Nyaa you going in there Alice Nya? Be careful Nya! We can't help you underwater Nya!

Cat examines the mussel shells for edibility.
Nya but if you find some of these alive Nya bring them back Nya!

Cat tastes the water and sniffs the air to determine what else could live inside.

Alice narrowly avoids being injured before Ashley grabs her demon cyborg feline.

Boo!
Why do I never get to pet your cats? Why don't they like me? I still want to ride on Nixie - or you if you if you're in Panther from!

The tent Alice hoped to explore is more of a tarp just keeping rocks and dust from another unstable ceiling to protect a small rest area, the platform just to the east has more supplies akin to what was already found earlier, more tools and low quality ore samples.

Another disappointment. Alice shakes her head.
Hmm, I expected to find their cloaks and brooches here. Cat, can you find traces of other people that those eaten by the ghouls (and me)?

A large pool fills much of West of this cavern. The water is dark, revealing little of what might lie within. The shore of the pool consists of a thin layer of broken shells from strange, pale mussels. A fishy odor hangs in the air. A large fissure above the water, likely dug out long ago, extends up hundreds of feet into a dark abyss. Old remains of scaffolding long since past its usefulness is all that remains of the passage up and is impassible from this position without significant rework by qualified mining engineers. The fissure ends into a sloping ceiling above the far Wast of the pool and extends further into the West a hundred feet before finally touching the water's surface.

Ashley's Truesight reveals a hidden passage less than 20ft beyond that leading West underwater. A sluggish movement flows in the water indicating a small flow has established itself, so this is not stagnant water. Small, pink, blind catfish, no larger than a coin, swim along the edge of the water.

This is more to Alice's liking. She packages a nice looking shell as souvenir.
Oh, a hidden passage you say? Been awhile since I had a good swim! I can't let this opportunity slide! And I can hold my breath for 1h! Time to go diving! At worst I'll bring back a few live mussels!

Without further ado, Alice strips off her clothes and hops into the water, she only takes her trusted spear with her. Immediately she is surrounded by the small shrimps.
Haha, that tickles!

Alice absorbs a few into her body.
Not bad, might make a nice snack!



Ok, you guys gotta warm me up when I return! The temperature is what limits how long I can stay in here! I'll just do a quick exploration and return a soon as I can and report!
Unless further objections are raised, Alice is off into the water to explore the passage, dissolving her human form and morphing into a more sleek yellowish otter-like monster.

Alice's intent to dive in with Cat's suggestion, Yulya offers help.

Yulya feels uneasy about Alice going into the water alone but acknowledges she i the only one who can pull this off.
She takes up a sizeable pebble and casts LIGHT on it.
Here take this with you as light source! Be careful and return as soon as possible!

Without further ado, Alice strips off her clothes and hops into the water, she only takes her trusted spear with her. In her imaginative mind, she's surrounded by the small shrimps instead of blind catfish. But they're catfish by any other name and they're interested in dead skin more than anything.
Haha, that tickles!

[PERCEPTION 1d20+1d4+2=14]

Just beyond the shore, looking more like the stones from the surface, slime covered bones, covered in detritus litter the bottom. These are old bones, some halfling sized, some thick and short of the dwarven variety, and at least one, large and thick, unmistakably an orc's. With a glint of the light, Alice sees one old skeleton lying on the bottom, he's holding a wand, still in pristine condition, the bony hand held up out of the muck as if frozen in his last act, also has several jeweled gold rings. These are the human bones of some wizard or adventurer, perhaps from old Phandalin who died defending the mines against Orcs, raiders or bandits so long ago. Several arrows remain lodged in the skeleton's ribcage.

[ROUND 1 AMBUSHED]

With all the loud bangs reverberating throughout the caverns recently, there's no wonder creatures that slumber long in the deep dark waters are awake and alert.

[GRAPPLE vs DC14, DC18, 1d20+5=(12,CR)]

Alice is grappled by something large and gets a sense there's something else in this pool attempting to grapple her. A strong cold body, at least a foot in diameter, wraps itself around her. When she sees the head it's unmistakable.



It constricts and bites at her, attempting to get her positioned to swallow.

[HIT vs AC13[D] 1d20+6=[(21,21),(12,19)][DMG 2d8+4=13-(1d10+6=8 DEFLECT FAILED)=5(/2 resistance)= 2 Bludgeoning Damage, DMG 2d6+4=11 Piercing Damage + 1d10 Venom (poison)(/2 resistance)=0, She resisted the poison.]

Alice's left hand is engulfed by the snake and it begins to walk it's mouth over her arm. The mouth of this giant snake is well large enough to swallow her whole even from the side, it will be difficult to pull her arm out without taking further damage due to the backward facing teeth.

From the surface, only Ashley can see what happened.

"Damnit! She's gotten herself in a pinch again, literally, there's some kind of constricting snake wrapping itself around her, it's trying to eat her currently... "

Then she sees something else as you all do, the water is breached by a large Octopus like creature, the water goes black as it surfaces, releasing ink as a cover, this however obscures Alice almost fully. It's huge and sends out tentacles at everyone it can reach (within 15ft.)

[HIT vs AC 16,12 1d20+12,+8,+4,+0=(23,22)][GRAPPLE vs DC18 1d20+7, +0 = (28,24)][DMG 2d8+9=21 Cat,15 MBW Bludgeoning][Sentinel does not apply, the creature is 15 feet away.] 

Mrs. Bigglesworth is crushed instantly and pops out of existence.

Cat is significantly wounded but is able to avoid being grappled.

Ashley is stunned, "How do we even attack that? We got to come up with something!"

Ashley looks into the creature's eyes and casts CRUCIATIC SYMPATHY on the beast, there is no save. She also uses two sorceress points and Quickens her next spell as a bonus action and summons Nixie.

Another loud boom echoes throughout the cave as Nixie appears. She snarls at the beast and waits for Ashley to decide what to have her do.

[Make your moves carefully.]