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Remember each PC can only make two checks total. Simon, you made two discovery checks so you can't assist any more.
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"Are you really as strong as he says?"
Victrix gives Faedwyr a little smile and takes off the top half of her breastplate, revealing her tight quick runner's shirt and powerful muscles.
Then she casually kneels down and scoops up Simon onto her shoulders.
"You tell me, mate."
"Wow!" Faedwyr exclaims, marveling at Victrix's feat of strength. Several other colonists and sailors stare and murmur appreciatively, the men's eyes (and a few of the women's) lingering on the redhead's finely muscled forms.
"Alright, I'm convinced!" Faedwyr says with a grin. But many other settlers still look worried and agitated.
Kip approached the soldier and asked, "What seems to be the matter Antona? We knew this would be a bumpy ride before we came, which is why they recruited people like you and me, right? To cut through any monstrous inhabitants, so we could claim the islands?"
Antona Sedgwick is a fit woman with short cropped blonde hair and a slightly crooked nose. She peers down at Kip. "This whole expedition was doomed from the start. We don't have enough soldiers to keep everybody safe, and our so-called leadership leaves much to be desired." She glances at Ramona, and Kip detects a bit of smugness in her voice.
Rumors said that Antona developed a crush on Ramona during the ocean voyage, but her advances were rebuffed. The grippli gets the sense that she is causing trouble now out of vindictiveness, wanting to see Ramona fail.
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Simon bristles when the farmer clearly dismisses his strength and ability.
Ironically, for the first time in his life, he is being dismissed as not having the traits that everyone automatically assumes a half orc possesses.
He is angry, but realizes his anger is based on a compliment. But, the farmer didn't mean it as a compliment.
Simon is torn on how to react. While his mind is going back and forth trying to work through this, he suddenly feels himself swept off of his feet.
Embarassment is anathema to anger, and a half orc blushing bright pink is a bit of a comical sight.
Even more flustered than before he look down, allowing him to notice Victrix in a whole new perspective.
"You know, from this angle you really look like some kind of god."
Realizing what he just said, Simon starts sputtering, trying to think a way out of the situation.
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"We don't need a ton of soldiers though. We're not trying to take a castle, just clear out any monsters that decided to lair in the area, and Vicki has proven herself more than capable at that. Look at her lift Simon so easily! Why don't you talk to her and you'll see that we've got nothing to worry about."
Kip headed over to Victrix and explained the situation, and suggested the barbarian use her muscly charms to convince the downtrodden soldier that things would be fine.
Victrix chuckles and looks up at Simon, then back down at her chest. "I 'ope not. I've got the wrong bits fer that."
She lets him down from her back and looks over at Kip as he approaches with a suggestion as to what to do about the discontented Antona. "...hmm. I could do that."
The berserker lets her discarded breastplate lie on the deck and walks over to Antona, casually rolling one shoulder as she does.
Ema was slightly aggravated by the man's attitude if he felt like that why was he here? Still, it could just be that he needed to know that someone knew what some of the dangers were they had run across so she approached him and said, "Mr. Beys, I know we haven't had a chance to speak much but I thought now might be the time. I couldn't help but overhear you have some concerns about whether or not we can survive this colony?" She gestured for him to sit with her, "I've just returned from there and wanted to tell you what we've seen and prove to you that we can, do this."
She sat in a chair and crossed her legs at the knee as she began to speak, "I won't lie to you, historically colonization is never easy and always dangerous. In the early colonization efforts of the Taldor Empire they sent out many waves of colonists and settled any place they could find, whether it was occupied or not." She contemplated the stories she had heard fora moment and then continued, "Some of the colonies were successful, like Sargava. Others were not, some of them were never heard from again. More recently there have been colonies sent to the continent to the west, Arcadia, and the stories say that they are becoming self sufficient and opening up new routes of trade."
Emmaliandra gestured in the direction of the island, "This island was part of the ancient Azlanti empire and the kind of history we could rediscover is astounding. Even more important we could discover lost arcane knowledge or historical artifacts that could change everything we think we know about history." Leaning forward slightly, her cleavage showing nicely as a distraction, Ema reached out to lay a hand on Perrell's knee, "Now don't you think the chance to have your name attached to such a discovery would be something for the history books, something to let your name resound through history for it's discovery? Surely that's worth the risk don't you think?"
Perrell listens to Ema's words, chewing on her bottom lip. The short, thin woman seems a bit surprised when the arcanist leans forward and puts a hand on her knee. "Well, uh, I suppose so. I've never really been on an expedition before... I've never really been anywhere outside of Almas. I suppose everything can't always go as planned. You and your friends will make sure nothing happens to us, right?"
Meanwhile Antona looks at Victrix as the barbarian approaches her. The soldier's gaze drifts down to the aasimar's chest, and she clears her throat nervously. "Um, hi," she says.
