[IC] Beginner's DnD 5e Game - Group 2

[Ermine]

Daisy climbed down from the pew and waited for everyone to finish their searches. She wasn't going to find anything she wanted on any of the bodies, and wasn't going to keep much, if anything, anyway. She gave a casual glance over to the pendant held by Ary, and while it seemed familiar, it didn't ring any bells - and believe me, if it had, Daisy would be singing along proudly.

She did take a chance to find something useful in one of the rooms, but only managed to see that it was in fact a desk, so returned to the main chapel.

On the other hand, someone was now offering her something. It took her a moment to realize what it was that - oh, that's who it was! - Ceria was offering her. She really didn't have much of a use for drake sca- okay, that was a lie. She had someone back home who would enjoy them in a few years time, so long as she spent the time to turn them into a necklace or something. And maybe she'd have a more socially acceptable second parent to bring back, too!

"Thank you! These are...always good to have!" This didn't interfere with her vow like money would have, either. Way better than anything she could have picked up, too. In the end, Daisy's cheeks just turned the deep purple that represented her blush.

>Nat 1 on investigation roll of desk.

[Ms Ravenwinter]

Ten minutes trudged on. The party all had a chance to catch a break from the skirmish and recover themselves, though rest was still underway. Araerys and Ulor would notice as Yvah slipped back in. She seemed too bashful to say hello, instead opting to head straight to business.

The first time she stumbled into the room, she didn't have the chance to notice much of anything within her surroundings. One thing she did notice was a candlelit desk. If anyone that did a lot of reading and had something to hide, they'd hide it in their desk. Or so Yvah thought. Turning the chair away and kneeling in front of the workspace, Yvah took a tool from the folds of her clothing. She motioned it toward the underside of the desk table. She was met with a thunk as she slipped, her head bouncing slightly off the table. "Oww..." Through her pained cringing, her search at the edges of the desk was met to no success.

Clutching her forehead and stowing away the small tool, Yvah moved on to purloin the desk instead. She thumbed through some assorted books spread about. The text was alien to her, though organized familiarly enough that they seemed to be ledgers. Gathering them into a stack, Yvah slapped the ledgers onto the center table. "Ulor!" she called out, "I don't know what to make of these, can you read?" Though Ulor would be unlikely to care, Yvah's voice seemed distant and detached, with her gaze fixed on her task instead of her friend. Araerys was likely to take notice.

Yvah's head darted to the side as a chest in the corner of the study came into her view. She abandoned the task, sidling up next to the unopened treasure instead. Seemingly with stars in her eyes, she pulled a pair of delicate instruments from her person and went to work on the box's lock. With two rhythmic motions, the click of aligned tumblers sang to her, making a crescendo as the chest creaked open. Inside was a stack of uninteresting paper with unintelligible scribbling on it. At least to her eyes. She set them beside her to reveal some goodies underneath. There was one last page, though this one caught her eye as bold scribblings lined the top. Among it was a vial with a frothy, red liquid and a set of five black stones. She quietly pocketed the glass before issuing Ulor another reading assignment and lending him a few interesting toys.

Moving on, awkwardly tip-toeing around the dead bodies, Yvah made her way to the mysterious, unopened door off to the side of the cathedral proper. Once near, she seemed to approach the door with some caution as if it could burst open with a slight provocation. Crouching beside it, Yvah pressed her ear to the door. No sound. She peeked through the keyhole. A simple candlelit writing desk, but no sign of anyone lying in wait. As one last precaution, she took a long metal tool and dragged it along the seams of the door and the frame gently, waiting for any suspicious resistance. Nothing odd. Then she clenched her hand near the door's face and, "Hey." Daisy spoke up, stopping Yvah from knocking, "Wanna save that for later?"

"Kay," she said with a dull tone.

The last thing Yvah spied upon in the cathedral was the garish shrine on center stage. She approached it and circled around it, looking for something from several angles. Eventually the same tool she picked for examining the desk was put to it. She played with some divots and knobs, but to no avail. With a sigh, Yvah turned to the nearest pew and lay herself across it, eyes shut.

