Cass begins singing one her inspiring songs once again while Sorix begins casting a spell as she tells Mawl to wait for her to finish. He moves up a bit and gets ready to attack anyone that moves up to him. Horillo, not wanting to be caught out in front, moves back behind the others taking a shot at the nearest enemy.
The arrow hits but only leaves a minor wound. Surexeria manages to surprise the man walking past her with her brutal attack, and then grabs a hold of him before he can reach the nearby door.
The men on the west side of the room step up after Horillo, with the one trying to attack around the corner.
Mawl smashes one of the men with his club and they all end up missing.
The monk that Surexeria is holding on to try to get free but can't manage to escape her grasp.
Now that she’s halted his retreat, Surexeria moves to try and draw him into combat with her one on one. ”What’s the matter, darlin’? Can’t go toe to toe with just little old me?”
Mawl drops his Bec in favor of his +1 Heavy Mace. Using both hands he power attacks with the help of the sweet song in his ears, against one of the not wounded ones.
Cassie continues to sing her inspirational song, slipping her whip into her right hand raising it into the air. She throws it forward and snaps it loudly in the air, hoping to draw the attention ad instill some fear into the three men in front of Mawl and Horrillo,
Horillo wanting to keep the enemy at range for a while, takes a step back, before unleashing two arrows at the cultist . Once again, Horillo seems to have lost his eye for a shot and the arrows fly high and wide.
Sorix casts grease under the two foes she can see best, using an arcane pool point to make it more difficult for them to stay on their feet.
Cass attempts to intimidate the men using her whip to draw their attention and it seems to work. As Sorix finishes her spell and Mawl begins to grow in size Cass has to step back just to give the now larger man some room. Sorix weaves another spell as grease forms under a couple of the Asmodeans.
Both men slip in the grease and fall to the floor. Mawl, now supersized, tries to attack one of the men. Luckily, thanks to Sorix's spell they are a bit easier to hit on the floor and Mawl smacks one of them with his mace, knocking him unconscious with a single blow.
Horillo forced to step back because of the now big Mawl, takes aim at the only other man he can see from his position, the other prone one in the grease. Sadly, Sorix's spell had the opposite effect for Horillo, making the man more difficult to hit and causing Horillo to miss.
Surexeria lets the man go and strikes out at him with her blade. While she barely scratches him the man completely ignores her as he reaches to open the nearby double doors.
As he reaches he opens himself up to an attack and Surexeria presses her advantage as she slices into him and knocks him to the floor.
The one man doesn't dare to stand up knowing what awaits him if he does, instead he attempts to kick Mawl in his groin to stun him.
However, with Mawl so big now he doesn't even get close to hitting. The other man makes a break for it, likely to try and get some help.
Mawl swings quickly at the running foe,
As soon as he is able he attacks the other prone figure in front of him,
Cass walks through the grease carefully, trying to catch up to the fleeing man. She gets within the range of her spell and shouts "Stop!"
”Um, tread a little lightly through that grease,” Sorix says, a bit sheepishly. She then hangs back and says, ”After you, Mawl my friend.”
Mawl tears after the escapee as quickly as possible, trying to be careful in the grease.
Horillo gingerly steps through the grease, but falls flat on his face in the sticky, slimy patch of grease. Then crawls on his hands nd knees trying to get out of the stuff and away from the fallen cultist.
Surexeria dashes towards the acolyte, trying to drive her blade through his ribs and heart.
While the others fumble about in the grease, Surexeria moves quickly and dispatches the last of the Asmodeans before he could get the door to the next room open.
Mawl looks about the gruesome room in which he finds himself. Examining the table and wondering aloud what was taking place.
Surexeria storms over to Horillo and punches him in the arm! She then whispers scathingly ”What the hell, bowboy? I said wait for my signal and hardly got across the room before you bolt out and damn near throw the whole pot into the fire! We were lucky that I just so happened to be so damned good with a blade that I could cut these runners down before they called out an alarm!”
"Ow!" Horillo exclaims as he slips and slides in the grease, rubbing his arm where a surprise punch landed. He mumbles "I guess I can just leave Surexeria to it from now on. Estaril let her hunt with success from now on, let the stag call if she wants my aid." He struggles out of the grease, looks up at Mawl and shrugs.
While the group argues you hear what sounds like scratching coming from the south eastern door, as if something is scratching at the door. Otherwise, in this room there are the numerous display cases, the weird dead man held up by chains from some sort of contraption, the doors to the east and south east and two halls to the north that Cass knows leads to more bed chambers, like the one you all rested in last night.
