Well that got out of hand fast, Auger thinks to himself, covered in biley water and seeing his friends engulfed. Calling to Ednyss Auger says, "I will draw this one away! See if you can finish that one!" Auger then reaches into the Sea of Stars and moves through to a space in the distance. From there he turns and runs all the way to the far wall before turning again to fire a pair of blasts at the elemental still engulfing both Varielky and Benita.

Continue down the stairs, make sure nothing is down there as we will be running down there momentarily.

Ednyss sees Varielky fall unconscious again and his focus heightens. He hears Auger's words through the elemental and calms his nerves. Drawing upon divine energies, he sends a mote of healing to Varielky and then sends another wave of necrotic energy surging through the elemental that is encasing him. However, he has to open his mouth to gargle the incantation out and so as water rushes into his lungs, Ednyss knows he won't be able to last much longer inside the creature. But the dwarf keeps telling himself that as long as he didn't panic, they would be fine. With Varielky going in and out of consciousness so frequently and the mortality of the group pressing on the war priest's mind, he silently begins a prayer to Takal Demesh from inside the elemental.

Brought back to consciousness, Varielky realises she can't go on like that. Going in and out of the water, in and out of consciousness, she can't spend the entire fight like that.

From inside the water, she tries to cut the water. She's not really sure if it will have any effect, but she decides to put her faith in Veleif's voice in her head. Hopefully, an attack from inside isn't something the creature is prepared for. Either way, she then tries to push Benita with her shield, hopefully to get her out of the water so that Benita could act.

Action: Attack. First attack that hits will use Menacing Attack manoeuvre. Damage added: 2.

Attack: 22 Damage: 15.

Attack: 14 Damage: 15.

BA: Shield Shove to push Benita out of the water. Athletics: 23.

Round 10 Results

Py flits down the spiraling staircase and off-map ‘Another heavy door!,’ it sends. 

Auger makes it to b10, and one of his two eldritch blasts punches through Elemental 3, doing 8HP damage. 

Ednyss heals Varielky and his spell rips through Elemental 2, doing full damage.

Varielky slashes at Elemental 3 from within, doing 18HP damage as her first attack lands, and the elemental becomes frightened of her. The shield-maiden braces and shoves Benita out of the rushing wave. 

Benita in turn struggles to free Varielky, but she can’t get a grip on her as the Elemental churns and froths. 

Will’o’Wisp 8 moves to Ednyss and zaps him, but the discharge is absorbed by the dwarf’s shield.

Elemental 2 slams Ednyss forcefully back and forth, but Ednyss’ armor protects him from the buffeting assault. However, the war cleric continues to suffer from the whelming, drowning attack and takes 16HP from it. 

Varielky likewise takes 16HP from Elemental 3’s whelming attack (Varielky must use an action to escape to avoid taking the damage each turn), and the creature’s frightened condition ends as the shield-maiden blacks out again, buffeted within the extra-planar being, which then slams heavy, oily breakers into Benita, who takes 23HP damage and is also thrown down, unconscious.

Ednyss’ spectral shield disappears.

You are now situated thus.

Please post actions for Round 11.

Auger grits his teeth, this is not going well. Come back up, I will probably need your help soon, stay invisible!

Auger again reaches into the Sea of Stars and draws forth the red, deathly dragonfly and sends it into the elemental enveloping his two friends. Then he attempts to blast it as best as he can with his twisting blasts.

Although both Varielky and Benita are unconscious, Ednyss feels a greater responsibility for the shield maiden and thus that is who he chooses to resurrect. Ednyss sends another blast of healing towards Varielky and sends another wave of necrotic energy ripping through the elemental. His breath now almost expired, Ednyss isn't the least bit afraid. Instead, his resolve is only further strengthened as he continues to repeat his prayer in his mind, "Let the hand of Takal Demesh guide me. Let the shield of the War God defend me, and if I die, let it be with the honor of a great warrior."

As Varielky regains consciousness once again, she realises she won't be able to stay in the water much longer. Spending time to move out of them, however, was not a reasonable action either. With Benita drowning, and Ednyss looking to be at his limit, getting out of the water just to get engulfed by them again was not a real option. All she could do was swing her sword within the water, then desperately push Benita's body out of the water so she doesn't drown there.

Action: Attack EL3. 
Attack: 20 Damage: 15.
Attack: 10 Damage: 10.
BA: Shield Shove, trying to push Benita out of the water once again. Athletics: 18.

(As Math mentioned drowning, I'm not really sure whether an unconscious creature can hold their breath. If not, I suppose Varielky would be drowning now. I didn't really bother to track it, I admit, so I'm not really sure what to do about the matter.)

Round 11 Results

Auger Casts Hex on EL3, and his second eldritch blast punches through the same creature. 

Py flies back up the stairs to Auger’s position. 

Ednyss, swallowing putrid water, reaches for divine assistance once more, keeping Varielky conscious and doing 10HP damage to Elemental 2.

Varielky slashes at the engulfing watery being, doing 28HP damage, but the frightful creature roars and froths on as she shoves Benita out of its confines. 

