Dues for the Dead (DM Lerus)

Doozey shakes his head, snapping out of depressing spiral of thoughts that came with first seeing the defiled lake. "You'll have to remind me of that one. If you said the story before, I believe its been a good while since. But, if the idea is to have one of us take a dip with some rope to make a guiding line to the tunnel, best I do the run meself." He expresses, slipped off his backpack, and began taking some time to get limbered up.

"No offense to the rest of ya, but I'm pretty confident I'm the better navigator. And dare it be said, even better swimmer." He added as finished up the quick routine, and looked up to the others. He then turns his attention to Sagin. "If it turns out to be a bit too far, I'll be sure to come back and let you know. Taters there-" He gestures to the beast, who at that point took to perching on one of the lower hanging branches looking troubled at the water. "-will keep you company in that event, and protect ya in a pinch. Just don't forget what I said about hiding if either of ya sense danger approaching."

Having said his piece, unless there are any objections or amendment of the plan that might warrant a stalling of his departure, Doozey entered the grimy looking water with at least one end of the rope tied to his waist, and any arms, clothing, and armor that he could dare take with him on the trip.

Survival: 19.
If Guidance: 4.

Graxx walks up and kneels down at the lake.

"The Kuo-Toa... That was my first run-in with the Cult.  They killed a good Donkey and I swore vengeance against them." says Graxx.

Graxx runs his hand into the water brings it up to his nose and sniffs it.

"This... This doesn't feel like the cult does it?" asks Graxx.

Graxx looks at the others curiously and stands up.

"This water... This corruption... It reminds me of... De Folk."

Graxx faces grimaces at the thought.

"Ungrateful Folk they were.  And remember how those Crones kept making that boiling water for us to drink?  This makes me think of that."

Graxx shakes his head and puts his hand to his chin.

"I could be wrong... Could those Crones really be strong enough to slay a Dragon?"

Graxx begins to look around at the water's shore.

"Surely there is a track of some kind letting us know what may have come through here."

Graxx will search for tracks.

Survival:  11

"So far we have only seen two dragons: Derannos and Claugiyliamatar." Neya replies to Graxx.  "I wouldn't know if they could contend with a dragon of Old Gnawbone's caliber, even a fey lord had significant trouble with it. But by Derannos' own admission, he's significantly younger."

(OOC: With Sagin's rope, that makes it 4 lengths available for being tied together.)

Utar pulls 100 feet of rope from his pack and suggests that the group goes for a dive in the foul water. Doozey elaborates on the exact plan and volunteers to set up the rope as a guide. Graxx's suspicions of the islet folk grow quickly. When he vocalizes some doubt about their ability to best a dragon, Neya reminds the group that Derannos was a young creature by dragon standards.

Sagin offer up his rope when asked, as does Neya. Feeling a bit more trust coming from Doozey, the kobold opts to stay put alongside the flying bunny. "I... I do want to meet this glorious dragon, but ... I don't like water very much. Maybe you come back and tell me if the dragon accepts to take me in?"

Doozey then leaps into the water and goes to work carrying a lot of rope and some of Torm's guidance. A little bit of the water immediately around Apostle is magically cleansed once Doozey has spent enough time in the pond. Doozey then dives and hopes that 200ft or so of rope will be sufficient. Searching for a path in murky water is no easy task, but Doozey is more than an accomplished swimmer, and quite the specialist at finding paths. While searching, the ranger is a bit perturbed by the lack of aquatic life around him, and even more so after bumping into what is clearly a dead human as he approaches an underwater tunnel. Several minutes later, and after one last lung-replenishing swim upward, the hunter goes through the passage and emerges on the other side of the tunnel. Doozey ties the rope on a stalagmite and swims back. Unfortunately, he has to emerge somewhere in the middle of the pond on his way back, as the rope proves not to be long enough to reach the shore. CRAP can see Doozey in the middle of the pond, though.

While the halfling goes about his swimming, Graxx moves around in search of footprints. Around the pond a bit, he finds almost too many of them, to the point that a section of ground right next to the water body has been stomped into a muddy pool. Many people surely passed through here, and it looks like they went into the water too.

