"Well, shall we keep going? If so, which direction should we take?"
Lorelei looks down both tunnels, trying to see anything that would make one way better than the other to try out.
Lorelei finds that the two nearest tunnels are in fact a single room with several pillars of rock in the center. It looks to be empty, but on the far side is an opening to another room where the floor seems to drop away, causing the water to be much deeper.
”Hmm?” Ebirah leta our as he notices something before floating over to one of the pillars. ”Wonder what all this is for?” he asks to no one in particular as he returns with a (magical) torch, a (magical) bottle marked E.M., several pieces of polished red coral, some rotted rope, a hammer and pitons, and a dented flute.
As Ebirah grasps the torch, it begins to burn despite the water, but does not give off any heat.
Ebirah suspiciously eyes the suspicious torch that ignited underwater.
Kela followed the others into the wider room. "They must have scavenged from the town, perhaps? Were there any E.M.'s on our list?"
Lorelei looks about the room, curious about the deep water is and tries peering down into it. "I wonder what might be hiding down there..."
Lorelei will take a look at both bottles, confused about the first, but figuring out what the second is. "Huh, I wonder why the Grindylows would have a bottle of air. It's not like they need it or anything."
As Lorelei peers into the deeper water, she at first sees nothing.
Then, suddenly a large octopus appears almost to materialize out of the water, snaking out a tentacle to grab at Lorelei, but she manages to react quickly enough to avoid it. Two more appear in other parts of the cave.
Both Valdern and Rhyfedd rush to face the new threat. Try as they can, they are unable to cover enough distance to engage in the fight.
Bhookaaj moves down into the new chamber and moves in behind both Ebirah and Kela.
He loads his crossbow, but doesn't fire, as Lorelei is in the way of a good shot against one of the new threats.
Elia had stuck with the group, and had a suggestion for dealing with the octopuses, "Pull back and let them come to us," she said, "I don't think we want to fight them in deep water." It seemed an invitation to be entangled and dragged under.
"That is an excellent point Elia."
Lorlei will move straight back into the cave and away from the shallow water.
Ebirah nods and floats to Lorelei.
As the party retreats from their section of the cave, the octopi seem disinterested in pursuing, and sink back down to the bottom.
"I guess we better check the rest of this place, then.", says Bhookaaj as he heads up toward the unexplored bit.
The tunnel quickly turns back around, and the floor begins to rise further down the tunnel, until it is no longer underwater. A massive stone hand is being used as a throne by a very large grindylow. Upon seeing the party, the grindylow gets up from its throne and begins to charge forward.
"I'll keep it occupied." Ebirah says as he swims around one side to let the others filter in from the other path.
Elia casts a spell, sending a shimmering arrow of force at the grindylow.
The grindylow shrugs it off and turns to Ebirah and slams its spear into him, scoring a deep gash.
Bhookaaj, not being in good enough nick to melee with the large grindilow, moves up only a little and tries shooting at it with his crossbow:
But misses badly...
Muttering under her breath about the annoyances of not have access to ranged healing spells, Lorelei begins moving up and throws and icicle at the large Grindylow.
Kela rushes forward and throws one hand forward, coalescing the water around the terrifying creatures spear and attempting to pull it from her grasp. Kela prays it will be enough to protect Ebirah's life with the thing so close to him.
The creature shouts in outrage as it weapon slips from its grasp.
Valdern and Rhyfedd move as fast as they can to get in the room. Valdern tries to see how bad is Ebirah condition.
The grindylow tries to snatch up its spear from the ground, but the weapon slips out of its hands once again. Snarling in frustration, it snaps its sharklike jaws at Rhyfedd but misses horribly.
Valdern sees that Ebirah, while unconscious and bleeding, does not appear to be in danger of immediate death.
Valdern uses his magic to stabilise Ebirah condition. At least now he won't bleed to death while the group takes down the ugly creature. "If he keeps charging into fights, we will need to find him some armor to wear. Or teach him to avoid getting hit..."
Rhyfedd steps forward, and attack the creature. The first swing bounces off the creature's tough skin, while the second score a solid hit in a more vulnerable spot.
Should there have been more grindylow lurking about? No matter; Elia closed the distance, ready to chip in with either the wand or a jolt of electricity as seemed appropriate. For now, she called up protective armour in case their enemy decided to come after her.
Lorelei moves up a bit more and then Commands the large Grindylow to "Fall!" in Aquan.
The grindylow ignores Lorelei's command.
Bhookaaj, moves closer at shoots at the large with his crossbow again:
... and manages to scratch it a bit ...
The water swirls around Kela as she attempts to solidify the sheen around the grindylow's weapon. She then launches a blast of water at the creature, striking it hard.
The creature looks injured from the party's attacks, but continues to bite furiously at the phantom, this time managing to score a blow despite its ectoplasmic form.
With his long spear in hand, Valdern gets into a flanking position. Surprised by the damage that Rhyfedd just received, the tip of his spear doesn't even come close to hit the target.
Again, Rhyfedd only manages one solid hit on the creature. A normal person would probably fight more defensively, but Rhyfedd was filled with too much anger to think of anything else than attacking.
Bhookaaj shoots at the large grindilow again:
Lorelei channels positive energy, excusing the large grindylow.
Grumbling momentarily as he is brought back Ebirah quickly notices the still alive Grinndylow and, drawing his longsword, hacks at it.
Elia took the opportunity to slip in behind the grindylow and zap it with electricity.
.Kela sends another powerful jet of water at the grindylow, but it flies over the creature's head.
The rest of the party lands several attacks, and when Elia electrifies it, it nearly falls.
The grindylow suddenly turns to flee, but its tentacles were clearly not meant to travel on land and it barely manages to carry itself to the water.
Not expecting the creature to flee, Rhyfedd misses the chance to hit it while it flee. He then pursues the creature, determined to bring it down.
Another stabbing attempt from Valdern and another miss.
Lorelei pokes at the thing with her shortspear.
Ebirah gets back to his feet and moves after the Grindylow.