Seeing Suny leap over the side with Talon, Windfavor turns the ship to gain the most speed and throws another line out the back. Wil and the bannermaiden pull Azlain to the boat.
Order
Azlain in water holding rope hasted 5' from ship<----
Deep One
Wil hasted
Suny on boat hasted
Bannermaiden pulling on rope
Seltyn
Windfavor
Human in water
Talon unconscious held by Suny
Thalas in water held by deep one
Wil! Suny! Get Talon back on his feet, then start shooting!
Azlain grabs Thalas and gets him to the side of the ship.
The creature pursues staying astern and manages to lash out at Thalas again.
The hasted group prepares to act.
Wil hasted <----
Suny hasted <---
Bannermaiden
Seltyn
Windfavor
Human in water
Azlain hasted
Deep One
The vicious sea creature doggedly pursues his most hated type of humanoid, a creature with an aura of good. As Thalas begins to feel his life force fade away, he feels called back to his mortal body to rally the elves. Thalas starts awake as he has insights into what appears to be a primordial struggle between good and evil.
Having a series of dreams and visions, Thalas struggles to consciousness with a gasp.........
Wil turns and moves over to Talon's side, his hands already starting to glow as he focused the gift of the almighty through his mortal being.
As Talon and Suny exit the water they have difficulty breathing. Wil's healing keeps Talon from expiring and stabilizes him, he is conscious and weakened . It is obvious he can use more healing.
"...Bugger..." Suny exclaims weakly even as she looks around.
She staggers to a line before throwing said line over board.
Quickly she shuffles about to gather up a spear or harpoon before heading to a ail and being ready to drop over the side again.
Bannermaiden! Go look through Elorin's pack. I think she had a healing potion in it. Does anyone else have any potions? If we can get Thalas up, he can heal the wounded further.
Seltyn again adjusts the dancing lights to illuminate the beast in the water and the human still with him. He steps back and casts magic missile at the monster.
He speaks the magical formulae; Pew, pew!
Talon's second shot hits. Seltyn's two bolts of magic force hit. Wil has healed Talon.
Thalas is conscious and ready to act (prone and has no more translucent skin).
Windfavor rushes to the back and fires a longbow. His shot strikes a vital spot dealing a nasty blow to the creature.
Suny readies a weapon and prepares to return to the water.
In that case, strike my prior comment.
Stay back from the railing so it can't grab any of us!
Everybody grab a bow and send this thing to the hells!
Bannermaiden! To the center of the boat!
Suny! Stay on the boat and shoot your bow!
You all have 2 attacks at +1 if you full attack, and a +1 dodge bonus to AC for 4 more rounds. Use that elven dex to kill this thing. We can heal up later.
LOL! Wish I'd rolled like that a few rounds ago! Seltyn tells everyone what's under the spoiler.
Azlain coughs up a bit of water as he lays Thalas on the deck, starting to check his vitals as he wakes up. Noding simply, Azlain gets up and looks to get back to the fight, leaving Thalas to the healers.
Bow's soaked. Hope it's got a few shots in it before the string breaks
Thalas gasps and coughs as his organs begin functioning properly again. Clutching the gunwale of the small ship, he stands up and looks around. Suddenly recalling a fragment of a vision, he casts Detect Magic and tries to find the spent magical ballista bolt.
Seeing Elesandriel yet in the water, he shouts, "Elesandriel! The magical ballista bolt that missed, we must find it!"
Suny nods and dives back into the water to retrieve the bolt.
Suny! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Seltyn does his best Darth Vader.
Seltyn has another one of his brilliant ideas that always work out perfectly, assuming Suny didn't dive in right in front of the deep one.
Wil! Get to the front of the boat. Start cranking the ballista and get it ready for another shot. Bowmen, keep shooting, and slowly move towards the front. If we can get it to come forward, it might not see her. We'll keep it busy and give Suny time to find the bolt. Bannermaiden, stay in the center.
He keeps the dancing lights right in front of the monster, trying to spoil the range of its darkvision, or whatever it has. It's possible the lights might illuminate the location of the bolt, too, with Suny's lowlight vision.
He moves forward, keeping the monster in view.
The Deep One is wounded, especially from Windfavor's deadly shot with the longbow. Before diving quickly below in a bellow of frustration, the creature makes a lunge for Talon with a single tentacle.
Talon is grieviously wounded, but not killed.
The Bannermaiden wraps an elven bandage around him to stabilize him as the Deep One dissappears out of sight.
The attempt to magically locate the ballista bolt is unsuccesful and Suny thinks better of diving back into the deep waters, as Thalas informs you the creature is definitely shadowing the ship.
As Windfavor steers the ship back to his original course, Thalas, Azlain and Seltyn have the feeling the Deep One continues to stalk the Sea Sprite. As soon as Windfavor steers the ship to head for home, Thalas, Azlain and Seltyn fell the Deep One breaks off pursuit. Azlain and Seltyn have huge headaches from their recent possession and are quite tired. Talon and Suny have problems with their new translucent fish skin, and by constantly keeping their skin wet, their condition remains stable.
