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Quiella ignores the hound, opting to climb onto the table to get at the hellknight. "Who is your master, traitor? Do you have any more friends here?" She says as she climbs the desk, drawing her sword, her voice thick with anger. Once on the desk she slashes down at him with righteous fury.
for
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Mel does spell combat. Cast chill touch and then attack with rapier. Not casting defensively.
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Rufus fires two arrows at the nearest hell hound. The second one comes close to hitting, but the cover of his allies fouls up the shot.
Valik's sansetsukon strikes his target with incredible precision, causing the hell hound serious injury.
Quiella quickly climbs up the desk and takes a chunk out of the blinded hellknight with her sword. He does not respond to her questions, however.
Melufiuos bravely casts a Chill Touch spell into his sword without a defensive cast, but fortunately the hell hound misses with its attack of opportunity. The Magus/Rogue then plunges his rapier into the fiery outsider who responds with a yelp.
The two hell hounds then go on the offensive again, this time attempting to bite Valik and Melufiuos respectively. Neither attack comes close to hitting.
Initiative (Round 2)
Melufiuos [2 dmg]
Rufus
2 Hell Hounds
Ophelia <= Up
Halkale/Frostfur <= Up
Hellknight Warden
Quiella [4 dmg]
Valik
Effects
Prayer: +1 bonus to PC's attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, and skill checks
Gripping her morningstar with both hands, Ophelia strikes the most injured hell hound and the creature looks close to dropping. As Frostfur goes for its throat, it finally falls.
Halkale switches his target to the hell hound still standing and both arrows find their mark. The remaining hell hound collapses as well.
Seemingly undeterred by the odds, the blinded Hellknight swings his weapons in the general vicinity of Quiella. Either luck or skill is with him as his flaming longsword and short sword both hit the gnome paladin. A third swipe of his longsword, however, almost results in the loss of his weapon, but he manages to hang onto it.
Initiative (Rounds 2-3)
Melufiuos [2 dmg] <= Up
Rufus <= Up
Ophelia <= Up
Halkale/Frostfur <= Up
Hellknight Warden
Quiella [20 dmg] <= Up
Valik <= Up
Effects
Prayer: +1 bonus to PC's attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, and skill checks
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The young magus steps over the infernal creature and pokes at the hellknight with his rapier.
A touch from your hand, which glows with blue energy, disrupts the life force of living creatures. Each touch channels negative energy that deals 1d6 points of damage. The touched creature also takes 1 point of Strength damage unless it makes a successful Fortitude saving throw. You can use this melee touch attack up to one time per level.
An undead creature you touch takes no damage of either sort, but it must make a successful Will saving throw or flee as if panicked for 1d4 rounds + 1 round per caster level.
The group gangs up on the Hellknight and absolutely obliterates him. Indeed, the mangled corpse is barely even identifiable as human anymore.
On the man's corpse you find a red potion, a blue potion, a suit of masterwork full plate armor, a magical longsword, a masterwork short sword, a magical cloak, a ring of keys, and 10 gp.
It's an oil of Bless Weapon.
It's a potion of Cure Serious Wounds.
It's a +1 Flaming Longsword.
It's a Cloak of Resistance +1.
In the westernmost southern cell, a man begins rattling the bars on the cell door and shouts out, "Hey, you gotta get me out of here! I've been down here for awhile, I can help you!"
As Quiella makes her way to the loud man's cell, she passes by another cell next to it and a woman also calls out hoarsely, "Please, also give me an opportunity to speak with you, I've been unjustly imprisoned."
The man looks greatly relieved to have received Quiella's attention. He does not radiate evil. "My name is Markus Gael, I've been down here for the better part of the year. I know where they took the Paracountess and how to get there, all I ask if that you let me out of this infernal cell, no pun intended."
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Quiella's shoulders slump. Through gritted teeth she says "We... do not have the legal authority to release any of you. Only the Paracountess." I hate this mission.