-~-~-

@Oraculum, @corneredbliss and @Ermine were mentioned

>nat2 to Investigate desk for hidden compartments
>13 to Investigate desk
>nat20 to pick chest lock
>17 to check door for traps
>6 to Investigate shrine for secret switches

[corneredbliss]

With no recognition of the pendant's symbol, Araerys gave it a final once-over before tucking it into her pack just as Yvah returned from wherever it was that she had disappeared to. The girl made no effort to reconnect with her, or even Ulor, whom she spoke to as she searched the desk. Wanting to give the feline her space, she hung back and simply watched as she moved about, only interrupted by Daisy before she could knock on the wood of the other door.

When she finally retired to one of the pews, some sort of undeveloped motherly instinct took over, and the bard slowly slid herself down into a seated position near Yvah's head; not too closely so as to still give her peace of mind. She glanced around at the rest of the group still milling about as she detached her fiddle and bow from the satchel on her back and swung it underneath her chin. It seemed that it was now finally her turn to lend her talents to the company; she raised the bow to the strings and from the instrument came a soothing song, seemingly reminiscent of the feeling of a stomach full of warm supper or dipping into a much-needed hot bath. The notes reverberated off the walls of the cathedral, filling the space with familiarity and replacing the cold silence that remained after the battle.

Boop

Ary uses Song of Rest to restore 3 HP to each of the party that used a hit die.

[Oraculum]

Still absorbed in his muttering over the smokes rising from the censer, which had shifted from pale grey to a white unnaturally veined with blue streaks, Ulor managed to hear his name being called from behind him, even though the words previously spoken by the bard had slipped by his ears without leaving any trace. Without ceasing his incantation, he turned towards the table and approached it with short, careful steps, swinging the censer from its chain as he carried it as, he remembered, the adjuncts did during worship functions. And to say it seemed so easy when he saw them doing it... Before reaching the table, he had already struck himself over the knee no less than five times, and, he was certain, narrowly avoided setting himself on fire once more. Now, more than ever, he regretted never having been chosen for service at the altar. Fortunately, however, he reached his goal without excessive damage to his own person, something he found he already had had enough of.

While the stream of unintelligible words from his mouth flowed on without interruptions, he nodded in acquiescence at the feline, and, placing the censer on the table at what should have been a safe distance from the papery findings, bent over the latter. Curiosity lit his eyes as he leafed through what seemed to be ledgers - and ledgers in a cathedral were bound to contain something interesting - only to be replaced by disappointment as he found himself unable to decipher the writing on their pages. Nor was he any more successful with the other documents. The script closely resembled Dwarven runes, but the symbols' arrangement was entirely unfamiliar.

Ulor was about to sweep them aside and proceed to the inspection of a handful of black stones, but instead found himself peering at the strange text so closely that his eyes crossed. Further distracted by a melody he vaguely heard from somewhere in the nave, he stopped muttering and began to absently bite his whisker, as his right hand slid off somewhere along the table to toy with the first thing it encountered. Something metallic, breathing warmly, which had a opening just large enough for... With a sharp and rather breathless curse he drew back his hand, blowing on what had, until a few moments ago, been one of the few spots on his body that had remained relatively safe from scorching and knocking the smoking censer down onto the table. Smouldering ashes fell from the overturned thurible onto the central pages of a still open volume, rapidly eating through the parchment and obliterating what might have been crucial information.

Hissing a rapid spell, Ulor extinguished the cinders and shook them out of the book before hastily shutting it. Then, rapidly resuming his mumbling as though to regain the lost time, he returned the censer to its proper standing position, waved his hands over it almost as though to reassure it (or something else) that the summoning was still happening, and placed the pile of cryptic manuscripts into his backpack. The stones did not yield much else - they seemed fairly valuable, if anything, but that aspect of the matter did not interest him in the least. Slipping them into a pouch, he returned to his ritual in a slightly worse disposition than before.