Stay wary, friends. It could come back, soon. Thalas, do what you can for the wounded. We've lost a friend, and much of our strength. Could you prepare a spell for tomorrow to preserve Elorin?
Seltyn isn't hurt at all, so he'll stay on watch. Most of us are in dire need of hit points, so rest up.
Azlain stares into the water, seething.
A quick inspection by Thalas of Suny and Talon show that their condition is due to a magical disease. As soon as the disease is cured, their weak body chemistry can be repaired through restorative magic.
Windfavor looks at Setlyn, "The sea creature is protective of the waters we are entering, and we are much depleted. Shall we continue on, or return and refit. I would like to see the lady Elorin restored as quickly as possible."
He puts a hand on Setlyn's shoulder. "You did fine in this crisis. Our main mistake was being too trusting of our human castaways. As much as we can be tempted to look at the final results, I think we came out better than I would have expected. By missing the creature with the enchanted missile, I think I threw away our best chance at defeating that monstrosity."
Wil cranks back the Ballista as ordered, while watching for Suny's return so he can help her back up onto the boat. At Windfavor's words he nods grimly in agreement with seeing Elorin restored as he failed to see the evil that he had brought onto the ship. He failed. Once Suny was back aboard he stalked over to the fallen Gretchin and flexed his hands, cracking his knuckles as he mastered his frustration and outrage.
"Was it true that you were out of your minds? Is this one redeemable? If she is she can give us insight on that creature, perhaps." He barely controlled his voice, the bandages were going on well enough, despite his straining to not over tighten them on accident.
Seltyn suspects that the fish-skin condition will go away on its own, and doesn't have to be removed magically. Thalas could prep other spells, if he wants.
We all gave it our best. Next time, we'll be warier of castaways, and hopefully, roll better. LOL
There's no big time pressure to get this done, so let's turn around and get Elorin raised. Her importance to the elves as a diplomat is greater than this mission. We'll regroup and be loaded for bear next time around.
The deep one's still out there, so don't trust your eyes. Anything could be an illusion.
"Master Windfavor, the disease affecting Elesandriel and Talon is beyond my ability to remove: my bond with Labelas Enorath is not yet that strong that I can channel enough of his power. I must concur with you that returning home is our best option at this juncture: if we intend to make another attempt at the Harbor, we will need every one of us. And next time, we'll know what to expect."
Thalas Channels a few times to help restore everyone's health in case of another attack.
The next day everyone is at full health, and Elorin is reposing gently (I assume that came from this days list of spells).
As Windfavor keeps close to land, a rather ungraceful, blocky craft is coming your way. In the distance, two large banks of rowers on each side are propelling the craft your way.
Windfavor Perception
Windfavor informs everyone what he has gleaned, and warns everyone that the craft ahead could easily overtake them given the weather conditions. He angles the ship into deeper waters away from the land, and the approaching ship changes course to easily intercept.
As the ship gets closer, Windfavor informs you that it is called a bireme. The crew should be at least 40, but many of them are rowers and are either poorly paid or slaves.
"Is it any kind of threat to us?" Azlain asks.
"Talon, stand near me that I may be ready to cast a spell that shall aid your accuracy with both ballista and bow," requests Thalas of the group's acknowledged master archer.
Seltyn casts message, including all party members but Azlain in the spell (p.313).
Speaking out loud to Azlain, he says, Presume they're hostile, until we think otherwise.
Ready your bows, friends. We can't play nice. Not yet.
Prior to being called on deck Wil had been strapping on his armor. It was the work of a few minutes to ensure everything was in place, it wasn't the best idea to wear armor on the open seas. If another attack occurred though he would need all the protection he could get. After his Armor was on he strapped on his sword, shouldered his bow and adjusted his quiver before stalking back towards the stairs.
When he heard the call to get on deck he checked on Gretchin and ensured her wounds hadn't become infected. Making sure her ropes were secure he moved up on deck and received his orders. Without waiting further he began loading the Ballista and stood ready to defend the ship. He was still reeling over his failure but today he wouldn't fail, today they would prevail.
Suny coughs, "Here! All-a-ways look on'a best side o' peoples!" She says hoarsely.
"Arrows be like words. Ye can't take 'em back, ye ken?" She cautions.
Wil looks to Talon his face controlled and hardened for the coming battle. He was tired of the long useless speeches and the doom and gloom words, he planned to live today. "Quit Jaw jacking and get in position. Prepare to fire a warning shot so they know we see them coming." He looks at the bannermaiden and gives her a hard look. "Get up by the wheel and help protect Captain Windfavor, keep the banner aloft, because the deck is where we will fight and if they dare board this vessel it is where they die. The rest of you array yourselves well, Seltyn I think you should go with the bannermaiden. With the three of you near the wheel you'll be able to keep them from taking control of our ship and be able to control the fighting some with your abilities. Azlain, Thalas and Suny you know what to do." He gives Azlain a significant nod before turning and taking hold of the Ballista and swiveling it to aim towards the oncoming craft.
He ignored any protests as he focused on the craft coming towards them. Once it was within shouting distance, or after someone fired a warning shot, he bellowed loudly.