Lorenz peers nervously about, wishing his eyes were sharper. "No thanks, water isn't good for bowstring."
As Makoa speaks, his keen nose picks up a strange scent in the room, and his eyes spot three points of slight discolouration in the water. These discolourations seem to be moving independently of the rest of the water. At that moment, they edge up just above the surface, sending slight ripples across the water that Pezock, Mahjik, and Jask also catch notice of.
Order: Pezock, Shokambe, Lorenz, Jask, Ishirou, Oozes, Urza, Mahjik, Douena, Sasha, Makoa.
Moving before anyone else knows what's happening, Pezock rushes forward, cackling gleefully, whipping out his sabre .
"Trouble!" Jask calls out. He draws his dagger.
Three transparent globs of oozy slime rise out of the water. One already close enough to Pezock whips a tendril at him, while the other two move up closer to him and Makoa.
The tendril slaps Pezock across the chest and side and slip around his waist, grabbing hold of him.
Next Up: Makoa, Pezock, Shokambe, Lorenz, Jask, Ishirou, Oozes, Urza.
Mahjik moves swiftly kicking out at the bloby creature.
Drawing his axe, Makoa slashes at the liquid creature in front of him.
Mahjik moves swiftly forward and Makoa draws his axe.
Pezock stares wide-eyed and unmoving at the ooze holding him. Meanwhile Shokambe moves forward, drawing his mace.
Next Up: Jask, Ishirou, Oozes, Urza, Mahjik, Douena, Sasha, Makoa, Pezock (paralysed), Shokambe (subject to readied action).
At Jask's yell, Lorenz moves forward with his bow ready, wondering what sort of undead they were facing now.
Lorenz hurries forward and gets his first glimpse of the oozes lifting out of the water. Beside him, Jask mutters a prayer to Nethys, then reaches out and touches Lorenz's arm. Lorenz feels confidence well through him.
Ishirou hurries forward, pulling out his katana, and getting up between Pezock and Makoa.
Tendrils of ooze whip out from #1 (at Mahjik) and #2 (at Makoa), while ooze #3 continues to try to dissolve away its newly capture prey, Pezock.
#2 whacks Makoa across the face, its acid burning into his skin. It then slips around his upper arm, grabbing hold of him.
Next Up: Mahjik, Douena, Sasha, Makoa, Pezock (paralysed), Shokambe (subject to readied action), Lorenz, Jask, Ishirou, Oozes.
Move to AN-32
Scorching Ray: RTouch, fire at #3
to hit damage
Lorenz glances gratefully at Jask but his jaw drops as he sees the creatures attacking them. "Cayden's balls, I don't know if an arrow is going to do any good against those things!"
"What's wrong Pezock? Snap out of it!" Mahjik flails somewhat ineffectually at the ooze - trying overly hard not to smack Pezock by mistake.
Urza sends a streak of fire over the shoulders of Makoa and Ishirou, straight into the ooze gripping Pezock. Alas, its liquid-like form seems to just quench the fire rather than be damaged by it.
Despite his clumsy motions, Mahjik still lands two solid blows. The ooze is just too slow and presents too wide a target to easily miss. Mahjik's fists punch holes through it, acidic goop dropping back down into the water. The holes quickly close over, but the ooze is noticeably smaller as a result.
Next Up: Sasha, Makoa, Pezock (paralysed), Shokambe (subject to readied action), Lorenz, Jask, Ishirou, Oozes, Urza, Mahjik.
Aren't you lucky oozes have horrendous ACs because those rolls actually hit! The Reflex saves both fail; however, they're only required for wooden or metal weapons, not natural ones, so you're still good. :)
Douena dashes around Lorenz's and Shokambe's legs to get a better view of what's going on. "Pezock!" she cries in alarm when she sees the tengu partially enveloped by the ooze. "They're crystal oozes. They live in the water, and they can see in the dark," she explains needlessly. "Ishirou, get it off of him!" She reaches out and infuses the Tian with a bit of luck.
Caught in the clutches of something that didn't look like it should be able to hold him, Makoa bites at the ooze viciously.
Aren't you lucky oozes have horrendous ACs because those rolls actually hit! The Reflex saves both fail; however, they're only required for wooden or metal weapons, not natural ones, so you're still good. :)
Douena scurries up and infuses Ishirou with some luck. Meanwhile, back by the entrance, Sasha has watched in stunned silence as everyone has dashed forward. Coming to her senses, she follows quickly after, moving as close as she can, but it's too congested by the chamber entrance.