Ow, my finger

Ulor's nat 1 in examining the document costs the party some precious pages out of a ledger.

[JBRam2002]

An hour passed since the fight's conclusion. The group spent their time resting and tending to their wounds, some of them searching through the area. There didn't appear to be much of significant value here, and once Ary had played a tune to ease their pains, Yvah picked the lock into the next room. There was little inside other than a writing desk that appeared to have a guest log of some sort, along with a dried out ink well and a quill. In the back corner was another desk, this one mostly cleared of anything of interest. Only a few scant papers were on its surface, and none of them had any writing on it.

More interesting was the stairwell leading down. Of course, stairs were nothing foreign to cathedrals. Nearly every place of worship had a location to bury its dead or prepare its sanctimonious traditions. What caught the interest of those who cared to look was the sign of torchlight flickering on the wall below as the stair met a landing and turned out of sight.

Mechanics

For those with a Passive Perception of 16 or higher, you can also hear the faint sound of water running down below, as if there were an underground stream of some sort.

Current Map!

[Ms Ravenwinter]

The mechanical click and wooden wheeze of yet another conquered doorway broke into the sound of faint torchlight, distantly cackling against the yet more distant sound of water. Yvah stepped into the study, head busily turning this way and that as she examined her surroundings. Silently, she pointed out the symbols of various different religions, just about any she'd heard of in her time in the city, plastered on the wall. She also took note of muddy tracks along the ground, almost exclusively leading back and forth between the cathedral and the underground passageway. She couldn't make out how many tracks were fresh.

"Ceria," she called, "These prints, do any seem new? Too new?" She gave a grim expression for a second before she felt the need to elaborate. "What if someone was in here and ran from the fighting? We could be walking into an ambush."

Yvah offered a moment for an answer, but her action would remain the same regardless. She found Ary and tugged at her clothes until she followed. Yvah pulled her through until they came to the mouth of the stairwell. "You look sly like me, so you come with me," she whispered to Araerys.

"We're sneaking ahead. Stay back about far enough that you can hear us if we scream." And with that, she slipped through the stairwell in a skulk.

>25 Perception to scan the room.
>13 Survival to analyze the steps.
>24 Stealth to... stealth.

@Mistiel and @corneredbliss were interacted with.

[Mistiel]

@Ms Ravenwinter @Oraculum

The wood elf paused briefly as the feline rogue asked her opinion about tracks that the elf had spotted well before the latter had. She positively bristled at the supposedly unintended insult Yvah had just thrown at Ceria's own stealth skills by not thinking of HER as stealthy. She replied casually, "Those tracks were made by a mixture of merpeople and humanoids about an hour ago. I think the wetness of the footprints indicates that we are either headed into the sewers or some underground body of water. This makes sense if there are more merpeople. Though unless these are some very well-adapted merpeople, I'm surprised why they wouldn't abhor the sewers." She bit her lip in thought.

Ceria pressed her hands together in a small, inaudible clap to cut herself off from too much pondering. 'But that's not the point! I guess if you two are going in silent, Chip and I might as well!" She tucked Chip into her bag so he could peek out just barely from underneath the flap but was still reasonably safe from harm. Lowering her lithe petite figure into a crouch, she followed Araerys and Yvah down the steps, but kept a good ten feet or so behind them just in case they were ambushed so it would give Ceria more time to react. Before descending, however, Ceria looked over her shoulder toward Ulor and said, "If we do encounter any more merpeople in their natural habitat, I hope you have that octopus ready!" Without knowing whether or not the aloof geezer even heard her, she had turned toward the stairwell.

She used her natural elvish darkvision to constantly be sweeping as far ahead of her as she could for any glimpses of movement or danger. The elf also chose to hug the right wall as they descended. In her travels far and wide, she had heard a rumor that if you ever enter a labyrinth or maze, that if people always followed - and preferably kept in contact with - one wall, then they would never become lost. One quick glance to her right revealed a wall coated with slime and damp mold. She wrinkled her nose and continued on after her two compatriots, making sure to keep close to but not touch the wall whenever possible.

