"Why are the sea devils attacking the monestary? And where exactly are we going?"
VC Melipdra takes a second to think before responding, "Anything I tell you will be secondhand information. You should hear it from Remendi at the Monastery, as she's certain to be more in tune with the shifting tides of war. You will meet with her"
Rirzik then steps forward at the mention of the monastery and boasts, "The Monastery of Unbreaking Waves is the greatest of Jalmeray's four Houses of Perfection. The Unbreaking Waves teaches a defensive fighting style that focuses on moving like flowing water, crashing past any obstacle that stands in your way. The school was destroyed centuries ago, but we rebuilt it with the Society's help!"
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Oh this is going to be SO MUCH FUN Katrina exclaims as she strips down to her two piece swimsuit - light green on top and dark green on the bottom. She also accepts the water breathing potions even though she already has one of her own, intending to return them if she doesn't use them but retaining them for emergencies. I've been learning to fight underwater recently so .. I guess I'm going to be trying it out. How long do these potions last anyway ... and do you have something that could turn my legs into a mermaid tail .. or at least help give maneuverability in the water?
She then straps on her short sword and dagger, relying on the Mage Armour for protection and declines the offered swim fins because she has a pair of her own for free diving (it's her hobby). While the others sort themselves out, she makes friends with the smallest hippocampus Know where I can get one of my own? she asks. She then hops on the hippocampus, carrying her swim fins to put on later.
((Is this when she can purchase the Sea Touched Elixers and a second WB potion?))
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"Sea devils are aggressive amphibious humanoids who rule hierarchical empires from Golarion’s oceans to the Plane of Water. Despite their strictly regimented culture, sea devils are known to lose control at the scent of blood and enter a violent frenzy."
Nina's ready to head out, she doesn't intend to purchase anything.
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Knab's face winces aghast at the halfling's garments, shocked that anyone could like to go underwater so much that they bring along proper attire!
But he recovers shortly, reading the room about folks wanting to move along quickly, accepting the water breathing potions ("What an oxymoron!") and also snatching one of the elixirs - giving both Son and Nina a look as he does so.
Making the best of the situation, Knab picks his clan dagger up from the beach, and uses it to slice off his tunic sleeves and trouser lengths, shedding some weight and exposing his sun-untouched calves and biceps to the air in stark contrast with the dark tan of his facial skin. He then fumbles with the fins - struggling to wrap them around his massive feet - but eventually succeeds after having to roll onto his back to obtain proper leverage. He stands once more and looks positively ridiculous.
But ready.
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"I appreciate the ocean and the gifts it can bring as well, but you are far too prepared for this exact situation." Son replies with a raised eyebrow at Katrina. He takes the swim fins and the potions to breath underwater. Sun Wukong's domain was definitely not the seas so this will definitely be a trial for the young Tian man. He just does a few stretches so he doesn't cramp while swimming.
I've been learning to fight underwater recently so .. I guess I'm going to be trying it out. How long do these potions last anyway ... and do you have something that could turn my legs into a mermaid tail .. or at least help give maneuverability in the water?
((Is this when she can purchase the Sea Touched Elixers and a second WB potion?))
Meleeka gives, for but a moment, a curious look at Katrina's eagerness. "Well, that's the spirit I guess. Now I feel less bad staying on land! The potions last an hour, and now that you mention it we do have a few potions that can give you webbed hands and feet for 10 minutes. Those are a special supply so if you have the coin (22gp) then they're yours."
Know where I can get one of my own? she asks. She then hops on the hippocampus, carrying her swim fins to put on later.
Rirzik steps in, "They tend to roam the seas but end up being highly prized since they are easily trained and highly versatile....You might have difficulties procuring one of your own though." Rirzik then heads to a hippocampus, "Come on, We can chat on the way to the Monastery."
With that, the group gathers any remaining supplies and sets out.
