"If this is like the swimming challenge," Joy murmurs thoughtfully as they approach the entrance, "We could...well, technically...find a good spot inside and sort of...ambush them and take the amulet when they head back." She forces a weak laugh, wondering if that's just the hag blood in her talking.

Athletics: 10

Ylis tries to follow and stay near Joy.

As a backup she also casts Light on her hand.

She tries to make her way through the kelp but it is quite tangly and difficult to navigate. This is worse than the swamp of Mohinga... she thinks as she struggles with the plants

Athletics check 11

Vazo'yn finds himself quickly out of his depth. He is not a man used to pushing his body. He is more at home in quiet discussion and contemplation than trudging through undersea grottos. As he tries to hurry himself through, his legs are tangled by the kelp and threaten to trip him up.

Athletics: 10

OOC: Is this similar to the other challenges where spells and class features are frowned upon?

Jacaranda Athletics- 20

Jacaranda finds that she can apply many of the lessons learned moving through the thick foliage of her jungle hpme to this rather more acquatic environment and forges a path....

Riven feels the kelp coiling around arms and legs. He presses forward, jaw clenched, body slicing through water with stubborn resolve. But no amount of control or strength stops the fronds from binding. One twists tight around his ankle, another snares his elbow. He kicks hard, twists with a swimmer’s grace, but the water turns against him.

A sharp jerk spins him, his shoulder slamming into a slick wall of stone. Bubbles erupt from his mouth in a silent curse.

For a breathless moment, he is pinned, his hand shoots to the dagger at his hip, fingers ghosting over the hilt, but he stops. He exhales slow, shifting his body in small, precise movements, easing tension from one coil to the next.

Above him, the shimmer of Jacaranda’s light filters faintly through the kelp. He spots shapes moving ahead, Ayo’s team, already vanishing into the next chamber.

Finally, with a last twist, Riven slips free, but he's lost precious ground.

He surfaces beside the others moments later, water clinging to his lashes, shoulders rising and falling with slow, quiet breath.

“…They’re fast,” he mutters, voice low and calm, but his eyes burn with something cold and sharp. “We’ll be smarter.”

His gaze flicks forward, narrowing toward the path ahead.

“They can have the lead. We’ll take the win.”

Athletics: 7

The party struggles through the kelp. Everyone except Randa seems to find this chamber to be particularly difficult and if not for the potions that have enabled everyone to breathe this cold sea water, this very chamber may have spelled doom for most. Such a relief it is to find the end of the chamber and the tunnel on the other side, stretching deeper into the depths. Silvery moonlight filters in through a gap in the cavern’s stone ceiling. Ahead, the path through the grotto splits into two tunnels: one to the south and one to the east. As the party approaches, Ayo swims from deeper within the southern tunnel and stretches out her arms. 

"Sorry friends, this one is taken. You can take that one." She says nodding her head to the eastern tunnel. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to cheat you, but I know you are capable and I don't want my crew dealing with what is in front of us and behind us." Her spear, no, harpoon is strapped to her back instead of her hands, but her bearing says she intends to bar your passage to the southern tunnel. 

Joy runs a finger along her Medal of the Wetlands, relieved as it activates and the strain of moving in this place is lessened on her tired body. She is a bit surprised to see Ayo lingering here.

"Will your team be alright without their leader? And I'm guessing that way is shorter, right?" She motions to the tunnel behind the genasi.

Insight on Ayo's answer: 7

"Don't know if it's shorter, but you know how fast I am." Ayo responds, seemingly sincere. "As soon as I make sure you guys take the other path, I go catch up."

"Hey come on pwah, I don't want pththth to fight. puipui We can just go the other way."

Ylis says while gurgling on water. This is supposed to be a race in the dark, not an arena. Especially since the other team is made up of her new friends. 

Vazo'yn nods his agreement with Ylis.

"We have no way of knowing which path is better. On the one hand we could spend time trying to convince Ayo to let us pass, while the other path is shorter and we would be further ahead had we taken it."

