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When the last snake drops, Miriel looks around. "Are there more? Is everybody all right? Inghinn!" she says. She snaps out her healing wand and runs to Inghinn, touching her wounds with the wand. While healing, she stares at Gwendolyn and starts: "And you, know that..." but snaps shut, takes a deep breath and concentrates wholly on the healing.
After the wounds are closed, she walks back to pick up her weapons, and puts on her armor again. She walks to Gwendolyn and with careful tone speaks to her: "I apologize for my inconsiderate behaviour, I was carried too far by the heat of battle. But I must thank you for the wonderful spell, it was most appropriate and effective, and its colours remind me of my goddesses symbol, the rainbow-coloured songbird. Are you familiar with Shelyn?"
Joining the investigation of the marks of an earlier battle, Miriel wonders: "So there is certainly something more than snakes to be expected here. Unfortunately, we cannot deduce if it was the archers or the spellcaster who won the battle, or if they were fighting together against a common enemy. All we can do is to prepare for another encounter, on the possibility that whoever fought here is aggressive toward us."
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"Well, my thought was that spellcasters wouldn't scavenge all the spent arrows. Maybe impoverished spellcasters who are on the lookout for every loose copper..."
Kavor Doan, despite being a dwarf, is fairly spendthrift. Comes with being a Caydenite.
"Wait... no stray arrowheads... are there signs of RUST??"
With his gleaming fullplate and his runecarved axe, the dwarf is suddenly very concerned about this possibility.
Kavor and the party carefully move towards the dormitory.
Rows of columns divide this spacious room. A pile of blankets lies in the southwest corner, but otherwise, the room is bare.
Moving north, you enter the Storage Room.
Old clothes, barrels, large sacks, rusted pickaxes, and other miscellaneous junk lies in piles in this room.
If you look through the junk, you find some dried rabbit meat.
If you made the above check (or someone tells the party), you can try one Knowledge(Nature) check.
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Miriel comes behind the rest of the group, admiring the architecture and almost tripping on the junk lying on the floor. When Hera points out the eggs, she comes to have a look at the eggs.
"These are snake eggs, which should be of no surprise to anyone after our previous encounter. I am not certain that they belong to the species we fought, but that would be a reasonable presumption."
Miriel picks one up and caresses it gently.
"Such a shame the parents were so aggressive. We can hope that those who where stunned by Gwendolyn's rainbow lights will make it back after we have examined the premises, and will take care of their offspring."
The party moves on to the Altar Room.
A polished, fifteen-foot-tall stone statue of a coiled snake sits at the center of this room.
Tanbaru looks at the statue, confused. ”I don’t remember this statue at all.”
"Do you wish to return to the courtyard and then go to the Meditation Room? Or should we go east directly into the Library? We can also try the Scarsity in the northeast corner of the temple." Tanbaru whispers, recalling memories once lost.
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"It does not represent any religious figure that I know of. I studied serpent cults quite extensively after my perilous journey to one of their hiding places. Beautiful craftsmanship, though", Miriel analyses the statue.
"I don't have any preference in our research order. You are our best source of information, but if you cannot provide us any insight on possible results in any of the areas, we are equally unprepared regardless of our choice. Meditation room is acceptable."
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Inghinn’s interest is piqued at the large statue, but she fails to recall any relevant information about the statue or her surroundings.
Before leaving, however, she tries to clamber up the statue to get a better view of the temple. Perhaps she would spot something new from a different vantage point.
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After the wounds are closed, she walks back to pick up her weapons, and puts on her armor again. She walks to Gwendolyn and with careful tone speaks to her: "I apologize for my inconsiderate behaviour, I was carried too far by the heat of battle. But I must thank you for the wonderful spell, it was most appropriate and effective, and its colours remind me of my goddesses symbol, the rainbow-coloured songbird. Are you familiar with Shelyn?"
"Boy am I. My roommate at the Lodge, Apollyanna is dedicated to the Eternal Maiden. She was the one who suggested I get old bird-brain over there--to help me look smarter in front of all the wizards in the library, so I guess I can't be too hard on her. I just hope she remembers to water my plants."
