You know this piranha swarm is enhanced or different in some way but you just can't tell how.
You are pretty certain that this piranha swarm is fiendish variation, cursed with the lower planes benefits. Most likely form the abyss. You figure it has damage reduction from good, and spell resistance. You suspect that it can smite good to a limited extent. It's fiendish heritage provides some energy resistance to fire and cold.
Initiative RD 2:
Sargas -
Astri -
Piranha swarm -
Bri -
Chell -
Sorrin -
Round 2
Astrianna continues to keep her distance from the piranha swarm, now with renewed purpose. "I don't think these are normal piranhas! I'm not sure how to deal with them."
On the chance that this could be a summoned swarm, Bri will try to swim out of the swarm on her turn and cast a Dispel Magic to return them back from where they came.
Sargas swims out of the swarm, hoping the others have a means of dealing with this problem.
Your spell washes over the swarm and you realize these creatures were not summoned. The feel of dread falls over the group as the hungry little critters keep coming.
The swarm turns to the east and engulfs Sorrin.
2 bleed damage next round
DC 17 fort save or nauseated 1 rd
hundreds or tiny teeth rip and tear into Sorrin's flesh.
Now that she was out of the fray, Chell puts some more distance between her and the swarm and takes aim. The swarm buckles inward as a bubble of sound explodes next to them.
Sargas continues to keep his distance but not abandoning his friends. He aims to keep at least 60' between him and the swarm at all times.
Argh...
Sorrin takes two swings!
Sorrin slash away and his attacks don't really appear to faze the creatures. As quick as the swarm approached, it swims away. Everyone sees Sorrin emerge bloodied but alive. Breathing a sigh of relief the area appears safe for the time being.
Astrianna keeps swimming once the swarm has vanished. "We should get back to the ship. Now. We can't fight those fish, and the treasure isn't worth dying."
Chell still shivered at the feel all those fins and teeth all over her. For some reason the swarm was running off. And for some reason it was also fiendish in nature, inheriting abilities of the low plane of hell. What caused that? She looked at the ship, deeply wanting to study it further. But she knew that if she ran into another swarm in the confines of the ship she'd be done for. She turns and grabs Astrianna to haul them both to the surface. "Tomorrow then."
Sargas nods, admiring their restraint, and swims up alongside them to the surface.
The shipwreck nearly beckons to the group, but they swim away. Shortly thereafter you breach the surface trailing a thin line of blood from your wounds. You make it back to the ship without further incident.
Sargas climbs back aboard the ship and turns to the others. "Can any of you think of a way to defeat that swarm?"
"Sadly I do not really have anything in my repertoire for underwater swarms."
The Captain shuffles around on the bridge, he is barking a few orders when you surface and climbs back on board. "Get them some blankets and prepare to weigh anchor." He looks concerned as he waits moves down to the privacy of Officer's Quarters waiting for the owners to arrive.
"Ja git much loot?" One of the sailors calls out.
Astrianna climbs back on board, looking like a soaking cat. The crew can tell she's feeling like one, too- face and demeanor are sour.
Mumbling a cantrip, she begins to pass hands slowly over her body, the sea water spilling from her hair and clothes. She just gives her head a shake when one of the sailors calls to ask about loot.
Once dry the bard moves into the Officer's Quarters to talk to Donovan, unceremoniously plopping into a seat. Sighing, Astrianna props her boots up on the table, staring at the opposite wall with the same sour expression. "Demon fish. The thrice-blasted wreck of Razor's Edge is down there, guarded by demonic flesh-eating fish, and we have nothing to kill them."
Dramatically, she throws up her hands. "How are we supposed to use holy water under the sea? Holy ice? Would that work? Ridiculous. There must be a king's ransom worth of treasure and history down in that wreck, and here we are." Astrianna steams, her lips taking on a characteristic pout. "Unless Chell knows of a way to banish demon fish we should get out of here. The shipwreck certainly isn't leaving. We can return after some research."
It really isn't clear if Astrianna is talking to herself or Donovan, but her opinion is certainly evident.
Chell breaches the surface of the water and takes a deep breadth. She didn't need to because she could breadth regardless of depth but it was a habit nonetheless. She silently climbs the ladder and sits down on the deck. Once everyone is on board she channels positive energy enough to make up for her mistake. They should have waited a day to gather strength. Of course there'd be something down there. She wasn't expecting fiendish but still.
"I certainly tried everything I could against them. I even cast a spell to dispel magic in case they had been summoned to the wreck with a spell. Sadly it had no effect. I mean, I know I like being nibbled all over, but not in a fatal kind of way."
"If Dispel doesn't work then Banishment won't either, assuming I could even do that," she says sullenly. "I know of few things I can do. Maybe a water elemental?"
