Maintaining a swimming order in three-dimensional water is a bit more complicated than keeping in marching order on land, but The FOs do their best and begin to descend. Do they wish to modify their order given the three-dimensional and wide-open nature of the environment?
Unless they specify otherwise, I'll assume a roughly cubic swimming order, with the front rank composed of Derrik and Koran on top, about 10 ft apart from each other, and about 10 ft above Krar and Dwayne-gator, who are about 10 ft apart as well; the second rank composed of Kate and Grimm on top, 10 ft apart and 10 ft above Radsworth on his giant sea horse steed and fiendish shark summons, 10 ft apart from Mephos.
Suddenly among her prey, without displacing water or otherwise giving any forewarning of her presence, Nessie strikes, her jaws opened wide to reveal dagger-like teeth.... She plows into Radsworth's fiendish shark!
Bite with Power Attack rips into shark-flesh, spilling a cloud of crimson blood into the water!
Initiative, please....
Initiative
Initiative
Initiative
After Derrik:
This is f&@&in' dope, I'm a Dwaynegator! I can't wait to chomp on.... Whoah! Wazzat!? Whelp, here's your chance, Dwaynegator! Go chomp you some Nessie-burgers! Heheheh!
Dwaynegator whips around and darts toward Nessie, jaws opening for a bite.... ....
Unaccustomed to his new shape, Dwaynegator chomps down only on water, swallowing a bellyful of lakewater....
Round 1! Ding! Ding!
Derrik!
D-gator! (Finito)
Nessie!
Mephos!
Koran!
Krar!
Kate!
TBD: Grimm and Radsworth! (And Radsworth's demon-shark!)
Eeekenheimers, mein schnitzels!
After Derrik:
Having had a taste of demon-shark, Nessie hungers for more....
Bite shreds shark-flesh, spilling more crimson blood into the already red water....
Tail slap blasts what's left of the demon-shark back to Hell's oceans....
Derrik notes the Ferocity of which Nessie rips into the fiendish Shark that accompanied them, glad it was the creature rather than another ally. Unfortunately The intelligent creature known as the Loch Ness Monster attacked the back lane and he could not get close enough to be a threat quite yet.. he would have to position himself next time.. and ready himself to weather the beast's attacks. Swimming up and around the reticulated steel tail from the mask and further aid from Radsworth alowing him to speed through the water much faster than he could ever swim. His body seeming to glow a bright golden light, almost as though a beacon, in his hand a skinning knife due to Dawnbringer's cumbersome use underwater, as he approaches.
Derrik appears some amalgamation of Steel man and Sea Serpent.. Shining in a Mocking manner.
Radsworth spares a moment of gratitude for his sea-food summon. If that had been him ... he shuddered. The benefits of an army of quasi-real creatures from another plane were many.
He watches the spike covered Derrik swim past him towards the sea-monster, and couldn't help but think of a fishing lure. Wishing he had a way to communicate with the others, he decides that in this case, they quicker they find the sword, the better. He directs his Sea Horse downwards further into the water.
"Derrik won't like this either."
Invoking the gutteral syllables of Necromancy, Rad reaches out and places his hand on the back of the noble paladins armor. Black energies surround him, fortifying his life.
Wishing those staying to fight well, Rad pushes down further into the depths, hoping to find the sword or some trace of the lady before they all became a meal for the Ancient Guardian.
Down into the depths dives Radsworth on his giant sea horse steed....
The giant sea horse seems happy to have been summoned after so many centuries, perhaps.... It wags its finned tail and looks back at Radsworth with what might be gratitude in its large, bulbous eyes....
Oh yeah, you see her now....
Upon seeing the monster, Grimm yells out in Aquan, We are only trying to help Arthur retrieve Excalibur to stand against evil like Morgan the fey.
Upon seeing the monster, Grimm yells out in Aquan, We are only trying to help Arthur retrieve Excalibur to stand against evil like Morgan the fey.
