Stago asks, "Does anyone know what kind of woman that green skinned creature that took Routunious is? And those bark skinned things, what are those?"
"I have never seen a nixie, but I've heard of them often enough...I believe that is what has taken Routuinious. As to the tree people, I have no knowledge."
Degar says, "A nixie. Aye, that makes sense, though I don't know what one is doing underground. They're forest creatures, ain't they?"
"They somewhat resemble their sylvan cousins, but nixies are creatures of fresh water, and are possible to find in lake or pool, and sometimes rivers, though it is rare. It is even more rare to find them underground, I would think, but not impossible. I have heard they possess a potent charm spell that can bend the will of men to their every desire, but I thought that it took a group of them to cast it. This one appears to be solitary."
Fink asks, "Are they evil? What does it want with him?"
Elessaria answers, "They are neither evil nor good, they serve only their own interests. The purpose of the charm is to capture male slaves to do their work for them, and in this case...to satisfy the cravings that come with lonliness, I suppose."
Duncan asks, "But...how do their slaves...breathe underwater?"
"Nixies can cast a water breathing spell on their victims, which they can bestow on any creature, or remove, once per day."
Degar is thoughtful, then says, "I know having a priest is a blessing. But, if he's a breather of water and not of air now, and if he's charmed as ye say to adore this green skinned lass who's keeping him as her slave...what good will rescuing him do? He'll only choke to death on the air while trying to claw his way back to her, won't he?"
"It is a risk...I don't know if the effect is permanent, or if she might be persuaded to release him and restore him...but he is one of us, and we leave no one behind."
"Very well," the dwarf grumbles, "but how do ye plan to get him?"
They all make suggestions, and in the end it is decided that they will tie a bag of
copper pieces to the other end of a rope that's attached to Tick-a-Tick. Elessaria, the strongest swmimmer, will dive into the pool of water and attmept to fetch Routunious. Even if she can't get to him on the first dive, at least they will have a better idea of what is in the pool.
The plan is agreed upon and Elessaria.
As Elessaria starts to remove her armor, she says, "Degar, I'll need you to keep hands on the rope, if I tug it, then you'll have to pull me up as fast as you can." Fink and Duncan retire from the pool chamber.
Elessaria practices holding her breath with Degar timing her efforts, to get a sense of how long he should wait before pulling her up anyway. Then, satisfied they have prepared as best she can, she straps on her sword and holding tight to the bag of coppers, she dives in. The elf sinks past the surprised nixie and touches down at the bottom to the pool, which flares out into a rather wide, domed chamber. She notices a opening, like a cave to one side and near it a hut made of woven living water plants. In it, she sees Routunious acting like a domestic servant, cleaning and repairing the nixie's home.
Elessaria beckons to Routunious who starts toward her, but the nixie intervenes and seems to be able to telepathically command Routunious to return to work.
Suddenly, Elessaria notices movement above and around the hut and realizes that several giant fish are now circling the doorway like guard dogs. The nixie swims above, watching as Elessaria takes out her sword and heads toward the entrance of thedwelling.
The fish attack! The first fish misses as it streaks toward her flashing needle-like teeth. The second fish is actually an eel, and it snakes in and bites for a great deal of damage. Elessaria tries to get her sword in for a strike, but she is unused to underwater combat and comes nowhere near her target. Her lungs begin to ache from the need for air.
The fish swims in from behind and bites Elessaria, drawing more blood. Again the elf tries to counter and misses. The fish bites her again and again. Routunious watches mournfully as he continues under his compulsion to do his chores. Another strike from the fish rips away a large chunk of flesh from Elessaria, who winces in pain. She has had enough and tugs forcefully on the rope. Degar immediately begins pulling her up with a steady, hand over hand motion.
Neither the fish nor eel pursue her, and the nixie watches her ascent with a smile of satisfaction. Her home is safe from intruders.
As healing is given to Elessaria, the company bickers about what to do next.
Elessaria stops any talk of leaving the priest behind, "It doesn't just come down to loyalty. As the party's only cleric, there is no question. Routunious must be saved."
Stago pulls Duncan aside and asks what spell the mage has memorized today.
"Burning Hands," he replies.
