Dungeon in Dran (Part 3)

The basilisk is dead. Destroyed and blown into a bunch of chunky red pieces. Thankfully Delilah has a spell handy for cleaning up messes because this particular one was all over Donna alongside the remnants from their first fight inside this dungeon. More hallways stretch out before you, waiting to be explored and conquered.

GAME: Delilah rolls knowledge/dungeoneering: (19)+3: 22

"Y'know," Donna says, brushing off the clean front of her mithril-scale hauberk, "sometimes? Magic is awesome. Thanks, D."

A quick glance around the room shows her, basilisk nuggets aside, only more victimized statuary. "...And now I remember Iunno how to unpetrify stuff. Damnit. Any ideas?"

"Anytime!" Delilah beams, then spends a minute wandering around, after helping Donna out with a little prestidigicleaning. Might as well check for anything valuable, after all. Or meaningful, or just... funny, you never know.

Nope, none of that. Just three statues, like the one in the other room, and a basilisk. Well, basilisk bits.

"Hey," Delilah muses, in response to . "Y'know, I remember from, uhh, the ONE class of Mom's when I was paying attention, probably after she hit me for not paying attention, the cure for Basilisks turning people into stone is the basilisk blood. But it only works if the person was turned to stone within a day, and..." she glances downwards, "I think we've got enough for three of 'em."

There's a short pause, as Donna turns to stare at her sister. Then, a broad grin crosses her face. "See! *Told* you brains weren't divvied up unfairly! But... well, shit." Her eyes flit over the statuary again, a frown touching her mouth. "And we don't know who was petrified first... But we can find out. Try one of the folks here, and we can talk to 'em?"

"Seems like a plan," Delilah agrees. "And you still got more brains than I did. Or at least, you're better at using yours." She kneels, and sets about gathering up enough blood to at least get a start. "So.." She looks around, "Let's try this one first? Pretty sure it's a girl. Hard to tell with a statue I guess."

"Wouldn't repeat that if it works," Donna points out. "She might be liable to take it personal."

The blood slowly seeps into the stone, and does its thing. Eventually the shell shatters and the mage shudders and draws breath slowly. She looks around immediately, shuddering at the sight of the body on the ground and blinking in surprise to see her one-time allies turned to stone. "T-thank you!" She says to Delilah and Donna. "That thing... Well I suppose you know it turned us to stone. Can you turn everyone else back? I only have enough spells left to do one!"

"OH GOOD," Donna says around a gusty sigh, nodding to her sister then turning to the mage. "Get to it, D... We got enough for everyone here, but there's another elsewhere. Delilah, that's my sister there, says she's only got enough for three. I'm Donna, I'm the wall of angry meat. Who're we talkin' to?"

"It WORKED!" Delilah throws her hands up in the air, and then scrambles to catch her hat after knocking it off her own head. "Err, I mean. Of course it worked." She goes back to where the basilisk bits are marinading and kneels to gather up enough for a second dose, which she takes to the nearest statue. "Yeah, I'm the artillery. Donna smash's 'em and I zap 'em." She flashes a grin, before tending to the second statue.

The woman you rescued offers a nod in greeting and then at the prompting, her name. "I'm Ginger. That's Brogon and Otto. I don't know who the guy in the first room is, but I'll go tend him as thanks for killing that thing and freeing my boys from being statues." She lifts a hand in thanks and turns to go do as she offered.

"First left, an' right at the end of the hall!" Donna calls after Ginger, then turns to the other statues. As each gets un-petrified in turn, Donna favors each with a grin and an upward jerk of her head, by way of greeting. "I'm Donna, that's Delilah, an' Ginger's out that way, seein' to the last poor bastard to fall afoul of that basilisk afore you did."

Delilah uses a bit of magic to clean her hands after un-stoning the third statue, and likewise steps back and grins. "There, three people no longer turned to stone," she declares, proudly. "Welcome back you two. And, yeah, Ginger's just down the hall." She glances back at the basilisk, briefly. "Really glad that worked!"