The sea is calm as the hippocampi diligently follow Rirzik’s lead, diving beneath the waves. The temperate waters are clear enough to see the monastery only minutes after leaving the shore, a sprawling complex of over two dozen buildings flanking a precipitous bubbling trench. Impressive gardens of colorful seaweed and coral dot the landscape in labyrinthine paths. The pristine trails are ominously deserted. All signs of life are concentrated around the tallest structure at the center of the monastery—the great hall, carved out of twisting stone accented with glowing sapphires. About fifteen minutes after leaving the shore, the hippocampi reach the doorway, where a trio of undine monks stand watch. The youngest swims before Rirzik’s hippocampus and holds out his hand. The mount bucks as the guard refuses to step aside.
Rirzik quickly defuses the tense situation by introducing the group as Pathfinders. The attitude of the guards immediately and visibly shift as they bow and gesture to the central building. Rirzik remains with the Hippocampi and one of the Guards leads you past the foyer of the school to meet with Grandmaster Remendi and her wife Zulfibha.
A sprawling elliptical arena has been converted into a makeshift war room. A swirling roil of bubbles and currents fills the center of the fighting pit, flanked by a pair of undines meditating on its churning eddies. Within the confines of the sphere float numerous colorful coral figurines in a three-dimensional map of the monastery and surrounding areas. A school of tiny, colorful fish swims into the room. The figurines on the map begin to move as the fish whisper to the undines, several of the coral lumps are forcefully ejected into a half-filled net near the ceiling.
“Pathfinders,” a stern voice calls out from the other side of the arena. Grandmaster Remendi takes only a moment to look away from her work before returning to watching the sphere. “I wish I could properly receive you, but I’m afraid we don’t have any time to spare. Excuse me.”
Remendi turns to Zulfibha with a raised brow, muttering to her wife while focusing on the movement of the coral. In response, Zulfibha raises a religious symbol of Gozreh, and a small cod zips to her shoulder. After a few short words, the fish darts out of the room. Remendi turns to an anxious merfolk on the other side of the arena. “And you can send the supplies to Afmari!”
“Excuse me,” Remendi says as the merfolk glides out of the arena. “I’ll try to make this brief. The sea devils are beginning to converge. We’ve been able to hold them off on the open waters, but our forces are stretched too thin to handle concerns away from the front lines. We need an elite team capable of responding quickly as the silt clears. Your performance at Wavebreak Haven has proven your skills.”
A cuttlefish speeds past and whispers a message directly to Remendi, breaking her train of thought as she pounds her desk with a clenched fist.
“I’ve received your first mission. Rirzik will guide you and we will keep in contact. Please, for the sake of our school and our students, help us defend the Unbreaking Waves!”
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Knab clutches tight to the sea horse shuttling along underwater at a speed he is uncomfortable with. He closes his eyes. Upon arriving, he clumsily dismounts, and sinks straight to the bottom like a stone, his physical denseness getting the upper hand. Trying out the flippers, he attempts to walk, but gains no levity flapping his feet against the "thickness" of the water. So instead, he activated his massive quadricep muscles, and manages to "force" his way through the water.
As his teammates enjoy the splendor of the monastery or speak with the undines in charge, Knab continue his experimentation underwater, just trying to move at a basic level, and defend himself. Swinging with the haft of his clan dagger, then thrusting forward, he finds the former to be heavily impeded by the water, the latter less so. He stows it and grabs his longspear now, and seeming leased with it's length, as well as some practice strikes, nods. He further uses it to help him gain needed traction on the mobility front.
Growing slowly more acclimated, if still feeling entirely out of his element, he looks around to see how his teammates (besides Katrina!) are handling their new environment!
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Kat replies to Meleeka Well ... I freedive as a hobby so I feel at home underwater as I do on land. I also do dangerous looking underwater escapes while breath holding soooo ... yeah She then shrugs but does pay the gold for the potions.
Upon submerging Kat has to remember not to hold her breath and allow the water breathing to kick in - which goes against all her training and experience, but once she's underwater, she's wide-eyed looking around at all the sights to see, and looking like she's really enjoying it.
She will also help out any of her teammates who are having difficulty, especially Knab, if he lets her.