Mechanical Roly-Poleys

Survival: 16
Stealth: 15
Chip's Stealth: 15

[Ermine]

Daisy followed the others, but some ways back. She wasn't going to be left out of this! How was she supposed to prove she could handle herself if she did? What kind of princess doesn't know how to do stealthily follow her allies into the dark unknown with only her good looks to guide them?

But first, of course, she had to clean herself, with magical aid of course. And naturally, they had to coordinate. But whispering so it would be quiet. But loid whisper, because they were farther away. "Hey, how are we doing this? Just pushing through the darkness? Want a little light? Just see a little farther ahead?"

>Stealth: 6
>Prestidigitation to clean up her appearance a little.

[Oraculum]

Nothing further had delayed Ulor's incantation, and the scented smoke had continued to rise from the censer, spinning between his deftly darting hands. The pale vapours split into strands, swaying as weeds, their blue veins weaving themselves into strange forms. It might have been a trick of the cathedral's vaulted walls and corners, but it seemed that the warlock's whispering was joined by a second voice, not quite an echo nor quite a howling breeze. A cloud detached itself from the column ascending from the thurible. It spun, slowly, deliberately, around an invisible nucleus, becoming first a sphere, then something more elongated. Tendrils sprouted from it, and blue spots pulsed at its poles. The smoke became flesh.

The Octopus had come.

Where, a moment ago, there had been only the traces of burned incense, there now hovered the familiar shape of the tentacled familiar. Ulor rubbed his temples with a relieved expression, then patted the creature on its gelatinous body. All was in its place now. Well, not quite all, but, at least, what had already been in place before.

And in good time, as well. The party had just uncovered what seemed to be a damp downward passageway, to be trodden with caution - what better task for an octopus? Ulor nodded, and whispered something without words. The familiar swayed and twisted, then, slowly, carefully, began to swim towards the doorway. As it did, its pale skin began to change in colour, becoming dimmer and dimmer. Only the blue eyes remained unchanged on the less and less visible background; eyes through which the master was ready to see.

The soul of the party returns

Ulor summons back Octopus, who is ready to follow Yvah and Araerys down the stairway with a Stealth roll of 23.

[Turbowraith]

An eerie quiet overtook Lex after the priestess gasped her final breath, one that made most of his other lapses into nonverbal communication pale in comparison. Having distanced himself from the rest, he idly considered the cathedral's massive interior, and occasionally paced lethargically back and forth before returning to the same position. Once again, his gaze fell upon the battered bodies laying unceremoniously on the ground. His gloves produced a low squeak as the maul's hilt pressed against leather, and his clenched fist slightly trembled.

Though there was no time for contemplation, as the rest prepared to descend into some sort of underground compartment within the cathedral, with the more gracefully moving of their lot leading the way. He sluggishly followed, halting right beside the stairwell, and after a brief moment of stillness, he spoke.

"Move ahead. I will descend to guard your rear. In a while. Quieter that way."

His voice carried a strange, almost bitter tint to it, as if the paladin was unwilling to reveal the full extent of his thoughts to the rest, though that was usually the case regardless of circumstances.

Really exciting, I know.

Lex stands by the stairwell, and will descend once the rest of the group has reached the lower level and has moved a sufficient distance away.

[JBRam2002]

As the group headed downstairs, the sounds of running water increased in volume. Despite the somewhat clumsy clamor of some members of the party, no soldiers or fighters came to greet them. In fact, if it were not for the running water and the slightly foul smell coming from the same direction, the place would be eerily quiet.

The stairwell opened to the South after a small landing. Straight ahead was a short passage and a dead end. To the west was a collapsed section of the tunnel. To the east came the sound of the running water and a passage that ended in a small dimly lit room. To the north was a small passage with a couple of water tanks.

