With one look at these skeletons, Cassiopeia knows these things like the back of her hand. Typical undead traits (including immunity to mind-affecting effects) and reduction to non-bludgeoning weapons as well as immunity to any cold damage.
Though his first arrow goes wide, the second arrow shatters the skull of the skeleton!
Cassiopeia channels a specific technique she learned to deal with undead. The skeleton rattles its bones. It seems shaken, but isn't as affected by it. .
It then moves up to Amiri and strikes her with a longsword. The barbarian wasn't prepared and slices her up!
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[u]Round 1[/u]
Cassiopeia
Wymarc
Blue
Green (-11 hp)
Bahram
Amiri (-9 hp)
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Bahram, seeing the roof about to blow away, and seeing his companions handling the skeletons well enough (other than the bloodied barbarian), decides to skirt by the battle to save the site.
"Parkour!" he exclaims as he bounces off the wall, past three skeleton.
Reaching the area that looks like it could be tied down, Bahram races up to the top, hand over hand.
"Must... Protect... The archaeological site!"
Amiri takes one look at the skeleton in front of her and slices it.
But she's nervous and misses her attack!
Bahram parkours up the wall and is hanging near the ceiling, ready to tie down the tarp!
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[u]Round 2[/u]
Cassiopeia
Wymarc
Blue
Green (-11 hp)
Bahram
Amiri (-9 hp)
Wymarc destroys the last skeleton! Now all Bahram has to do is tie down the tarpaulin!
Bahram ties down the tarpaulin and all quiets down... some sand drifts in underneath the doorway. Cassiopeia crawls into the eastern tent. Underneath a sleeping roll, she finds a discarded potion and a coil of iron rope.
The only way is down the ladders!
Amiri slowly descends the stairs to the lower level, passing by the tent. She quickly checks inside - nothing of note beyond sand and more sand.
The lower level is a cold, dark stone chamber that has walls covered in ancient markings that the ages have worn to the point of illegibility. The higher portions holds a dried-up well (), a ladder leading up (), and descending stairs to the north (). The lower portion to the south has two ancient buildings and a collapsed passageway (). The floor has fallen near the east wall, exposing another chamber below (). A robed corpse lies at the bottom of the ladder. A satchel lies next to the broken body
The Pathfinders find several clay pots in the area, some of which are broken. Second is the well-preserved homes that can be investigated. The well also seems to be well-preserved.
Bahram investigates the passage to the house and notices something off - it came down recently. Despite the hole in the floor, the rest of the level does seem relatively stable too, no need to worry about it.
Cassiopeia peers deep into the well. It's about 30 feet deep. Doesn't look like theres any water, but something catches her eye - something shiny! She focuses on it. Looks like an ancient dagger.
Wymarc easily climbs down the well. At the bottom, he notices a tiny pool of water, but for the most part, this well is probably dried up. Putting into into his pouch, he climbs back up. Upon closer inspection, Wymarc notices a raven-headed pommel.
The body is relatively recent - perhaps days or weeks old. Looks like took a fatal fall from above. Bahram opens up the satchel of the man and pulls out a scroll. Nothing else of note is on the body.
Bahram does not detect what exactly the dagger does. The homes look well-preserved ancient Taldan in design. The stucco appears to be very weathered. No traps - at least no obvious ones.
On the far side of the houses is the collapsed tunnel which Bahram deduced was recently collapsed.
Bahram is confused about the stucco - this 'well-preserved Taldan home' from the report you received from the Athenaeum has several inconsistancies!
Wymarc moves quietly towards the collapsed tunnel. No obvious signs of traps or tracks. It looks possible to excavate it, but it may take weeks of work to do that.
Searching the homes, there is surprisingly little there beyond dust and sand.
The only thing of interest is some clay pots. From the report you received from the Athenaeum, there are a few broken Taldan clay pots in the area. Inspecting these pots, they look ancient but are undeniably plain.
The Pathfinders find several inconsistencies with the Athaneaum report they had received of this place.
The Pathfinders decide to head down the stairs to the lower floor. Amiri steps in front of the others and leads them down the stairs. Four alcoves hold marble statues of grim soldiers from ages past, two on either side of a faintly glowing statue of a regally appointed man who towers in front of the southern wall. Two golden lion statues stand at guard in front of the god. The roof has collapsed at the northwest corner, where a large stone slab lies on the floor below the opening.
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Ooh! So many interesting things. Bahram will start off by sweeping the room with a detect magic. He wants to see about the statue of the god, but is a bit more fearful of the lions. He can just imagine them animating when he's not looking to pounce on him and his friends. If he gets a hit on anything magical, he will approach that item first. If multiples, he would prioritize them; lions, statues, slab, god statue. If no magic is present, he will go to the god statue first to check it out.
Before approaching any of them, he would start off by searching for traps on the floor on the way.
Bahram senses some magic emanating from beneath the slab. Also, there is a definitely aura coming from the god statue.
Cassiopia glances at the statue. With one look, she knows it's a representation of the god Abadar.
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Four Statues
From the Athenaeum notes, each statue represents a noteworthy figure in Taldan history.
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Two Lions
These golden lions are fearsome.
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Slab
This slab looks like it fell from the ceiling (as evidence by the gaping hole into the room above).
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Wymarc move about the area, studying this he might have knowledge of...
”From the minimal wear and discoloration of these four statues, they were likely carved in the last century...”
”These two statues have been augmented with plaster to resemble lions and covered with a thin gold coating that has been tarnished with paint to appear aged. It is possible to remove these augmentations to reveal the original statues...”
”Krikey! There are bone shards here...a skeleton is likely beneath this slab!”
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"There is definitely something strange about this god statue, but I can't place my finger on it.
Moving on on to the group of statues, [b]"These are military leaders who served in Taldor's Third Army of Exploration under General Coren. They all died before the founding of Corentyn, which supposedly served as a launching point for the group that founded this colony.
[b]"They were all also carve within the last centry, so they are not old enough to be antique, but too old to probably be carved by the colonists.:
"Not sure about those lions..."
@Wymarc: "Boneshards? This corpse may hold the missing clue! Let's lift it! Hey, barbarian lass. Let's bulge our muscles!"
Underneath the slab, Wymarc pulls out the corpse of a soldier in Chelish garb. On one of his fingers, the skeleton wears a platinum ring adorned with the head of a hound. The ring has a faint aura of magic!
Something seems a bit... off about the statue to Abadar.