"No, I prefer not to swim if we can avoid it..." Atia says, placing a hand on the big man's upper arm and giving it a quick squeeze. She begins to head down the tunnel with the shallower water, although she will pause after a moment and wait for those with better scouting abilities to go ahead.
Nodding and giving her a smile, "Sounds good to me, darlin'. Let's move." Leading the way, Joran keeps a lookout.
Joran leads the way to the next chamber, which is filled with about five foot deep water. Peering under the surface, his keen eyes spot trouble.
Under a carpet of seaweed, iron bars have been shoved into the muck. What appears to be parts of a cell, like the brig of a ship, have been used to gate off an underwater oubliette. Under those bars are some kind of foul aquatic undead. They appear free to move about in their cell, and their long arms are able to reach up through the bars. Anyone entering the pool is in danger of being grabbed by them.
Fighting them through the bars may prove tricky, but would control where they can move. On the other hand, the big barbarian is fairly sure a strong tug would dislodge the bars, should the group wish to lead them to more favorable fighting terrain.
Lanni follows along with the others as they head down the flooded pathway. He peers past Joran at the undead monstrosities confined in their cell. "Huh. It's like shooting fish in a barrel." He turns to Atia and Des. "How many bolts do you two have for your crossbows? And Des, do you recognize these undead too?"
Terry looks at the collection of additional undead in front of them. "Think we can take the time to sit here and feather them instead of getting closer? I don't think any of us really want to let another rotting corpse grab hold, do we?"
Holding up a hand to halt the others, "Okay, guys and gals, I've found something. You're going to love this. We've got underwater undead things just waiting to grab at us. Good news is they're trapped in a prison with bars overhead. Bad news is: They've got some long arms and could reach us through those bars as we pass over them. And we have to pass over them. There are no two ways about it. If you want, I'm thinking I might be able to pull those bars free, and then we can fight them on our terms instead of theirs. Because I don't think shooting arrows underwater is going to get it done, Lan." Looking to the others, "What do y'all think?"
"Anyone able to whip up a long spear or something like that?"
"Anyone able to whip up a long spear or something like that?"
Pointing at the gnome, "Now that's not a bad idea. Do any of us actually have a spear?" He looks around at the others, curious if anyone does.
Lanni follows along with the others as they head down the flooded pathway. He peers past Joran at the undead monstrosities confined in their cell. "Huh. It's like shooting fish in a barrel." He turns to Atia and Des. "How many bolts do you two have for your crossbows? And Des, do you recognize these undead too?"
o
More undead. Not s9mething she was hoping to meet up with."Let's see what we have this time."
This rime it took a little over 30 seconds to get her answer before she got out of her trance. "Interesting... but also kinda annoying."
Lanni looks at Destinie with quite a bit of concern and some mild apprehension. "Uh... It was just a simple question..." He walks over and waves his hand in front of her. "Des..?"
"Interesting... but also kinda annoying."
"Yeah, I would definitely agree with that."
"Let's see what we have this time."
Des recognizes these as lacedons -- aquatic ghouls, with all of the annoyance and disease of regular ghouls but skilled swimmers to boot.
"It might be a good idea to pick off whichever ones we can and then open it up to finish them off. If we leave them behind us, they could be set loose by those grindylows later...or something worse. They're obviously kept here for a reason."
"Great. More ghouls," she said sarcastically. "They're called lacedons, but they're basically sea ghouls with same issue with them."
Lanni nods to Atia. "Sounds like a plan to me. We can certainly afford one volley at least. We can see how that works and decide from there."
"Crossbows to the ready... Fire."
:⁂:
"Well, I didn't think to bring a crossbow. I'll make sure to do that next time I get dumped off on an island full of undead disease spreading flies."
"Well, I've got my crossbow ready, at least." Atia grins, pulling hers out and loading it up with a bolt before aiming and firing off at the group of ghouls.
