Mimi reloads her crossbow and tries another shot at a crab. But they are too close to Arenal and she can't aim well enough to make the shot count.
With her foe dispatched, Arya hesitates as Mimi fires her crossbow into the melee, then steps forward to bring her blade to bear against another crab.
Once again, her first stab misses its mark. She looks at the water behind the crab, trying to gauge the depth.
If I could get behind it, then I could do some real damage.
Some pillar carver made themselves a fine little fortune here, I think. Elaina tells herself. She contemplates the water, disappointed that she had reached a dead end that seemed to hold no treasure. I don't understand. I went through the zombie room. The heroes in stories always follow the path of most resistance and are rewarded for it. I hope I don't have to follow after the others so soon. I wanted to be the one headed the right direction.
Her boots were heavy. Much heavier than her dancing shoes, and the water looks rather inviting. She kicks off her boots and strips out of her leggings, leaving them on the stone floor at the end of the hallway and wades into the water. The cool water feels good on her sore feet and the sediment on the bottom tickles her soles as she walks around the columns. She searches for anything that might continue her adventure, nudging the rotting planks around with her toes as she sloshes about.
After a while Elaina admits to herself that she can't stall forever and leaves the water. She hated wearing anything on her legs and since the smugglers den so far seemed free of stalagmites and jagged rocks to step on she opts to drape her leggings around her shoulders and cradles her boots in her right arm. She was right handed like most people, but she had been taught to wield a sword with her left to give her an advantage against the average person. Returning to the zombie room she notices another door she hadn't seen when walking the other direction. She smiles with relief and goes to it. I don't have to go back to them yet. Maybe I can get ahead of them this way and they'll think I'm amazing. She tries the door.
"You know, this is really reinforcing the thought that I only like crabs when they're on my dinner plate!" Arenel snapped as she tried her attack once more.
Zombie: hp 7/7; AC/T/FF 12/10/12; Fort/Ref/Will +0/+0/+3; vs Feint n/a
You head through the previously unseen door, which leads to a short hall that ends in another door. Opening it, you see a smaller room with a single pillar. Standing in front of a door on the opposite side of the room is a zombie! At the sound of a you opening the door, it turns around, gnashing its teeth and moaning.
Crab #1: dead
Crab #2: dead
Crab #3: hp 6/7; AC/T/FF 16/13/14; Fort/Ref/Will +3/+2/+0; vs Feint n/a
Crab #4: dead
Crab #5: dead
Valghaz swings his hammer with great force, but the hard shell of the crab just barely deflects the attack. The crab seems unfazed as it continues attacking Arenel with its oversized pincer, this time painfully gouging her leg.
949
Mimi reloads her crossbow as quickly as her shaking hands will move.
So close, we must finish this!
She aims and shoots again.
Arya quickly steps around the side of the remaining crab to take up a flanking position with Arenel.
Valghaz was bleeding profusely, far more than he would have liked. His hammer felt far heavier than he had ever remembered it to be. He staggered over to Arenel and channeling as much power as he could, healed her wounds.
"Eeek!" Out of habit Elaina screams her most fetching scream before remembering there isn't anyone around who's attention she might want to attract. In their first combat the vampire thralls had moved slowly without attacking but one had also charged Valghaz. Being alone, Elaina decides to stay in the hallway where she can better protect herself and prepares to dodge the monsters charge if it decides it's feeling lively.
Arenel felt calm for a moment, the heal did wonders and she felt as if she'd never been touched by a single one of those carbs. She smirked, noticing Arya at the other side and brought her weapon down once more.
Zombie: hp 7/7; AC/T/FF 12/10/12 (-2 to all this round); Fort/Ref/Will +0/+0/+3; vs Feint n/a
The zombie does appear to be feisty, as it charges at her, mouth opening wide. Elaina best efforts at dodging the bite attack are not quite enough, as the zombie's teeth tear deeply into her shoulder. Luckily, her last minute dodge does allow her to avoid the zombie latching onto her.
The crab continues its relentless assault, shrugging off all attacks against it in an inspiring show of fortitude despite being outnumbered four to one. Its defenses are a thing to behold, yet clearly the effort keeps it from being effective on attack.
Valghaz, determined not to let a mere crustacean get the better of a dwarf (let alone his companions), brings his oversized hammer down squarely on the crab, cracking the shell and splattering its guts on everybody nearby. The crab champion has fallen.
Elaina screams as the teeth tear into her. Not her normal scream to draw attention to herself. More guttural and fearful. She feels her own hot blood spurt over her neck and face. The pain didn't bother her but the idea of being bitten terrified her. Reflexively she spins away from the monster, ripping her shoulder from its maw and ducking low under its grasping arms, slicing into its stomach at the same time. In her panic she doesn't infuse her blade with magic as she usually does, and much to her surprise it cut through the vampire thrall much more efficiently than it had the other monster she had hit. Her attack doesn't split the monster in two like it had with her sea monster, but it was enough to fell the creature.