She begins to turn around, then pauses. "Can you direct me to proof of your innocence? If you really were unjustly imprisoned perhaps we could prove your innocence as we did that of the Paracountess."
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Draping the cloak about himself with a flourish, the victorious magus struts over to the lady's cell, leans casually against the bars and flashes her his most charming smile, "what can I do ya for, darlin?"
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Markus Gael sighs with mild annoyance, "It's hard to prove my innocence when I'm locked in a cell, is it not? Besides, if you're hellbent on following the law to the letter, I'm pretty sure killing a warden violates at least one of them. You'll need me to find Dralneen, all I'm asking for is release in return."
When Melufiuos addresses the middle-aged woman in the next cell, she attempts a small smile, "My name is Sascha Antif-Arah. Five years ago I was captured in Korsova while helping a friend identify a strange puzzle box. I quickly found myself a victim of the Hellknights’ ruthless iron rule of law and was unjustly convicted of crimes I never committed. I used to be a Pathfinder in the past, if you help me escape I'm sure I can call upon my old allies to assist you in some way. I can also tell you what I know about what Heriphis was doing down here and the location of that woman if you promise to help me."
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Quiella chooses to ignore the man. She turns to the woman, "What crimes were you accused of? Do you have any exculpating proof?"
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The doors are all made out of iron with excellent locks, but perhaps fortunately you found a key ring with numerous keys on the dead Hellknight.
"I was convicted of theft of the puzzle box which I had no part in acquiring, which somehow also was the equivalent of various seditious acts. As I said, I was merely trying to help a friend, but having no political allies they created a whole list of crimes and threw me down here to rot. I do wish I had access to the evidence you're asking for, but it wasn't good enough to escape the trumped up charges to begin with and I don't think it would help now that they've forgotten about me." Sascha replies to Quiella's question's.
Rufus believes both prisoners are being completely honest. Valik thinks Markus is trying to hide his guilt while Sascha is being completely upfront about her case and her former job as a Pathfinder. He also believes they are both being honest about knowing about Paracountess and being able to assist them in finding her.
Examining the rooms from the outside, the southeast and northwest doors have no windows to look inside, while the other two cells appear to be empty of prisoners.
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Valik, walks up to the woman's cell, and after drinking a potion to steel his defenses, he addresses Quiella, in a hushed voice,
Quiella, I feel Sascha is telling the truth. Her information is invaluable; both in finding or VC, as well as navigating the damn place. If the law unjustly put her in here, should her sentence be absolved as the law is perverse in this current instance?
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Quiella sets her hammer down and puts her hands to her temples, eyes cast down to the floor as if deep in thought, forehead wrinkled. She slumps down, back to the wall and is silent for a short while.
Finally she looks up at Valik and says quietly, "I trust you, Valik. But... I cannot act on feelings alone. I..." she sighs. "Do as you wish, Valik, I will not stop you."
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"such a sad story and it kills me to see a gal in a cage..." he pauses, smiles, and then pulls out his tools. "So why don't you tell us what these baddies have been up to while I try to get you out of there?"
Ignoring the ring of keys, Mel tries his hand at the lock.
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Valik ponder what Markus has been saying, and after such internal debate, he moves over to the man's cage.
You, sir I feel have not been forthright with your guilt. If you had been straightforward, who knows how things would have played out. As it stands now, I do not feel comfortable releasing you, as I am unsure what would happen to you or ourselves in such an event. I am not a man without compassion, I will leave some food and water with you for you should not suffer with lack of nourishment.
Valik, turns to Quiella, he than places his weathered palm on her shoulder, and in a very simple tone, I would never wish to make you fall from your deity's grace and purview. Thank you for placing your trust in me, for I will give you the same respect you have shown myself and the others we strive to protect.
In a more lighthearted tone, to help ease the tension, Shall we get the bastard who is behind this injustice? No sense if taking the tail of the sake when the head is still clearly attached, no?
