Kaako heads down where the ants emerged, but doesn't find anything.
Elsir searches on the opposite side of the cavern, and is no more successful.
Jadren stands silently and stoically, since his player didn't post yet.
Lavanna, making her way to the statue to clean it, finds that her arms pivots, which creates a grinding sound and a portion of the eastern wall opens up, revealing a corridor behind it!
While others are searching, Jadren makes an attempt to repair his shield and discovers, to his dismay that he does not have a repair kit, despite being trained to do such work.
With a heavy sigh at his shockingly poor planning, he leads the exploration of this new passage.
"Well, on to the next puzzle. Shall we?" The victory is good for Elsir's affect, but that's not saying much.
"Lavanna, nice find! If a door is secret, then maybe somebody didn't want it to be found. Maybe that means there is some treasure hidden back there. Let's go."
Relieved that he has found his repair kit, Jadren tries to knock out some of the dents in his shield.
Somewhat morose at his failure, he drinks a healing potion and moves on.
"I could have healed you, you big lug. Have you guys forgotten everything?"
She looks sullenly at the pool of water.
"What has everyone even been doing? I thought my new crew was dull, but you two seem to have lost all sense of adventure!" She jabs her trident towards Jadren and Elsir.
"You're cool, Kaako." she pokes at the bird.
After a long pause, she sighs.
"Sorry. I just got really excited to see everyone. I thought maybe it'd be the same again but I guess that was naive."
She heads through the corridor.
"Let's go."
Leading the way into the dimly lit passage, Jadren quickly finds it forks, north and east.
Jadren turns to the South East.
"Some things haven't changed, Lavanna. You were always special to me. I have just seen that there is more to life than adventure. I can't speak for Alvin though."
"Can anyone give us a bit more light?"
"Don't look at me. I don't know any spells for that."
Lavanna activates her everburning torch.
"Here you go."
With the path illuminated, the party moves on toward the east.
The cavern corridor opens into a naturally domal chamber. Four stone pedestals stand before you, arrayed in a semicircle around a small altar. Atop the altar are four stone sculptures.
The pedestals appear identical save for the fact that each has a shining coin set into its face, starting on the left with copper, followed by silver, gold, and finally platinum.
"This looks simple. Place the coin from each of the pedestals onto the sculptures. I wonder if we should place them in ascending order according to the value of the coin?"
Jadren scratches his head and looks puzzled.
"Hmmm remember that the one that is worth the most always goes last. What could that mean?"
"You know, our map kinda looks like these rooms. Probably a coincidence."
Elsir continues to check for magic while the more adventurous of the group examine the sculptures up close.
With a closer look at the sculptures, you can see that one depicts the sun; another has been carved to look like a crescent moon; the third is a tablet that has a small constellation of stars carved into it; and the fourth resembles a comet racing through the sky.
Kaako also notices words carved in the top of the altar.
Lavanna scrunches up her face.
"Moon can't be gold or copper, and Comet is worth 100 times the moon...so the Moon has to be silver. And then the Comet has to be platinum. And the Sun is mighty in value, so it has to be gold. So that leaves copper for the Stars."
"And most valuable is last, so that's the Comet. Sun before Stars, and Stars before Moon. So Sun, Stars, Moon, Comet?"
"I think that means Sun with gold, Stars with copper, Moon with silver, and Comet with platinum?"
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"Hmmm. I think it's the order we place them, not the order in which they are placed. So Sun on the gold coin first, then Stars on the copper, then Moon on the silver, and finally Comet on the platinum coin."
Unless anyone stops her, Lavanna will impulsively carry out this operation.
Lavanna begins to place the statues.
When she sets Comet down on the platinum coin, all four sculptures glow with a radiance matching the coin on the pillar before floating up toward the ceiling to create a vibrant illusion of the sky: the sun setting on the ocean with the stars and moon rising before a flash that resolves with a comet streaking overhead. Baby, you're a firework.
The illusion fades after a few seconds, and an audible click is heard.
"Well done, Lavanna! Are you a clever one today!"
Kaako looks around to see if something even more secret has opened up.
"Okay, that was nice work. Map says we've still got a challenge ahead of us. Shall we?" Elsir makes precisely zero moves to be first.
"Indeed we should continue. Jadren, will you do us the honors?"
"Based on our map, I wonder if we should explore the North room first? They seem to go in sequence."
If there are no objections, Jadren will lead the way to the north passage.
Jadren leads Kaako, Lavanna, and Elminster toward the other branch of the corridor they came down.
The short passageway opens into a long, quiet chamber, flanked on both sides by wooden racks bedecked with old, dust-covered weapons. Some appear to be in fine condition, while others appear to be nothing more than rusted scrap.
You didn't see him enter, but Cawlo, Captain Renlock's clockwork parrot, sits atop a small plaque at the far end of the chamber, lit from above by a narrow shaft of light.
Jadren reads the plaque.
"Cawlo, nice of you to join us. Do you have another message?"
Calling is uncharacteristically quiet as Jadren reads the plaque.
Honor the weapons of the fallen dead, those who died in service upon the sea, but let not these tools go unused, for even in death they might help the living.
A wooden carving of Captain Renlock stands in the corner of the sail-shaped room. It's not a particularly good likeness, and one wonders why it's here at all.
Lavanna will inspect the weapons. Assuming none of them immediately attack her, she will begin cleaning them, honorifically.
"Will you look at Renlock? He looks like he has seen better days."
Kaako takes a closer look at the statue and tries to see if there is anything about the statue that might open up more secret compartments or doors.
"Allow me to help you, Kaako."
All manner of weapons are present here on the racks. A little searching can find a usable version of any simple or martial weapon.
Lavanna takes on the role of scullery maid while lazybones Jadren and Kaako don't think of helping, only looking about. The statue is carved from driftwood, giving it a weathered look and entirely unhelpful in discovering secret passages.
Elvis detects no magic from the area that includes the statue, though by use of the extensive trial and error that's now necessary in Pathfinder 2nd edition to isolate magic, he discovers that, among the mundane equipment, a fine magical rapier, longsword, and spear are included.
Jadren will help clean and repair the weapons.
"Our instructions make it clear not to take the weapons. Showing respect is very important though."
Jadren would like to do a Religion check to see if there is any way to "pay homage to the dead" who have died upon the sea.
Lavanna recites both sets of instructions...
"Honor the weapons of the fallen dead, those who died in service upon the sea, but let not these tools go unused, for even in death they might help the living..."
"Pay homage to the lost, take not their blade or spear if you want to win the pirate king's treasure..."
"Maybe that means we are supposed to take the rapier?"
"That would still count as a blade I think."
"Maybe we take the mundane stuff, and not the magic?"
Religion won't cut it, but I'd accept a Crafting check.
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Jadren puzzles a moment before raising his finger in the air. I've got it! he says.
I remember back in Crafting school that there were several weapon groups. Blades and spears encompassed a lot of things that pierced the skin. So maybe "take not their blade or spear" means we should find something that doesn't? He turns to the elf. What do you think that is, Elevator?
"So something dull and bludgeoning, like Jadren's wit? Sorry, couldn't resist."
"Ha! Clearly my wit is not as sharp as Insel's. Let's see what we can find."
He searches for a useful bludgeoning weapon and suggests the others do the same.
"Do you really think I need to use a bludgeoning weapon of sorts? I really like my blade and would prefer not trading it for a club."