Roxana nods. "I guess he's telling us he's find to just let us go?"  She looks at Gaer. "Odd, the statue seemed fine to just let us go. Now this person."  

Gaer smiles at Roxana with confidence: "Between the two of us, yours is undoubtedly the brightest mind... You'll figure out, I'm sure. Anyway, I certainly don't complain about this state of affairs - not after I set out with the prospect of facing a zombie horde..." he winks at Rash.

Mival in the meantime intervenes: "Reading this creature's thoughts, I realize that earlier it was trying to ascertain if we were somehow connected to Rassalantar... Apparently it is (or should I say was) in his service - and having no orders from him at the moment it is... indifferent about us. It seems to miss Rassalantar. Not that we can do anything about that..."

"Thank you, Mival!   That's very helpful.," Spira smiles.  "Between you and Aedion, we have the nucleus for quite an effective little intelligence gathering team.  The Harpers had better watch out for their harpstrings!"  From smiling she proceeds to an outright laugh at the absurd immensity of her exaggeration.  "But then I might just be a little biased in favor of either my son or my new comrade in arms who has stood by us well in our perils thus far." 

She then turns and addresses the blue-skinned being, allowing the pent-up energy of her anxiety for loved ones and comrades to give her voice and manner an authentic urgency.  Indeed, as she continues the emotional Spira finds herself imagining her own beloved Darvin in the place of Lord Rassalantar that terrible day; and herself as his captive Lady forced to watch as the scheming blackguards who seized her used her to betray the man she loved more than life itself.  Then she envisions the roles reversed.  This is all it takes to lend her act a most genuine fervency (Advantage on Persuasion?)

"We've come to help Lord Rassalantar ... we came as quick as we could when the news came -- but I fear unless we hurry we'll have come too late.    The officer of guards above told us of Lady Nathundam's captivity, and the sudden treacherous flood.  We'll need to move with all the speed we can, but with the Lady's life at stake as well as the Lord's we dare not risk one false move.  In the name of Rassalantar I beg you tell us all you know of this catastrophe; of any enemies or allies you know of on this level who yet may live ... as I pray the Lady and Lord do in some bubble of magic; for I can't see such an elaborate scheme of treachery being woven merely to destroy them ...; of any knowledge that may be helpful in destroying the monsters who could be capable of such a thing."

===***===

Persuasion 6 (if her emotion is enough to give her ADV, second roll 4)

The creature's face is as expressive as a person's and betrays all its emotional involvement - despite the mouth not pronouncing a single syllable. The blue-skinned man seems incredibly worried, but also terribly frustrated...

"He's wondering how to communicate with us..." Mival explains, out loud, surprised "He wants to help Rassalantar, he can understand us, but he can't speak!"

The blue-skinned man's expression becomes as astonished as that of the doppelganger, then the excitement of an idea seems to flash in his eyes and he begins to stare at the other.

"He's thinking what he wants to communicate to you!" Mival understands the tactic "His name is Khelbluen, he's Rajmund's 'court magician'. After such a long time, he was convinced that Rajmund was dead, but if we think he's alive he's willing to follow us - oh and he says to hurry up!"

"Good job, Spira!" Darvin smiles at his beloved "You've earned us the court magician's help, it seems! No disrespect to our excellent Rash, of course."

"Excellent!," Spira grins.  She turns to the hovering wizard. "We accept your offer with gratitude, Khelbluen; and as we're not as familiar with the underlevels of the Keep as we might be, we'd appreciate your guidance as to which is the best way to seek Rajmund.    The captain above said he could hear the noise of battle that night.  Did you see or hear anything down here that might indicate what general section the Lord was in when he was betrayed?" 

A new thought floats to the top of her mind even as she is speaking; after Khelbluen responds to her first query, she asks, "And the Blackstaff?  Did he ever get word of what was passing here; or did he in fact come, only to be thwarted by the traitors the same way you and the captain of the guard were?"

Roxana glances about the room. "It seems there are no paths out of here, so shall we continue on to the north?" she suggests. It did seem fortunate they had recruited this mage to accompany them. Quite a bonus to have Mival with them. 

Khelbluen uses Mival as his go-between as usual; the Doppelganger explains: "No, he didn't hear anything... so he remained, as usual, waiting here, even when the floodwaters began to rise. He was worried... but his role was to stay here - Rajmund came to call him himself, whenever he needed him (or wanted to joke with him). Only later did Khelbluen become convinced that something must be tragically wrong - and that Rajmund was probably dead. It is a real exception, for him, to leave this room without Rajmund's direct order - he is doing it only for the hope that you gave him that we could still be able to help him."

"However," Mival concludes "since Khelbluen didn't hear anything, the only thing he can assume is that the attack took place in a distant area. And as for the Blackstaff... there was no way to contact him directly - things worked the other way around: it was Khelben who came here when he saw fit to check on things. Surely one day he must have come... and taken an unscheduled bath! Khelbluen regrets, in fact, that Khelben wasn't here. It was Khelben who created him in his image, it seems. He was a very powerful wizard. Khelbluen, on the contrary, has just limited magical powers... he does not share the Blackstaff's magic, just the Blackstaff's appearance - apart from the blue hue of his skin. In fact, Rajmund gave Khelbluen this name as a sort of joke, a fusion of 'blue' and 'Khelben'. Khelbluen always found it funny."

