Lark stands up and addresses Lee, "I'm with Thren, let's hit whatever that is first. Can you aim far enough down that hall to miss us?
Lark then drops the glowing coin on the floor and draws his other sword as he moves to flank the doorway.
"Fair enough. I'll hold on the Fireballing. But when (or if?) I put one into the Web, the Web is gone. If anything was being held back, it will be free to move."
Lee moves E then E.
Hinsin stops playing. He isn't going to waste his energy on an effect that can't boost an area of effect spell. He pulls a bag out of his haversack and moves to the far side of the room.
"Okay, then. Let's get cooking."
The fireball blasts through the corridor, and the once-dark passageway now glows with orange flame as it burns through both Lee's web spell as well as whatever else is in the corridor behind it. A stinking acrid smoke wafts through the corridor as various unpleasant substances begin to burn.
Emerging from the flames is a single creature, one essentially forced to flee in your direction or choose to retreat into the burning area. It appears to be a nautilus about the same size as Muffin, slithering along the walls with mollusc-like glands and tentacles. Frightened and burned badly, it blindly lashes out at the first creature it comes near, which is Lark...
... and does so fruitless.
Hinsin begins to snicker. "Is that it?"
This appears to be an aquatic aberration known as an incutilis... not especially terrifying on its own, but able to overtake a helpless body or corpse and manipulate it like a puppet, using it as a minion in combat. This one appears to have lost its minion.
The above, plus: groups of incutilis tend to congregate in the presence of a much larger and far more frightening incutilis lord, who is able to overtake and "puppeteer" living creatures with ease.
Lark says, "It's enough. These things can animate corpses for fighting. If the little ones are here then there's probably a big one too, and those can take over living people. If you see anything like that hit it hard and fast."
"There's hundreds of creatures in the sea, so why is it that most of them are some sort of unliving nuisance or can raise them again?" Thren asks the unspeaking gods as she slips up behind the strange creature. Her rapier glows eerily red in the firelight as she stabs the nautiloid nuisance, but while it seems her blow should be critical, it isn't. Her eyes dazzled by the fading light of Lee's fireball, our heroine's aim is just a mite off for such a telling blow. Still, she strikes true.
Threnody's rapier easily pierces the creature's shell, made brittle from the fireball. While she feels she could have dug the blade deeper, her thrust is more than adequate to kill the wretched thing.
Nothing else appears to be approaching for now. The flames to the east have died down a little, though the corridor is now filled with ash and acrid stinking smoke that blocks any view of what lies beyond.
Hinsin relaxes a moment only to go pale as the thought sinks in: "Wait... A big one that can overtake the living? Is that why Creed...? Oh god." He leans against one of the graffiti-covered columns for support. "Varossa. No... No she's too strong. No!" Tears fill his eyes, and he stumbles toward the southern exit to the room. "Creed! What happened to Varossa!? Where did you go you bastard!"
Lark scoops up his lighted coin and strides after Hinsin. In passing he says, Nice one, Lee. That was impressive."
He grasps Hinsin's shoulder, "Stay with us, man. You're here because we're stronger as a group. We don't know what happened to Varossa, but we'll find out."
Lark gestures for Lee and Thren to follow. "While the smoke clears let's explore this way."
Our tiefling bard follows Captain Lark, keeping her eyes peeled for trouble.
Lee falls into the normal marching order behind Lark.
"As little as I like Varossa, I'm going to pile some Merciful spells onto her so that she doesn't automatically have to die for crossing us."
"Good idea Lee."
Hinsin turns back toward the party. "As Shackles pirates go, Varossa is pretty merciful. Think of what would have happened to you if you'd been 'rescued' by the Bloodmoon... or the Wormwood!" Hinsin shudders. He looks into the darkened corridor he stands before, but it twists and you cannot see where it leads from where he stands. "I... I hope Creed is alright... but you're the ones with the fireballs, so you lead the way..."
While waiting for the smoke to clear, you take a good look around the room where Creed had been hiding. Some stone tables and chairs sit in various states of condition in the room, suggesting it was once perhaps used as a common room or dining hall. Several individuals have carved on the columns supporting the high ceilinged chamber with a variety of handwritings and in a number of languages--of the languages you can read, it is mostly graffiti--records of what pirate slept with whom, or that "Peatmoss was here." Older graffiti higher up on the columns reflect messages left by the fortress's original inhabitants.