"We can handle this tomorrow with new spells. But I would rather not wait that long. We have a very large shark to hunt before the full moon." She turns to Donovan. "Do we have any nets that could contain piranha? There are two corpses of wyverns that we could feed to them. Maybe it will distract them long enough to take a look or bait them into a net the."
The crew look a bit dismayed when Astri announces no loot. "So, we risk'd our lives wit pirates, storms, dragons, wereharks and rescuing folk and we don't got much to show fer it." Another sailor barks.
When Astri offers Chell up in sacrifice all the crew looks to cleric to solve the problem. Several eyebrows raise. "Treasure...well..." The voices probe.
"Demon Fish and the Razor's Edge, huh?" The Captain scrunches his face in contemplation. He has various charts out, "Well we don't really have time to spare. The moon is nearly full." He looks at each person but his gaze ends on Chell. "You all own the ship, I'm your Captain, but you all know what's at stake in Port Shaw. By all accounts your Dalang Jalamar going to rake havoc there."
"He's not ours anymore," Chell says sadly. "I feel like the ship is important but you're right. Stopping Dalang should take precedence. The ship will still be there. The demon fish too."
"Yeah, it's not like the ship can sail away anymore. We'll just make it's exact location on our maps and comeback with maybe some new spells, wands and scroll capable of dealing with those evil little fishies."
Astrianna opens up the Pouch of holding at her waist, pulling out a particually striking blue diamond. A ball of cool white light appears at her fingertips, and she slowly rotates the ball around the diamond to marvel at its fiery hues. "I agree. Dalang is a threat to the whole coast, and will continue spreading the Kiss until stopped. Right now, that ship is just a threat to us. Besides, we've more than made a profit on this trip, we can do some charity work for Shaw by taking out Dalang, no?"
Sorrin knows there are those who enjoy speaking more than he does. So, he leaves the talking to them.
The supernatural is beyond him not in understanding... but rather, in neutralizing.
He immerses himself into his shipboard duties. From time and again assuring crew and addressing any barb.
A privateer company is what we are, not raiders. And, there is the matter of bringing low a mad priest's cult, an avatar of destruction and even a god.
Focus on the work. Our only competition is with ourselves. Be better than you were yesterday. Do this, and we shall emerge victorious.
Sorrin throws himself into the back breaking work, taking his own advice.
"If you don't mind me stating...you did well taking out some of the underlyings, there are less of them now. That has to help." he pauses, "We need to get back to Port Shaw there's got to be a key there. Something you're missing. Wasn't there something about 'Jawbone' to find." He waves at the floor of the ship, "The shipwreck will be there after the full moon, Port Shaw may not."
Sargas stands to the back of the cabin, brooding, his muscled forearms crossed over his chest.
"To be honest, it seems the greatest urgency lies with this Dalang. Let's take care of him and then come back to deal with those fiendish piranhas. If anything, we can perhaps buy scrolls or whatever for the needed spells while we're in Shaw."
After afew moments of discussion the Captain exhales, "I'm going to tell the crew to set sail, the winds are favorable right now, with a bit of Quell's luck we will have a fast and non-eventual sail back to port. Perhaps you'll have a half day or a bit longer to find that Jawbone thingy and maybe one of the elder Tulitan can help with the lycanthropy." He motions up to the top deck and the monk that was infected, "Quell knows if this Dalang can infect a Monk with the curse, we'll all need a bit of help."
The captain looks at Chell and asks, "Since it'll take a couple days to get back is there any way you can commune with Quell....like powerful spells to get an idea about this Jawbone of Kaho Ali'i"
"Atri you need to get this crew motivated, get them to work hard, explain we won't be taking the evenings off. Press the crew to the limits to get back to Port." He then focuses on Chell, "If you have any powerful divination spells maybe you can be guided or gather some information regarding the location of that Tultan relic."
He paces around the room and then looks at Sorrin and Sargas. "make sure yer boarding and balista crews stay ready. Don't know if we'll have trouble but we can't afford a long protracted battle. probably best that we look the other way and flee if necessary. If were lucky we'll get back to port and you'll have only hours to spare before the full moon."
Finally his eyes fix on Bri, "We'll have long shifts at the wheel. Get your sleep when you can, if you have any spell that could help, there's no time like the present to use them. A touch more speed, or foresight." he waves his hands in the air and finishes, "What ever you do."
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Astrianna crosses her arms over her chest, sighing. "I tried to get them to go after the Jawbone when we were back in Port Shaw, and did they listen? We were even getting paid to find out about it."
The bard puts the diamond back in her belt pouch and swings her legs off the table. Jumping up out of the seat, the half-elf makes her way to the deck. "I will have the crew working sunrise to sunset, Cap'n. Thankfully I have plenty of coffee."
Her boots strike the deck and she stops, hands on her hips. She casts a glance over the whole crew, noticing Sorrin is already putting himself to work. She'll need his eyes later.
