"Lemme try and get off another shot and I'll take over."
Pontia and Hyngrot take to the oars, Pontia struggling to keep the boat from turning as Hyngrot's powerful strokes carry the boat forward.
The gnomes bend to the oar once again. The huddled which begins a strange chant.
The current turns and, more by luck than skill, Pontia manages to time her strokes with it. Just cursing? That's all it sounds like to me.
Angus loads another bolt into the borrowed crossbow and takes aim at the same gnome as before.
"Hope this hits."
"Lemme row, I think we can catch them now."
Angus drops the crossbow into the bottom of the boat and starts carefully shifting to take over the oars.
Apparently, his good rowing prior is catching up with his scrawny arms.
STR check 2:
Angus' second shot bites deeply into the edge of the boat, a handswidth too low.
Daxius sets aside his suspicion that he has somehow become allied with a cold-blooded murderer, and takes a shot with his bow (at the witch).
Even more out of breath, Pontia gasps out, "She's calling something up! Get ready to fight it!"
"Dammit."
"I think it'll be something that flies."
"You're a caster, right? Can you keep whatever is coming from sinking us?"
Daxius' shot flies true, as it bites into the witches flesh her chant is disrupted and she stumbles against the side of the boat.
For a moment you see her clearly, outlined against a darkening sky and shadowy willows as an unholy light flashes from her eyes: blood seeps like tears down her cheeks and from her nose, her right hand is clenched tight around some small object and blood also seeps from that hand.
In the next moment she vomits a horrendous spume of wavering, eldritch black tar. In an instant it congeals and sinks down into the river.
"No," she cries out, "do not forsake me!"
The gnomes break off their song in shock but continue to row strongly without disruption to their rhythm.
"Well that's disturbing. Gonna need to get good and drunk to get that out of my head."
Hyngrot strains himself to push the boat forward, feeling the burning as his wounds start to reopen. "Feel free...to magic...them...anytime now."
Without a sound, the witch plunges into the river after whatever-it-was.
The gnomes look at each other, look at you and then continue to row.
They continue to pull away.
Angus takes over the oars from Pontia and begins to pull, hard.
"Any way we can track the witch in the water?"
Daxius fits another arrow to the string, holding his balance as the boat moves forward.
Nicolai! Row to the spot where the witch jumped in!
Daxius is ready to fire an arrow as soon as the witch surfaces.
Str check!
Giving a great intake of air, Nicolai has a second surge and strokes toward the spot that witch dove in.
"Let me see." Murmuring a brief cantrip, Pontia invokes arcane senses.
With a surge, you propel the boats toward the spot where the woman disappeared.
Pontia's magic begins to penetrate the waters.
After turning the oars over to Angus, the scholar concentrates.
Angus pulls the boat to a stop and draws the long wicked blade on his back.
"Gotta come up sometime."
Your boats drift toward the place where she plunged into the water.
Dusk begins to creep across the sky.
Pontia is concentrating on her spell, and probably won't get a Perception check. Just in case, though:
Angus peers into the water and quietly says, "Something's moving down there."
"Yea, and whatever it is, it's a lot bigger than that witch, and it's moving. Stand ready!" Hyngrot continues to ready his javelin.
Setting the oars down in the boat, and peers cautiously over the side. Seeing some mass moving about, he takes out one of his last bombs, and gets ready to hit whatever comes out
"Betcha a gold piece that thing is her."
One of the corners of Angus' mouth twitches up resulting in an expression of dismay.
You could almost believe he wants to lose that bet.
Daxius' intense gaze remains on the surface of the water. His initial uncertainty as to the righteousness of their efforts has faded away. The witch must be put down, whatever devilish form she takes.
"No arguments from me about that, but what if she managed to turn herself into a devil?"
The dark shape surges toward the surface.
A tentacled creature of melting shadow surges to the surface. At the centre an impression of a weeping human face is impressed; the face is unmoving except for the slow blinking of the flat, black eyes.
Before anyone can react, three tentacles lash out of the water.
Angus took the blow across his upper arm, hissing through clenched teeth as the tentacle ripped a long bloody gash.
Ignoring the pain, he swings his sword with surprising skill and tries to lop off the creatures head.
Unfortunately, his aim was not as good as he had hoped.
Hyngrot screams out in rage as the tentacle strikes him, dropping the drawn javelin in favor of his scimitar.
The tentacle flails and slaps harmlessly across Daxius' breastplate.
He was expecting some further witchcraft, but this was beyond his expectations. Grimacing in concentration, he wordlessly lets fly with an arrow.
"What is that thing?" The wizard concentrates, calling forth a corrosive missile that streaks across the intervening space and strikes the monster.
Jaw agape at the bizarre beast before him, Nicolai stammers "My gods!" Mouth still open, he chucks his bomb with all of his force at the unnatural thing.
Bomb
Damage fire, 5 splash
In a flurry of violence, the beast is destroyed, although its slimy tentacles are draining to Angus .
As its body succumbs the black, oozing, dripping flesh dissolves like smoke to reveal the pale, drained body of the witch beneath. She begins to sink, the water dissolving the blood from around here eyes, mouth and tightly-clenched right hand.
It is dusk and you cannot see the riverbed. The gnomes have just passed out of sight around a bend in the river.
"Bring us alongside her!" Pontia executes another cantrip and reaches a hand towards the sinking corpse.
Hyngrot steers the boat next to the witch for Pontia, helping her as needed. "Probably best if we get to shore and camp out. We can get supplies from the bandit's camp, but I'd rather not use the same one."
Angus nods as he stiffly moves to the oars and pulls the boat up along side the corpse.
"'Slong as you don't mind me joining, you can camp anywhere you'd like."