Session+87



**The Underwater City**
 *  Session 87 **
 * 4/2/16 **

Tentacles wriggled slowly in a cavernous passageway of coral... the water was dark and murky with bits of flotsom floating about. Pulling out his ioun stone for light, Thorn swam in first and scouted the way, telling everyone else to wait. He initiated his three sunrods and dropped them along the passageway leaving a glowing trail. He found a section of sharp and jagged coral that closed like an iris to crush anyone trying to go through the hallway. He carefully disarmed the horrific trap. Little protrusions of coral lit up along the way, sending out multiple bolts of lightning! The others watched as the corridor lit up with several criss-crossing eye-blinding bolts. He deftly dodged out of the way, and then took a scorching hit from one of the rays as he swiftly disarmed it. Algae covered slightly-glinting runes around the doorway. He looked it over to recognize it as an empowered disintegrate spell. He paled slightly and moved in to carefully disable it.

The others joined him at the end, peeking through the kelp covered doorway to see a blood cloud trail hanging in the water and large creatures swimming around in the seaweed. Thorn slipped into the room, moving off to the side to let the others move in as well. He snatched the ioun stone floating light around him and put it away, darkening his corner. Posy enlarged with rage as two mercats swam up through the kelp to claw and bite into Thorn, one of them holding him in it's strong jaws! Maliumpkin, having shifted into a sting ray to fit through the passageway, began summoning as Ursus wove barkskin over Azarius.

As the delved deeper into the under part of the city, the veil thinned and the group could almost feel the tentacled sphere staring back at them. Azarius considered teleporting through, but thought better of it and wove haste around his companions instead. Wren stepped through the archway, and wove a retribution hex over one of the sea-lions, and Kale moved up protectively in front of her. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Erevin moved into the room and Inali followed him in, staying back behind Wren.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Posy swam into the room and struck vitally into the lion of the sea holding onto Thorn as it continued to bury it's fangs into the halfling. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Thorn did his best to struggle free from the mer-cheetah's grip. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">The sea-lion backed away from Posy, dragging Thorn with it as the other charged over to bite viciously into the gnome barbarian, clenching his jaws to lock onto her! The shirt around the gnome burst into flame, burning the mer-cheetah as it held her.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">A water elemental answered the druidess's call and it rushed in to attack the sea-lions with it's watery fists as Mali whipped into the room behind it. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Azarius followed her into the room as Wren wove a fortune of luck hex over Thorn. Kale moved up to slash into the mer-cheetah chewing on the halfling. Thorn used the opportunity to stab his dagger into the beast's mouth! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">The fire continued to wash over the mer-cat biting into Posy who slashed wildly with her beautifully-carved dwarven adamantite hammer, gashing into it again and again, obliterating it into pulp!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Thorn flung Rose out into the water and teleported to her out of the creature's mouth... as he moved through for the briefest of moments... it felt like eyes watched him and tentacles were everywhere... he felt ill as he reentered to pick up his dagger. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Frustrated with the loss of the halfling, the mercat turned to claw and bite into the water elemental, sending it back to it's home plane.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"> Erevin sent a barrage of arrows through the water piercing with a fatal strike into the mercat trying to ragdoll Thorn, dropping it to finally release the halfling who scrambled away from it and quickly downed a potion of healing. Erevin looked at the moonblade on his hip, curious if he could still somehow communicate with Shri inside. "Yes, I can hear you," she answered him with a smile in her voice. "Can you still heal the group while you're in this form?" he asked her, glancing at the ragged and still bloody Thorn. "Yes," she replied, "I can channel around you as I normally would, or if you touch me to someone I can still heal them directly."

