"Eeeek! The sea monsters have learned to use crossbows!" Elaina screams as the bolt plunks into Valghaz, waving her sword in the dwarves general direction. She summons up her dancing lights and they shoot off in the direction the bolt came from as she steps behind Valghaz.
Valghaz rushed forward, hammer in hand. He called out a prayer as he did so, causing the weapon to glow with divine light
With so many people crowding in around the crocodile, Mimi decides to hold her shot, aiming her crossbow down the passage and waiting to see if the dancing lights reveal the source of the bolt that hit Valghaz.
Crocodile: hp 8/25; AC/T/FF 14/10/13; Fort/Ref/Will +6/+4/+2; vs Feint 13 Condition
Elaina's dancing lights reveal nothing but the cistern wall. Mimi isn't able to make out a source of the crossbow bolt and instead shoots at the crocodile. Unable to target well around Valghaz, however, the shot misses .
The crocodile snaps at Valghaz's leg, but its teeth clang on the dwarf's armor ineffectually. Meanwhile, another crossbow bolt flies out from the north, narrowly missing Elaina.
Crossbow bolt attack on Elaina (flat-footed): (MISS)
LDT2: 11/11, moving to the east, will join combat in round 3
LDT3: 11/11, moving to the south, will join combat in round 5
Water level at end of this round: 1.2 inches.
Were it not for teamwork, Valghaz would have missed. But with the beast looking at Arya, it did not see the dwarf’s hammer come down. And of course, by the time it realized it, it was far too late.
"Eeek!" Elaina screams, fleeing to the northwest corner of the room to shelter from the bolts, her panicked run conveniently moving her out of the path of the next bolt. "Valghaz, why would to move!?" She loudly demands of the dwarf. "That one almost hit me!"
Arya smiles at Valghaz and looks down at the poor crocodile's lifeless body briefly before continuing along the passage westward.
"Come on, this way!" she calls to the others.
As she moves she keeps her eyes peeled for the way out.
Arenel tried her ray of frost once more, but this time she seemed too worried about hitting Valghaz before her and couldn't finish the spell.
Unseen combatants?
Map
Arya moves further into the passage, but doesn't find a secret door.
Crossbow bolt on Elaina (Flat-Footed): (MISS)
Meanwhile, two more crossbow bolts fly out of the walls. One from the north splashes into the rising water next to Mimi, and one from the east striking the wall next to Elaina.
LDT2: 11/11, at eastern junction, in combat
LDT3: 11/11, moving to the south, will join combat in round 5
Water level at end of this round: 1.8 inches.
Valghaz took a moment to collect himself, before trying to determine where the bolts were coming from and whether anything about the walls seemed out of place. A task easy for most dwarves born in the mountains. Sadly, as he was born and raised in the city, this was new for him.
Mimi doesn't see anything telling her where the crossbow bolts might be coming from, but she knows that so many bolts shot at them makes it unlikely it's a trap. Probably murder slots in the wall, too small to see from here in this light.
If she's right, there's little to do but make them useless to the ones on the other side of them. She runs as fast as she can to cover the distance to the wall and get up against it. Then she takes another look along the wall to see if she finds any slots or gaps.
As Arya reaches the end of the passageway, her search becomes more frantic.
"Come on, come on! Where's the door already?!" She cries in frustration.
"Do you think it is someone in here with us? Or looking through a hole in the wall?" Arenel asked as she kept her eyes open, straining against the shadows.
Elaina runs into the passage Arya went down to escape the bolts, sloshing through the rising water, her lights bobbing gently behind her. "Does anyone remember that time I said we shouldn't come down here!?" she shouts to the others as she shoves past them.
“Elaina, help me! Klendan said the passage way was hidden in the tunnel, a few feet off the ground. It has to be here somewhere!” Arya calls out as she sees the bard join her in the tunnel.
"Ahh, yes. The door." Elaina says, musing, the immediate threat momentarily forgotten at the opportunity to impress the others yet again. "I'm probably the best person you could ask to look for a secret door."
"Valghaz, I know you're a smith but do you happen to know anything about stone?" Arenel asked "Like if I start pounding on the walls you might be able to find where the door is?" She clarified.
"I...have never really spent that much time underground. Before we met, the furthest underground I've ever been is a basement. But we can try." He said this, with his cheeks flushing. He knew that dwarves were *supposed* to be good with stone, to have an innate understanding of it. But he was so far removed from his kin in the mountains, that he had no such talent. He wondered if one even existed, or if it was just rumor based on the skills learned from decades of experience.
Mimi hurries after Arya to help look for the hidden door.
Everybody piles into the passage, searching around for the secret door Klendan mentioned. As of yet, nobody has found it.
Arya continues to search in vein for the secret passageway.
“What?” she asks, turning back to the east. “Did anyone else here that? Something about ‘wasing the way of notting the mark?’”
Spurred on by the sound of voices coming up behind them, the sailor makes one last attempt at finding some way out of the dead end.
“Oh! There, look! And there!” Arya points out the locations of the northern and southern doors to her companions.
"You're fine Valghaz, just thought I'd ask." Arenel said as she gave him a smile. "Just thought I'd ask."
When Arya called out with some success, Arenel's head whipped around to look where she was pointing. "Damn you're good Arya! Your next pint is on me!" She told her.
Elaina pounds on the nearest door with her empty fist. "We hafta get out of here before we get any wetter! I don't want to wrinkle!"
Mimi doesn't hear anything like voices. She asks Arya "what does ‘wasing the way of notting the mark' mean? Sounds like gibberish" as she begins trying to get the door open.
Mimi is able to open both doors with relative ease. The both lead into worked stone passages. The northern door leads into a long passage that ends at a door, and the southern a short passage that makes a hard turn.
”This way, friends!” Elaina commands, waltzing down the southern passage. ”I happen to be an expert at subterranean navigation. This way leads to where they’re holding the animals!”
”Aye, everyone in!” Valghaz took up a position by the entrance, ready to guard everyone as they moved towards relative safety.
Arya follows quickly behind Elaina, glad to put the flooding passageway behind her.
Arenel moved to the passage and waited, making sure Mimi got in before she looked to Valghaz waiting on him.
As soon as Mimi gets the door open, Elaina blows by her and takes off down the hall. She decides she'll just hold the door for everyone in case someone else is in a great hurry. Mimi doesn't want to get trampled. After everyone else has passed, she brings up the rear.