Galin grabs on, "Thanks Isabella! Maybe this will save a little strength for me until later."
Torian takes one swing at the door and the axe bites deep into the soft wood and a crack forms along where it was struck. Torian's next blow breaks clean through the door and, now loosened from its frame, it falls into the room in 2 pieces. The room is filled with water, probably as deep as the outside corridor. The chamber is in an advanced state of decay, with a gaping hole in the ceiling admitting a constant trickle of water. The three stone sarcophagi in this room are almost completely covered in a thick carpet of moss and fungus. The water is deep enough that only the top halves of the sarcophagi are above the water. Torian and Dart have a moment to take in the room and Dart spots a shadow moving on the right side under the water but doesn't have the time to say anything as a giant frog's head bursts from the water, mouth open and a large sticky tongue launches at Torian.
Torian manages to avoid the tongue and it sticks to the wall next to him and then the frog yanks on it and there is a tthhpt sound as the tongue is pulled off of the wall and back into the frog's mouth which now shows rows of razor sharp teeth.
As Torian realizes that the frog is attacking him, 2 more frog heads break the surface farther into the room and move forward. The closest frog makes another attempt with his tongue to get Torian just as another frog hops onto the sarcophagus and also shoots his tongue at Torian. With it completely out of the water, Torian and Dart see a huge frog, weighing more than 200 pounds. It looks like if it stretched itself out it would be about 6 ft tall, but it crouches low.
The first frog, so startled by the breaking of the door, misses again but the next frog's tongue lands on Torian's chest and sticks to his armor, a gummy, gross mass, and the frog pulls torian farther into the room, right next to him.
Another frog pokes it's head above the water and shoots its tongue at Dart but Dart nimbly dodges out of the way.
Isabella hears the sound of frogs croaking and is initially unconcerned...until she wades around the corner and sees the size of them. "Um. Those are big. Big frogs." She quickly pulls out her acid flask and prepares for battle.
Of course, right after I learn that new cantrip, we have our first fight that's not against undead...
With her flask in hand, Isabella quickly conjures a small ball of acid and throws it at the frog still in the water. While she wants to target the frog attacking Torian, she's too worried about possibly missing and hitting him instead.
dart wades into the room to aid torian, cursing under his breath.
nothin' ever easy here is it? Shoulda kept to pickin' pockets
Dart takes a defensive stance and moves into the room, giving the frogs another target as well as trying to draw their attention from the others, if only momentarily.
Galin still with Isabella hoists the flag shouting, "Defeat them, for Kessan!"
Galin attacks with his short spear using hand of the acolyte.
The south one croaks in pain as the acid splashes against it's skin and begins to burn.
Galin's short spear glows with a spectral light and flashes as he thrusts in the direction of the northern frog and the spear launches at the frog, impaling it before it flashes again, disappearing and reappearing in Galin's hand.
Dart moves farther into the chamber, slogging through the water, with his rapier and dagger held at the ready. The 2 frogs on his sides bite at him as he moves past.
Both bites miss the nimble rogue as he "darts" between the frogs.
Torian looks at the frog with disdain. "Ge' offa' me ye overgrown bello's!"
Taking aim with his axe, the dwarf attempts to attack the offending frog.
Between the water and the tongue, however, the waraxe seems to go wide of the frog.
Torian's awkward axe swing misses the large frog.
The frog with its tongue on Torian bites at him with his sharp teeth and manages to find a weak point in his armor and sinks its teeth into Torian's arm.
The northern frog, seeing Galin atop Isabella's slight form, shoots its tongue out at the gnome, but misses.
The southern frog takes a bite at Dart, but the nimble half elf dodges easily out of the way.
Torian curses as the frog bites him, but notices that the squishy tongue seems to be softer than the hide of the beast. Which, after a moment of thought punctuated by his testing the hardness of his own tongue against the inside of his cheek, seems to make sense to the dwarf.
"Eye sai', geeet OFFA me!"
Taking aim at the tongue, the dwarf attempts to sever the offending appendage.
Only to miss and hit the water ineffectually.
"They be softer 'n th' inside, naugh th' out!" he calls to the others.
