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In that case: Marra cast Good Hope {link} on the group, and draws her small scimitar ready for battle, "Make room for them to come to us otherwise the door will be a bottleneck."
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A few seconds of hoping the secret door will not be noticed later, the door is quite literally rammed open by the shoulder of a burly man carrying a falchion. Four others can be seen behind him, carrying scimitars and shields. All of them wear garb of the Pure Legion. the leader bellows in Shandra's face. The ranger is visibly ruffled and caught off guard.
Round 1
Karos (Divine Favor, Destruction Judgement)
Also Them (Captain)
Matsu
Cirri (Shield)
Marra (Good Hope, whole party)
Them (Flunkies)
Shandra (Shaken, 1 round)
Vanzetti (Mage Armor)
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The leader looks a bit stricken, but, as he believes he is facing common smugglers, he laughs it up. "If you seriously think I would-"
Bang!
The man staggers backward, howling in pain. While Karos has missed his mark slightly, a bullet in the shoulder is still quite painful. He and his subordinates barely have time to marvel or curse before Cirri prances in and brings him to the ground with an expert flick of her staff.
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Having been shove out of position, Marra opts to cast Ear piercing scream {link} at the first Flunkie (outline in blue)
Plus dazed for 1 round unless it saved.
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Matsu steps up like a lightning bolt and strikes, but his efforts to keep his target relatively alive undermine his attempt to take him out of the fight.
Marra opens her mouth wide and a small note comes out, but her target hears something more akin to a terrifying cacophony of pure pain. He reels from the impact.
"Surround them!" The Captain bellows from the ground. This feat is proven difficult by the bottleneck he and his men are in, which he is lying in front of and one of his best men is blocking as he huddles down and cradles his ears. As such, the only who can drops his scimitar and pulls a bow off of his back, firing quickly at Shandra. The shot goes far above its mark.
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The leader is put in more pain still as he is hit by a draconic firework, directly where he received his gunshot wound. It is not shaping up to be his day.
Shandra uneasily prepares to strike the man on the ground should he much more than run or continue to scream in agony. Perhaps she wonders how he was so much scarier ten seconds ago.
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The captain, in serious pain, still seems to have no idea he isn't dealing with average smugglers. "You were lucky the first time. I'll never compromise the honor of the Pure-"
Bang!
His monologue is cut short by his own scream, then his quiet as he lolls back in a pool of blood. His soldiers stand there in stunned silence for a second, then snap back into action.
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Matsu moves forward, once again with the speed and accuracy of a lightning bolt! His blade sings through the air, taking down the still-groggy soldier as a puppet whose strings were cut. The soldier with the red sash roars in anger, rushing to the door and slicing at Marra with a scimitar larger than her own. The other two Legionnaires shoot at her with hastily retrieved bows. Their rage, however, makes their strikes go far beyond the intended mark, and the halfling is able to dodge with practiced ease.
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The foremost soldier makes to throw himself against the wall to avoid the firework, but it crashes painfully into him despite his efforts. V's next trick, an icicle, narrowly misses, hitting the wall and causing frost to quickly creep across over a small patch. As the man shows no signs of backing down, Karos quickly follows up with a shot to the guts, blasting him to the ground in a bloody heap. Marra twirls into the next room, receiving no reprisal as the remaining two Legionnaires are currently carrying bows. They appear to regret that particular decision as she ponders which one to hit.
Cirri looks to the ceiling in search of a way to overcome the choke point, noting the musty cellars are but ten feet tall.
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"Okay, fine! We surrender! Just stop hurting us!" The man with the green sash, about to be sliced up by Marra, breaks down. He drops his weapons and gear, beckoning his fellow to do the same, and drops into a crouch to check on his leader and his fellow subordinates. "Dead, dead, barely alive...How?!" He sputters, after moving from the captain, to the blue sash, to the red, respectively. "They told us you were just some run-of-the-mill smugglers from the Pathfinder Society! In exchange for sparing some of our lives, we won't report you. There may be more of us about, however, not likely as lenient..."
As the two finish binding the wounds of their only living comrade, the crate in the next room opens itself again, and with some difficulty, a squat, ugly man pops out and strolls over. He doffs his fez to the team and begins to speak rapidly. "Oh, effendi! My apologies, we did not expect any Pure Legion jackals." At this, the conscious soldiers glare but say nothing. "I am Masur the Ill-Favored, servant of the good Bey in all things. I was waiting for you by the entrance to the sea cave, but we had unexpected company in the form of these fools, who seem to have been tipped off about your presence here. Perhaps it would be better if they cooled their heels awhile in the cells. Now, what services do you require?"
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Cirri puts her staff at rest as the remaining guards calm down. "Oh, thank you so much! Now um, get out of here?" Cirri lets them take the remaining soldier for some medical care. Two needless deaths...