((No applicable lores, and I will unfortunately can't post as often as I like as the internet outage is still going on and no sign as to when it will be fixed - on it's third day))
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Stubbornly but none-the-less, Knab will accept help from Katrina, especially seeing as he considers their role on this mission to be similar.
He will also forward advice she most certainly already knows, as if the help she was offering constituted a fair exchange of knowledge. Pulling his morningstar, and pointing to her shortsword "Like this (blub blub)" using a thrusting motion "Not this (blub blub)" using a bashing / slashing motion.
"You seem to be having the most fun down here (blub blub blub blub)" he manages a smile, empathizing by remembering times he had led an expedition of surface-walkers through an underground cavern in the darkness, amused somewhat at their discomfort at being unable to see beyond the lights of their torches...
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Katrina nods at the dwarf, demonstrating with her sword. You longspear should be really effective ... as well as your dagger as she demonstrates with her own.
And yeah .. I spend a lot of my time underwater as a hobby. I'm thinking of getting a place in the Puddles district of Absalom near this sea cave, an abandoned sewer system and some sunken ruins I found on one adventure
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While Greezgux tries on his swimming fins he giggles as he flops around in the sand like an awkward penguin. Seeing the rest disrobe he shrugs pullsing his thick robe off so as to swim a little better. This little more than a dirty emaciated looking goblin standing on the beach in little more than his super goblin under-roos.
Tucking his robe into his pack Greezgux takes many, many moments to convince to get on his sea 'horse'. He clings tightly around its neck with his eyes closed the entire journey. SO much so that he just floats and shakes as the Grandmasters voice is the only thing to bring him back to reality. "Mission, what? Do we have to get back on those?" He jerks a finger back at the hippocampus.
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Before setting off, Kang begs for some time to study his spellbook, realising that some of the spells he prepared might not come in that useful.
1st: Replace Grease with Air Bubble
2nd: Flaming Sphere with Summon Animal II
20 min in total
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On the hippocampus, Kang studies the hippocampus closely, running his eyes and hands over its body, and perhaps rather spooking the beast. Never know when he might need to summon one of these creatures.
He listens to the briefing with dismay. For one, he finds it rather challenging trying to keep his robes from floating up with the water currents and revealing his knobby knees. The distraction likely caused him to miss half the briefing. He pats Huli his fox who is also looking rather miserable.
"Wait, wait, wait. Do we have reinforcements? Or... uh... are we it?"
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"We are "it" (blub)" putting his hand on his hip, the other clutching his longspear.
"These "Malentis" are a rare type of sea devil (blub blub) - somewhat akin to aquatic elves except for their sharp teeth (blub blub blub)" he adds, recalling the time he met his best friend (also an elf) and, like a good friend does, went and researched a bunch about elves generally, not yet having a good context about how to interact with him outside of a tomb robbery heist - specifically a book "Elves of the Ocean and Beyond" held a brief passage about Malentis that just surfaced in his at-times-eidetic recollection.
"But I don't think they are as sharp as HIS (blub blub blub BLUB)!" indicating Greezgux.
With that, Knab hops back onto his Hippocampus (downing another Water Breathing potion no doubt) - perhaps with a boost from Katrina? - and prepares to ride - this time with his eyes open, longspear pointed out
Remendi addresses Greezgux with a sense of uneasiness, "Yes...you'll need to ride one again. Frankly, the hippocampi should be the last of your concerns. Our intelligence has confirmed sea devils and sharks, though given the variety of sea life in the region and unpredictable cunning of our enemy, the exact details of other threats are difficult to pinpoint." Remendi sighs, "Alas, your mission...The Flawless Diamond is en route to a supply depot protected by a small enclave of merfolk. A seer among them reports worrying signs. We promised to protect them, but don't forget to protect the supplies as well!"
Remendi nods at Knab, and responds to Kang, "Yes, indeed we are counting on you. Now, off you go!" Remendi turns her attention back to her frequent messengers as the group departs from the monastery.
