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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jodo Kast" data-source="post: 3597763" data-attributes="member: 4810">Peril! Under Parrot Island ... Part IThe body of Shefton Rosk plummeted down the shaft, landing on the stone floor with a wet, gruesome thwack. Mocking laughter rang down on the party, and a menacing voice called out from above. "Serves you right for messing around with my sister, you thugs. Say hello to Penkus' ghost for me while you're down there!" The trap door slammed shut, and the grating sound of heavy objects being placed on the door echoed through the chamber."Well," sighed Rubbumba, "we're not getting back out that way. May as well have a look about." The halfling shouldered his little pack and began exploring down the only passageway out of the tight chamber. The others fell in line behind Rubb. Verys exposed the charm on his necklace, which was imbued with an everburning torch enchantment, and took up the rear guard.The dank, brick-lined tunnel ended in a door of soggy wood, which appeared to be waterlogged and swollen shut. "This appears to be your kind of lock," Rubb deferred to Gauruloc. The half-orc put his shoulder to the door and forced it open onto a hall running east and west, ending in double doors at both ends. Both sets of double-doors hung ajar. As the doors to the west were nearest, Rubb proceeded in that direction. Looking into the room, he observed four great wooden pillars rising up to support the ceiling, which sagged dangerously in places and was thick with hanging strands of fungus. Several doors lined the walls -- one to the west (from which came a muffled sloshing sound), two to the north (the western of which was badly damaged and hung askew on its one remaining hinge), and two to the east. To the south, the ceiling had collapsed, leaving the southern part of the room choked in debris. A rippling pool of water reached halfway into the room from this wall of stone and rubble. It seemed that a wooden pier once extended into this pool, but all that remained were several rotting wooden pilings protruding from the water. A man's body floated face down among them.Zhandlegarrii pinched her nose. "Phew! What's that smell?""More of Vanthus' handiwork, no doubt," growled Jouko. "Probably another one of his 'friends.'"Verys muttered something about having a bad feeling as Rubb moved cautiously toward the floating body. Just as he was about to reach the corpse, five monstrous dark brown kelp crabs surged out of the pool! Each crab measured nearly two feet in diameter, with pincers the size of daggers. The first of the crabs caught Rubb by surprise, hitting him with both pincers. Another crab struck a glancing blow on Jouko's calf, and another struck a vicious pincer attack on hapless Zhandlegarrii.Gauruloc roared and sent his longsword flashing, landing a critical blow that cleaved one of the crabs in twain. Verys loosed an arrow that hit at the base of another crab's eyestalks, badly wounding the creature. Rubb hurled himself at the crab that struck his darling Zhandle, bringing his short sword down hard upon the offending crustacean and hacking off several legs. Gauruloc turned his mighty blade on another of the crabs, putting a deep crack in its shell.Zhandlegarrii stepped back from the fray and cast a ray of frost, further weakening the crab that had attacked her. "Ahhhh Rubb, get these icky things away from me!" Jouko sent his chain whirling at the nearest crab, its head solidly crunching the crab's shell. Spotting another crab skittering towards Zhandle's flank, Jouko turned and lashed out again with his chain, crushing the monster.Gauruloc again displayed his crab crunching prowess, slaying another of the beasts. By now the half-orc was covered in crab gore, and Jouko noted that he smelled a bit like the pirate's favorite waterfront dive in Port Joli. He wished for some melted butter and a pint of ale as he landed another mighty blow with his chain, taking off all of the legs on one side of a crab. The crab attempted to right itself, and Jouko struck again, this time lethally cracking the monster's shell.Having made short work of the crabs, the crew set about searching the pool. The crab-eaten, soggy body had nothing of value on it. Gauruloc thrust his head under water to see if he could make anything out using his darkvision. Something gleaming caught the half-orc's eye, and he plucked a handsomely crafted silvered dagger from the bottom of the pool.Rubb eyed the half-orc's prize jealously, wishing he had searched a bit more thoroughly. He shrugged it off and moved to the door to the west. The sooner they found a way out of these forsaken caves, the better. The sloshing sound from beyond the door came from the churning waters of a sea cave. Fueled by powerful submerged currents, the water lapped and splashed against the walls of the twisting natural cavern that led to the west. A sandy slope descended from the door down to the edge of the subterranean tide. Dozens of purple and red sea urchins glistened in shallow divots along the ground and lower walls here, their spines glittering with water.Jouko grinned. "Here be our way out! We just swim a bit, and we're back at the Ticklish Ogre in time for sup. I fancy a big platter o' crab...." Rubb, however, frowned at the underwater passage. The halfling moved down the slope and peered into the water, trying to gauge the depth and distance to safety. The shallow water appeared to be only a foot deep, but it got deeper rapidly.Zhandlegarrii groaned. "I don't swim so well...."Rubbumba sighed. "The pirate's right, dear. I think this may be our way out. But ... I don't like it either. Perhaps we should search the rest of this place first? Maybe find something to help us? Or, at least make this little mishap worthwhile. If I'm going to die in an underwater cave, I'd prefer it be with gold in my pouches."Gauruloc snickered. "Yes, you'll sink faster that way, snackling."