You travel for quite a ways down the river, but eventually it starts to open up more.  Firelight shines from a large cavern ahead. The stream opens into a large underground lake. To the right, a crumbling stone quay leads to a tunnel heading northeast. A ten-foot skiff is moored to the quay, and a torch burns in a bronze sconce by the tunnel mouth. Beside the quay, a twenty-foot wide canal leads north from the large lake. The lake stretches westward into darkness.

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

"They must not have used this way in quite some time, either that or they have a way to deal with these dangers."

Tyde will use Prestidigitation on each of his allies to dry their clothing and armor, casting it as many times as is necessary to do so.

"The undead? We found that the cultists have them under their control. They even play sick games with them and play dress up with them too, ugh!" the pale blue eyed girl crosses her arms and shudders at the memory, "I...don't really feel like looking prim and proper for anyone down here...actually, no, can you just dry my hair? I mean, I appreciate the offer but I don't feel I deserve it. Not until we make it out of here..."

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

"I'm curious to see where that northeast tunnel leads to, but if you don't want to disembark just yet and prefer to explore the canal leading north then we might want to switch over to the larger skiff." Tyde looks off to the west for a moment, "The lake is probably too vast to explore right now anyway."

"My vote is for the northeast tunnel. What do you all think?'

Kethra nods at Mr. Tyde's suggestion as she wholeheartedly agrees. She turns around, revealing that she's been applying mud on her face like makeup.

"Yeah, that sounds good Mr. Tyde. And Rubin? I think the big boat means they were transporting something big....and secret! The lit torch also means someone has been here recently...what if they were transporting people? Our time might be running short! And if we kill the leaders, the undead can just rest in peace, right? Isn't that how the magic works, Mr. Tyde?

"Rubin, I'd appreciate it if you took Jairus with you to check for traps. Move stealthily, then signal us to go forward once you've checked it's safe."

"Can do, but I will be unseen, so not sure how helpful it will be to have naother with me..." Rubins ays with a shrug.  He starts up the passage though.

 Unless there are more torches along the passage, Rubin will become invisible as soon as they enter darkness again.

stealth: 13

Perception: 22

(To be clear, you're in the middle of a lake currently.  Are you heading to the quay?)

(Yes to this as well, I'm going with Brian's plan. I had suggested pairing up our scouts but if DragonDenn wants to go for it alone then that's toootally fine.)

I'm fine with paring up the scouts, just Rubin would have wanted to make sure the others knew he would be invisible.

As you approach the quay, an armored human mounted on . . .something approaches in the water.  You can see 5 other figures on the landing, which is within 30 feet of you now.

"Oi, who are you?  What are you doin' here?"

The figure pauses, looking closely at you, then snorts.

"Idiot.  You really think the first place new recruits would be sent is here?"

She motions the rest of her troops forward, and charges forward on her water mount.  As she moves, you catch a glimpse of a large shark with a saddle on it under her.

Initiative:

Rubin: 9

Kethra: 11

Jairus: 13

Davian: 14

Tyde: 11

Reavers: 4

Knight: 15

Fathomer: 3

(Tyde is up.  The knight is right next to you, the rest are about 30 feet away on the landing.)

Where is Rubin at when his turn comes around?  he would not have entered the area with light, and should still be invisible if still able to be in darkness.

(We'll say you're in the back of the boat.)

Tyde, you can catch all of them that are on the landing.

Reavers: 22, 19, 13, 18

Fathomer: 7

The fathomer seems to melt away, turning into a serpent composed entirely of water.  It slithers effortlessly through the webs, and swims towards the boat, ending its turn around 10 feet away.

(Note that the one reaver won't be restrained until its turn.)

(Jairus and Rubin are up)

I didn't think Rubin was ever in the boat.  He was swimming to scout.

Rubin sends several crossbow bolts at the leader of these clear enemies...

Attack: 11 Damage: 15

Bonus action Attack: 14 Damage: 14

Dread Attack: 21 Damage: 16  Dread Damage: 4

Quote from DragonDenn >>

I didn't think Rubin was ever in the boat.  He was swimming to scout.

(Yeah, same here. I was hoping for a stealth or a perception roll, not to just run straight into these guys...)