If not for a certain detachment when it came to matters of death, Doozey might've panicked seeing the corpse. Instead, he fulfilled his mission, and upon surfacing again, waves the group on into the water. "Found a corpse on the way. Can't tell who it was, but definitely human." He called to the group, then adds to Sagin, "I'll keep my word, but keep an eye out here, would'ja ya. If we surface, and others have come and are about to ambush us, signal us if ya can. That goes doubly for you, Taters." With an uncanny intelligence and understanding, Taters nods, before scoping out the scene searching for what might be an optimal patrol route. One in which he'd of course occasionally come back and land beside Sagin to keep him company.

Back with the halfling, he waits until others have swam to him, before asking whoever is the last to reach the cave to tug on the rope good, signaling for him to dive head to the cave.

Graxx grunts at the tracks.

"Many have passed this way...  To many to tell if they were coming or going."

Graxx listens to Doozey and grabs the end of the rope.

"I'm coming next Doozey!" says Graxx.

Graxx tries to follow the rope to Doozey.

Survival:  7

Neya follows Graxx to the rope and tries to follow it into the lake cavern.

Survival: 16

(OOC: Guided by Doozey and the rope, you do not need to roll survival checks.)

Sagin understand his instructions and finds a bush to hide behind for now. He is twirling his sling, just in case he needs to defend himself.

-> Sagin's stealth check: 4

The kobold clearly needs more training.

Doozey shares his findings with the rest of CRAP, as does Graxx. No longer wanting to delay the inevitable, they swim to meet Doozey in the middle of the lake and complete the underwater trip into the cave with the help of the stoutling and/or the guiding rope, as needed. They rely more on feeling the rope and hearing the ranger's underwater movements than they do on sight. Utar and his heavy armor have some difficulty to keep up with the group, but he manages it in the end. Neya is not the last one to emerge on the other side but volunteers to collect the rope as needed.

The way ahead offers few alternate paths, so the group has no difficulties in arriving at the central cavernous chamber. Memory begins to fill in some gaps in your minds as you recall standing on that edge over there when first meeting Derannos and seeing the dragon pop out of the water onto the large rock over there. This time, however, no one comes to greet you. The cave is darker and colder than what you remember. The fowl water no longer reflect bits of sunlight coming through holes in the ceiling.

You are taken out of your memories as you approach the edge. The ground is sticky with blood and mud, which have dried in some parts but remain pooled in others. There are more corpses here, all human. Many are dismembered, others seem charred in spots, others still are slashed savagely. Crude weapons lay on the floor.

(OOC: Below is a refresher of what you are looking at. This is just a small section of the lair. There is plenty of water and rocks jutting out of it. You arrive from the path to the north. The water body in front of you is not the one you just emerged from. The water here is no longer crystalline, as it looks and smells as foul as the pond/lock outside.)

MAP:

Glancing around in the darkness Utar's hand goes to the pouch which contains the driftglobe.  Taking it in the palm of his hand, he looks to the group then nods towards it indicating his intention to illuminate the area to better inform their search.  Unless any of the group have strong feelings against doing so, he will invoke it's command word and let it silently float into the air beside him, illuminating the aftermath.

Whether aided by the light or not, Utar will attempt to ascertain whether any of the bodies are likely to hail from the island village.  If not, he then attempts to look for any identifying marks, crests or emblems displayed on shields, colours of armour, style of weapon...  Suddenly, he also realises, what if one of them is still alive!

Perception - 24

 "He certainly didn't go without a fight... Bloody Islanders."  Doozey murmured with a scowl on his face, still certain of the one truth despite the others questioning of other possibilities. At Utar's request, stoutling glanced to the waters for a moment or two, before nodding and giving an offhanded wave. The group hadn't exactly been quiet in reaching the chamber, so there'd been no real reason to urge on the side of caution.

With or without the light, Doozey wandered along the edge of the pool, search despite the odds for any signs of a large bodied creature have slunk into the waters, and if so, which direction they seemed to lean more towards to in returning to the water.

Survival: 26.