Stago says, "Cast it on my ring of spell storing. I'll cast my color spray. I have a scroll of water breathing--"
Elessaria interrupts, "You have a what?"
Stago explains, "Let me finish...I think that if we all hold hands while I cast it on one of us, it will affect all of us, but for a much shorter duration than if I'd only used it on a single target. We'll use the scroll and then we'll swim down there and attack the nixie. If she is defeated, the fish will swim away and it is very likely the priest will snap out of it and be his old self again."
"Why didn't you suggest this the first time?" Elessaria asks.
Stago replies, "You're the leader, I wanted to give your idea a chance to succeed."
"More likely you forgot you had it until just now. If the duration of the spell is diminished by the number of people it is cast upon, then Fink and Duncan should remain in the cave with Tick-a-Tick. We three should be adequate for the assault, and we might need the extra time. How long for three of us?"
Stago replies, "About four hours."
"Let's do it."
The gnome removes all of his items, save for a dagger, his clothing and the ring. He
casts scroll of water breathing on the away team.
As the away team descends deeper into the pool, they get closer to the astonished nixie. At 20 feet, the males in the away team find it difficult to take their eyes off of her. Degar shakes it off, but Stago succombs to her charms. He has fallen hopelessly in love with the enemy. Degar can tell what is happening and as he sinks past the nixie he swings at her with his axe, shouting through a torrent of bubbles, "Take that, ye miserable little useless creature!"
The party touches down at the bottom of the pool. The nixie, who seems able to tell which males are affected and which are not...perhaps because the charm also establishes a telepathic link between nixie and slave. Stago seperates from the party and goes down the corridor by the hut at the nixie's behest.
The fish and eels immediately attack the remaining members of the away team. Degar takes a deep bite from the fish, and it swmims past his reaching fingers. The eel chomps into Elessaria. This time she manages to stab it with her weapon, however. Degar connects with his axe and wounds the fish. It is still able to fight, however, and hits Degar back with a fierce bite. Degar fights back, but misses.
The eel also manages a lucky and damaging bite on the elf.
Meanwhile, Stago & Routunious have been commanded to walk through the cave and down the passage. The water is calm and still, like the water of the pool, but at a certain point they feel a tingle of energy, as though they have walked through a wall of force. Suddenly there is a change in pressure and the water has a current. They keep walking, though it is harder to keep their footing now, and exit the passageway to begin walking along the bottom of an underground river.
Back at the fish fight, Elessaria hits the eel and slices it in twain! Although seperated from its body, the eels head still manages a final bite which deals a great amount of damage. The elf tries to pry the jaws apart and remove the head but before she is able to, she passes out from loss of blood.
Degar sees this, but cannot help as he is still engaged with the fish. He decides to break away from the melee and give aid to Elessaria. The fish tries to take advantage of the fleeing dwarf but somehow misses its attack.
Degar surprises the fish by spinning in the water, bringing his axe in a beautiful arc which slices through the water, the fish and leaves both halves the bloodthirsty creature slowly sinking to the bottom. He swims to the unconcious elf.
Meanwhile, Stago has caught a fish in the underground river and gives it to Routunious. Routunious puts it in a bag he is carrying. Stago swims up to the surface to takes a look.
He sees an immense space of a giant cavern through which the river rushes. Upstream there is a shattered bridge and columns that resemble some sort of evil beings. After doing his best to commit the surroundings to memory, he submerges again and returns to gathering dinner for the nixie with Routuinous.In the nixie cave, Degar grabs Elessaria and begins pumping his way to the surface with the elf in his arms. Breaking water, he bellows to Fink and Duncan, "Mushrooms!"
The dwarf has to submerge again for a moment to breathe more water, but by the time he comes back to the surface Fink is there to give Degar a mushroom. Degar puts
it in Elessaria's mouth and makes her swallow. She begins to heal.
Unknown to those on the surface, the nixie begins to take the threat seriously now that her guardfish have been slain. She swims out to Routunious & Stago, and beckons them to follow her away.
Just below the surface, and still holding onto Elessaria with one arm, Degar eats some of the healing mushrooms himself. Restored, the dwarf and elf wave to Fink and Duncan before they submerge and swim down to the nixie's underwater lair. They find it abandoned but full of gems and art objects.
