Seadogs and Scallywags

Game Master Grymp

Chaenath decides to use another minute of flight to go up behind Gresham and hovers behind him a little distance away from the cave.

Gresham had a long post on the previous page!

@Gresham - the board remembers your rolls in order, so when you added the other rolls, it pushed down the other check and rolled for it. We'll stick with what you've done.

Box text for the cave to the right: A cave opens here beneath a screen of honeysuckle. A few large bees buzz around the fragrant blossoms.

Gresham searches as he enters the cave to the right. Roughly 15' back into the cave, he discovers a trap. A fairly deadly one, consisting of a large log suspended up at the ceiling, and ready to be triggered to release its deadliness.

Give me a Disable Device check someone?

Gresham produces his masterwork trap disabling tools and carefully disarms the trap.

Take 10 Disable Device: 10 + 19 + 1d6 ⇒ 10 + 19 + (3) = 32

He then proceeds to search again to make sure the trap is disabled, and that there are no further traps.

Take 10 searching for traps: 10 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ 10 + 17 + (2) = 29
Searching for traps: 1d20 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 17 + (4) = 23

Gresham disabled the trap safely, and finds no others.

The cave goes back another 15' and comes to an end.

Chanenath takes her time searching around the cave to see if anything is missed.

Taking 20 on Per for 30

Grymp, do I need to search the rest of the cave for traps, or did my previous rolls cover that?

"Lady Chaenath, please check to see if there are any magical auras in the area if you would be so kind."

Gresham stands guard while Chaenath searches the cave.

Cheaenaths seems to think this over for an oddly long amount of time before nodding and casting Detect Magic as a part of her searches.

Gresham watches Chaenath carefully as she considers his request.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (5) + 10 + (5) = 20

While the others perform their search, Rogar uses the moment to drink his alchemical wonders in preparation for any trouble.

Drink: Mutagen, See Invisibility, Alchemical allocation -> heroism

(and sorry for the silence, had a couple of busy days at work)

Gresham spreads his hands out and slightly away from his body, palms up. "I apologize for the imposition, Lady Chaenath. I unfortunately do not possess this ability myself. Though there is a magical lantern, called a lantern of auras which reveals magical auras to all who can see its light. It has often occurred to me that such an item would be extremely useful to one knowledgeable in the ways of spellcraft, yet bereft of the ability to detect magical auras."

None of your methods of searching discovers anything further in this cave. No auras, take 20 finds nothing, etc.

Perhaps in the left cave, which is actually the skull's right eye?

I assumed we were already in the right eye/left when looking at the skull. Oh well the other cave it is

Climbing over to the other cave Gresham will again search for traps.

Take 10 Climb: 10 + 7 = 17

Take 10 searching for traps: 10 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ 10 + 17 + (1) = 28
Searching for traps: 1d20 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + 17 + (5) = 28

Sorry, crazy week. But you guys are doing fine without me!

Alessandra waits, slightly bored, as the others go about their work. They do it well, though - it's a fine team she's assembled she's had the luck to fall in with. Shame there's nothing to kill right now, but she's sure there will be soon.

It takes only a DC 5 climb check to get to the other cave, so no problem there...

A narrow earthen opening ascends into the cliff above. The cave mouth is a tight fit behind the screening vines and roots, but it looks accessible with a little effort.

It takes a little squeezing to get in, but once in the cave opens up nicely.

Gresham searches and finds no traps, or other things of interest, until at the back of the cave...

The tunnel climbs to a point just below the island’s surface. Sunlight filters faintly through a rent in the earth above, where a gargantuan tree grows down into the rocky soil, its prodigious root system blocking any further progress ahead. The fissures and crevices in the bark of the tree’s trunk, just visible at the roof of the tunnel, vaguely resemble a wrinkled human visage with a craggy crown upon its brow, while the spread of roots below seems like the hoary growth of an ancient beard.

Searching through the roots of the tree, you find a humanoid skull tangled among the root tendrils, its hollow eye sockets directed toward the earthen floor.

You commence digging, I presume, because that's always how you find pirate treasure.

After 10' of digging you come to a layer of wooden planks. It takes some work, as the planks are 6 inches thick, but you do break through them.

The removal of the wooden planks reveals a sinkhole descending into the rock. It drops thirty feet to the still, dark surface of water below. The broken remnants of a wooden platform and stair cling to the wall, but the structures themselves have long since rotted away and dropped into the inscrutable depths.

Time to go for another swim Chaenath says while stretching and wiggling her toes. She feather falls down to the bottom. Hopefully she isn't the first one down...

If the others don't feather fall, then they will definitely beat you down, hahaha.

As Chaenath stretches, Gresham addresses her, "A moment if you will, Lady Chaenath. Do you have the ability to generate magical light? Perhaps Rogar has a sunrod?"

Gresham retrieves his swim fins from his handy haversack and begins donning them. Then secures a knotted rope to the tree roots.

Chaenath says But the dark is soo much more fun before acquiescing and casting Dancing Lights on he way down.

