Cupric and Tal both scale the rubble and peer through the door.
Left down below with Tuggle and Marduke "guarding" them, both of the spelleaters seem agitated. They get more agitated when Artemis climbs back down the rubble and takes all of their treasure -- both of them start pacing around and chittering at each other. Occasionally they sniff Marduke and Tuggle, wondering why they haven't moved in awhile.
Up at the new door, Cupric takes a good long look at the cavernous chamber beyond. Were it not for the thick dust on the floor, small sounds would echo much more than they do -- but as it is, the noise the Follies make is more muffled than might be expected.
The dreamborne knew -- just
knew -- that he'd seen enough Netherese to be able to make sense of the writing. The problem thus far has been that the Netherese seem to have a runic language of the usual sort, as well as a purely symbolic language used for magical inscriptions -- unreadable in the normal sense, even though some of the characters are the same.
The near wall's inscription reads "10,000 Spears," while the far wall says "10,000 Shields." The wall at the end, over the massive portal arch, says "VICTORY."
From his knowledge of ancient history, the bard guesses that the two polished spheres do something convenient -- like the levitating discs, or the doors that can be raised with
mage hand. He's not sure exactly what they do, though -- at least not without getting closer.
If there were a clay army this large that had been made famous at some point in history, Cupric would have heard of it. If the platoons down below
are an army, and not just statues, perhaps they've never been used on the field of battle?
Tal climbs carefully down the closest wall, roughly following the path the spelleaters must have taken. On the way down, he examines the runes and carvings on the wall, none of which hold any meaning for him. They may have religious significance, but he's not too knowledgeable about Netherese faiths.
The shiny sphere set into the bottom of the wall is made of marble -- smooth and milky, but shot through with trails of bright blue. It's quite beautiful, but the aasimar also draws a blank on this one -- it appears to be an arcane device of some sort, not a shrine or other religious object. He
is sure that it doesn't have any connection to the portal arch, though.
Watching carefully for signs that the clay soldiers are going to come to life and impale him, Tal gingerly approaches the nearest one. Standing next to them, rank after rank of fierce yet impassive faces spreading in both directions, is something of an eerie experience.
The soldier appears to be made of solid clay, or pottery of some kind -- definitely not hollow. It is simply yet exquisitely worked, smooth and uniform and clearly created by a master craftsman. There are no joints of any kind, or suggestions that it was designed to move -- though the same can be said of an earth elemental that happens to be standing still.
After who knows how long, the point of the soldier's ten foot spear is still quite sharp, as are the spikes on his armor. His face is roughly human, but not very detailed -- there's no attempt to model someone specific, and it looks exactly like all of the ones next to it, down to the last detail (except for damage, etc.).
Ignoring the spelleaters, Artemis collects all of the items recovered from their nest. Holding the new arm, he starts to head back up the rubble pile -- and realizes that his feet seem to want to move
much faster.
Acting on instinct, he tries a small jump as he reaches the rubble, and bounds halfway up the heap -- so quickly that he has to catch himself as he lands. The spelleaters both jump back a little in fright.
Enjoying the freedom of movement the boots afford, Artemis joins Cupric and examines the two arms side by side. They are both roughly the same size (about average for a human), and the runes on them are similar (sometimes identical) in size, shape and composition -- all Netherese. They look like they came from similar constructs, but not the same creature. Both are built in slightly different styles with different materials.
Neither look anything like the arms on the clay statues, unless this is what's
under the clay. Some clockwork protrudes from the shoulder areas of both arms, and it looks very well-preserved -- remarkably so, actually. Artemis can guess that some of the workings have to do with movement, but others don't have any easily discernable function.
OOC: Art, your new digs include boots of striding and springing -- not much mystery there. 
Nor is it hard for Artemis to figure out precisely what they do.
One arm is a left, the other is a right -- for the life of me, I can't remember which is which right now. It's back in the other 7 pages somewhere, and it's not that important since they're clearly from different constructs.
I hope I covered everything!
