"More trouble, I'm sure." Drancis mumbles to himself as he follows along behind the others.
"At least a room gives us some space to move." Locke points out, agreeing to head northeast.
Rikkan nods at the others. As he wasn't close to full strength, he allowed one of he others to take the lead.
"I really hope there aren't any more amoebas..." Astraea groans. "Um, Locke, Zoreck, we probably shouldn't go much further without getting you some healing. I don't know how we're doing on supplies, but... I still have my own magic to offer, if you're willing."
Mud and filthy water have pooled within this sunken chamber, covering its entire floor and those of the western exit. A small dais provides firmer footing to the south, rising from the water into a long, dark passageway lined with empty torch sconces... the passageway continues off into darkness...
...a heap of armour - a chain shirt and a highly polished shield - lie at the entrance to a small, semi-flooded tunnel heading to the west...
As the party enters the chamber Drancis notices the seemingly abandoned armor and shield. "Now why would someone take off their armor? Were they going for a swim? Or did something else happen here." He glances around nervously. "Do you think that is...or was the Sheriff's armor?"
"I can't think of anything that would cause the Sheriff to remove their armour, so I very much hope it did not belong to her. I am surprised a shield managed to stay polished down here though..." Locke tilts his head in thought.
Perception
Rikkan could barely keep his head above the water level, even treading water. He wasn't able to focus on anything going on around him. He didn't see anything at all with the water in his eyes.
Locke's sharp eyes immediately spot movement to the west, "There, something in the tunnel!" he whispers urgently to the others.
As Locke sees it, the small grey-skinned figure in the tunnel starts to unfurl itself - impossibly long limbs start to pull the creature into the flooded room. A teeth-filled maw hangs open as the creature moans a mournful call at the intruders to its foul den...
Rikkan chugs his Shield extract, knowing battle was near.
Illonna moves to a better position, unwilling to get into the tunnel with the creature.
Pulling itself towards the mouth of the tunnel, the grey creature reaches out with a tentacle... crunching down hard around Illonna's neck, the tentacl grabs... and starts to squeeze...
"Let...her...GO!" Drancis yells. He summons a wave of water and sends it flying into the choker.
Locke wastes no time in attempting to save Illonna, he dashes forward and swings his blade at the tentacle grasping her about the neck.
Rikkan moves to two squares right and one square north of Illona's current position. After moving, the rat folk pulls out a flask of acid and tosses it at the choker.
RTA w/PBS
Damage
"Oh, give me a break!" Astraea cries as the creature strangles Illonna. I guess I should say, 'At least it's not another amoeba, she thinks, moving forward with her dagger.
Drancis' wave, building as it sweeps over the churning water, somehow crashes most of its force against the wall around the tunnel...
Locke and Astraea wade in to attack the creature as it starts to pull itself from the tunnel – Astraea does well to not drop her dagger into the filthy water… but she misses Illonna’s attacker; Locke fends even worse, his elegant thrust striking the creature yet not piercing its touch hide… worse still, a swinging tentacle strikes at him as he struggles for balance…
Rikkan’s bomb, flung into the chaos of melee, bounces from the wall of the tunnel and explodes just behind the hostile inhabitant…
"Oh, by the arm of Kurgess..."
Zoreck draws his pistol and slogs through the water to the north wall. He levels the gun at the aberration and pulls the trigger.
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Illonna coughs violently as her throat is released but she quickly recovers herself, raising her sword in a brilliant display of holy retribution. Unfortunately, her companions positioning makes it impossible to shoulder past. Partly out of frustration, partly out of desperation, she she draws her consecrated weapon and throws it violently at the choker.
Released by the creature, Illonna ignores the futile explosion created by Zoreck's pistol and, forced to improvise, hurls her holy weapon at the aberration... struck squarely in the midriff, the creature doubles over in pain...
...before, with renewed vigour and squawking "GESSTAK!!!" over and over, it lashes at Locke...
Rikkan knew he was better at doing damage, rather than trying to heal Locke. He throws another bomb, trying to take this enemy down.
RTA w/ PBS
Damage
Rikkan's bomb is, once more, overthrown... fortuitously detonating just beyond the creature, a lump of shrapnel embeds itself in the back of its head... without a word, it falls forwards - quite dead...
Illonna quickly moves to retrieve her sword, her second highest priority after having healed Locke.
As Locke comes to his first words to Illonna are, "Remind me to never get you angry."
Drancis whistles softly. "Yes, that was VERY impressive Illonna." Looking at how beat up the party is he adds, "We should retreat to the mansion and rest up for the day. Also should grab the armor and shield too."
"The situation was very desperate and I acted hastily. It is fortunate that it seems to have worked out" she comments as she wrenches the bastard sword free from the corpse and collects her longsword as well. "But resting would be wise; I could not continue much longer and surely could not do that again."
