed by some unseen force.
He sees, within the room, that it is a spacious classroom.
It still contains some relatively intact seating and a dusty old rug.
To the west, the floor is sodden, and part of it has collapsed, revealing a hole filled with shattered bookshelves, broken chairs, and other decor.
Doors exit to the north, where Kamil is standing, and a smaller door to the room where you discovered Larraz.
Larraz answers Tybalt: "I have been looking for food, water, places to hide from the undead that move around town. So I have not looked much for anything else. There are books, and other stuff like a College would have... but not in great shape."
Kamil has a quick look around, but it seems the books are down in the collapsed part of the room, below, down where it fell.
You could go over and look down into the hole to see what kind of books...
As Kamil approaches the hole, the pressure causes the rotten and soft floorboards to cave in, dropping down to some basement 10 feet below, in the hole.
Kamil is able to jump back, and was anyhow secured by Tybalt's rope.
You spend some time, around 1o minutes with Tybaly securing Kamil who climbs down into the hole, and looks around amidst the broken rotten planks.
All the books are rotten and spoiled and useless, falling apart.
But, gleaming at the bottom of the hole among the detritus from the fallen floor is an ornate, ceremonial longsword with a golden, wire-wrapped hilt and a pommel set with large rubies.
Kamil brings this back up.
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"Ah! good find! as I recall the sword’s normal function is to serve as an important ceremonial item in services held by the church of Iomedae. Although its main use is for ceremonies of cultural or religious significance, it can be wielded as a nonmagical, battle-ready longsword. The sword is also strangely familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it... hmmm..."
You see that the last parts unexplored on this level were the two back entrances, short stairs leading to doors.
Oh, you also see a well to one side, out in the yard.
You move out to the well.
Nothing moves in the weed-covered gardens.
You see that the well is still equipped with the requisite bucket.
Larraz says that he uses it regularly, "It is my primary source of water in the otherwise barren town."
Kamil does his trick with the Light spell, and illuminates the inside: but sees nothing more than a functioning well.
You check it a bit more, as well as the surrounding area, but find nothing beyond the bucket - no hidden steps inside the well, nor compartments.
Having spent a little time coming out and doing this , you can do as Larraz, and refill your waterskins with fresh, clean, water... before most probably heading back to the College, and the upper floor?
You follow Larraz up one of the big staircases--
The top floor is above the back part of the house - overlooking the front part where there is a veranda.
Larraz points to the room where the statue is --
Larraz looks around: "Do you want to see the statue, or check other rooms out first?"
Kamil and Tybalt lead the way, and go down the corridor, with the others following.
As you face the doors leading to the statue-room, you see, behind you, a large room that is some kind of study.
This room is lined with bookshelves and sitting mats.
Two smaller rooms seem to branch from the main hallway.
In front of you is what Larraz calls the Dean's Room.
The double door to this suite has been knocked off its hinges and shattered, leaving the exit open to the hallway outside.
A broken four-post bed stands against the eastern wall.
A circular table and an accompanying chair occupy a nook in the southwest.
And, what you were aiming for: a large statue depicting a marble chariot wheel sporting flames of gold occupies the northeast corner.
This large suite that Larraz said was the home of the dean of Goldenflame College used to be lavishly furnished in Goldenflame’s past, but has now fallen to disrepair.
Tybalt enters, followed by Kamil, while the others approach the door--
--but you all freeze as you hear some kind of scrabbling sound in the ceiling above, like hundreds of small feet.
Those in the room look up.
Those in the corridor stop, and look in.
But, before you can figure out what is going on, or react-- the entire ceiling collapses!
As the mortar and planks and plaster rains down on Kamil and Tybalt--
Critical Success = unaffected
Success = 3 damage
Failure = 7 damage
Critical Failure = 14 damage and knocked prone
--amongst the rubbles that collapses upon the two Pathfinders, you see giant creatures, as big as men, that come crashing down, being wounded by the fall and the stones that fall on them, making them quite angry.
Four giant centipedes!
They have landed all around you... and they start snapping their pincers!
Stone and wood crashes upon Tybalt's head--
Upon entering, you got the centipedes excited, hot to eat something alive... and their sudden action was the final straw that collapsed the ceiling!
Tybalt got a beam on the head and heavier rocks bashed him, whereas Kamil was at least able to avoid the heavier falling objets, and was only hit in the legs--
--before the dust even settles, Devin Starside swishes and swipes away with his rapier, and manages to nick the centipede with the red antennae--
--that skitters around a bit, hurt by the fall.
With only Kamil in front of it, the blue eyed centipede clicks and clacks its mandible against Kamil, but, although one lands on his body, the pincers cannot pierce his armor.
Bladden--
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"Oh my... what do we have here... certainly nothing that would heed my sound legal advice..." says Bladden, backpedaling a few steps and reaching for his pack. He retrieves a bottle filled with a blue semi-fluid which crackles with tiny lightning arcs, which are thankfully contained within the bottle. He launches the thing at the centipede with yellow mandibles!
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Bladden tosses a bottle lightning that blasts the yellow mandibled centipede.
Then the red centipede seems to look around at those close to him, but goes after Devin, snapping away like crazy, as though to avenge the assault and the wound.
The first blow pierces the armor--
--and the second blow hits the elf in his unprotected neck!
But the third blow misses...
Kamil--
Kamil's shimmering shield of magical force appears, and then his katana swishes down-- it seems as if there were two blades, and though one misses, barely, the other hits!
And the centipede is sliced in two.
Who is red? Red is dead, baby. Red is dead.
But yellow is not dead, and, having been hit by Bladden, and zapped with electricity, the stupid critter glances at the enemies around it, but then it refocuses on Bladden, and starts skittering towards the halfling--
--provoking from Tybalt, who reactively seizes the opportunity and swings at it, but it was too fast and he misses, even though the critter was hindered by the electricity...
Yellow comes up to Bladden and misses with a first strike, but then barely connects, but barely is enough!
Ouch, that hurts!, Bladden thinks, wishing he were in a court of law instead.
Larraz pulls his sling out, slips a stone in, and twirls the strip of leather, letting the bullet fly... thanks to the electricity slowing the creature down, he hits-- and kills the centipede.
Larraz mutters a swift prayer to the "poor animal's soul".
Tybalt--
Seeing that the centipedes' mandibles are filled with some ichor, Devin manages to shake some of the poison off, but not all, visibly, since it the wound starts to burn--
--Bladden manages to fight off the poison after fearing it would hurt him.
Tybalt--