Dart moves to aid Torian, seeing that he seemed to be having a bit of a problem as he he was taking quite the licking. However the thigh high water proves to throw off his first strike. However he manages to trip right into the second one.
Isabella grasps her acid flask tightly. "Stop hurting him!" She throws a globule of acid at the frog attacking Torian.
Galin again calls upon the magic domain using hand of the acolyte
[b]"gah, these creatures can't be this hard to hit, I need to get out and exercise this ability more."[/dice]
Galin again calls upon the magic domain using hand of the acolyte
"Gah these can't be that hard to hit, I need to get out and practice more!"
Dart's dagger finds purchase in the giant frog and it thrashes around while Isabella's spell impacts its hide and begins to burn into it as well , it looks close to death. Galin's spear misses the frog entirely.
The northern frog again shoots its tongue out at Galin but it misses. The 2 other frogs bite at Torian and Dart, but Dart dodges out of the way of the slow frogs and Torian brings his shield into the path of the bite and blocks.
is up.[/ooc]
The acid seemed to work well enough before, so Isabella throws another ball of it. "Just die already!"
Isabella's desperate attack hits the staggered frog, but its monstrous form continues to reach at Torian, now enraged.
"You have no power here!"
Galin's spear leaves his hand and attacks
The spear returns to Galin's hand.
Finally seeming to find his footing, Torian finally connects with one of the amphibious attackers, the axe hewing into the frog to leave a deep wound.
"Told ya t' ba'k off, dinnet eye?"
Galin’s outcry startled the giant frog and, as it turns toward him, he sends his spear into its gut, finishing it off before it shimmers and reappears in his hand. When Torian realizes the frogs tongue has gone limp, he gives it a twist, removing it from the frogs body and moves over to the one focused on Galin, giving it a swift overhead chop with his axe and it embeds in the monstrous amphibian’s head, killing it suddenly.
The last frog’s bulbous eyes look around the room, surrounded.
[/ooc]Dart is up I believe. These things have 15 HP.[/ooc]
Dart turns to slash the last frog, the dagger in his offhand proving shorter than the weapons he normally uses and missing its target.
Dart swings his sword at the giant frog, slashing across it's back, and it whirls around to strike at him with its huge maw but can't manage to get purchase on the nimble half-elf.
Galin growing more comfortable perched on Isabella strikes again with the acolyte
More confident now that two of the frogs are dead, Isabella continues hurling acid at the last one.
Galin's spear flies through the frog, skewering it and it slumps into the water at Dart's feet. The water has been churned up and it is now extremely difficult to see anything below the surface. Now that you have a chance to glance around the room, you spot what looks like some kind of horrid gloppy nest in the far corner opposite another door on the other wall. It also appears to be in a similar state as the previous door. Water continues to drip from the rent in the cealing as you take a moment to catch your breath.
Isabella drops her hand which was already starting to form another acid ball. ”Is everyone all right? I guess it’s a good thing that there are still things alive down here.”
She looks around the nest, although she doesn’t expect to find anything useful. Which is good, because she doesn’t.
Still holding onto Isabella, Galin checks for the useful as well.
Torian grimaces a bit as he moves, the successful bite of the frog having taken a toll.
"'ell naugh, tha' was unexpec'ed. A' leas' they were naugh more undeaders."
The dwarf looks around, trying to get an idea of how long this place has been like this.
Dart looks to Isabella with a smirk.
you kiddin? We've fought undead horrors and literal shadows in this place so far, and you think some overside froglegs can bother us? No bella, this was refreshing. Or maybe thats the afternoon swim talking. he quips with a shrug at the end. Before he looks around the room.
Isabella, disgusted by the nest, cant even bear to look at it, but Galin and Dart shuffle through the sticky nest and find a body, a Halfling body. It’s been mostly eaten by the giant frogs, but the one remaining finger on its left hand has a ring on it. It’s a simple silver band covered in etched fish scales with an aquamarine in it. The ring catches Dart’s eye. They also find a pouch with 24 gold coins. They appear to be the same type as the coins from the body they found by the lake.
Torian takes a few moments to look over the room. The distinguishing feature of the room is the crack splitting the north wall and going up onto the ceiling where it opens into a large hole. It’s hard to tell if the water is rising or if it had reached a stable level, but based on the type of soil nearby, the source of the water is probably nearby.
