No Rest for the Dead in Avlor

Balian

"Doesn't help us tonight, though", Balian complains out loud. "Why don't we just send Squiggles through the circle, we could tie a rope to him, or something...?  At least if something happens, we've not lost anyone important."  At this remark he casts an eye towards Squiggles, to see if he reacts.

     Shale retrieves his spear and on his way back to the group, he chuckles at Balian's comment. "Well, I guess you may get your wish to go exploring that thing." The cleric glances in the watery room where they fought the aboleth's servants. "Did any check for a way through this room?"

Balian,

The thief looks positively disappointed as he replies.  "I checked the walls, and they appear to be indeed walls, not even a sniff of a secret passage!  But that kuo-toa has given me an idea..."

Balian drops to his knees in the shallow water and begins shuffling along on all fours, attempting to peer through the water at the floor below.

Investigation (min 13): 13

Crawling around and looking carefully at the floor, you notice a circular seam in the stone about 2/3 of the way back. It appears to be around 6' in diameter.

Balian

"Aha!", Balian exclaims.  "It would seem I've found the 'plug'.  That trick with the undead is pretty useful Shale, you sure you've not missed your calling as a necromancer?"

Rummaging in his backpack, he produces a crowbar, scuffed from years of prying open doors, windows and chests.  He begins poking at the seam, trying to wedge the crowbar into the gap.

Quote from ceuk24 >>

Balian

"Doesn't help us tonight, though", Balian complains out loud. "Why don't we just send Squiggles through the circle, we could tie a rope to him, or something...?  At least if something happens, we've not lost anyone important."  At this remark he casts an eye towards Squiggles, to see if he reacts.

Squiggles, excited at the idea of exploring the circle, takes a moment before he realizes the slight

"Hey! Who's going to identify all the pretty things you pilfer if I die?!"

After some poking and prodding, Balian manages to get some purchase with the crowbar in the seam.

Make a Strength check with advantage.

Shale walks over and gives Bailan hearty slap on the back. "You got this."

(Take your guidance too.)

Balian

Strength: 18

Guidance: 1

OOC - Some top rolls there...

"Well, maybe you don't." Shale pushes the half elf aside and grabs the crowbar. "Maybe you pissed off the Huntress."

Strength 19

Balian

"What did I do to her?  Besides, I obviously loosened it enough so that it was easier for you.  Wouldn't want you putting your back out."

    "She can be particular sometimes... I appreciate that. My back is sore enough as it is caring after you lot all this time." Shale bellows a deep laugh at his on joke.

Quote from ceuk24 >>

Strength: 5

Guidance: 1

 Those rolls are so bad they almost made it around the other side to being good again...

Balian pushes on the crowbar until he starts to get red in the face, with no apparent movement to the stone, until finally, his grip slips and he smacks his nose on the crowbar. He does not in fact have this.

Shale then adds insult to injury as he grabs the crowbar and pops the round stone cover off of the hole in the floor, making it look almost effortless.

With the cover out of the way, some of the water on the floor rushes into the space it vacated, but the overall level of water in the cavern is not perceptibly lowered. You see a round hole filled with cloudy greenish, truly foul-smelling water that reminds you a bit of pond scum, only with a less fresh scent. With the benefit of a bright light you can see down about six or eight inches, but beyond that it's too murky to tell by looking at it how much farther down it goes.

Flynt glances down the pathway and shakes his head. "Well this is lovely." 

"I'm more inclined to read than flex my muscles, but i'm not sure that's how it's done my friend", Squiggles says, patting Balian on the back as he leans over to look.

"Fluffy, you're up little guy". Squiggles instructs Fluffy to fly in and scout things out a bit

Edit: Oops, I thought there was air in there too lol

     Shale looks curiously at Squiggles. "That bird can swim? Impressive!"

     He then turns to the druid. "Think you can turn into something that can scout through the water?"

"That seems a touch risky.  Behold! The bat is just Fluffy's corporeal form, which I can manipulate."

Squiggles casts Find Familiar to turn Fluffy into an octopus. He then puts Fluffy in the water, and Fluffy proceeds to stealthily swim (Dark vision 30 ft)

Stealth: 9

Edit: +4 with advantage and I get a 9!!!

Flynt is going to wait by the water until they come out. He'll keep an eye out and his hands on his swords in case anything follows them back to the surface. 

So many terrible rolls with advantage!

Now sporting tentacles of his own, Fluffy dives down into the watery passageway in search of the party's tentacled nemesis. The passage heads down... and down some more... until it starts to bend and flatten out about 100 ft below the surface. Continuing into the bend, the passage winds around a few times, staying close to parallel to the surface, for another 1000 or so feet, after which it starts to bend upward again, and then widen into a pool which is 40-50 ft across. As Fluffy swims upward into the pool, he can see surface above him, above which is darkness but also, presumably, air. As he approaches the surface, his loud swimming attracts the attention of something in the pool with him. As it draws closer, Fluffy sees a familiar large tentacled creature enter his field of view, looking like it wants to eat him.

(Initiative for Fluffy: 10,

Squiggles: 16, and

Aboleth: 10)

 Sorry, inserted line breaks since the middle part got eaten by the parser. Aboleth originally rolled a 2, so Squiggles and Fluffy can each take an action before the aboleth can get any closer.

Hmm.. just noticed that find familiar takes an hour to cast. So I guess that's what happened since it's kind of too late now to change it. I think that means it's coming up on midnight or so now.

FYI, based on Fluffy's scouting, you estimate that it's about 1200 ft in total to the surface of the pool where the aboleth is. Assuming no swim speed, and a dash at a regular speed of 30 ft., you can make it 300 ft in a minute, so 4 minutes to swim the whole way. You need a CON modifier of +3 or better to hold your breath that whole time. That means Balian and Shale could make it, Jarl could make it with a suitable wild shape, Celric would go unconscious where the passage starts to bend upward (and would then start to float to the surface and need to make four death saves). Squiggles would lag behind due to his lower speed, going unconscious about 400 ft out, while the passage is still horizontal. And Flynt would run out of breath about halfway.