The grindylows have little of value save their small-sized spears and some scrimshawed bone trinkets.
Cog's silk scarf has intricate embroidery on one side, which Cog wore on the inside so you didn't see it.
It's a family tree, sewn into a scarf as is common practice by Varisians.
Lark retrieves Quinn's hat and as he picks it up, he feels a slight, oddly pleasant, jolt. He looks at it and the jolly roger on the hat seems to imprint itself on his mind. He gets a sense this is a useful thing in the hands of a devotee of Besmara, as he himself is becoming--but what it exactly does, he does not know.
Once you are ready to move on, you follow the beach a short ways, where you see churning ocean waters crash into a cave. There is no other possibility: this must be the entrance to Riptide Cove.
The water is deep enough at the entry that, even were the tide all the way out (it is on its way), you will have to swim to enter the cavern. You can see a little ways into the cave and see that the cave floor raises within so you will not have to swim through the whole cave, just to get into it --- at least, while the tide remains low.
The noise of the waves slapping into the cave makes it impossible to hear what is within.
Oh yes, and you have a signal whistle.
Lee will look over the scarf.
"Huh. Nice scarf. I wonder if Cog has family?"
Holding the tricorne Lark says a quick prayer to Besmara and then stows it safely away alongside Quinn's holy symbol.
As they search the grindylows Lark turns to Threnody and says, "You're right about checking these things over. I feel like we're so close to finding Quinn and Cog that I'm getting distracted. Thanks for not letting me get too far ahead of myself."
At the cave entrance Lark looks around for driftwood or anything else that might float. "That looks like a tough swim. Anyone have any bright ideas for getting us all safely inside?"
Lark doesn't see any appropriate flotation devices--perhaps the grindylows clear any driftwood away--but the only thing he can think of is tying each other together so that if someone loses control they can't be separated from the party. The others in that case would have to try extra hard to get that person towed in safely. ()
Thren shrugs. "Maybe if we'd known, we could've rigged up something. Maybe the remains of another ship around here would've given us something to work with. I think we're stuck now, and we've already possibly alarmed the natives. Guess we just gotta go with it."
With those words, the bard is in the water, moving easily and with purpose. Again, one wonders if she is descended from some sort of aquatic fiend....
Rosie hikes her pack above her head and tries to swim through the churning waters.
Which she does. They wait awhile until Lee, with a very-much-desiring-not-to-be-wet clinging to his head, manages to wade through behind them. And Lee's head is only bleeding a little bit!
Once they swim through the entryway, they pull themselves up onto the higher cave floor. The halflings stand to their waists in the water, Thren and Lark to their knees. Moving through the water on foot will be slow, but at least where they are right now, they have a firm footing.
The tide, you note, is going out, and will be totally out in about an hour, and the water will be at its lowest point in the cave. Then it will start to come back in. You calculate if the tide gets very high, up to fully high, and you are still in the cove, you will probably have to swim your way through rather than walk--and the grindylows who can naturally swim very well will have a notable advantage. You probably have about 5 hours until the waters get high enough that they will cause all of you problems, and the water will probably get too deep for the halflings to walk in in about 4 hours. It is about 7 hours before full high tide.
The cave is not lit, for the most part. The sun of course comes into the entrance behind you so for now you have some light, but you may need a light source deeper into the cove (or blindly follow Threnody).
The cave you stand in is narrow, and in parts you will have to move single file.
You see ahead of you about 40 feet, that the cave diverges to the left and straight ahead.
The left path appears to be lit by sunlight. The straight path goes into inky blackness.
Lee allows the stealthy types to lead us out.
As far as marching order goes, he's looking for a middle spot. If the leader is #1, Lee would prefer spot #3, with #2 being his second choice.
In a hushed voice, Lee asks, "Do we want light? I can make light happen. Otherwise we are bumbling..."
Turning to Lee Lark says, "Bumbling is not far off how I feel on a regular basis. I'd yes to the light. I think the advantage of sticking together and being able to see outweighs the risk of giving ourselves away."
"Make us some light. I can see well enough, but I'd rather we can all see." Thren agrees.
Lee pulls out The CheeseKnife and casts Light on the blade.
