The elemental does not comply with Simon's command. It remains in the tank.
"It might be trapped in there. Do you think it can speak our language? I could go in and see if it will talk, since I can breathe underwater?"
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"It certainly would be easier for you to be the one to talk in there, but how would you speak with it?
I don't think elementals speak Taldane. If it is the elf instead, Azlanti or Elvish might work, but I don't think that you speak either."
Simon looks around nervously. "No, if someone is going to go in, I think it will have to be me, though I am getting more and more hesitant to be the first one in."
Simon closes the door.
"I think you may be right that whatever-it-is is trapped in there. Let's look around and see if we can find some way to release the stasis field before we just walk inside.
If nothing else, we can sit and read through those books to find more information first."
Simon starts toward the ramp going up to the next level.
Deciding to leave the elemental alone for now, you head up the ramp to the top floor of the tower.
Almost the entirety of this floor is open. In the center of the room is a vast tank of water with transparent walls and no floor that extends down to the story below. Much like in the lower level, a single transparent door with an opaque handle is built into the eastern face of the tank.
Just east of the tank is a much smaller transparent chamber with a similar door. This one contains no water, however, and a blanket is hung casually over the open door. On the floor nearby are some damp blankets, and pots and bowls that contain picked-over rations and the remains of partially eaten fish.
Two people sit on the blankets. One is a lean young woman with long red hair, a fair complexion, and large, expressive green eyes. The other is a broad man with a full head of dirty blond hair, bushy eyebrows above piercing blue eyes, and a thick mustache that frames a square jaw. Disturbingly, both of them have skin that is sickeningly translucent. The exposed muscle tissue and circulatory systems revealed by their practically transparent, glistening skin have transformed the humans into grotesque horrors.
When they notice you, the two rise to their feet. "Praise Erastil! Friendly faces at last. Did you kill those skum warriors downstairs? They've been keeping us prisoner here. I'm Eliza Haniver, and this is Rayland Arkley. We're colonists from Talmandor's Bounty."
Aboleths' powers include mystifying illusions and mental domination, but among their most horrifying abilities is the terrible transformation the slime from their tentacles can cause. The change alters skin and flesh to a slimy, clear membrane that weakens a creature's constitution and forces them to keep it moist lest it crack painfully as it dries, ultimately resulting in death. Though not a disease per se, remove disease or similar magic can reverse the transformation.
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"Eliza, Rayland, we have been looking for you. You appear to be suffering from the affects of the touch of an Aboleth.
Looks like your suspicions may have been correct, Ema.
Are you in any pain?"
After listening to their response and taking care of any immediate needs, Simon will suddenly veer course into an interrogation.
"Your condition should be reversible. We can escort you back to the priests and see if they can help.
First though, tell us what you remember about Silas Wetherbee."
"An aboleth? I don't know what that is," Eliza says. "I'm not entirely sure what happened. I remember coming up here and opening the small chamber and then...everything gets fuzzy. I think something has been tampering with my memory. Somehow Rayland got here too, and this happened to us." She gestures to her translucent skin. "It's very painful. Our skin dries out if we don't immerse ourselves in water every hour or so."
When asked about Silas, she glances at Rayland, who shrugs slightly. "Silas? He's a farmer who assisted Father Adran at the chapel. Why do you ask? Is he alright?"
"I don't know," Rayland says. "I don't recall doing anything that might have upset him."
"There are gaps in Rayland's memories, too," Eliza says. "We don't even know how long we've been held here for."
Rayland hesitated a few moments too long before answering. His voice is very flat and lacks emotion. His mannerisms seem stilted. You're fairly certain he is dominated by an enchantment effect.
Rayland suddenly takes a step towards the small tank in the room and pulls the blanket off of it, revealing a strange symbol. The symbol begins to glow, and both Eliza and Rayland seem to split in two as illusory duplicates appear of them!
Eliza seems annoyed. "It could have worked," she mutters.
Having been shocked into silence by the... state... the two colonists were found in, Victrix leaps to the attack as Rayland summons up illusory duplicates.
"Simon! Get back!" She calls out as she swings her glaive--or, rather, the flat of her glaive, trying to knock the colonist senseless instead of killing her.
Victrix's glaive narrowly misses Eliza, tearing through her illusory duplicate instead. A moment later, the symbol flares and another mirror image of the woman appears!
Eliza takes a step back, and her eyes suddenly turn black. Her body shifts slightly, becoming slightly amorphous. "You should have just trusted us," she intones ominously. She places two fingers to her temple, and Victrix suddenly feels her mind being overloaded by a glut of psychic information!
Victrix gets a sudden migraine that doesn't seem to slow her down much.
Simon recognizes the symbol as a symbol of mirroring. He also recognizes Eliza's psychic spell as a mind thrust.
Kip nods to Simon as he hops forward, drawing and hurling a kunai. It pierces Eliza's mirror image, destroying it. Simon then hurls an acid flask, which shatters near Eliza and Rayland, splashing both.
Rayland steps forward with a blank expression, engaging Victrix. He slashes with his sword, but the barbarian parries his blows. Seizing the opening her raised glaive provides, he slams his spiked shield into her side.