[Dice=Diplomacy] 1d20+5
The Loch Ness Monster cocks its head as Grimm shouts at it in a familiar tongue.... It blinks, baring its dagger-like teeth in what might be a threat display or a smile....
Radsworth descends into the cool green gloom, the giant sea horse plunging them deeper and deeper with every flexion of its powerful finned tail....
As he descends past 160 ft depth, the sunlight from above gives way to a strange, unearthly, rainbow glow from below....
A globe of shimmering, multicolored light rests on the loch bed amid tall water-weeds and coral formations....
Drawing nearer to this rainbow-hued globe of light, Radsworth discerns that it is approximately 20 ft in diameter, and that a fantastic bed composed of a giant oyster shell filled with silken pillows and soft furs lies at its center....
And lying on the bed in apparent sleep or perfectly-preserved death is a beautiful woman clad in a glittering hauberk of mail, with a shining longsword resting point-down along her armored body, her mailed hands folded in repose over the sword's jeweled crossbar.... The sword seems almost to vibrate with positive energy, and gives off a pearly luminescence like moonlight....
Mephos!
Koran!
Krar!
Kate!
Eeeek! Eeeeek!
Mephos casts enlarge person on Koran.
After Mephos, Koran, and Krar:
Kate swims over to Nessie and touches the ancient water orm with a gentle hand, casting remove curse....
Caster check
.... But Kate's modest power is no match for the potent enchantments of Morgan the Fey! Nessie remains cursed to attack those who approach the Sword of Kings....
Koran swims forward and bites at nessie,
'
Koran swims forward and bites at nessie,
[dice=attack]1d20+12[dice=damage]1d8+8
[dice=confirm?]1d20+12[dice=damage]1d8+8'
I don't do any home brew rules for double 20s, its just a well placed bite on Nessie's throat....
Koran swims forward and bites at nessie
Koran's teeth sink into Nessie's serpentine neck, drawing a cloud of Nessie's own blood into the red water....
Radsworth pats the Sea-Horse and ambles forward towards The Lady. He looks over her, enchanted. This was something he had not expected. He always assumed she just sort of "willed" the sword into existence.
"Forgive me my lady. It seems criminal to touch such a beautiful creature without her expressed permission, but Arthur needs this weapon now as much as he ever has I suppose. He also may or may not have been eaten by the Loch Ness Monster which we promised not to kill if we could avoid it, so I don't have a lot of time. Also, I'm raising a couple of kids if your single and interested, it's been a pretty lonely life since the world ended."
He reaches out and tries to wrest the sword from her grasp, very aware this could end very badly.
Attack of opportunity on Koran as he swims in to bite Nessie....
Nessie's jaws snap down on Koran, dealing 37 piercing damage!
Radsworth pats the Sea-Horse and ambles forward towards The Lady. He looks over her, enchanted. This was something he had not expected. He always assumed she just sort of "willed" the sword into existence.
"Forgive me my lady. It seems criminal to touch such a beautiful creature without her expressed permission, but Arthur needs this weapon now as much as he ever has I suppose. He also may or may not have been eaten by the Loch Ness Monster which we promised not to kill if we could avoid it, so I don't have a lot of time. Also, I'm raising a couple of kids if your single and interested, it's been a pretty lonely life since the world ended."
He reaches out and tries to wrest the sword from her grasp, very aware this could end very badly.
As Radsworth approaches the rainbow-hued globe of light surrounding the slumbering Lady of the Lake, he can attempt a DC 24 Spellcraft check to recognize that he is about to try to pass through a prismatic sphere....
For a brief moment, Radsworth hesitates. Unfamiliar with the higher levels of magic however, he continues with his decided action.
Of course! Well done on the RP, btw....
[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+13
For a brief moment, Radsworth hesitates. Unfamiliar with the higher levels of magic however, he continues with his decided action.
Unaware of the dire peril posed by the prismatic sphere, Radsworth urges the giant sea horse forward.... But it will not budge!
The giant sea horse backtracks in the water deftly, shaking its head in refusal when Radsworth tries to spur him on into the multicolored doom....