"Alright, alright. That's enough of that, let's move on. He made a mistake, it happens." she mediates.
She points out the doors north mentioning "Those rooms are more bedrooms, just like the room we rested in last night."
She points south and notes "And there is something scratching that door. Most likely not friendly. On your guard everyone."
"I suppose someone should check the bodies and around this room, first, to see if there is any information about what might be making that noise."
Mawl looks around the room.
The Asmodeans have little more than robes and their holy symbols. As Mawl gives the room a quick look he finds a half-dozen books on planar theory sit around the room on tables. Together, these six books function as masterwork tools for Knowledge (planes) checks, and are thus worth 50 gp in all. He also finds some vial of a strange looking dust that sits on a shelf to the northwest.
He can't get close enough to the corpse caught up in the chains to see if he has anything valuable with all the chains in the way.
"Do you think we can released the corpse from it's chains, even in death someone doesn'T deserve such treatment." Horillo says in response to Mawl's search.
Mawl raises one eyebrow in a quizzical arch..."I don't know brother Horillo, I will set to work on the chains if there is some merit to it, why don't you check out this strange powder..."
And Mawl sets to work on the chains holding the corpse.
As soon as Mawl touches one of the chains another one lashes out at him slicing deeply into his muscle.
Horillo watches aghast as the chain slashes at Mawl.
"Might be best to get out of here and close the door behind us. We can come back if we need to." says a shocked looking Horillo as he retreats to the door getting ready to shut it after everyone has got out of the room.
Mawl jumps back and winces as the chain bites into his flesh, cursing under his breath.
"Hmm, seems strange to me that they would booby trap the centerpiece of the room unless they were trying to hide something."
"Then lets leave it. Clear out the remaining Asmodean bastards down here first. Then we can search the place at our own pace," Surexeria says as she moves to the door nearest her and checks it for traps and sounds.
Surexeria checks the door closest to her. She can hear something scratching at the door and the occasional growl. There is definitely something behind the door, wanting to get out.
"There is something scratching beyond that door that is supposed to be there. Be prepared when you open it."
Mawl then positions himself where whatever it is will need to move into a flank position. If it is scratching to get out it probably will rush out right away. He arms himself with his +1 Heavy Mace, shouldering his Bec-de-Corbin.
"I will pop this door open, he will come at me and Surexeria should have a golden opportunity to flank. Someone tell us as much about this beast as soon as you are able"
Sorix scans the area with detect magic.
Sorix then gets into her usual cautious position, just around a corner. ”I suppose I’m ready when you are."
With everyone in position Surexeria throws open her side of the door. Just on the other side is a creature that resembles a thin, lanky wolf with reddish-brown fur, white claws, and burning, fiery red eyes. Inside the room partially burned benches and scorched chairs fill this room, facing a toppled podium at the southwestern end.
You recognize this creature as a hell hound. You know they are immune to fire but vulnerable to cold.
"Hound of hell!" Cassandixia blurts out as quickly as she can. "They don't like cold, don't use fire!"
She starts singing again, inspiring her allies once more.
Mawl jerks open (or kicks) his door and lashes out at the beast.
Horillo attempts to end the beasts misery of hell.
Surexeria tried to roll into the room past the hellhound, coming up and thrusting her rapier into the back of its neck!
While Cass warns the others of what the creature is, she starts singing one of her inspiring songs to help the group deal with the hell hound quickly. Horillo moves to where he can get a shot. His first arrow misses but the second hits the hell hound in the chest. Surexeria tumbles past the beast to get around the other side and flank it with Mawl. She stabs it in the back, nearly dropping it to the ground. Mawl attacks just after and finishes off the beast before it even has an opportunity to attack.
Horillo slaps Mawl on the back, "Nice one big boy, glad it didn't get a chance to introduce us to the flames of hell." He smiles and nods at Surexia, "Good work with that sword too. Let's see what's in his kennel." he says entering and having a good nose around.
Stopping her singing after only a few seconds she smiles, "Wow. I thought that was going to be terrible. Those beasts are known to be ferocious! Well done, well done all."
Looking around in the room, the place is mostly empty other than the benches, chairs, and toppled podium. The way it is setup it is clear this was once a lecture hall, but it appears the new residents used it to kennel the hell hound.
Sorix looks visibly relieved as the hound is dispatched. She pets the little bunny head peeking out from her robes as she says, ”Nice work!”
As is her routine by now, she scans the area with detect magic.