Mali had already moved up to lay her hands on Thorn and healed him, but something more was wrong... he didn't look right. "I don't feel so good," Thorn shook his head, "Don't do any teleporting down here..." He looked around and then whispered loudly, "He sees you!" "What?!" Wren spun around wide eyed to look at the young rogue. The red-haired druidess put her hands back on him and wove another spell to help remove some of the feeling of sick, but then she seen something move under his skin and jerked her hands back, "Eww! Thorn! What's in there?" "I don't know," he shook his head, "Get it out." She nodded, putting her hands back on him and sent another wave of magic through him to expel all parasites and internal monsters. Thorn coughed and spewed up a mass of black tentacles! An eye opened up on it just for a moment before an arrow from Erevin pierced it and killed it quickly. Wren frowned, looking over Thorn, "You got that from teleporting?" He nodded, "I don't recommend any dimensional travel."

Mali healed the halfling again before Thorn led the way still feeling the luck of Wren's hex, scouting the passageway. He defaced the rune of destruction and crept on ever silently through the murky water. There were braziers on either side of a archway to the right and a darkened archway to the left. Beyond the fire was the sparkle of gold and a dark form. Beyond both archways was an alcove to finish out the hallway non-trapped. He doubled back to the others to tell them that something was down to the right, "I'm pretty damn stealthy and it didn't see me... but it's real likely to see everyone else." Wren nodded, putting another warded hex over the halfling in prep.

Thorn went back to peek into the darkened archway to see a group of 4 strange merfolk with teeth, gills, and fish parts attached to them... horrible aberrations. Erevin stealthed up next to send arrows into the first two, wounding one and killing the other while Thorn watched the hallway beyond the braziers to watch his back.

One of the creatures charged at the elven ranger, attempting to bite into him with it's shark-like teeth. Erevin sent a quick barrage of arrows into it, decimating it to leave a cloud of blood and fish parts to float in the water! Azarius moved up to weave a surge of heroism into the elven prince.

A roar came from the hall beyond the braziers and Thorn seen a dragon awaken and throw a magic spell. Two lightning spheres arrived in the hallway to burst out multiple bolts of lightning! Erevin quickly danced out of the way, but Azarius was burned by the electric damage. Wren whipped her head toward the roar to see the lightning dance in the passageway, and quickly put a hex of fortune over Erevin. Posy moved up to the inside edge of the archway to send her blade barrier of ancient barbarian spirits into the room with the dragon piercing and shredding into his great hide! Mali wove a dispell to destroy the lightning spheres before they could go off again.

The other two mer-aberrations swam out to strike into Erevin with their jagged shark-toothed fists! The elven ranger sent in arrow after arrow to slaughter both of them! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"> Azarius turned around and sent 3 fiery rays through the archway into the dragon, to burn him with steam under the water.

The dragon began to drain the water from bodies of Azarius, Ursus, Erevin, and Thorn, but Posy managed to fight off the poison the brine dragon seemed to exude over them. Ursus fell unconscious, his body shriveling. The spirits of the barbarians continued to slash mercilessly into the dragon as Posy moved out of the archway back into the hall. Mali sent out a mass cure spell to bring Ursus back to conscious and heal the others. Thorn moved back into the alcove, drinking down another potion of healing to restore some of the massive damage.

Erevin stepped back, enhancing his bow to draw forth arrows of energy. Looking around, he seen another sea-aberration peeking from the archway down the hall. Azarius wove a cone of cold to wash over the dragon, hunks of ice freezing over it's scales! The dragon, tired of being beat on by the whirling blades of barbarian spirits, charged out of the archway knocking the braziers over on his way out. A tentacled mask was woven over the brine dragon's face. Feeling the threat of several anti-dragon magic coming from the elven ranger, he gashed into Erevin with a desiccating bite sucking fluids out of his body with salt like crystals encrusted on his teeth and scales. The elven ranger was stunned in agony, his strength bleeding out of him! Wren cackled to extend the luck around her companions and sent a bolt of cold into the brine dragon, drawing his attention on her.

Posy swam up to smash her hearth-hammer into the dragon's head, cracking several of his scales! Mali brought down a strike of divine fire into the dragon as Thorn quickly moved down the hall. Erevin endured through the pain, shaking off the shock. Azarius washed the dragon with another cone of cold, freezing more of its scales. The dragon breathed out a line of acid into the companions along the passageway burning several! Ursus fell unconscious and Mali was left gasping in pain. Wren released a swift bolt of cold from Cirdan into the dragon as she wove a hex of fortune over Posy and cackled wildly to extend the luck of Erevin and Azarius.