When the sea-horse refuses, Radsworth finally becomes suspicious of the sphere.
"Well, damn."
Frustrated, Radsworth negotiates his steed in a circle around the sphere, looking for anyway of bypassing the barrier. He even resorts to shouting at the sleeping lady. If he is unable to deduce a way to rouse The Lady, , he will return to the battle and shout to the others about what he has found.
After snapping down on Koran, and he's still in one piece, Nessie's impressed. When Koran chomps her back, Nessie suddenly goes rigid for a second, the contractions of her massive musculature creating a wave in the loch....
She emits a strange purring sound, a warbling cry that almost sounds....amorous....
Dwaynegator hears the strange purring of the ancient water orm, and sees Koran chewing on its neck....
I'll be damned! I think that b+#~@ is in love with Koran! He must 'a bit her where she likes it! Haha!
He holds his actions....
seeing his attack have more of a soothing effect than a damaging one koran slowly releases his jaws while gesturing for the party to get the sword.
The massive water orm loops its great serpentine neck around Koran and nuzzles him with her fringed snout, cooing and purring, and vibrating the water around her....
She begins to rock gently in the water as if trying to dance with her newfound paramour....
While Koran distracts Nessie, the other heroes descend deeper into the cold, green gloom....
At around 160 ft, the glowing rainbow sphere becomes visible, and those descending meet Radsworth on his way up to fetch them on his giant sea horse steed....
Reunited, The FOs advance toward the perilous prismatic sphere....
As soon as Derrik comes within 20 ft of the globe of prismatic light, the colors suddenly flash and shift, becoming a soft pearly luminescence of white light, revealing a beautiful woman in glittering, silvery mail, hands folded over the crossguard of a pearlescent longsword, its hilt and crossguard glittering with a rainbow of gems....
The beautiful woman opens her eyes, and looks at Derrik. Her eyes are aquamarine, and seem to see more than just Derrik's physical form as she gazes at him.
You are Arthur reborn. Here is Excalibur, your sword.... I have kept it safe for you all these long centuries, here in my bed in the loch.... Take it, Arthur.... And with it, free mankind from darkness once more.... As you did in the days of Camelot....
The Lady of the Lake extends the sword, pommel first, toward Derrik....
Once more, feel in your hands the hilt of Excalibur.... Sword of Kings....
The Lady of the Lake gives Derrik Excalibur, a +5 vorpal holy bane vs evil outsiders longsword....
Each PC receives 2,000 XP for successfully retrieving Excalibur!
Derrik is wary at Nessie's sudden interest in Koran.. but when it seems.. sincere he decides it best to not waste the moment. An image of Jewels appearing in his mind for comparison
As he approaches the globe its changing lights soothe him somehow and he feels relaxed... though the light parts and a feeling of overbearing responsibility drops upon him as he lays eyes upon the Lady. He draws closer to her, marveling at the beauty of again, ANOTHER woman of mystical influence. And the Sword.. Excalibur clenched in her hands.. He reaches over the woman stopping short, to fall to one knee underwater.
" Great Lady of the Lake.. The time of Evil is upon us once more.. And Great Hero's must be made to combat this evil, An Evil more ancient than the Earth itself. I humbly ask that I, Derrik Stonesmith, The Stubborn, Member of the Fierce Ones, and... Reincarnation of the Once Famous King Arthur, Use this Holy Blade known as Excalibur with your Grace. "
Derrik's hand still hovers above the Lady's before grasping it the might of its power flowing through him and shining greater than any light he had seen since. It's familiarity almost beyond what he could feel with Dawnbringer..
Go forth, noble Arthur.... And free our world from darkness and oppression.... Go with the grace and blessing of The Lady of the Lake....
The ghaele eladrin smiles at Arthur, and her smile is like gazing at the sun....
As the other FO's swim up with the sword Koran releases himself from the enormous monster and swims back up to the surface with the others, scratching her warmly under the chin and nipping her nose with his sharp teeth before leaving.