Astor nodded his thanks to Radic for the lantern, he might have even mumbled a word or two of gratitude.
Astor gasped when he saw the room, the others might have mistaken it for awe, but it was apprehension. He'd been taught to do as many things as might be likely to come up, including swimming, though it wasn't quite accurate to say he'd been taught to swim as much as he had been thrown in a lake and instructed to not die. He was a decent swimmer, but he still had to choke down his fear to do it. Supressing fear, that was one thing he'd been taught to do. He moved the lantern here and there, trying to find the angle that provided the most illumination. His eyes poured over the room, both high and low, high to see if he could find a dry route to the altar, and low to make certain that there were no unexpected ripples that would hint at an aquatic threat.
Perception:
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"Hank not like water. Make fur wet, the bugbear grumbles to himself as he follows the party into the chamber,
"Hank smell funny when fur wet."
As he takes in the sights in the chamber, 'Hank' is momentarily lost in wonder as he notes the colourful coral formations and the teeming aquatic life in the waters. He had never been much of a seafarer, so such sights were a rarity to him.
As he snaps from his reverie, he notes Astor taking watch as Nathaniel walks towards the altar.
"Hmm...Astor seems to be a sharp one. That's good. A keen eye is always welcome. Nathaniel's gone the furthest into the chamber and seems to be concentrating on a detect magic spell. Quite the brazen one, though he's marking himself as a target by putting distance between himself and the rest of us. If there's anything in here, it will probably jump him first. It will probably be worthwhile standing guard by his side as he concentrates."
"Hey wait, alien-man-person. Hank want see shiny altar too. Me come with you!" the bugbear calls out as he strides after Nathaniel, watching his surroundings as he goes.
Perception:
Radic smiles slightly upon entering. "Beautiful, isn’t it? I am not a huge fan of bats and snakes, I hope the rest of the ruin is more like this.” Walking over to the pool, Radic carefully takes note of the pool's Ichthyofauna.
”Perhaps we can catch some fish, spread out our rations longer.”
The altar feels warm... then cool to the touch. As you begin to enter the room, lights begin to glow within the tidal pool, and they slowly rise up from the water and drift upwards as if seeds born aloft by gentle winds.
The air now begins to smell slightly off the sea.
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The sudden flux in magical activity brings Tuillen to full alertness. His levity pushed aside, Tuillen quickly traces a few arcane symbols in the air, rapidly chanting the incantation for the detect magic spell.
Spellcraft check if there's a spell involved in what's happening at the pool:
Regardless of check, looking to identify schools of magic involved and the strength of the magic.
Astor's ears perked up, so to speak, at the sound of the music. He looked around, here and there, trying to place where it was coming from. He was turned away from the water when the lights rose, so when he turned back and saw them, he flinched in surprise. Trying to hide his surprise, he asked, "Does anyone else hear that? It sounds like someone is playing a harp."
Perception, to identify the source of the music:
The pool itself appears to be nonmagical, though the lights are indeed magical, and appear to be a simple continuous light spell.
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Nathaniel scratches his head. "Well, i'm befuddled. Shall I go see if there's anything in the water? I have some skill at swimming" as he speaks, he holds up his hands, revealing they are webbed. "And at staying underwater for long periods." Lowering the collar of his trenchcoat reveals a set of gills along his neck.
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'Hank' eyes the water uncertainly, then exhales slowly as he turns his gaze to Nathaniel.
"Hank say feel free, but be careful. Hank know hoo-man once who walk towards strange music. Hoo-man started dancing, and kept dancing till hoo-man go un-kon-shus," he says as he demonstratively prances around before smacking himself on the side of the head with his palm and tumbling to the sandy floor for emphasis.
"Hank think under-water bad place to go un-kon-shus, half-fish or no half-fish."
"There are worse ways to go than drowning, though the only one I can think of is being held under the water. So, if you want to go taking a dip in the magical, musical pool of water, then be my guest." Astor got a little closer to the pool, and looked into it nervously.
Radic walks over beside Astor and claps his shoulder soundly. "I am about 76.3% certain we will be fine. Lets stick together least those odds lower"
You all get a wonderful splash of water as Nathaniel dives into the water. As he descends into the pool, the luminosity continually increases until the lighting resembles daylight.
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Nathaniel swims up and pops his head up out of the water.