Ema felt a wash of relief as her persuasion worked and nodded, "You are correct, everyone has something go wrong, as they say in militaries around the world no plan survives first contact with the enemy. As for us making sure nothing will happen to any of you, of course we will." Sitting back up and placing her hands on her own knees Ema asked, "So Ms. Beys, where are you from and why did you decide to join the expedition?"
"I am from Almas," Perrell says. She sits with her shoulders squared and back straight, carrying herself as if she were an older woman, though she is only in her mid-thirties. "I am an employee of the Bountiful Venture Company, though even if I were not, I would have volunteered to join this expedition out of academic interest. I am a scholar and a historian. My responsibility is to chronicle daily events in Talmandor’s Bounty and provide Ramona with scholarly advice on the nature of any ruins or ancient and valuable relics. I also plan to provide my employer with high-quality maps of the island of Ancorato."
"'Ello yehrself." Victrix gives Antona a little smile. "Now, what's this I hear about yeh thinkin' this expedition isn't going ta go well?"
"Sure, we've started off on the wrong foot, what with the colony itself up an' disappearin' before we got here, but we can deal with that, and anythin' else that comes." She puts a reassuring hand on the soldier's shoulder, if she lets her. "I mean, we cleared out a bunch of ankhegs, speed-suckin' eel things and some sorta zombie-ridin' jellyfish."
"Think yeh can stick it out a bit longer?"
Antona unconsciously licks her lips when Victrix puts her hand on her shoulder. "Uh, yeah. I guess there's still time for things to turn around. Maybe we should all just wait and, uh, see where things go from here." She wipes at a few beads of sweat on her brow.
"I still say we should turn around and go back to Andoran," Harcourt says loudly, but as he looks around the ship, he realizes the colonists' opinion has turned against him. He crosses his arms in irritation, but gives up on his arguments. Indeed, it seems everybody has calmed down quite a bit.
"Thank you for your help," Ramona says. "Now that things are settled here, I would like you to check out that sea cave before we sail back to Talmandor's Bounty. If it is the lair of those grindylows, killing them off or driving them away will save the colony a lot of trouble in the long term."
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"Agreed. Checking out the sea cave should be the next order of business.
Perhaps now would be a good time to rest and heal our wounds?"
Simon will retrieve his extract of CLW and drink it.
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"Ah, the adventurers call for healing!" says Eamon Caranth as he steps out of the crowd. The tall half-elf has straw colored hair and an infectious smile. He wears green robes and the holy symbol of Erastil around his neck. "Come, Father Grouse! It's time to stop being a curmudgeon and earn our keep on this expedition."
Kurvis Nurpico, a relatively short man with slightly stooped shoulders and short steel-grey hair, emerges beside him. He wears black robes and the holy symbol of Abadar. "Yes, yes, Father Easy. I'm coming! They do have coin to pay for my services, I hope."
Eamon laughs. "Payment? Where is your sense of community spirit, eh? We're all on this crazy expedition together. We all need to do our part to ensure its success."
Kurvis grunts. "Fine, fine. I'll send the bill to the Bountiful Venture Company later."
Both clerics grasp their holy symbols and channel healing energy.
"Thanks! We'll have this grindylow problem sorted out in no time. Now... Ema, how are you at swimming? Sounds like we might need to do some diving to get into the cave."
Emalliandra gave Perell and intrigued look and said, "So you are a student of history then? While most of my study has been on more arcane matters I find myself fascinated with history. Some of the texts I've read bring images to mind that seem almost...well, almost like I was there. The Azlanti stories in particular bring vivid images to me my mind, almost like I was really there." Her expression became bemused, "Of course that would be truly absurd, me, around back then? I'm nowhere near old enough for that." Glancing back out in the direction of the island Ema asked, "So, do you have a particular part of history you are interested in?"
Victrix is very appreciative of the free healing, stretching her battered body as her lingering injuries fade and disappear. "Oh, I never get tired o' that healin' goodness."
She gives Antona little wink and starts walking over to her discarded breastplate to put it back on. "I think I'm ready ta go ashore again, if everyone else is."
"I better make sure we have some healing ready to go," Kip said as he fished some extra berries out of his pocket.
He handed out two magical blueberries to each person. "These will each only heal a scratch or two, but it should stop the worst injuries from getting worse, even if you have to give it to someone on the brink of death. Plus, they're delicious if you get hungry!"
Once you are ready, Captain Markosi gives you the use of the ship's boat to row out to the nearby sea cave. The roof rises five feet above the level of the water, and it is shallow enough that you can walk along the bottom while still keeping your heads and upper bodies above the water, except for Kip, who has to swim. Of course, the grippli isn't bothered by this, seemingly at home among the waves.
Reflected sunlight from outside flickers across the water and reflects on the stone ceiling in this mostly submerged cave. The waters are cold, but not to a life-threatening degree, and the motion of the surf outside sends mild, rocking waves across the chamber. A passageway extends to the north.
Beneath the surface, Kip can see two grindylows lying in wait nearby. He warns the rest of you as the strange tentacled creatures emerge, snarling and readying their spears!
