A statue of a warrior wrestling with a giant serpent stands on a two-foot-high pedestal in this columned hall. The serpent is coiled around the warrior and has locked its jaws around her upper body. The woman holds her sword high, ready to strike the serpent’s neck again. She has cut nearly all the way through, and only a thin piece of skin keeps the head attached to the long, sinuous body. Magical light radiates from the blade of the sword, illuminating the statue and the chamber. Jagged columns of coral stand among finely carved marble columns. The remains of the south wall lie in broken pieces, allowing full view of the ocean beyond.
Bas-relief carvings on the columns in the hall depict sceens of war and strife involving evil deities and demon lords, with mortals and outsiders alike battling demons and other monsters.
Near the southern end of the broken chamber, a small school of four great white sharks swim restlessly back and forth. They seem agitated by your presence, but they do not immediately attack. The massive sharks' bodies bear many scars.
Terana eyes the sharks for a few moments, before making shepherding gestures to her companions to indicate their retreat from the room. Gideon gets a glare if he refuses to go.
Once out she takes the lead again and heads around the first corner they saw.
The sight of the statues and carvings on the wall are almost enough to distract Gideon from the fact that there are four exceptionally large great white sharks swimming about nearby...almost, but not quite. Still, he takes advantage of the few moments he has before Terana is yanking on his ear (figuratively) to corral him out of the room...though he doesn't leave until he has cast Detect Magic on the sword wielded by Savith's statue.
When they're back above water, he explains the significance of the statue to the others as well as what his detection abilities revealed about the sword.
The sword radiates a moderate aura of evocation magic. You could probably pry it free from the statue's grasp with a proper application of strength. It's far enough away from the sharks that doing so would probably not provoke them.
Terana will do so, keeping a wary eye on the sharks. Then she'll bring it back to Gideon for closer examination.
At first, Terana finds the sword impossible to move, but after a few moments, it slides free of the statue's grasp, as if sensing something inside the paladin.
"This should suit you Cathyriel." Terana says, once Gideon deduces the blades properties. "Use it well!"
"Well indeed! That's quite the sword. It should be quite helpful against the enemies we face, that's for sure." Gideon agrees.
"I'm glad we didn't have to fight off all those sharks to get to the sword. Rather unusual behavior for a shark, for them not to attack us outright. Judging from all those scars though they could've learned long ago to be a bit more cautious..." Gideon theorizes. "Either way, we should keep moving forward. Get as much use out of the day as we can before we need to rest. Hopefully we can take care of everything except the aboleth itself before we need to recuperate."
Cathryriel accepts the sword with a crooked half-smile, swishing the blade experimentally through the water as she does so. "Works for me!"
She stows the weapon in her belt, alongside her other one. Once she's back on land, she'll have to sort that out, but while swimming she barely notices the awkwardness of the extra encumbrance.
Terana holds out her hand for Cathyriel's first longsword and then stows it in her extradimensional weapons rack, before leading the group onwards.
This domed chamber has multiple exits and large niches in its northeast and northwest sides. Three openings in the south wall lead to a ruined and submerged courtyard, and a staircase on the north side of the chamber leads down to a larger chamber.
A group of five skum stand guard in this chamber. Four are unarmed, while the fifth wears a chain shirt and grips a longspear! His skin is hard as bark, and his muscles bulge obscenely, mutated by alchemy!
Cathyriel is priest first, soldier second (although the lines get blurry on occasion): she brandishes not her newly-acquired sword, but her holy symbol at the enemy. A burst of radiance fills the room, diffusing - all too briefly - the scent of lilacs through the water.
Unfortunately, most of the skum resist Catyhriel's smite, save for one which shrieks and swipes at the water in front of its eyes.
Following his typical protocol, Tobar shoots the nearest one first.
Gideon moves toward the front of the line, but not so far as to put himself in attack range of the skum. He takes up a defensive posture, ready to stab forward at the first enemy that comes near.
Tobar's first shot takes down the blinded skum, while his second wounds another.
That one takes time to consume a potion sponge and heal its injuries.
The other two swim forward to attack Gideon. The bard stabs the first to approach, then the two try to grab him. One grabs a hold, throttling him.
The spear-wielding skum swims up behind his allies and thrusts his weapon at Gideon, but the bard's armor keeps him safe!
Terana slams her glaive twice into the green skum and then (assuming that he's dead), kicks forward to stand next to Gideon.
Gideon struggles against the skum, trying to break free of its grasp to give Terana an unimpeded swing at the creature.
If successful, Gideon gives a quick backstroke to give Terana room to work.
Tobar turns his attention to the skum that's throttling Gideon.
Blocked from entering combat directly, Cathyriel mutters something that might be a prayer.
An angelic being of pure force shimmers into being behind the leader, striking at him with a longsword.
Terana tears the skum's throat open, kicking its thrashing body aside as she swims forward. Gideon breaks free of the grapple, giving Tobar a clear shot on the skum. Two crossbow bolts spell the end for the strangler! Cathyriel conjures a spiritual ally, but its attacks miss the skum's leader.
The leader stabs Terana while the last of his lackeys swims up to try to strangle her, though it fails miserably!
