the party is full of keen eyes who spot the oncoming threat. they prepare for action.
you see there are actually 2 things moving at you, one from each side of the rowboat. as they come closer you see they are both large ooze monsters!
these creatures are Globsters, a living collection of half-digested parts from large sea creatures such as whales and squid. Passersby usually discover it by smell long before they see it. Many unfortunate folk who happen upon a globster mistake it for the carcass of a beached sea animal, getting too close before discovering the seemingly dead creature is very much alive. For a time, sages believed globsters were undead—that they were simply undulating wads of rotting flesh animated with a drive to feed. However, globsters are actually living creatures.
Globsters are immune to piercing and bludgeoning damage, alon with acid damage. they are heavily resistant to cold and electricity. their attacks can cause nausea.
as they approach, a horrid stink fills your noses!
Lara, Kragg and Lolito are all sickened by the horrid smell
the party may act!
Lara gags as the smell hits her. "So this is what a globster smells like," she says. "Slash it or burn it- not much else works, from what I hear."
With that, she shoulders her bow and unsheathes her longsword. She waits for the living conglomeration of half-digested marine life to come near the rowboat, poised to strike.
Listening Lara's advice, Lolito brings the only slashing weapon he has, his cold iron kama "What we will do without your deeply knowledgeable guidance Lara?"
Worried the beast might hit the bard, Lolito readies to attack the monster as it approaches.
Not having any slashing weapons that he is capable of wielding Kragg decides distance is the best option as he drops his long spear and grabs an oar to propel the rowboat ahead and keep the creatures at bay. Hopefully we can either outrun them or keep the back one far enough away till you can finish the front one. I would hate to get flanked out here in the water.
Know dungeon for speed
Fire? But they're in the water. That would never work.
I assume the trick is to blast them as they emerge to attack.
Can't I just stab them?
No, you'll just go between the bits that matter and do no damage....
Well that's hardly sporting..
Stop complaining... and give me a scorhing ray would you?
Fine...
the two blobs move in to attack.
Kragg takes up an oar and tries to keep the boat moving. he is not sure exactly how fast the creatures move, but they appear to be very capable swimmers and keep up with the boat at least for now. you can clearly see the shore of the island you are heading for, but it is at least a couple minutes away at your current speed.
the oozes attack! as they approach, Derym shoots fire at them. as they reach the side of the boat they reach in with goopy appendages grabbing at the passengeras of the boat.
Lara strikes one with her sword, but Alyn and Lolito both fail to hit.
the first creature slams into Alyn doing major damage. Alyn finds himself stuck, being pulled at by the monster!
luckily the second ooze misses Lara
the party may act
Global Condition: | smokeDerym HP: 47/47 - AC: 22/14/18 Status:
Lara: HP: 47/47 - AC: 17/12/15 Status:
Kragg HP:53/53 - AC: 20/10/20 Status:
Lolito HP: 60/60 - AC: 24/19/21 Status:
Alyn HP 23/58 - AC: 22/11/19 Status: grappled
Trick HP 41/41 - AC 18/11/15 Status:NPCS:
North Globster HP: ?? | AC: ?? | grappled
South Globster: HP: -11 | AC: >14
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Derym completes the spell pattern that his blade passed him, then raises his hands -- firing a fiery ray down the sword blade to the left-hand globster, and a second beam from his palm to the one on the right.
As the globsters close and attack, Derym quickly casts Vampiric Touch, then swings Antipatharian to deliver the spell.
for
Lara lets out a small eep as a glob-appendage gets awfully close to her. She backpedals a step and slashes at the thing again. "Ugh, this smell is revolting!"
"Alyn!" Lolito exclaims alarmed when the arcane fighter is grabbed by the morph creature "Let me reach them Kragg!"
Slashing through with his kama, Lolito focuses to remove the southern ooze, but if Derym and Lara defeated it already, he moves past Kragg to engage the one with Alyn.