Map

[Ms Ravenwinter]

The others followed, clumsily. Yvah was far from pleased, especially after the last incident where someone in the group fumbled their sneaking. But she wasn't going to send them off. They wouldn't listen. Why would they, from the person who just slaughtered their lead right in front of them? Instead, Yvah felt it best to grit her teeth and press on. They just survived a dragon attack, sort of, what's the worst that could happen here?

As she rounded the end of the stairs, Yvah's ears twitched at the broadened sound of her surroundings. The flow of water echoed through empty hallways. There was not a sign of any guard here, but perhaps the distant light to her right would have a visitor. She stepped in that direction, freezing when there was a dull thud on glass. Yvah could dimly make out a figure inside one of the distant glass jars, railing against the container.

Without a sound, she darted toward the figure. Coming upon the opening of the next room, she checked corners. Left. Right. Nobody there. There before her on either side were two dull green tanks, each with someone inside. The tank to the right had a female dwarf in it, bound and shackled with barely enough air at the top of the tank for her to breathe. The tank to the left had a female gnome in the same situation, but she wasn't struggling against her bonds like the dwarf was. Yvah cautiously stepped toward the dwarf and held her index up to her lips. Both of the prisoners seemed to acknowledge her request.

Then she just had to figure out how to get them out of the blasted things.

[Mistiel]

Ceria followed Yvah as they reached the staircase end and corridor intersection. Mimicking the feline woman's glances left and right, Ceria followed at about seven paces back and got just across the hallway to a very dimly lit area in front of the room. She spied a vaguely humanoid figure thrashing about in a green tank inside the room.

Drawing her bow and nocking an arrow, keeping said arrow pointed toward the floor so as not to further alarm the thrashing imprisoned being within, Ceria carefully guarded for the rest of the party should they wish to cross to her side of the hallway outside the north room.

Is this person to be turned into things like those villagers? she wondered silently. Her whole being shuddered violently at the thought.

[LovelyAnastasia]

Water everywhere. Why did it have to be water? She was all water-wrinkled and soggy. And if the water was any higher it could drown her, slowly and painfully. The tank across from her was a dim image in the slowly slime covering glass of her own tank. Knowing what was in it and being unable to draw any sound from her fellow captive, she had given up on talking. At first she had screamed. Screamed for help, for anyone, anyone at all to get her out of the awful sludge-stinkin’ water.

The dwarf female had refused to cry too. When she had no one to talk to. When she knew no one would come. When she grew so hungry it hurt. All she had were her prayers. But the songs had dwindled from chants to whispers and then just thoughts. Anyone, anyone please... AllFather guide This One from the dark, consuming waters... Bring your almighty hammer down to smash This One’s prison and all my would be jailers... Anyone, Oh SoulForger... Let my being be their weapon till This One’s debt is repaid... Anyone at all please... Even a stinkin’ fleet foot Elf or Gnome will do...

How had she gotten in this mess...? It had been just the average journey destination. The Dwarffather had scented her dreams. The traveling had been slow, her mostly making her way on foot, which wasn’t very fast at all. But then she had hitched a ride with a merchant who had been curious to hear tales of her homeland and observe her odd prayers. Traveling with the curious human had been far easier than traveling on foot. Upon the end of his route, she had bit him farewell and praised the AllFather for leading her to gain yet another companion with a faster mode of travel.

From there it was slow goings again. Stone-footed, being a dwarf, she prayed once more for guidance and the Soul Forger had shown her in dream visions of where to go. A place of figures in robes, fingers of light brushing over their mortal heads. And with inquires of holy places to the humans in the nearest town, the tavern keep suggested Bourgund as one of the places to see in her wanderings.

To travel so far from home was not very dwarfkind to do, but as young as she is, the forging-path of her ancestors carried thicker in her blood than most. Or so her mother had always told her. With Moradin’s guiding hand, trusting in his all-wisdom, the she-dwarf did not always know her destination, but trusted in that she was the Dwarffather’s eyes and always went in his ways on her journey. To be a wanderer is to have the restless feet so uncommon in her focused kin. But it is also the need to see more, learn more, and to always be Moradin’s daughter in the ways of justice and light.