Terana kicks hard upwards before slicing her glaive down through the water to strike the leader.
With one swift paddle of his magical fins, Manta-Gideon moves back up to stab at the grappler.
Terana dispatches the skum before it even gets close to Gideon, decapitating it with a sweep of her glaive! She slices into the skum's leader, and Gideon swims up to stab him twice, leaving him badly injured!
Cathyriel swims to attack the leader, flanking with the angelic warrior she summoned into being.
plus vs aberrations
Cathyriel and her spiritual ally impale the skum from opposite sides. Blood pours from the mortal wounds as it shudders and dies, floating limply in the water.
Cathyriel swishes her sword around in the swirling water, to clean the gore off the blade. "That was - suspiciously easy, actually."
"We were fortunate." Terana replies. "Gideon, the ring might help you. Tobar, armour? I'll store the spear unless someone wants it?"
With a distribution made she moves to carry on.
"Yeah, I don't really need the ring of swimming since I have this cloak now. I can swap it for the ring of resistance."
When you are ready, Terana leads the way north. The flight of stairs lead down to a large room. This otherwise round chamber has rectangular alcoves at even intervals, forming a shape reminiscent of a gear. At the center of the chamber stands a grandiose, four-foot high altar shaped like an eye with two cogwheel halves forming the eyelids. Two ten-foot-tall metal rods, each tipped with a silver-hued torus, stand on round platforms on either side of the altar. The rods crackle and hum with electricity.
As you enter the room, a half-dozen skum emerge from the various alcoves! Three wield longspears, while the other two have underwater crossbows. Behind the altar is a skum of unusual size, wielding an enormous crossbow!
Terana does something that is either extremely brave or very stupid - depending on whether she dies or not. With a muffled shout she kicks forwards like a torpedo, pink light arcing from her glaive towards the skum-of-unusual-size. She ploughs between the thrumming poles and strikes at the skum with a huge blow!
Terana swims between the pillars without incident, closing with the giant skum. Her glaive tears into his chest, leaving a deep wound.
The skum roars as he flies into a rage, curling horns sprouting from his forehead. He ditches his crossbow and assaults Terana!
The trio of spear-wielding skum swim into formation and attack, stabbing Gideon and Cathryiel! The ones with crossbows open fire, but don't hit.
Kicking back to gain space Terana hacks on against the skum, sparing a moment to close a few of her own wounds. Inspired by Shelyn, her glaive pierces right through the skum's thick body!
Seeing the carnage wrought by Terana is an inspiration, Gideon swishes forward in the water, attacking with all he's got!
Cathyriel step-paddles forward, her longsword slashing wildly.
She's still not really used to fighting underwater, and her control is off. She scrunches up her eyes in annoyance and resolves to do better.
Terana eviscerates the giant skum, spilling its internal organs out into the water. Its eyes goes wide as it floats limply in a spreading cloud of blood and gore.
Lightning crackles through the water behind Terana, but fortunately she is not between the rods so it doesn't strike her.
Cathyriel's attacks miss, but Gideon scores three good hits, wounding the skum in front of him.
Tobar's first bolt takes the wounded skum between the eyes, killing it! His second shot wounds another skum.
The spear wielders back up and stab Gideon with their weapons. The crossbow skum fire again, but once more fail to hit.
Terana turns and swims back towards one of the crossbow wielding skum, skirting the electric pillars to avoid the lightning.
Tobar keeps up fire on the other crossbow-users, showing them how it's done.
... or not.
Tobar's bolts drop one of the enemy crossbowmen!
Cathyriel swim-steps forward once more, brandishing her longsword at the remaining enemies.
Gideon moves on to the next target, a Cheshire grin on his face as the enemy ranks get whittled down second by second.
Working together, Cathyriel and Gideon cut down one spear man and wound the final one!
The last one swims back and stabs at Gideon again, while the crossbow wielding skum abandons its weapon to bite and claw at Terana! Neither one hits!
Terana eels upwards with ease, before striking back down with her glaive.
Terana slaughters the skum attacking her, leaving just one spear-man to finish off!
"And then there was one!" Gideon taunts as he attacks the final skum.
Gideon and Cathyriel finish off the final skum!
In the wake of the battle, you notice that the periodic arcs of electricity between the rods seem to highlight a gap in the round table between the gear-like altar halves. The gap appears to be a node in which an ioun stone can be slotted--circuitry runs down the side of the table and into the temple floor.
As you consider your next move, you realize that your recent experiences have bolstered your strength and resolve. You feel more confident and ready to take on even greater dangers to come!
"Can you fix that Tobar?" Terana asks, staying well clear of the mechanism. "Be careful, lightning moves well through water. We shouldn't take any more risks now. We've done well, best to retreat and regain our strength in case the aboleth is near."
"Uhh... maybe? It needs an ioun stone. But I don't know what it will do and I don't know if it needs a specific kind of ioun stone," says the craftsman.
It appear that any kind of ioun stone will fit in the slot.
Deciding to fall back for now, you retreat out of the sunken portion of the temple and return to the forge where the Andoren soldiers are camping. They and Aoinse watch over you as you rest. You awaken refreshed and feeling ready to continue exploring the ruined cathedral.