"What have you done to the colonists?!" Kip cried as the group shifted about in combat.
Ema knew what they needed, or at least she thought she did, problem was she didn't have access to that particular spell. She was loathe to summon anything for fear of killing the two colonists so instead she called upon a shadowy bear trap to clamp down on the woman's shadow in an effort to hold her in place.
A bleeding and wounded Victrix swings her glaive at Rayland, hoping to knock him out...
Ema conjures a shadow trap to try to snare Eliza, but the redhead sneers and disbelieves the illusion with a strong force of will.
Victrix swings her glaive at Rayland, knocking him across the top of the head with the flat of the blade. He spits some blood from a split lip but remains on his feet.
"Perhaps you'll find out soon enough," Eliza intones in response to Kip's question. She puts her fingers to her temple again and sends another glut of psychic information into Victrix's mind in an attempt to overwhelm her.
This time, Victrix screams and grabs her head, being driven to her knees as gouts of blood start pouring from her nose & ears.
SOMEHOW, through sheer determination, she's still standing.
Kip uses the wand to heal Victrix, stopping her bleeding. Simon slashes at Rayland with his blade, but the warrior blocks the attack with his shield.
The symbol flares, creating another mirror image for Rayland. The stout man attacks Simon, scoring two powerful hits with his sword and shield and leaving the investigator bloodied.
Realizing she would have to kill these two now Ema knew it was time. She opened another gate right behind the spellcasting woman and it seemed like the casting was a dud as there appeared that nothing left it. It was obvious that was a mistaken assumption as a moment later something lashed out at her.
Eliza grunts in pain as something slams into her back. She casts about angrily, looking for the unseen assailant.
With renewed strength in her limbs (although not nearly as much as she would have hoped), Victrix tries to make it to the tank to cover the flashing symbol up. She didn't know much, but she could put two and two together.
Victrix throws the blanket back over the symbol, causing the duplicates of Eliza and Rayland to wink out.
"Clever girl," Eliza scowls. She closes her eyes and intensely focuses to try to cast a spell defensively. But she loses concentration and the magic dissipates! "Damn it!" she snarls.
Kip steps up to Simon and uses the wand on him. The half-orc puts his blade behind Rayland's legs and shoves, knocking him to the floor!
Rayland grunts and stands back up, holding his shield up to ward off blows. He cuts low st Simon's legs, but the half-orc steps back to avoid the slice!
Victrix is clearly no longer interested in bringing these colonists back alive--after giving Pharasma Herself the equivalent of a high-five, she's written them off.
Her anger boils over when she sees that whatever it was that Eliza was trying to do failed. "My turn."
She swings her glaive.
Whatever it was that Emma had summoned seemed to be doing it's job quite well as the spellcasting woman lost her concentration. The invisible thing did the same thing again, slamming into her and causing the woman to stumble as the invisible creature attacked her once more with astounding force.
Ema, meanwhile, consumed some of her magical potential to replenish her pool of magical energy a little in case she needed it later.
Rayland blocks Simon and Victrix, but Kip scores a light hit. Eliza dodges back as Victrix attacks her, the glaive swiping through empty air.
Ema's elemental slams Eliza again, causing her to cry out in pain. The arcanist consumes arcane energy.
Eliza concentrates again, this time managing to cast her spell. Five mirror images spring up around to her to ward off her invisible assailant!
Kip stepped back for a moment, and tucked his wand into his belt. With his now free hand, he traced his fingers along the blade of his rapier, slowly, but with gathering speed. As he reached the tip, a stream of water sprayed out, then coalesced into a spectral copy floating before Eliza.
Simon steps up and swings at Eliza, but his attack goes quite wide. Kip summons a spiritual rapier that stabs one of her images, causing it to vanish. Four still remain.
Rayland attacks Simon again, focusing on accuracy this time instead of strength. While the investigator manages to parry the first attack, Rayland follows up with a slice across his chest and a shield slam that drops the half-orc!
The elemental slammed itself against Eliza once more as Ema cast a spell and sent a glob of acid at the her.
Both the elemental's attack and Ema's spell destroy a mirror image. Only two remain to protect Eliza.
Victrix changes tactics, swinging her glaive in an arc at Rayland...
Victrix's wicked slice tears open Rayland's neck! Blood pours from the vicious wound as the warrior crumples to the ground!
Eliza utters a vile curse and concentrates on another defensive spell. She and her images disappear as she turns invisible!
The elemental that Ema had summoned realized the target of it's aggression had vanished. It seemed to have no diea where the woman had gone and Ema called out to it in Terran, "Try and find her, she's probably moved!" The elemental began to moved through the nearby area and bump into the invisible woman.
Ema thought for a moment about what the woman might do to get away and then it hit her. "Look for a suspicious void in the water of the tank! She might be trying to swim through it to the exit in the room below us."
The elemental stopped moving before it even started and then slammed into the are it had already been attacking and responded to Ema's instructions in Terran, "STILL...HERE..."
Ema called out to her friends, "The elemental says she hasn't moved yet."