Regardless of his findings, Doozey eventually speaks up and says, "I'm gonna go for a dip. Scout the way ahead 'n all that. If I'm not back in a minute or two..." He lets the words hang there. If noone stops him after that, one last deep breath of air is taken before Doozey found himself once again submerged again, heading either roughly in direction of the tracks, or taking his chances heading eastward in water, keeping close to the wall in his travel. Though on occasion, he dives down and tries to feel his way along the bottom, searching for any signs that might suggest more branching underwater tunnels.

Before Doozey jumps in the water, Neya adds, "While you search the waters, I'll look around in the air around here."

With that, she wraps herself with her cloak and her form shifts into a bat. She flies around using her temporary echolocation to scout around.

Perception (with Keen Hearing, if applicable, since bat's blindsight is dependent on hearing): 11

Graxx looks shocked as Neya transforms as his eyes open wide and he steps back a bit.

"Well that is new..." says Graxx.

Graxx stays where he is on the shore and closes his eyes.

"Tempus... Is there any evil here?" whispers Graxx as he uses Divine Sense.

 Graxx reopens his eyes and looks around trying to identify any evil sources.

Graxx calls out to Doozey.

"If it was the Folk now might be the time to strike when they are licking their wounds from battle.  We could wipe out the Crones and any loyal.  They are clearly a threat to the region if they are leaving their isle."

Graxx will kneel down at a lesser charred corpse and try to identify how long it's been dead.

Medicine?: 8

DM's Screen:

(OOC: Boy, if Cassyt had seen Neya transform into a bat... after "glamouring" her appearance and teleporting through the shadows. No one would ever be able to convince her that she was wrong about the monk.)

(@MB: That's more of an investigation check, I think, so we'll say you rolled an 18.)

Utar toggles his Driftglobe once he hears no objection from his companions and approaches the corpses with the intent to identify them. He sees a general lack of armor, rusty weapons, plenty of tattered rags, and no lack of injuries/scars/ailments obviously sustained way before the battle in question. A couple of them are missing fingers and an eye. Everything reminds the Tormite of the villagers in the unnamed islet.

Neya transforms into a bat and goes search the are from above. Nothing on top of the tall rocks or on the ceiling seems to be of much concern. Although the echolocation sound waves get distorted by the water, Neya thinks she gets some sort of large mound or rock underwater.

Graxx first checks with Tempus for any evil in his vicinity, but gets no inherently wicked source nearby other than the same feeling he got from the foul water before. He then kneels by a corpse to try to establish time of death, but the combination of dry and wet blood, as well as the damp environment overall, make it quite the hard task. To the best of his ability, Graxx can only rule our the last couple of hours, but it could have been days since the fight took place.

Doozey inspects the edge and sees all the expected markings of a localized landslide: something big indeed feel into the water from this spot. Going for a dive, toward the being's projected trajectory, the stoutling finds himself swimming deeper than he initially expected. He comes across a few more corpses on his way. Then, being able to see a little better in this deeper water, the ranger spots a huge creature lying still on the bottom of the pool. It lies on a neatly organized mound, a hoard of treasures and other items. It is, however, not the only huge creature here. Another one is standing right next to the first, several necks erupting from a crocodilian body. Two heads are munching on the large cadaver, while two others rest and a fifth patrols. It has no difficulty in spotting the halfling and quickly approaching.

ROLLING FOR INITIATIVE;

RECLAIMED LAIR - Initiative Round 1

• 20. Neya (68/68) - concentrating on Polymorph, in the form of a Bat;
• 20. Graxx (112/112) - 
• 18. Utar (84/84) -
• 15. Doozey (76/76) - some 50 feet underwater
• 08. Five-headed Monstrosity - 

MAP:

NOTES: Utar's Driftglobe is assumed to be near him. The dark spot in the center of the map is one of the large rocks protruding from the water. There is plenty of space between it and the ceiling.

(Everyone can go. That said, only Doozey knows that a fight has started and he is underwater. Neya may have some suspicions; I'll leave it up to @Drache.) 

Hearing it from Torm was one thing. Seeing the aftermath of the struggle here was another. Stepping closer to Graxx by the water's edge, he peers into the murk, waiting for Doozey to emerge.

