Then she focuses on the task at hand, the tip of her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth, as she tries to disarm the trap.
The gnome begins prying the pressure plate, but notes that there is still unexpected tension on the plate. The spear does not launch, but that any further prying along this edge of the plate is likely to set it off.
”Oh yeah, it’s that bit!”, she adds, reaching with the snips.
Again, the gnome feels residual tension on the plate and realizes that her effort has been unsuccessful.
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"Shagrat, let's allow our fellow Pathfinders one more chance to disarm this trap. I would find it most unfortunate if by chance you were to be skewered by the blade that could emerge if the trap is sprung.." Arlo pulls something out of his pouch. "Here you are Shagrat. Enjoy this rather large turkey leg. I always carry a few with me. It's quite delicious."
After a few tries, the tiefling eventually disables the trap and the spear lies slack in its alcove.
”Well alright!”, Marigold beams. She pats Swayaah on the back, and does a victory dance, taunting the spear in its alcove.
”Never gonna fly!
Gonna sit there til you die!
Your plans are now a bust!
Gonna sit there til you rust!”
The spear responds with only silence.
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Mafalda tests that the trap has indeed been disabled with her cane and, satisfied she won’t be skewered by a spear, compliments Swayaah and Marigold. “Excellent work. It seems we have seven doors to open, no less. And no sign of our impostor. Let’s avoid the main door for now — too inviting. Perhaps we can take this side entrance ?”
The double doors lead to a series of passages hewn from the bedrock, which twist and turn, but only lead either to dead ends, a collapsed pile of sand, or to the door leading to the chamber connected to the staircase by which you entered the ruin.
The passages, however, hold nothing else of interest.
The passages are revealed on Map.
The door opens into an elaborate shrine, the centerpiece of which is a 10-foot-tall statue holding a brazier of lit coals.
A dull gray aeon stone rests in an offering bowl in front of the statue.
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Councilman Professor is vaguely aware that the technology he has dedicated his life to discovery of is, actually, in the greater scope of all things, merely a re-discovery of those lost in time.
Furthermore, he is automatically suspicious of any and every statue, twicely so!
First, he imagines himself in the future being commemorated with a handsome bust, depicting his own personal features enhanced to convey a sharper jawline, smarter eyes, a more intelligently cunning expression, perhaps too adding inches to his own height and hale to his own musculature - being nodded to as students pass by in the hall of a great academy dedicated to his name!
Second, he is vaguely aware of "living machines" as a result of both speculation as well as conversations with colleagues engaged in other research, fueling his suspicion that any object bearing resemblance to life might also possess the circuitry beneath it's shell to mock it!
He thus approaches the statue, observing the tiny stone in the offering bowl.
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Something about the specific combination of words Swayaah used brings a shiver down Mafalda’s spine. She strokes Beatriu, leaves the room silently and waits for her colleagues to follow.
Once they do, she says: “So far, very little of note for the Society here. May I suggest approaching the next rooms in a ‘top-to-bottom, left-to-right approach?’”
Upon entering the northeastern chamber , you spy carvings in the floor, which depict a necromancer leading an army of undead against a city. Several figures flanking the necromancer are leading lesser armies of undead, however, the faces of these other figures have been chiseled out. Osiriani script has been chiseled into their bodies.
Within a nearby chamber , you find a largely empty room of bare walls with small alcoves along it. Though the alcoves are now empty, they suggest that this room must have once been used for storage.
It is now, however, being used as a campsite as evidenced by a bedroll, satchel, pots, and other gear neatly arranged within the room.
The satchel filled various objects clearly looted from this room. These include an ominous curved dagger with a small onyx gem in its hilt and a mirror decorated with a serpent motif.
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"Sothis - but Old - perhaps 1,000 years lost. I believe this is a failed hypothesis... err... "prediction" that never saw past the chalk of the drawing board... did not come to pass"
Councilman Professor is, after all, a Professor!
...
Finding the bedroll and Adventurer's Pack, he declares "My competitor has been sleeping here - and is probably nearby!"
He grabs all 10 pieces of chalk, grinning madly...
And hands the Satchel to the next PC to enter the room...
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Mafalda stands behind the professor and brings a globe of light closer to the damaged faces. “You say this was a premature celebration of a doomed plan, professor? It seems the man in the centre was their leader and those whose faces have been stripped away…lieutenants of some sort? I wonder if the writing on their bodies states their rank. A shame I never learnt Osiriani.”
———
Mafalda is the third to enter and cannot help but raising an eyebrow at the gnome grinning madly whilst holding a few pieces of chalk. “Surely if you needed chalk you could have just asked, professor? I believe I have some in my backpack, if more becomes necessary.”
