With the arrival of reinforcements, Thren sees the need to reinforce her own team and begins singing.
With music now filling the waters she attempts to stab at the smaller hammerhead that came up from below. Her magic infuses her blade as she thrusts her rapier downward.
Sandara hangs back, seeing the sharks circling around everyone, and gets her crossbow ready.
Hammerhead 3 attacks Chakam while Hammerheads 2 and 4 attack Kahuranga again, the former after taking a five foot swim.
The curses continue to limit their effectiveness, but one of the sharks does nip the witch.
Hammerhead 4 | HP 30/30 | AC 18 T 12 FF 15 | CMD 22 | F +9 R +7 W +4 | misfortune 2 rounds[/ooc]
Kahuranga's screams as the shark's teeth gnash at him. "This will not do, Taniwha, let's see if we can get rid of these toothy beasts." His legs move in swift, scissorlike motion as he loops under one of the sharks to gain a more advantageous position. Once there, he rubs a glass rod, sympathitcally drawing upon the electrical charge of the saltwater, magically enhancing it, and launching it at the offending sharks.
The druid attacks the animal by himself, inspired by Thren.
After his attacks, he five-foot-swims towards Thren.
Chakam kills the hammerhead near him and moves to rejoin the party. Kahuranga swims upward, dodging hammerhead teeth, and arcs a lightning bolt, killing one hammerhead and severely injuring the other. The little shark dodges with remarkable agility, evading damage entirely.
The large shark Ormandar flaps his fins and the seaweed and algae from the sea floor and floating in the water grows and expands until you are all swimming in a 40 foot radius zone of entangling sea plants.
Not expecting the sea flora to revolt against the party, most everyone finds themselves entangled save for Taniwha, and the remaining hammerhead, who perhaps is used to the great white shark's shenanigans.
Galieus, hovering at the edges of the writhing green flotsam, tries to take another bite out of Threnody.
Chad moves downward and tries to get free of the entangling vines.
Thren tries to wiggle out of the vines, singing all the while, but has no luck slipping free.
The vines add to the awkwardness of underwater combat as the bard tries to stab at the smaller shark and she only stabs kelp.
The Besmaran manages to snap several strands of seaweed and pull the rest away from her limbs, regaining the ability to move around a bit. Realizing the vines were still active, the cleric wisely chooses to try to move away from the active fronds.
The remaining hammerhead recognizes its fate as cannon fodder and just swims slightly to its right and tries to get a last taste of flesh before its inevitable demise.
It just manages to get in a bite due to Threnody's being caught up in the vines.
Entangled - -4 to Dex so AC is 16
Chakam doesn't bother, for now, with the entangled condition. Instead, he swims at half-speed towards the enemies by Thren and attacks the smallest of them.
His attack, however, is not well succeeded.
Bound by their empathic link and their steady friendship, Kahuranga and Taniwha realize they are going to have to split up to deal with these foes.
Taniwha flaps his wing fins and lashes his tail, throwing himself at the remaining hammerhead. He draws upon his draconic heritae to infuse his tail with electricity, swiping it at the hammerhead. The electricity jolts the shark, disrupting its nervous system in a fatal manner.
Kahuranga swims through the entangling growths, getting closer to the Great white that is clearly in charge while keeping Chad between himself and the shark.
The hammerhead dies a shocking death.
Ormandar the white shark gives a large toothy grin and flaps his fins all at once. Magically he summons and flings a burst of nettles at Chad and Kahuranga.
The barbs inject acid into the heroes' flesh. It burns mightily!
The shark then swims straight downward toward the wreck, partially concealed from those above him and concealed from those further away. (20%/50% miss chance respectively).
Galieus the shark withdraws 60 feet diagonally downward and straight back.
Chad gets stuck but just moves half speed until he gets past the field of writhing kelp.
Thren tries to swim south past the edges of the frisky fronds, pulling and cutting away at the foliage.
Galieus and Ormandar flee into the depths, out of sight (especially since the water is full of kelp and blood it's hard to see far). They have probably not gone too far. The entangle spell disperses. Half of the wreck is close by, the other is likely deeper into a rift where the sea floor drops dramatically. You have a breather to consider what is next.
As the combat calms down, Chakam looks at the others and breathes deeply. He finally swims back to the surface.
Ok... Time to plan a little bit, I feel. But not fah' long... If we're all okay, we should swim back tah' the wreck tah' find what we're searching for.