Joy shrugs after a moment, a bit frustrated. Ayo is just so...energetic and confident, the opposite of how she's feeling at the moment. 

Randa nods to Vazo'yn and kicks off down the other tunnel giving Ayo a small salute as she did so.....

Riven hovers in the dim water just behind the others, the faint shimmer of light from the cracked ceiling casting wavering lines of silver across his pale features. His dark cloak drifts like kelp behind him, weightless in the current. Eyes narrowing, he watches Ayo’s body language, not aggressive, but commanding. She blocks the southern passage not with her weapon, but instead, with her presence.

He slowly pulls forward, speaking evenly. “She’s buying time. Not just for herself, but for her team. Whether the southern path is shorter or more dangerous doesn’t matter. While we stand still before her, the distance between us increases."

His hand brushes the stone wall near the split, fingers drifting along it as if trying to feel the flow of the place. “There’s no point wasting more time here."

He gestures toward the eastern tunnel. “If she’s steering us this way, so be it. But lets use our time to move versus debate."

Riven takes a final glance at the eastern tunnel and follows Randa.

Survival Check: 12 (to note flow patterns of the water, or the natural layout of the grotto for the most efficient route.)

The Fellowship moves on. Ayo watches them pass down the eastern tunnel with wary eyes until the party passes out of sight. Riven notes that the water in the eastern tunnel matches a slight undulation that came from earlier in the grotto - the sense of a tidal effect, meaning the sea feeds into this cavern somehow. The Fellowship can see a glowing in the next chamber up ahead. When they reach the cavern, they find that the walls, ceiling, and floor of this chamber are covered in bioluminescent algae, which emits a faint bluish glow that dimly lights the wide cavern. Two large, jagged stone pillars, also coated with algae, stand at opposite ends of the chamber. Surrounding the far pillar, in front of the exit from this cavern, is a thick patch of bone-white seagrass.

Randa and Riven both know the algae and seagrass. The algae is a harmless, light-giving algae that some coastal cultures in Wildemount harvest for light sources and to include it in their fashion. The seagras though, is a different matter. It is a carnivorous plant known as ghostgrass, with tiny, barbed needles that deliver a neurotoxin, which is not only capable of killing an adult human with extended contact, but also breaks off the barbs on contact, which can cause intense burning sensations for months. The grass is designed to capture and coil, much like a jellyfish and is a very tough, as it has to be strong enough to capture large prey that might try to swim away. 

DM: The party can try to attack the seagrass in some way, or slip past it with minimal contact. Trying to slip past it will require a Dexterity Saving Throw, DC 12. 

Riven slows as the light ahead begins to shimmer more steadily, his silhouette briefly haloed in that eerie, aquatic glow as he emerges into the chamber. The walls pulse faintly with the blue shimmer of the algae, and for a moment, then his gaze shifts to the far pillar... and the pale, almost spectral mass around its base.

“Ghostgrass,” he murmurs, more to himself than to the others, though the word carries through the cavern like a warning bell.

His hand instinctively lifts to signal a halt, fingers curling in the fluid underwater gesture he’s used before. He drifts forward, eyes narrowing as he surveys the tangled bed of seagrass between them and the exit. 

“That’s not seaweed. It’s a predatory growth, barbed, laced with neurotoxin.” His expression is steady, but grim. “One brush could mean weeks of pain. Too long, and it kills.”

He turns back to the ghostgrass, eyes scanning the perimeter. The algae on the walls gives him enough to work with, enough to see the subtle topography of the cavern. After a long pause, he speaks again, more decisively.

“It responds to motion. We can’t swim through it. But... the growth is localized. Maybe there's a way to climb around. That pillar—” he gestures to the algae-coated one near the far wall, “—it might give us some leverage to skirt the patch. But we’ll need to stay anchored. Any strong current, and we’re done.”

He glances at the walls looking for grooves or natural handholds in the rock, anything that would allow him to traverse horizontally to bypass the ghostgrass entirely.

Perception check: 11