Edward urges his companions to greatness in order to preserve their way of life as Arhiel dives into the water and barely, barely manages to pull Isaac--whose nose was beginning to fill up with water--back to the surface. She breaks it with a gasp, holding her captain's head above water, as Jesal hurls a spear that just narrowly misses the remaining foe.
Initiative
Alabaster, Isaac (mental only, please post if you have no action) <-----
Friendly grindys
Foe
Jesal, Arhiel, Edward
Alabaster takes a another wild stab into the cage.
Isaac just stays frozen, his joints locked up. 'Oh, thank ye, thank ye Arhiel!'
Alabaster's cutlass simply rebounds off the steel bars, while the grindylows lunge forward and attempt to stab at the one remaining undead! They're better set up this time, and both spears sink home, causing a stream of bubbles to jet from the abomination's mouth as it writhes in pain. It turns and lunges forward, its claws streaming through the water. One opens up a grindylow's stomach, and the little creature faints immediately. The other opens a massive, bleeding gash in the second grindylow's shoulder; it's still alive, but only just.
Initiative
Alabaster, Isaac
Friendly Grindys
Foe
Arhiel, Jesal, Edward <----
Undead: HP: Green 2 | AC/T/FF: 18/16/16 | Fort +2 Ref +2 Will +5 | CMD: 14
does not confirm
Arhiel continues to hold Isaac's head above water until he is able to move under his own volition again.
Edward keeps his inspire up for another, hopefully the last, round.
See discussion for my post. Wayfinder app + big thumbs = first world problems.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Jesal just can't get a good shot off with the churning water, and as Arhiel and Edward hold their positions his shot goes wide yet again!
Initiative
Alabaster, Isaac (paralyzed) <----
Friendly Grindys
Foes
Jesal, Edward, Arhiel
Undead: HP: Green 2 | AC/T/FF: 18/16/16 | Fort +2 Ref +2 Will +5 | CMD: 14
Isaac simply floats in Arhiel's embrace, unable to move.
Alabaster lunges forward desperately and furiously, and as the undead creature wriggles on the end of the surviving grindylow's spear, his cutlass finally finds its mark and severs the creature's head from its body!
COMBAT OVER
The waters slowly grow still as Alabaster surfaces, gasping for breath. Moments later, Isaac's limbs come back under his control, and he's able to swim under his own power. The one remaining grindylow swims over to perch near Jesal, not evidently perturbed by the demise of its two clan mates.
Now that the waters are growing still you can see that one of the two creatures wears the tattered remains of a greatcoat with large, silver buttons. The other is naked, though hideously disfigured. Among the sand and shells at the bottom of this cave--glinting through the bars--you can also see scattered coins on the floor. Of Sandara or Giffer, there is no sign...
Well, almost no sign. Spying something, the grindylow still with you gives a delighted cry and darts over to one of its now-expired kin. It rummages at the dead grindylow's bag and pulls out something battered and black--something recognizable. When it slaps it on its head, you recognize it as Sandara's hat!
The little grindylow says proudly to Jesal, "Khaphachao misividyu. Lik penkhonghao!"
The underground passage continues out of this cavern to the east.
When Isaac is able to move, he sighs in relief. He turns to Arhiel and says, "Thank ye. Really."
He dives down into the water and begins to loot the area, taking the greatcoat and the coins.
When the grindylow shows up with the hat, Isaac is in shock! "Tha's Sandara's hat! She be in thes' cav's! Tha' means Giffer's her' too!"
When Isaac can swim on his own again, Arhiel releases him, nods in response to his thanks... "Most welcome, anytime, mon capitan" she says with a chuckle. She dives down to join the others... helps with the looting. "SEems you are right, Isaac... they are or at least were here... let's go on further and see if we can find them."
.."Yes, that is her hat alright."
Edward snatches the hat from the grindy.
"That's not yours, neither is it mine, but i'm keeping it for the one it does belong to."
Edward leaves little room for objection from the grindy.
The grindylow snarls when Edward snatches Sandara's hat away, and looks like it would bite him if Jesal didn't hold up a warning finger. Instead, it sulks.
The scattered coins on the floor of the cavern, when fully gathered, are revealed to total 120 pieces of gold in various coinages (24 each). The greatcoat that one of the undead was wearing is too tattered to be worth much, but it does have five still-intact large, silver buttons that could probably be resold.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Isaac can easily identify the coat. "Well, we be havin' a Cheliaxian Imperial Navy uniform here. I'll be keepin' it an' see if I can ge' it repaired."
Isaac nods at Arhiel. "Let's be goin' tha' way. Deeper into th' cav's."
Jesal nods and follows.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Agrees.
Stepping carefully, you move forward, through a low passageway and into the next chamber, which is surprisingly dry--just a thin layer of water rushes gently backward and forward over the floor, churned by the distant tides. This wider cavern is decorated with hundreds of leering skeletal parts, wriggling with worms. Four dark circular openings--the one you came from, two opposite, and one to your left that plunges downward--open out of this chamber.
As you enter the room, Edward is distracted by something shiny in a corner...but his attention is quickly arrested as everyone else shouts a warning, alerting him to the purple, seven-armed octopoid monstrosity the size of a horse that begins to claw its way towards you from across the cavern with its hook-lined tentacles! It glares at you with malice in its cold, blue eyes.
The creature seems to be moving slowly, and most of you are fast enough to respond quickly.
Initiative
Alabaster, Arhiel, Edward, Isaac <----
Foe
Friendly Grindy, Jesal
Horrible Fishy Monstrosity: HP: 42 | AC/T/FF: 17/12/14 | Fort +7 Ref +7 Will +2 | CMD: 22 (can't be tripped) | Resist: Cold 10
Arhiel casts summon monster (begin casting this round... to conclude at the beginning of the next round).
