Even though you have only been here for such a short time, you have already heard from multiple of the villagers about the drought that has stricken the Slithering Coast for the last month and have experienced the oppressive heat firsthand. On this second day here, the sky is cloudless and the color of iron, promising another scorching day. The jungle wilts under the unrelenting sun, and the river is shallow, murky, and sluggish, with wide swaths of cracked mud exposed along its banks.
To pass the time, some of Rickety’s off-duty workers invite you to join in a game of ninepins in the shade of the boathouse and share a small cask of beer that’s been cooling in the waters of the estuary.
Warren smiles at the invitation. He has been creating water at times for the villagers the previous day. "Nine pins? Should be fun to learn.
Ardym, let's play!! Bring Rob."
Warren tells the captain about the game, but finds out he already was invited. "I will keep making friends in town to get us more crew. Tell me when we have enough, but you know, there will be boarding actions."
Warren, having been impressed, is very careful to make his overtures to join completely voluntary.
Being around the workers, Earthsong joins. "I've never played, so if someone is willing to teach me I'll try." The druidess tells them with a game smile.
Ardym held one hand up over his eyes, "Ninepins? Now that's something I can do." In truth, he had not played the game in ages but what else was there to do? The others were slowly adding names to the crew list and Ardym? Well, he was doing his best to support them. He had never really been a "people person" anyhow.
"It's pretty simple," he said to Earthsong, "I'm sure you'll pick it up quick."
"Then teach me." The druidess, Ardym notes, does move a bit stiffly that day, as compared to the night before.
"Fair enough," he begins while heading toward the boathouse. "Now, these are just the rules that my father taught me. They may have different rules here. But, eight pins are set up in a diamond shape with one pin, the ninth, in the middle. Everyone gets to throw two balls to knock over the pins. However many you knock over is your score. If you get all nine, you get ten points. But if you manage to knock over all but the ninth, middle, pin you get twelve points."
Ardym paused to look for understanding in the others before continuing.
"If you're playing teams, there will be two set of pins set up. One team for each lane of pins. Once both teams are done, we switch lanes and do it again. And total up the entire team's score. Team with the most points wins."
As they approach the beach, Warren spins a magic stone around his head and consults Besmara as his eyes glaze over. "Is joining this game something good or bad?"
Auto Sucess. If the augury succeeds, you get one of four results:
Weal (if the action will probably bring good results).
Woe (for bad results).
Weal and woe (for both).
Nothing (for actions that don’t have especially good or bad results).
If the spell fails, you get the “nothing” result. A cleric who gets the “nothing” result has no way to tell whether it was the consequence of a failed or successful augury.
The augury can see into the future only about half an hour, so anything that might happen after that does not affect the result. Thus, the result might not take into account the long-term consequences of a contemplated action. All auguries cast by the same person about the same topic use the same die result as the first casting.
"I see. Simple enough. On a large ship, one could even set this up on deck." Earthsong notes.
Captain Tobias declines to play, but sits nearby to watch. A small smile escapes the young captain to see his crew playing well.
You arrive at the boathouse to find a half-dozen of the locals setting up the game in the shade and another pair pulling on the rope where the keg of beer has been cooling in the water of the river overnight. This keg will be the refreshments for the game.
However, the rope jerks suddenly and one man is pulled into the water with a scream while the woman has the palms of her hands burned bloody where she was holding the line when it was wrenched away by whatever is in the water. The screams and thrashing in the water indicate the man who fell into the water 5 feet below is not alone. The water itself is 20 feet deep here.
Warren grabs his holy symbol and chants while pointing to the water.
"I see. Simple enough. On a large ship, one could even set this up on deck." Earthsong notes.
“Given the waters are calm enough, yeah,” Ardym replied as he extended his arm to give Monkey a bridge to a barrel where she could sit and watch the game.
At the sudden commotion in the water, Ardym gripped his spear and dove into the water.
