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.]

[Round 1 Continued]

Alice, in quite the pickle, decides that she must try to escape, even at the risk of further injury.

[GRAPPLE ESCAPE vs DC14 120+5=CR]

Luck is certainly on her side, the fate of this poor hungry snake's meal was decided, not today. As the snake constricts further, thinking it is collapsing lungs, it is in fact just squeezing Alice free from its own grasp. It repositions it's jaw to attempt to bite further but Alice escapes just in time to avoid further injury and zips her way out of danger through the now blackened water.

Now more seal then otter, she escapes using disengage and dash using her voodoo Monk powers, as the snake laments its poor luck, not having seen a meal in ages.

Directing everyone to retreat, Cat takes the lead and the first offensive move.

Cat grabs the bundle of explosives from Alice's belongings and lights the fuse, while retreating she holds it to the last moment before throwing it at the octopus. Cat retreats 30ft. NE.

[HIT vs AC19 1d20+1=20]

With near perfect aim and timing, Cat throws the explosives and hits exactly where she means to, again with incredible luck!





[DEX vs DC12 1d20+3=(16,CR,5)][DMG 3d6+6d6/2=10+16=26 damage]

Also, the force of the blast strips away some of the Octopus' armor, lowering it by 2.

The explosion doesn't come without consequences however, aside from deafness 3 again, the repeated blasts take a toll on your ears.

[AFFECT BASE RESIST CON 1d20=19,1,7,16,11][DMG 1d4=4,4,2]

Cat, Ashley and Nixie are affected and take force damage of 4,4, and 2 respectively. More explosions this day will lead to more damage.

Additionally, two areas of instability collapse with the third blast leaving a lingering dust cloud in those areas.

Poor Nixie is caught up in one of the collapses:

[DMG 2d8=8 Bludgeoning]



Ashley Wisely directs Nixie to escape with her Northeast.

Yulya boosts Toll the Dead with 3MP from her focus and cast it on the Octopus enhanced by her Goblin staff after the explosion.

[LUCK 1d20=3]

Yulya fumbles with the focus, rattled by the explosion and attempts to cast Toll of the Dead at the Octopus but the illegal magic backfires causing normal Toll of the Dead but spread out in all directions at the range of the spell.

[WIS vs DC15 1d20 Y+5, C+1, As+2, Al+0, N+2, Snake+0, Oct+3=(16,16,9,5,2,CM,16)][DMG 1d12=1+3,(4+3)/2,(1+3)/2,10+3]

The snake takes 13 necrotic damage.

Alice takes 4 necrotic damage, and Nixie takes 3 as a result, while Ashley takes 2. Nixie and Alice both look significantly injured.   

Then using her Ring of Quick Casting Yulya casts BLESS on Alice Ashley and Cat. Then she retreats 30ft northeast with the others.

[Unfortunately was just out of range to help her, but given Cat's masterful aim and Alice's luck and quick thinking, the effect of Bless can safely happen after the explosion, and since she worded this in this way after the explosion, there is no argument anyway.]

Nixie holds her turn, waiting for a target of opportunity.

Seeing no one within range, the octopus slinks back into the blackened water.

[STEALTH 1d20+2=10]

Obscured by the murky water but not by enough to matter, the snake can be seen waiting with its eyes just above the water level, he is attempting, but failing to wait in ambush.

[Make your Moves]

Alice escapes just in time to avoid further injury and zips her way out of danger through the now blackened water.[/i]
Now more seal then otter, she escapes using disengage and dash using her voodoo Monk powers, as the snake laments its poor luck, not having seen a meal in ages.

Cat nearly shoots the strange creature popping out of the water until she realizes it's Alice.

With near perfect aim and timing, Cat throws the explosives and hits exactly where she means to, again with incredible luck!
The explosion doesn't come without consequences however, aside from deafness 3 again, the repeated blasts take a toll on your ears.
Cat, Ashley and Nixie are affected and take force damage of 4,4, and 2 respectively. More explosions this day will lead to more damage.

Nyow my poor ears Nya sorry about that Nya we were too close Nya! Everyone alright Nya?
The question is moot now that everyone is deafened again though.



Cat oversees the retreat making sure everyone makes it to safety. She bestows extra HP on Alice.

Obscured by the murky water but not by enough to matter, the snake can be seen waiting with its eyes just above the water level, he is attempting, but failing to wait in ambush.

Cat takes out her heavy crossbow and shoots a jagged bolt at the snake's head hoping to do some damage on this difficult target

[Round 2]

[WIS vs DC15 1d20+0=CR]

Yulya moves 5ft NE and attempts to harm the snake with toll of the dead but it critically resisted the spell.

Cat is enraged and gains 4 temporary HP, she additionally gives temporary HP to Alice, takes out her heavy crossbow and shoots a jagged bolt at the snake's head hoping to do some damage on this difficult target.

[2d6=11 THP to Alice]

[In your inventory this crossbow shows as +2, it is not in fact +2, it is a modified heavy crossbow that requires 16STR to take advantage of the +2 and that is a mechanical advantage, so it only affects damage, not hit chance. The bolts have the prefix "jagged"]

[HIT vs AC12 1d20+1+2+1d4=11]

The bolt strikes the water next to the snake, it submerges out of sight.

Alice rushes to put on her equipment.

Ashley Summons Olga and Helga using Twinned Metamagic, they all hold for a target within reach, "We're ready anyone can figure out how to lure them out. I could send one of the lynxes closer to the water but I bet the Octopus will just strike it. I could send a buzzy girl over?" Ashley steps back with Yulya.

[Ashley can have 4 summons now but Lynxes (2 max) Cats (2 max) Panther (1 max)]



[Make your moves]