Cautious despite hearing nothing, Gideon slowly opens the door and peeks inside.
A long marble workbench runs the entire length of the southern wall, and a rusting metal shelf stands on the opposite wall. Squat stools line up along the bench, which is littered with a variety of small, precise hammers and chisels as well as fragments of crystalline stone that looks like quartz. Another door exits to the north.
A pair of skum poke about this room, inspecting the tools and bits of cut quartz. When they see you, though, they snarl and raise their tridents!
Calvin moves up to the closest of the two skum and tries to take them down quickly.
Tobar follows along quietly; as soon as the skum are revealed, he wastes no time in bringing his crossbow to bear. He swears softly as Calvin charges into the confined area and makes it hard to get a clear shot.
"Looks a little narrow in there! Calvin, can you fall back slowly?"
Weyve touches Tobar on the shoulder and his hand smokes with dark mist.
Gideon will, if possible, cast Grease on the trident the front gillman is holding.
Tobar snaps off a shot, but his bolt shatters against the far wall. Weyve touches the crossbowman to grant him some guidance on his next attack.
Gideon tries to grease the lead skum's trident, but it moves away before the spell can coat the weapon.
Calvin rushes in and stabs the skum with his blade, badly wounding it.
Snarling, the skum retaliates, but fails to hit. The second skum climbs up onto the workbench, kicking tools and quartz as it moves to stab at Calvin, but the gillman blocks the attack with his shield.
Weyve concentrates, and murmurs some words in Aboleth. He steps up behind Calvin and touches him on the shoulder; smudges of black mist spurt out from under his fingertips where he lays his hand.
"Give 'em hell, Cal."
Calvin doesn't like either ignoring his allies or being outnumbered, so he will try to finish off the injured Skum before backing up 5 feet.
Tobar snaps off another shot at the closest of the skum, and this time manages to land a bolt right past the bobbing and weaving of the melee.
Tobar shoots the wounded skum with an accurate bolt to the chest!
Gideon waits a moment while Calvin slashes wildly at the injured skum. The creature parries his strike with its trident, so the gillman backs up a few steps.
As Weyve grants Calvin guidance, Gideon takes his shot, firing past his fighter friend. He hits, and the skum falls!
The remaining skum steps forward and attacks Calvin again from higher ground. This time, it lands a solid hit, the tines of its trident stabbing into Calvin's chest.
Weyve presses his hand against Calvin's back and let's healing energy flow through his hand.
"One down, and one to go! Keep it up, Calvin!"
Gideon takes a quick step forward to back up his friend after the trident scored a successful strike, using his machete to swing at the skum's legs.
Calvin hops onto the side table to allow Gideon to come up and aid in taking down the creature and presses the attack.
But his attack goes wide.
Still stuck shooting past his teammates, Tobar does his best to get a clear shot.
Tobar's next shot clatters harmlessly against the workbench. Weyve heals Calvin, then the fighter hops up on the workbench and slashes at the skum again. It knocks his blade aside with its trident. Gideon moves in and chops into the monster's thigh with his machete.
Snarling at the bard, the skum shifts its focus to him, taking advantage of the high ground. The bard catches its tines on his buckler then steps back to dodge its teeth and claw.
Calvin sweeps low and cuts up, using his shield to jockey the trident out of the way.
Gideon again hacks at his enemy's legs, the last miss having been too close for comfort!
Weyve places his hand on Calvin's back again. "Fortune to you," he says.
Tobar fires another bolt that whizzes past the skum. Weyve grants Calvin guidance, helping steer his sword into the fishy creature's gut. Gideon tries to finish off the badly wounded skum, but his swing goes wide.
The monster turns its attention back to Calvin, but the gillman blocks all of its attacks.
Tobar takes the opportunity to fire during a brief break in the cadence of combat, between the swings of the skum.
This time, Tobar finds his mark. The skum tumbles off the workbench, falling to the floor and lying still as blood oozes from the fatal wound.
Among the quartz shards on the bench, you find a dull gray stone that glows with a continual flame.