The woman, Ginger, returns a moment later with the last man. "He says his name is Lewis!" She declares, and brightens upon seeing her two men returned to flesh. They rush over and one of them picks her up, to which she laughs and they share a reunion. Lewis, being not really a part of their group stands a little bit apart.

"Ginger says I have you to thank for being not a statue anymore. Even though she cast the spell. So thanks." He ducks his head to the two women. "I don't want to be an adventurer anymore. Not after being abandoned by my comrades." He seems a bit bitter, and Ginger throws an arm over his shoulder companionably.

"Don't give up so easily. Come back with me and the boys. We might not have earned a reward for this mission, but we'll buy you a drink and let those who've proven themselves our betters finish the work." Ginger seems the life of her group, flashing a smile at Lewis until he finally nods in agreement.

"'Betters,'" Donna says with an amused snort. "Don't be like that, D won't be able to fit her head out the door." Glancing at her sister, the brawler grins and tips the sorceress a wink. "But yo, we see you at the Fernwood? Drinks're on us, an' you'll have the story of what else went down here."

"Hey, a pleasure to be of help," Delilah replies, and gives a tip of her hat. (Well, the brim of her hat anyway.) "When we wee other adventurers in trouble, we help 'em out, and hope that if we're ever properly stuck, someone'll help us out likewise." She pauses, and nods, "It's worked so far."

The sorceress grins at Donna, "Yeah, see you all at the Fernwood! And you too, Lewis. We all want to hear your story."

Ginger nods her head enthusiastically and pulls the men out of the room, and they laugh and joke together as they leave the dungeon. Even Lewis manages a laugh at something that someone says. It's a good deal all around. With that taken care of, you have a dungeon to explore!

As the party-and-a-bit leaves the dungeon, Donna looks over at her sister, then claps the blond's shoulder. "Gimme fifty o' today over savin' the world, anytime. C'mon, D... Job ain't done 'til the place is clear. How 'bout we check out the left-side doors over that way?"

Delilah reaches up behind Donna to clap a hand likewise on her twin's shoulder in kind. "Yeah, that just made it all worth it," she agrees. "Four people no longer turned to stone, one of whom was awesome enough to save someone we couldn't -- I'm definitely buying her a drink -- and I for one feel ready to take on the rest of this place. Left-side doors, you say? Sounds good to me!"

The doors that were indicated open easily enough, and reveal what seems at first glance to be an empty room save for the large pool of water that lies just a few feet inside. The bottom of this pool of water has a unique design far different from the stone that makes up the rest of the dungeon. It looks like some kind of blue-green tile.

Leaning against the left-hand doorjamb, Donna peers suspiciously at the water. This is *not* the first time she has dealt with hostile moisture, but this time there's no mermaid priestess to keep her alive.

"Whaddaya say, D? How stupid would I be to touch that?"

Delilah mmms, and shrugs her shoulders, waggling one hand in the air. "I mean, I can't tell you it's safe," she muses, "But we're adventurers, we didn't take up this profession for safe. If we wanted safe we'd be bar wenches. ...Not... that that'd necessarily be bad, I mean, the one at that tavern in the last town was just gorgeous."

Focus, Delilah. "What're you thinking?"

"Any idea how much magic the thing's stuffed with?" Donna says, her tone of voice a nudge in itself. "I can't *look* like you do, and if we don't have any ideas I'm'a just walk up an' poke the water with Blooded."

GAME: Delilah casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 9 DC: 15

Some spells are easy; they don't really take much more than a gesture. Delilah's eyes glow blue (an effect magnified by the lenses she's wearing) as she takes a look around.

"Well... I mean, the water itself might not hurt, but diving into the pool might? The pool is an illusion. Or, the water is. It's hard to tell exactly, but there's definitely illusion magic at work here."

Lyme hangs back, frowning. "Someone hiding something with it, then?" He folds his arms, scowl recovered from the joy of freeing people from stony prisons.