The hippocampi speed through tall rows of kelp and reed fish farms as they race toward the settlement. Rirzik points up to a shadow on the surface, the shadow of Flawless Diamond making its way toward the rendezvous point. The guide turns his head to call out, only to freeze in place as a haunting roar sweeps across the ocean floor.
“Dragon turtle!” Rirzik screams as an enormous dragon glides over the seafloor at breakneck speed, a group of hapless sea devils clinging desperately to its rocky shell. The wounded beast charges toward the supply ship in a feral frenzy, smashing its sea devil riders against the splintering hull. Shattering the timbers of the speeding vessel, the dragon’s impact sends shock waves across the fields of kelp. The ship splits in two, cargo spills forth as the wreckage spirals out of control. Merfolk beneath the disaster can only look up in panicked awe as the debris plummets toward their home.
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Katrina listens to the briefing but part of her mind is eyeing up potential 'playmates' among the mermaids and female undine,
Malenti? she says with a worried tone to Knab on the ride out. Did I miss something? I don't recall any mention of Malenti
Upon arrival Katrina immediately goes to rescue the sailor in the rigging.
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As chaos descends onto the area, Kang collects himself quickly and directs his hippocampus to rescue the possible drowning sailor, right behind Katrina. Putting his dexterous fingers to work, he tugs and pulls at the entanglement, his quick mind quickly sieving through the knots that need to be released.
The group doesn't waste a second and immediately jumps into action. Kang untangles the rigging and Katrina retrieves the unconscious sailor; the pair making it look almost effortless. Nina's call to the merfolk was short but equally effective, immediately catching their attention.
The salvage proved to be the most difficult task with much of the supplies being spread out. The remainder of the team scrounged up the crates and secured the precious cargo.
Having addressed the immediate need, one of the merfolk looks into the waters and sees that dragon turtle is circling around. "Brace yourselves!" she shouts. She dives to the ocean floor, and the second merfolk beckons to follow.
Underwater adventuring can be quite different from that above the waves. The following is an excerpt of the
rules for aquatic combat from the Core Rulebook, as well as swim fins from the Lost Omens World Guide, for
convenience. The potions of water breathing provided by Venture-Captain Melipdra are sufficient to remove the
threat of drowning under normal circumstances, as each allows you to breathe underwater for 1 hour. If for whatever
reason you need the rules for drowning and suffocation, they are provided below.
AQUATIC COMBAT
Use these rules for battles in water or underwater.
• You’re flat-footed unless you have a swim Speed.
• You gain resistance 5 to acid and fire.
• You take a –2 circumstance penalty to melee slashing or bludgeoning attacks that pass through water.
• Ranged attacks that deal bludgeoning or slashing damage automatically miss if the attacker or target is
underwater, and piercing ranged attacks made by an underwater creature or against an underwater target
have their range increments halved.
• You can’t cast fire spells or use actions with the fire trait underwater.
• At the GM’s discretion, some ground-based actions might not work underwater or while floating.
Drowning and Suffocation
You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier. Reduce your remaining air
by 1 round at the end of each of your turns, or by 2 if you attacked or cast any spells that turn. You also lose 1 round
worth of air each time you are critically hit or critically fail a save against a damaging effect. If you speak (including
casting spells with verbal components or activating items with command components) you lose all remaining air.
When you run out of air, you fall unconscious and start suffocating. You can’t recover from being unconscious
and must attempt a DC 20 Fortitude save at the end of each of your turns. On a failure, you take 1d10 damage,
and on a critical failure, you die. On each check after the first, the DC increases by 5 and the damage by 1d10; these
increases are cumulative. Once your access to air is restored, you stop suffocating and are no longer unconscious
(unless you’re at 0 Hit Points).
SWIM FINS ITEM 0
Usage worn shoes; Bulk L
These flippers attach to your feet like tight shoes—donning or removing them requires three Interact actions. While worn, you
gain a +5-foot item bonus to the distance you move when rolling Athletics to Swim, not when using a swim Speed, and you
take a –10-foot item penalty to your Speed.