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Miriel lights up, and she drops her formal tone as she enthuses of Gwendolyn's answer: "Really? So you know about her? We should get together with your roommate someday! Is she also a Pathfinder? We could play music, I play the flute, do you play anything? Or go dancing, I bet you are good, you have such natural grace. She suggested Hera? I should have guessed, such a beautiful bird."
Miriel scratches Hera from just the right spot, that common owls like. Then she notices what she's doing, stops, takes a step back and straightens her dress and hair. Back in formal speech, she continues: "I mean, it would be most delightful to meet your roommate, as we share the joy of following the most graceful of all goddesses. We should arrange an occasion when we return from our current expedition."
Miriel turns to look at the temple and rest of the group, trying to look as professional as she can. "So, let us continue our explorations. Meditation room would be next, if there are no objections."
In the Meditation Room, the walls and columns of this small building are covered in carvings of mythological scenes. Three sitting pillows of slightly different sizes lie on the floor.
On the northern wall, two inhuman creatures with hair burning like flames hold down a third creature with rough, chiseled features atop an anvil. The two fiery creatures have hammers raised as if shaping their victim in a blacksmith’s forge. Behind them, a towering monstrosity crushes an army beneath its elephantine feet.
The east wall depicts muscular, horned humanoids—one holding a crystalline spike the size of a spear—clambering up a hill toward a fiery circle; the monstrous creature from the east wall storms after them.
The south wall shows the horned humanoids driving the spike into the monster, pinning it against the wall of a cavern above a pool. Far in the background, a bearded giant with ram’s horns curling from his head howls in pain.
The west wall’s carvings depict a mortal woman who carries a battered suit of armor and gazes up at a towering old man who stands before her. With one hand he points to the snow- capped mountains behind him. The other he uses to gesture palm-outward to the woman, as if instructing her to go no further.
[spoiler=DC 30]The towering old man is a jinushigami, one of the most powerful types of kami in existence. They guard natural features like forests and mountain ranges.
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Kavor Doan looks around the Meditation Room.
"This is supposed to be tranquil? Or is it a test to see if you can meditate surrounded by such scenes?"
He looks at the pillows.
But doesn't notice anything.
He examines the scene on the North wall. He at least paid some attention to planar studies at the academy.
Not recognizing these beings, he turns his attention to the East wall.
"Efreeti, fleeing through a portal, it seems. What sort of being could put Efreeti to flight?"
Unable to recognize anything from the South Wall, he turns to the West.
"A Kami of some sort. Guarding this location?"
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"Their choice of subjects is somewhat peculiar, especially for a place meant for peace and quiet. The artists have shown diligence and commitment on their work, that we must appreciate. But are these expressions valuable, has this been efficient use of their talents? Still, there are sinister forces in work all around us, maybe the art can serve as a warning to not let our guard down?" Miriel tries to wrap her mind around the subjects and her appreciation of art.
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Doodle was amazed at the others talking about their knowledge of history and other unknown planes. She hadn’t been able to focus that well in her studies, and she ended up red faced when the others around her knew so much more. She tried to change the subject to something more directed to this mission. ”All this is boring. Let’s keep exploring and find something interesting,” she says as she pushes forward.
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Miriel lights up, and she drops her formal tone as she enthuses of Gwendolyn's answer: "Really? So you know about her? We should get together with your roommate someday! Is she also a Pathfinder? We could play music, I play the flute, do you play anything?"
"Chess?"
"Or go dancing, I bet you are good, you have such natural grace. She suggested Hera? I should have guessed, such a beautiful bird."
"Sure. I think she was thinking about getting together with all of her sparkly temple friends sometime early next year."
"I mean, it would be most delightful to meet your roommate, as we share the joy of following the most graceful of all goddesses. We should arrange an occasion when we return from our current expedition."
"Well, Crystalhue is just around the corner."
"Uhh, well, on the eastern wall there, it's like the little guys are luring the big guy into a trap with that carroty-looking thing."
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Miriel scratches Hera from just the right spot, that common owls like. Then she notices what she's doing, stops, takes a step back and straightens her dress and hair.
Hera leans into the rub and nearly falls off her perch when Miriel withdraws her hand.
Hera flutters down and takes a seat on one of the pillows.
