The eel, a huge beast and a monster of the deep, is too large and ungainly to avoid the flurry of steel and claw raining down upon it… the murky water is stained a livid crimson as blow after blow fall upon the ambush predator… heavily wounded, the eel thrashes in the water as it looks to escape…
Harry decides letting the eel escape would be counter-productive to the party's explorations so he chants a spell, flinging a glob of acid at the fleeing beast...
Heirang's globule of acid, flung with relative accuracy into the churning waters, causes the eel to thrash even further... and, even before Robert can raise his weapon again, the magically corrosive oils have ended the threat of the eel. Huge and dense, the dead creature sinks to the bottom of the shallow waters...
At one time - doubtless many centuries back, there may have been three entrances / exits from this chamber... but the ravages of time have seen collapses across two of the passageways - leaving the group no option other than to head southwards if they wish to continue with their investigations.
"Come on," Harry motions to the others. "Best ta get moving here." He then takes up position at the rear of the group while watching ahead of the others.
Heading southwards into the only passable tunnel, the group are soon in shallower waters... More bony growths support this circular passageway. The concave floor is slippery and uneven, and the water level drops to knee height. The tunnel diverges ahead, although one passageway - to the east - has completely collapsed. The rocks reflect light with an oily sheen.
"This place has me oddly at unease. Let us be quick about our business..." The paladin keeps close to the group, though she can't help but trail her fingers along the various walls and supports, usually pulling away disgusted. She takes a moment to properly examine the collapsed passageway, poking slippery rocks here and prodding there. She quietly reprimands herself for not examining the previous collapsed exits like she should have.
Too discusted with all that has happened, her focus is rather divided
"I hate wading through water... and after what we just faced... who knows what else could be waiting for us..." she grumbles under her breath. Sticking close to Aella
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Yeah, water ain't nothing new, but even I gotta agree with you kitty. I'd much prefer to be riding atop the sea, not in it.
Splashing through to the more shallow waters of the corridor, Kit’Arr suddenly feels something moving around her legs… coalescing up her ankles, a grey-ish ooze climbs upwards - instantly, she can feel her flesh burning…
Harry recognizes the gray ooze for the danger that it is and immediately tries recalling what sort of weaknesses it has. Unfortunately his knowledge ran to other areas. Deciding to risk a cantrip here he sends a freezing ray of cold into the ooze.
"Eugh, it's almost as disgusting as some of the aberrations I've fought before." Doubting her sword to be of much help against something like this, she nonetheless draws it and does what she does best - purification through steel.
"Sorry kit, you're just going to have to trust me!"
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The ooze clambers up Kit'Arr's legs and tries to crush her... yet she slides away with relative ease...
"It's touching me!" she meows loudly with a hiss and jumps away
"Kill it!"
She takes a few steps back. Her claws out incase it gets closer
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The ooze, badly wounded by Robert's gun and Aella's devastating swordplay, slips beneath the water and is quickly replaced by a second gelatinous creature... moving towards Kit'Arr once more, it slams against her... and once more, she moves easily past the blow.
Aella takes a step forward and swings her sword upwards and around, slinging water from the tip of her blade into poor Kit's face.
She lets loose her sword at the zenith of its arc, hurtling it end over end, and only just manages to catch it by the pommel. The sword, now inverted, she drives with both hands down into the disgusting creature.
Function over form, Aella.
Aella's first swing strikes the ooze centrally and rips part of its external membrane... protoplasm, stinking and foul, dribbles from the wound...
As the creature gets close, her readied action goes off
She then moves to try and shred the creature
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Again and again, Kit'Arr's claws rend the ooze...
...virtually drained of its fluid, the gel-like creature flops backwards.
"Keep it up there!" Harry encourages his teammates as he sends a freezing ray into the ooze.
After Heirang's spell does nothing to deter the ooze, Robert once more levels his gun... and, with a bang that echoes around the tunnels, obliterates the formless creature.
And so, following the tunnel around now that the threat of the oozes has dissipated, the group clamber a small slope up and out of the water...
...and around to a most heinous scene. This half-collapsed room is strewn with the remnants of recent slaughter. Several villagers lie on the floor here, wounded and dying, entangled in nets and impaled by broken tridents — their cries of pain echo throughout the room and the metallic tinge of blood hangs heavy in the air of the chamber.
"By th' Gods..." Harry breathes, "What happened here?"