"Oh hey, a burning rock thingy." Calvin says rather plainly as he catches his breath. "That's neat."
"Could certainly come in very handy going forward...a torch that you don't need to hold in your hand."
"What?" he asks. "Looks like it could just be thrown or something... I guess."
"What?" he asks. "Looks like it could just be thrown or something... I guess."
"Hah, no, no. Watch."
Weyve picks up the Ioun torch and holds it next to Calvins head. When he lets go it begins spinning lazily around Calvin.
"See? It floats in the air. It will stay close to you until you grab it and put it away."
Weyve looks around the room.
"Let's keep going. We can see where this leads," he says, pointing to the other door.
He quietly steps up to the door and listens, then if he thinks it is safe he opens the door.
Weyve does not hear any sounds, so he opens the door. This dark chamber is featureless except for a large ring of an unusual-looking metal embedded in the floor. Studying it for a short time, the oracle determines that anything within the circle will be subjected to a detect magic effect, but the results of this effect are visible in the form of colored auras of differing intensities.
"This could be useful if we find something we cannot identify," says Weyve. "Even Calvin or Tobar could tell if something was magical by putting it in there."
"Too bad we can't take it with us. Let's keep going."
The ramp winds up to the next floor. Much of this level is a room that wraps around the tower. Another ramp on the south wall ascends to the floor above. Against a wall to the southwest is a table suitable for quiet study. The western side of this area sports half a dozen bookshelves covered in the dust of deteriorating paper and leather. Opposite the shelves is a small stone plinth holding a clockwork bust of a nondescript woman. A large table surrounded by a few stools occupies the eastern side of the room.
A single skum stands among the shelves, examining some of the surviving tomes. When it sees you, though, it hefts its glaive and moves in on you menacingly!
Calvin sees the threat and charges it, his longsword gleaming with light as he drives it towards his enemies heart!
"Hyah!" he cries out triumphantly.
As Calvin charges in, the skum responds with amazing reflexes. The gillman barely manages to deflect the saw-toothed glaive with his shield--if he had charged recklessly, it definitely would have hit him!
Weyve begins to concentrate, mouthing words that can barely be heard. Black fog begins to pour from his mouth and nose, and his skin grows faintly darker.
Gideon moves forward after Calvin, swinging his machete at the gillman in the hope of finishing the skum off before it can take another swing.
The skum quickly slashes with its glaive again as the bard moves in, but Gideon is able to duck under the clumsy swing. Unfortunately, his own attack slides off the creature's rubbery hide.
Tobar wastes no time in taking a shot at the latest threat - presumably a bit more dangerous than some of its predecessors. Though maybe not!
Tobar's bolt catches the skum in the thigh, inches from a very sensitive spot!
The creature bites at Calvin, then steps back to give itself room to swing its glaive. It misses badly on both attacks!
Calvin steps into the Skum's reach again, "Flank him! Don't give him space to use that glaive!" he shouts, slicing at the creature's abdomen.
Weyve edges forwards, and completes his spell.
A silver eagle appears in midair and attacks!
"Skreeeeeeeeeeeee!"
With a screech the eagle attacks!
After the attack the Eagle lands on the bookshelf.
Satisfied that the eagle is doing its job, Weyve takes a shot at the Skum with his crossbow, but the shot lodges in the wall. Weyve quickly reloads.
The archaeologist strikes out at the skum, taking advantage of the flanking position offered by the eagle.
He then takes a quick step to the side, trying to restrict the skum's movement options.
Tobar wings another bolt off the masonry.
Weyve's summoned eagle appears with a screech, raking the skum with a talon and pecking it with its beak. The gillman's crossbow bolt goes wide, as does Tobar's shot. Calvin and Gideon both manage to hit though, slicing deep gouges in the aquatic monster's side.
The skum changes targets, biting at Gideon before stepping back to slice with its glaive. While the bard dodges its teeth, he is too slow to avoid getting sliced by the glaive, the saw-toothed weapon slicing deep into his chest and badly wounding him!
Tobar does what he does best!