"Whoooooo." ^_^
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"So... the Efreeti lured the giant monster into a trap? And then impaled it with the crystalline spike?
Let's try NOT to remove the crystalline spike and release an otherwise unstoppable monstrosity on the world. That sort of action tends to reflect poorly on the Society.
Hopefully that place where the creature was pinned to the wall is through the portal, and by avoiding the portal we will avoid the opportunity to unleash carnage on Golarion."
After studying the Meditation Room, you move to the Library.
The smell of old paper fills this long building, whose walls are lined with drawers carved from the same stone. Between the shelves, three windows offer a majestic view over dozens of snowy peaks in the east.
On one shelf is a pile of guest books.
You find a box labeled “Mountain Scrolls” in Tien. Unsurprisingly it contains scrolls.
You also find a book titled “Whispers in the Wood”, written in an early dialect of Dtang.
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Miriel opens a book, but shakes her head after noticing the language. "I wish I had more time so I could devote some to language studies. Many stories would be much better experienced in the original languages", she says, sadly. Then, she notices the box and takes a look at its contents. "Ah, but the language of magic is universal. Let us see then..."
"These two are for running very fast for a moment, and this stack of five is for moderate healing. That one just eludes me, I feel I was close but the ending made no sense", she presents her analysis.
Three scaly humanoids emerge from the shadows. They remain quiet but their weapons are drawn and they coordinate their approach with murderous intent! With you unaware of their approach, two fighters wearing red and black robes run up the stairs. The woman with the blue sash remains downstairs.
Only Doodle is able to react before the fighters move again!
Doodle
Red ( 1 ki)
Black ( 1 ki)
Blue ( 1 ki)
Kavor
Miriel
Gwen
Inghinn
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Three scaly humanoids emerge from the shadows. They remain quiet but their weapons are drawn and they coordinate their approach with murderous intent! With you unaware of their approach, two fighters wearing red and black robes run up the stairs. The woman with the blue sash remains downstairs.
"Whoo!?"
Doodle takes advantage and fires a stream of magical bullets at the Woman with the Blue sash. She hisses as she readies her longbow.
She climbs up the stairs and fires a single arrow with uncanny precision.
The man in the Red robes runs up and conjures a ray of flame in his hands. He hurls it with all his might.
The man in the black robes runs through the temple grounds, stopping in front of Gwen.
Red ( 3 ki)
Black ( 1 ki)
Blue (11 damage, 2 ki)
Kavor
Miriel (14 damage)
Gwen
Inghinn
Doodle
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Inghinn rushes forward toward the red-robed warrior, drawing her sword from her back as she charges ahead. With her final step, her left hand reaches up to grasp the hilt of her sword as she throws all her force into a mighty overhead strike.
But she stumbles on a small stone and her aim goes completely off target.
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"You vile bringers of hate! That hurt!" Miriel cries in pain. She calls the power of her goddess: "Varyavanië", and her wounds close under her touch.
She follows beside Inghinn, drawing her blade out and mimicking Inghinn's movements strikes furiously at the enemy. "I'll cut your tale of evil here!"
Swift Lay on hands on self
Full action Charge red
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"You vile bringers of hate! That hurt!" Miriel cries in pain. She calls the power of her goddess: "Varyavanië", and her wounds close under her touch.
She follows beside Inghinn, drawing her blade out and mimicking Inghinn's movements strikes furiously at the enemy. "I'll cut your tale of evil here!"
"Or, we could do that."
The man in Red easily evades Inghinn's swing, but Miriel nearly cuts him down in a single swing. Everyone else backs up and defends themselves against danger.
The woman with the Blue sash takes aim at Miriel, where only the stairs block her view.
After taking the shot, she ascends the stairs and takes cover.
The Red robed man draws upon his ki for more protection and tries to stun one of his attackers before retreating.
The man in black steps up and tries to kick Doodle twice.
One of Doodle's images sticks out her tongue as he kicks and dissipates it.
Red (19 damage, 4 ki, +4 AC boost, Stunning Fist 1/4)
Black (3 ki)
Blue (11 damage, 2 ki)
Kavor (Shield)
Miriel (8 damage)
Gwen
Inghinn
Doodle (4 Mirror Images)