Kahuranga propels himself to the surface with a strong series of kicks. He takes a moment to expel water the water from his lungs in a process that is not at all pleasant.
"A few moments to restore myself, and I will be ready to proceed. It may be necessary for some of us to keep watch for that shark fellow, who I suspect was some sort off shape shifting spell caster. The rest will investigate the wreck. It seems unlikely that the bow of the ship houses the secrets to its speed, but we should be thorough. And where is the stern? I fear it must have fallen into the deeper waters."
A few quick strokes and the bard surfaces with the others.
"Let's recover and then head down to check out the ship. Both halves, if need be." Thren agrees as she listens to her compatriots.
The bow of the Brine Banshee lies directly before you. Chad indicates that he feels the remains they seek lie further on, but this part of the wreck may still be worth exploring.
The bow of the ship lies on its side at a slight angle. Looking down upon it as you carefully edge closer, you can see into a broken portion of the cargo hold. Debris is piled in there; you would have to get closer to see if there was anything of value. Based on its construction there are probably also officers' cabins accessed from the topdeck much as on your own ship; these you have to swim down to access.
The sharks appear gone for now, but you can't see into the darkness of the rift to know where they might have gone.
Kahuranga will take a couple of rounds to restore himself to health.
"Let's see what we can find in the portion of the ship we have found, then we will re-evaluate our situation."
Thren breaks out her wand and uses it to deal with her various bites.
"Ready to proceed!"
Sandara, realizing how slow some of the party happens to be, acts to speed people along.
The obvious point of entry is through a hole in the main deck (A2); you can enter what looks like was the gun (ballista) deck (A6). While you can see partially the Cargo deck (A7) you'll have to swim through the gun deck to get there.
When approaching the main deck, you can also see a door into the starboard cabin. Because of the wreck's positioning, the door to the port cabin (A5) is thoroughly blockaded by debris, which would take hours to clear.
As people are ready, the Rusalka moves towards the hole in the main deck. He tries to keep his eyes ready and prepared, as the tresses swiftly touch the sunk wood almost in a trancing dance manner.
Kahuranga moves to back Chakam up, swimming close behind with his dragon frined.
You enter the gun deck. The rotted, rusted remains of what once were ballistae are scattered against the sea-floor-ward end of the deck. The engines and bolts are thoroughly ruined by several months in seawater, plus possible exposure to whatever creatures live nearby. You can swim downward to the main cargohold where the ship is rent in twain; at a glance it looks like little is there.
Also from the gun deck, two sets of stairs, each flanking a third spiral staircase that leads from the main deck that lead downward into a semi-separate cargo hold in the bow of the ship (A8). You could also access the bow cargo hold from the main one. From the gun deck, you cannot see into the bow cargo hold. However, you can see about halfway down the steps what looks like translucent, slimy sea anemones floating in the water, waving about. There isn't a whole lot of other sea flora around here otherwise.
Chakam can also hear movement, something large moving slowly. The way the water moves, whatever it is is unlikely a shark.
Jellyfish... - says Chakam towards Kahuranga and the dragon, not advancing further until the group is together - ... These are just pupae, but from their size, they will likely becom' quite, quite large. It takes years fae' them tae' mature, though... But of course, considering the small ones around here, I'd guess we might hav'a big one closeby. Maybe even already in tha' bow cargo hold, though I can't really see anything in there.
"We want to check the bow cargo hold while we're nearby?" Thren suggests.
"We might find something of value there, even if it isn't the secret of the ship. Who knows what cargo they might have been carrying. Anyone feel like being bait to see if there is a bigger one in there? Neither Taniwha nor I are particularly resistant to jellyfish stings."
"Word went wide across the Shackles that the Banshee was loaded with treasure," Sandara reminds the party. "That's assuredly why the priests of Norgorber want its location. But they only asked us to confirm the location... so what we do with what we find here up to us..." She finishes, her eyes filled with goldlust.
"Do we have any way we can approach with some... subtlety?"
"I don't have anything prepared to be subtle, and that isn't my forte anyway. I do have the ability to bring forth some disposable allies. Let's use them as bait to see if there is anything lurking in the hold."
Kahuranga begins to cast a complicated spell to summon some bait.
"Bait? I like this idea. Especially if it isn't me." Thren grins. She lets Kahuranga cast his spell and waits for the results.