Lacking better guidance, Gaer supports Roxana's proposal: "Yes, if the idea was to examine the side branch, proceeding north should be our next step."

The party, now accompanied by Khelbluen, who is floating near Spira and Mival, travels along a corridor that leads now north, now west, until finally reaching a T-junction that allows for many new different path possibilities.

The party seems hesitant at the abundance of possible paths. Gaer thinks for a moment then suggests...

1 = nearest west / 2 = farthest west / 3 = north / 4 = east
2

"Let's get to that four-way intersection and head west... Maybe that will get us to the edge of the dungeon and narrow down our options!"

But will his fellow adventurers agree with his thoughtful analysis?

"I think maybe we should take the nearer passage to the west?" Roxana suggests. "Not that any of them are necessarily better. I just think we should go in some sort of order." 

The party does not object to Roxana's proposal, and so the exploration continues in that direction. The path soon turns south, widening into one of those areas where the collapse of the upper level floor has created the possibility of swimming back up to the upper level... and considerable piles of rubble below.

Our heroes thus arrive at the threshold of a new room, rejoining parts already glimpsed previously.

A spiral staircase occupies the southwest corner of this room. Part of the ceiling has collapsed, so this area is now in communication with the upper Level.

In addition to the stairs (and the collapsed portion of the ceiling), there are several exits. On the north wall there was a 5'-wide opening that the collapse has now widened to a width of 10'. This opening opens onto a corridor (which has also been affected by the collapse and therefore has a floor cluttered with a lot of debris).

On the east wall, in the southernmost section, another large opening (10'-wide) opens onto a solemn 10' wide corridor that is paved in marble. In the northernmost section, however, although there were originally no openings, the collapse has created one (also 10'-wide), which allows one to continue through large quantities of debris towards the east in a direction initially parallel to the paved in marble corridor.

On the west wall, in its northernmost section, there is a 10'-wide breach in the wall, which connects the room to the course of an underground river.

The room is devoid of furniture, but some of the fallen stones have been fixed with macabre festoons made from bones tied together with string. The walls are frescoed, but the long stay under water has faded the frescoes; it can be recognized that they mainly represented a noble couple, a lord and a lady, in different environments and situations (although always together), but not much more.

The room is inhabited by two large aquatic monsters, a kind of fish-ogre, with a long tail fin instead of legs, clawed hands, small tentacles near the mouth and harpoons in their hands.

One of the two has a scar on his cheek. The other has a severed finger on his left hand. The two must have a terrible temper, because they immediately raise the harpoons, clearly demonstrating bellicose intentions!

Time to roll for initiative...

Rash Initiative: 14

Monsters/NPCs initiatives:

Darvin 18
Scarred cheek 18
Gaer 14
Mival 5
Anita 18
Unseen Warrior 17
Dawnborn 14
Khellbluen  10
Severed finger 16

(Roxana Initiative: 24)

(Spira initiative 15)

Rolling for Aidwyn's Initiative: 23

Round 1

Aidwyn enters the room, struggling through the rubble and engaging the monsters in close combat. The blade of her longsword is not suited to underwater combat, but the young heroine tries to compensate with her physical strength and experience and threatens Scarred Cheek's belly with a sudden lunge.

Adwyn's Lunge Attack: 22 Damage: 6 (slashing)

Round 1

Aidwyn manages to move her blade (along with a fair amount of water) at incredible speed and Scarred Cheek can't quite parry: even if slightly deflected by the handle of the trident, the tip of the sword grazes him in the chest.

Dawnborn, disconsolate, shakes her head... How is it possible that her beloved always manages to place herself in the most dangerous positions? She does her best to keep an eye on her, seemingly ready to intervene... although it's hard to imagine how, from that distance.

Meanwhile, Mival, quick on his feet, seeing that Aidwyn has caught Scarred Cheek's attention, runs towards the monster himself, reaching him and preparing to strike at the first opportunity.

Now Roxana and Spira are up! Any order.

Remember the underwater combat rules:

When making a melee weapon attack, a creature that doesn't have a swimming speed (either natural or granted by magic) has disadvantage on the attack roll unless the weapon is a dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear, or trident.

A ranged weapon attack automatically misses a target beyond the weapon's normal range. Even against a target within normal range, the attack roll has disadvantage unless the weapon is a crossbow, a net, or a weapon that is thrown like a javelin (including a spear, trident, or dart).

Creatures and objects that are fully immersed in water have resistance to fire damage.

Combat Stats (those interested can peek):

Roxana will hold her position, getting out her short bow to attack the creature with the scarred cheek as well.  (Steady Aim - Advantage results in standard roll.)  
(Shortbow Attack: 27 - crit, Damage: 12 + 8 sneak attack)