About to step back, Jon saw Bhru attack and turned back.
"Yeah, me too!" He said as he drew his rapier and lunged at a convenient crab.
for a possible piercing damage.
Deciding to contest the crab's prize, the party attacks.
Kellan's arrow slams into one of the crabs with a sickening crunch and Bhru quickly moves in to dispatch the dazed creature. The second proves too nimble for Jon, as his lunge goes wide.
Katigar rushes in and takes swing: , but misses. Ukufa glides in to attack , but her blade glances off the creature's carapace.
The remaining crab attacks Bhru:
catching the dwarf with one of its mighty pincers.
As crabby threatens to distort Bhru's heritage armor further he tries to whap it again,
But more than likely it just breaks off a couple barnacles...
Kellan watches in horror as his actions lead to new dents in Bhru's armor. Frantically he reloads and fires...
Jon splashed back and forth in the shallow water, angling for a good hit.
"I got him. I got him!" He shouted as he lunged to attack.
for a possible piercing damage.
"I don't got him!"
Though frustrated at the crab's shell thwarting her blade, Ukufa mirthlessly reverses her grip and tries to drive it through to the tender meats within;
Ukufa and Kellan manage to find gaps in the creature's tough carapace, while Bhru and Jon's blows glance off its shell. Katigar's mighty blow causes a large crack to form, but badly damaged critty refuses to fall.
Beset on all sides, it lashes out at Jon,
Tearing away some clothing and skin.
Spurred on by their success yet still worried for his companions in Claw range Kellan hurriedly continues pumping out crossbow shots.
His latest shot was far too rushed...
Spinnaker Jon snarled as the crab tore a chunk out of him.
He shifted rapidly to the left and into a flank with Ukufa, then attacked!
for a possible piercing and precision damage.
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Bhru once again tries to de-shell the beast,
As the mighty dwarf readies his assault Bhru hears the Earth Mother whisper through the ground beneath him,
Destroy the beast of the sea My Son....
Bhru lets out a roar as he connects,
'RRRRAAAhhhhh'
Bhru's mighty blow shatters the creature's carapace, bursting forth a fountain of gory viscera and spattering the party in a rain of crabby ichor. The crustacean collapses, very much dead.
With the creatures defeated, you are now free to investigate the corpse. Fishing it out of the water and onto shore, you can see that it is in an advance state of decay, with most of the exposed soft tissue having been removed by the crabs and other smaller aquatic scavengers. Despoiling the body turns up two items of note, a well made short sword with a polished beryl pommel stone and a carved wooden pendant of a dragon wrapped around a flower.
Ukufa stoops to pick up the pendent, glancing at the item with a curious eye;
"Lotus Flower emblem."
Having identifying the symbol, the succinctly offers it to anyone else;
"Mean anything?"
Bhru washes the muck off himself quickly in the water. Looking at Ukufa he shrugs,
'Means nothin' to me, can take it back to Miss 'Vinia, she might know somethin?.'
Kellan glances at the pendant and shrugs wordlessly, turning away as Bhru responds, more interested in exploring the rest of the dank room.
Jon looked at the pendant, frowned and shrugged.
"No idea." He said.
He winced as he felt the damage to his leg.
"Anyone else need ta rest?" He asked around.
Kellan takes a thorough survey of the chamber, turning up nothing of particular note other than the pool here connects to a dark opening visible beneath the water.
Jon sighed with relief at the healing from Kellan, and he nodded his thanks.
Ukufa moves to the edge of the pool;
"Pool not big enough for those crab. Not enough pickings."
She eyes the water with interest;
"Must leave. Scavenge elsewhere."
The party makes camp to lick their wounds and recover their abilities. You pass the time in the cold and damp of the cave, ears straining for the the sound of a moan or the scrap of shuffling feet. Time passes slowly, but uneventfully. Refreshed, you break camp and continue your exploration.
Trekking westward, you return to the entrance to the natural and partially flooded tunnel that you had discovered earlier. Fueled by what must be powerful submerged currents, water laps and splashes against the walls of this twisting natural cavern. A sandy slope descends from the door down to the edge of the subterranean tide. Dozens of purple and red sea urchins glisten in shallow divots along the ground and lower walls here, their spines glittering with water.
At the moment, the water level is below your knees, but the push and pull of its currents continually threatens to pull your feet out from under you.
Spinnaker Jon used his acrobatic skill to keep his feet against the currents of the tidal water.
Kellan attempts to pass the slog of underwater rocks... but presses Bhru with a supernatural guidance before he attempts the passage.
The water that rushes around Bhru's legs tries to put him off balance..
But seems his sturdiness holds true even in water.
As the group moves onward Ukufa slips the well made short sword into her pack.
Later after camp, the divine hunter pushes into the tunnel, mindful of the currents...
There are some struggles as you wade your way through the tunnel. The surging surf sucking at feet and threatening to tumble off balance individuals into the walls, with their heavy load of nasty looking urchins.
Eventually you reach the far end of the passage where you are met by a sturdy, iron banded wooden door. Though corroded and water logged, this door appears to be in better condition than the others that you've encountered so far. The door doesn't budge at a push and the lock is so corroded, that there is no chance of picking it open.
Jon, despite his stumbling ways, managed to adroitly avoid the urchins spines.