As it falls, Elaina takes a few wavering steps backwards and collapses into the corner of the hallway, her good hand pressed to her bleeding shoulder. Blood was running down her arm and side in no small amounts. She chants a few words of healing and feels some magic stitching up the wound, but it didn't stop the bleeding. Maybe I said the words wrong. She thinks. She takes a deep, steadying breath, and tries again. This time the healing spell was more effective. She runs her fingers over where the injury had been to find smooth skin and ripped fabric. That's better. There won't even be a scar. The healing spell had also healed the cut she made on her inner forearm. Not that it was hurting me, but now at least Nkosama won't know about it. Now that the immediate danger had past, she had time to regret draping her leggings over her shoulders. Now they have holes in them! I never did anything to deserve having all my clothing ruined!
She takes a few more minutes to collect herself, nervously eating the rest of the apple she had taken from Arya, leaving the core in the corner in case a hungry mouse came along. She stands and enters the room, hopping over the body in the doorway. Hmmm. A room with one pillar, a room with two pillars, a room with three pillars, a room with four pillars. I'm sure that isn't important at all. she thinks sarcastically. Such details were always important in adventure stories.
"That scream has to be Elaina! We have to find her, she's already in trouble!"
"My thanks Valghaz." Arenel said with a smile. Though when Mimi spoke the smile faded. "Elaina? That's not surprising... not in the slightest." She sighed.
Arya looks at the bodies of the fallen crabs. If they'd gotten in here, maybe there was a way out. But then again, they could have been trapped down here ever since the roof collapsed.
That might explain why they were so angry. But if they'd been trapped down here starving, why haven't they eaten the body?
Arya wades out to the corpse to check for signs that it was recently feasted on, and also to see if there is anything that can identify the man it once belonged to.
As she does so she hears the squeal of the young woman and she feels a knot in her stomach. "Oh no..." she mutters.
Mimi's right, we can't let her die down here, not knowing that we could have helped. But I'm not leaving this body for the fishes after we just fought so hard to take a look at it.
"I'll be right out!" Arya calls over her shoulder as she approaches the floating remains.
Mimi practically hops up and down with nervous tension as she waits for the others.
Shrugging off his wounds, Valghaz offers a smile to Arenel in return before walking over to, and searching the body.
Completely oblivious to her plight he searches the body.
Why did some vampire set his thralls to guard empty rooms? This place is as disappointing as the stupid empty vault. Where is the treasure? Worst adventure ever! Elaina thinks. I didn't sign up to run around underground killing things. I'm a delicate entertainer, not a dwarf. She goes to the next door but hesitates. I only have a little magic left in me today. I hope there aren't anymore monsters through here. Slowly, she pulls the door open.
In addition, there are five enormous crabs, each about 2 feet in diameter, lying dead scattered near the water. The others you thought you'd got away from are in the room, Arya looking over the body floating in the water. Valghaz looks pretty wounded, with fresh blood leaking out of his armor and mixing with the crab guts splattered all over him.
I guess the crabs really were hungry.
Arya tucks the silver dagger into her belt as she emerges from the water. As she does so she looks up to see Elaina walking in from the door to the northeast.
Elaina's clothes were torn up and blood-soaked, and Arya couldn't help but feel worried for the young girl.
"Elaina!" Arya rushes over to the bard. "We heard you scream, are you okay, did someone hurt you?"
She pauses, distracted as she looks over the girl's body.
"Why aren't you wearing any pants?"
"You know to be honest I'm not sure I want to know why she doesn't have any pants." Arenel said with a shrug. "Though it is good to know you're not dead. That's a feat in and of itself for you." She added with a nod. "And no, just because I don't like you doesn't mean I want you dead." Arenel clearified.
Elaina does her best to hide her relief when she sees the others. She hadn't expected being alone to be so hard. Maybe I can get one of them to carry my boots for me. She's also relieved that Arya doesn't seem to hate her. "My pants are ruined!" Elaina shouts dramatically, shaking them out to show the tears. "And my tunic and my scarf!" She gestures with her sword hand to the bloody and torn clothing. "There was an evil pirate vampire lord in the other room. He wanted to make me his undead bride but I didn't want to marry him so I killed him. This is vampire blood, not mine." She says in a disinterested tone, gesturing again at her blood-soaked shoulder. Six pillars? Mm.
Elaina tries to ignore Arenel's mean words. She had made her mind up on one matter, and if she responded to the woman she would get angry and say things she didn't mean. "I came to tell Arya something very important." She glares at Arenel and adds "But it's a secret." The bard looks at Arya and nods towards the door she just entered through.
"Yeah, I don't care Elaina. It could be the secret of getting us out of here and I'd not trust a word you'd say." Arenel told her with a shrug.