Mateo pulls himself out of the water, no worse for the wear as he shakes his hair out and grabs his wet hat from the ground before placing it back upon his head. Giving a grin to everyone, he would follow them down along the pathway to where it opened up even further. At the mention of aquatic ghouls, Mateo would grimace lightly and draw out his crossbow. It was specially designed, made have all of its parts contained inside and unbothered by water.
"We'll, we'll see how this goes. I have about...oh...twenty bolts or so. Didn't think we'd have to fight so many things in the water." Mateo muttered, sheathing his blade as he knelt down and aimed at the ghoul carefully.
Atia's shot grazes one of the undead, Mateo's first missing as it gets caught up in the seaweed.
As you all discuss your options, and Atia and Mateo begin firing into the water, you hear the echoing battle cries of an unknown, but large, number of grindylows. They sound like they're coming from behind you, down the long tunnel you traveled down to get here -- and behind whomever was bringing up the rear. It would seem the alarm was raised by the grindylow that fled.
The narrow tunnel may not be ideal for fighting...but the chamber ahead has the grasping ghouls. You judge you have less than half a minute until they arrive
"Right. This isn't working well." Mateo muttered, slinging the crossbow back over his shoulders as he hears the echoing cries of grindylows coming from behind them. He looks about the room for a moment before looking over his shoulder at the others.
"Dreamer, Joran, and Terry. You hold the line here where the ghouls are. I'll hold the narrow passageway." Drawing out his rapier once more, the man starts moving towards the back of the line where he once was. "Atia, Des, and Lanni, you stay behind us. Take my crossbow if you need to. I don't have anything smaller for you, friend." Mateo says to his gnomish friend, getting in the back and preparing himself for combat.
you hear the echoing battle cries of an unknown, but large, number of grindylows. They sound like they're coming from behind you, down the long tunnel you traveled down to get here.
"Hey, Mateo. That is a very lovely crossbow. Can I borrow it from you for a minute or two. It looks like we are going to be in close quarters fighting again anyway."
"Dammit," she cursed as began to reload her crossbow before standing behind Mateo.
"I think this is a good spot to defend regardless. Not many of them can squeeze through here. If anyone else can squeeze by his side do it now. Anyone else who's a good shot can deal with the lacedons... sea ghouls. I'll see if I can keep everyone in front alive."
The bolt was released immaturely and slammed against the rock. The resulting splinter ended up smacking her in the face. "...and can someone with better aim take some shots at them too?" she groaned.
Atia casts Mage Armor on herself and then reloads her crossbow and fires another shot at the ghouls.
Her shot goes wide, the seaweed making taking aim difficult.
"Thanks, Mateo," Lanni says as he grabs the crossbow and quiver of bolts from Mateo.
Lanni grunts a bit as he cocks it, but he gets it loaded. Then fires a shot at the nearest sea ghoul.
Lanni splashes around a bit to keep himself from going completely under water. "Wow, this thing has some serious kick."
Drawing his greatsword and holding it high as he readies for the oncoming attack, he glances over at Mateo. "I wonder how many are coming our way? I'd bet you money, buddy, but I don't have any." He shrugs. "Their numbers don't really matter though because we are THE WALL. They ain't getting past us, buddy." He states with the utmost confidence while sporting a grin that's equally as confident.
Terry would have taken a pot shot at the Lacedons as well.
As we become aware of the impending charge, Terry would want to adjust position to see about trying to shoot incoming. Maybe. Depends on how obscured the shots are. They will probably be too obscured to be worth the effort, but Terry will want to see that before he gives up.
When he realizes how poor the shot chances are, he'll move back to the rearguard. But for now, he's hoping to help. Honest.
hearing the swarm incoming, seadreamer draws axe and dagger and waits.
while waiting he looks around for a spear or something that can be used as such.
Splashing quickly down the tunnel, several grindylows come into view, and Dreamer notices the seaweed from the northern entrance swaying as more grindylows approach from that fork, though they are not yet visible.
