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Several stalls stand against the east wall of this dank, stone room. A large grate in the floor collects a steady stream of water coming from one of the stalls. The rattle of chains echoes through the chamber and the stench of frightened, unwashed bodies fills the air. Five people are chained to the wall, each with a strange rune on their foreheads.
You hear someone scream with fright when Rishaal pokes her head through.
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Xavier looks at the door quizzically after hearing the description from Rishaal (assuming she's come out and told us). "I'm going to guess... cult of some sort. I doubt they are the slaves for collection, as they're in the North Wing." Xavier turns to the rest of the party. "Either way, we should probably free them."
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One of the prisoners looks up, "Hey, you're probably pathfinders right? So am I, but I recently married into the Blakros family...might not have been the best choice, but Eleanir is pretty sweet."
He sees the detect evil from Sieglinde, "Wise choice, Vildeis gave me a similar power." he says as he also uses Detect Evil on your party.
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Juxian smiles when he sees none of you are evil, "Well you know the contract does require my family to send a continuous supply of slaves to the Shadow Plane, but that just makes it a slave trade, not to uncommon you know, the whole daughter thing is just the worse end of the deal. Think about it though, your ancestors agreed to something before you were born that requires you to send people somewhere as slaves, who do you pick? Easier to pick your enemies than innocents. Regardless, I got captured trying to...discreetly free some of the captives and my wife." he says looking over at a set of full plate armor and tower shield. "Unfortunately, I'm not much good at fighting myself, mainly just healing magic and my gear doesn't prove to be very useful for anything discreet." he then thinks for a moment.
"Whoever the leader of these fletchlings is probably has the key, just promise you'll come back for these people once you defeat him, I'd like to get them out of here if you're breaking the contract anyway." he then gestures as best he can while chained up towards the slaves with marks on their foreheads. "See those marks. They are shadow brands. They mark the bearer as a native of the shadow plane, so when the two planes stop being overlapped, well, creatures go back to their native planes. I'm not sure how to fix that though."
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This chain is made of interlocking metal links roughly an inch long, and thick enough to bear large amounts of weight. It has hardness 10 and 5 hit points. It can be burst with a DC 26 Strength check.
Breaking the manacles requires a Strength check (DC 28 for masterwork manacles). Manacles have hardness 10 and 10 hit points.
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Xavier eyes Rishaal, a worried look on his face. "Well, I mean, yes, but there's no need to be so glum about it. As Caydenite philosophers say, it's not about whether or not you pass out drunk on the floor of the bar, it's about how many drinks you have along the way. Now enough chit-chat, let's see what's in in here!" he says, as he reaches up to turn the doorknob.
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This simple room of unadorned stone is piled from floor to ceiling with boxes and crates, with barely enough room left to allow the staff to squeeze between the towers of dusty, mothballed exhibits.
In the room is a hound made of pure shadow. It is tied to the wall with a 25ft chain.
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Map Slide
Sieglinde
Xavier
Malvic
Hava
Enemy
Samman
Hannah
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Although shaped like a dog, this muscular creature has a coat that drinks up the light, drawing shadows in around it.Its maw is full of sharp teeth, and a wisp of shadow drips from its writhing tongue.
This is a Shadow Mastiff. In any condition of illumination other than full daylight, a shadow mastiff disappears into the shadows, giving it concealment (50% miss chance). Artificial illumination, even a light or continual flame spell, does not negate this ability; a daylight spell, however, does. A shadow mastiff can suspend or resume this ability as a free action.
When a shadow mastiff howls or barks, all creatures within a 300-foot spread except evil outsiders must succeed at a Will save or become panicked for ?# rounds. This is a sonic, mind-affecting fear effect. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected by the same mastiff’s bay for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
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A mad beast on a chain. Let us end it's suffering. For once I agree.
"You are quite right. That is a Shadow Mastiff. Hitting it may be even more difficult than the fetchlings before. It can fade into the shadows at will." Malvic says informing his group.
However Malvic steps back to see the extent of it's chain rather than tussle with the beast.
"No reason to risk being attacked if we can deal with it from here."
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Sieglinde detects a moderate aura of evil from the Shadow Mastiff and fires an arrow at the creature. The arrow just barely manages to hit it, causing the hound to bleed pure shadow.
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Map Slide
Sieglinde
Xavier
Malvic
Hava
Enemy -6hp
Samman
Hannah
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Malvic misses with his whip as the creature melts into the shadows.
Unable to reach anyone in melee range, the shadow mastiff howls loudly, shaking you to your very core.
Malvic, Rishaal (if not immune to fear), Sakimoth (if not immune to fear), Sieglinde (if not immune to fear), and Xavier all take off in a panic!
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Map Slide
Sieglinde, panicked 1 round
Xavier, panicked 1 round
Malvic, panicked 2 rounds
Hava, Sakimoth panicked 1 round
Enemy -6hp
Samman, Rishaal panicked for 3 rounds (the end is here!)
Hannah
Sakimoth takes off running and makes it into the corridor.
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Unable to break free of the chains, the mastiff howls over and over again, frequently scaring away Pathfinders from the fight. Eventually, ranged characters manage to defeat the creature, silencing it for good.
Alternatively, you manage to gather all the items dropped in the room, close the door, and simply leave to explore other parts of the museum.
Combat Over!
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Malvic shakes off any lingering effects of the howl and picks up his weapon.
"That beast proved more dangerous than I expected. My apologies." he says quietly.
Become stronger...an aboleth would have done worse. Yes.
He nods to Xavier as he prepares to enter the next room.
"Remember what our phantom ally saw when peaking into that room. We need to be ready for another fight."
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The floor of the cold storage room is covered in frost, and is dangerously slippery. You can move at full speed with a DC 5 Acrobatics check, or at half speed with no skill check. Anyone who fails this Acrobatics check cannot move that round. Anyone who fails the Acrobatics check by 5 or more falls prone.
[spoiler=Initiative]
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Map Slide
Samman
Hava
Hannah
Malvic
Sieglinde
Enemy
Xavier
This icy statue stands a head taller than a normal human. A rime of frost coats it, and razor-sharp shards of ice adorn its limbs.
This is an Ice Golem, although you can tell it is not built in the same way as most. Specifically, it is far less designed for combat than most other ice golems. Normally, an ice golem would have DR/adamantine, but you can tell this one does not have that defensive ability built in.
An ice golem is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance, with the exception of spells and spell-like abilities that have the Fire descriptor, which affect it normally. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below.
A magical attack that deals electricity damage slows an ice golem.
A magical attack that deals cold damage breaks any slow effect on the golem and heals damage.
An ice golem can breathe out a cone of pure cold that freezes its enemies down to the bone. Like before, you can tell that this feature of the golem is not as strong as most ice golems.
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"An Ice Golem albeit one not crafted with resilience. Still...our spells could prove ineffective unless we weave them with flame or slow it with electricity." he quickly informs the group while thinking how ineffective his signature attack would be.
Looks like you need to learn some new tricks, Elf! ...
He shakes his head and remembers one more fact.
"Do not group up. It can freeze us solid with it's breathe alone!"