(everyone can act)
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Greezgux watches as the Dragon turtle circles back. The dark blood inside of him churns as it begins to burn. Once more his jaw extends down into a shadowy maw of jagged teeth, though this time as it does so his body grows to an immense size.
HP 58/58
AC 24
Spells (1) 4/4
Spells (2) 3/4
Spells (3) 3/4
Focus 1/2
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Knab will spend his Preparation Round drawing his Longspear and trying to Recall what he knows about Dragon Turtles, and swimming to follow Nina.
◆) Interact to Draw Longspear
◆) Recall Knowledge
◆) Swim
Any Lore Skill (*) +6 (@ Agent Dedication)
Arcana (*) +6
Crafting (*) +6
Medicine (**) +10
Nature (*) +7
Occult (*) +6
Religion (**) +9
Society (*) +6
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Anticipating an eastbound arrival through the broken ship, Knab Swims 15 feet diagonally. He smiles, growing slowly more comfortable with being underwater with the appropriate tools...
The group prepares for the onslaught but it comes sooner than anticipated. The Dragon Turtle comes into sight and rapidly moves towards Katrina. It opens it's huge mouth and bites her arm with tremendous force.
An opportunistic Sea Devil has chosen to stick around and take advantage of the mayhem. It swims towards Knab and tries to poke him, though the Sea Devil's longspear fell short
Zhao Kang
Greezgux
Katrina Caldwell -14,
Knab
Nina Jaribu
Son
Dragon Turtle
Sea Devil
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Feeling himself already beginning to sink, and seeing the blood in the water ahead, Knab swims after Katrina...
◆)
...And gaining traction with the water (surprisingly nimble like a dwarf-turtle himself!), arrives just behind her, and in time to shank the beast while further considering it's capabilities.
◆) Strike
◆) Recall Knowledge
Any Lore Skill (*) +6 (@ Agent Dedication)
Arcana (*) +6
Crafting (*) +6
Medicine (**) +10
Nature (*) +7
Occult (*) +6
Religion (**) +9
Society (*) +6
He shares anything he learns with his Team!
Knab recalls this creature as a Dragon Turtle though perhaps a juvenile one. He knows that they are immune to fire and can go into a bit of a frenzy at times.
Knab also apparently knows where to aim on the Dragon turtle and lands a perfect hit that penetrates the creature's shell.
Katrina's first strike makes contact; however her second strike hits the dragon turtle's shell.
Son moves expertly through the water, but his strike doesn't hit the Sea Devil.
Greezgux's jaws open wide for the creature's fin, but the creature is too nimble in the water to be caught so easily
The creature eye's Nina as it circles around her, but it doesn't seem to react to her. Turning it's attention back elsewhere, it soon finds someone else biting it's fin!
Kang's hippocampus's tail swings in the open ocean
The Dragon Turtle opens it's mouth and unleashes a massive burst of steam that blankets the battlefield hitting everyone/thing except for Nina and Katrina (whom it narrowly misses). . The Dragon turtle then begins to circle around.
The Sea Devil manages to stab Son with it's longspear and opens up a wound. . The Sea devil tries to stab Son two more times but misses both times.
Zhao Kang Basic Reflex Save; DC 24 for 24 fire damage (including Hippocampus)
Greezgux Basic Reflex Save; DC 24 for 24 fire damage
Katrina Caldwell -14,
Knab Basic Reflex Save; DC 24 for 24 fire damage
Nina Jaribu
Son -13, Basic Reflex Save; DC 24 for 24 fire damage, 1d4 persist bleed
Dragon Turtle -49, (it is not bloodied yet)
Sea Devil
• You’re flat-footed unless you have a swim Speed.
• You gain resistance 5 to acid and fire.
• You take a –2 circumstance penalty to melee slashing or bludgeoning attacks that pass through water.
• Ranged attacks that deal bludgeoning or slashing damage automatically miss if the attacker or target is
underwater, and piercing ranged attacks made by an underwater creature or against an underwater target
have their range increments halved.
• You can’t cast fire spells or use actions with the fire trait underwater.
• At the GM’s discretion, some ground-based actions might not work underwater or while floating.