Atia glances to her left, seeing that Mateo and Joran have that area handled, and steps out to the right to provide Dreamer with some backup. She quickly takes in the battlefield, seeing how many undead there still are, and decides to fire another shot at the same lacedon she hit last time, biding her time with spellcasting until a more opportune moment arrives.
Atia's bolt thunks into one of the ghouls just before she spots some sort of serpents spilling into the pool from the eastern tunnel.
No, not serpents. Tentacles.
A moment later the massive bulk of the creature they're attached to squeezes in from the passageway. The tentacles snake towards Dreamer, whipping through the water as they seek prey, but finding nothing.
Seeing the tentacles coming around the corner, Lanni hollers, "Aaahhh. Those are not locked away under the water. I am really not liking being cornered in this confined area."
He bobs and swims his way forward to where he can get a clear shot at the tentacle thing. Then notices that the crossbow he is holding isn't loaded. "Whoops. OK, Mr. Tentacle Terror - just stay there for a bit. This won't take but a moment..." He reloads the crossbow.
can we push back against the grindylows. there is a mass of tentacles coming our way
Bab, str, bless, 2 weapon, add 1 if aquatic
"They're already on us! We need to hold!" Mateo shouts to the back, looking over at Joran. "I'm confident that I can hold this beasts down. Fall back and assist Dreamer if you need to." Despite the danger, a wide grin spreads across his face the entire time.
"A mass of tentacles? What?" Joran looks back in a panic, trying to take notice of what Seadreamer is talking about.
"They're already on us! We need to hold!" Mateo shouts to the back, looking over at Joran. "I'm confident that I can hold these beasts down. Fall back and assist Dreamer if you need to." Despite the danger, a wide grin spreads across his face the entire time.
Looking at the oncoming grindylows, his concern is at a high level as he works to consider what 'a mass of tentacles' might entail. "Are you sure, buddy?" Torn on what to do, Joran snaps another glance backward before cutting his focus to Mateo. "Well... I guess. But you'd better be sure about this, Mateo! I'm trusting you, buddy. I really don't like the sound of 'a mass of tentacles'. Gods that can't be good."
In the southern tunnel, two grindylows die upon Mateo's blade as quickly as they arrive. Another is cut in half by Joran's sword. The fourth and final grindylow tries to trip Mateo so he can pass you by, but he fails horribly, and is now standing amidst a pile of his dead kin realizing this might not work out well for him.
From the northern tunnel, the first grindylow to swim toward Dreamer is welcomed by a dagger through the ear opening, floating away dead. Another rushes in behind him, and two make for Lanni, thinking him the easier target. Many missed swings later, both Lanni and Dreamer are untouched.
Lanni dodges back slightly from the rushed attacks of the Grindylows. "Aww, you are ruining my shot."
I can let them go to you if you want. Seadreamer quips as he steps over the tentacles of the grindylow that was in front of him.
As Joran moves past Atia, "How we doing over here, darlin'?" he asks her, taking in their current situation as he winds up in between Lanni and Seadreamer.
Edit:
"Well, there's a giant tentacle, more grindylows, and all of these undead..." She grins at her giant lover with a slightly bloodthirsty glint in her big blue eyes. "Could be fun, as long as we all stay alive."
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"How we doing over here, darlin'?"
Deliberately misinterpreting Joran is talking to, Lanni replies, "Everything is just peachy. We have our pick of squid-kebabs of various sizes to choose from."
So far so good. The grindylows were all falling to their onslaught. Yet there was one more fight going on. Her eyes opened wide as she tapped Mateo's shoulder to show the incoming threat.
The man parries an attack aside, thrusting and barely missing the grindylow. He was beginning to make another opening, another chance for a lethal blow. When Destinie calls back to him, he kicks the grindylow back and looks back with a snarling grin and an angry, ferocious, blue eye.
"Everyone is so needy. I'll be there when this one is dead." He shouts, planning on securing the back line completely if he could.
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"Well, there's a giant tentacle, more grindylows, and all of these undead..." She grins at her giant lover with a slightly bloodthirsty glint in her big blue eyes. "Could be fun, as long as we all stay alive."