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Only vaguely aware of the other conversations on the room, Valik's last words catch his attention.... Or at least a small part of it and he mumbles to himself, "Yeah, yeah, I'm working on getting the tail right now."
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"Being held in this dungeon if far worse than any crime they accused me of. Please sir, look into your heart and have some empathy, please free me!" Markus cries out after Valik denies his request for release.
Melufiuos manages to unlock Sascha's cell door on his first try. As the door opens, she sighs with deep relief. After savoring the moment, she begins, "I've been held here for five very long years, I cannot even begin to thank you, but perhaps the information you seek will help. The warden you fought was named Malalictor Ganden Heriphis, I believe he hated this job as much as we hated been being imprisoned here. In his possession there is a onyx statue of a devil hound. With the proper command word, he has been opening a portal to some fiery plane of existence. He takes prisoners over to the other side never to return and brings back those hell hounds you fought. He's done it at least a dozen times with various prisoners and Zarta Dralneen was the last one to go. He then uses some sort of invisibility magic to remove the dogs from the prison, I don't know what happens to them after that."
"I don't know where that statue is now, but I suspect it is probably located somewhere in his quarters behind that door to the southeast. I've overheard the command word many times so I can provide that for you, but I do have one additional request. If you find a usable source of that invisibility magic could you allow me to use some of it? I have some skills in hiding, but it would make my escape much more likely if I had some magic behind it."
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Mel does a sweep of detect magic, just in case there is anything we missed here.
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Using the ring of keys, Rufus begins to check the other two obvious cells. Looking inside the northern cell first after finding the proper key, he finds a skeletal corpse outfitted in putrid rags. A check of the southern cell reveals it to be conspicuously empty.
The only magic Melufiuos can find in the main room comes from the torches hanging on walls with that burn with no heat.
Sascha answers Halkale's question with a grim laugh, "I retired and opened a weapon shop in Korvosa. All I wanted was a little peace and quiet. Be careful what you wish, right?"
In the south cell, Rufus spots a bloodstained, high-necked cloak sitting in the corner. Those in the group who had the fortune of meeting Zarta Dralneen immediately recognize it as a cloak she favored for formal embassy events.
The northwest room contains bloody, well-used torture devices, including three racks, a pair of bottomless chairs, and four sets of manacles embedded into the north wall. An open chest in the corner contains several smaller devices created to inflict pain.
Unlocking the door to the southeast room reveals little more than a bed and a small wardrobe built into the south wall. Strangely, the room’s east wall is adorned with a small, framed painting of an eyeless, two-headed devil hound baying against a fiery background.
A search of the room reveals a small, wooden chest hidden in a hollow in the wall behind the wardrobe. Although it is locked, a key from the ring opens it.
Inside is a magical onyx figurine shaped like the devil hound in the room's painting, a prisoner logbook, a magical bag, and three tigereye stones worth 40 gp each.
Etched at the base of the onyx figurine is some script in Infernal. Ophelia can make out the word, but it appears to be some sort of incantation.
The prisoner logbook appears to be a record of all prisoners kept in the oubliette’s cells in recent years. Under the heading “Holding Cell Four,” the words “vacant—must remove corpse” feature prominently over a carefully redacted entry. Under “Holding Cell Three,” the words “Sascha Antif-Arah of Korvosa—indefinite” are written. Under “Holding Cell Two,” above several redacted entries is written “Markus Gael—traitor.” The only entry under “Holding Cell One” was scribbled out hastily but is still legible: “Zarta Dralneen—execution imminent. Requested by Losarkur. Delivered.”
Losarkur, also called the Beastlord of Avernus, is an infernal duke under Barbatos, that realm of hell's liege. Losarkur is known for keeping kennel-caverns of cerberi and hellhounds.
It's a Bag of Holding type I. If you're looking inside of it, you'll pull out 5 potions of the same type and a wand. Feel free to make Spellcraft checks on those items and tell the other Pathfinders what you found.