Makoa bites at the ooze holding him. The taste is vile, like acidic slime, but he does tear away a portion, almost severing its grip on him, but the hole quickly closes over, shrinking the ooze.
Shokambe, unable to get close enough, changes tactics and pulls out a dagger. He tosses it over Makoa's shoulder at the ooze holding the half-orc. The dagger slices cleanly through the centre of the ooze, taking a chunk of goo with it as it splashes into the water.
Next Up: Jask, Ishirou, Oozes, Urza, Mahjik, Douena, Sasha (subject to readied action), Makoa, Pezock (paralysed), Shokambe.
Even unsure if the arrow would be of much use to something that looked like water, Lorenz decides to take a shot anyway and see what happens. He quickly draws and fires two arrows, aiming with deadly intent for the nearest of the oozes.
Lorenz's arrows tear gaping holes in the second ooze. It tries to spread itself out to fill in the holes, but can't quite manage it, succeeding only in turning the two big holes into multiple smaller holes and thinning the entire ooze out quite a bit.
Ishirou raises his katana and slices through the ooze holding Pezock. It's only a small cut, however, and one that the ooze easily repairs, shrinking it only slightly.
The ooze on Mahjik swipes a tendril at him again, this time catching him across the neck. It is unable to get a hold, however. The second ooze lets go of Makoa and slams at him again, but in its somewhat weakened state, it is unable to either hit him or reestablish its hold.
Next Up: Mahjik, Douena, Sasha (subject to readied action), Makoa, Pezock, Shokambe, Lorenz, Jask (subject to delayed action), Ishirou, Oozes.
Magic Missile it is. I'll target the smallest of the oozes.
Grimacing off the acidic hurt Mahjik shouts, "Damnit Pezock! What the hell did that thing do to you!?" His attacks are quick, if a bit desperate.
Urza's bolts slam into ooze #2, sending globs of goop spiralling into the water. The creature looks barely able to hold itself together now.
The first of Mahjik's attacks still suffers from the clumsiness of his previous attacks, and this time, the oozy creature manages to avoid being struck. With his second attack, however, Mahjik regains his composure and slams his fist through the ooze.
Next Up: Sasha (subject to readied action), Makoa, Pezock (paralysed), Shokambe, Lorenz, Jask, Ishirou, Oozes, Urza, Mahjik.
"Pezock, what's wrong? Are you all right?" Douena continues to tug at the tengu's elbow.
Seeing the ooze shrink, Makoa tries to throw it off of him and get free.
Seeing the ooze shrink, Makoa tries to throw it off of him and get free.
1d20+6
Douena pleads with Pezock, but the tengu continues to stand there unmoving as the ooze slowly dissolves his flesh.
Unable to get through, Sasha remains where she is for the moment.
Makoa bites at the ooze near him, tearing away foul-tasting goop and successfully shredding the creature. It collapses with a splash and begins dissolving away into the water.
Seeing space open up beside Makoa, Sasha moves forward, pushing past Lorenz, Urza, and Makoa, and wading into the water to attack the ooze holding Pezock.
Her rapier pierces the ooze, but does only a small amount of damage.
Shokambe waits.
Next Up: Jask, Ishirou, Oozes, Urza, Mahjik, Douena (subject to delayed action), Makoa, Sasha, Pezock (paralysed), Shokambe (subject to delayed action).
With Sasha now in battle with the ooze, Lorenz has to take a deep breath to keep his calm. He pulls another arrow from his quiver, and does his best to eye the target of the ooze closest to her. Letting out his pent up breath, he releases the arrow and draws again, releasing the second arrow in a quick, fluid motion.
Urza gives the wink and the gun and two more bolts of magical energy streaks out from his hand to strike at the ooze covering Pezock.zes.
Mahjik hopes to finish of the ooze quickly now, keeping the momentum going.
Lorenz shoots off another pair of arrows. Despite the number of people between him and his target, the arrows fly true, over the heads of everyone else and straight through the ooze, pulling out gobs of sticky goo with them.
Jask continues to wait.
Immediately after Lorenz's arrows shoot through the ooze, Ishirou's katana cuts through it as well. It continues to spread itself thin to cover up the holes, but it doesn't look like it can spread itself much thinner. In retaliation, it lets go of Pezock and attacks Ishirou, while its companion continues to assault Mahjik.
Both oozes miss.
Urza fires off another pair of bolts that slam through #3. Unable to spread itself any thinner, the ooze completely loses cohesion and splashes into the water.