“And that is a good question, Shagrat; there is a surprising intellect hidden behind your…flimsy…command of Taldane. I suppose the others might have been hired help.”
Spying the dagger, she avoids touching it and asks Arlo once she enters the room: “master Arlo, do you feel any magical energy emanating from this weapon?”
The damage to the carvings look quite old.
Spying the dagger, she avoids touching it and asks Arlo once she enters the room: “master Arlo, do you feel any magical energy emanating from this weapon?”
Marigold pokes around the room. ”I guess this is our not-Set worshipper?”, she asks.
Marigold notes that the necromancer depicted and not defaced sports a holy symbol of the god Set.
Entering the door of the chamber across the way from the campsite , you encounter a room containing three, colorful pits, each 5 feet deep. Piles of rubble lie on the eastern edge of the room.
A man dressed in adventurer's garb kneels not far from the rubble, reaching down into one of the pits and grabbing a handful of powdery residue. Upon seeing you, the man is startled. He quickly rises to his feet, standing upright. As he does so, his hand falls open, allowing the powder once held within it to sift through his fingers.
"Oh, my!" he cries. "I-I was not expecting anyone--at least, not so soon." Looking you over quickly, he goes to extend his red-hued, powder-covered hand in greeting, then stops himself and offers his other, cleaner hand.
"Apologies, you must be Pathfinders." declares the man. He reaches for the compass-like device dangling from a chain on his neck. "So am I," he continues, "this is my wayfinder. The name is Subeli, Nefram Subeli. With whom do I have the pleasure of greeting?"
Room and location of Nefram now indicated on Map.
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Eyeing the man with a certain kind of predatorial eye "Councilman Professor Serjium Rasputiss Harlequinn II" hoping to intimidate the man by way of length of his title "On behalf of all of Absalom, as well as my colleages here" he continues "Trust me when I say the pleasure is mine!"
Perhaps lost in enjoying the moment the Professor forgets to cite his grievance - this moment referring to what he imagines as two intellects deploying multiple forces to meet in a mental battlefield over the soil of first impression - the wickedness in his smile is evidenced by it's curving nearly up the entirety of his face to either side!
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Swayaah peeks around the corner. "Oh. Hi there."
"I'm Swayaah. Good to see you." Swayaah carefully extends her hand, making sure not to gouge him with her claws. "So Nefram, what brings you here? Exploring ruins?"
”Marigold Longfoot!”, says Marigold, by way of introduction. ”I like what you’ve done with the place!”
"On behalf of all of Absalom, as well as my colleages here" he continues "Trust me when I say the pleasure is mine!"
"It is--good--to meet you all." Nefram replies, taking the gnome's hand, but only briefly as he quickly drops the shake when he notes the peculiar curvature of the Pathfinder's smile.
"So Nefram, what brings you here? Exploring ruins?"
"Exploring?" Nefram repeats. "Why, yes. Of course. After all, I am a Pathfinder, as I mentioned. You know our organization's motto: Explore. Report. Corroborate."
”Marigold Longfoot!”, says Marigold, by way of introduction. ”I like what you’ve done with the place!”
Nefram smiles when he sees the female gnome. Appearing far less tense now than he did when confronted by the Professor, Nefram gestures around the room. "I've done very little while down here among these ruins, actually. The way you see things are, for the most part, exactly how I found them. I've mostly just been exploring. Made a few sketches here and there. Not too much of interest down here, it turns out. A shame that you came all of the way out here, really."
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Seeing the professor’s reaction and hearing the impostor mangling the Society’s motto, Mafalda has all the confirmation she needs that the man in front of them is an impostor.
“Lady Mafalda Delacerda. It is always a pleasure to meet other Pathfinders on the field,” she says in an emotionless, practiced voice.
She touches Shagrat’s shoulder, signalling him to accompany her and examines one of the pits with interest whilst conveniently blocking part of the door, hoping the goblin understands her plan of preventing the man from leaving before being thoroughly questioned. “These pits were used for embalming, yes? Fascinating. Some of this substance might still be of use, even after all this time,” she says to no one in particular.
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"Oh yeah. Explore. Report. Cooperate." Swayaah wiggles her eyebrows.
"But anyway Nef- can I call you Nef? Looks like you got here before we did. The strange thing is, our Venture Captain told us we would be the only people here, and there would be plenty of fun stuff to find."
She turns and gives him a pointed question. "Who was your Venture Captain again? Did you get something like this?" She pulls out the papers she got from Balentiir, giving them permission to enter the tomb.