************************************************************************************Visions of lost smugglers' gold in their heads, the party set about exploring the caves beneath Parrot Island. Their initial efforts revealed some old storage rooms, their treasure consisting of little more than a barrel of drinkable (but nasty tasting) water, a few torches, flint and steel and some old, worn-out rope. "Nothing out of the ordinary," Rubb noted with a sigh. The party soon came to a room that may have been used as a meeting hall by the smugglers of old, but now looked as if it had been abandoned for some time. Without warning, three hungry, soggy, shambling corpses burst into the room! The fanged maws of these horrific zombie pirates opened wider than they should, revealing row upon row of jagged teeth.Rubbumba cried out, alarmed. "Well THOSE are certainly out of the ordinary!""The rotting dead," Gauruloc grunted. "An affront to all that is natural." The half-orc demanded that Sharp-Ears grant him divine vigor to overcome these new foes. Jouko sent his spiked chain flying towards one of the zombies, but missed his mark. The first of the zombies attempted to grapple Gauruloc in its rotting limbs, but the cleric easily held the monster's flailing arms at bay.Zhandlegarrii shrieked in horror, then shrieked some more. Somehow, between shrieks the halfling wizard managed to cast a spell, summoning a celestial giant fire beetle to do battle with the zombies -- after all, she wasn't about to touch them herself. The beetle attempted to bite the nearest zombie, but narrowly missed."Zhandle, my dear, stay behind this post and you should be safe. I will protect you!" Rubbumba moved quickly across the room, drawing his short sword as he went.The next zombie decided that the glowing beetle looked appetizing. It attempted to bite the bug, but was unable to get the insect to hold still long enough. The last ravenous zombie pirate lunged at Jouko, who barely moved his neck out of the way in time to avoid the attack. Verys swiftly loosed two arrows at a zombie, but in his caution not to hit friendly combatants, he missed his target.Gauruloc howled in fury, bringing his sword down upon a walking corpse's head. He cleaved a cross-section of skull and dripping face away, but the mindless monster stood nonetheless. Undaunted, the zombie bit deeply into the half-orc's shoulder.Zhandlegarrii breathed heavily into her bag, then moved to get a line of sight and cast acid splash. Zhandle hurled an orb of acid which exploded upon hitting the zombie. Her summoned fire beetle viciously bit a zombie, ripping some rotting flesh from the thing's thigh an instant before disappearing back to whence it had been summoned.Inspired by Zhandle's acid attack, Verys snatched a flask of alchemist's fire from his pack and hurled it at the zombies. The elf scored a direct hit on one of the zombies, and the splash when the flask exploded injured another.Rubbumba ducked and tumbled past the undead attackers, moving himself into position to strike. The halfling slashed his short sword across the gut of the nearest monster. A bit of its decaying intestine peeked out of the wound, but the ravenous zombie pirate seemed undeterred. Its jaw opened impossibly wide, and it chomped its rows of lethal teeth down on the halfling. Rubb fell to the floor, disabled by the shock, pain and horror of the attack. Seizing the opportunity for an easy meal, the next zombie kneeled and bit at Rubb's midsection, it's rows of rotting teeth effortlessly rending flesh. The halfling's vision went black as he lost consciousness. Zhandle screamed out in horror, weeping at the sight.Jouko lashed out at one of Rubb's attackers, sending it prone with a jerk of his chain and then pounding it immediately with the opposite end of the spiked chain. Gauruloc waded into the mass of dead flesh, trying to draw attention from the dying halfling. With grim resolve and a mighty swing of his blade, the cleric lopped off the head of the zombie he had previously scalped. At last the monster fell motionless. The half-orc called back over his shoulder to Zhandle. "Stand fast, morsel. Your companion is not due to die today. So bids Sharp-Ears."Emboldened, Zhandlegarrii pulled out her club and frantically started beating at the prone zombie Jouko had tripped. "Leave my Rubb alone!" Her first attempt missed the zombie altogether (and quite nearly brained Rubb). Her second blow never even landed, as she slipped in ichor and landed flat on her backside.The zombie Verys had doused with alchemist's fire smoldered and writhed, but still shambled menacingly enough. Verys sank an arrow into it, hoping to finish the job. However, his arrow pierced through its soggy flesh with no resistance, and the mindless monster didn't even seem to notice."Your arrows are as effective as your wit, elf. Draw steel!" cried Gauruloc. Drawn by his cry, the standing zombie chomped at Gauruloc. The half-orc slammed his forearm up into the creature's lower jaw, snapping its mouth shut before it could bite him.The prone zombie attempted to rise, drawing attacks from Gauruloc and Jouko. They hit it simultaneously, ravaging it with sword and chain. The monster was no more. Jouko jerked his chain from the zombie's skull and lashed out at the remaining zombie's legs, but the attack was errant.Fearing that the halfling would die any moment without intervention, Gauruloc rushed to Rubb's aid, provoking a vicious attack from the last zombie. It latched onto Gauruloc's forearm as he moved past, rending flesh from bone. Gauruloc howled in pain, but grit his teeth and granted the vigor of Sharp-Ears to the fallen snackling. Though the halfling lay unmoving, Gauruloc sensed that his condition had stabilized.Zhandlegarrii, seeing what Gauruloc had done, hugged the half-orc's shin mightily, then moved protectively over Rubb should the last zombie target him. Verys, who had dropped his bow in favor of his longsword, slashed at the zombie to no avail. The zombie swatted away Verys' sword arm, leaving his torso exposed. Its monstrous jaw closed on the elf's neck, inflicting a serious wound. Jouko struck with his chain once again, this time tripping the zombie and deftly sending the other end of his chain to finish it off with a crushing blow.At last, the hungry dead lay still and silent.</blockquote>

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