"Guys, I don't think this is going to work." Roden said, staring at the burbling pool of what they could only assume was draconic acid.

"It'll be fine, you have all the healing in the world." Riakon countered reassuringly.

Roden frowned at the big Dragonkin. Riakon was particularly chipper that morning as he had awoken to find he had regained more of his connection to the divine and his magic.

"Okay, but what if it's acid all the way through?" Roden parried, his concern over having to retrieve Shu'zet's horde growing.

"Don't worry, we will tie you off and pull you up if we see your ability activate, cacaw." the birdman said, withdrawing a rope from his pack.

Seeing the looks on his party's faces was the final nail in the coffin of Roden's resistance. He knew he was the best option, he just really didn't want to subject himself to acid burns for the entire duration. He racked his brain for a solution and landed on a potential plan. He pulled a disc of wood from his pocket and conjured up his Grove Armor. He'd initially rejected the idea fearing it would cause him to float or worse it wasn't water tight, but decided it was worth the risk.

"See! Look at that! You even have some PPE for the job too." Riakon said seeing the wood creep across him.

Riakon held out Grok's dimensional bag, "When you're down there be sure to grab objects over coin. We have plenty of money. Rare items would be better especially if you can find some magical items."

Roden waved him off already having prepared his Sight of the Magi for that very reason.

"I guess there is no time like the present." Roden said, reluctantly.

Riakon finished securing the rope to Roden's armor in what Roden recognized as a makeshift climbing harness.

"When did you learn to climb?" Roden asked as Riakon worked.

"Oh this? Did you forget? I grew up in the mountains, why wouldn't I know how to climb?"

Roden chuckled, just another tidbit of information that had never come up at his table, but fit the real life circumstance of the Dragonkin.

"You're all set! Any last words?"

Roden just blinked at Riakon, who couldn't see the expression on his face due to his wooden visor.

"Yeah, be sure to pull me up when I yank on the rope three times. I'm going to have to make multiple trips here. I can only hold my breath for so long."

Both men gave Roden their approximation of a thumbs up. He took a deep breath and stepped into the hole. Roden instantly plunged into the depths and then slowly bobbed back up to the surface like a child wearing water wings. Riakon and Grok helped drag him out of the pool onto dry land to reconsider their plan.

"So I supposed we lose the armor?"

Roden lifted his visor so Riakon could see his displeasure.

"No you fuck. Give me a big fucking rock or something to weigh me down."

"Oh yeah that's a good idea."

It took a bit of trial and error, but the men were able to find a few rocks that Branch secured to the outside of Roden's armor to offset his buoyancy, as an added bonus Branch slathered Roden's joints with a thick sap to help keep him dry. With his dive suit complete, Roden once again stepped into the pool.

Once the bubbles from his entry cleared, Roden was able to see the majority of Shu'zet's underwater network. It was as he'd imagined, a mostly barren pool under a slab of solid ground with various access holes speckling the land. When Roden looked down he could see the faintest twinkling along the bottom that made it look like the night sky.

It took him about thirty seconds to hit the bottom. Once his feet touched, Roden took stock of his situation. He didn't feel any burning which he deemed a win. He could breathe the air that was trapped in his helmet, but he wasn't positive how long that would last. He imagined it wouldn't be long before he was holding his breath.

Roden set to work scanning the bottom for treasure. He rapidly determined finding treasure was going to be the easiest part of the task. He followed the tiny glints of gold and silver across the bottom until he located a depression laden with various objects and piles of coins. When his eyes fell on the horde, he couldn't believe what he saw. Before him was a true dragon's horde. A dragon he had helped slay.

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Assuming he'd be making multiple trips Roden made it a point to grab anything of note within arms reach. He cast his Sight of the Magi and was bombarded by a kaleidoscope of colors from the various items containing magical energy. He was immediately drawn to various vials, flasks, and decanters nestled in the piles of coins. In his pilfering, he'd tossed in a few of the larger gems alongside what he assumed were potions.

He'd only investigated a few feet from the edge of the depression when he noticed he was breathing heavier than he was comfortable with while submerged under a hundred feet of acid. Roden took a deep breath and kept rummaging around. As he moved across the bottom, the extra weight on his armor made him drag his feet, stirring up the silt, making the water murky. The strain put on him by the resistance of the water forced him to work harder than he'd expected.

During their dry land test, he could hold his breath for almost five minutes. Roden estimated he only managed a minute or two before his lungs were burning demanding air. He shook his head and tugged the rope three times. There was a moment of pause before he felt his lifeline grow taunt and begin lifting him off the bottom.

"Welcome back! How was it?" Riakon said as soon as they'd dragged him from the pool.

Roden flipped his visor up and took a deep breath of fetid swamp air. When he finished dry heaving at the putrid smell. He explained the situation he was in while gathering treasure.

"Okay so you can only go down for about half of the time we'd assumed." Riakon said, frowning.

"I thought the same thing. I can probably last a bit longer if I hold my breath in the beginning while I'm not moving around much then breathe from the suit once I start working. I can activate my Herald's Strength to make moving easier, but that puts us on a clock."

Riakon looked at him puzzled, "What's a clock?"

Roden just shook his head, "It's just an expression to mean we have limited time."

"Oh! yeah, definitely."

They emptied Grok's bag onto the ground revealing the smattering of glass containers and gems.

"Nice haul, cacaw!"

Riakon frowned, "I was hoping for something to help us fight the next dragons or in the shade, but I suppose these could once we have G'Vaddle look them over."

"Hey man! Do you want to go for a swim?"

Riakon held up his hands in surrender, "No no, I'm not criticizing. You're doing great!" he said, giving Roden a cheesy grin and a thumbs up.

