Wulbert senses another burning conflagration imminent, twisting away from the disastrous future to land the alchemist fire perfectly in the midst of the swarming insects. The smell of burning insects fills the air, replacing the sound of buzzing wings. The flash of fire clears, revealing countless husks littering the floor, as stragglers escape through the open doors and broken skylight.
As the party begins to put back the artifacts taken from their displays, the sound of rapid footfalls can be heard from the hall. A breathless Mercival rushes in, followed by a small horde of curators and museum staff, who all look prepared for the worst and confused to see none of the shrew flies they were told of.
"Pathfinders! Splendid work, absolutely splendid." Mercival pats his chest and adjusts his glasses as he glances about the room. "Ah, those stands will need to be replaced. Oh, scorch marks are a devil to get out." He pauses to look up at the missing skylight, beckoning one of his assistants over. "Let's find the invoice for the carpenter who made those repairs last year. I think we need to have some words regarding her craftsmanship." The assistant nods and hurries back out the door while the other curators spread out through the room and begin taking notes and assessing the damage.
"Well, you have my thanks for saving so much of the collection. Nasty creatures, those shrew flies. I can't imagine the loss if fortune hadn't brought you here at just the right time." Mercival digs into his pocket and pulls out a key. "I'll open up the book displays for you - perhaps what you're looking for is in those Chronicles. Or perhaps you can find some clue amidst the other artifacts. In any case, I will return shortly - there are some additional relics that haven't been fully processed yet I wanted to let you look through." Once the display cases are open, the head curator hurries off back down the hall.
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Wulbert picks a few charred insects out of his clothing and dusts himself down. "Yes, I'm glad we managed to save the majority of the relics, although it’s sad that some still got eaten by the flies."
Flipping open one of the volumes, Wulbert starts to peruse its content. He's soon engrossed in the exciting tales he finds within, however not being much of a scholar he becomes a little lost when it comes to the wider context of what he is reading.
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Zehameti compliments Maaldrek on his idea of removing the relics from danger "I wish I had thought of that sooner!" she grins as her eyes travel down his bare chest unabashedly.
Then she will offer to the museum staff to cast Mending on any of the only partially destroyed relics.
Books are boring, but Zehameti always informs herself about local gossip and notable locations before a mission, so she might find something useful. She sighs dramatically before sitting down to read.
Other than that (or after) she will flit around the museum looking for anything Shoanti tribal looking.
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"Ah, dear Cara! thank you for the introduction! are you still in good terms with the Church of Asmodeus, or have you come full circle and gone through the 12 steps of hatred towards anything related to Hell yet?" replies Maaldrek playfully with a wink, adding "I do hope that the big scary priest of Ass-modeus is not troubling your sleep... he was rather fearsome in terms of his level of monotony... don't you think? ha ha ha!"
Zehameti's offer of help mending the damaged display is welcomed eagerly by the staff. "Thank you so much! Keeping a full time mage on staff just isn't in the budget, so we make due with aftermarket wands and scrolls. Every use saved is less cost to us later!"
Reading through the chronicles after completing repairs, Zehameti notices details of certain sites described in Helven Leroung's published accounts differ from recent maps and surveys of the same areas. This suggests that perhaps Helven was never at those locations. The word choice and syntax in Helven's accounts are also atypical of Chelish authorship, though they do remind you of stories passed down in an oral tradition.
Mercival returns not long after the staff finishes reorganizing the intact displays. "Thank you for waiting. As I mentioned earlier, we have some recent arrivals and artifacts in need of a bit of restoration that we keep in a separate room. If you could follow me?" He collects a wooden bowl from its stand, pulls out a large iron key, and leads you back into grand hallway to a small, unobtrusive door.
Two work tables occupy the room on the other side. One holds a variety of Tian objects, including a wooden washboard, some bamboo flutes, and a pair of intricately-painted fans. The other is arrayed with aged curiosities, including a totem of a Shoanti man dressed in riding leathers as well as stacks of yellowing papers. Crates and sturdy racks, holding bits of fragile-looking sculpture and pottery, press against otherwise bare walls. There are doors along the northwest and southwest walls, and the latter is padlocked.
As Mercival shuts the door behind the group, a soft sound of movement can be heard. Sailing down from above, a piece of broken pottery flies through the air to catch Knuckles squarely in the chest. The attack seems more shocking than harmful, as you look up to the top of a crate and see a tiny, crudely carved statue of a robed man covered in glowing runes bending down to pick up another piece of decorative clay.
"A shikigami!" Mercival's voice is awed even as he ducks another improvised projectile. "It must have come here with one of the artifacts - perhaps it heard the shrew flies and thinks its ward is in danger. Quickly, we must mollify it before we lose any more pieces of that antique vase it's throwing at us!"
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Zehameti has never heard of Shikigamis before, but she can understand the concept of having a strong sense of protection and responsibility towards something.