"Probably," Donna throws over her shoulder. Staring at the water for a moment, she sighs. "...Well all right then," Donna says, pushing off the doorway. "I'm'a poke it."

And while her movements *seem* nonchalant, she keeps her eyes *locked* on the water, even as she reaches out with her water-enchanted gauntlet to scoop a bit of the water out of the pool.

"Uhm, alright," Delilah affirms. "I'll stay over here by the door where it's hopefully safe. Well, safe-ish. Y'know, so, uhm." She pauses, and ahems softly. "How about just don't let anything bad happen to you?"

Lyme steps up with Donna, unlimbering his sword again. Just in case.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+13: (5)+13: 18

The illusion of peaceful water is suddenly shattered by a tentacle rising from the water to try and grab Donna's hand. She manages to pull back just in time, but the illusion is gone. In it's place is a pool of water that holds some kind of ugly fish-creature that writhes with tentacles!

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+13: (15)+13: 28
GAME: Donna rolls fortitude: (8)+8: 16
GAME: Donna rolls fortitude: (8)+8: 16

The creature writhes another tentacle out of the water, and this one, catching Donna by surprise grabs her and drags her underwater.

GAME: Donna rolls intimidate: (17)+10: 27

"YEP!" Donna shouts as the placid pool becomes a be-tentacled monster's lair, pulling back. "I GUESS IT'S PUNCHING-- FUCK."

Two more tentacles shoots out to yank her under the water by her waist, and after a moment of flailing and struggling, it occurs to Donna... that she can *breathe* down here, now.

Somehow, that's even *more* annoying.

Orienting on the creature, she lets loose her rage in a manner that doesn't, yet, involve her usual lightshow.

But the torrent of invective, genealogical speculation, and fact-free biological advice *would* be a sight to behold, if one could see or hear it. Which, it seems, the creature doesn't.

GAME: Lyme rolls 1d20+17: (20)+17: 37
GAME: Lyme rolls 1d20+12: (10)+12: 22
GAME: Lyme rolls 1d20+17: (8)+17: 25
GAME: Lyme rolls 2d10+24: (12)+24: 36
GAME: Lyme rolls 1d10+12: (9)+12: 21

Lyme really doesn't take it well, and starts swinging as soon as Donna gets grabbed. He cuts at the tentacles with sabering blows, splashing the water high and messily as it goes!

GAME: Delilah casts Magic Missile. Caster Level: 9 DC: 16
GAME: Delilah rolls 5d4+5: (14)+5: 19
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+13: (10)+13: 23

"Hey be caref--LET GO OF MY SISTER!" Delilah rushes into the room -- but stops just short of getting within range of the tentacles. (Or at least, what she judges to be just short of that.) Getting herself dragged into the water would not work wonders for her spellcasting.

Lyme seems to have things well in hand, but that doesn't mean she can't help. She weaves a spell in the air in front of her, and five bolts of energy, one after the other, flash through the air and blast bits off the tentacle sister-grabbing fish. "LET GO OF HER!!" She screams for good measure.

The creature thrashes in the water, distracting Lyme with its tentacles and trying to throw him into the pool of water like it had Donna. It has less luck grabbing him though, and connects only with air.

GAME: Donna RAGES!, gaining +2 to melee attack/damage/Will saves and 18 temporary HP
GAME: Donna rolls finesse+1+1-2: (14)+13+1+1+-2: 27
GAME: Donna rolls finesse+1+1-2: (15)+13+1+1+-2: 28
GAME: Donna rolls finesse+1+1-2: (12)+13+1+1+-2: 25
GAME: Donna rolls finesse+1+1-2-5: (19)+13+1+1+-2+-5: 27
GAME: Donna rolls finesse+1+1-2-5: (17)+13+1+1+-2+-5: 25
GAME: Donna rolls 1d4+1+1+2+3+1d6: (1)+1+1+2+3+(2): 10
GAME: Donna rolls 1d4+1+1+2+3+1d6: (4)+1+1+2+3+(4): 15
GAME: Donna rolls 1d4+1+1+2+3+1d6: (1)+1+1+2+3+(3): 11
GAME: Donna rolls 1d4+1+1+2+3: (3)+1+1+2+3: 10
GAME: Donna rolls 1d4+1+1+2+3: (4)+1+1+2+3: 11

So this entire predicament is just the living incarnation of Hell No.

