Ben finds a broom - a rather short one - after a few minute's searching the tossed and rumpled room.
"Huh. Not exactly a 10' pole is it? Will this help?" Ben asks Dee, leaning back out the doorway and waggling the short broom in the air.
Ensis shrugs, "It could. Depends on what we expect the find in the water... Though I'd think an animal would eat the corpse?"
"If I were an animal, I would not eat any old soggy corpse," says Valexia, "But then, I would be a very sophisticated animal. Like a... hmm. What's a sophisticated animal?"
"An otter." Dee quickly retorts to Val's query, remembering an afternoon spent by the lakes watching the furry creatures eat whilst perched on rocks.
She moves over to Ben and takes the broom; "Thank you, let's try to hook and drag the corpse to shore." Getting close to the waters edge, she tries to hook the corpse & gently drag it to shore.
"I'm not really an expert with a broom." The noble-lady adds wryly.
"Ah. Allow me then. After all I AM used to cleaning up my own messes. In the workroom at least." Ben adds wryly at the end.
Ben attempts to use the short broom to push the (presumably floating) corpse to where Ensis can grab it.
The corpse can be hooked at broom-plus-arm length and dragged to shore without too much trouble.
It is bleached and decomposed and (disturbingly) incomplete. This is rather a shame, since it wears one rather nice boot, while the other leg is entirely missing.
"We could have left it there," Rexus gags from about ten feet back, holding the lantern high in one hand and a handkerchief over his nose and mouth with the other.
Bertom comes over to peer towards the two using a broom to drag the corpse to the shore. He nods agreeing with Rexus "Yeah, I'm not sure what use we have for an old soggy corpse either... and isn't there supposed to be something down here?"
"Hrm, I don't want to be an alarmist. But as humanoid physiology IS one of my fields of expertise, I feel required to point out that the humanoid body, alive or dead, does not tend to fall apart without undue cause. Meaning if our soggy friend here is missing bodily parts, it is likely that whatever Dee saw in the water probably took the rest. In other words,..."
Here Ben pauses and takes a large and very deliberate step AWAY from the water.
",... I advise against further immediate examination of the water without prior preparation. And preferably multiple, large, projectile weapons."
Ben looks at the others.
"Just a suggestion." He adds brightly.
Ensis shakes his head, "If we're trying to make this safe, we'll need to deal with whatever is in the water... Unless you think our friend was grabbed while on a swim."
Valexia draws her bow and points it towards Ben, "Well, I am always ready to fire projectiles at things, in or out of the water!"
She squints at the water and says, "Difficult to see, but maybe anything in there is wearing a magical collar. Why, someday we might be lucky."
"Perhaps we should check out the rest of the area? First?" Ben asks hopefully.
"If not,... then how do we try to draw out our fishy friend over there? Where is it anyway?" Ben asks, hoisting his crossbow into position.
"Out there behind the statue, I saw it swim behind." Dee replies; "Of course, something is laughing down here and I've not heard of a funny fish."
The noble looks down at the corpse, just to make sure there isn't any further information to be gleamed from it.
"Clownfish?" Ben offers.
"Nah. never mind. Clowns aren't funny."
"Well, I suppose that I could try to blow it out of the water. Literally. But I'm not entirely certain that my bombs will work once wet. And I am entirely convinced that this underground passage was not occupied with the idea of explosions in mind. On the plus side, I'm unlikely to catch it on fire, so,..." Ben shrugs, the pluses balancing out the negative in his mind. More or less.
Ensis sighs, "I'd say we could lure it back to the shore, but if it left a kill, it's probably not hungry. Still, I don't know that I like the notion of an aquatic beast behind us, since it seems to be able to come out of the water."
"Actually, I'm seeing something with my Magic Eyes," says Valexia, pressing a finger to the side of her face. She puts up a hand palm out dramatically, "Give me a second. Magic Eyes require concentration, my friends!"
Valexia keeps her fingers pressed to the sides of her head. "The body... the statue... and the creature. There is something in the water, moving slowly, I imagine swimming... There is magic there." She pulls her fingers away from her temples and gives her head a bit of a shake. "Wow, nobody ever told me that magic would actually require effort. So I've confirmed there's probably a creature in the water. Around this general area." She waves her hand vaguely towards the glow.