Maliumpkin threw her arms around Ursus who was floating beside her to find that he was beyond her magic to heal. Thorn stuck his daggers deeply into the dragon's back and Erevin launched a barrage of brilliant energy arrows to finish him off! The halfling's eyes sparkled as much as the hoard of treasure beyond the floating dragon's body... Erevin gathered everyone around and drew his moonblade. Waves of Shri's cooling moonlit energy washed off of the blade to heal everyone's wounds and the group looked around cautiously at the dragon's room.

The gold and gems seemed untouched by Ghandahaur's curse... Shri was able to use one of the larger gems to bring Ursus back to life as Erevin touched the hilt of the blade to his forehead. Coming back to consciousness, he shifted back to a water elemental form to breathe water. Wren used her hex and Mali used her magic to heal him further.

Loot! They gathered up the remaining gold and gems worth 8000 gold each. A suit of splintmail made of laminated greenwood. It's very flexible but hardens when hit. A jetblack greataxe with a bone haft. A golden ring set with a single magnificent diamond star. A rod A belt And a pair of slippers With very little time to identify the items, Wren only had a moment to quickly look at two items. The rod was a rod of sicken spells (3xday works up to 6th level spells like the Sickening Spell feat) and the ring was a ring of Wish es with 1 single wish left on it.

Thorn went invisible and moved cautiously across the hall into the next room where the aberrations were, scouting for traps and then gathering the others to follow him in. They moved carefully, seperating to opposite sides of the room, keeping spread out. Thorn continued to lead them, scouting slowly. 5 aberrations were swimming above the archway, waiting to ambush. The powerful sorcerer, partially still wounded by the shark, was lounging on a balcony of a tower. The tower seemed to mimic Azarius's home in Sarshel architecturally, though on a smaller scale. The Chaat family crest was fully displayed.

Posy drank a potion of invisibility and stepped through the archway in a rage, using her ring to explode out a great circle of fire, washing over the aberrations! The watery fish-creatures descended on the gnome, striking into her with several blows! The others followed her in quickly. Erevin sent in a barrage of brilliant energy arrows, finishing off 2 of the creatures. Azarius wove haste over everyone and moved in with the others, staying close to the tower.

The powerful sorcerer stood up and wove a spell... sending Posy away into a vast labyrinth of tentacles! Huge shark men came out of the tower with giant 3 sworded weapons. Mali swam through the archway and shapeshifted into a large sea-cat. Wren followed her in and sent out a powerful chain of lightning arching out and through the remaining aberrations and shark men. The three fish-creatures lit up with intense electricity and died, and the two shark men turned their gaze to the witch. Thorn moved up to drive his daggers into one of the sharkmen, attacking him from behind.

Erevin stepped over and fired an arrow toward the other sharkman, but the murky water drifted it off target. The sharkman turned on the halfling and fully disarmed Thorn, sending rose and her counterpart from his hands spinning into the water. The second sharkman turned to slice across Thorn's back! The sorcerer looked from the balcony down to the mage just at the edge of the archway, "It's not too late, my great, great, great, great... grandson, for you to join me!" Azarius barely glanced up at him, "Yeah, whatever... Just die already." "Very well, then I shall destroy your friends," the powerful sorcerer wove a spell to create a wall of iron in front of the archway, closing off Mali and Thorn inside from everyone else. Mali clawed and bit into one of the sharkmen.

Wren pulled a swift dispell from Cirdan and brought down the wall, and then formed a hex of retribution over one of the sharkmen. The sorcerer scowled from the balcony, "It's that witch again..." Posy continued to try to find her way out of the twisted maze of tentacles. Thorn pulled a javelin of lightning, but briefly felt the strange eyes and tentacles from the dimensional rift of the haversack. He threw the javelin into one of the sharkmen, bolting him with lightning. Erevin sent his shadowy falcon in to disarm one of the sharkmen, but the muscular creature was too skilled for the magic bird to take it.