So upon her arrival to Bourgund, she found a tavern to stay at. Through rumors, whispers and the most common of hearsay, the cleric learned there was a cult killing people and leaving their bodies about the streets like common daily trash. This must be the reason the AllFather had guided her to this place, there was little doubt in her.

But in her investigations, she had been ambushed. Captured. Like a dim-witted elf-brain. So stored in the tank of water (quite uncomfortably might it be added) the she-dwarf was up to her chin and bound rather tightly. All her calls for help had been swallowed by water and darkness in the betraying womb of earth where the tanks were stored. Might be about a day of being stored like rotting fish guts, but who could tell in this prison. Unable to wriggle free from the manacles around her wrists, she knew her captors. Fish-people. Stinking, slimly, soggy-water-brained Fish-people!

The people of this land called them Sahuagin, and those scale-faced flipper-discs had taken all her things. Who knew where they had put them. But the AllFather would provide and guide.

Beyond all this, she knew not much else. She was a pretty wonderful fighter. Not so much an investigator. Her ‘investigation‘ was usually charge in and smash the issue till it presented a problem no longer. Didn’t seem to be the best strategy this time around...

Something tapped against her tank and she squirmed about even more than before. Though it would do her no good. But at least whoever was out there knew she was alive and ready to smash some Fish heads.

[Ermine]

Daisy knew where the other two were going, but figured they had whatever it was covered already. Besides, there were other fun things to do in other directions. There was a dead end - which could provide innumerable thrills - and a collapsed tunnel. What could be more exciting?

However, as much fun as the collapsed tunnel could provide, Daisy instead cautiously walked South, both 'splorin' and looking for traps.

>Daisy 'splores (15' of stealthy 'splorin) directly to the south. Trap check 9.

[corneredbliss]

It didn't take long for Yvah's tugging to get the results she wanted; Araerys obliged and followed the feline to the mouth of the stairway. Though a bit hesitant at what lay waiting for them at the bottom, she couldn't deny the curiosity that was once again harvesting within her. The group climbed (more likely clambered) down the stairs, and luckily nothing awaited them just at the bottom aside from a decision as to which direction to explore first.

The room at the end of the eastward hall looked sketchy, though not as sketchy as the water tanks that lay ahead of them. Ary squinted her eyes toward the dim lighting as if she would be able to make anything out by doing so while Yvah moved forward toward the tanks. Predictably, nothing sharpened into view. The feline was just putting her index to her lips when Araerys returned her attention to the chambers, just in time to catch the dwarf within cease her squirming. In the other container was a female gnome, seemingly resigned to her confinement.

Now, Araerys obviously wasn't obvious to the time-long rivalry between the dwarves and elves, though being only half herself, she wasn't really much bothered by it. Besides, someone in that predicament deserved more than a stereotyping, regardless of however she might react to her and Ceria once they had freed them.

Because they were going to free them, right?

Once the wide-eyed shock of finding living beings trapped underneath the church had subsided, Araerys moved closer to the tanks with Yvah, surveying the chambers to decide how was best to go about it. She thought about using the same spell from upstairs that unlocked the door to the Priestess, but knew it would make too much noise and would likely blow whatever cover they managed to keep on the way down. Somewhat helpless, she looked to the feline and pointedly wiggled her eyebrows at the lock, having just seen her pick a few successfully. She then glanced at both of the captives, offering a warm attempt at reassurance, regardless of how it would be received. At least no one could say she wasn't nice.

[Ms Ravenwinter]

Quick to make attempts at the victims' freedom, Yvah scrambled up to the top of the Dwarfess's tank. After pushing herself over the edge, she came back to a low crouch. She circled around a bit on the tank, trying to find an angle before settling and perching about the lock of the container's hatch. The tools for job slipped into her fingertips, feeling as familiar to her as her very hands. The tumbler system was complex, but under Yvah's skilled touch it gave in within moments. The hatch swung open with a creak, but the Dwarf still wasn't freed.

