You wade through the passageway until it opens into a larger chamber. A large cavern, some 30 yards wide and long, is filled with a shallow pool about 2 feet deep. An octagonal dais rises at the center of the cavern, with rough steps leading up to it on all sides. Coral columns reach from the corners of the dais to the cavern ceiling. At the dais’s center stands an obsidian pillar that echoes the appearance of the monument dedicated to Karshoon in the Rolling Market. The pillar is covered with mother-of-pearl inlays and capped by a gleaming pearl the size of a halfling’s fist— the Ocean’s Tear. The whole cavern glows with a soft, flickering light.
Melissa makes as if to start walking across the cavern, but she's stopped by Elizabeth's hand. "One moment," she says before invoking the enchantment that allows her to see auras.
Elizabeth does not sense any magical auras nearby.
Elizabeth slowly approaches the obsidian pillar (with Melissa close behind) and once she gets within range of it, she attempts her aura spell again.
As you get within a few yards of the pillar, the pool churns as it rises up into the form of a creature! It resembles a giant, corpulent human made from water, its form filled with fish swimming amid swirling silt and strands of seaweed. Its eyes glow azure, and it smiles, revealing gleaming pearly teeth.
"Greetings. I am Shwershhlurgulbloop, and I will not allow you to take the Ocean's Tear." The pool around it pulses outward as it prepares to attack!
[Academic (Occult)] Elizabeth recognizes this creature as a water genie, elemental power given physical form. She knows that water spells will heal it and cold spells will slow it while increasing its defense. Fire spells are quite effective against it!
"Do you know what is happening above?" Saleh asks, unmoved by the genie's presence. "The village is under attack and we need the tear to defend them."
His weapons are currently lowered, but the women know full well he can switch to violence in the blink of an eye.
"I care not. I have been bound here to guard the Tear, and guard it I must, to the exclusion of all else!" the genie declares. You note a trace of resentment in its voice, but that doesn't change the fact that it's about to try to murder you!
"I don't think we're going to talk our way past this one," Kragga growls as the waves push her away. She opens her body up to the World Mother, the goddess's spirit filling her, before moving back in to engage the genie.
Elizabeth ducks under the wave, coming up with her hair streaming water down her dress. With a gesture from her hand, a bolt of flame streaks towards the elemental.
The red-head also slips under the wave of water and moves forward to slash at the djinn with her enchanted knife.
With the creature's negative Saleh sloshes forward to slash with both weapons.
Melissa and Saleh both miss with their strikes, but Elizabeth's missile burns into the genie. It roars in anger and pushes past the front line to get to the sorcerer. It brings its fists down in a heavy blow to try to knock Elizabeth down.
At the shock of the creature striking her, Elizabeth loses her grip on the eldritch energy coursing through her body and it pulses out in a wave of pain.
Elizabeth then falls to the ground and is washed a short distance away.
Melissa is shoved away by the wave but retains her footing.
She quickly moves back in to slash with her knife.
Elizabeth stumbles to her feet, wiping the water from her face. Expending the last of her significant fire attacks, she sends another bolt towards the elemental.
Unable to react fast enough to strike the djinn Saleh too gets shoved backwards by the wave. He recovers quickly though and charges back in with both weapons once again.
Melissa stabs the genie as it moves past her, but Saleh misses. Elizabeth's outburst scorches the genie just before she and Kragga are pushed away by its tidal action,
The orc stomps her foot under water, and a spike of stone shoots out to trip up the genie!
That gives the rest of you time to move in. Melissa scores another good hit while Saleh comes up short once more. But Elizabeth gets to her feet and blasts the genie with flames. It lets out a final howl before evaporating into steam, its pearly teeth splashing down into the water.
Kragga trudges to Elizabeth's side to lay healing hands on her. The sorceress can feel divine power radiating from the orc. "Nicely struck, daughter. The goddess is still in me for a short time. If you would like, I can try to retrieve the pearl while still invested."
"Yes, please," Elizabeth answers the orc in a shaky voice. She steadies herself on her feet. The coppery taste of blood is strong in her mouth and she wonders where it came from.
A moment later, Melissa's arms are around her. "Oh, Miss! Are you ok? Here let me look at you," the red-head babbles in a concerned voice. She finds her head being turned this way and that and her face being prodded. Strangely enough, the prodding hurts! "Stop that," she counters, while pushing the woman's hand away. "It hurts."
"I imagine it do, Miss," Melissa answers back with concern. "But it don't look like nothin's broken. Just don't look in a mirror 'til we get you healed up right and proper."
"Why? What do I look like?"
"You don't worry none. We'll have you right as rain soon enough."
"You have bruises." Saleh comments, filling in the information that Melissa doesn't want to. "Hard blows always leave marks. It will fade soon, faster if you have ice."
"Still pretty though." He murmurs, not intending that anyone hear...
Kragga approaches the pillar and reaches for the Ocean's Tear. With a slight tug, the pearl detaches.
The lights in the cavern dim, and you can hear and feel the water level start to rise as more water begins to pour into the cavern. Before you can react, a globe of inky darkness suddenly envelops Kragga! You hear her snarl in surprise and there are sounds of a struggle. "Something's grabbed the pearl!" she shouts.
Saleh starts forward but pulls up and glances back at Elizabeth, hoping that she can do something about the darkness.
Elizabeth seems not to have heard the muttered portion of Saleh's comment. She attempts to clear the blood out of her mouth again, spitting to the side, before beginning another spell.
Melissa, on the other hand, raises an eyebrow at the soldier and smiles.
