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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drunkadelic" data-source="post: 1688915" data-attributes="member: 4020">Gathering outside of the sea cave, the party makes preperations to see in the inky blackness. Alanis decides to take point, making natural advantage of her darkvision and her family heirloom - a chain shirt of silent moves. The remainder of the party stays 60 feet back, using a rock with light cast on it. Stealth is somewhat difficult, due to the 4-5 inches of water standing in the cave tunnel. Progressing down the tunnel ahead of the party Alanis spots a blurry form moving in the darkness right on the field of her darkvision. Inching up ever so slightly, she makes out the sleeping form of some kind of bipedal fish creature. Sneaking back to the party, she relays this information, and the party readies for battle. No mis-steps on the parties sneaking, and a sleep spell cast by Darius equals 4 dead fishmen. Thanks, coup-de-grace! Searching the room turned up nothing interesting save the spears of coral that were once weapons of the fishmen.  Moving ahead again, Alanis finds that the water level in the tunnel is once again rising, after 40 feet of steady decline, it has risen from her ankles to her feet. However, even this disturbance doesn't keep her from noticing a small crack at the top of the wall that appears to be a caved in fork of the tunnel. Using her wild shape ability, Kali transforms into an amphibious snake, and climbs up over the debris and through the hole. Kali finds a battered old sea chest, but is unable to do anything about it while in snake form. She climbs back over the rocks, wild shapes back into her normal form, and tells the party that she found nothing. Finally the tunnel opens up into a small room with three statues arranged in a triangular pattern. The two against the back wall look much like elves, although the feet are webbed. The statue in the middle of the room is of an armed knight, sword in one hand, and bucket in the other. After a thourough search and a Detect Magic from Darius, the party has determined that the statues in the back, the elven looking ones, are slightly magical. The figure in the center of the room bears no enchantments. Investigating the bucket held by the center figure, Bumbleton places one of the biscuits he had been packing around into the pail.  CREAKKKKKKKKKK - the wall between the two statues on the wall begins to open up slightly. 5 biscuits, 3 rocks, and some water later, the pail has been filled enough to allow the party to proceed through the doors. Strangely enough, the enchanted elf statues remain silent as they pass through the open door. Into this new hallway, Alanis resumes her on-point status, and almost yelps as she places a foot forward and almost falls into the brink. The passage here drops down suddenly, and for the party to continue, they will have to submerge themselves. Securing their nose plugs of water breathing into their nostrils, the party plunges down into the black, murky water. Movement is slow going for the party, but thankfully, they are able to navigate the long underwater passage due to their noseplugs. Finding a ramp upward that finally brings them back above water, the party takes a moment to dry off and reorganize. Currently they stand in the center of a crescent room, with the opening back down into the water on the flat wall. Ahead of them is another door, constructed out of coral. Kali's Detect Magic shows it as a normal door, and using the tried and true method of adventuring, Alanis' kick knocks the door off the hinges - and lo! Evil awaits. Smirking off in the distance of this dimly lit round room is a green skinned sea elf, sitting on a throne seemingly made from a backbone, caressing a trident. The Duchess of the Deep, I presume? The suprised adventurers are caught off guard by the Duchess summoning a large shark. The waist deep water in the room makes the adventurers easy prey, and it is only Alanis' armor that saves her from the razor sharp teeth of the Duchess' new pet. Kali, undaunted steps forward and summons her own shark, instructing it to "eat that tasty elf at the back of the room." The shark complies and nips the Duchess, barely scraping by her defenses. Darius steps into the room and gives the Duchess a special insight into the pride of most freshly rolled first level arcane casters, as 3 magic missles fly squarely into her chest. Next, the Duchess uses the trident to turn the summoned shark back onto Kali, and she moves towards a large lever on the western wall. Brumbleton uses this time to swim up to the shark that is facing Alanis and give it a proper shanking with his short sword. Alanis takes this as her cue, and eviscerates the summoned shark with her magical bastard sword.  Kali takes her time to get into a better position, moving closer to Brumbleton and Alanis in case her healing is needed. Darius makes an initial step towards the "one trick pony" title by launching another salvo of magic missles at the Duchess. Looking all the worse for wear, the duchess throws the switch and the back wall begins to open, flooding the little room. With her remaining action she Wild Shapes into an octopus, healing a small amount of the damage that the heroes have inflicted upon her. Brumbleton closes with the second shark and sends it to Davy Jones' locker with a well placed (critical) short sword stab. Alanis charges forward through the rising water and leaps forward to attack the now octupus-formed Duchess, cutting off a few legs in the process. Kali closes her eyes and casts entangle hoping that the scant amounts of seaweed here will be sufficient to fulfill the spell's requirments. GRAB! It was. Wounded and entangled, the Duchess sprays a cloud of ink and tries to get away. But it's hard to escape a fireball. As the red pellet explodes near her, the water turns to steam and boils the Duchess alive. Octopus Sushi anyone? The heroes grab the trident and stand happily in the now fully underwater room. Perhaps their want to escape the lair before the magics of their noseplugs wear out, or perhaps their player's rustiness at dungeon crawling, but the unlooted body of the duchess is left to the mercy of the sea, as the heroes use their magical keys from arthuss to call a portal back to his office. Dripping, and smelling slightly of fish, the heroes appear in the crystal office. Arthuss looks up from his paper work and smiles at the drenched party. "I trust that went well."(next time: Djinnis, Fireworks, and the addition of a new party member! <gasp!> )</blockquote>

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