Azarius moved into the room beside the tower, and began summoning. The sorcerer wove magic to make the water around him start to churn. One of the sharkmen pierced into Thorn while the other slashed into Mali! The young druidess clawed and bit into the sharkman in her mer-cheetah form. Ursus went through the archway and cast a spell over Mali, healing up her wounds. Wren and Kale moved into the room, the elven warrior moving in to slash his blade into the sharkman fighting Mali. Posy continued to struggle her way through the maze, finally breaking back into the room!

Thorn scrambled back and picked up his daggers as Erevin entered the room, Inali following him in. An enormous squid answered Azarius's summoning and the mage sent him after his ancestor sorcerer. It moved up and began to pummel the sorcerer with it's tentacles while Azarius sent magic missiles into the sharkman fighting Thorn. One of the sharkmen bit into Thorn while the other clawed into Mali. Matching clawed rents ripped across the one clawing into Mali. Mali clawed back into him. The powerful sorcerer swam back into his tower, avoiding the squid trying to tear him apart. Wren wove a retribution hex over the other sharkman, and looked over the room, recognizing the illness that seemed to be falling over the enormous squid... it was sick... like Thorn was sick when he traveled through dimensions. She paled at the thought of the tentacle mass likely inside it.

Erevin quickly moved across the room to the door of the tower, "Inali... stay with Wren. Where I am going is not safe." Inali nodded and quickly moved over behind Wren. The enormous squid smashed the roof off of the tower, shattering broken pieces of coral and stone into the water. Azarius sent more magic missiles into the sharkman slashing it's three sworded weapon into Thorn, matching wounds spreading over his sharkskin arm. The other pierced into Mali, again taking half of it's own damage, and the young druidess bit and clawed back into him.

Wren wove a spell of messaging to whisper to Azarius, "That squid is sick... like Thorn was sick... you're going to want to dismiss that thing. I'm not sure how soon... but before tentacles spew out of him for sure." Kale moved up to double team with Thorn, slashing into the sharkman as the halfling drove final fatal strikes into it! Posy moved in to smash her hearth hammer to kill the remaining sharkman!

Thorn followed Erevin's lead and checked the door of the tower. He quickly disarmed the magical trap. Inside was a table and chairs and a stairway heading up. Erevin made his way up the stairs, using stealth. Azarius tried to dismiss the squid, but it didn't go away... it continued to smash against the tower. There was nowhere else to send it... as the squid was too big to fit through any of the doorways. The young mage swam up to the top of the tower and moved carefully down the open stairway. Mali shifted down to a stingray to fit into the tower and Ursus, Wren, Kale, and Inali squeezed in with her.

Thorn watched the outside of the tower as Erevin continued up the stairs to find the powerful sorcerer heading down the stairs toward him. The elven ranger released a cone of cold from his moonblade into the Chaat ancestor, calling out, "I've got him!" Posy quickly moved into the tower and started heading up the stairs. Hearing the elf below him, Azarius moved down the stairs and sent down magic missiles that glanced off of the shield around the sorcerer.

The sorcerer stepped back and sent 3 rays of lightning into Erevin! Outside the squid went berserk, looking to attack the nearest warm body! It lashed its tentacles into Mali who was still in the doorway of the tower and into Thorn who was still outside. Mali quickly swam up the stairs with the others following her up the crowded the stairway. Thorn moved into the tower and slammed the door closed behind him, blocking the squid alone outside. Tentacles burst out of it, killing the squid!

Water churned and swirled around the Chaat ancestral sorcerer and Erevin sent a barrage of arrows into him! Azarius used his tentacles to send an empowered and intensified shocking grasp into his family's patriarch, "Where is my father?!" His skull lit up with the fatal strike, and his body smoldered, "The Mother has him... I will not let you take him... not a whelp like you! I will kill you all!" He sacrificed himself in a great meteor swarm, steaming the fiery boulders through the underwater tower, destroying the level above them! Erevin managed to avoid them, but they pummeled into Azarius and Posy around him.

In the garden outside of the tower, the companions found a shaft leading down where the kelp moved like it was breathing...