FR PbP

Not quite understanding what the ghoulish creature says, Rinn motions for the others to come over quietly. Quickly casting message as he does to one of the dwarves that will be able to understand the creature, "A strange dwarf seems to call for help. Can't understand him. Please translate."

Valindra and Shanyrria step forward within the room with Rinn. 

Translating the plea.

Shanyrria asks (in Dwarven), "What happened to you?" Her pale bluish skin is somewhat ashen as she takes in the scene. 

Valindra translates, "They are trapped in the water or near it. They do not understand they are dead. They are incredibly hungry. And their 'Master' is angry."

"This poor soul is tortured beyond all reason.", Shanyrria adds, her eyes welling with unshed tears.

Silenus stands up on tip-hooves and looks over everyone into the room then shakes his head.

"So dead dwarf dude doesn't know he's dead?" Silenus says, making sure he understands. "Who's the master? Gross and slimy from downstairs?"

Shanyrria nods her head affirmatively. 

(( Anyone successful on the Aboleth's identity roll, make an Arcana check. DC 10 ))

(( Separately, the living rotting corpse is in the tub, pleading for aid - and meat. What do you do? ))

Silenus puzzles over why that creature they fought was this poor dwarf's master. What was that thing they just killed? Arcana: 12 

"Maybe big slimy isn't dead," Silenus suggests. 

He draws his great axe up and looks from the dead dwarf to the others.

"If any of you can save dwarf dude, go for it," Silenus says. "If not, I'm putting him out of his misery."

Yian looks over the dwarf

"Putting it out of its misery would be the best."

Rinn's Arcana check: 18

"But will it actually be put out of its misery?" Rinn says as he looks at the poor creature pleading for food or death.

Robwin’s mumbling about the Abyssal Aboleth and TT's discomfort with the chaotic nature of the place, seem to put more into place, especially for the young high elf Rinn, still able to easily pull, often impotent,  knowledge from his experiences in previous lives. 

This creature is enslaved. 

As long as the Aboleth exists the guol's perverse nature is subverted. The gills and water dependence is somehow tied to the Aboleth. 

For Silenus and the dwarfs that means the Aboleth is not dead. It got away.

For Valindra, Sudryl, and Shanyrria, it means the Aboleth is reforming somewhere in one of the Abyssal planes. 

Eline, TT and Robwin worry for Rinn.

Rinn, however, hears the raging, essence of the Aboleth, trapped within his unique blade.

Silenus does his best to pay attention to what everyone says about the aboleth and this place but comes away with one final question.

"So, cut his head off? Or leave him here?" Silenus asks, holding his axe up.

Rinn sits down in the room, near the doorway, but not obstructing it. He holds the riteknife in his lap as he sits there and stares at it, listening to the raging soul inside. He snaps back to the present at Silenus' question.

"You know, I actually don't think that will help," he says as he ponders an idea. "I think that creature is still alive, though injured." He holds up the dagger, "I can hear it. In this. And while I don't know if it will work, I might have a crazy idea."

He jumps up and points at the tormented dwarf. "What if we took ol' Gill there out of this accursed place to somewhere dry. Then, we put him out of his misery with this," Rinn holds up the dagger again. "It might just release this thing again but will hopefully also release ol' Gill there. The reason I say we take this outside is because we'll have more room and, more importantly, it'll be dry and might make things a little harder for that creature that seems to love the water."

"You trapped that abomination in there!", TT practically screams. "Sorry! Sorry!", she much more quietly apologizes. She looks both angry and horrified. 

Eline looks impressed. 

Silenus nods and smiles.

”So maybe fight big slimy again but on dry land. Totally up for that.”

He looks down at the dwarf and tries lifting him out of the tub.

The dwarf goul is skittish but doesn't fight or attempt to bite though it sniffs around the area like a dog trying to find a treat.

You make your way through this floor. Their are tubs in a few additional rooms on the east. The west seems to have been sleeping and meeting rooms. Nothing of value has survived the decades of ghouls and rot.

Is there anything you want to do before ascending to the next floor?

Not wanting to carry the ghoulish dwarf all the way, Silenus ties a rope around the dwarf’s waist and will lead him along with the others and head up the stairs once they’ve decided there’s nothing of value on this floor.

As you rise into the next level the chamber was once largely  a shrine, as evidenced by wall carvings that depict dwarves carrying censers and observing religious rites. The eastern section of the hall has collapsed, filling the area with rubble. Gnawed bones scattered among the debris are the remains of a number of dwarves. There are five ghouls gnawing on bones near the east rubble of the hall. There is a large pile of bone spread around the middle west and doors of two rooms. 

About how far away are the ghouls from the party when we enter the chamber?

About sixty feet.