"By old lady Grump's peg leg, what is that?"
Edward steps back 5ft and lets out a rising roar, trying to demoralize the monster by the power of his vocals.
The advancing monstrosity flinches slightly as Edward roars at it, but keeps coming!
"Hang on, i recall a tale about such a thing.
It's called a devilfish, a magical beast, thought to be a descendant of a giant squid or octopus that was exposed to fel energies from the Abyss.
Careful, their beaks are sharp and they can spit oil."
Isaac, eyeing its clawed tentacles, hurls a dagger at the creature, but it goes wide. Alabaster, seeing the wisdom in a ranged strike, draws his pistol and fires at it, but also misses. As Arhiel begins a spell, and Edward realizes what the creature is, it writhes forward on its tentacles. When it gets about ten feet away from your group it lets out a hideous shriek and pulses.
Which demonstrates that it does a lot more than just "squirt" ink.
A roiling wave of putrid ink jets out of the creature's base, splashing across the stones and over your boots. As the smell hits you, everyone but Arhiel, who's resolutely changing, and Alabaster, who just grits his teeth, gags, overcome by the stench. Your grindylow companion had its mouth open at the time, and it gets a full-on mouthful of ink. It retches and turns to retreat from the scene, apparently not about to start into this fight unless forced.
As you start to recover, the creature's tentacles lash out and seize your hapless grindylow. It shrieks as it's yanked through the air, and the barbed, muscular limbs rip it to shreds. As this happens, to your shock, the devilfish speaks.
"WORM!" it booms. "IZDAJNIK!"
Initiative
Alabaster, Arhiel, Edward (naus. 3), Isaac (naus. 3)
Foe
Jesal (naus. 3) <----
Trying not to vomit, Jesal swims away so he doesn't become a liability in the fight.
-Posted with Wayfinder
As Jesal scrambles away, the rest of the heroes get a chance to act...
Arhiel and Alabaster are up...so are Edward and Isaac, though they remain nauseated.
Initiative
Alabaster, Arhiel, Edward (naus. 3), Isaac (naus. 3) <----
Foe
Jesal (naus. 2)
Devilfish: HP: 42 | AC/T/FF: 17/12/14 | Fort +7 Ref +7 Will +2 | CMD: 22 (can't be tripped) | Resist: Cold 10
Isaac almost pukes. It smells so bad! He decides to fall back. Being sick and at low health, he can't risk fighting this thing.
"Beuh....that's worse a smell than the old potatoe & eggs waste bin back in Riddleport."
Edward heads west and spends another inspire, as best as he can.
Arhiel summons a dolphin to attack the monstrosity, steps/swims back and immediately begins another summons spell.
As the others stagger away, a dolphin appears in a burst of golden light and lunges forward, butting the devilfish hard from the rear. Arhiel retreats and begins to summon once more, while Alabaster draws his cutlass and steps forward. He slogs through the muck and, barely, manages to lunge at the devilfish as it turns toward the dolphin that managed to ram it. He opens a massive gash in the creature's side, and it shrieks in pain!
Confused and enraged by the pain it's in, the devilfish flails about itself with its tentacles, but fails to seize either Alabaster or the dolphin!
Initiative
Arhiel, Alabaster, Isaac (naus. 2), Edward (naus. 2)
Devilfish
Jesal (naus. 2) <----
Devilfish: HP: 25 | AC/T/FF: 17/12/14 | Fort +7 Ref +7 Will +2 | CMD: 22 (can't be tripped) | Resist: Cold 10
Jesal will retch this round.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Arhiel summons her second dolphin which flanks with the first one... they both attack:
Isaac continues to move back, away from the devilfish.
As does Edward, he's not in best of conditions atm.
"Urr..."
The two dolphins flop around, the first clubbing the devilfish with its tail, though the other isn't so lucky. They provide the distraction Alabaster needs, though, to hack into the beast with his cutlass, eliciting a high-pitched scream of rage and a spray of black blood! It turns a baleful, blue eye on Alabaster, and lunges for him with its tentacles, but he barely manages to fend them off.
Initiative
Arhiel, Alabaster, Isaac (naus. 1), Edward (naus. 1)
Devilfish
Jesal (naus. 1)
Devilfish: HP: 12 | AC/T/FF: 17/12/14 | Fort +7 Ref +7 Will +2 | CMD: 22 (can't be tripped) | Resist: Cold 10
<hurls > and draws a shortspear.
-Posted with Wayfinder
As Jesal recovers, the rest of the party readies themselves for...
Initiative
Arhiel, Alabaster, Isaac (naus. 1), Edward (naus. 1) <----
Devilfish
Jesal
Isaac stays in place, glaring at the devilfish. "Ugh... When I be gettin' bet'er, I be keelhaulin' ye! Ye talkin'... squid!"
Arhiel stays back and lets the dolphins attack.
One of the dolphins butts the devilfish hard from behind, and as it screeches in rage and begins to turn, the other leaps out of the water and lets its full weight fall in the monstrosity's head. There's a *crack* and, as the dolphin rolls off (looking smug), the great beast lies still.
A few moments later the oozing black gunk, has washed more or less away, leaving you free to wade through the area with far less difficulty. Three paths lie in front of you: one to the north, one to the east that quickly turns north, and one to the west that slopes perilously downward. From this last you can hear the sounds of churning water.
Arhiel casts detect magic and stares at the bracelet... but magical or not, she swims over and frees it from the jawbone it's hooked on, admiring it regardless of its current condition. "Oooh, look what I found!"
The bracer is indeed magical, glowing a faint orange in Arhiel's enhanced sight.