"Hey, fellows! As you dive into the pool, the first thing you notice is that the colorful fish seem very attached to you and begin swimming all around you. As you descend even lower, a small sculpted opening in the reef appears before you. From there you can see that the passage only goes for about 10 feet before seemingly ending in a luminous curtain of water. I suggest you all follow me onwards? Who can swim?"
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'Hank' stares blankly at Nathaniel for a moment, then heaves a heavy sigh.
"Me think me not ku-ah-lee-fyed for this part of job. Me have friend. He good swimmer. Me go get."
With that, the hulking bugbear sprints back down the passageway. You hear a few muffled grunts, followed by a few sibilant hisses. A few moments later, a new figure appears in the passageway, trudging towards you...
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... The new figure stands about as tall as 'Hank' did, or he would were he not perpetually hunched forward, his reptilian tail swishing to and fro behind him to balance his posture. He sizes up the group with eyes of pale alabaster set in a frilled, ridged reptilian head, and as he flicks his tongue out to taste the air, he makes a sound that is half-hiss, half-sigh.
"Thhhht. So...I hear you need someone who can swim. Thhhhht. Well, that oaf Hank eats more than a hill-giant (and belches twice as much, mind you), so we're going to need to catch some fish whilst we're at it. Thhhhht."
With that, the new reptilian arrival ambles to the pool and jumps right in, his tail swishing in the water and propelling him easily across the ripples.
"Thhhht. Name's Louie by the way. Louie Lizard, if you want to be formal. Thhhhht. Pleased to be working with you.
Raising his eyebrows slightly, Radic drops his cloak to the ground and follows Louie into the water. After swimming a quick lap around the pool, Radic pops his head out of the water. "Come on in Astor! The water is beautiful"
Astor nodded with concern. He eased his way toward the edge of the water, and then gingerly slipped into the water. He looked into the depths before saying, "Lead the way, I'll uh, bring up the middle." He barely even noticed the replacement of Hank.
The water feels warm to the touch, not the uncomfortable warm mind you, more like a soothing warm.
Radic follows the louie, his gaze wandering from fish to fish as they go.
As you travel down the waterfilled corridor, you emerge into another chamber, the walls festooned with gold and precious stones.
However, as you enter one by one into the room, a trembling begins and above you a large downpour of water begins pouring in.
As the water falls, it forms itself into four water-formed figures resembling great white sharks.
Initiative:
Swim:
Astor's eyes went wide when he saw sharks, nothing like fighting a bunch of creatures better suited to the current environment. He decided to bide his time, hoping someone else would draw attention to himself, so that Astor could contribute to the fight without having to worry aobut having anything important bitten off.
Upon seeing the sharks Radic grins. Far from being worried, he seems to be in his element. Looking at Astor Zasz, he give the thumbs up then starts casting.
The water elemental sharks swim around where they currently are but seem to make no hostile attacks.
However, the water in the room begins to churn, requiring a DC 20 Swim Check to stay afloat.
Any character entering the room needs to let me know where he is moving (on the map).
Now that the shark had been engaged, Astor was willing to fight. He swam up next to Louie and slashed at the creature with one of his swords.
Attack:
Damage
GM, can I speak Aquan underwater?
Yes.
At 29 initiative you go before them so you wouldn't know. This is why I always post monster attacks last and personally modify if actions would have gone differently. You can give me multiple actions depending on the situation if you want.
Round 2
In a flurry of attacks, you manage to inflict considerable damage upon the sharks.
Radic, you manage to summon a mount near the sharks and instantly pull the threat unto it. The three sharks move in for the kill and disperse of it, yet you nevertheless bought yourself a round.
Louie, you manage a nice critical followed by two more hits, dropping your opponent to the ground.
Nathaniel's attempt to convince them of his mastery falls on deaf ears unfortunately.
Astor's attacks are thwarted by Louie's assault so instead opts to move next to him.
However, in retaliation, some of you are smashed into by the crushing waters that compose their bodies.
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Tuillen's combat stats: (Male Half-elf Pal2/Ora1/Sorc2 -- HP 39/39, Fort +12, Ref +5, Will +13, Init +8, AC 25, Touch 16, F-F 18, Perception +5, Swim +4)
Initiative: 27
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"Under most circumstances, trying to bite and slash water would seem odd," Tuillen thinks to himself, as he moves to make his next attack.
Moving through E6 and F6 to G5, bite attack on elemental in F4.
Radic takes a deep breath and swims forward.
The water in front of him flickers rapidly with bright colors.
Radic reaches out and touches Astor, who suddenly disappears.
M was the Mount. It will have died by now