The tunnel was narrow, with barely enough space for Kaljei and Qira. As they walked through it, the tunnel expanded as it approached a larger room. But before they reached it, they heard a distinct click under Kaljei's feet as one of the stones moved. There was barely a moment to react, with Kaljei stumbling back in surprise when he heard the sound and almost managing to avoid a barrage of darts that emerged from tiny slits in the walls, but a pair of them hit him in the arm and he cried out in pain as he stumbled nad fell to the ground from the force and surprise. Qira was almost toppled over by him and she just barely managed to move out of the way. Concerned, she kneeled down beside him after throwing a glance at the slits the darts emerged from.
"Hold still." Qira spoke quickly as she began to look over the injury while reaching for her remedy pouch. The darts were small and had barely penetrated the skin and even with many, they wouldn't pose much danger by themselves, Qira thought. She carefully removed one of them to examine it and noted a faint scent. It was old, but distinctly there: Venom. With the age of it, she doubted that it would pose much danger, but she still took her precautions by cleaning the wounds with some of their extra water and wrapping it in with a poultice and bandages that she carried with her.
"They were coated in venom; it shouldn't be potent enough to cause harm with how old it is, but let's not take any chances on delaying the effects if it is." She made sure that it was wrapped and nodded, standing up again and offering a hand to Kaljei who took it to get up as well.
"It still stings a lot for something that small." Kaljei mumbled, rubbing the now bandaged spots.
"Actually, that would be the poultice. I'll look at it again once we're back at the camp, alright? Just keep it slow, and it should remain fine for now, and tell me if it begins to feel worse, okay?" She stared intently at him until he agreed quietly. Afterward, they returned their attention to the tunnel before them, now littered with darts. Qira used her cane to push down on the stone again and had to put in some effort, however nothing more happened once the stone clicked. Now certain that the trap was disarmed, the pair began to slowly move forward. This time, Qira used her cane to check ahead before each step to ensure it was safe.
The corridor rounded out into a larger room. The light from Kaljei's lantern reflected in various crystals that decorated the room, helping to light it up. The middle of the room was adorned with a statue of an Amrilni. The statue was wearing an old armor set and holding a spear in one hand planted in the ground as it was kneeling down, facing the entrance the pair came in from. Qira and Kaljei were so taken in by the sight that it took a moment for them to notice the iron door on the other side of it and the murals on the walls. Each depicts a figure warding off a threat, but the figure changes between each mural. From one, it was an Amrilni standing between the island and pirates intent on looting it; on another, it was a vague outline creating a wall between a village and an erupting volcano. Each mural depicts a different scenario with faded colors.
Qira admired both the statue and the murals. She sat carefully on the floor, bringing out her journal to take notes on them. Meanwhile, Kaljei looked around the room carefully, ensuring no more traps were present. After finding none, he investigated the iron door in the back of the room. Qira looked up as she wrote.
"It's probably locked. If not, it wouldn't have any reason not to be made of wood. There must be something important behind it if they keep both reinforced doors and a hidden door, though, and the darts." She commented to him.
"Yeah, but what would it be? Old relics or something?" He looked at her, and she nodded; that was her prediction. "Well, what are your thoughts on this room? It looks in better condition than the rest of the tower."
"It was likely sealed enough by the wall to keep it intact, and nothing here is made of wood, so that likely helped. Or did you mean the room overall? Because it seems like some kind of sanctum for whoever the statue depicts... Now that I think about it, if the person on the murals and the statue are the same, it may be how they saw the spirit in the stories. However, if that is the case, we should be careful. It seems important enough that there must be more to it than just one hidden door and a simple trap." She closed her journal and packed it away to begin carefully looking around the room. She tested the floor with her cane and looked closer at the murals in a bid to find anything that was off, but she didn't manage to see much. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was off. As they walked around the room to investigate it, Qira felt her gaze drawn to the statue more than once as the light from the lantern danced across its crystalline body. Moving to the front of it, she examined it again, observing how the light changed as Kaljei walked around the room. The light felt like it moved too much for Qira as she continued to watch it. After a minute, she tried to reach out to the statue.
Her eyes were drawn to the hand holding the spear, and it seemed almost like it was clenching tighter—a brief moment that made Qira flinch back. She felt the rush of air as the statue struck the air barely a few inches from her face. The statue stood up, about the size of Kaljei, as the faceless helmet turned to look at Qira, who was scrambling to get out of reach from the spear. Kaljei, who had, in turn, been surprised by the statue moving, grabbed a rock and threw it at the statue's helmet, getting its attention. At the same time, Qira tried to wrap her head around what was going on.