You push east once the smoke spreads out, although your eyes still sting and your noses are assaulted with the scent of once-rotted things turned to ash. You walk through a quite narrow cavern-like corridor a little ways, coming across the remains of three dead humanoids and two incutili, all badly burned. You arrive soon after at a larger chamber. Fire has spread through the area; you can tell that up until recently the room contained crates and barrels. Some bits of wood that had been damp prior now exist smouldering; drier items have been turned to ash. Iron hinges and ribs are now what remain of several storage containers. A corner of a singed piece of tapestry sits at your feet. Obviously this place once served as storage, but whatever was primarily stored here is gone now. In fairness, given the scent, a good deal of it was likely rotted and worthless anyway.
That said, looking through the wreckage, you find a few items of value that, while soot-covered, could be valuable:
a plumbob-shaped piece of pink quartz that radiates magic; further examination reveals it to be a pink ioun stone
a small jade statue of a serpentfolk (with judicious application of mending and prestidigitation, worth 400 gp)
A large obsidian disk topped with a blob of melted gold that was probably once an engraved image. The disk, once cleaned and fixed up, is worth about 300 gp, and the blob of melted gold is probably worth about 50 gp.
Smoke leaks out of the room to the east and south, but it is too hazy to see where the corridors lead.
"Oh man. Sometimes I miss the good old days on the Wormwood. Life was simpler back then..."
"Funny, I didn't know there were two ships named Wormwood," Thren banters. "You never told me about those days!" She looks towards the next room. "Shall we?"
Lark points at the ioun stone and says, "That will toughen up one of us, right? Thren, can I talk you into adding a little floaty thing to your ensemble? We're the front the line, so I think it goes to either you or me. I bet it won't even bash into your horns."
While they're stopped, Lark brushes at the scorch marks on his armor, "Speaking of tough, that fire was very fiery. Can you zap me with that wand, Thren?"
"Hmm. I don't know that it'll bash into my horn either-" Thren emphasizes the singular term, as her other horn's still regrowing after the encounter with Hyrix, "-but I think it's better for you to have it than me. You tend to get into the thick of things faster than I do, so a little extra toughness probably will help you just that much more."
As she speaks, Thren breaks out the wand of cure light wounds and begins healing up Lark.
"There. Now you just look like you'd been out in the sun too long," the tiefling woman teases.
The group heads eastward through a narrow corridor wide enough only for you to move through one at a time. As your light begins to illuminate a larger chamber ahead of you, at last penetrating the haze in the air, you hear a monstrous snarl and several creatures move to investigate your approach... four zombie-like-corpses with incutilises on their heads, and a bear-sized, black-coral encrusted aberration that is mainly a giant tentacled mouth held up with three legs.
Ah, the otyugh, classic deadly denizen of sewers and castle middens everywhere. This creature feeds upon rot and thus getting attacked by one puts you at notable risk of filth-borne disease. The coral-encrustations are not typical, but clearly something to do with the local environment.
Lark scratches at his fading burns and says, "I'd happily be sunburned if it meant we were out on the deck of the Whim."
The young pirate picks up the ioun stone, "I'll take it, though I kinda wish I could tuck it in my hat." He raises his hand and slowly opens it, watching as the stone lifts up to orbit around his tricorne. Lark walks in small circle, craning his neck to eye the floating stone as it follows him. "That's a bit strange, but I do feel better."
He steps toward the eastern exit, "Let's go."
Thren works past Lee, mostly by leaping up over him, then Lark, and dashes toward the largest opponent. "At least this thing looks alive! Hey Hinsin, you got any music left in you?" Thren calls as tentacles reach out and around her. She launches a quick blow, hoping to do serious damage before the monster gets its bearings. But her attack is blunted by one of said tentacles taking the strike meant for the creature's organs. Her rapier strikes but a scratch.
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Hinsin shouts "Aye aye!" and begins playing his flute.
The coral-mouth-tentacle-on-legs lashes out at Threnody.
It only tickles her with its tentacles, but manages to sink its teeth right in.
Threnody's a pirate. She's dealt with far worse filth, and those were mostly mouths on legs too.
Lark steps up behind Threnody. Before the Incutilis has a chance to move its puppet he shreds the corpse with a well-aimed slice.
Lark then tosses his glowing coin further into the room to free his hand.