"Hm. Well. I suppose just ONE small bomb wouldn't hurt. Would it?" Ben asks the others. He pulls a clay flask from his bag, and looks expectantly at the others, waiting for a Yay, Nay, or indifferent (which the excitable alchemist would likely take as a 'Yay'.)
"So do we try and find what that creature is, or just explore further on." Dee asks; "However not sure I can do much unless it beaches itself. I certainly don't fancy another dip."
Ensis says, "My many tutors would be rather upset that is leave an unknown danger behind... Or, at least they would if they thought I'd ever actually listened to them," he adds with a wink and a smile. "Maybe we try to bait it, splash on the waters surface and see what happens. If it doesn't react, then we assume it's full after it's recent meal from this unfortunate soul, and put it on the list of things we worry about later."
"Disturb the surface of the water? Why, there's nothing that magic cannot do!" Valexia raises her hands to the side of her head again, turning a little bit red as she tries to hum her bard spells along.
As ripples and wavelets disturb the surface of the little pool near the statue, all is quiet for a moment or two. Then a ghostly shape drifts beneath the surface towards the disturbance. Suddenly, a set of pale jaws lined with ragged, blunt teeth slashes sideways up out of the water, snapping at the disturbance, then sinks back beneath the stilling surface as the pale form glides away again, disappearing into the murky, shadowy water.
The jaws are at least as long as a tall man's arm.
"Well, that should have allowed some of our scientifically minded friends to determine what that was," says Valexia, taking a deliberate step back from the water as Ben did before her.
"Hrm. Maybe TWO bombs."
"Oh!" says Valexia, realization dawning on her face, "A director I knew was arguing with his wife. She called him an old coot and stormed off and he yelled after her that she was a crocodile. Well... I couldn't help myself. I had to ask, what is that? So first he said it is like an alligator, and I didn't know what that was either, so he drew me a picture."
She pauses and presses a finger against her cheek and remarks, "What I'm saying is that thing has a rather striking resemblance to his wife. Whiter than I expected, though. I rather thought they were supposed to be brown or green or something."
Ben nods absentmindedly, still watching the water.
"Albinos are not unheard of in most species. And are more common in those raised underground, away from sunlight and their usual habitats. Few things more dangerous than an adaptive carnivore."
"Lots of teeth these, Crocodile-gators." Ben observes dryly.
Ensis sighs, "I don't suppose they have an obvious weakness? Or, barring that, that they're as susceptible to my natural charms as a director's wife is as likely to be?"
Bert listens closely to Valexia's explanation of what she thinks the creature could be, he does seem to often pay closer attention to her than the others. "You said there was something magic down there didn't you Ms. Aulamaxa? Is this albino crocodile the magic you found, or is there something else down there?"
The young rogue glances over towards Ensis and nods "Charm is certainly the way to go"
"Well, I expect they are a bit less agile on the ground than in the water. You know how it is with aquatic animals. They grab their prey and then drag them into the water and then, I dunno, eat them?" Valexia shrugs helplessly. "I think if anyone can seduce one, it's you, Ensis."
Valexia adds after a moment of considering this plan, "Oh, yes, that's right Bertie. It's got some magic to it. I feel like it might have eaten something magical. Probably off of the corpse, since the magic was moving around."
"Logical." Ben nods at Val's deduction.
"Agreed that getting this creature up on land to deal with would be better. I for one am not the strongest swimmer. Especially when being perforated by that many teeth."
Ben raises an eyebrow at Ensis.
"My friend, you know that I have great respect, and not a little jealousy, of your ability to charm the ladies. But I'm not, entirely, certain that THIS 'crocodile' is the same as that one girls' mother that one time."
Ensis chuckles, "A fair point, Ben... A fair point, at that."
He sobers and says, "Given that it's unlikely to respond to my winning smile, especially while it's in the water, and we don't have time for me to buy it drinks or to win it's heart over with my swagger, tempered with just a bit of wounded brooding.... I think we'd best make a Plan B. So, to that end, if it's clumsier on land, any chance of luring it out with the same magic -- this time, with us ready to pounce and/or bomb it when it does?"