"Diggin' fer treasure, an' all I get is wooden planks. Ah, fer s&%#e's sake." Wiping sweat from his brow, the dwarf peers down into the darkness. "Me haven't got no sunrods - dwarves don't pay much attention to lighting ye see..."

"Alrite, ye go down first. Scream like hell if somethin' bites ye. I'll be followin' right after ye, and drop Mister Spleen down once closer t' surface." Rogar grabs the knotted rope, and prepares to climb down after Gresham.

Gresham nods at Rogar. "Might I trouble you for a potion of waterbreathing? I do not believe that Lady Chaenath's hex shall function for me again this day."

Assuming I can have one of the potions of waterbreating from Inkskin's longboat I'll drink it and then climb down after Chaenath.

Gresham taps himself with a wand before carefully replacing it.

Wand of heightened awareness.

Water Lung Hex isn't one of the ones that is only once a day. Waterbreathing is good though as it's longer duration than the minute Water Lung gives

Chaenath descends (lowered via rope I believe?) the shaft for 30' before she arrives at the surface of the water.

The light from her spell illuminates a roughly circular 10' diameter cove with no way out but up (where she came from) and straight down (beneath the water). It appears to go another 20' below her and then the passageway turns towards the southwest.

It definitely appears that something/someone climbed up from below and stole the treasure.

Nah she just jumped. She can feather fall at will though

Something from the water took the treasure and ran down a tunnel headed southwest. Or swam down the tunnel. Either way no treasure here.

Treading water with his swim fins, Gresham ducks his head under the surface to see if he can perceive anything from around the bend in the passageway while he waits for Rogar and Alessandra to join he and Chaenath in the water.

Take 10 Perception: 10 + 15 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ 10 + 15 + 2 + (1) = 28

"I concur with your conclusion, Lady Chaenath. Perhaps we should venture down this passage to see if we can recover it?"

Do let me know if splitting the party is the plan.

Alessandra swears a blue and green streak when she discovers that her treasure (their treasure, she mentally corrects herself) has been stolen. "After 'em, then!"

There will be NO splitting of the party. Alessandra has darkvision 90 ft and Rogar has darkvision 60 ft; we should be fine. Guess the rest of the party has some light sources.

Chaenath has dancing lights and Water Lung for anyone who wants it. Let's go! The witch is in the squishy middle

"Jus' a moment, before ye go," Rogar remembers at the last moment before it's time to dive. He grabs his dog eared formula book, and quickly skims through the pages until he finds what he is looking for. Then, following the formula, he mixes an extract of Touch of Sea, and drinks it.

1 minute to create the extract

And then, he follows down. Climbing slowly down the knotted rope, he keeps looking around to check there is nothing lurking in the dark. Once he's climbed down 20 feet, the dwarf stops to drop his familiar down to the water, and then resumes the descent.

"Ye see anythin' in there?"

Will gladly take Water Lung

Alessandra has the returning harpoon right?

Stealth: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Perception:

Alessandra: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
Chaenath: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
Doc: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12
Gresham: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34

Ok, so you come down the passageway, swimming the whole way, you go 20' under, follow the tunnel out, and into a large 20'x15' cavern, that is maybe 15' deep. You came in from the East, and there are passageways out the north and the west.

All of you but Doc recognize the ambush before it happens, so this is a surprise round, and everyone can act, but Doc.

Initiative:

Alessandra: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Chaenath: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Doc: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Gresham: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (18) + 0 = 18
Sahuagin: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

Ok, so the Sahuagin go first. There are three of them north of you, and three to the east, attempting a pincer action to surround you.

Four of them fire their crossbows. One at each of you:

Crossbow @Alessandra: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 121d10 ⇒ 10
Crossbow @Chaenath: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 231d10 ⇒ 6
Crossbow @Doc: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 171d10 ⇒ 9
Crossbow @Gresham: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 221d10 ⇒ 5

Crit Confirm:

Crossbow @Chaenath: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 171d10 ⇒ 6

The other two charge Gresham with their tridents

Crossbow @Gresham: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 71d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Crossbow @Gresham: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 71d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

The party is up!!

BTW I would have triggered my heightened awareness when initiative was triggered (see the +4 initiative in my description), but since we are past that I will keep the bonus to Knowledge and Perception checks. Also when rolling Perception checks for me don't forget that I get to apply inspiration for free, which is an extra 1d6 and also noted in my description.

Gresham draws his nodachi and emulates the movements of the legendary kirin.

Swift action to activate kirin style, move action to draw nodachi.

Chaenath screams as a crossbow hits her and bites deep despite her magical defenses. She hits the one who attacked her with a hex affecting saves

-2 to all saves for 9 rounds DC 18 Will Save reduces to one round

Sorry, just checking: are we still underwater at this point?

I'm pretty sure that we are still underwater

Will: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 Fail

S1 is hexed.

Action from Alessandra? And yes, you are under water.

"Wha's happenin'!? What ye yellin' about?"

Rogar swims in circles, trying to get a look around him. Something is obviously happening, but the unfortunate dwarf is clueless. He was even shot at, but his magical defences were too strong for the bolt to penetrate, so even that didn't alert Doc to the sahuagin's presence.