She looked to Valghaz "Bet you a pint she ran into another zombie." She said before she took in the dwarf's look. "You want to sit down for a while? You don't look too good." Arenel said worried.
Valghaz looked to Arenel and said with a pained smile "A little bloodloss never hurt anyone. As for that bet, I know it's a loss but I'll take you up on that." He then walked over to Elaina. With bloodstained hands he grabbed the outstretched pants and cast mending. He then handed back the repaired pants. "Yer concern is touching. Yer pants be fixed. Make herself presentable."
Elaina frowns at Valghaz. I'm more presentable naked and covered in mud than you'll ever be! She wanted to shout, but she wanted Arya and Mimi on her side as well and more yelling wouldn't help with that. Instead, she tugs at the decorative frill of a skirt she wore to break up the top and bottom halves of her outfit so it covered more of her thighs. My legs are the only part of me I like, but if they make him uncomfortable maybe I can use that to my advantage. "I'll put them on if you carry my boots until I need them again. As far as cavern floors go, this one's pretty nice and my toes were getting hot. They're not dirty, I never even wore them before today." She offered diplomatically. It seemed like it had been a long time since she had been able to walk any apriciable distance barefoot. Cities have their downsides.
Arya does her best to suppress a laugh as Elaina recounts the unlikely story of the pirate vampire lord. I guess embellishing the truth comes with the trade.
When Elaina singles her out to learn a secret, a smile crosses Arya's face. She turns to the others and shrugs before walking over to the door Elaina indicated. Leaning up against the door frame she waits for the bard to finish with the others.
"I did ye a favor by fixin' them, ye are nay doin' me a favor by wearin' them. A thank ye would be nice."
Mimi stands behind the others, crowded out as they reunite or take up bickering again. There isn't much room so since she's crowded out, she just waits awkwardly for them to finish.
She was the one who had wanted to go looking for Elaina while the others delayed. That it's forgotten by all doesn't really surprise her though. She's used to it.
"Thank you, Valghaz." Elaina says in a painfully sweet tone. "But I happen to be more comfortable like this."
She sets her boots down and slides her scimitar into her belt, then grabs Mimi's hand. She had wanted to talk to her, eventually, but wasn't sure she was ready. Valghaz and Arenel still being mean made it easier. She pulls Mimi and pushes Arya through the closet area, closing the doors behind them. Her resolve immediately begins to falter. "Uhm...I didn't have a secret. There's nothing over the other way... I just didn't want those others to know that I was...uhh." She shuffles her feet uncomfortably, twisting the hem of her skirt in her hands and avoiding eye contact with the other women. "I just wanted to say..." She hated apologizing. It meant you were wrong. Worse, it meant admitting to someone else you were wrong. "They made me so angry! And I...uhhh... I didn't mean..." She hangs her head and mutters "I'm sorry." To the stone floor.
Valghaz shrugged. "Yer welcome. If ye want them back an' fixed jus' tell me." He walked away from her. The pants were ripped apart and used to treat his wounds, binding them to stop the bleeding.
Arya stares down at Elaina as she shuffles from side to side and makes her awkward apology.
The fact that she was apologising at all was touching. Maybe there is hope for her, maybe she can change?
"Thank you, Elaina. That didn't look easy for you to say, but I'm proud of you for saying it."
Reaching out, Arya places a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"You're a smart girl, you know that, but the smartest of us are those of us who can admit it when we don't know something."
"The thing about working in a team is that when there's something you don't know, someone else probably does know it. We're stronger because we all know different things. But that strength crumbles if one of us thinks they know more than everyone else."
Arya looks deeply into Elaina's big blue eyes. Searching for a sign of understanding.
"I know that Valghaz and Arenel haven't been the easiest crewmates to get along with, but neither have you if you think about it. I can talk to the others for you, but can you promise me you'll make more of an effort to be a team player?"
Arenel made her way to Valghaz as he bandaged himself up. "I offer what help I can but, I'm sorry to say bandaging the wounded is not something I have much knowledge of." She said with a shrug.
Mimi's face reddens a little under her tan, and she gives Elaina a pat on the forearm.
"It's okay." She looks like she might say something else, but she just smiles sightly.
"I should go and help Valghaz with his injuries."
Mimi walks back and helps Valghaz bandage up.
Elaina crosses her arms over her chest to hug herself and frowns in a stubborn pout, rotating left and right at the waist. She stares defiantly up at Arya, wanting to tell her that it's not her fault and that she tried to be friends, but she doesn't want to fight with her. She drops her gaze, her face and neck burning with embarrassment, and shrugs in response to the rogues words. "I guess." She mumbles, again to the floor. Somewhere deep down Elaina knew she was difficult to get along with, just like she knew the monsters probably weren't vampires or vampire related, but she hated to admit it. As unhappy as apologizing had made her, Arya's new behavior comforted her. She sounds like Nkosama now.