(It would be kind of hard to be stealthy enough in a boat.  Against enemies very well acquainted with water and boats.  Rubin being in the water wouldn't change much since he'd be invisible.)

Rubin unleashes a hailstorm of bolts on the leader, turning the water red and nearly dropping her in one go.  She manages to twist a bit to lessen the impact of the first bolt, however.

She urges her shark forward, and strikes at Kethra with her lance.  Her shark will bite at Rubin, able to see him due to its blindsight (she can be in range of both since lances have Reach).

Vs. Kethra:

Attack: 23 Damage: 11

Vs. Rubin:

Attack: 9 Damage: 15

(This is assuming Rubin is only 10-15 feet away from the boat, which I believe is the case.)

The four reavers all toss javelins at each of you but Rubin.

Vs Kethra: 14 Damage: 4

Vs Davian: 20 Damage: 3

Vs Jairus: 24 Damage: 5

Vs  Tyde: 11 Damage: 7

(Everyone but Rubin is up.)

Quote from LordShadowthorn >>

(It would be kind of hard to be stealthy enough in a boat.  Against enemies very well acquainted with water and boats.  Rubin being in the water wouldn't change much since he'd be invisible.)

(Could you please tell us this ahead of time instead of rolling initiative? Then we could've nicely told you that it was only Rubin and Davian scouting ahead by swimming, not on the boat just like last time. Being forced to run headfirst into two encounters we were carefully approaching (twice in a row!), is really dangerous for us at this difficulty, DM. Please give us a little grace next time.)

Quote from LordShadowthorn >>

The four reavers all toss javelins at each of you but Rubin.

(One of the reavers is still restrained from Mr. Tyde's web spell and will have disadvantage to attacking. Could you let it be the one tossing javelin at me? oO)

Using a swordfighting stance with her maul, the pale blue eyed girl takes the hit from the knight for the sake of the party, only to be astounded at the giant toothy maw that surfaces to bite the Rubin that she could not see before.

"We're with Grimjaw, you fool! This enough proof for you?!"

Maul to-hit (reckless attack): 24 Damage: 10

If this is does not kill the knight, Kethra attacks the knight again and again. If not, she'll start punching the shark.

Flurry of Blows 1 (reckless attack): 17 Damage: 5

Flurry of Blows 2 (reckless attack): 12 Damage: 5

Edit: Oh wowowow, 2 critical hits....

Maul critical hit: 10

Flurry of Blows critical hit: 2

(Why aren't you adding any mod to your flurry of blows again?  Also, both were encounters that couldn't be easily avoided through stealth.  The ghouls were lurking there specifically to ambush passers-by, and the knight and her group were on watch.  Rubin would have been unseen were it not for the shark's blindsight.  You might have been able to gain a little more time had I been paying more attention to scouting, but it wouldn't have mattered much.)

The first blow easily downs the knight, and the two punches hit the shark solidly.

The restrained reaver tries to break free instead of chucking a pointy stick at Kethra: 16

But barely doesn't manage to (forgot to add strength mod of 2, but still not enough.

Two attempt to avoid Tyde's lovely glob of acid (assuming one of the targets is the restrained one):

Dex: 14, 11

One succeeds, the other does not.

The fathomer sees that the shark is targeting someone in the water, but can't quite make out what it's biting at.  It attempts to grab Rubin in its coils anyways . . .

Attack: 7 Damage: 5.  If it hits, he is grappled.

The one reaver tries to get out again: 22

The other 3 begin swimming towards the boat, but have to dash to make it far enough.

Jairus fires at the shark.

Attack: 8 Damage: 6 SA: 4

Attack: 17 Damage: 6

Davian heals Kethra for 8 hit points, and stays in his human form.

(Everyone else is up again.  I'll close recruitment tomorrow so there'll be more than 3 of you again.)

Rubin targets the shark...

Attack: 24 Damage: 7

Bonus action Attack: 27 Damage: 14

Rubin would actually be out range of the thunderwave, since he's a little ways off in the water.  That said, all but one of the reavers is in range, as well as the fathomer.

Reaver con saves: 14, 19, 4

Fathomer con: 14

Many of the reavers are injured, but none too badly yet.  Only one is pushed away from the boat.

(Kethra is up)