With there now being confirmation that there's someone or possibly several someones down here with you - maybe Gerlach, maybe more skum, maybe something else entirely - you all slow your pace a bit and adopt a more stealthy approach.
Or at least you try. Sheela and Wadi actually do a pretty good job of keeping their passage quiet but Luurg's explosive flatulence does him no favors here. It also seems unlikely that McKieg will be able to keep especially quiet due to his heavier armor but you can take comfort in knowing that if there's anything close by, it will at least not be expecting everyone.
As you continue to make your way forward the passage continues to curve to the south and then slowly begins circle towards the west. You see up ahead that the passage branches again; once to your right and again to your left, further up. Luurg tries to inch up to where the first branch occurs and takes a peek...
...to find a half-collapsed room strewn with the remnants of recent slaughter. Several villagers lie on the floor here, wounded and dying, entangled in nets and impaled by broken tridents — their soft cries and groans of pain echo throughout the room. The metallic tinge of blood hangs heavy in the air of the chamber.
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Luurg frantically waves the rest of the group forward upon finding the room full of injured and dying villagers. The half-orc does some quick triage and discovers that of the eight villagers here, three are conscious - pleading for aid - and the other five lie unconscious or even dying.
As McKieg readies to channel healing to save the dying, Adyr steps up to the task instead in order to allow the dwarf to save his strength of conviction for challenges yet to come. The healing washes over the entire group, mending wounds, knitting bones, and cleansing away bruises. A few of the unconscious villagers slowly begin to rouse and the others, while still unconscious, breathe more steadily and deeply, no longer in danger of bleeding to death.
"Oh...oh thank you, kind strangers! We'd surely be dead if you hadn't come along...you're here to save us, yes? Please, I think with just a little more healing, if you can spare it, that we might be able to escape this place at last!"
As you continue to interact with the injured villagers, something seems off. Then it hits you - they're nothing more than a very convincing illusion!
The northern wall of the room, where the most injured villagers lie, is precariously balanced...and jury-rigged to collapse if anyone approaches.
As McKieg speaks and points out the illusion the rest of you are, with a bit of focus, slowly able to see that he's right - these 'injured villagers' are nothing more than a very convincing and complex illusion. Combined with the jury-rigged wall it seems like this entire room has been deliberately set up to slow you down and to goad you into using up resources.
Most of you cautiously withdraw from the room, though McKieg does linger at the entrance to this small cavern long enough to scan the area for any other magical auras. Nothing registers beyond the illusionary villagers though with a bit of scrutiny McKieg - or someone else knowledgeable - might be able to determine the exact spell that was used here.
And of course it might also be possible to disarm the rigged wall trap, should Luurg wish to do so. If not, Sheela estimates that she'd have no trouble conjuring a critter to trigger the collapse - once everyone else was safely out of the chamber, of course.
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"Whoever set this trap, he or she used a programmed image spell. Only a very powerful arcane caster could manage something like that. Best be on our toes," McKieg informs the team.
Pleased that he was able to identify the spell, the warpriest murmurs a prayer of gratitude to Yuelral the Wise, and then he follows Luurg.
Deciding to leave the freaky illusions and rigged walls behind, Luurg and McKieg lead the rest of you further on along the strange circular-shaped passageway. As you pass by another collapsed branch that leads away to the southwest you notice that the tunnel that you're in begins to slowly circle towards the northwest. There are no further signs of tracks but that does little to settle the sense of unease that hangs over you.
That said, it isn't long before the pair in the lead see what appears to be the entrance to another chamber up ahead to the right.
A very cautious and quiet peek around the corner reveals another domed chamber similar to the one that you discovered the illusion of the villagers within, except this one is not collapsed. It is, however, mostly flooded. A dank pool of seawater has seeped into this chamber and within its dark recesses, seaweed floats in the dark water in tangled mats.
Though you have to venture close enough to delve the water's dark recesses to do it, you find a fossilized skeleton of a human grasping a mineral-encrusted spear. The spear’s head contains a motif of seven entwined columns.
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Luurg creeps closer, his eyes locked in on something in the water. "Cubber me half mang, sumting gud in dare, I'mma gunna grab it quick ok? Ok." This time though Luurg isn't nearly as gullible as earlier, he pulls a banana off his belt and eats it quickly. His arms growing double their length after he does.
He picks up a piece of broken shell and tosses it into the water before he gets too close, then creeps ahead to snatch the prize with his long arms.
While McKieg keeps a wary eye out to the north, Luurg uses banana-magic to extend the length of his arms and safely pulls a fancy spear up and out of the murky water - after chucking a piece of shell in first to make sure that it's safe.
Though Tiffany pooh-poohs the weapon's style, Wadi's examination of it yields that not only is it an enchanted spear but one enchanted to a specific purpose - to combat strange, alien creatures.
Given what you know and what you think you might know, it's a weapon that could come in handy in very short order...
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Adyr takes a moment to ponder on the spear.
"In my researching of ancient tales and items of arcane lore... many items found within the lairs of creatures and foul monsters are often brought in by would-be adventures who fell victim to one or more malign forces. Maybe this spear is precisely what we need to fight these creatures more effectively. I would also be curious about who brought this item down here and how long it has been here."
@Ladile- Does the spear have any markings and or inscriptions that might be regionally or temporally distinguishable? I think appraise and history might make some sense as a skill check.
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Tiffany leans in, whispering to Sheela. "This guy's a real nerd, huh? Look at him obsess over this old, moldy spear. Next he's, like, gonna take out an encyclopaedia and tell us all about ancient weapons. How exciting!"