"This... this is not what i would wish on anyone.... is there no way to help them? " she looks at each those still alive. This was not what she wanted or wanted to see
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Overcome by a shocked grief, Aella can't find the words to say. Instead, she ties her helm to her hip, rushes to the center of the room, and raises her hand to the heavens. A rush of warmth shoots down her arm from up above, spreading outwards from her body in a blast of holy light.
She groans, and is about to do it once more, but she realizes that wasting her resources could be a terrible idea, as much as it pained her...
"Speak to me! Who can I save? PLEASE!"
Three of the villagers are disabled and pleading for aid, while another five lie unconscious and dying. As Aella asks for guidance, the three disabled villagers point to the more grievously injured and beg that they be helped first. Aella's channelling seems to have an immediate effect, two of the unconscious villagers seem to stir... yet, with weapons still brutally impaled in limbs and torso, the villagers are surely doomed without further medical attention...
Tears bubbling in the corners of her eyes, Aella rushes over to the nearest villager in need of her aid. She prepares to administer emergency aid when...
She stops, wipes the wetness from her cheeks, then sighs.
"They're fakes... illusions..."
Aella tosses a rock at the illusive villager before turning away and crouching down. She scratches the dirt at her feet listlessly.
"Such a fool... all action, no thought..."
The situation has affected her more than she is willing to admit...
"Och...an illusion?" Harry stares at the illusion before he too confirms the presence of the craftily created magic. "Now th' question being who be th' one creating the spell? Gerlach, or something else?"
"Whoever it was must be truly monstrous. How could one even imagine such a thing to confuse us with?" She shakes her head. "Well... where to now? We must be going in the right direction, at least. No one traps the wrong path, do they?"
She frowns and then stamps her foot
"I really dont like being messed with like this... we best then be careful for more illusions" she growls and her claws come out
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"Yeah, let's keep movin' here." Harry chimes in.
Moving onwards, having avoided the trap and lure of the illusory villagers, the group continue their methodical search through the ancient complex. Continuing to follow the passage around, they notice a room off to the right - a dank pool of seawater has seeped into this domed chamber and flooded most of the room (although it is impossible given the murkiness of the water to tell how deep the flooding is). In the chamber’s dark recesses, seaweed floats in the dark water in tangled mats.
Harry eyes the pool with a wary eye. "Not sure if checking here would be worthwhile. I say we press on here."
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"I too believe that. This place seems void of anything interesting!" she points in a random direction
"Forward!"
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Eh, either way is the same for me. But let's get movin already.
"But think of the treasure!" The fit of silliness passes over her quickly, and she looks down at her feet, hands by her side. "Right. Forwards it is."
Moving past another collapsed tunnel, the group head ever northwards... and, in the dim up ahead, see something large - alien yet with crustacean features - shambling away from them.
Chuuls are excellent swimmers but prefer to attack land-bound creatures or those wallowing in shallow water. Once they seize their victims, chuuls often drag grappled foes back into deep water to drown them.
Harry stares at the alien creature with a look close to fear. "Aye, what BE that thing?" He points to the eastern tunnel, "I t'ink there be more of 'em there."
At Heirang's exclamation, the shambling creature spins and sees the group. Raising an enormous pincer to point at the explorers, it rumbles something in an alien language... and starts to move inexorably towards Kit'Arr and the rest...
Despite the quaking in his boots, Harry does not hesitate as he sends an acidic bolt flying at the creature...
Heirang's magical acid slams into the chuul... burning a vicious hole within its carapace yet doing little to slow it...
...and, as a second beast emerges from the side tunnel, the group are swiftly overwhelmed by the lumbering beasts.
Aella's sword rips free of its sheath as she steps forward, using the motion to send her monstrous blade slashing in a wide arc. It pained her to think, but sometimes killing came as easy to her as breathing.
...if only when she needed it.
Aella's sword smashes into the creature grappling Kit'Arr, crunching through carapace and biting into soft flesh beneath it, yet it is far from enough to convince the monster to drop the catfolk.
Harry, satisfied his spell was indeed effective, proceeds to cast another spell at it, though of lesser power.
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She yowls out in pain as she feels her bones break and crack under the preasure. Instinctively she tries to break free of the death hold
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Robert, not wanting to hit Kit accidentally, charges the beast grappeling the cat. Drawing his beautifully made cutlass while in motion.
Kit'Arr writhes and squeezes to get from the creature's grasp... but to no avail - and, although Heirang and Robert land damaging blows on the beast, they can do little to release their friend.
...nor can Kit'Arr can't resist when she is dragged into the enveloping tentacles of the beast.