Eveline fights her fate in the bug jaws and hits the creature that bleeds abundantly. The woman holds it enough in the grapple for Lionel to stab his spear finishing the terrible vermin.
A closer inspection allows discovering below the hand are a bunch of white eggs. The hand is embeded on a metal piece blocking the entrance on the pool's ground.
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"Well, damn. A helluva bad beastie, but it's dead now...", says Lionel, seeing the bug fall.
Stabbing it for one last time, Lionel says, "Betta make sure, ya know. Alright erryone, get 'round me. Althera, suga, I think ya had a wand or somethin' I can use to get our pals back in fightin' shape?"
If Lionel is given the wand, he heals everyone he can.
Looking at everyone, the big man says, "Ok, gents and ladies. This little fella caught us with our hands in the cookie jar, but I'd rather not have that happenin' again, if ya get my drift. Say we go and smash all 'em eggs, and then see what's wrong with the hand that's ova there? Sound like a plan?" Lionel looks slightly worried about the temple and the plan.
Oh, heck, I hope that's the worst thing gone. But, Calistria's luck was here today wit' us, like every time.
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Althera breathes a sign of relief as the bug dies. She simply nods at Lionel's request and offers him the wand for healing everyone.
"Yes, please heal them Lionel. That creature was far stronger than I would have expected. Let's be sure everyone is at full strength, then investigate that...deceased person...some more."
She stows her crossbow and picks up her staff, calming herself. Her face regains an air of serenity and composure.
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Lionel takes the heated up wand, and gives it back to Althea.
"Thanks, Althera. You're da best!"
"Well, I suggest we go and take the hand now. I gonna try and do somethin' with that metal thing."
Lionel, still large, goes and tries to pry open the metal thing with the arm, checking it out with Detect Magic beforehand. If nothing special or magical pops out, he tries to remove the metal plate.
"Nghghrrh!", the man groans as he tries to pull it off.
Deris is still there. He got a bit far watching you dealing with the beast "Wow! That was awesome display. Perhaps you can become guards for the Academy."
Lionel pushes a bit the hand and it moves but not enough to free the way. The water preasure is high and he needs a bit more effort.
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Yea, yea, thanks for standing idly by while two of us were nearly killed. Nigel says angrily to Deris as picks himself up off the floor and dusts himself off.
How can you even have your daughter enrolled in school filled with vermin anyway? What kind of father are you? Nigel says continuing to rant.
Perhaps we should back to the classroom and make sure there aren't any other giant creatures mauling the children to death? That might be a good idea Nigel yells, half sarcastically.
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The instant the bug releases Eveline, she starts to look if she herself is alright, silently grunting the pain and cursing how her armor and clothes are now all torn up. After quickly recovering from that ordeal she looks around, seeing Nigel still breathing and Reed soaking wet and breating, Eveline rushes to see if Reed is still breathing and hasn't drowned. Lionel didn't check that really.
Once convinced all of the members of the group will survive, she lets out a relieved sigh and just lets Lionel heal them all up.
"We're all in one piece, that's good. That couldn't have gone really really bad," the halfling says with a dark tone. She makes an angry glance at the large water ant thing, as if waiting for it to scurry away in shame.
Eveline watches from aside how Nigel and Reed in turn vent their frustrations. She doesn't take a strong stance to either side, and looks quizzically at Lionel, who is trying to pull the arm out of the pool. She decides to catch her breath and sit on the ground, hopelessly trying to come up with ways to patch her ruined clothes and armor. Another hit like that, I hope these rags can hold it together.
Derris shrugs his shoulders and says "I guess that's how you pathfinders are chosen. It takes some guts not to freeze in panic." and laughs at the idea of the classroom being attacked, taking Nigel for a funny one.
He then points to Lionel and cheers him up "There! There! She says the entrance is there!"
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"C'mon, people. We got this thing in the bag, and noon' died, so that's as good as it gets, y'know.", says Lionel, cautious with the temper of the group.
"If y'all gonna be so tense, I'ma hafta insist on ya comin' for a nice massage later on. And before ya go and insunuate things 'bout Calistrians, a normal relaxin' one is just as common as the more... exotic ones.", he says, trying to lighten up the mood with a joke.
Thinking he got the entrance pried open with just a slight pull, he leaves the lake, and sits down on the shore, coming down to normal size.