BTW, do the sahuagin have some kind of special crossbows? I think normal crossbows have serious penalties for shooting underwater... We just need to pick a couple of those for our own needs :)

Alessandra scowls as one of the bolts bites into her. Activating her magic Shirt of Quick Running (swimming), she moves with supernatural speed into the crossbowmen (crossbowsahaguin) and attacks them.

Swift action to get free Move action; full round attack against crossbows

Short Sword: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 2 + 1 - 2 = 26
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 1 = 5

Confirm Crit: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 2 + 1 - 2 = 25
Critical Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 1 = 8

Dagger, Off-hand attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (9) + 6 + 2 - 2 = 15
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Short Sword: 1d20 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 2 + 1 = 6
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4

All piercing damage so no modifiers for underwater

We are in a surprise round, so only a standard action unfortunately. No full round actions.

@All - As you move, be sure and roll swim checks during combat. If your swim skill is good enough to always succeed, feel free to denote such during your turns.

Alessandra moves forward and attacks S2. She hits.

S1 and S2 drop their crossbows and attack Alessandra with Claw-Claw-Bite:

S1:

Claw: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 61d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Claw: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 131d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Bite: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 211d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

S2:

Claw: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 141d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Claw: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 131d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Bite: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 81d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

S3 and S6 are on Gresham and they both use trident and bite against him...

S3:

Trident: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 201d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Bite: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (13) - 1 = 121d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

S6:

Trident: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 211d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Bite: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (7) - 1 = 61d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

S4 and S5 focus their crossbows on Doc:

S4:

Crossbow: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 151d10 ⇒ 8

S5:

Crossbow: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 101d10 ⇒ 7

The party is up again!

Swim fins give me a 10' swim speed.

Gresham pauses as he takes the measure of his opponent...

Move action for studied combat on S3.

...then braces himself against the cavern wall as he thrusts his nodachi at the sahuagin. Using the nodachi as a piercing weapon, so no penalty to hit or half damage.

Nodachi w/Combat Expertise and studied combat: 1d20 + 9 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (15) + 9 + 2 - 1 = 25 damage: 1d10 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 5 + 2 = 16

...and with a flourish twists the blade...

[dice=Studied strike damage]1d6[/dice]

...as he takes a moment to familiarize himself with this particular sahuagin.

Swift action for kirin style to study S3, or if the attack dropped S3 then I'll study S6.

Knowledge (nature) DC 15 + S3's or S6's CR: 1d20 + 14 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 14 + (3) = 18

Gresham's attack kills S3.

Swim: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Alessandra has no trouble manoeuvring underwater; she lashes out with short sword and dagger at the things in front of her. If she can see them, she can kill them...

Short sword: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Short sword: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Dagger: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Chaenath casts Cause Fear on S1

DC 16 Will to resist

Touch of sea gives Rogar swim speed

"Oh, sahuagin. Again. Ye'r right, they has got somethin' against us."

Being a seabeard, Rogar is pretty comfortable in water (for a dwarf that is). But fighting underwater really isn't his forte. Without his bombs, it's rather questionable how much good he can do. As a dwarf, at least he can take a quite a beating on behalf of the others. Thus, Rogar swims bravely onwards, drawing his dagger at the same time. He chooses one sahuagin, and stabs it with the dagger.
Dagger: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 4 + 2 = 20
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

And Mr. Spleen follows it's master, swimming along, and attacking the same opponent.
Claw: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10 don't think this hits
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Grab: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

Alessandra's first swing with her sword drops S2, and her second damages S1. Her dagger misses.

Will: 1d20 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 4 - 2 = 4Fail

S1 fails the will save vs fear.

Doc swims up and attacks S4 successfully.

S1 goes to flee, and Alessandra takes her AOO:

Short sword: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 111d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 Miss

S4 drops his crossbow and swims up and attacks Doc with trident:

Trident: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 191d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

S5 drops his crossbow and attacks Doc with trident:

S6 attempts trident and bite on Gresham

Trident: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 51d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Bite: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 11d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

The party is up!

Chaenath hexes S5 AC and cackles

-2 to AC for 10 rounds DC 18 Will Save reduces to two

Gresham's eyes meet his new opponent's briefly move action for studied combat. Then he doubles up, kicking the sahuagin off of his nodachi and uses the thrust to propel himself toward the other, sword-point first.

Nodachi w/Combat Expertise and studied combat vs. S6: 1d20 + 9 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (11) + 9 + 2 - 1 = 21 damage: 1d10 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 5 + 2 = 12

As his sword drives home he twists the blade free, inflicting a bit of extra damage with a studied strike. 1d6 ⇒ 3

15 total damage to S6. If that kills S6 I'll use my swim fins to swim five feet toward one of the sahuagin threatening Doc.

Easily maintaining her poise underwater despite the unfamiliar nature of it all, Alessandra lashes out at the remaining thing facing her.

Swim: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Short Sword: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Short Sword: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Dagger: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4