Although she is sorely tempted to partake in the dancing with Wulbert, she thinks she may have a better idea.
She steps out in front, piercing the little statue person with her focused eyes as she sways back and forth an almost imperceptible amount as she hums to herself lightly.
Once she can tell if it is fascinated by her (or not), she will order it to "Please don't attack us - we are fellow protectors."
Even after the spell ends, the creature retains its new attitude toward you, but only with respect to that particular request.
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For a moment, she considers trying to intimidate the odd angry little creature, but she guesses that might just make it MORE defensive, and then seeing Wulbert starting to dance...
(and Maaldrek's apparent reaction to it)
...Zehameti doesn't know if that will actually work on this so-called "Shikigami," but figures it plays to her strengths anyway, so she goes with the flow.
She undulates slowly and sinuously, trying to calm rather than frighten the creature.
'yes, you are safe - no, we are not a threat - be calm - all is well' her movements seem to say. (Well, to those that know how to read hips and arms anyway.)
The animated figure regards Wulbert and Zehameti for a long moment, the carved face inscrutable, before it flings another piece of broken pottery at Dora, the projectile narrowly missing her head!
Cara wracks her memory for any religious connotations to the shikigami's guardianship, but can remember little of use. Maaldrek recalls the kami being ancient otherwordly spirits that were created to guard the natural world, although what counts as natural has changed over time.
"It doesn't seem to be calming down! Please try harder!" Mercival calls out, holding his hands up in placation at the spirit.
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Wulbert is concerned that he may have inadvertently mesmerised Maaldrek, although he is delighted that Zehameti also likes dancing (and is really good at it).
The shikigami still seams to be upset and Wulbert realises in all the excitement the party haven’t been propperly introduced to their new friend.
Finishing his dance, Wulbert looks up at the shikigami, smiles and waves "Hello up there... I'm so sorry, I've just realised we haven’t introduced ourselves! I hope you can forgive our lack of manners... My name is Wulbert, and these are my friends... We're here visiting the lovely Mr Jeggare and his wonderful museum. We've been sent here to investigate a bit of a mystery involving an artefact... Anyway, we've had an exciting time so far, we helped Mr Jeggarre sort out a bit of a problem with some flies and now that been dealt with we're in here to continue with our investigations. I hope we're not disturbing you. I'd love it if we could be friends, I've never had a shikigami friend before."
Wulbert does his best to look as friendly and non-threatening as possible, not sure if the shikigami can understand him.
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As Zehameti continues to dance (because why not? Dancing is fun!), she starts to slowly move about the room, surreptitiously looking for any nearby object that looks similarly themed to the tiny protector. Slowly circling closer to the Shikigami without being threatening (which takes effort for her).
She will also try to catch any pieces of the vase thrown in her direction to save them from destruction.
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Maaldrek approaches the tiny spirit dude and extends his arms out wide, showing his full height and bulging, oiled muscles, "Why don't you make like a tree and gettoutta here, boy!"
Maaldrek suddenly remembers that he just said it wrong...
The stone man seems to listen to Wulbert's pleas, absently throwing another fragment of pottery at Maaldrek in response to his threats. Zehameti dives in time to catch the shard before it strikes the hard floor.
The shikigami pauses, ready to throw another projectile, but seems to listen to Dora's pleas. If it understands her is another matter entirely. Dora does notice that none of the thrown pottery comes close to the table bearing the recent arrivals from Tian Xia.
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Zehameti integrates the shard of pottery into her dance, passing it across her eyes, first one direction, then the other...
C'mon, throwing stuff is no fun! You should dance with us instead! No one wants to hurt your ward."
She will leave her other hand free to try to catch anymore pottery shards.
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Pondering the insight from Maaldrek that shikigami are guardians of the natural world, it occurs to Wulbert that the shikigami's current surrounding's must be rather unsettling for it, especially in comparison to the tranquillity of many natural environments. He can certainly see how a large group of unpredictable strangers suddenly turning up and milling around could cause even more upset.
In order to help alleviate this, Wulbert decides it may help if he could reduce the perceived level of noise and crowding in the room. With that in mind he makes a conscious effort to reduce the amount of noise he is making and to make himself inconspicuous to help reduce the shikigami's level of anxiety and concern about potential threats to its ward.
With Maaldrek's pleas and Wulbert working to restore some order in the room, the shikigami does not throw the next shard of pottery. But neither does it put it down. Dora sees little in the way of tracks, but notices a faint phosphorescence lingering on one of the Tian items.
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While he was chatting away to the shikigami, trying to make friends, Wulbert spotted Knuckles was searching around for clues, but he was fairly sure Knuckles was looking in the wrong place. But perhaps, thought Wulbert, there may be a misplaced item or clue which Knuckles spots there which could still help with the situation.
The tiny figure hesitates, shaking it's fist at Knuckles but not yet throwing its latest ammunition.
Once this round is done, you will have another round but must use a different skill.