Unimpressed with the baying of the hounds Relan advances using combat Expertise to increase his armor class. He stops just short of attack range with his Ranseur and readies to attack.
Levelle drops her bow and the arrow she was holding on to and flees after the others...
Levelle and Braelex bolt to the south in fear dropping their things as they do. They push through the door at the end of the hall and enter another room:
The air in this room is thick with the scent of expensive perfumes. Dozens of delicate crystal jars and vials are displayed on pedestals of polished pink marble along the walls. A glass orb that swims with liquid amber light hangs from the ceiling fifteen feet above on a delicate, ten-foot-long golden chain. The two women inhale the heady fumes and their minds begin to fog up distracting them from the fears at hand.
Halima, Vuloo and Andel flee to the north as Relan steps in to take a defensive position in the middle of the evil shrine. The three mastiffs charge him and the warrior strikes two of them as they approach and then stabs the first one again, not allowing their shadowy nature to fool him.
Each wound emits shadowy tendrils of a smoky black substance instead of blood and all three dogs are still on their feet, surrounding Relan using pack tactics. One gets a bite in and tries to pull the warrior from his feet, but Relan wrenches his leg away.
; success
; fail; rds;
; success
; fail; rds;
; fail; rds
; success
; ; HIT!;
; ; HIT!;
; miss
; miss
; HIT!;
; fail
Andel double moves back into the room with Relan.
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Relan Steps back and full attacks the hound that seems the most hurt.
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Braelex feels the fear slipping off and the confusion settling in and shouts once at Levelle, "Get out of here!" She then runs back to the fight. Levelle cowers in the corner as she seems resistant to the effects of the perfume.
Vuloo and Halima reach the galley and bolt in opposite directions. The Gray Maiden feels the fear wear off at the end of her run.
Relan drops one of the hounds with a quick stab, but the second strike passes through a shadowy afterimage of the second one and the two remaining dogs move in to flank and rip at him again, this time swatting him painfully with their massive tails but missing him with snapping jaws.
; fail; ;
; east
; miss
; HIT!;
; miss
; HIT!;
Andel will use his naturalist ability to begin reciting the weakness of the shadow hounds .
Some of the fighter's wounds begin to close only to have them reopened by the battering of the creatures takes. Relan 5' steps again and attacks the mastiff closer to Andel using Combat Expertise.
Maintaining some lucidity, Braelex heads back towards the secret shrine. Seeing a hound attacking Andel, she aims and fires her crossbow.
;
Vuloo runs some more as Halima returns to the fight.
Braelex runs in and fires a crossbow shot, but missed wide due to the confusing shadows in the room
Andel recites goodness about the shadow mastiff's weaknesses, and Relan capitalizes on it severely injuring the one attacking Andel, shadowy stuff spilling from its wounds.
The dogs continue to savage the warrior, moving in to flank him again, but the warrior's intentional defense helps him just avoid all the blows.
; miss
; miss
; miss
; miss
The agile warrior, maintaining his combat expertise, steps again and attacks the wounded hound.
Levelle moves back into the other room and attempts to retrieve her bow. (Does doing so make her have to save again? Otherwise that is a move and a move.)
Levelle moves into the room and retrieves her bow.
Relan moves and cuts down the western dog while Halifax hurries back into the hall to retrieve her blade and shield.
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Braelex downs an alchemical admixture and reloads.
Andel takes a 5' step back away from the dog and casts chord of shards at it.
; DC15 reflex save negates
Andel sprays shards at the nearest dog, shredding it as Braelex drinks an extract.
; fail
The final dog, showing no signs of relenting, continues to savage Relan. The canny warrior, having taken a defensive posture gets bit but is able to slip out of the dog's trip attempt and leaps over the smashing tail.
; HIT!;
Levelle moves into the room and takes a quick shot with her bow skittering it off the wall.
Feeling more confident now that he has back up the fighter fights defensively while trying to finish the hound.
Vuloo begins running back.
Andel draws his bow and fires on the last dog.
; high hits
Aiming eye glowing from her alchemical enhancement, Braelex fires a bolt at the last hound.
;
;
Still somewhat disoriented, Levelle does her best to pause and line another shot up...
The arrow fails to land where the hunter wants it to...
Arrows, bolts and blades shoot forward destroying the remaining hound.