Torian looks over the crack on the north wall, tracing it upward toward the ceiling.
"Th' water sour'e be close t' 'ere. Eye'm naught sure iffen' th' water be comin' in more 'r naught, so this level migh' 'e deeper under water next year."
Making a mental note to add this to their report to the town's leaders upon their return. It might naught be as important as the dead a'risin' and some of their kin bein' slain, but repairs might be in order afterwords.
Turning to the others, he shrugs. "'ell, wha' shou'd we do now?"
Galin looks over the halfling, "Looks like a halfling, I think he's dead."
Isabella still can't stand to look at the body, so she focuses on the rest of the room instead. "Looks like the water's been leaking in for a few months. Maybe it isn't going to get any higher than it already is. Even if it does, it probably isn't going to get much higher anytime soon."
She starts wading towards the southern door. "Let's see where this leads. Hopefully to that wheel we need to find before we can open the gate. Wherever that is."
Dart deftly pockets the ring and grabs the coin pouch.
At the very least, seems we made some gold from all this trouble. He says light heartedly before moving over the where isabella is surveying the wall.
So it seems, still, I'd rather not take too long here, never know if a damn is about to bust, so to speak. Also, you know magic right? I have a few tricks, but seeing it is a bit beyond me. Can you do me a favor and see if this ring is magical in nature? Dart asks as he holds out the silver ring he got from the halfling corpse.
"Of course!" Isabella takes the ring and scans it with Detect Magic.
"Hmmm, it looks like this ring will help you with..."
Isabella, after a couple minutes of investigation, determines that this ring is magical and is made to impart additional skill in swimming.
"Onward! Southwest is a fine direction."
Galin looks at the ring, "huh, cool. That might be helpful."
This door is wedged in just as the last but brief work with Torian's axe makes short work of it.
The hallway ahead of them slopes up unevenly and the water starts to lower on their legs. They pass a doorway on the right and within, you can see the blue fungus all over the walls within that room. Passing it by, you reach the doorway at the end and it opens up into a large high-ceilinged room. Nestled into the sides of the room are more statues of Kassen holding his longsword in varying poses. On the far wall, is a giant metal spoked wheel. It has to be 8-10 feet wide with handles on the edge of it lined up with every spoke.
Water covers the entire bottom of the chamber except the area right next to the wheel. It's stagnant and dark enough that light doesn't penetrate it but its not as deep as the frog room. Only 1 foot deep by the doorway.
Seeing the statues, Torian holds up his hand to have the party stop.
"Naugh, Eye'm naught brill'ant by any stretch, bu' di'naught they have these statues rigged t' swing upstairs?" As he says this Torian will look around for any indications in the stonework to suggest traps, especially related to the statues and their swords.
Isabella sets Galin down once the water is low enough for him to walk, rolling her shoulders to work out any lingering stiffness. She eyes the water warily. "Do you think there's more frogs in here?"
Torian's reminder about the statues causes her to switch her focus to them. "You're right. Upstairs they would swing down at anyone passing by them. Best to be careful."
She cranes her neck to look around, but doesn't step into the room until Torian or Dart confirm it's safe to do so.
Torian eyes up the statues but a few minutes of looking them over from a distance doesn't show any signs of articulation and none of the poses would lead naturally into an attack. They appear to be plain statues celebrating Kassen.
Isabella, sadly, can't see far into the room, the light is to low to make out details along the far wall. What she can see appears to be benign. The water shouldn't be deep enough for more of the frogs to hide.
Galin noticing hit feet touching again, sits them onto the ground again. "I'll have to go a bit slower, but I think I can make my own way from here. Thank you again Isabella!"
Steping out, Galin looks around "Torian, Dart, we have your back, watch out for the statues though!
Galin watches for danger.
Torian steps forward cautiously. "Th'y seem'ta be more stationary than th' other bunch. Still, watch yer step. Naugh tell'en wha' challenges be 'ere. 'r surprises naugh normally on th' this 'est."
Going slowly, the dwarf moves gradually toward the wheel, stopping every few steps to make sure that nothing he has stepped on triggered any surprises.