Seizing the initiative to prove itself the alpha predator, Ortik's dominated shark attacks the bull, and its teeth sink into the other shark's scarred hide.
As for Ortik, the dwarf's eyes widen as he spies the two sharks fighting, and waves and burbles for his friends' attentions, following them into the ship.
Frustrated with his lack of progress, Ortik casts a quick spell, and his hands and feet begin to web, and he begins to move through the water much more easily.
The dominated shark fights against Ortik's control, but it cannot resist the urge to strike at its rival. The shark headbutts the scarred one in the nose and bites, drawing blood!
The scarred shark recoils from the controlled shark's strike... but strangely enough, it doesn't immediately retaliate.
Instead, it bangs its tail fin on the doorway it just went through, sending muffled *THUMPTHUMPTHUMPS* through the shipwreck. It then bares its teeth and strikes at the dominated shark!
The scarred shark's mouth bites savagely down on the dominated shark's flank, and it violently shakes its head back and forth, sending a cloud of blood into the water.
Demitri seeing the frenzy, on the other side of the Direption starts swimming that way.
Who did it just call?! Karri scans the water around the ship, looking for movement.
You don't see anything moving outside the ship...
Nalun follows Demitri, his harpoon leading the way.
Ortik swims up behind the shark, and lays a hand upon its tailfin. "Go get him, boy," he says, and the shark renews its savagery upon the other.
Sharky scores a decisive blow against his uncontrolled counterpart. This time, the creature seems to be ceasing all resistance to Ortik's commands to fight.
The scarred shark bites at Ortik's shark again!
This time, the shark's fangs bite down on its dorsal fin. While it's a shallow wound, Ortik's shark looks very badly wounded.
Demitri continues swimming forward.
Nalun looks around for the source of the spell, and swims towards it if he sees it.
If he doesn't he swims to engage the shark
The waters around Ortik have tinted crimson with the blood of both sharks, but already he feels his magic dwindling. For a moment, he thinks about healing the shark, but in the end, he decides against it, readying his spear to attack his erstwhile ally, should it decide to turn against him once the spell ends.
The shark, however, continues attacking, savaging the other shark in a bloody frenzy of teeth and ferocity.
Sharky misses with his chomp, leaving his foe open to strike back--but as it goes for a bite, Nalun swims up and sticks it right in the mouth!
The shark turns its anger on the bounty hunter and chomps at him instead!
The shark's jaws clamp down on his arm and start yanking!
Demitri keeps swimming.
Keep them alive so the shark doesn't eat you!
Karri pulls out enough energy to sling towards the shark, Legion streaks through the murk and blood towards the shark that has attacked Nalun. The impact against the shark is felt as a series of small *whumps* by those nearby.
Damnit to hells! Nalun exclaims, but all anyone hears is Glub, Glub@
Nalun stabs the bigger shark
Karri's missiles streak through the water and smash into the scarred shark, while Nalun's spear guts it at last. It twitches and gurgles before going belly up, the water around it turning a deep red.
Nalun, Ortik & now Demitri can hear a new spell being cast... it's coming from the room the now dead shark was guarding.
Ortik's shark manages to break free of his brainwashing. Instead of attacking, however, it starts to eat the scarred shark carcass in the water.
Ortik turns to Karri to give her a thumbs-up, then points towards the room where the mystic noises are coming from. He carefully swims past the shark towards the other room.
The shark is too busy making a meal out of its rival to care about Ortik moving past it.
Nalun nods at Ortik and swims at the door, harpoon raised!
Demitri follows the pair in.
Swimming through the doorway reveals a part of the ship that's in even worse condition than the rest of the ship. Several bent metal bed frames and glass-paned cabinets lie shattered across the floor of the room. The room swirls with a haze of gore, fish heads, and half-eaten eels chumming the circling waters.
Sitting at the back of the room, weaving magics in the current, is a gaunt, half-starved looking woman whose appearance is nothing short of hideous. Her skin looks like yellowed parchment drenched in candle wax, and her brown hair looks not so much like a head of hair as a patch of brown, rotting seaweed. Her mouth is twisted open into an evil grin, lined with dozens of fangs. Her eyes are a filmy, milky white. The brown rags concealing her modesty do little to detract from the sheer disgust her appearance stirs.
Karri begins a burbling chant, bringing Legion forth through her flesh.
Demitri makes a little traction in the water.
Nalun swims straight at the Hag!
Ortik's eyes widen as he notes the sea hag, and realizes he and his friends will need help. He quickly chants a prayer to the city, and the Old Dame stirs, guiding their blades while hindering the hag's actions.
After the eels are killed, Lyla swims out of her hideout to follow the rest of the group, but feels a sharp pull behind her. She looks back and notices her hollow foot is stuck between two rotting planks; though the wood seems fragile, her reduced strength poses a problem as she tries to get free. She shouts out for help, but her words are muffled by the water, and her allies are already far, disappearing into the ship led by Ortik's shark. She shakes her head and gets back to trying to get free. The girl starts thinking about ways to get free, mentally going through the equipment in her backpack. Suddenly, she remembers a couple of items that might just do the trick.
