The closest slaver goes down! Ferabras steps and attacks the second, nearly gutting him! He still stands, but you suspect it might be only because he hasn't realized he's dead yet.
The man drops as Zolarus clocks him. Inside the room the woman swears and fires her crossbow twice at Ferabras!
for damage!
for damage!
Round 2:
Fayaz
Hoshiko, Mikail, Soran, Zolarus and Ferabras
The woman screams in anger and pain as she fights on, refusing to surrender. Mikail, Ferabras and Hoshiko all strike, cutting her deeply, but she screams insults as she bleeds. "INVADERS! SCUM! I'LL NEVER SURRENDER TO THE LIKES OF YOU CRIMINALS!"
"I'LL NEVER SURREN..." Then the arrow hits her square in the heart. Her mouth moves for a moment before she topples backward, her crossbow clattering to the ground!
The room goes quiet. This natural cave is lavishly decorated with golden lamps and expensive tapestries, and carpets cover the cleanly swept stone floor. A wide worktable sits toward the back of the room, on which are neatly set books, papers, and a brightly glazed clay coffee urn with matching cups. Behind the worktable, several thick throw pillows surround a small circular table holding a water pipe of copper and hand-blown glass.
The woman carried on her body the following items: potion of enlarge person; +1 chain shirt, +1 repeating heavy crossbow, mwk heavy pick, mwk manacles, signet ring worth 250 gp, 42 gp
There is a small lockbox behind the desk. Mikail can spring the lock easily enough. Inside it contains six jaspers worth 100 gp each, a blue sapphire worth 1,200 gp, and a small figurine the shape of a curled-up spider that functions as a stone of alarm.
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Mikail jumps at the chance to open the lockbox, then begins piling everything up on the desk for distribution between the team. "This is one big haul.. its horrible to think that this must have all come from slavery though.." His tail and ears sag for just a moment before they jerk back up. "Maybe we can give some of this back.. make sure that it gets to whatever slaves we manage to free? Oh.. Wait.. OOPS!!" With a cry, the kitsune flies back out of the room and towards the still caged people outside.
"Sorry about that! Now.. where were we? Anyone know where the keys are kept? Or will I have to pick all these locks? By the way.. who are you? Why are you locked up down here?" Mikail maintains just enough sense in his prattle that he doesn't quite give away who they are, but he does look over each prisoner looking for their missing Pathfinder.
The slaves cringe when you approach them. They don't seem to know if they can trust you.
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Mikail catches the keys as someone tosses them to him.
"Look, We are going to let you out of here, and I imagine that you haven't had enough to eat or drink in a while.. we can fix that for you too.. just be patient and we will get you out of here and hopefully on to a better life than this scum had in mind for you.."
He goes to work with the keys, trying to move quickly but still safely in case any of them have any bad ideas. As he moves about, he casually knocks his wayfinder to fall from a pocket to dangle on its chain in the hopes that it may help without him outright declaring their allegiance.
The people seem to gain hope as Mikail speaks and even more as he follows through on opening the cages. In a few moments, all of the former slaves are outside, some thanking you and others sobbing as if they cannot believe their nightmare is over. One of the women, a tanned Ulfen who introduces herself as Hassha, seems to get hold of herself. "Thank you, friends. I was travelling through, having just disembarked from a berth on a freighter when I was drugged and woke up down here. I cannot tell you how long I was here, but that little rat," she nods toward the gnome and spits, "Called himself the 'Dociler'. He'd work his magic on the slaves and make them calm or afraid. He'd try to break us before they took us out of here to wherever. But the worst was when the big black furred gnoll came. He takes slaves and they don't come back, but we can hear the screams. Pharasma's tits, I can hear the screams when I close my eyes." She shudders and looks haunted.
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With much care and concern, Mikail carefully places his hand on the Ulfen's shoulder. "We will get you free of this place. It may take a while for those screams to fade into memory, but I promise you that they will eventually. Getting home to spend time with loved ones and your priests will help you on that journey. All of you on that journey." he says as he turns to include the rest of the group in his last statement. "Be patient.. we are looking for a friend, and we will have to discuss the best way to help you before you scurry off. It may be that you have to follow in our wake, or that we get you out of here immediately, I don't know. Lets see what my companions think and we will make decisions then. But we will not leave a single soul down here.. either there will be dead slavers or empty cages."
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"These I can use." Hoshiko says pointing to the arcane items found.
"Fear not those fiends are dead. I suggest you all arm yourself with whatever you find as you make your leave of the area. We have left a bit of a trail. My nimble friend is right... we shall not leave a soul down here nor un-avenged. Has any of you traveled around this complex that can tell us what we may expect further in?" Hoshiko says to the recently freed.
Hassha shakes her head. "No further than here, but we know there are gnolls here. Good luck and good hunting, and sincerely, I thank you. If you will tell us how to get out of here, I will lead these to safety." She kicks over a slaver corpse and grabs one of their clubs, hefting it and handing any other weapons she can scrounge to those of the slaves that look most handy in a fight.
The slaves head off toward the surface and you are confident they'll make it without incident. You give them your contact's information and you know he'll see them safely to freedom.
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Mikail finishes releasing the slaves, then breaks out his canteen and whatever food he can find to tide them over for now. "Here is a bit of food and water, but our contact above will make sure you are taken care of properly! We didn't expect to find so many that needed help!" he says, apologetically.