Will’oWisp 8 attacks Ednyss, and once again the war cleric’s shield absorbs the discharge. 

6 more Will’o’Wisps appear beside Auger, for Ednyss’ earlier channel divinity ended last round. Three of the tiny undead distract the southerner, enabling (helping) the other three to discharge their electrical attacks without disadvantage. One of them crits, doing 16HP damage to the warlock. 

Elemental 2 continues whelming Ednyss for 14HP damage. 

Elemental 3 knocks out Varielky once more, doing 14HP damage. 

At this moment, when all three of you are on the edge of consciousness, you see something unexpected. A pale blue blur, with a glowing, sharp, yellow edge flies across the floor from the entrance stairs, leaving behind it a trail of tiny floating dandelion petals, and you hear the battle cry, “Ko-taaaaaaayyyy-SHIN!!!!,” as a 3’ tall, pastel-blue person, with an elephant’s head, materializes at the end of the blur, beside Elemental 2, and with 3 quick attacks of its brightly glowing, gem-inlaid short sword, does 31HP damage to the creature.

A mercurially shifting, metallic sparrow twists through the air above the Fey spirit, and its tiny beak opens and emits a beam of force, ripping through Elemental 2, which shudders, severely weakened, and Ednyss thinks one more blow will fell the extra-planar creature. 

“Are we too late?!?,” a familiar basso rings out from across the chamber, as a tiny vial flips through the air from the hand of Granophyre Strewn, landing and cracking open next to Benita’s face, as she lies pale and dying, and the vapors thus freed, drift upwards into her partly open lips, and her eyes suddenly part and she rolls onto her side and coughs out bilious liquid then grimaces, summoning her energies for a final assault. 

You are now situated like so.

Please post actions for Round 12

(OOC: How many concentration rolls for Auger? Will do 3 as that appears to be the right number) Concentration (on Hex): 13, 6, 3

Move away from me Py! I must...

Barely holding on to consciousness Auger reaches into the Sea of Stars and finds an area of raw force, without regard to his own safety or quite understanding how to direct this force he stays exactly where he is and releases the forces into all of the Wisps surrounding him.

(Alright, I'll relieve Ednyss from the healbot duty. Never liked seeing people sacrificing all their spell slots for healing anyhow.)

Varielky's death save: 19.

Round 12 Results

Auger’s hellish rebuke harms and stuns all of the surrounding tiny undead, and the warlock escapes them, moving to W10.

Py flies to Y7.

Varielky fails her 1st death save. 

Ednyss (botting) casts toll the dead one final time, and finally, Elemental 2 shudders and explodes into a cascading waterfall which splashes upon the chamber’s floor, inert, leaving a wide, murky puddle. 

Benita tries once more to pull Varielky from the elemental, but (OOC: terrible die rolls) can’t get a grip on her as the elemental tosses and turns the shield maiden within its form. 

Will’o’Wisp 8 mindlessly attacks Ednyss once again, and still cannot penetrate the cleric’s defenses. 

Elemental 3 moves into Benita’s space, leaving Varielky’s motionless body onto the ground. Now engaging Ednyss with a rush of waves, it hits the dwarf twice for 30HP damage, knocking him unconscious, and whelms over Benita once again, buffeting her roughly, causing her head to slam against the floor; and she is now unconscious once again. 

Will’o’Wisps 1,2,3,5,6,7 are badly damaged by Auger’s attack, but follow him to his new position and attack once again, shooting repeated bolts of deathly electrical energy into him. The warlock’s robe of the magi -- the lighting tracing patterns across its surface -- absorbs all of it and Auger takes no damage. 

Kotashin leaps to a Elemental 3, repeating its little war cry “KOTAAAA-SHIN!!” and strikes it repeatedly with its strange, gem-inlaid blade, damaging the being tremendously, while from Granophyre’s pouch, a small green dart levitates up, and, following a word of power from the scholar, rockets at the extra-planar being, which, when struck, bubbles and hisses, shivering in pain as strong acid evaporates its oily essence. Finally, the Golden Bird strafes it with its force beam, the elemental’s surface tension loses its cohesion and the powerful, now-formless, putrid water being is destroyed and splashes to the floor.

Granophyre turns a dial on his armored bracelet and points it at Auger, around whom a shimmering protective field now shines, giving him +2AC. “Hold them off a while longer, Auger, if you can! I must see to the fallen!,” he shouts.

You are now situated like so.

Please state Round 13 actions or make death saves.

Varielky's death save: 3.

(OOC: I believe Auger's concentration on Hex held, so he may still be able to use it in the next hour or so)

Auger is amazed at the protections provided to him by the coat and when the shimmering field forms around him he at first thinks it is the coat providing yet another surprise.

Belatedly Auger realizes that the words he is hearing are coming from Granophyre and that he is somehow present. Processing his words Auger repeats them in his head 'hold them off he says. Right.' Still on the edge of consciousness, Auger again reaches into the Sea of Stars and calls for the strange forces to again batter all the Wisps surrounding him. Exhausted, Auger no longer tries to move away, allowing the coat to defend him, and keeping the Wisps away from his friends.