Deliberately misinterpreting Joran is talking to, Lanni replies, "Everything is just peachy. We have our pick of squid-kebabs of various sizes to choose from."
In the middle of combat in which the hostile creatures clearly outnumber the heroes, Joran chuckles. "Well, my darl-in's," he looks back, shooting a Atia a wink, "I was afraid this wasn't going to be much of a challenge." He says with a wry grin.
"Oh, man! Ohmanohmanohmanohman . . .." Terry may not be choosing his words very well, but he's pretty clearly expressing his embarrassment over failing to help the team where it needed him to help.
With his bow out, and so many bodies crammed into the space in front of him, Terry lets a shaft fly, hoping to make a positive difference.
"Lanni! Let's swap spots!"
In the chaos of the sudden influx of enemies, banter keeps your spirits up as folks shift positions and prepare for the new threat. The ghouls make their way underfoot, ignoring the grindylows, and clawed hands reach through the bars for Dreamer and Lanni's ankles.
Two of the bloated aquatic ghouls, thier flesh pale and spongey, grasp and claw at Lanni. One clutches at his ankle, threatening to pull him under if he doesn't soon break free. The other takes advantage of the distraction to claw at his leg. A third ghoul reaches for Dreamer, but he kicks the hand aside.
"Oww. These things can reach farther than I thought."
"Lanni! Let's swap spots!"
"In a bit. I gotta make some squid kebabs first."
Spirit Type: Champion
Seance Boon: You gain a +2 bonus on all non-spell damage rolls.
Spirit Bonus: +1 to attack rolls, non-spell damage rolls, Strength checks, Strength-based skill checks, and Fortitude saves.
Influence: ①
Penalty: none
Taboo:
Lesser Power: You gain proficiency in all martial weapons and in one exotic weapon of your choice.
Atia flips to the correct page in her spellbook and casts Summon Monster II again, pulling another Giant Frog out of its home plane. Atia then looks around her, wanting to step back, then realizes there's nowhere to go, so she braces herself for the onslaught.
The giant frog reaches out and tries to take a big bite of the already-injured lacedon in front of it.
Des seeks to finish off the remaining grindylow on her side, pulling out her crossbow to hopefully have better luck on the creature.
Atia's frog plays whack-a-ghoul and bites the head off one of the lacedons that's trying to grab up through the bars. Des also hit her mark, injuring the grindylow before Mateo.
The tentacled monster, like a squid or octopus but with vicious barbs on the insides of its tentacles, tries again to grab for the dwarf, reaching over the fracas, but dreamer again manages to dodge the attack. He gets a good look at the beak-like mouth under the tentacles, and is fairly certain it would not be in his best interest to be caught by this thing.
Lanni decides against trying to use the crossbow at the moment. He does keep hold of it with one hand, but draws his rapier with the other. He goes to attack one of the Grindylows in front of him, but realizes that one of his feet is still being held by an underwater Ghoul. "Hey, let go of me."
Lanni uses his rapier to pry at the hand holding his foot.
Seadreamer speaks out towards the mass of tentacles that are reaching him.
Hey, no touchie, we aren't even friends yet, so don't be grabbing for me.
While stepping over and around the tentacles, he attempts to stab another grindylow that has Lanni worried.
BAB, STR, Bless, Aquatic, 2 Weapon
HP22, AC 17 (+2 vs Aquatic), CMD 18+4 vs Trip, Saves F5, R5, W2 +4 Vs Spell/SLA, +2 vs Poison
The bolt from Des creates an opening in his enemies defense, allowing the swashbuckler to bypass the range of the spear and strike with his blade.
"Right. Excuse me, miss." Mateo says, passing by Destinie and returning to the fray. Try as he might, the front line was inaccessible.
"Damn it! Let me through. My blade isn't that long. Where is the crossbow, Lanni? You still have it?" Mateo shouts, growing more irritated that the enemy was right over there and were so eager to die.