Luurg quickly turns and shushes Tiff, putting the spear behind his back so it doesn't hear "You be nice to new spear, spear not werk gud if you make it sad!" He waggles his big green finger at the frog and pets his new spear nicely, just in case.
The more that Adyr considers the magical spear and its motif featuring seven entwined columns...the more he's certain he's seen something like this before. Very recently, in fact! He recalls one of the books you found during your search of the old archives, entitled The Seventh Column. It offered details of an ancient secret society who were executed by drowning after a failed coup of Nal-Kashel's colleges.
And you now think that perhaps they staged their attempted coup for a very good reason.
With nothing else of interest to be found in this chamber you proceed onward through the passageway, which continues north until you reach a 'T' intersection; the corridor leading back towards the east is collapsed and you suspect that it once led back into the large chamber where you first arrived. Luurg and McKieg lead the way down the western passage which rapidly curves towards the north once again.
The group doesn't get too far past the 'T' intersection before McKieg & Luurg notice two things up ahead. One is that there appears to be another chamber or passageway that branches off to the east just a few feet further up. The second is the rather large crustacean-like creature that stands blocking the way a few feet past the eastern branch; a creature that you've tangled with before. It doesn't seem surprised in the least to see the group of you coming up the corridor and it clacks its large claws in anticipation...
This creature is actually a chuul, an armored, crustacean-like aberration that commonly lurks beneath the surfaces of shallow ponds and mires. But the powerful illusion that the creature was cloaked in is abnormal and this sort of hunting tactic is practically unheard of.
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Sheela
Adyr
Tiffany
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Red
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Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Sheela, Adyr and Tiffany are UP!
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"Oh, it's that thing again. I'll summon some flanking. One moment, please."
Sheela begins casting Summon Monster 2 to conjure Queen Rainbowprances, the Celestial Horse!
Remembering what happened the last time, no one seems especially eager to approach the strange crustacean-monster. Sheela hangs back and begins to conjure some help while Tiffany readies to throw her net if the thing gets close enough. Unable to determine just what they're dealing with, Adyr conjures numerous mirror images of himself and carefully advances forward with his bow at the ready.
The crustacean-monster scuttles forward a few feet but is either naturally wary or not as stupid as it might seem at first glance and seems unwilling to get too close.
Seems that it might've been a good call too, as McKieg also readies to strike at the monster if it gets close enough!
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Sheela + Friends
Adyr
Tiffany
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Red
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Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Luurg, McKieg and Wadi are UP at the bottom of Round 1 and Sheela+ Friends, Adyr and Tiffany are UP at the top of Round 2!
The monster is immediately made to regret his life choices as Wadi lobs a fireball into the tunnel just behind him, catching him by surprise with the blast! Luurg follows suit, cracking the thing upside the head with a fiery coconut!
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Sheela + Friends
Adyr
Tiffany
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Red
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Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
McKieg is UP at the bottom of Round 1 and Sheela + Friends, Adyr and Tiffany are UP at the top of Round 2!
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Sheela completes her summoning ritual and Queen Rainbowprances, the Celestial Horse appears to stomp the crab thing!
Sheela, meanwhile grabs her crossbow and loads it. ”Trying to save magic, here.”
Sheela's newest friend, Queen Rainbowprances, materializes on the far side of the creature and attempts to stomp down with angry, righteous hooves - but the thing is more agile than you'd expect for its size and easily dodges the two blows.
It also manages to dodge Tiffany's chucked sling bullet but isn't so fortunate against McKieg, as the dwarf steps forward and lays into the lobster-monster with his longaxe! The creature chitters in pain and then calls out, "ឥឡូវនេះធ្វើវាឥឡូវនេះពួកគេខ្លាំងពេកដើម្បីប្រឈមមុខតែម្នាក់ឯង!"
"Now, do it now, they are too strong to face alone!"
McKieg manages to catch a flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye as a second lobster-monster comes up and out of the side passage, swinging a mighty claw!
Luckily, Blue's aim is off and the dwarf manages to jiggle clear of the grasping, pinching claw!
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Sheela + Friend
Adyr
Tiffany
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Red
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Luurg
McKieg
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Blue
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Wadi
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Adyr is UP!
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Adyr will begin his orations. Inspiring Rhetoric of Lost Empires number 35 seems rather fitting in this instance.
"Fear not the old evils of the world... no one will save you unless you first save yourself. The old evils are foes worthy of your ire and may your courage triumph over them!"
Inspire Courage (+2 to hit/damage and saves vs. fear).
Adyr will draw his sword as he moves forward to closer quarters with the creature.
Adyr starts up one of his many, many orations as he draws his sword and steps forward to support McKieg against the two lobster-monsters.
Though noticeably bloodied Red seems emboldened by the arrival of his ally and squeezes forward to try and get a piece of McKieg, though this leaves him open to a retaliatory strike from the dwarf as he does.
If I understand the Squeezing Rules correctly, Red can wedge himself into the space between the wall and his buddy; since this counts as 2 squares of movement instead of 1 he can't 5-foot-step and thus actually has to move and eat an AoO from McKieg.
But Red's claw bounces harmless off the dwarf's sturdy armor!
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Sheela + Friend
Adyr
Tiffany
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Red
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Luurg
McKieg
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Blue
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Wadi
Active Conditions: Inspire Courage +2/+2
Environmental Conditions: None
Luurg and McKieg are UP!