Round 13 Results

Auger’s spell destroys all of the Will’oWisps surrounding him, which shudder in the hellish flames and shrivel to dust, and Kotashin finishes off the last one, #8 before it plucks away Ednyss’ soul. 

With all enemies defeated, Granophyre breaks open three tiny vials, and, uttering words of power which infuse their contents with divine energy, with them heals Varielky, Benita, and Ednyss for 9 HP each, and you are now alone in the chamber, the prior sounds of deathly waves now absent.

“Hi Arger! Hi Valkraky!,” squeaks the Fey creature’s round, rough little voice.  “When you feel better can you teach me how to duel now?,” it asks the shield-maiden, plopping down cross-legged beside her. 

Auger collapses to his knees and concentrates a moment more on the voices that he hears and then seeing his friends rise he looks around with relief.

"We thought - I --I thought -- an illusion would work to... get us through here. I saw... no way to remove the protections from the room and so we had to get through." Clearly tired and still feeling the echoing sensation of a huge shock transferring through his body, Auger stands and then addresses the newcomers.

"I am happy you are safe Granophyre. How did you become free? I sent Py to check on you and - he could not get through. And Kotashin. What a welcome surprise!"

Varielky coughs all the water out of her lungs on the floor for a few long moments. She's partly aware that fighting is over, but even if it wasn't, it's not like she'd be able to do anything else. Drowning was yet another one of those ways she hoped would not be her death. Well, even if she can't really die. 
Only once she feels no more water is left, and she can stop coughing, she raises her head and looks at those around her, immediately surprised to see Granophyre and Kotashin. "Ko... tashin?" It took her a few moments to remember his name. "What are you doing here? Did something happen to Hyewush?" 
She stays on the floor for just another moment before forcing and herself and struggling to stand up. "Master Strewn? How did you get here this quickly?" Realising what this could mean, she follows up with another question before giving anyone a chance to answer. "How long have I been unconscious? No. Rather, how much time do we have left until midnight?"

The Azhvuv Queen

POST #7

Granophyre Strewn, in his red velvet robe over light Dwarven armor, his rough, clay-brown complexion covered in thin streams of moisture both from perspiration and the splashing death throes of the elementals, removes a small dial from a vest pocket, flips a sharp edge on a tiny hinge into place, and intones an incantation. An image of a tiny sun appears above the dial, the sharp edge in its locked position throwing the bright orb’s shadow across the round dila’s face onto a marked groove. Glancing up, he answers Varielky, “It is perhaps three bells in the afternoon. We still have time.”

“As Ednyss heard from me, across the intervening miles, I was detained at the Poppy Citadel. The Empire has caught up with me and I was ambushed upon my return from Core if Amethyst, by an imperial sorcerer who entrapped me in a magical slumber.” 

He glances at Kotashin before continuing. “If not for the presence of the mayor of Hyewush, on a..business trip…to Kalahata, I would likely not have awakened until I had been transported to an interrogation room in the imperial capitol, Jen Ghessa. But Anafora lenna Volubelle’s powers are…more than I might have guessed.”

“The leader of Hyewush has an interest in maintaining peace in Orraca u Shia, and when I shared our current quest — and the likely outcome which would result from our failure — with her, she sent her Knight-Defender,” nodding at Kotashin once again, “with me to tilt the odds in our favor.”

“With her help, I was able to escape and we — Kotashin and I — made it here with the unwitting assistance of an imperial Roc-rider, whose mind Anafora and I managed to…sway.”

”I saw the bodies in the entry cave and first chamber above us. What transpired? It seems you have dealt with mercenaries of Jlasi Family, and undead creatures. If Izilmeddur is correct, then only the — as she put it — power which captured their queen — remains to be overcome in order to fulfill our quest?”

Auger does his best to fill Strewn in on the details of what has transpired while attempting to get to the Queen, at first forgetting the sand giant and the strange flying creatures it summoned to chase them. He also points out the spot where there is water leaking into the previous chamber, again refreezing the spot as he talks about the encounter with the goblins and the Jlasi.

Auger concludes by simply restating what Py had told him. "...there is another heavy door at the bottom of the stairs. I suspect it is locked like the first one. This fight brought most of us near death. Shall we rest before we proceed? It appears we have time."

"Yes, please. I need a moment to regain my strength and balance. I feel... dizzy, from breathing in the water for so long. Never did I imagine I would be fighting... water." At the very least, Varielky can comfort herself with knowing they still have many hours before their deadline.

There's not much she has to do other than rest during this time. Lying down with her head on her pack, Varielky leaves her shield strapped to her hand and her hand rests next to her, the hilt of her sword laid in it.

Varielky uses her last Hit Die to heal 10 hit points.

Hit Dice return for Short Rest: 19

Auger lays down and closes his eyes while Py watches the room and waits with him.

At the end of his rest Auger again steps back to the previous room and refreezes the area where water was leaking.