Yvah looked around for a moment as her teeth tugged on her lip in thought. The Dwarf was much too heavy for any of them to lift so far upward in order to free her. Lex might, but with him stomping around downstairs there'd be no chance of stealth. It'd also take long enough that any guards would arrive before he was finished pulling the woman free. The fact that cover wasn't already blown with this parade of people down here must've meant there wasn't anyone here or they were already on their way. In Yvah's mind, there wasn't any other option but to blow it.

So, she thought, in for a penny, in for a pound. Yvah sidled around the tank until she stood between it and the back wall. Her reach was long enough that she could grip the top edge of the tank, so she used that to press her feet onto the glass and hoist herself upward without climbing over. Her back arched back as far as she could manage until her grip released. Falling back, Yvah caught herself by pressing her hands and back against the wall behind her, feet still pressed to the tank and body roughly parallel to the ground below her.

"Okay, this is gonna be loud, so get yourselves ready!" she said loud enough to carry into the stairwell.

Her midriff flexed intensely as she pushed her body outward as hard as she could to hold herself aloft. Then she started to 'walk' up the tank until her feet were as high as they could manage. Pushing hard now, the tank started to tilt away from her. By the time it began careening over, Yvah bailed on her position, rotating about face in the air, and caught herself on her hands and feet.

With a thunderous crash, the tank shattered over the ground, the contents spilling out over the floor.

>nat20 to open Solglia's lock
>17 to knock the tank over

[Mistiel]

@Ermine

Ceria saw Daisy going off to explore to the south by herself. Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask the tiefling to not split up in uncharted territory, a thunderous crash from inside the room made Ceria jump in fright. She whirled around and took a few steps to what was now her right so that she could peer through the doorway. Yvah it would seem had tipped over one of the tanks to free its occupant(s). Either that was the shortest human or tallest gnome Ceria had ever seen, or that stout pudgy form was a dwarf. Whatever it was, she didn't waste time trying to make friends with it.

Leaving Yvah and possibly Araerys to deal with the newly rescued captive, Ceria took off in a southerly direction to go fetch their resident tiefling. She briefly toyed with the idea of further stealth, but after a unique glass tinkling crash like that in such an echo-y underground area, whoever was down here, if anyone, likely already knew where to look first. With that being her logic, the elf moved like lightning with reflexive catlike grace after the tiefling bard. Not wanting to attract any MORE unwanted attention, Ceria waited until she'd gotten up within whispering distance before attempting to tug on the other girl's elbow. "Psst! Daisy! We should probably expect company after that noise. Splitting up is probably not good with potential baddies inbound. At least use the buddy system or tell someone next time. There could be more of those infernal drakes around."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ceria may or may not use a Dash to catch up to Daisy (DM's discretion).

[Oraculum]

The lower they went, the damper it became. Soon, the trickling and gurgling of small streams could be heard, and Ulor with the octopus were greeted by the penumbral dimness of a dungeon. If the cathedral aboveground had conveyed a sense of familiarity and a long-lost home being rediscovered, these grimy tunnels appealed to an entirely different aspect of the mage's slumbring joy. It was the subterranean darkness of foul lairs, shadowy caverns, putrid catacombs and sigtless mazes that often concealed the most striking and extraordinary esoteric secrets, buried under piles of malodorous rubble, in decomposing grimoires or on frightfully ancient tables. Then and again, if he was lucky, he might even happen upon some ongoing process of unnameable summoning or conjuration, or encounter some uncommon creature. Now, this descent promised to be especially bountiful in all of these regards, given what they had encountered above. All in all, he was pleasantly impatient.