"I had so hoped not to have to fight in the water for a few days...." A mischievous smile flashes across the elf woman's face, but she quickly breaks out her bow, nocks an arrow, and waits for a tarrget to present itself.
"Besmara, dammit!" Captain Tobias rushes from his spot to draw his rapier and jump into the waters to save the unfortunate soul.
Ardym is first to get into the river and sees the man but nothing else in the water near him. However, thanks to his water sense, can sense something next to the man.
Earthsong has arrow ready but sees no enemy.
Warren summons.
Not having wanted to play, Tobias is a little away from the water than the rest but rushes forward to help.
Rosanne is a little late to the game .
The druidess moves towards the water, bow still ready, trying to spot whatever is in the water with Ardym.
Warren completed his ritual, and the water churned as four dolphins found themselves in the waters near the threat and Warren directs them to threat. They assume the creature is evil and smite the threat. They swim in a graceful 80 foot arc to surround the creature and attack.
The dolpins use a sophisticated echo system to locate their foe.
Some creatures possess blindsight, the extraordinary ability to use a non-visual sense (or a combination senses) to operate effectively without vision. Such senses may include sensitivity to vibrations, acute scent, keen hearing, or echolocation. This makes invisibility and concealment (even magical darkness) irrelevant to the creature (though it still can’t see ethereal creatures). This ability operates out to a range specified in the creature description.
Blindsight never allows a creature to distinguish color or visual contrast. A creature cannot read with blindsight.
Blindsight does not subject a creature to gaze attacks (even though darkvision does).
Blinding attacks do not penalize creatures that use blindsight.
Deafening attacks thwart blindsight if it relies on hearing.
Blindsight works underwater but not in a vacuum.
Blindsight negates displacement and blur effects.
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., blindsight 120ft; Perception +9
DEFENSE
AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 11 [15] (2d8+2) [2d8+6]
Fort +4 [+6], Ref +5, Will +1; SR 5
Celestial – Resist acid, cold, and electricity 5
Fiendish – Resist cold and fire 5
OFFENSE
Speed swim 80 ft.
Melee slam +3 [+5] (1d4+1 [1d4+3])
Special Attacks smite evil/good
STATISTICS
Str 12 [16], Dex 15, Con 13 [17], Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB +2 [+4]; CMD 14 [16]
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Perception +9, Swim +13; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Smite evil/good
1/day as a swift action (adds Cha bonus (+0) to attack rolls and damage bonus equal to HD (+2) against evil/good foes; smite persists until target is dead or the celestial/fiendish creature rests).
Augment Summoning: Items in brackets [] represent the spell being cast by a character with the Augment Summoning feat. Augment Summoning grants each creature you conjure with any summon spell a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Constitution for the duration of the spell that summoned it.
Warren begins the identical summoning ritual again.
"As I can see and pierce the veil, so can Besmara's sea creatures that rescue drowned humans and defend her faithful. Behold the power of the Queen of the Seas!!"
You wanted to help the man but you also rolled an attack? You can't do both after using a move action to get in the water.[/ooc]
At the sudden appearance of the dolphins, Ardym readjusted himself and took a stab at the hidden creature.
Round 2
Tobias makes a running jump into the water, as close to the aquatic enemy.
The man tries to swim away with Ardym's help and the other workers on the dock rush to the edge. They cannot reach down far enough to grab him and pull him out. The woman is in pain from her rope-burned hands and is unable to help.
Dolphins surround the invisible creature, able to sense it they attack. One of them is able to hit the creature.
The creature finally reveals itself by attacking the dolphin that hit it and Ardym for helping its prey get away. It looks like the creature is multiplied, 7 images of it all mirroring the same actions.
Maurine arrives.
Warren advances again as he adds two more dolphins to the fight. One of the dolphins yelps in pain. Warren calls out to Besmara and invokes a blessing on the host arrayed against the creature after advancing to the edge of the dock.
