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"There's something else down here," Pen exclaims in surprise to everyone still above. "The water is attacking me! And, I can see and hear the wraiths now."

"An ooze!" Eber exclaims as he sees the 'wave' that breaks on Penelope's shield. Thinking back to Enaborem's disfigured face, a new explination for it occurs to him.

Have we been tricked?

Knowing that his magic missles will serve their best use against the wraiths, Eber does his best to locate one in the hold and cast his spell but so far the wraiths are staying out of sight.

"Out of the hold!" Eber calls to Penelope, "Your weapons can't harm the ooze!"

"Don't come down. I'm coming up," Pen hollers up in disgust.

Rolf is surprised at the sight of the Ochre Jelly. He recognizes it for what it is, but it isn't until Eber shouts out that he remembers weapons are ineffective against it.

Damn, this is going from bad to worse!

Turning to Nadia, he surprises her with his action and request.

"Nadia, please, your shield! If I be needed to go down there, all I can do is defend."

And he drops his halberd to the deck of the ship.

"What?" Nadia answers the dwarf. "Oh.. sure Rolf, take it." She hands over her shield. Of course the sturdy dwarf has the best chance to stand against the jelly creature. And as long as he stays at the bottom of the ladder in the light, the wraiths will leave him alone. "Watch your footing down there.

"Hurry Pen!" she calls down through the hatch. "Rolf is going to go down!"

Penelope climbs back out and Rolf, holding Nadia’s shield in front of himself, climbs down just to the bottom of the stairs. The ooze pulses and tries to slam into this new prey, but Rolf fends it off.

"Damn!" Eber exclaims as the ooze takes his last magic missile and still fights on.

"I'm out of magic missiles," he calls out, making an effort to speak as slowly as the others move, "Get out of there Rolf. We have to find some other way of dealing with it. The rest of you, back away from the opening."

Hearing Eber's suggestion, Rolf shrugs.

Why not, it's worth a try.

Carefully, he goes up the steep stairs, hoping the silly ooze follows him. At first the enraged and damaged ooze starts to lunge toward the retreating dwarf, but a disembodied voice calls out from the corner of the ship. “Down, Fido. Heel.” The ooze slithers back down and slinks into the water again.

Rolf stands at the top of the stairs, with nothing much he can do, other than make sure he is ready to act if the need arises. So, both hands on his halberd, he watches for anything out of the ordinary.

Nadia is startled to hear Eber's disembodied voice above her on the ladder. Things are pretty close down here in the hold, but she does her best to 'make room' for the dwarf. She peers around at the cabinets, the little galley stove, the captain's bunk, and the brackish water. There's no sign of the jelly, or the wraiths.

"I cannot see them, Pen," she says in a low voice. "Are you sure they are here?"

“Yes” Penelope whispers back, she gestures with her sword toward the areas where she was able to pinpoint the source of evil emanations before.

They probably want us to step away from the light, Nadia thinks. So they must be watching to see what we do. With that in mind, she takes up her holy symbol and steps forward, turning slowly around, looking carefully for any shadow that might be a wraith.

As soon as she leaves the circle of light, a disembodied, cackling laughter erupts around them. The shadowy figure of a man rises out of the water at the back corner of the boat. He appears to have a heavy beard, is wearing ragged clothes and has a bandana around his head. But Nadia and Penelope are ready from him. They both lift up their holy symbols and begin to pray.

"Flee, spirits of darkness! In the name of Lathander, Lord of the Morning!" Nadia calls out, her voice full of command and confidence.

Perhaps Tyr is not a lover of wine. Or perhaps he doesn’t approve of his paladins taking time to rescue bottles of it. For whatever reason, the power he sends through Penelope is very weak. Her shield barely glows. But it doesn’t matter. The power of Lathander is strong this morning. Dazzling sunlight pours out of Nadia’s holy symbol. The wraith’s cackling laughter turns to a shriek of frustration and despair as the light rips through its shadowy body. In a moment, it is as if the wraith never existed.

The other wraith howls and slides out from the cabinet in which he had been hiding. Another bearded, bandana clad figure slides through the shadows along the wall.

Moving quickly, Eber ducks into the hold and heads straight for the case of wine he had opened earlier with mage hand. Picking it up, Eber heads back up the stairs as quickly as he came down.

The wraith doesn’t pay attention to the strange sight of a crate lifting off the ground and floating away. He is so intent on attacking the cleric who destroyed his haunt mate. He lunges for Nadia, his hand reaching out. He grasps at her chest, his hand going through as if he were trying to grab her very heart. The chill touch freezes Nadia to the bone. The cold around her heart threatens to drain the life out of her. But she steels herself and pulls back, shrugging off the wraith’s touch and denying him the sustenance of her life force.

The wraith's attack is just the kind of out of the ordinary thing Rolf was waiting for. He practically jumps down into the cabin below decks. He sloshes forward into the water to get room to swing his halberd. It's a mighty blow he delivers to the second wraith, but unfortunately it passes right through it's shadowy body.

Meanwhile, out on the road, Alex speeds back towards the herb shop. He reaches the front door. All is quiet around the area.

Alex stays absolutely still, straining to hear anything. But everything is quiet except for the sound of the wind gusting outside and the creaking of the sign as it's blown back and forth.

Pen continues to attack the bandana wearing wraith with Nadia's magic mace. It's a weapon with heft and for bludgeoning. It's quite a bit different than her slicing longsword. She has to consider that last one a practice swing. And it was good practice. This swing is right on target. The wraith is concentrating on Rolf and doesn't blink out of the material plane fast enough. The magic properties of the mace tear through its being. It howls and whirls towards Penelope.

Nadia's fingers can't move quickly enough as she fumbles to grab one of Pen's scroll and unroll it. They manage the job though finally and Nadia intones the words of the spell, enchanting her saber.

The enraged wraith reaches out for Penelope, plunging it's hand into her chest. She feels the same cold and life-draining pain that Nadia felt. But like Nadia, Penelope is able to steel herself against the parasitic attack. It hurts but she still feels strong enough.

Rolf grits his teeth.

Stupid thing.. Won't you become solid for a second and let me hit you?

Getting frustrated by his two misses, Rolf attacks the wraith once again. But still, the wraith manages to be someplace else when Rolf's halberd comes slicing through.