She didn't have much time to think of why or how the statue was moving. She began to search through her bag, in the hopes of finding something to help, but she only had her remedies and herbs. None of which would be helpful against the moving statue. She could feel the panic begin to set in, as she looked over and saw that Kaljei barely managed to keep it occupied by wrestling for the spear. With little other thought, Qira rushed forward as fast as she could and jumped on the statue, using her weight to make it fall over. Kaljei was quick to help her out as they tumbled heavily to the ground. He got on top of it and grabbed the nearest heavy object he could, a loose rock, and began beating in the statue's helmet until it stopped moving. They both stared at it, breathing heavily as they warily got up, uncertain if the thing would begin moving again, but it did not.
"That... That seemed too easy, right?" Qira looked over at Kaljei to confirm her question. He nodded slowly as he kneeled down to take the spear and looked it over. Qira glanced around the room again, particularly at the door. Nothing had changed beyond a few marks from the fight between Kaljei and the statue. As she thought, Kaljei walked over to the iron door and, looking at the spear, then to the door, tried to insert it into a hole in the door that Qira had not noticed earlier and twisted it. The door began to rumble moments after Kaljei turned the spear. He quickly removed the spear from the door as they both stepped back, and the door began to slide into the floor.
They looked into the room. It was a narrow hallway, with the walls made of natural rock that had been smoothed over, a significant contrast to the stone bricks that the previous rooms had consisted of. Alcoves were carved into the walls, now covered in old cobwebs and dust, whatever they had housed being long gone. At the end of the hallway, past three alcoves on each side, was a pedestal carved out of the rock, unsmoothed, unlike the walls. Attached to it was a rusted metallic cage safeguarding a wooden box.
"Well, that's kinda different from the other rooms." Qira commented as she looked into the alcoves as they walked past them. However, she gave a disappointed grumble as she found nothing within them. Instead, her attention went to following cautiously behind Kaljei.
"Yeah, it seems you were right. Do you think they took the rest of the artifacts before they left?" Kaljei stopped by one of the alcoves and removed some of the webs to check it closer, though, like the others, it was empty. Seeing that, he shook his head and began walking towards the cage again.
"Probably. Maybe they were in a hurry? I can't imagine they would have left something there and taken the rest unless they had to leave soon and couldn't find the key." Qira began looking at the cage once they were closer. The cage itself was simple, with a thoroughly rusted lock keeping it closed. The box within was old, though in remarkably fine condition. She turned to Kaljei after a few seconds. "Can you break it open?"
"I should be able to if it's rusted enough." He commented and took the rock he used earlier and hammered it on the lock, making loud metallic clanking noises until he managed to break it off entirely after several hits. With the lock off, it was trivial to pry the cage open and retrieve the box, which Kaljei handed to Qira, who opened the box.
The box contained an amulet cast in bronze. The metal was weathered from the passage of time, shaped like an intricate medallion, and was suspended from a withered piece of string. The surface of it was adorned with finely detailed engravings of esoteric symbols, now faded and softened by time, intertwined with the celestial patterns of the night sky, with the very center of it depicting the moon.
"What does it say?" Kaljei asked as Qira turned the amulet around and saw that the backside was blank.
"I don't know, it isn't something I have seen before, though it looks like it is about the night. Maybe it is about the full moon? Though maybe not. We've got time to figure that out, though; the next one is first in two weeks.
"There was a larger city on one of the nearby islands, Lotuku, I believe. We could see if it has a library or if one of the passing merchants knows of it." Kaljei helpfully suggested as he began to wander, checking the alcoves to be sure they were empty.
"I guess. Though I'd rather not with the privateers there, but we might have to." Qira begrudgingly agreed, recalling that the Blue Talon privateers patrolled the waters around here. She put the amulet back into the box and handed it to Kaljei so that she didn't risk damaging it before she could clean it, and the pair began to make their way back.
"When do you plan to depart?" Kaljei looked over at Qira as she thought about her answer.
"In a few days. Two or three unless we discover more. I want to be sure we have everything before leaving, or the elders will begin yelling at me about it." She sighed, already feeling annoyed again at how restrictive the elders were about this. Regardless, she still had things to discover. With that, they returned to the camp to prepare for the next few days as they collected their findings and planned to explore the surroundings before their departure. Qira tended to Kaljei's injury during this time, ensuring the potential venom would not cause harm.