Astraea's cheeks redden as the confusion of battle passes and she stares at Illonna. "That... was awesome," she says after a moment, almost gasping in admiration. "I'm all for resting, but I've still got some reserves of magic left in me. I think I can probably afford to use it all now; it seems like it'll come back to me once I've rested."
Zoreck seems extremely impressed with Illonna's sword-throwing ability. "Illonna, that was badass! Great shot!"
He cleans and reloads his gun, holsters it, and then starts looking through the room for any clues. "Let's see if that choker was keeping any kind of stash..."
Searching through the filth, it seems that the Choker had assembled a sizeable horde - a jeweled scepter a masterwork chain shirt, a light steel shield , a scroll case containing a scroll of knock, a teak box of scented candles , five small garnets , 137 gp, 62 sp, and 38 cp.
Gathering up the loot, the friends cautiously retreat back along the flooded tunnel - whilst it certainly is an unpleasant wade through the water, the friends are not attacked by anything... indeed, there is no sign of any life back through the catacombs and up into the ruined manor house... With the moon starting to rise in the sky, it seems to be a good time to recover from the day's exertions...
With a watch established, the friends find a readily defensible area in the building... and, when sleep comes, it is fitful and restorative until... each of them have, at some point, the same dream...
...a violet sky with sulphur yellow clouds... a vortex opening in a star-filled hemisphere... and an insidious voice - 'soon your world will be ours'...
The warm sun of dawn comes soon enough...
"Did the rest of you...click, have weird dreams last night? Not sure why, but this place is bad. The group needs to finish all this, whrrrr, today."
Drancis nods wearily. "Yes, I also had strange dreams too. I bet Vuelib is behind them. And yes we do need to finish this off...the Sheriff is running out of time, as are we."
"They were like what I saw before...in the catacombs."
Illonna looks troubled as she packs her things in the morning. The dreams implications weighed on her heavily.
"This scourge must be stopped."
"It seems whatever is happening here could be much bigger than a small village." Locke strokes his chin in thought, "With these visions I cannot help but wonder if things may get decidely odd when we face Vuelib, best keep our wits about us."
Strange portents and ominous visions are not so unfamiliar to Astraea, but are no less troubling for it. "So, uh, Illonna... the vision you had earlier, before that skin-thing attacked us... you think it had something to do with these weird dreams? I don't like this one bit..."
When Astraea turns her attention to the shield Locke joins her, hoping to puzzle out its enchantments.
"It was a different land, and there were no voices that spoke, but it felt the same. There were many mountains, I remember."
Examining the shield in the soft light of the dawn, Astraea and Locke try to determine the function of the aura that surrounds it… Astraea is confounded by it but Locke recognises it almost immediately, .
"That green glowing room seems interesting, click. How about we go there first?" If the others agree, Rikkan leads the way, again traversing through that nasty mucky water.
Perception
Zoreck cleans his gun in the morning after waking up. "Yeah, I had a weird dream, too. Something just ain't right around here!"
He looks at the magical shield recovered from the choker. "Not a bad piece of armor! 'Course, I like to keep both hands free in a fight. No offense, Illonna, but I don't think you can really use it... You want it, Astrea?"
Zoreck votes for checking out the passage off the choker lair, but will go with majority vote.
Drancis nods to Rikkan. "Yeah we should check out that room. Though anything that glows green...can't be pleasant." He shudders.
He looks at the magical shield recovered from the choker. "Not a bad piece of armor! 'Course, I like to keep both hands free in a fight. No offense, Illonna, but I don't think you can really use it... You want it, Astrea?"
"M...me? Well, uh... I mean, I know how to hold a shield, so... I certainly could..." She takes the shield and tries to get a field for it. "Um... yeah, I could... I could do something with this."
"As far as which way to go, well... I worry that the room with the green glow might lead us straight to Vuelib. Of course, that could be what we want, so..."
Zoreck nods at Astrea's reasoning. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Maybe we should try to find more clues about Vuelib before we take it on directly!"
"That could be the case" Drancis nods in agreement. "Plus I don't think the Sheriff would have passed where that choker was hiding. We could check out that passage from the choker room I suppose. Maybe there is another passage that leads to where Vuelib is hiding?"
Back down the stairs and, with no other way, back into the rank water - the friends push on in search of the cause of all that was wrong in Holver's Ferry... Vuelib. This time, apart from the occasional rat, there are no creatures swimming in the water with them... noting the green glow to the south - and postulating that may be the direction in which their ultimate foe lies - the friends decide to look around a little more...
...up to the room where the choker had lain in ambush - climbing into the small (but elevated and dry) tunnel that heads to the south, the friends clamber through and discover an ancient crypt - this chamber’s walls are lined with small burial vaults spaced six inches apart. Most are either smashed or pried open, spilling their ash gray contents onto the floor. Four, upright sarcophagi also stand here, each one intricately carved to resemble a muscular human figure wearing archaic armor. Further passageways lead to the west and the south - the passageway to the south appearing to lead to another crypt...