She reaches for her backpack carefully, sifting through its contents, and pulls out a couple of wooden sticks from a long side pocket. Ones is made of ash wood; the other, obsidian; both retrieved long ago from Devargo Barvasi's stash and long since forgotten inside this little used compartment of the backpack. I'm so glad right now we never got around to selling these, she thinks. Uncertain as to which is which, after so long, she picks up the wooden wand and points to the plank, waving it awkwardly to try and make it work.
The wand comes alive in her hand, warming up as its arcane power flares up. A green blob forms on its tip and bursts forth towards the wooden plank; the acidic splashes corrodes the wood and sets Lyla free. She makes a mental note as to the power of each wand. Alrigh, this is the acid splash one, then; the other should be the wand of magic missile. She puts the wooden wand away and swims after the group with the obsidian wand in her right hand.
She sneaks past the two sharks surprised to see one of them feasting on the other, but goes by unnoticed until reaching the rest of the group in the next chamber. Upon spotting the horrific hag ready to pounce at her friends, she stops and points the wand at the creature, looking around to study her friends reactions. Right... how can we talk it out if we can't hear each other?, she wonders, hoping for a peaceful resolution.
Alas, while Ortik's magic empowers his allies, the hag's hide proves to be quite resistant to such trickery. Her skin glows with power... power enough to stop Nalun's spear from drawing blood.
The impact of the spear does cause her to open her eyes more fully. Her body glows red, and an imperceptible wave of evil washes through the room and over everyone inside.
Ortik's magic, in combination with natural resilience and the power of Iomedae, is enough for both Nalun & Demitri to soldier on through, throwing off the hag's foul, strength-sapping magic.
Ortik, on the other hand, ends up taking the brunt of the hag's horrific visage. His strength flees from his limbs, and he suddenly starts sinking to the bottom of the ship.
The hag turns her milky white eyes on Nalun and glares at him. This time, raw tendrils of madness claw at his mind.
Yet again, the hag fails to overcome the bounty hunter's natural resilience.
"Ortik!" Demitri gets a worried look on his face as he swims closer.
Demitri calls upon a judgement as he swings his spear at the foul hag.
Whereas using the first wand a few moments ago proved easy, the obsidian stick seems a bit trickier to master. For the second time, Lyla attempts to activate the wand in her hand without success. The girl's cursing is inaudible under water, but her frown does a good job of conveying her frustration.
Demitri's spear fails to make a dent in the hag's hide.
Nalun dodges past the Hag, swimming furiously to flank her with Demitri.
Nalun stabs at the hag with his harpoon.
Nalun manages to get around the hag while staying out of reach of her claws. Unfortunately, his harpoon once again fails to pierce her skin.
Ortik feels his strength leave him at the sea hag's mere visage, and drops to what was once the wall of the Direption. His limbs fail him, but he can still command his magics to aid his friends.
Karri tries to call back the dolphins she summoned earlier. When only one arrives she assumes rhe injured one was killed when it rejoined Legion. Still, she set this one to attack.
for
The dolphin leaps forth from the portal Karri summoned it from and tries to headbutt the hag. Unfortunately, the hag twists to the side and misses entirely.
The hag, realizing it's surrounded, draws a wicked-looking short spear and strikes at the bounty hunter behind her!
The harpoon rams through Nalun with great force behind it!
Demitri stabs at the hag.
Unsuccessfully.
Lyla keeps trying to use the wand; suddenly, she feels it tremble, a burst of energy running through the wand's length; she watches gleefully as an energy bolt darts out towards the hag, circumventing all obstacles in the way until finding its target. She takes a look at the obsidian stick in her hand and smiles with satisfaction. Not bad.
Demitri's attack is parried by the hag's spear, but the bolt of magical energy released from Lyla's wand races through the water and strikes her square in the nose. Her head snaps back in surprise and blood starts to ooze from it. The hag glares at Lyla with her milky white eyes.
Nalun grimaces in pain, and tries to return the favor!
This time, Nalun manages to drive his spear through the hag's hide. It's a decisive blow, impaling the hag through her stomach!
With little he can contribute to the fight at the moment, Ortik settles on assisting Lyla in working her magic wand. "Trust in the city," he burbles to her. "Let the Old Dame guide your hand."
The fiendish dolphin glares at the hag and powers through the strength-sapping power of the hag's ugliness, rearing back and attempting to headbutt the crone where it hurts!
The dolphin's head rams into the hag's chest, and a muffled *CRACK* is sent through the water!
The hag turns her spear on the dolphin...
...and brutally guts it twice before swinging her claw at Nalun. The dolphin goes belly-up, and disappears.
Her claw is batted aside by Nalun's own spear.
Karri bows her head and begins calling forth another beast from her flesh...
Demitri fails to swim into the flank.
And stabs with his spear.
The hag and Demitri trade blows. Her shortspear gets him in the chest and his spear gets her in the leg.
Lyla fires another magic missile while watching Nalun, Demitri, and the hag draw blood from each other.
Nalun stabs again, wishing he weren't fighting this thing on its home turf! He'd say something to that effect...but he's pretty sure no one would understand him underwater.
HP 27/41