Kragg follows Lolito's cry and moves the boat so that Lolito can get a full round of attacks on the creature.
prof sailor
If Kragg has the time to do so he blesses the party in the hopes that they are able to hit more often and bring the vile creatures down.
Derym strikes the creature closest to him. the piercing damage of his sword does no damage, but delivers a magical spell that does injure the creature, giving some extra vitality to Derym.
Lara misses the creature.
Lolito gets multiple hits in, but the creature remains.
Kragg tries to turn the boat to get people lined up for attacks, but the monsters are attached to the boat now and they rotate with the movement of the vessel. Kragg instead focuses on praying for a blessing for his party
Alyn globsters, Kragg, Lara, Lolito, Derym
Global Condition: | smokeDerym HP: 47/47 - AC: 22/14/18 Status: 12 temp HP
Lara: HP: 47/47 - AC: 17/12/15 Status:
Kragg HP:53/53 - AC: 20/10/20 Status:
Lolito HP: 60/60 - AC: 24/19/21 Status:
Alyn HP 23/58 - AC: 22/11/19 Status: grappled
Trick HP 41/41 - AC 18/11/15 Status:NPCS:
North Globster HP: -17 | AC: ?? | grappled
South Globster: HP: -52 | AC: >14
Trick flies into flank. "Why do water creature keep grabbing me."
If the confirmation hits:
Trick and Trick teamwork AOOs
Tricks normal Bite
"Guess you look tasty," Lara says with a grimace, slashing at the nearest globster again.
Alyn slashes at the creature that has him grabbed, cutting off chunks of goopy monster. unfortunately his normal tactics are not as effective against the Globster
Trick tries to help, but his bites are not at all effective against the blobby form of the globster.
the creature holding Alyn continues to grapple him
it squeezes Alyn with its tentacle-like growth, while also pushing the man to the deck of the small boat
the other one attacks Lolito this time, but the old man is just too spry
Lara slashes wildly, doing nothing.
Kragg, Lolito, Derym, Alyn, Globsters, Lara
Global Condition: | smokeDerym HP: 47/47 - AC: 22/14/18 Status: 12 temp HP
Lara: HP: 47/47 - AC: 17/12/15 Status:
Kragg HP:53/53 - AC: 20/10/20 Status:
Lolito HP: 60/60 - AC: 24/19/21 Status:
Alyn HP 8/58 - AC: 22/11/19 Status: pinned
Trick HP 41/41 - AC 18/11/15 Status:NPCS:
North Globster HP: -39 | AC: ?? | grappled
South Globster: HP: -52 | AC: >14
"Endure there a second Alyn! Do not falter!" shouts Lolito after seeing the mighty warrior constricted by the terrible embrance of the sea ooze. Swinging his kama despite the sickening stench, he tries to slash through the creature and free Alyn.
Seeing his companion grappled, Derym quickly casts grease on her cloak, making it much harder for the creature to maintain its hold.
Kragg takes a quick inventory of the miracles he prayed for and realizes there is not much that he can do to help the situation from a miracle perspective other than healing Alyn's wounds. But that would be a short-term solution till the globster was killed. Drawing his shortsword he tried to hack at the globster holding Alyn.
+1 short sword non-proficient bless for
Unfortunately, he could not maintain his balance and almost hit Alyn instead.
Alyn remembers some of the monk combat training he has been learning from Lolito.
Alyn will try to reverse the grapple.
Trick takes a Bite.
Alyn is pushed down, but doesn't panic. instead he somehow wiggles his way out from under the ooze and finds something hard enough inside the blob to hold onto and somehow ends up grappling the ooze!