When the darkness appears, she takes a readied stance, looking between the darkness and her Mistress.
Elizabeth can sense Kragga as well as two living creatures. One is next to the orc while the other is at the edge of the darkness.
Following Elizabeth's shouted directions Saleh barrels into the darkness, attempting to physically drive the figure on the edge out into the light.
Finally given somewhere to strike, Melissa steps to the darkness and strikes at the one at the edge as well.
Slicing into the dark, though, is still more difficult than it would seem and Melissa strikes at empty air.
From within the darkness, Kragga raises up the ground and hurls the rocks at her attackers!
Melissa misses the enemy at the edge of the darkness, but Saleh makes contact, his blades slicing into flesh as he shoves his foe into the dim light. The creature falls into the water, and you can see it resembles a small man with craggy features covered by a thick mustache and beard, much like a dwarf. Its hood falls back, though, revealing a great glass orb where its skull should be. The orb shatters, releasing murky water and a lampreylike creature that swiftly swims away.
Shadows gather across the chamber as the second creature teleports out of the darkness. Clutching the Ocean's Tear, it quickly runs off through a previously hidden door, disappearing from sight!
Always the man of action Saleh heads straight for the hidden door and ploughs through!
Melissa grabs Elizabeth by the wrist and drags her after Saleh.
Kragga rushes through the rising waters just behind the rest of you. As you make it through the secret door, the green light leaves her eyes and she leans heavily against the wall. Water drips from the soaked orc's body as she takes several shaky breaths, her mind strained by her ecstatic experience.
You quickly close the hidden door, cutting off the now-flooded grotto behind you. You find yourselves in a huge cage partially filled with azure seawater and set with stalactites and various coral formations. A wide variety of sea creature swim through the water. The grotto is illuminated by a series of twinkling lights set into the rock above a long bridge strung along the northern cavern wall. A ledge and a massive iron cage can be dimly seen off to the west.
"I will go first." Saleh says, brooking no dissent. "I am heaviest, if it takes my weight it will take yours."
He sets out on the bridge, moving carefully and trying to check for any loosened ropes or other traps.
A bridge 40 yards long and 4 yards wide lines the northern end of the cavern. A stone path leads to one end of the bridge, while the other end has stairs going up. In the middle of the bridge, a large niche within the cavern holds a table, several battered chairs, and a pantry.
As you approach the niche, Saleh notices something in the water--a large dorsal fin has breached the surface moving in your direction. A moment later, the upper body of a massive shark man emerges--a monster the size of an ogre with the head of a hammerhead shark. The beast is preparing to leap up onto the bridge!
Her frustration clearly building, Elizabeth sends three shimmering bolts of energy flying to the shark-man. They explode with force upon impact.
Melissa looks at the huge creature and then down at her long knife. With a sigh, she moves forward to be ready to strike at the creature once it mounts the bridge.
Saleh draws his weapons and waits calmly for the shark man, striking without compunction as the creature leaps for maximum effect. Sadly the bridge is unsteady and his blow doesn't account for that.
The sharkman ducks underwater to avoid most of the missiles' explosion!
As it leaps up to the bridge, everybody stabs and slices it, leaving it badly injured! Roaring angrily, the sharkman snaps its teeth and swings its gnarled fists all around!
Her significant attack spells virtually exhausted. Elizabeth takes a moment to catch her breath.
Melissa continues slashing at the aquatic enemy with her enchanted knife.
Saleh does what he is good at, killing things.
Melissa and Saleh slices into the sharkman, and it staggers, about to fall. Unfortunately, Kragga is unable to seal the deal, as it knocks her blade aside before it can find purchase.
The creature lashes out with its fists again. It clips Melissa on the side of the head but misses Saleh as he ducks under its swing.
Kragga thrusts her blade in front of her again, this time skewering the sharkman's belly. It groans as its entrails spill from the fatal wound, and as its blood pours onto the bridge, the orc kicks it back into the water! It sends up a huge splash as it sinks beneath the waves...
Breathing heavily, Kragga lays a hand on Saleh's shoulder. "A good fight. May the World Mother preserve us." Healing energy suffuses both the oracle and the fighter. She then casts a pair of healing spells on Melissa.
Once Kragga has finished her healing, Melissa begins exploring the area. Expecting the old-man like figure that escaped to jump out at any moment, she tenses up as she opens the pantry.
Inside the pantry, Melissa discovers three salt-packed corpses of a human woman, a dwarf, and a halfling. At the north end of the pantry, near the ceiling, a long boom arm holding a series of meat hooks can be swung out over the grotto. The ragged upper torso of a bloated human corpse hangs from the farthest hook. This contraption was likely used to feed the sharkman.
Melissa feels the coldness of fear move through her, but she finds that it doesn't affect her as much as she thought it might. Seeing nothing but the stored 'supplies', she exits the pantry closing the door behind her.
"Found the other folk the villagers sent," she says with gritted teeth and no other details. "Nothing else to see there." She steps over to ensure that her mistress doesn't attempt to investigate the storage room herself.
"We need to keep looking for that little man with the pearl."
Stairs at the end of the bridge lead up to another chamber. An open doorway is to the east, while the passage continues to the north. To the west is a reinforced iron door. Anybody passing by the door can hear multiple muffled voices from behind the door crying for help. A wide shutter near the bottom of the door can be opened to pass food inside.
As Melissa moves to attempt to open the door, Elizabeth puts a hand on her arm. "Wait," she says. "There's something not right. The voices are ... wrong."