The short man emerges, and Cirri is glad to speak to someone who isn't trying to kill her. "Oh, hi, Masur! Odd nickname you've got...but we need help escorting someone to Wadi al-Hesr. He should be in the back."
Cirri extends her hand for a shake.
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Masur chuckles and shakes Cirri's proffered hand. "I do not recall which childhood mishap earned me that title, but it stuck. The Bey has been forewarned of your cargo, I'm sure he is about...Ah, there he is!" The short man exclaims as Agosa peeks out from around the corner of the cells. When chained with the expensive manacles they were carrying and shut in the cells, the soldiers hiss at the cleric and call Masur and his master infidels. Noting the unconscious survivor's disheveled and bloody state, Agosa holds out a hand to heal him, but his fellows drag him further back into the cell, as if the priest was more likely to give a plague or a wound than cure one.
Masur begins once again with directions and explanation. "Though we have longed for your esteemed presence, have yearned to show you all the delights of Qassabah Heb Amar, the blessed Bey El Makkra sends word that you may not ascend to the rooms above. For, if you do, you will certainly be captured by the Pure Legion”—at this Masur spits on the ground—“and that would be tragedy indeed. The Bey cares not for his own security, but for yours alone, I assure you. I am bidden to take you to another route, whereby you may pass through the stronghold undetected and go on your blessed way in safety.”
"It is a secret route, untouched and unseen for hundreds of years, but it will take you through a complex of tunnels to the southern postern gate, where I have arranged camels for all of you to Wadi al-Hesr." He talks as he walks, bidding all to follow once the Legionnaires are secure in their cells. The Pathfinders follow Masur down the staircase they just came up, to the beach where their boat is moored. He then points out the "secret" route, which was rediscovered not ten minutes ago by none other than the Pathfinder Society. "I will not be accompanying you through the tunnels, so use your best judgement. Some say it has become haunted after centuries of lack of use, and while I do not believe it, nor would I be surprised. Besides, I must attend to my master and stall the Pure Legion, curses unto their name, as well as keep them away from the southern gate. Have you any questions?"
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"I am the only one, it is better that way. Only one is required, and more would increase the likelihood of the secret slipping out, you see?"
As she listens, Cirri is also mulling over a wealth of knowledge gleaned from her career as a Pathfinder and elsewhere. She recalls one passage in particular, perhaps due to its gruesome topic:
In 4612, Sa'ad Bakir, ambitious thief and scion of the Bakir family of Katheer, met his end at Qassabah Heb Amar. He sought to take the ultimate prize from the Bey of the day (the current one's great-grandfather), his daughter Ahira, but was sloppy. He was captured, Ahira was returned to her opulent chambers, and the thief, unbeknownst to his lover, was tortured terribly for his grave misdeed. After some time of this, he woke up one day to find his tormentors gone and himself unbound. Although free, his injuries and fatigue got the better of him, and he fainted in a hall on his way out of his prison castle. As it was also ankle-deep in water, he drowned not a hundred yards from freedom, nothing else in his way, dying a death more ignominious than the torture he had escaped. It is still unknown to us what became of his captors.
From wherever she has heard this passage, Cirri also knows of rumors that the Bey of that time practiced the ultimate sin of religion, and to some evil deity at that, which may have explained his lust for torture. Additionally, she has heard tales of the place being haunted, just as Masur seems to describe.
Marra, while walking and listening, scans the rag for particular magical properties. She is able to discern that it is a Dead Man's Shroud, a cloak capable of hiding the wearer from the risen dead, as well as from normal sight, for a time. From its location and appearance, it can be guessed that perhaps smugglers abandoned it or forgot its existence, for how long one cannot say.
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Karos takes the shroud and ventures forward, leaving the others to stand ready and ponder his question. As he rounds the bend, before him is a long hallway, with several slight alcoves and two feet of tide water on the floor He also hears a faint splashing, though there seems to be no movements in the water, which tapers off by the end of the hall, so the sound is likely coming from this passage. The Alkenstar man is given little time to investigate, however, as a battered, tortured Keleshite man appears! He is clad in sodden rags, his dripping hair is matted with salt, and he is coughing up massive gouts of seawater! He also carries an hourglass under one arm, but as he takes it in both hands and upends it, Karos begins to feel sleepy. Agosa, who had been following up until the bend, also sees the man and promptly collapses. He nearly falls face-first into the water, but his head is instead painfully propped up by the wall on his way down.
Upon hearing the loud splash of the priest's unconscious body, massive amounts of rats pour from some cracks in the walls in search of a meal. Most are too small and not unified enough to pose a threat, but five particularly large ones, if lean from hunger, zero in on Karos, up or not!
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Cirri casts a spell and walks across the wall towards a more advantageous position, while Karos sways slightly and collapses in the water. The rats paddle quickly forward, accustomed by now to easy meals rendered helpless by whatever lurks in this hallway. While they have no clue as to what it is, they appreciate it for the bounty it provides when people come by. They swarm the unconscious Karos, biting madly.