Lia rushes over as she sees Mari convulsing.   " Mari...." She stands back as Velon attempts to heal her. As it doesnt seem to help she places her hand on Mari's shoulder and asks Sune to help her friend.   

Velon is in a bit of a panic as his friend's imminent death may be beyond his control.  "I don't think it's disease or poison!"

  As Poljen mentions what he saw Lia thinks for a moment.  " It's Ok Mari. We will help you. " She leans down and examines her friend carefully.  She looks down her throat as her friend gasps for air.  

Panic fills Mari. The feeling that this might really be the end runs through her mind.  Everything is starting to go black to her as she struggles for life.   

Worried for Mari's sake, Lawrance racks his mind for anything that is relevant to this situation. When Poljen mentions seeing a slime-like substance soak through her gloves, his eye's widen and he starts talking about slimes, jellies, and oozes and all their ugly manifestations. %This sounds like some kind of version of a gray ooze, that swells the tissues of the body! There must be some kind of treatment we can perform to reduce the swelling or even kill the substance without harming Mari!% 

Historian Feat roll (DC 15) for +5 and advantage to Medicine check : 23

  Lia listens to Lawrance ramble on while she checks on Mari.  Noticing something out of the ordinary, her jaw drops.  " Oh Sune!"  She calls to the others frantically.  " Her face is ashen as she looks at them. " She has been changed in some way.  She has gills now.  Mari is suffocating because she can only breathe water from the look of it.  " 

"Gills?!" Lawrance exclaims aloud "How intriguing!" Recalling their observer, he reverts back to the mental link %Either we solve this issue quickly, then, or we get her into water. There's plenty of ice, but nothing large enough to hold her in a bath. One of those specimen tubes may be an option, as well!% For a moment, Lawrance considers touching the doorknob, curious about the experience and change, but he restrains himself. 

Perry rushes up in a panic to Mari, and begins speaking frantically, "What?! What's happening to her!?" he asks the others.

After Poljen, Lia, and Lawrance explain the situation, he wracks his little bard brain as he tries to determine whether or not this is a magical effect. In this moment, he wishes he had paid more attention in school. Not thinking this is magical, not knowing what to do, and seeing her face turn bluer by the moment, he grabs her thieves tools and pulls out his harmonica, "Sorry Mari, it's my turn now. Don't die...please."

He begins playing a somber tune as the familiar golden fey lights gather and wrap all around her. Tears run down his cheek as the song echoes throughout the halls. Mari's body begins to morph as it turns into a very large snapping turtle with a black body and a yellow shell. "We have one hour before this runs out to figure out how to fix her," he communicates over the mental link. 

Now that the panic has settled a bit, Lawrance ponders just what this substance may be that has caused such a profound change, so quickly. %It didn't occur to me before, but there are various evil entities that extrude substances with similar effects. The Aboleth is an evil aberration that is amphibious, whose slime causes this kind of change. It only lasts a few hours, so we may not have to leave suddenly to save her life.%

While everyone is watching out and trying to help Mari, Cratol continues to watch behind them in case something tries to choose this moment to try and sneak up from the back.  He waits for the others to continue to move forward. 

 While everyone is worried and checking on Mari, Cratol continues to watch the area behind them in case this place chooses to have something try and attack them while everyone is focused on Mari.  He keeps a watch out.

Perception  Rolled a 7 and a 2 so that is 14 and 9.

  As Mari sees everything go black she feels something changing.   She feels her form shifting into another.  Soon she can breathe again but everything feels so foreign. Food, need eat.   She begins moving around sniffing for something to eat.    

Perry breathes a sigh of relief, then replies to Lawrance's findings, "That's good to know that it's only temporary, Lawrance. I can only keep this spell up for an hour, but I can do it a couple more times. But what do you all think we should do about this door?" Perry asks the group telepathically. "Should we attempt to bust it down with magic or weapons? I don't think touching it directly is a good idea you guys. Hopefully this Aboleth...thing isn't actually around..." the bard says, shivering at the thought. "It might not even be around. Maybe Dr. Freeze extracted some Aboleth slime and turned it into a trap, but we should still be careful incase there really is an Aboleth around."

During this mental conversation, Perry has reached into his bag and retrieved another pastry. This one has a raspberry filling with a light dusting of powdered sugar on top, made by the legendary Poppo himself. It's a little stale, but not super cold thanks to the bag of holding. He gently places it on the ground to the side of Murtle and pats her on the shell. 

  Murtle sniffs at the pastry and walks away from it   She looks up at Perry hungrily.  

  Lia nods at this information.  " That is good to know. It does some take  pressure off of us.  " She relates this through the mental link. Lia walks off a few feet to the side.  She looks up and closes her eyes.  Lia prays fervently to Sune.  She beseechs Sune to guide them or take them to the Lord of this deathly  cave. 

Calling Geode forth and keeping well back from splinter range, Lawrance says to his companions %Let's let our incredible bulk open the doors for a while, hmm?% Barring any objections, Lawrance then tells the hulking creature "Geode, my stoney aide, do me a favour and smash through that door?" With a deep rumble, the elemental drives a massive fist forward, left then right, and hammers through the door and any possible impediments on the other side.

Attack: Left 20 Damage: 29, Right 14 Damage: 24

Second round Attack: Left 25 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll., Right 17 Damage: 26

Geode smashes through the door easily, opening a view into another room filled with specimen chambers. 

Lia's prayer is answered by a quiet voice, soft, rich, and achingly familiar, "My child, if I did as you ask, you would perish. The creature lives far from that place, in an area few mortals can withstand. Seek out his connection. His means of control."

A few moments later, a small sphere of light appears, gently bobbing in the air further down the unexplored passage. 

  Lia beams as Sune directly speaks to her and answers her prayer.  She feels as if a great burden has been lifted off of her shoulders.  She communicates through the mental link, "  Sune sent that light to guide us to our destination here.  She also informed me that the Lord of this place is somewhere  far from here. This light should lead us to his connection, his means of control here.   " 

Meanwhile, there is a look of fear on Perry's face as the nearly 12 foot long giant snapping turtle stares at him with hungry eyes. Sweat beads on his forehead, "Good girl, good Murtle...." he whispers nervously. "Here hold on, maybe you will like this."

He reaches into his bag and pulls out some old dried rations that have been there for probably a little too long. Among the old rations is some deer jerky. He lays that down near the gigantic turtle.

Frowning a bit at the sudden dancing light, Lawrance hears the explanation with conflicting emotions. Shrugging, he prepares to follow the bouncing will-o-wisp with the others. %If the foe that we face is far from here, there must be something of great power to allow him to access and manipulate all his forces here. That rune circle we encountered may be part of his access methods. Thanks for asking for the shortcut through, Lia.%

The light leads the way further down the hall. Abruptly it moves to the left, and sinks halfway into the wall.

"Guys, I think there might be a secret door or something here. See those weird cracks? Lawrance, can you find any way to open it?" Perry asks the wizard. 

He helps look around and investigate.