Peering at the door, Jon swore aloud.
"Well blow me down. Any o' you lads and lassies have a crowbar or sledgehammer?" He asked around.
"Well uhhh not exactly, but I've a climbing kit, pitons and a hammer may help?". Kellan examines the door as he talks hoping to find a weakness.
Kellan turns and pats Bhru on the shoulder, "Thoughts Master Dwarf?"
Ukufa looses her footing, but manages to avoid the dangerous looking urchins and their spiky defences.
At the formidable portal, the divine hunter too baulks and casts an eye toward the equally formidable dwur.
Bhru examines the door as the others cast inpatient looks in his direction,
'If'n there is no way in, over, er under. Then straight through is the best bet innit?'
The tired dwarf makes ready to charge the door and runs straight at it to truly test its strength... before stopping just short and letting out a hearty laugh,
'I ain't that thick headed!'
Bhru takes his time lining up a good swing at the rusted handle,
The spongy wood of the door resists the steady beat of the hammer. While not really designed for the task it is being put towards, Bhru's persistence overcomes the door's remaining durability and the whole thing cracks asunder. The whole performance is deafening within the tight confines of the tunnel and as you gag on the hot, wet reek of putrefaction that billows out from the ruins of the doorway, you listen intently for any sound of further walking dead. Strain as you might, you hear nothing save for the steady slosh of water lapping the tunnel's walls.
Holding your breath, you look into the room, seeing that the door had been barricaded with the small room's surviving furniture. The smell in the chamber is horrific, a cloying stink of rotten meat rising from the bloated, seeping body slumped in the middle of the floor. The corpse's dark, almost black flesh bulges against its armor, ready to burst at the slightest touch. An intricate tattoo of a dragon clutching a flower is barely visible on his shoulder against the diseased flesh, and clutched in one hand is a crumpled scroll.
The room itself is all worked stone and bricks and the desk, shelves and chair, suggest that this out of the way room might have served as some sort of office.
Eyes watering, Spinnaker Jon takes a deep breath outside the room, then casts Prestidigitation.
Moving to the entrance, he extends his hands and focused on the scroll in the corpses hand. Carefully he caused the scroll to wiggle and lift until it came free from the hand, then caused it to slither across the floor and out to the waiting party.
Kellan winks at Jon and daintily pinching one corner flaps the scroll out and scans it at arms length. "Well Miss Lavinia was certainly correct about her brother... Murder, gangsters it seems. All very cutthroat as well. I'd ask if anyone has the foggiest notion of where the Taxidermist's Hall was but we're still underground on an island..." Kellan profers the scroll to the group. "Anyone have any thought as to how we get above ground and to the mainland? Perhaps if we wait for a low tide this tunnel or the crabs' may be traversible?"
As Kellan reads aloud the scroll, Ukufa stands inscrutable listening, though her eyes remain affixed on the rotten corpse.
She moves toward the cadaver, offering a mirthless comment at the litany of crimes Vanthus had wrought.
"The brother's life is forfeit."
Pausing o'er Penkus' remains she pauses;
"We must honour the dead. His wishes. His funeral."
The lithe ranger eyes the group;
"Burn him. Oil or spell."
As the others tend to the scroll and the dead Bhru takes the opportunity to look around the stonework of the room,
Lesse if there's any magic eh smrt guy...
[/ooc]
MWK leather armour(needs to be cleaned), MWK dagger, gold ring (120gp)
While Ukufa tends to the funerary rites, Bhru devotes his attention to the brickwork, tapping gently with his hammer. Ear pressed against the wall, he definitely hears the sound of a void behind part of the wall. Kellan's magical detection, picks up some magical auras emanating from behind the part of the wall that Bhru had identified.
It takes a bit of searching, but the party eventually finds the trigger to open the secret door. It grinds open slowly, with a shower of dust. Behind it is a small alcove which contains three dust covered wooden sea chests. The auras that Kellan detects originate from within one of the three chests.
"I'm not sure of the intention, but there are multiple magical auras within this chest." Kellan gestures towards one of the three chests. "Let me see if I can..."
'Well by me beard...'
Bhru waits as Kellan fiddles with the chests.
'Hurry up lad, lets get these chests goin between the few of us and get outta this rotten place.'
Jon's eyes lit up.
"Hidden treasure be the best treasure!" He said.
He helped get the sea chests out where they could be examined for traps before opening them.
As Ukufa resigns the mortal remains to the care of Death's Guardian she strips the corpse of all worth.
Conjuring her innate magic, the Jasdian Hunter cleans the removes items systematically...
Laying the dagger, armour and coin out she bows her shaved scalp in reverence;
"The gifts of the dead. Bestowed to the living."
"The requital of the dead. Shall be paid in full."
She rises solemnly as the others crowd around the chests.
"Ahem, well that explains why they wouldn't open. I've no means of picking these locks, but I think we bring this one at least if someone is willing to carry it... Perhaps smash the others open? Any thoughts on how we errr, depart? Perhaps there's a way out through the water?"
Bhru taps his hammer against the side of a chest, waiting for some direction from the more arcane savvy in the group.
'We breakin these or one of ya got a way in?'
Jon just looked at the locks, scratching his head.
"Well, I'm just not that skilled yet to work these locks. Anyone got a chisel?"