"See, if we don't all work tagether, we ain't gonna have much success. Anyway, nuff 'bout this fight. Anyone wanna help me check if the ant-thing swallowed somethin' shiny? Demario, you'll be pretty keen on that, wouldn' ya?", Lionel says, standing up and drawing a dagger from his boot, looking at the quiet gnome.
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"Tense? Those two nearly got killed!" Eveline interrupts but not with hostility, merely baffled. She does listen to Lionel's talk about a spa trip after the mission, to which Eveline shares an accepting thought, unwittingly rubbing her shoulders.
"But, though, Lionel, I'd grab that offer for a common massage afterwards... just a common one." She tries her earnest to hold back her preconceptions.
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"Hah. That's the way to think about it. It's even gonna be on me! I'd focus on the mission just now, though. No sense in lettin' them thoughts distract ya from the mission at hand.", Lionel says, nodding at Eveline, while looking at the best place to disembowel the water ant from.
"As soon as y'all gotta breather, I'd suggest we get goin'. Them eggs ain't gonna smash themselves."
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"Sure sure, work's first," Eveline repeats, gathering herself and standing up, readying herself for future events. She takes an unnoticable look at Reed, worried if his morals get conflicted again during the mission.
She gets over to the water bug, examining it from different angles. Eveline takes out her scimitar once more and lifts the bug's antennae carefully. "You really want to see the innards of this thing? They don't have potbellies of gold, you know? Nor an appetite for diamonds or other valuables. This one's just an overgrown example of nature's and magic's twisted conicidence. If this still has a gold deposit within itself, I'll let you offer an exotic massage!"
She's basically trying to have Lionel do the dirty work; she's not expecting to find anything of interest from the water bug, but wouldn't mind teaching Lionel a lesson.
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Nigel is doing everything in his power to resist smashing Deris over the head with his mace. But he takes a few deep breathes and paces around to regain his composure.
I think we should gut the bug. I doubt the bug had anything useful, but that disembodied hand means it probably ate someone. Maybe the person it ate had something valuable on him Nigel says to Eveline.
I'll do it myself if that's what you would prefer, The gnome says.
I'll just imagine I'm slicing that crazy wizard, that should make it easy. Nigel thinks.
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Althera keeps her cool, though she adjusts her serpent ring and smooths her skirt reflexively.
Looking over the deceased monster's carcass causes her to shudder just a bit.
"Lionel, I might also be interested in a massage when this is over. I will certainly need a very long, hot bath at least."
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Lionel and Eveline open the water tug from up to bottom, but the only thing they found are entrails and the remains of a moss diet.
The most probable is the water bug was trying to defend his eggs on the hand hatch.
After it, Lionel goes back to the hand and makes and tugs it until it is open. The water pressure is high but at some point the opening is enough for the water start draining. The sudden whirl starts taking everything with it through the whole!
Lionel tries to stand on foot but in the end the water is so strong that he is taken by it and disappears into the whole.
Derris Marlinchen then jumps into the pool and is taken as well by the black waters into the whole.
You are hit by the whole walls then by some stairs and walls, until the water descends on intensity and you suddenly hit a rock in the middle of a passage.
You are stunned until your party arrives to the bottom of the pit.
Once the waters, with Lionel and Derris, disappears into the whole, you can see below the hand is a small hatch with a metallic hand stair.
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"Wha–" Eveline manages to say when Lionel is swept into the whirlpool. She has been observing Nigel disect the creature, and rushes to the edge of the pool.
"Lionel? You hear me? You ok?" she shouts into the hatch. What's all the more confusing is why did Deris follow the water and jump after Lionel. Eveline turns to Reed, Demario, and Nigel, looking at them as if they knew what the heck was going on.
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Now that Nigel sees Deris is gone. He quickly explains what Deris was doing in the classroom, and why he's been which caused him such consternation.
He then yells.
b]We gotta go in after them! Can't leave Lionel alone with that nutjob.[/b] The Gnome shierks as he pulls out his Masterwork mace and heads down the stairs as quickly as possible.
Eveline shouts for Lionel but there is no response back.
The intrepid Nigel does not want to leave the man down there alone and starts descending the hand stairs without problem.
You hit the floor a while after and found yourself in a dark tunnel totally soaked. The light from the hatch is enough for your eyes to perfectly see for now, but venturing down the tunnel will require a light source to combat the darkness.
You see no trace of Lionel or Derris, although the water is dripping from the ceiling and walls far beyond your sight, so their bodies might be far down the line.
Short after he disappears in the darkness below without you being able to say if he has already reached the floor.