When Lark tosses the coin into the room, they can see it is full of refuse, black coral, and what looks like large goopy mollusc eggs. More rotting crates and barrels sit in some corners. Some bloated humanoid corpses also lie in the corner. That would be what that awful smell is.
Lark renders the corpse useless to the incutilis with one well-placed blow. The little incutilis slides inbetween Lark's feet and appears to try to use Lark as a human shield while it regroups.
One incutilis looks like it's moving toward the exit, and the other two move toward Threnody to surround her.
Round #1
Lee casts Fireball then 5' steps E.
Reflex Saves for half damage.
Otyugh takes 21.
Blue inculus takes 21.
Brown inculus takes 10.
"Thanks Hinsin!" Thren calls as she attempts to follow upon Lee's fireball with a telling blow to the large monster before her.
The large number of scuttling creatures around the bard distract her at the wrong moment, however, and her glowing sword misses everyone and everything.
Of the incutilis and their corpses targeted, only the Amber Incutilis remains, with no puppet.
Lee launches his fireball into the area, and burns the otyugh badly and completely destroys the incutilis with the bluish shell along with its minion. The incutilis with the amber shell loses its minion and is scorched badly. The debris within the area catches fire, destroying eggs and old storage containers, and kicks up a choking cloud of stinking smoke.
Threnody tries to stab the burning otyugh, but it's hard to target even such a large thing when it's smoking and on fire and covered in coral.
Hinsin continues his tune, holding his flute with one hand expertly while moving forward and drawing and tossing a dagger at the otyugh.
Trying to be careful not to hit the party, he misses, the dagger tink-ing off the otyugh's unusual carapace.
Lark slides forward next to Threnoday. He tries to stab the filthy creature attacking the bard, but both his blades bounce off the coral on its body.
The purple-shelled-incutilis withdraws toward where a corpse lies in the corner of the room. The ambershelled one retreats down the southern corridor.
The crimson one and its minions flail various limbs at Threnody.
One of the tentacles twaps Threnody in the forehead, stinging her a little.
You all hear an alien voice in your minds: Va Orsilir!
Round 2
Lee casts Magic Missile at the crimson inculus.
Lee then 5' steps E.
The crimson incutilis is now without its minion.
Thren attempts to stab the large monster again, but the lingering smoke in the air causes her eyes to tear up still. Her blow misses cleanly.
The otyugh, though the odds are stacked against it even with Threnody's missed blows, fights relentlessly.
But the smoke is in its eye too.
Lark steps to the side as the otyugh continues to attack Threnody. He spots a gap in the coral and with a second stab his blade sinks into its vitals.
The calcified otyugh is really most sincerely dead.
The crimson incutilis withdraws into the corner of the room.
The purple one climbs atop one of the corpses in the corner and begins filling the skull's orifices with various tendrils and tentacles...
The fire burns out and the smoke in the room gets less pervasive (20% concealment).
Round 3
Lee lets the purple inculus have a dose of Magic Missiles.
"Oh hell no you don't!" Thren shouts as she sees the purple critter settle atop a corpse. She closes the distance in a hurry as its tentacles seep into the skull of the dead body, raises her sword up, and rams it straight down through the creature and the head it was going to attach itself onto with extreme prejudice. Our bard twists her rapier viciously before extracting the glowing blade with a satisfied smile.
It is an ex-purple incutilis. The crimson one of course is still moving toward a second corpse.
Hinsin stops playing; he figures one little creature left is not worth using more of his energy.
Lark jogs over to the remaining incutilis, but his sword thunks into the cavern floor as the tiny creature skitters away.
Lee walks E then SE.
"Let's try to stay focused. There's something, probably down this hallway..."
Lee gestures down the southern passage.
"...that either said 'Va Orsilir!' inside my head. Or made me think 'Va Orsilir!' to myself. Or something. Anyway, I'd like to huck a Fireball at whatever it is then go eat a sandwich, but I'm concerned about what the terrain we are facing happens to be."
"We'll go look after we get rid of this blasted corpse-loving little creeper. For now, yeah, hold off on the huge, fiery explosions."
Lee walks away into the dark tunnel without a light source, chatting to his cat while the rest of the party tries to contend with the last remaining incutilis. He can't see very far but the tunnel appears to open into a wide, vast cavern, and he hears waves lapping close by. There is a very strong stench that grows stronger as he looks into the corridor. Muffin follows Lee through the smoke, meowing.