"Reckon he'll be long down there?"

(OOC Given Utar doesn't know he's in combat I've elected to make a terrible decision and not take an action.)

Graxx turns to Utar.

”I certainly hope not.  If he’s too much longer I’m diving in after him.  He might have found some more tunnels or something.”

OOC:  No action from Graxx besides watching the water for a sign of Doozey.

(@all: I'm an idiot. Just realized DM said everyone can go. XD I also forgot to mention putting on the shield before going for a swim, but that's on me and probably for the best. T.T)

Though Doozey would do his level best to keep to a neutral expression as the creature unfurled itself, had he been on the surface and alone facing the creature... well, it was a good thing he was underwater. Hair grows, fangs become more pronounced, and bone dully crack beneath the foul liquid as Doozey promptly released some restraints, and transformed into his hybrid form. But even in that state, the clear signs to retreat overrode the more stubborn and animalistic need to stand his ground against terror.

And so, Boozey would try to retreat, opening himself up if need be to catching bite to the flank, but staying determined to reach the surface and warn the others. Failing that, Apostle is drawn and worked through the motion of viciously stabbing the head locked on to him in hopes of deterring it away from keeping ahold of the halfling. But Big Mama Yondalla willing, Boozey is able to breech the surfaces by the bank before long instead, sputtering and coughing up what foul water found its way inside during the last few moments of reaching the surface. Boozey would continue past Utar and Graxx, flailing for a while trying to pull out Pip, before then finally turning and pointing at the water with the weapon.

"Well don't just stand there. Ready yourselves! Seems Derranos...  Derranos is dead, I think... and being devoured by some... some five headed giant monster! Some kind of gator and serpent mixxed together!"

Bonus Action: Transform into Hybrid State.

Movement(Swim): To CY-10, ascending while doing so. (20ft from surfacing)

Action(if not grappled/unconscious): Dash to CU-10.

OR(if grappled)

Action: Furious stinging at 5 headed Monster.
#1 Short Sword - Attack: 26 Damage: 6 magical piercing.
#2 Short Sword - Attack: 14 Damage: 7 magical piercing.

If either attack hits, using favored foe to add another 3 to the damage.

(If restrained instead, here's the disadvantage rolls in order: 24, 21)

Not seeing anything from the air, Neya starts to return to the shore from which she took off.

(Dash fly to DC-18)

(@Ori: Despite moving diagonally upward at first, at some point Doozey will need to swim straight upward as his horizontal distance to shore is shorter than his vertical distance to it. That means you can reach as far as {CV-10} with 60ft of movement.)

Bat-Neya begins to fly back to her companions at full speed and catches a glimpse of Utar and Graxx wondering if Doozey will emerge from his dive anytime soon.

Doozey's flight instinct wins over and the hunter begins his transformation as he swims backward and upward. Despite his incredible underwater speed, the humanoid badger can't help but to leave his retreating form open to attacks. The unfurling beast does not pass the opportunity to perhaps claim another meal, teaching Boozey a painful lesson: each head seems to have an appetite of its own:

-> Bite vs Boozey: Attack: 27 Damage: 6  

-> Bite vs Boozey: Attack: 27 Damage: 14 

-> Bite vs Boozey: Attack: 10 Damage: 14 

-> Bite vs Boozey: Attack: 9 Damage: 6 

-> Bite vs Boozey: Attack: 23 Damage: 6 

Boozey is bitten into thrice, but each time the offending maw releases its prey. Something about the way it hunts reveals a preference for letting prey bleed out first, it so seems. (Boozey takes 12 piercing damage, already halved.)

The rest of the group sees a wet badger-humanoid pop out of the water while bleeding and yelling something about a five-headed crocodile.

Shortly after Doozey's emergence, a monstrous reptilian head rises from the water almost vertically, supported by a long neck whose base remains submerged. A second head emerges and then a third. A fourth head comes up at an angle and then a fifth. Necks and heads are all the party sees above water.

The center head lets out a horrifying grunt that reverberates through the cavern and is subsequently amplified by the addition of four more back-up roars (maybe it has a few levels in Bard?)

END OF INITIATIVE ROUND 1