Elaina composes herself and reenters the large chamber. "All these poor, defenseless baby crabs! They were only protecting their food." She laments, pointing at the floating corpse. "You shouldn't have bothered them." She says matter-of-factly. "Anyways, I have a prediction to make." She sweeps an outstretched arm across the doors to the north and to the west. "Through one of these doors is a room with five pillars. If I'm right someone has to rub my feet." The bard draws her sword, recasts her light spells, and marches to the western door.
"I'll rub your feet with my bloody hammer. He turned to Arenel and Mimi to say "Me thanks to the both o' ye. This'll keep me up until I can rest enough to channel the power o' me god."
"Hush Elaina those things attacked us thinking we where food." Arenel stated as she rolled her eyes. "And not one is going to take you up on that bet because no one is going to touch your feet." She said bluntly as she helped Valghaz up. "You're welcome Valghaz, I just wished I could do more, but Mimi seemed to have a grasp of it better than I." She smirked.
She then looked to the group as a whole and asked "Arya, Mimi, want to toss in your coppers on where to go next?"
Arya rolled her eyes as she followed Elaina back into the main room and the bard immediately put her overly confident persona back on. Convincing the others she's ready to work together is going to be tough.
When Arenel asks her opinion, Arya turns her head toward the western door and gestures toward Elaina standing beside it.
"It sounds like there's more water through there. This entrance might have collapsed but every where that there's water down here there's another chance at a way out. And I'll take that bet Elaina, there's no way that room has five pillars!"
Arya layered as much false confidence into her last statement as possible. She has no idea how many or how few pillars the next room will have, but she feels the bet could provide a valuable lesson.
There's no way she can deny it if she's wrong, and if she's right, then at least I'll have a chance to show her what humility looks like.
Valghaz almost gasped when Arya took up the bet. Rather than say anything though he just quietly shook his head and kept walking.
The western door is soggy and somewhat swollen - it takes a decent amount of force to swing it open. Once open, it reveals what looks like a sea cave - clearly the source of the sloshing sound is the churning water just two dozen feet from the door. Fueled by what must be powerful submerged currents, the water laps and splashes against the walls of the twisting natural cavern that leads to the west. A sandy slope descends from the door down to the edge of the subterranean tide. Dozens of purple and red sea urchins glisten in shallow divots along the ground and lower walls here, their spines glittering with water.
The water looks to be about one foot deep.
"Ahah! Look at the water, there's a current! This cavern must lead out of here!"
Arya runs to the water's edge excitedly, stopping short of diving in as she sees the urchins lurking beneath the shallow surface.
"Oh, Elaina, I'm sorry but it looks like there's no pillars here at all."
Mimi looks suspiciously at the urchins. "Those things sting don't they?"
"There's... There's still the two north doors!" Elaina hesitantly protests. She had expected the five-pillard room to lie on the east-west axis with the other pillar rooms. "We can check them after we look at all these lovely stabby creatures." She goes to the edge of the water and bends over the nearest urchin. "What are these? I've never seen anything like this before. They're the most beautiful spikey things I've ever seen."
"They certainly are beautiful, but probably also deadly. Such is often the way with the beasts of the sea."
"If we wait until low tide, the water level should drop by a few feet and the creatures will be confined to the rock pools. It would be easier then to find a path through and hopefully find a way out. Unfortunately, it would mean spending the night in here, as I suspect the next low tide won't be until sunrise."
Arya looks at Elaina. "At least it would give us plenty of time to search the rest of the rooms."
"Awww. I don't wanna sleep on the ground. Do you think we'll find a ghost pirate ship down here that has beds?" Elaina whines and kicks a pebble into the seawater. "There a room with five pillars. I know it. I can feel it in my... my feelers." She says resolutely. "And maybe treasure! And maybe vampires."
Mimi eyes the passage unhappily.
"If we have to wait, maybe we should look around some more. That way looks like a very solid plan B though" she says, trying to sound upbeat.
"You're sleeping on the ground. Get over it." Arenel said in a matter of fact tone. "Honestly I think we should take this time to rest. Valghaz is wounded, Elaina is wounded, and we've no idea what else is down here. I'd rather not have to care anyone out of here, and I'd really like to not have one of us die for jumping ahead."
Arya walks slowly back from the edge of the water.
"Okay, how about you and Valghaz start setting up camp here, and Mimi, Elaina and I will finish checking out what's through those doors to the north?"
The discovery of the potential exit has filled Arya with confidence, and she looks toward those still interested in exploring with hope in her eyes.
"I'm sure it won't take us too long anyway, it's probably just a couple of little, pillarless rooms. We'll be back before you know it, probably too soon for your liking!"
Arya laughs, hoping to foster a friendlier banter than previous disagreements among the group had led to.