Breathing hard, Relan brings his Ranseur to the ready position and looks for more enemies. Realizing the last hound is down he beings to take in his surrounds and calls out Is everyone all right? Is everyone accounted for?
Braelex nods, but appears a bit light-headed. "Between the hounds howling and the gas trap in the other room, I might need a minute or two to get my bearings."
Vuloo gathers his composure and then walks back into the room. As the others look at him, he sighs in exasperation. "What? So I got a little scared? Did you see the size of those shadow hounds?"
He then collects his dropped stuff and moves to examine the objects siting on the rectangular stone. Andel joins him.
Relan looks received that his friends are unhurt. Gas Trap? Other Room?
Braelex nods to the south. "The dogs enticed us to check out the room across the hall. Its filled with some strong perfumes... strong enough to make you confuse friend from foe."
I confess my fear overwhelmed any confusion I might have felt, but Braelex is right that the room seemsto have the power to muddle the mind. We should be cautious.
With the immediate danger gone, the party settles in to see what these new rooms hold.
The black fog having disappeared, Braelex tactily discovers what seems to be a line of letters carved into the painting above both upturned hands but hidden behind the globes of blackness. She can feel the line of letters but for some reason is unable to see them.
Vuloo and Andel peruse the items on the altar and find a a golden cup with ancient bloodstains within (worth 450 gp), a magical adamantine dagger with a curved blade (also crusty with long-dried blood), a magical incense burner that emits a cinnamon-scented smoke (worth 200 gp), a narrow bronze incense case containing 2 doses of magical incense, a silver scroll tube (itself worth 250gp) containing a scroll of heal, and an unholy symbol of Nocticula (a seven-pointed crown wrapped with thorny vines) made of onyx and pearl and worth 1,000 gp.
Levelle and Braelex find themselves immune to the heady scent, but note the others may not fair as well. They note the golden chain that suspends the glass orb (worth 250 gp)
Relan spends some time examining everything, but does not enter the perfume room. Instead he asks that vials be brought out. He knows that they should be worth something but just how much he cannot say. Can anyone discern the enchantments on the dagger and incense burner? he asks.
"There's something here," Braelex indicates the carved letters. "It must be important, but I cannot make out what is says. Should we take down the painting for a closer look?"
***
"These perfumes are... exotic, and quite valuable. As long as we keep them stoppered, they should fetch a good price." Braelex carefully collects the vials.
Levelle will handle each magic item and attempt to discern information about them...
Vuloo nods at Braelex, "Yes, search everything."
He then joins Relan and attempts to assist Levelle in discerning the properties of the magical items.
Braelex checks over the painting to see if it can be lowered for closer inspection.
Braelex is able to safely remove the painting and check the wall. Again she can feel the indentations but the wall is visually smooth, almost perfectly so.
The dagger is +1, the incense burner is minorly enchanted to never run out of the cinnamon incense. The 2 blocks of magical incense are of meditation
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We need to do a rubbing of the wall to be able to ready it. the lore warden recommends.
Vuloo will take the incense burner and incense. "Who wants the dagger?"
He detects magic on the wall and looks for any signs of danger. He then runs his hands over the wall trying to see if he can decipher any meaning from the indentations.
Andel will also run his hands over the wall to see if he can make anything of it.
We need to do a rubbing of the wall to be able to ready it. the lore warden recommends.
The party examines the painting the best they can, feeling but not seeing the indentations. Finally, Relan suggests a rubbing and Andel does so, which allows the writing to come up easily on the piece of paper. It is in a foreign language and script.
The right side words say, "Those who would seek my inner sanctum need only speak my artist’s name."
"Abyssal... vile tongue," Braelex grimaces and reads the words aloud to the others. "Here on the left, it reads: 'In deference to Our Lady of Shadows, the following are hereby consigned to servitude within the Lady’s Light,'" She points to a single word underneath, separated from the others. 'Ashamintallu', it says. A name?" She shrugs, then gestures to the right side of the painting. "'Those who would seek my inner sanctum need only speak my artist’s name.'"
"Anyone know anything about art? Andel?"
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Levelle offers a sort of shrug of her shoulders when asked about art.
Andel studies the painting inscriptions. "The name Ashamintallu sounds familiar. Vuloo, wasn't there a famous painter of abstract abyssal impressionism by that name?"
Vuloo takes a look.