As Lyme's sword arcs in from above the waterline, Donna decides that she is, more or less, absolutely done with this tentacled creature in this probably nastily stagnant pool. So she takes in a deeeeeep breath of water, slams her gauntletted fists together, and simply *unleashes* all the magic at her disposal, right into the creature's face. Muscle Wizard cast *Fist.*

By the time she's done punching, the water is beginning to cloud with whatever the creature used for blood, and its body is bent and twisted in ways that even an unnaturally monstrous body probably shouldn't.

Also, it looks pretty dead.

Lyme peers into the pool. "You going to be okay?" He holds out his hand at the messy pool, hoping that it's a muscle-wizard and not a tentacle that grabs him.

"Good grief!" Delilah rushes over to the edge of the pool and drops to her knees beside Lyme, thrusting her hands down into the water, heedless of the... rather icky nature of it. "Thank you!" she adds, beaming up at the Orc, while fishing about for her sister. "That was an amazing couple of strikes you pulled off on that... I dunno what that was. But you and Donna definitely killed it."

Donna allows herself a satisfied moment... that goes away the minute she realized she took in a satisfying breath, and found it still full of water. "...Shit," she mutters, looking up at the hands waiting to pull her out... and sighs heavily. No way to communicate this except for the hard way, so... she swims up, and grabs hold of both Lyme and Delilah's hands, bracing to be pulled out.

This is going to *suck.* Metaphorically.

The moment that Donna comes out of the water, she stops being able to breathe. She's like a fish out of water. Worse? Cracks start to form all over her skin. As if she's drying out on the land. It's horrible, and it's _painful_.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d12: (5): 5

Lyme pauses, as he pulls, then stares down at Donna. "Oh shit, that's not--" and then things happen. He reaches down to throw Donna back into the water -- more fast than kind, really.

Delilah reaches much the same conclusion as Lyme, and practically hurls her sister back into the water, with all the force her muscles can muster. (Which isn't much, but Lyme makes up for it.)

"What... What happened?!" The sorceress looks down into the water, but doesn't stick her hand in it again; no sense in getting herself into the same mess until she knows how to fix it.

So, instead, she weaves a quick spell. "We're working on it," she whispers, the magic making it audible to both Lyme and Donna, and granting the ability, briefly, to respond in kind. "Can you breathe in the water?"

GAME: Delilah casts Message. Caster Level: 9 DC: 15

Donna rolls unceremoniously into the water, shaking her head as the pain recedes and her skin stops trying to pull itself apart out of sheer dryness. Looking up, she simply shrugs in exasperation at her friends, before Delilah's spell hits her. "Moment the motherfucker got hold of me, I couldn't breathe. Then it pulled me in, and suddenly I was all right. *Hoped* when he was dead this whatever it is would be broke, but... nope. Guess I'm stuck here until we figure a way out of this."

Lyme nods slowly, then looks at Delilah. "So, magic. Is it a disease or a curse?" A pause. "I don't know much about that, though."

GAME: Delilah rolls knowledge/the planes: (20)+4: 24

Delilah cups her chin, and closes her eyes for a moment. The sorceress takes a deep breath, and spends a moment having a think.

"...I think I get it," she declares at last, and weaves a spell, once again sending the message to both Donna and Lyme.

"That was an Aboleth," she explains. "They cause other creatures to gain their flesh and their excretions make them breathe water. There's an easy cure, but it sucks -- wait a few hours until the effects wear off. That's really all we can do."

Donna's reply can be heard without the help of the spell, and probably wouldn't be printable even in Charn.

-TBC