Victrix unlimbers her spear and starts wading through the water, ready to stab the nearest tentacled grindylow!
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Simon, unhappy about not being able to use his fancy, new sword, growls and moves forward with Victrix.
Drawing his dagger, he attempts to bring down the grindylow.
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As his companions crashed through the water toward the grindylows, Kip took the opportunity to shoot through the water and harry them from behind.
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Victrix moves up and drives her spear through a grindylow's chest, killing it instantly. Kip and Simon flank the other one, badly wounding it. It snarls and tries to stab and bite Simon, but it misses. Its tentacles try to trip the half-orc, but he sidesteps the attempt.
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Simon is able to just step out of the way of the flailing tentacles. It is difficult to control momentum in the water, but he manages to lean back in for another thrust of his dagger.
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Simon drives his dagger into the side of the grindylow's head. Its tentacles twitch as it slips back under the water, floating face-down.
With the pair of grindylows defeated, you move deeper into the caves. The tunnel runs roughly south to north, its floor about five feet below the water’s surface. Two openings lead to other caves along the eastern wall. At its northern end, the cave jogs to the west.
Three more grindylows emerge from the water in the nearby intersection, growling as they prepare to strike!
Kip slipped past Victrix's legs and the lead grindylow then spun and stabbed at him menacingly.
Victrix wades through the bloodied water to stab another grindylow with her spear!
Kip swims up to the closest grindylow and harries it with his rapier. The distraction allows Victrix to move up and drive her spear through its skull, killing the horrid creature.
Ema tries to blast the next grindylow with a snowball, but it splatters harmlessly against the wall of the cave behind it.
Simon trudges through the water, getting close enough to threaten the remaining creatures.
The grindylow tries to trip Simon and strike him with its spear, but both attempts fail. It swims away into the open cave to the east, while the other one retreats as well, ducking behind a pillar of stone.
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As Simon's arm gets slowed by the water, the gridylow sneaks by him.
"Careful! Don't get drawn into an ambush. Let's stick together"
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Ema was ticked that she wasted that spell, she shouldn't have cast it and she knew it. Such a waste. Instead of re-using the snowball, effective as it may have been had it hit, she focused instead on a globule of acid that she sent sailing at the nearest of the grindylows.
Victrix guffaws and yanks her bloodied spear out of another dead grindylow. "Are yeh kiddin' me? These little s%$@s are easy ta kill!"
She wades through the water, stopping at the chokepoint where the cavern begins to widen.
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"I think they are trying to lead us into deeper waters, where they will have more of an advantage.
They may be easy individually, but if they get us surrounded, we may be in for trouble.
Don't forget the goblins in the smithy almost cut us down."
Simon will move behind Victrix and wait to see what the grindylows do next.
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Victrix wades through the water, stopping in the entrance to the next cave. Kip swims beside her, readying his blade to assist the barbarian.
Ema fires an acid splash at the nearest grindylow, but it sails past her target. Simon sheathes his dagger and readies his sling.
Suddenly, three more grindylows emerge from their hiding spots behind the pillars! They move towards Victrix and hurl their spears at her, one of them punching through her armor and into her side! The two original ones swim back in to menace the aasimar in melee. Kip menaces the first grindylow with his rapier, but it still manages to wrap its tentacles around Victrix's legs and yank her off of her feet! It follows up with a spear thrust, but the second one fails to land a good hit.
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Simon only feels a brief amount of satisfaction at having been proven right. At least Victrix made the wide decision to not barrel straight into the ambush. He sends a bullet flying for a front ranking grindylow to hopefully give her a chance to stand up.
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Kip conjured a vortex in the water and reached out, guiding it into the grindylow threatening Victrix.
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Ema, relieved she hadn't wasted a more valuable spell, was about to cast anther glob of acid at the incoming grindylow. It was then that she noticed another group of the creatures coming to reinforce the first and realized that she needed to do something more significant. Focusing she called the Gate into existence once again, behind the rear most grindylow, and through it popped out her dolphin once again. The creature chittered and then slammed it's head into the rearmost grindylow with a vicious blow.
Kip blasts the closest grindylow with a vortex of water. It crumples as it is knocked back, falling unconscious with the force of the blast!
Ema summons a dolphin behind the group of grindylows. It smashes the rear one with a vicious blow, leaving it bloodied and dying!
Simon tries to hit another with his sling, but the bullet splashes harmlessly into the water.
Victrix surges to her feet, avoiding an opportunistic spear thrust. She retaliates with her own spear, but misses as well.
The grindylow attacks Victrix again, but misses and fails to trip her. It swims back a few feet to let the next one in line attack, and it manages to bite her!
Meanwhile, the rearmost grindylow moves to attack the dolphin, but it fails to hit.
With the grindylow's pulling back, Kip pressed the attack. First, he tucked his rapier away, then scurried up the wall above Victrix. From up above, the grippli conjured another sudden blast of water at the nearest grindylow.
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Dripping, bloodied and angry, Victrix growls and lunges with her spear at the grindylow that bit her!