Holding the dagger up, Lee says, "Now there is light..."
Putting the dagger back into it's sheath, Lee says, "...and now it is dark again."
Lee pulls the dagger back out. "If someone says that we'll need to douse the lights, that is how I will do it."
The party now has the equivalent of a lit torch, 20' radius for 30 minutes. Lee will renew the spell as needed.
"Lee, you're brilliant. I'll take the lead and look for traps. If I raise my open hand everybody stop. If I raise a closed fist douse the light." Lark demonstrates the gestures while he briefly ponders the sorts of traps that might work in a water-filled cave. Then he moves forward into the shadowy tunnel.
As the party moves forward, they go around the curve. They pass the area to the left, lit by the sun, and see it is a rounded cliff area leading up to the ridge. The top of the cliffs is about 80 feet up.
Lark, having explored the ridge yesterday, recognizes this as the spot where he noticed the weird bat-bird thing flying around. More alien-avian shadows pass over the water from a few dozen feet above. Standing at the edge of the chamber, they do not yet notice you.
Apart from leading up to the ridge, this area is a dead end. The cove continues ahead into darkness.
Lee falls into line and follows.
Thren takes up her position, blade ready. "I could go for some of that crab just now," Thren comments as the party moves along.
You move forward eastward a ways until you come to a point where the path splits northeast, southeast, and south. You must past the southeast branch to get to the southern tunnel.
Standing in front of the southeast branch, about 15 feet away, you make out the silhouettes of two grindylows. They spot you and shout out in their burbling language a warning cry.
You hear splashing and murmuring from behind the two grindylows, suggesting the presence of more of their kind.
Concerned about being bottled up in the tunnel Rosie sloshes through the water past Threnody and Lark.
"Sorry Lark, coming through!" The tiefling quickly sloshes past her companion, letting her sword add a reddish tinge to the light as she draws it tries to stab the nearest grindylow.
Thren's blade ends her opponent's efforts before they even begin, sliding into the creature's chest and then out again in a flash.
"One down, more to go!" Thren watches the remaining creatures warily.
Two grindylows, which we shall call #1 and #5, move to flank Threnody and attack her.
Two other grindylows, which we shall call #4 and #6 move forward a little and throw their spears, one at Rosie and the other at Threnody.
The other grindylow (#3) takes the time simply to move up to see the action better.
===
The spear throwers miss, and now have no spears, but the two grindylows on Thren both jab her with theirs, and also try to grab her with their tentacles (.
They both jab Threnody hard with their spears, impaling her front and behind simultaneously, and then each one gripping an ankle, pull her down into the water.
Lee walks forward 5' and uncorks a Ray of Frost at Grindylow #1.
Finding a convenient target right in front of himself Lark stabs at it with his sword.
Echoing Thren's performance Lark dispatches his target with a single blow and then moves to cover the flank of his wounded friend.
Moving to Threnody's aid Rosie shifts forward and hacks at the other flanking grindylow.
Thren manages to thrash her way back up to her feet, now thoroughly drenched and muttering indescribably curses under her breath. The water around her is thick with her blood and she's not too happy about it. That said, she manages to move back from the grindylow nearest her, careful to keep her guard up as she does so.
Lee walks East and NorthEast and fires a Ray of Frost at Grindylow #4.
The remaining grindylows, seeing several of their number go down, burble at one another in their strange language and withdraw and flee toward the southeast edge of the large chamber in which they stood. When in deeper water, you see they can jet away quite quickly.
This larger chamber is decorated throughout with the jawbones of various aquatic creatures, effectively covering the walls in tiny sharp teeth.
The dead grindylows float in the low water, their inky blood causing the water to go murky. One of the fallen grindylows wears the pearl chain that Threnody gave Sandara.
The party has the options of following the grindylows that fled to the southeast, heading north, or heading through a very narrow passage south.
You recall during your prior fights that the grindylows tended to stand and fight to the death rather than flee. This is a new behavior, and suggests they are heading somewhere with purpose.