Taking careful steps, the rest of the party descends into the old Necropolis tunnels. For what you can see it consist on a network of 6-foot-wide, arched tunnels connecting double-vaulted ossuary chambers. The once ornate chambers are now a patchwork of brown stone walls, faded paint, and crumbling plaster. Water seeps through the walls and collects in foor cracks and ankle-deep puddles.
There are no signs of light other than Nigel's lamp a bit ahead of the main group. Nigel reaches a bifurcation of the tunnel. Some stairs head south ending in front of a heavy stone door open ajar. To the east, just in front of the gnome, the tunnel continues to a different stair and turns into a corner. There is no trace of Lionel or Deris, but both stairs are totally soaked.
You recover your senses over some stairs in a dark tunnel. A faint light coming from behind a corner let's you see what seems the laying body of Deris Marlinchen. To the other side a passageway ends in cave-in—evidence of the great geological violence visited upon the necropolis 10 years ago.
As Nigel and Eveline looks around the corner, they found Deris and Lionel prone on the end of the stairs. Reed lights a torch and follows close.
When he is approached Deris accepts any help to go up "You are great! You found finally the entrance to the Necropolis! I hope my little Cassiel will hear about this wonder and come fast. I want her to met you."
After talking with Lionel he seems just a bit injured because of the whirlpool fall and he shows the water has gone through some small crevices in the rock. The Earthquake 10 years ago seems to have blocked this way.
Meanwhile Eveline explores the half-opened door on the southern corridor and observes carved pillars in the corners of the chamber holding aloft a double-vaulted ceiling of cracked frescos. On either side of the chamber, a single step leads up into a deeply recessed area that forms an arched room of its own.
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Althera catches up to the group.
"I'm better off if I stand behind you. But I can create a bit of light by magic if you like. That way you can use your weapons. And Lionel, please use that wand. A blow to the head can be quite serious..."
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Lionel falls down the well and blacks out for a brief moment. Seeing Deris fall after him, he stands up, ears ringing, and cast Stabilize on the man.
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Taking a brief moment, Lionel is surprised to see the rest coming down to get him. "Sorry, folks. I jus got a bit offa headache, s'all. I'd let ya point me in da right direction. Is Deris a'ight? By his standards, I mean?"
Looking at Althera, he remembers the mention of a massage, and grins. "Before I was so rudely interrupted by gravity, was just 'bout to say I can give ya one personally. A massage, I mean."
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Reed grins down at the halfling woman. If only she was a little taller. He chuckles, dropping his torch and pulling his axe back out. He holds it out to Althera, motioning that she should cast her spell of light upon it. Assuming she does so, he returns to his point position, since Eveline prefers to fight at range.
Deris follows the party only at a distance.
As Reed and Lionel set foot into the room, you a bugbear zombie appears from the far corner of the chamber, just in front of the door.
The zombie notices the source light and looks towards you yelling on rage, but he is caught off-balance by the readied party. It is holding a morningstar in one of its hands.
This is a zombie. Zombies are undead with a thick meaty skin that provides them 5/slashing DR. As other undead, they can be harmed by negative energy. Zombies are staggered and thus can only take a standard action during their turn. This particular version of the zombie is a bugbear, which means his strong body might be particularly hard to drop in comparison with the regular human zombie.
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Delay until after DeMario, so he can get into range and use his sneak attack bonus on the "flat-footed?" zombie first.
On Nigel's turn:
He will take out a bottle of holy water and ready an action to it at the Zombie if it moves within 10 feet of him.
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Eveline moves along with Reed, staying behind him whilst she readies her bow and shoots an arrow at the pitiful undead. Good thing she was taught by the Sarenrites; she's much better against these foul creatures.
for
It's then when she remembers zombies are rather resilient to other than slashing weapons. The arrow's puncture doesn't really slow the thing down. Eveline lets out a frustrated grunt.
Nigel and Reed ready an action, focused on the bugbear zombie actions.
Eveline advances covering behind Reed and shots an arrow from his side hitting the zombie but the thick skin deflects the shaft leaving just a scratch on its breast.
Demario tries to mimic Eveline, but in his case the bolt just hits the doorstep without effect.
At that point the zombie holds the morningstar with both hands and charges over Reed whom answers with an axe slash that cuts the bugbear forearm leaving a considerable gash.
The creature then smashes Reed on the waist but his armor is thick enough to protect him from the morningstar head.