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"Perhaps we should all take a blast off that wand, Cressyk? Can you cast with it appropriately?"
Herman keeps the Gem of Brightness, stowing it his belt pouch for future use.
"Continue forward or try these doors behind us?" asks Herman to the group at large. "I hate to leave unopened doors behind me, but I've also been called 'too curious for my own good.'"
Herman snaps off a smart salute indicating his readiness.
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Cressyk opens the doors to the east. Behind it is a small room. This storage space housed food and supplies for the fortress. The walls, floor, and ceiling are charred, and the burnt remnants of a few splintered boxes and barrels and a handful of corpses are scattered to the edges of the room.
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Herman gives the room only a cursory glance. While the fire is interesting, he doesn't particularly look long or hard at it.
"These ruins are surprisingly not very interesting," says the bored halfling investigator. "I expected undead at every turn and a treasure trove of knowledge about old Osirion. Guess we may have to go home empty handed."
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There are no magical or evil auras in this room.
Cressyk moves to the room to the north and looks inside
The relaxing splash of water echoes throughout this tiled room. A large, pristine pool occupies much of the chamber, and a statue of a warrior-maiden serves as the centerpiece, endlessly pouring water from an ornate jar. A large carving on the east wall depicts a frightening man who stares at the viewer, with half his body burnt and ruined and the other half young and healthy. A withered corpse lies in the northwest corner. An open doorway to the south leads to the fortress’ entry hall.
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Herman shakes his head. "Only I would finally come back home to Osirion and get cursed here. Serves me right for sticking my nose into ancient things."
He then goes right up to the carving, given his now terrible eyesight, and looks up at the carving of Nethys. "Rather fierce, isn't he? Wonder if he is compensating for something?"
The halfling then presses Lady forward to examine the corpse. "What do you think Lady Wolf? Anything strange about this?"
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• The staff paired with the sun represents the release of power and the ability to destroy enemies. Literally, “Destruction.”
• The ankh over rising bread represents prosperity and abundance.
• The ankh before the arch represents protection of the land or home from enemies. It can be translated as “Rune.”
• The scepter paired with the Ssun represents the control of power and its use in preserving the land. Literally, “Preservation.”
• The Man before the scarabs and cobra represents the knowledge of death and its many forms.
• The eye over water represents the knowledge of the world.
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"The pool's magical." Cressyk says plainly. He walks over to the eastern wall and spies a seam. "Seems there's a door here. Maybe we need to rearrange these tiles to form some pattern? Of course, looking at that fellow over there," he jerks his thumb to the corpse lying in the corner, "we're probably best off not drinking the water, and getting this pattern right the first time. Dunno if he died 'cause of poison or something having to do with this."
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"The creature seems to have died of starvation. I guess it got trapped down here. Sad." Haemish tries for the hundredth time to wipe his eyes and clear his vision, but since it's a curse, has as much success as the last ninety-nine times.
He then clicks his heels, nudging Lady toward the pool. "What do you think, girl, is it safe to drink?"
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Seeing that the creature can understand him, he clears his throat. Well, that makes things easier. "Greetings. We are Pathfinders, here on a mission to recover several jewels lost to the ages. Our interest is to preserve and protect them, not to use them for any foul purpose. Do you know where we might find these jewels? Barring that, do you know how to open that door over there?" he asks, jerking his thumb to the eastern wall.
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Haemish's cloudy eyes go wide with wonder. "An elemental, eh? I've heard the great pharaohs of ancient Osirion made pacts with these creatures. Of course my liege, the Ruby Prince does as well.[b]"
The halfling thinks for a moment. "[b]Pardon me, Cressyk, can you ask it if it knows how to lift a curse as well? Might as well see how knowledgeable it is."
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"Hello, my name is Sellana. I'm here to guard this room and the room behind this secret door. You have to solve the riddle to open it." the water elemental says while pointing at the wall with the hyroglyphes and the cartouches. "You have to remove the cartouches and rearrange them in the correct order."
• The staff paired with the sun represents the release of power and the ability to destroy enemies.
Literally, “Destruction.”
• The ankh over rising bread represents prosperity and abundance.
• The ankh before the arch represents protection of the land or home from enemies. It can be translated
as “Rune.”
• The scepter paired with the Ssun represents the control of power and its use in preserving the land.
Literally, “Preservation.”
• The Man before the scarabs and cobra represents the knowledge of death and its many forms.
• The eye over water represents the knowledge of the world.
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Haemish shakes his head. "Even though I grew up here, I never learned to speak the ancient tongue. Our halfling community was pretty tight-knit and a bit shy around strangers, so I spoke our language growing up."
Seeing Cressyk try to convince the elemental, Haemish walks over to help. "Yes, indeed, we are not here to rob the ruin, only to study its history. Do you think you might help us?"
Mental note: learn ancient Osirani.
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The water elemental points at the symbols and says "The staff paired with the sun represents the release of power and the ability to destroy enemies. It means “Destruction.”
The ankh over rising bread represents prosperity and abundance.
The ankh before the arch represents protection of the land or home from enemies. It can be translated as “Rune.”
The scepter paired with the Ssun represents the control of power and its use in preserving the land. Literally it means “Preservation.”
The Man before the scarabs and cobra represents the knowledge of death and its many forms.
The eye over water represents the knowledge of the world. she waits a minute before continuing. "That's all I can tell you."
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Haemish scratches his head. "
When I was a child, the priests of Nethys came to our village from Sothis to spread the gospel of their god. They didn't find too many converts in our largely staid and agricultural community, but I do remember that they presented Nethys as a god of duality: one side of him was burnt, while the other was whole. One side represents all the good things magic can afford, while the other is the opposite. I'm not brainiac, but it seems that this would apply to these cartouches, no?"