Thren retrieves the pearl chain with alacrity despite her fierce wounds. "I plan on giving this back to Sandara myself...and finding those responsible for this mess and delivering to them a painful death if she's been hurt."Thren vows angrily. She wraps the chain around the wrist of her sword arm before chanting a healing spell, then another.
Looking at the retreating grindylows, Thren's eyes narrow. "Where do you suppose they're going so fast? They don't normally just run off."
With that, she looks around the chamber to see if she can find anything else of note.
"That sounds like a good plan to me, Thren." Lark takes a few steps after the retreating grindylows. "We gotta keep on their tail, right?"
Lee falls into marching order and is ready to be lead out.
The 'running off' seems odd to him as well. He tries to figure out what they are up to.
Lee can perceive that they are running to the southeast, and that they are shouting.
There is nothing else of note in the chamber apart from the grindylows spears.
The party agrees to follow the fleeing grindylows and heads through the large chamber through the caves. At the exit to the jawbone chamber, the tunnel continues southeast as well as backtracks westward. The water is sloshing and churning in the southeastward direction, suggesting the grindylows went that way, so the party follows.
The water is getting deeper, though you can still maintain a footing. However the halflings are in it to their shoulders and could as easily swim as walk.
Lark instinctively spots something strange in the tunnel ahead of them and holds his hand up to halt the party's progress. He reaches out and pulls out what looks at first glance to be an ordinary piece of seaweed--but attached to the end of the seaweed is a barbed hook. If they moved at speed through this spot, they would likely get ensnared on the hooks. The sea moss grows here as well, complicating movement.
Options that occur to the party include the following:
- Walk through normally and hope for the best ()
- Walk or swim through very slowly ()
- Float or swim over the hooks ()
- Break the wires to which the hooks are tied ()
- ????
Lee prepares to swim over.
Lark follows Lee's example and swims over the hooks.
Thren also swims over the hooks.
Rosie attempts to swim over as well.
Rosie loses her balance and manages to swallow a huge gulp of murky seawater as she tries to maneuver over the hooks. While she avoids becoming entangled, she coughs and sputters violently as her friends help pull her out of harm's way. ()
As everyone finishes crossing the tunnel, an ominous grinding tone echoes through the cavern. As Lee's light spell illuminates the area around the corner, the party spots a grindylow next to an old lever in the wall, and a rusty but still functional gate falls open. In the tiny chamber beyond, they see a humanoid figure with pale, bloated flesh rise from the waters, stinking of decay.
The creature they see is not quite like the ghouls they have seen before, although it is obviously undead and possibly a victim of the same or similar affliction as that which killed Arron Ivy and his crewmates. While tall, its figure suggests it was once a woman, and wisps of blonde hair still hang from her rotting skull. She wears the remains of a sailor's uniform, but has manacles at her wrists, doubtless the cause of her inability to swim to survive. She was probably a captive of the Chells. "Fuh..." she groans as she begins to move through the water, ready to give chase to the nearest unfortunate soul to pass by.
The grindylow prepares to flee, no doubt any more eager to stay near the undead creature than you likely are.
Lark addresses the undead as he steps forward, "Another soul that longs for Besmara. We shall help you!"
"Rest now, lady, in Besmara's embrace."
Spitting water Rosie wades forward, but she is slowed too much to reach the grindylow.
While it appears that Lark SHOULD have stabbed her deep enough to deliver the undead creature to Besmara, when he pulls the long, pointed tip of the sword from her belly, the bloated flesh closes around the puncture wound, partly filling it in, and the creature remains standing.
Given the nature of the creature's flesh, it seems something that would Slash through limbs or Break bones might be more effective than something that would Pierce it.
Despite her determined charge--well, it might be Lark's imagination, but a glimmer of understanding passes through the unholy creature's eyes a moment, and she replies to his wishes with another gutteral, "Fuh..."
Lee throws a Ray of Frost at the draugr:
And assuming () the ray hits:
The magical frost forms a few harmless ice crystals on the undead creature's decaying flesh. It appears cold cannot damage something unliving very effectively.
The creature tries to slam one of her manacled arms into Lark.
She gives his shoulder a solid bruise, and bits of her rotting flesh rub off on his body, leaving a gag-inducing smear of rot behind.