With neither the nixie nor her slaves anywhere to be found, the pair collect the items from the nixie hut and bring it to the surface. Doing so takes about half an hour. They leave the items with Fink and Duncan to catalog, and swim back down to look for Stago and Routunious before the duration of the spell expires.
The items they have stolen from the nixie include:
Alexandrite (200 gp).
Carved coral statuary of pregnant female nixie with the inscription "Acquar" (1300 gp)
A male version of the statue with the words "Stago'oquar" (300 gp).
Scrimshaw (30 gp)
Azurite (10 gp)
Carnelian (50 gp)
Citrine (50 gp)
Coral, black (100 gp)
Jade (100 gp)
2 Jaspers (50 gp each)
Onyx (25 gp)
Spinel (500 gp)
After examining the treasure, Fink and Duncan put it into Tick-a-Tick.
"You know," Fink says to Duncan, "this is a lot of of treasure. And when they jumped in the water, they left a lot of magical items up here for us to watch, and I suspect that this metal fighting machine here, you could probably control it the same way that Stago did when the priest went after that fish woman."
"I don't think I like what you're suggesting."
"I'm suggesting that there are bad people after me and that this pile of loot would go a long way to getting them off my back."
Duncan, shocked, says, "Surely you're not suggesting we steal from these people and abandon them to these tunnels!"
Fink shrugs, "Why not? I've known you a lot longer than this Severed Head crowd. Why should I be loyal to them?"
"No. I'm not going back on my word."
Fink gives up on the argument.
Down below, Elessaria & Degar swim through the cave and down the corrider at the bottom of the pool. They also feel the tingle as they pass through the strange energy barrier. It takes a moment to adjust their swimming to the motion of the current that is on the other side.
Standing at the edge of the corridor which empties into the underground river is the nixie. They hear her voice in their minds through some sort of telepathy.
"My name is Mara. Why have you come here to kill my pets, take my slaves, and steal all my wealth? I tried to help you in the Wood Wose attack."
There is a long debate about whether or not the help that she offered them could also be construed as an attack, and that the taking of slaves is just as wrong as the theft of material goods.
In the end, they strike a bargain. She will trade one of her slaves for the treasure that the party has stolen from her. She will release the second when they have found and given her treasure of equal value to what they took.
Degar and Elessaria feel they have little choice, their water breathing spell is soon to wear off and they would not be able to harm their companions should the nixie order them to defend her.
"Agreed," Elessaria says.
The nixie asks, "Which one do you wish to take, then?"
Elessaria considers it, and decides that because they have Duncan, a priest is more immediately of value than an illsuionist.
"We would take the priest now, and will return soon for the gnome."
"Nixie," Degar questions her, "what can ye tell us of the caverns and the pool ye live in? We're not here to plunder yer goods, but took them only to use as a tool to bargain for the return of our companions....our real mission is to find information that will solve a problem on the surface, out in the open air of the town."
Mara considers this, and says, "Long ago, my pool was the source of water for the fountain in the courtyard of the temple. I kept it pure and clean for them...but that was so long ago and the fountain no longer flows...the priests no longer visit me and care for my needs."
Elessaria asks, "Those creatures...the ones made of wood...you called them something."
"Wood Woses," she says, "Some people call them Night Shades. I don't like them. They started showing up after the priests went away. I sleep at night, though and that's when they prowl the caverns. I'm afraid I can't tell you much about them. I don't leave my pool very often, and no matter how lonely I get, they aren't the kind of company I'd like to keep."
"Thank you," Elessaria says.
Degar asks, "Where does this river flow to?"
"Eventually it feeds into the River Tesh, when you come back with the rest of my treasure, I can help you breathe water again and escape this way."
Elessaria grabs Routunious' hand and tugs him down the corridor, "We'll keep that in mind."
They all travel to the bottom of the pool and Elessaria swims to the surface to explain the deal they have struck. All of the treasure is dumped back into the water and Routunious is released from his charm spell.
3 hours later, everyone is topside, except for Stago who has remained with the nixie.
They make ready to continue their quest, with the added need to aquire a great deal of treasure to purchase back their friend.
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