They finished their preparations for Roden's second trip when Errrkkkk stepped up and handed Roden a stick. Roden looked at it then back up at Errrkkkk.

"What's this for?"

Errrkkkk lightly tapped the stick with his staff and it began to glow a bright green light.

"Well I'll be damned! Good call." Roden said with genuine surprise.

Errrkkkk nodded, patted him on the shoulder of his armor, "Good luck, cacaw."

For the second time Roden plunged into the pool. He held his breath on the way down and activated his strength enhancing ability when he touched the bottom. His stick made a halfway decent flashlight as he perused the treasure trove.

He moved much more quickly on his second trip. He tucked away as many unique looking artifacts as he could get his hands on. Roden knew Riakon was right in his direction to ignore the coins as they would quickly eat up their available weight restriction on their dimensional bags. He managed a bit longer on his second trip before tugging the rope to be brought back to the surface.

His third trip was a bit trickier. He had to push through the first twenty feet of treasure to reach a fresh patch. That extra distance and exertion had his lungs burning. He knew it was most likely his last trip given their weight restriction. The space in Grok's bag was nearly all accounted for with the treasure already on the surface and there wasn't much space available in Riakon's.

He'd tucked away a few items of interest when something caught his eye. At first Roden's heart sank and thundered simultaneously. He really hoped he was alone.

'For the love of Gods…Gods? God?...stupid polytheism fucking up a perfectly good colloquial phrase."

Roden scanned the area using his green stick light. Slowly he shaded the light back and forth until his attention was drawn to an object semi-buried amidst the gold. He felt his focus being channeled to the object by his Divine Gambit as the ability was wont to do. Despite his rapidly depleting supply of air, Roden pushed on toward the object. His green light danced and scattered across the strangely shaped piece.

When Roden finally reached his object of desire he reached out and grabbed it firmly. He immediately knew it was a weapon. The way it fit into the palm of his hand gave away its nature. He pulled the weapon from the pile revealing it to be a sword. Once freed Roden could see the elaborate filigree across the scabbard in patterns reminiscent of leaves and vines. The gold and silver work wound its way down the length of it to the crossguard. When Roden took the sheath in his hand to examine the hilt he noticed something floating in the water near his face. Immediately his heart leapt into his throat.

Before his eyes was a thin wispy thing frayed at the edge. It took him five breaths before he realized it was just a piece of rope floating in the water. Glad it wasn't a snake or worse Roden calmed and turned his attention back to the sword in his hands. The image of the rope floating before him burned into his mind quickly followed by the realization of what had happened. The rope that made up his tether had finally snapped, presumably from the constant exposure to the acid that surrounded him.

Sweat beaded across his brow as he analyzed his situation. The rocks at his belt were held on tightly by a combination of rope and whatever plantlike material it was that Branch conjured in place of rope. Panic was slowly starting to settle into his chest. His breathing was becoming more erratic and he could already feel himself getting light headed from lack of oxygen.

He managed to walk himself to the bank of the depression, but knew it was not possible for him to climb out while in his weighed down armor. He cursed himself for not preparing his Unbroken Path spell. He wasn't positive it would bring him to the surface from where he was, but he would have tried it given his current predicament.

He resigned himself to having to swim out. He tucked his sword into the dimensional bag and visualized what he needed to do. He pulled the dimensional bag from around his shoulders and set it at his feet. He cast his Instant Focus to give his plan a bit of heightened scrutiny. He cast Instant Focus again just as he put his plan into motion.

He commanded his armor to rescind. Immediately, the liquid around him filled the space. At first he felt nothing and a faint hope rose in him. That was rapidly dashed by the intense burning that erupted across his hands and arms. Once freed of his wooden suit, he snatched the bag and light stick. While crouched he activated his Eleven Leaping ability and pushed off from the bottom.

To his surprise he rocketed toward the surface much faster than he had expected. The combined effort of his Herald's Strength and Leaping was enough to propel him halfway. Around that point the acid was burning away at every part of his exposed flesh, which was nearly all of him as he'd stripped to avoid being weighed down in the event he had to swim.

He pushed himself forward toward the surface. His lungs ached for air even though he'd just started holding his breath, it was clear to him the air in his suit was far too recycled by then. He just needed to make another twenty feet. He pushed himself. He fancied himself a very strong swimmer having spent numerous days swimming as a kid, he'd even saved a kid from drowning once. Sure he'd been the one to knock the kid in the pool, but he had jumped in and saved him.

He was amazed at just how far down ten feet felt when submerged. It occurred to him that ten feet was deeper than most pools. His thoughts distracted him from the burning in his eyes that only intensified his terror as he imagined his body peeling apart as he swam.

Roden burst from the surface of the pool and dragged himself onto the land. He rolled onto his back and started casting Triage on himself. His surprise breach startled Riakon and Grok who hadn't been watching the pool. They both started pulling in their rope only to realize after a couple pulls it was a pointless endeavor.

"Holy shit! Roden! Are you okay!" Riakon said, rushing to Roden's side.

As it turned out, swimming fifty feet in draconic acid was not good for the body, even Roden's adventurer hardened body nearly didn't make it. His entire body was covered in incredibly painful chemical burns. Between his own magic, Riakon's Faith Healing, and some of Branch's healing salve, Roden was good as new in minutes.

Errrkkkk on the other hand was not great. They found the Birdfolk heaving behind a bush mumbling something about Roden being a fleshy mess. Once everyone was back to homeostasis, the men gathered up their spoils of war and prepared for their journey back to Mu'tumbo's and the lycan's.

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