Emerald Spire 09.0 - A Brush with Death

With the elemental gone, the group made to move forwards; at Amara's suggestion, the group stashed their more water-sensitive gear in the closet near the spire for safe-keeping. After exploring the room where the water flowed down to a lower level via a waterfall, Marin tentatively explored the final doorway of the main hall, nearly slipping on some submerged stairs. Discovering a sunken corridor, he decided that he would rather stay on the upper level and the group moved through the second doorway in the waterfall room with Ismail's centipede tag-along hitching a ride on the cleric's shoulders. 
After passing through a short passageway, they found a large, irregularly-shaped room, where several crates and beds had been propped up on tables to keep them dry. A shimmery patch on the wall disgorged a small torrent of water every few seconds but the group had little time to investigate: a large water elemental rose up from the corner, just giving Kormon enough time to spot it and warn everyone to get into position before it attacked. 
The battle was fierce with the elemental hammering away at Kormon and Marin before forming itself into a raging vortex to trap all three men. With a valiant effort, the group managed to destroy the elemental, reducing it to formless water once more. Marin fell heavily onto the floor, prompting everyone to run to his side: his wounds had been serious and he had very nearly drowned, and for a moment it seemed like he wouldn't pull through. However, through a feat of will and fortitude, he managed to stave off death, giving Ismail enough time to cast healing spells. The brush with a watery death burned itself into Marin's subconscious as a lingering fear of drowning as he coughed and spluttered his way back to consciousness. 
With all of Ismail's spells spent, the group decided to retreat for the time being. A thorough search of the room found that the crates were mostly filled with food and cheap wine, the latter of which Amara began drinking immediately. The shimmery area of the wall, after being investigated by the two mages, was determined to be a semi-permanent two-way portal of some kind, which was allowing water to flow in. Agreeing that they were too worn to warrant risking a more in-depth investigation at the moment, they collected up the food and wine and made to leave.
The group used Ismail's spire transport token to return to the second floor, where they could camp and rest in peace. After two nights of rest, spending the intervening day exploring the nooks and crannies of the floor that Kormon and Marin had missed on their first few forays, the group was ready to head down once more. 
Category:Emerald Spire