Jones drinks a Dex mutagen and Studies the dog.
Jones recognizes it as a Flesh Golem shaped into a hound's form.
Z will get to 15 feet away from the dog and then uses Burning Hands on the dog.
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The golem seems unharmed by your flames, but moves as if in slow motion.
Darius' whip, however, scores a deep lash on the creature. It seems enraged by his whipping.
It has DR 5/Adamantine and is immune to magic. For special abilities, he has none, save that the longer it fights, the higher the chance that the elemental spirit powering it breaks free and it goes on a rampage, attacking all who stand in its path.
This last ability effectively changes nothing; It already plans to kill you.
Darius grit his teeth, " Tough skin and highly resistant to magic, eh? He sure picked a top breed of dog, though it is ugly as sin. It seems unless you have adamantine on you I suggest hitting it as hard as you can. Though the fire seemed to.. do something " He relayed to the others in the group a sneer creeping upon his face. " If this is the welcoming committee, I cannot wait to see the honored host. " Cracking his whip upon the ground, leaving a groove in the dirt.
"You're up against a wall buddy, and I'm the wall!"
Bulldozer swings with all his might for a Power Attack.
Ezekiel grunts, steps up, and smashes the dog.
He then follows up with a lightningfast snap of his jaws.
Ezekiel misses his hammer smash, and is the closest creature the dog can reach.
It snarls and rips into Zeke with a vengeance.
Darius snaps his Whip once again trying to crack the whip against its face.
" Don't get to close now, it likes to bite hard but seems slower than normal "
Z responds to Darius' whipping of the dog.
"I'm glad you're able to do something. My fire doesn't hurt it. That's kind of my deal."
"How hurt are you Zeke, that bite looked nasty, do you need any healing?"
Jones drinks a Shield extract and gets into flanking with Zeke (if he can), drawing his rapier.
Darius gives it another lashing, making a matching mark on the other side of its back. Its unnaturally hard skin turns much of the blow, however.
The dog stares impotently at Jones as he moves, its paw swiping at him but reaching ony the space he had been long seconds ago.
Darius cackled in glee as the his whip make another mark. " Hrmmph, then maybe you should branch out in your ability next time, your flames were not completely useless, look how slow it is! It makes the perfect whipping dog. " He swings his tremendously long metallic whip up and slams it down once more on the Hound Golem.
Bulldozer moves in for another Power Attack.
"You think you can handle a real fighter?"
Zeke, 'Dozer, and Darius all slam into the dog in equal measure, rocking it back, but not dropping it.
It snarls, torn between ripping into Ezekiel and Bulldozer.
It eventually decides to take a chunk out of the gnat flying around its head, and does so with relish.
Z sighs and pulls out her crossbow and a bolt, wincing from the pain of touching the treated wood.
She levels the weapon at the dog and fires careful to avoid the swarming melee combatants.
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Ezekiel smashes the dog, then rips at it his with his teeth.
Between Z's well-placed hit and Ezekiel's hammer blow the creature is finally felled.
Now that you can get a better look at the place, there are several exits to the area.
A door to the north, a pair of double doors t the east, and above those another pair on a balcony.
Z addresses the party after the killing of the dog.
Nodding her head to the doors, "What do you all think? Which doors should we choose? I'm partial to the double doors on the balcony if we can make it, maybe skip some more chaff like these dogs and get straight to the things I can burn!"
Darius slowly began to shrink the effect of his extract waning. he looks around pulling his whip back into a neat coil. " Attacking an enemy from the top is better than doing so from below though my weapon has nice reach. And enemy attacking from above I would rather not deal with. Have the flying one there hold a rope and everyone climb up, seems easy enough, make sure to tie it off just in case. "
"Indeed, getting to higher ground is wise."
"That said, I would like to investigate every room sooner or later. There's no telling where the most important clues will be hidden."
Darius scoths, " We'll do that AFTER we are sure there is no other Golem breathing down our necks, or whatever creature The Beast is being blamed for or the proprietors of this establishment being 'talked' to. "
"Naturally."
"Sounds good."
Ezekiel will take point.
Jones gives Cure Moderate Wounds extracts to Zeke and Bulldozer.
The three of you float or climb up to the door.
Above you find a room, with a few scattered crates. A large crane with a pallet attached sits up there, presumably to lower goods down to the courtyard.
The crates lie open, half packed, and contain an assortment of alchemical goods:
-12 vials of Acid.
-12 vials of Nushadir
-5 Tanglefoot Bags
-3 Thunderstones
" Hrmm quite useful I could use these " Darius went through the items merticulously but was no less focused on their goal. He looked around for anything new but mainly if there were windows to look into the complex.
There is a small door on the norther wall that leads to another room.
It is neither trapped nor locked.
Darius attempts to open the door quietly.
He opens the door as quietly as he can, and find beyond a narrow iron walkway stretching around the edge of the room. A ladder to your keft leads down to the floor level, while a door on the east wall leads soemwhere else.
Below is a room full of vats, creating a nauseating stench in the area.
Darius' strong constitution allows him to fight through it, however.
Planks lay across the 10 x 10 vats below, presumably to allow passage across teh top. A group of 8 strange creatures work down there, stirring the acid and bleach. They have cloths tied around their heads, presumably to protect them from the stench.
Two of the creatures notice you, and tap a third on the shoulder for him to follow. They head towards the ladder and begin climbing.
Ezekiel (21)
Jones (20)
Creature (20)
Creature (18)
Creature (12)
Bulldozer (11)
Zin (11)
Darius (9)
Darius smirks seeing this as an opportunity to have some fun. He raises his voice once it is obvious he was spotted and calls on divne judgement. " Play time. "
The rest of the party sees how Darius is reacting, and can guess that combat has ensued.
They are Mongrelmen, generally hardworking and peaceful creatures (though these 3 seem to be an exception). Their main distinguishing feature is that they are an amalgam of many dfferent creatures in appearance. Though it is too far away now to tell exact details, many mongrelmen may, for example, have half the face of a hobgoblin, half of a human, the hands of an orc, and the legs of a lizardfolk, all on the torso of a dwarf.
They are unremarkable in ability save that they can mimic voices with uncanny precision, and are quite stealthy.
Jones Studies the closest Mongrelman and draws his rapier.
A flick of the whip the man smirks " And now Mongrelfolk? My my if I didn't know better I would think the owners of this establishment had a thing for misshapen creatures. First the Flesh golem, now these ... Grimoire will leave a mark on them all the same. "
As they reached the top Darius lashed out with his whip across one of the poor Mongrelmen's face. The serrated metal whip biting at flesh.
Rumbling in surprise, Ezekiel raises his hammer, steps to the nearest Mongrelman, and fells him.