Turning to his companions, he says "I think we should concentrate on the slaves. Its likely that our missing agent would be among them, and it will draw out the slavers as we go."
The door from the office opens into another vast cavern, this one even bigger than the others. Six large, rusted iron cages have been shoved into hollows and wedged into corners. Each holds a weary-looking slave with blank eyes and a thousand yard stare.
Standing in the middle of the cages are two slavers, a gnoll and a woman wearing the rags of a slave. The woman's eyes go wide as the door opens and she spins away from the gnoll, grabbing at him and falls prone to the ground in front of him while clutching a sword it looks like she stole from the gnoll's belt behind her back, hidden from the gnoll and slavers. You recognize her description as the woman you're looking for: Othine! The gnoll's eyes go wide before narrowing and he barks "GET THEM! INTRUDERS!" to the slavers before drawing another weapon!
Round 1:
Bad Guys
Heroes and Othine!
The bad guys move around the woman with the sword, ignoring her. They move to block your way with weapons drawn! She stays on the ground, covering the sword with her body and staring at you, as if she's trying to figure out if you're friend or foe!
You all move further into the room where the slavers and Othine await. Othine lays on the ground, feigning submission though you can see she hides a sword under her.
One of the slavers steps forward and Ferabras cuts him down! The gnoll steps forward over the body of the slaver and snarls at you!He swings twice!
for damage!
for damage!
The slaver draws a whip and steps behind the gnoll, trying to trip Ferabras!
Othine gets up, trying to move silently and not attracting any attention from the gnoll or slaver. She creeps forward, sword raised!
EDIT: for damage!
Ferabras lashes out at the gnoll! His bite misses but his sword does the trick, cutting the gnoll down!
Hoshiko takes a nasty swipe at the slaver, who is bleeding profusely and looking scared!
The slaver takes the brunt of the sound burst and looks dazed. Mikail takes advantage of this fact and strikes! His rapier skewers the dazed man, who slumps to the ground!
Othine looks cautiously at you. "Who..Who are you people?"
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"We're Pathfinders," Ferabras says reassuringly to Othine, "sent by Colson Madris to get you out of this place. The slavers planted a body, trying to get the Society to think you were dead, but the ruse didn't hold up under scrutiny. Once they knew you were alive, we were sent to find you."
Keeping his voice calm and kind, he continues, "Are you hurt? Hungry? We'd like to get you and the other captives out of here quickly, though I wouldn't say no to killing a few more of the bastards that run this place."
Othine looks confused. "They made a duplicate of me? That's... that's clever, I suppose. I think they thought if I wasn't being sought, then they could interrogate me at their leisure. They figured out I was with their enemies a few weeks ago. I was deep undercover as a slaver, tipping off my contacts as to movement and times. But I guess I got sloppy. They ambushed me and have been torturing me. They wanted to know names, dates, locations. I tried to give them false leads, but..." She starts shaking and sobs. "I couldn't. I couldn't help myself. I tried to lie, but it's been days. Days of torture and pain. I'm so, so sorry." She falls to her knees and drops her sword.
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Ferabras kneels next to Othine and lays a comforting arm around her shoulders, healing any wounds she might have in the process. "I would say they were diabolical, rather than clever. I'm sorry you had to go through that, Othine, and I understand if what they put you through forced you to talk. Your ordeal is over."
Othine gasps as the laying on of hands seems to bolster her. She nods and wipes her tears with the back of her hands. "I know a few things. I heard the gnolls talking. I don't think they knew I spoke Gnoll. I played as stupid as I could. This spot, it's built on top of a deeper temple. They gnolls take slaves down there, and when they bring them back, they're insane or worse." She points to a crack in the wall, barely wide enough for one person to get through, that heads south out of sight. "But there's still the gnoll leader, a hulking black gnoll. He's to the north. I think that's where they live."
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Mikails face turns grim as the woman relates her tale. He walks over and offers her some rations, giving her a moment to compose herself. "We will help you.. We will make sure that all of this is taken care of. The question here is do you want to go with us, or lead the other rescued slaves out of here to safety?"
Othine nods. "I will go with you. I am bruised, but I will heal. And I might be of help to you." She considers Hoshiko's question. "I think the leader IS a caster of some sort. I heard him praying over one of the wounded gnolls and it healed. Not sure what god, but be ware."
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"Oh, it'll be a pleasure to slay whoever this gnoll leader is," Fera remarks darkly, "for I am sure he worships an evil god whose dominion should be wiped from Golarion."
He uses his wand to heal the wounds caused by one of the gnolls, then lays a hand on his blade, causing it to burst into flames! "Let us move quickly, while the holy fire burns!"
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Mikail nods, and readies himself to go after the leader of the gnolls. "Before we start this next fight, I would like to see if I can cast a spell to make us all faster.. it should help, especially if we are facing another caster!" Mikail says, looking over his friends with worry before leading the way.
As you approach to the north, you can hear the sound of a thunk: a knife hitting wood. You can hear a gnoll to the north throwing knives at a wooden target. Othine murmurs "He's not the leader. Must be a guard. I'd guess the head is through that door to the east."
You have prep time and a surprise round!
Round 1:
Heroes
Gnoll