Taking in a deep breath, Astrianna puts two fingers to her lips and whistles a loud and piercing note. "LISTEN UP CREW! We're sailing for Port Shaw, and we're sailing HARD!" She walks among them as she talks, gesturing.
"We all know the pirate-hunting Captain Bethany Razor." She starts, making her way to the fore. "I've met this great beauty personally, and have seen how fine and respectful her crew are. A bunch of gentlemen running that ship for their lady." Astrianna takes to the steps, turning around and speaking some more. "It was said when she and her crew were hunting the fierce slave-ship the Black rider, no one slept for three days. Even then, when the battle was joined, they slaughtered the slavers like mewling lambs, fresh as a day's rest. We now take after the crew of the Quell's Whore. There will be no rest in the evenings. Boarding and ballista teams on constant alert. Everyone will be working to their limit until we reach Shaw." Astrianna turns and climbs the rest of the stairs now, letting the crew groan and boo, until she has taken to the railing of the forecastle that overlooks the deck.
She reaches into her haversack and produces a jute bag, pulling on the drawstring. Reaching in both hands, she pulls up two fistfuls of gems: agates; azurite; blue quartz; hematite; lapis lazuli; malachite; obsidian; rhodochrosite; tigereye all glitter from between her fingers, silencing the crew. "The crew of Quell's Whore may be gentlemen, but we do not take to the sea for love of the salt as they do! We do it for the coin and glory! I ask you not to do this for free; everyone will be receiving an equal share of gems from this bag when we arrive at Shaw: captured from the hoard of the wyverns that terrorized this very ship earlier. On top of this..."
With their interest piqued, she returns the small gems to the bag, and then dips her left hand into her pouch of holding. She deftly removes three large, brilliant aquamarines, one between each of her finger knuckles. The bard holds them high. "The three hardest working crew members, chosen by the owners, each receive one of these! Work your asses off my sailors of fortune; just one of these aquamarines could buy a whore's love!"
The gems return to her pouch, and she leans over the rails. "Now let's put our backs into it! I'll be watching from the crow's nest tonight, or among you with song and fiddle. My elven eyes see all, and I will see who are the best sailors on this ship!"
"No one has been anything more than cryptic about this jawbone. I still don't see its importance but if that's the consensus so be it. I can look into both it and Dalang tomorrow." Chell leaves the Captain's Quarters and finds a spot near the bow to sit and think for a moment. A lot happened on that island and she felt they were no closer to saving Port Shaw. Dalang was somewhere. The Jawbone somewhere else. And they had no idea where they were right now. Even Divination had its limits. A commotion below signaled Astrianna's attempted to quell the crew's grievances. Petty. All of them. Only motivated by money. She wondered if they would be any more agreeable if they knew the whole situation. Probably not. But that didn't mean she wouldn't continue to help. She'd still be there on the front to protect them and heal them no matter how argumentative they were. She'd just have to influence them through example, like Sorrin was.
Sargas grins as Astri begins to work her magic, and moves over to the ballista crew where he stands, hands on hips, and examines the machines.
"You're our first line of defense against whatever may come our way, men. Let's oil those winches, double check those ropes, and lay a good amount of ammunition at the ready in case of trouble, aye men?"
Once the ship is under sail, Chell invites Sargas and Astrianna to the officers quarters to fill in the fighter on what he was missing from the conversations. But as soon as she opens her mouth she finds the words difficult to put together. "Wow, there is a lot going on. There is the whole cult of the Kraken that seems to have its tentacles in the authority of Port Shaw, namely the guards," she says starting to pace. "They're's the now confirmed, death and conversion, of two clerics of my faith, one to the Kraken, possibly, and the other to Dajobas. Both of whom were the only ones powerful enough to cure those afflicted of Lycanthrope, which is what they were trying to do here. There's the Sahuagin that were definitely up to something evil. Pirates, which seem a lot smaller now in comparison. Smuggling. Disenfranchisement of the natives. Magical artifacts. And a bunch of other small things that may or not be associated with any of the previous." She pauses for a moment, eyes closed as she tries to think of anything more. "I think that is it? Still want to stay on?"
After the talk, Sorrin give Sargas a tour of the ship, introducing the stations and crew.
Then he gets down to readying the ballista in case they're needed.
Sargas listens intently, and then stands and rubs at his jaw as he processes all this information.
"I can't claim to full appreciate all the implications of what you're saying, but it's clear your group is in the middle of serious fight. I'll join my sword to your cause and help in any way I can. If we can help cleanse these seas of the filth that are poisoning it, then I'll consider it a job well done."
Astri golden voice has the crew energized while Bri pilots the ship on edge of platinum piece. Everything is humming along when Hawke's piercing eyes spot the full rigging running parallel 7 miles off the starboard side. The message is passed along crew and the Captain insists on staying the course. No time to waste.
After a while Chell gets several folk in the warroom for a discussion.