Lolito comes to his aid and slashes at the monster several times, and when he is done the creature falls to pieces that slide back into the water.
the other ooze slams into Derym
Derym is hit hard and grappled. the tentacle constricts, doing even more damage.
to make things worse, some of the goop of the ooze gets in Derym's mouth. it's really really gross, and Derym can hardy breathe from the smell and taste of it. he is nauseated for one round.
the party may act
Global Condition: | smokeDerym HP: 32/47 - AC: 22/14/18 Status: grappled
Lara: HP: 47/47 - AC: 17/12/15 Status:
Kragg HP:53/53 - AC: 20/10/20 Status:
Lolito HP: 60/60 - AC: 24/19/21 Status:
Alyn HP 8/58 - AC: 22/11/19 Status:
Trick HP 41/41 - AC 18/11/15 Status:NPCS:
North Globster HP: -59 | AC: ?? | dead
South Globster: HP: -52 | AC: >14
Lara chokes down the urge to vomit at the stench coming from the globsters and whirls around to slash at the surviving globster.
"Are you ok my friend?" Lolito worries about Alyn once the ooze remains sink into the sea, but quickly he has to turn as Derym is also in trouble.
Balancing over the border of the boat, the monk reaches for the last ooze swinging his kama as fast as he can.
"I'm fine let finish this."
Alyn spread his freshly grown wings and lifts into the air. Then he flys toward the ooze. "Trick flank"
Kragg looks at the carnage rent upon the last creature and shakes his head. We go to save our fellow colonists. Yet sometimes I feel that death and destruction are our only lasting legacy instead of peaceful coexistence. I believe in Abadar’s teaching and the expansion of civilization but I wonder if we do not also go about it the wrong way. Or is this just the inevitable result when 2 creatures collide?
Kragg falls silent as he gets out his wands and begins to heal Alyn and Derym.
Derym
Alyn
Presumably with the monsters defeated, Lolito puts back his kama and sits in the boat "A long and precise thought master Kragg. Yet when Dahak sends his minions from the darkest depths of the world, there is only one way for civilization to persist and shine. To fight back" Lolito crosses his legs and puts his arms around his chest while closing his eyes "Life is a continual fight to keep up. Once you stop fighting for air, water, food and light, then, you are dead"
the second monster is sliced to ribbons and pieces slip back into the water. the boat falls silent as combat ends.
you see the island a short distance away, and it looks like smooth sailing from here.
the island map panel has been replaced.
you are coming from the SE. you don't know much at all about what you'll find here, so choose where you want to come ashore!
Derym vomits out the globster's filth -- and some of his breakfast -- nodding in thanks to Kragg as he rinses his mouth with a pull from his waterskin. He spits the last of the putrid mess out and then sighs, "Seems it didn't like getting magicked at." He then shrugs, "But between the life I stole from it and your healing, no harm done."
"This makes me reconsider our diet of sea products indeed" Lolito chuckles after Derym expressive description of the oozes stench.
Looking far through the water and to the island Lolito tries to determine a good spot to land "What was the area we saw the signals coming from? We should oar to that place first I think"
He takes one of the oars and helps propel the boat. If the place the signal came from is not easy to reach by the boat, he oars towards the closest one.
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I agree that close to the signal is a good idea. If we can beach the boat around a bend from it so we safely get to shore that might be preferable. I would hate to get ambushed again upon the water when we are trying to bluff our way onward.
Lara keeps a particularly close eye on the water as they row closer to shore, wary of any further aquatic predators.
you don't know where exactly the signal came from, but A1 is the closest part of the island and would make sense to be where the signals were being sent from.
indeed as you approach the shore you see that an ancient, square, stone tower stands in the sand at the water’s edge. The tower’s battlements show few cracks and little wear despite the construction’s apparent age, but the tower’s upper stories have crumbled away, and only a broken stump and piles of rubble remain.
in the sand near the tower you spot another small boat, very similar to the one you are currently riding in.
Derym says, "That's... interesting. Any way to figure out how long it's been here -- and who might have been aboard?" He sighs, then adds, "Though I imagine the storm will have washed away any potential answers we might have gotten."
"Yes if we could start getting a headcount of enemies. It would be small but it would be a start. There may be traces harder to wash away broken branches on a path peraps. That said I have no skills in the matter."