"Well, does anyone have any meat? I can carry a little bit with my magic. Maybe if we make some noise and lure it out... Oh! Or we tie it to the end of a rope, and when it does another big bite, we haul it in! Like the fishermen do!" suggests Valexia. "The group of us can probably drag one awful toothmonster onto land, right? And while you all haul it out, I will fill it with arrows. Perfect plan. I wish I had brought some barbed arrows for this..."
"Fishing for crocodiles....!" Dee says slightly shocked at the plan. "I do have some rope, but won't he bite through it? Spear fishing sounds more feasible. Then again, I've no harpoon or meat."
She uncoils a length of silk rope and slightly stretches for the forth-coming tug-of-war.
"Hm. It's a carnivore, then like most carnivores they likely are attracted to the scent of blood. I happen to have a vial in my bag, and I have a few chemicals that when mixed properly give an odor of rotting meat,... What?" Ben asks looking up from his satchel.
"What? You don't carry vials of,...? Oh. Right. Nevermind,..."
Ensis shakes his head and crinkles his nose "Please tell me none of that rotten meat essence stars in your brew..."
He says, "We'd need harpoons, or something else barbed... Most of my weapons would slide right out if we pulled... Besides, I was rather thinking we just needed to lure it out where we could stab it without, you know, drowning."
Listening to the others plan away Bertom thinks of what they know about the crocodile and how that might help them to get one out of the water. "It snapped at the water when the surface was disturbed. Maybe we could set up a trap like a snare, when it snaps at the disturbed water we yank the rope so it closes around the head instead of getting caught and possibly cut in its teeth? With no hook it might just let go of the bait anyway."
"I would rather the beast came to us, rather than the other way around. I don't know about tug-of-war though. Unless, you happen to be very handy with snares?" Ben asks Bertom hopefully, since the lad made the suggestion.
"Otherwise, keep making a disturbance near the edge, hopefully tempt it, or antagonize it, enough, and it will come out after us. Much better than a swim in it's terrain."
"Well truth be told I'm more adept at taking them down than I am at putting them up, though the principle is more or less the same just in reverse right?"
The young rogue considers Ben's other suggestion and shrugs his shoulders "Continued disturbances near the edge might lure it out, I just hope it doesn't get bored with too many fruitless attempts at catching whatever's making the disturbances, and end up ignoring them instead."
"Alright gentlemen, let's get down to it. No point dilly-dallying about." Dee rolls up her sleeves, gets out a rope and tries to make a snare out of it.
"So Ben throw a small piece of cloth soaked in 'rotten smelling juice' in the centre of the noose, once we have it atop the water. And someone smack the surface with the broom, once everything's arranged. That's the plan?" Her tone wavers between authoritarian and sceptical.
Ben brings out a rag from his pack, and applies a portion of foul-smelling liquid from another of his multiple flasks and vials. Once all is arranged, he checks and readies his 'baby ballista' as he calls it, and aims the crossbow in the general vicinity of the trap,...
"Not to worry, I can smack the water with my magic, I do not even need a broom! Wow, who knew spells could be so practical?" says Valexia, looking to the others for confirmation that nobody could have possibly thought that magic might have practical value.
"I've slingshot, but that's it as far as range." Dee says, chuckling at their lack of preparation.
"There's a supply room just upstairs," Rexus points out, "And a kitchen. Maybe they have a joint of meat we can use. And a rope? Or there might be a rope somewhere down here." The nobleman shrugs. "Maybe if your smelly cloth doesn't work."
"Well, I suppose you COULD use actual meat,... " Ben says, obviously crestfallen that the thought of using alchemically preserved tincture doesn't hold the same appeal for all.
"But with Val's magics, and this broomstick, and I carry a bit of rope,... we can produce a suitable trap I think! Ben says with a smile.
Holding the aformentioned parts, Ben raises an eyebrow.
"I don't suppose that any of you know how to actually CONSTRUCT a trap? Ropes and knots are NOT my specialty."[/b] Ben asks, clearly not intending the obvious pun.