Mahjik lands two more blows on the final ooze. It is unable to cover the wounds from the first before Mahjik has hit it a second time. The result is the ooze being essentially torn in half. It collapses and begins dissolving in the water.
"Pezock! Pezock!" Douena continues to try to shake the tengu out of whatever state he's in.
The tengu remains stiff and unmoving for another half-minute or so. Occasionally during that time, a slight gurgling noise comes from his throat as if he's trying to speak. Suddenly, a loud yell erupts from his mouth as he stumbles forward, nearly falling in the water, the paralysis having finally worn off. he yells.
He regains his footing and sheathes his sabre with an angry grumble.
Unfazed by Pezock's frustration, Douena is pleased to see him regain his mobility. "Apparently they're like ghouls," she tells the others. "Remember the ghouls under the lighthouse? I wonder if they're some kind of undead ooze. C'mon, Pezock; Mahjik and Makoa, you too. Anyone else hurt? We're close enough to the entrance; we should go back out there before I try to get Desna's attention. She didn't like it last time I was underground." Retreating to the cave entrance with anyone who was hurt by the oozes, Douena presents her butterfly with an anxious glance up at the open sky. "See?" she asks with satisfaction. "It works better without rock over my head."
Lorenz nods with satisfaction over the destruction of the fluid creatures and moves up to Sasha. Are you well? Those things were very odd. But it felt good to use my bow again. I feel like I've never shot so well."
He follows Douena up to the surface even though he wasn't injured and keeps watch while she calls on Desna for healing.
Makoa starts chuckling, looking at Lorenz and then the water.
"Not good for the bowstring, huh?"
"It's never simple is it?" Urza laments.
"What fun would it be if it were?" Douena replies. "Think how boring it would be if we just walked and walked and walked and never ran into anything interesting until we got to where we're going."
Lorenz shakes his head at Makoa's question. "Not good at all!"
"Do you think this whole mine is flooded?" Douena asks anxiously. "If the top of it is underwater, the bottom must be too, right? How can we get through it?"
"We can go back out of here or swim I guess." Urza does not seem to like either idea.
"Thank you little one," Mahjik stretches a little and checks his skin for acidic burn marks where the ooze had wacked him.
Back inside, he points to the little makeshift bridge at the edge of light, "Wise man sees a swallow behind a tree by the song it sings, look, there's a bridge - somebody cared about getting in and out. I think we should at least a look going along the edge to see where it goes."
Lorenz nods slowly. "We should at least look, but if everything is flooded out later, I'm not going to swim through it. The last thing I want is to have undead attacking me while I'm trying to swim. Fighting in water is hard."
"Keep in mind that this is a mine dug into the foothill of a mountain," Shokambe says. "It may not go down deep, but rather just extend horizontally."
Move forward a little bit to see what's ahead, you see that at the very least, the next chamber is not completely flooded. Like the first, the centre is flooded, but a narrow walkway exists on either side.
Sasha tests the bridge gingerly, then crosses once she's determined it will hold her wait. Half way across, she pauses and peers down. "The water doesn't look very deep," she says. "It's hard to tell because of the dim light and the water's murky, but I'd say only a couple of feet." She then finishes crossing to the other side.
At the north end of the chamber, a passage exits, curving to the right and out of sight.
"Don't get too far ahead, Sasha," Douena whispers across the water loudly. "If there are more of those things, they're hard to spot, but they can tell where we are in complete darkness, even without eyes." She scowls back at Lorenz. "What are you doing, letting her run way out ahead into danger when she might be sick?"
"I'll shoot whatever tries to attack her," Lorenz answers back, forgetting to whisper. His bow is at the ready with an arrow already held in place. "Besides, I wouldn't presume to stop her from making her own choices." he says, somewhat more softly.
Douena picks up some small stones, sets one alight, and drops the others in her pocket for later. She sidles past the others quietly, watching the water for telltale ripples, and edges up to the curve in the passageway. With a nod across the water at Sasha, she tosses her lighted stone just around the curve so Sasha can get a glimpse of what lies ahead from the other side of the pool.
Douena creeps quietly forward while Sasha does the same on the other side, keeping a careful eye out all the while. Douena tosses her lighted stone around the corner and Sasha moves up close enough to get a good view. The others follow slowly behind.
"Another chamber," Sasha says quietly. "There's another bridge just around the corner. I can't see much farther than that, but the chamber is flooded just like this one with a thin ledge of dry land on each side."