Lolito quickly jumps out of the boat and helps to pull it ashore into a safe place. One the group spots the other boat, he approaches and looks if there is anything left there and whether there are tracks left of people coming or going "Let me see if I can tell when people have been here..."
Afterwards, he follows the others, approaching the tower stealthily.
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Kragg looks at the tower with a critical eye trying to judge its safety and construction.
know engineering
This looks like a decent place to fall back to if we get attacked and need a place to regroup. It has decent fortifications that we can strengthen to rest and recover while watches are held.
Kragg goes with the others as he wishes to explore the tower more in depth. We just need to remove some of the rubble and this could be an excellent place to start a second colony once we rescue everyone from the aboleth.
perception aid
Lolito smiles as the Abadarian starts to plan the growth of a new town "That is probably a good idea Kragg. It will also give us a base to explore the island and fight Dahak's evil followers"
Derym nods, "Assuming there are resources here, then it makes a lot of sense to me."
Lolito examines the sand on the beach. he finds a clear trail of footprints. they look like they are not more than a day or two old. there is a mix of humanoid-sized footprints and a few larger ones.
it looks like the most recent set of prints goes to the west
the footprints look like they are form an unusually large Skum.
the other footprints look ot be made by faceless stalkers in their natural form.
the group looks over the tower from the outside. The tower’s wooden double door is all but rotten away. A steel ladder in the courtyard leads up to the tower’s battlements at the height of 20 feet
Know nature
Oncw this door is replaced then we can barricade it while having a height advantage should we be attacked.
After being shown the tracks Kragg looks at them quickly. Giant sized tracks here…I wonder if we are going to encounter more cyclops. It would be nice to find another one to keep our friend company. I suppose the best option is to follow them and see where they lead.
"Let's keep this place in mind. It is a defensible place to camp. The track are the best clue we have."
Lara looks over the footprints that Lolito found. "Huh. Well, those look like skum tracks. And those...probably our faceless stalkers," she says. "Big skum, though. Interesting that the faceless stalkers were traveling in their natural form, though. Guess they don't expect any pursuit."
"It seems a group went to the west, most probably the kidnapped colonists and the stalkers who impersonate them... but there are some other larger prints as well..." Lolito smiles at Kragg's proposal to find a cyclops partner "I think Aeroclyse will appreciate regardless of the appearance"
The man arches an eyebrow when Lara states what she things the larger footprints are "Skum? Humm... where those not a creation of the Aboleth? It makes sense they are working together with the stalkers..."
Seeing the second floor in the tower, Lolito climbs up the metallic ladder to see what is up there "Let me have a look there up before we follow the footprints..."
He performs a search of the place, and also looks around, profiting the higher height to have a better sight of the island and its more remarkable features.
Derym says, "Giant Skum? That sounds less than ideal," but then keeps looking around. "Having a safe place to fall back to seems wise. "
the group is mostly interested in following the footprints, but first Lolito heads into the tower to check it out.
before climbing the ladder ot the ruined upper floor to get a better view, Lolito sees that inside the watchtower there is a large stone table 10 feet by 10 feet. On top of the table are several days worth of rations and many papers. On the wall there is a large copper plaque with a map carved into it. the map looks like it has been heavily modified with many things scratched in on top of the original and notes in at least 2 languages.
as Lolito moves towards the ladder he hears a voice speaking in common
“Come on, you’re home. Time to drop your ridiculous disguises.”
"Let's watch this could be interesting."
Alyn stands just outside of the tower peeking in.
Lolito is getting interested in the maps and notes when the voice interrupts "Karnax?" quickly remembering Lara's translation of the stalkers' messages, Lolito turns around looking towards the voice "Don't you like my pretty face?" the man smiles wide showing his crooked teeth while being evasive about the demand "Where have the others gone?"
The wanderer's voice is loud, trying to make sure the others hear the conversation so they can join in if they wish.
Kragg keeps his voice even as he hears Lolito call out to some unknown creature. Hopefully they are able to get a jump on whomever it is and take advantage of the situation. Come down and help. I was injured by one of them.