The mighty tail again flails around at the plant.
, if hits,
It takes both titans to crush the moonflower into the cavern floor, but finally, it lays still.
Selter sees little else here but the rubble around the large rock and the eight foot wide tunnel leading deeper into the earth.
The tunnel descends a few turns and then enters a large cavern glittering with the light of phosphorescent algae growing on the eastern wall. A small lake, fed by an underground stream that flows south through the cavern, occupies most of the west side of the room. The vines from above stretch across the cavern and wrap around an enormous stone co#n, solidly perched atop a well-carved stone dais.
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The cavern is still and silent as a tomb, which seems fitting given the coffin across the way.
Disturbing none of the rubble on the floor, Bo easily crosses the cavern. Placid silence is the only thing that greets him as he reaches the coffin’s dais.
Nothing about the cavern reveals itself, despite the thick plant tendrils running down from the chamber above. While the coffin is stone, it clearly is not thick enough to block the multiple magical auras within it.
Selter sees Bo standing at the waters edge, unmolested by tentacles.
Nothing appears out of the ordinary, but the stone lid turns out to be quite heavy.
With a mighty effort, Selter slides the lid aside. Inside he finds skeletal remains, still clad in a brilliantly colored red-and-orange robe. A solid, simple, silver ring adorns the left hand's ring finger and the right hand holds a slim wand. Surrounding the body are gold trade bars stamped with the seal of Osirion.
Bo is able to detect the same auras Not-Trixie did through the stone coffin, determining they belong to some of the grave goods set beside the body. A pearl, a mummified hand, and the ring on that separate hand all register as magical. The ring on the corpses finger and the wand in its hand do not show any auras.
Selter recognizes a hand of glory, although the properties of the ring and pearl escape him.
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Harbinger walks up to the coffin and incants out "onthullen wat verborgen is." and his eyes began to glow lightly he then glances down into the coffin and lifts the pearl up and tries to identify it along with the ring.
He then also will remove the ring and wand from the corpse
"Worth preserving, and it doesn't seem like she has much use for them anymore."
Harbinger is able to recognize the aura of a ring of counterspells, but the pearl still escapes his understanding as well.
Attempting to remove the ring from the corpses finger proves impossible, as no amount of pulling or levering is able to separate it from the flesh. The wand in the other hand comes free easily.
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"That's very strange to have a wand with no magical aura," Not-Trixie comments as she finishes studying the pearl once Harbinger is done. "And do you think that ring is glued on? The trade bars at least line up with what we know about the woman whose grave this probably is. But we've no explanation for the supposed burst of negative energy - though that could explain the undead - or why these moonflowers were here."
Not-Trixie recognizes the difficult aura as a pearl of power II, notoriously tricky despite the low level of magic used to create it.
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... "These items were interred with them. We should respect that." He walks away with indignant disappointment at the mere suggestion. ...
To Bo, Ssself agreesss. Orcsss doesss not. When leave and plantsss gone orcsss will not ressspect corpssse bonesss. Ssshould take corpssse bonesss back. Can be reburied in protected place later.
To others, Ring not come off. Maybe magic hidden. Just take everything along?
If no one stops him or suggests anything else, Selter will carefully wrap the corpse in a blanket and tie the bundle between Sithiss' back plates.
After that, Selter will carefully examine the coffin and it's surroundings (take 20 for a perception of 37) making notes and sketches so it can be duplicated properly later.
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"I suppose that's one way to solve the issue I suppose." Harbinger comments before looking to Bo "My apologies, I often think first of the benefit to those who are still on this plane to experience it and forget that often these objects are best left with their prior owner even after death. Thank you for reminding me." he states
Bo Goh detects no other magic or anything else the rest of the party may have missed. The cavern is still and quiet save for the pulsing plant tendrils running from the chamber above.
Leaving the desolate fort behind, the journey back to the lodge is long and uneventful. At your return, Venture Captain Norden Balentiir congratulates you all before commanding immediate preparations for a trip to Varisia.
The meeting with Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir was short and to the point, and the ship departed Sothis on the evening tide. The words of Balentiir wash back from memory: “This is an unprecedented chance for the Pathfinders to learn more about the history of Osirion and some of the figures that played important roles but have been little more than shadowy rumors to us until now. A little-known Osirian merchant prince named Zuberi who lived in the time of Cheliax’s Everwar used the chaos and confusion it caused as cover to grow his mercantile empire. He sent agents far and wide to take advantage of this chance to make additional fortunes. One of these agents was known as Meskhenet the Wise, a woman of uncommon beauty and unsurpassed insights. She went into Cheliax proper in order to set up a secret smuggling operation directly beneath the Crown’s nose. A fortress was built called the Halls of Zuberi from which she could organize shipments from pirates on Cheliax’s west coast and bring them in past customs officials and military patrols alike in order to reach the black markets of Westcrown and Egorian in central Cheliax. How she managed to pull this off is unknown, but it is known that it was successful for many years and filled her coffers with foreign gold."
“The Halls of Zuberi rang with the sounds of commerce for nearly 50 years before disaster struck. In a single night, all was lost in a holocaust of unleashed magic and destruction. The fortress caved in on itself and became an impassable ruin known today as the Collapsed Halls. Meskhenet disappeared in the catastrophe, her mercantile networks fell apart, and they too eventually disappeared with nary a trace. This all became a minor and poorly understood footnote in history. Information recently came into our possession describing a powerful magical ring that Meskhenet wore. Somehow, it is rumored, it was this ring that apparently allowed the successes that she experienced in their operations, and all knowledge of it disappeared with Meskhenet."
“We believe there is more to this tale than simply the mercantile dreams of a brilliant businesswoman. This is reinforced by the fact that we’ve lost three venture-captains since word of the merchant prince and this ring and others like it came to us. Someone is trying to keep this whole thing hushed up, and they’re willing to kill to do it. The Society is not about to be intimidated or silenced. I need you to travel to Cheliax, head up the Maiestas River to the Collapsed Halls, find the magic ring of Meskhenet that our sources say lies somewhere beneath the ruins, and get back here with it in one piece. Watch your back, because it seems somebody doesn’t want us to find it.”
The trip on the Magnimarian tradesman from Sothis to Macini is uneventful, with plenty of time for shopping before making the journey along the inland roads to Belde.
"Hells if I know. I'd suspect anyone with half a motive." Balentiir grumbled. "I've little time for speculation, so you'd be better off on the road than here asking questions."
Once restocking at Belde is complete, the party finds the last leg of the journey up the Maiestas River pleasant and uneventful. (Or boring, depending on your point of view.)
The Collapsed Halls are aptly named—where once a wilderness fortress stood is now nothing more than a rubble-filled crater overgrown with scrub brush. Not even the scavengers seem interested in picking it over.