Having reached the bottom, Ulor paused for a moment, warily looking around, as the foremost members of the group advanced further north. There did not seem to be much to the west; the south was dark, but it might have warranted investigating, provided nothing menacing appeared out of it at present; eastwards, there was a weak light. That was most likely where some of the most valuable finds would lie, as well as potential dangers. Like the south, it would have to be probed thoroughly and cautiously, and the water he heard there might just help with that-

A warning shout, followed by a loud, crashing sound brought his attention back to the northern passage. What had these oaves already broken? The voice had been that of the feline; little wonder - what could one expect of these animalistic beings? - but all the more aggravating. She seemed bent on destroying what few leads they could find, and, he suspected, would lead them entirely astray unless her bestial clumsiness was restrained.

Ulor hurried down the corridor, octopus floating alarmedly behind him, and emerged into the chamber in time to see the dwarf being eased out of the shattered tank. His face was distorted by a spasm of anger as he observed the foul liquid flowing in a pool over the ground, amid the remains of the container.
"Savages!" he croaked, standing between the second tank and the vandals responsible for this ruin, "Do you have any idea of what you are breaking? What alchemical mixtures might be at work here? Hold!"

He swiped his staff over the floor, as if to draw a line in front of himself, and tall, unnaturally green tongues of flame rose up as a wall, blocking him and the surviving vat out of the others' sight.
"Not a step closer until I am finished with this one!" Ulor enjoined, as the octopus hovered in circles above him and presumably tried to appear intimidating.

Mine! All mine!

Ulor conjures a Silent Image to try and keep the others away from the second tank.

[LovelyAnastasia]

With the shadows moving about her, she squinted as if it could help her see through the slimy glass any better. She could hear them talking, but she couldn't really see them all that well. Whoever they were. But then again, up to her chin in water, she could hardly care who or what they were as long as they were going to free her.

The top of the tank shuddered and opened and the humidity the water had given the air she was struggling to breathe lifted. Sucking in air that was a bit more fresh, she felt a bit revitalized. The AllFather had heard her unrelenting prayers and sent other to free her. Though...those other sure had taken their time about it!

Soglia looked up at the feline female that was glimpsed at the lip of the top of the tank. It wasn't a very tall tank, but it was tall enough to keep the she-dwarf far into its belly. And with her wrist manacled she couldn't very well reach the top to drag herself out. And the feline looked much to delicate to pull her soaked and sodden self out. The cleric frowned in thought. Now... Just how does one get a wonderfully heavy and rather pruned up dwarf out of a tank? Sounded too much like a riddle. The she-warrior grimaced.

And then the water started to slosh. Opening her mouth to protest, she thought better of it as the liquid splashed against her neck and cheek. Ugh. She had enough of water being on her, she certainly wasn't keen on water from Fishfolk captors to get in her too. This was not a good idea, but she stubbornly couldn't voice her protests. The feline shouted and Soglia tensed. Well... Guess she better brace herself...

The world tipped and the dwarf shut her eyes and clenched her teeth. No, no, no, no- A loud crash and a good bite of pain and Soglia was on the hard ground, wet with water and a bit of blood from the glass of her former prison. She let out a small growl and glared with an opening of her eyes.

"Ow." She bit the word out with a huff. A shout cut off any further complaints her hoarse voice could muster. Sitting up with a bit of trouble, wrists still firmly locked together, the dark hair she-dwarf sulked. Lifting up her arms, she looked over her underthings, now throughly wet and dripping with horrid water. She tugged a small shard of glass out of a scratch and frowned, tossing it sourly to the side to punish the offending thing.

"Oh, noooo, please don't worry about This One," she managed to whisper in her throaty and scratchy voice, deep with a heavy accent, "I'm just fine. No, please continue to worry about the bloody awful water This One was stuck in for AllFather knows how long... Fish-loving fool-for-brains."

The man worked magic on the remaining tank with green fire between them and the pickled she-gnome. Soglia, while having absolutely no love for gnomes, frowned heavily. "Sludge-mud gras'vergrahar," she growled out a cursed at him in irritancy, "Enough, just let the awful creature out. Even This One is not so cruel to keep torture of the Fishpeople on a cellmate..."

Soglia garners -6 Piercing Damage
Soglia is also now rather irritated