Celestial shark (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, 247)
N Large animal (aquatic)
Init +5; Senses blindsense 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., keen scent, low-light vision; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +4 natural, -1 size)
hp 22 (4d8+4)
Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +2
Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5; SR 7
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Offense
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Speed swim 60 ft.
Melee bite +5 (1d8+4)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks smite evil
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Statistics
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Str 17, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 1, Wis 13, Cha 3
Base Atk +3; CMB +7; CMD 18
Feats Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative
Skills Perception +8, Swim +11
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Special Abilities
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Blindsense (30 feet) (Ex) Sense things and creatures without seeing them.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Energy Resistance, Acid (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Acid attacks.
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Energy Resistance, Electricity (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks.
Keen Scent (Ex) While underwater, notice creatures in 180 ft with scent, or 1 mile if blood.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Smite Evil (1/day) (Su) +0 to hit, +4 to damage when used.
Spell Resistance (7) You have Spell Resistance.
Swim (60 feet) You have a Swim speed.
Chakam smiles towards Kahuranga and Thren, and holds back - giving space for the animals to advance to the hold.
As Kahuranga summons some bull sharks, into the lower level of the hold below, there is movement and a giant jellyfish does indeed appear to attack the creatures.
Chad
Chakam
Kahuranga & Taniwha and summons
Threnody & Sandara
Jellyfish
Threnody | HP 72/72 | AC 21 T 13 FF 18 | CMD 20| F+5 R+10 +7 | Fire 5 Cold 5 |
Sandara | HP 39/39 | AC 16 T 11 FF 15 | CMD 16 | F +5 R +3 W +8 |
Kahuranga |HP 56/56| AC 28 T14 FF 16| CMD 17 | F +3 R +5 W +7 | Electricity 5 |
Taniwha | HP 24/24| AC/T/FF 19/13/18| CMD 13| F +5 R +7 W +7 | Immune Paralysis, Sleep
Summoned Shark 1 hp 22 | AC 14 T10 FF13 | CMD 18 | F+7 W+5 W+2
Summoned Shark 2 hp 22 | AC 14 T10 FF13 | CMD 18 | F+7 W+5 W+2
Summoned Shark 3 hp 22 | AC 14 T10 FF13 | CMD 18 | F+7 W+5 W+2
Giant Jellyfish hp 94 | AC11 T9 FF 9 | CMD 23 | DR?? | Immune mind effects
Chakam | HP 61/61 | AC 28 T 16 FF 23 | CMD 22 |F + 11 R +11 W +9 (+4 vs fey+plant targeted)| Rusalka Form, ironskin |
Chad | HP 80/80 | AC 19/21 vs ranged T 14/16 vs ranged FF 15 /17 vs ranged | CMD 21 | F +5 R +8 W +4 | Electricity 5
[/ooc]
Kahuranga orders his sharks to attack the revealed jellyfish.
Kahuranga swims behind his wall of sharks, reaching out to twist fate around the Jellyfish.
Thren begins singing again, bolstering her allies.
Then the bard works a quick spell into the space between verses.
Sandara paddles forward a bit to get a shot at the large jellyfish.
But her bolt flies past and get stuck in a wall.
The jellyfish lashes out at the first shark that launches its attack and does so swifter than you expect--its tentacles seem to reach out to around 15 feet. The sharks retaliate, their sharp teeth well able to penetrate the wobbly flesh of the jellyfish.
When it gets a chance to respond fully, it lashes out at the sharks with all its tentacles.
It's hard to tell what kills the shark first, the force of the jellyfish's blows or the deadly poison from its tentacles, but it disappears from this plane of existence almost as quickly as it came. The other two sharks remain unscathed.
Chakam moves towards the Jellyfish and attacks it with one of his tresses.
These sharks sure help, mate! Let's keep pressing at it! - says the druid, worried about the creature in front of them.
Chakam finds battering the jellyfish with his tresses is less effective than the neighboring sharks' teeth; indeed the attack seems to bounce right off the creatures' gelatinous flesh.
Chad gets behind Chakam and casts delay poison on him in case the jellyfish turns its tentacles upon him.
Sandara reloads and fires, not wanting to risk getting stung. Her bolt just misses and joins the first in the wall of the hold. This gets a bit of cursing from the Besmaran.
Thren brings her bow out and cracks off a shot sizzling with arcane energy. She continues to sing as she fires, her voice inspiring the heroes.
The two remaining bull sharks grab the jellyfish tentacles, their heads thrashing side to side in a cutting-tearing motion.