"Besmara's creatures don't see to attack, they can sense your presence."
The dolphins join in a circle to continue the attack, not choosing to use any sight. They add a celestial energy to their attacks.
Seeing that the creature was fully surrounded, Ardym turned his attention to the man in the water.
"Let's get ya outta here, huh?"
Earthsong shakes her head. "It's a chaotic mess down there. Shark feeding frenzies look less messy." She turns to the woman with the rope burns. "Let me see those hands of yours." The druidess starts healing the injured woman.
Seeing something is amiss Maurine rushed down the dock stopping next to Warren. She quickly realized what was going on and decided, I’m not getting in that water. Instead she begins to inspire her comrades with a tale of blood and glory.
Round 3
Tobias attempts to stab the unknown creature.
Dolphin 3 and 4 manage to hit the snake-like creature.
The villager gets a handhold and starts climbing out of the water with Ardym's help.
The woman's rope burns are completely healed by Earthsong.
Maurine arrived and begins inspiring.
The creature attacks dolphin 4 as retribution for hurting it.
One of the dolphins is weakened from the poisonous bite.
The villagers nearby call out, "Naga! Water Naga!"
Warren yells to the creature:
"Naga, surrender now before anyone is killed!"
The dolphins continue to attack in a pack
Warren begins another summoning ritual
With the man out of the water, Ardym returned his focus to the Naga. And saw exactly how trapped the creature was.
Don't just show off. Prove you can be a team player, he thought.
"Show us what you can do, Cap'n!"
Earthsong grabs the man who was pulled in. "Are you hurt?" She asks quickly. Then she hears the call of 'water naga'.
"Wonderful. An aberration I think? Kill it and be done with it, unless it has treasure I suppose."
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Round 4
Tobias was surprised by the encouragement from his new untested crewmate, but accepted it, nonetheless.
The aasimar captain hones his blade deep into the fleshy naga, sinking his rapier through the aberration!
Warren yelled ”Close your eyes and fight blind like Besmara’s creatures!”
Maurine continued her rousing oratory cheering her captain onward.
Tobias seems to hit the Naga but only pops one of the images away.
The dolphins with their blindsight do not have this problem and hurt the naga several more times.
"I'm ok. That thing shouldn't be here. We have an agreement." The man says to Earthsong as she helps him out.
Dolphin 1 is wounded and poisoned. Dolphin 4 ceases to exist on the material plane. The Naga doesn't seem to react to Warren's shout to give up.
Warren shouts in pain as the dolphin is taken out of the fight.
Four more dolphins enter the fray.
The poison continues to effect the dolphins, and two of the dolphins are barely holding onto life.
Maurine watched the dolphin show as she encouraged her teammates onward.
The dolphins attack, two of them desperately as they fight the naga and poison with the last of their strength.
The two injured dolphins disengage to let two fresh dolphins attack
The last dolphin moves to block any obvious retreat routes.
Warren summons again, calling in more dolpins for the final flurry,
With so many bodies in the water, Ardym opted to assist the Captain some more.
Round 5
Captain Tobias continues his attack, for the sake of his crew.
"Agreement? Tell me about it, quickly, before anyone gets seriously injured." The druidess asks, watching the waters foam as the combatants thrash about.
"We stay on the coast. They stay up river. Separate territories were supposed to keep the peace." The man tells Earthsong briefly.
Dolphin 2 disappears and dolphin 1 retreats. The rest of the dolphins fail to wound the Naga this round.
Another of the naga's images pops from the Captain's attack.
The Naga bites and tail slaps dolphin 10.
The attacked dolphin succumbs to the poison, bringing the dolphins knocked out or dead total to 4.
3 more dolphins appear at Warren's command, the six surrounding the dolphin continue to bite.
After a graceful '5 foot flipper back' the others will attempt to join in.
Warren's dolphins had come up with an agreement with the two fighters in the water to share the limited attack room and kept six around the creature at all time.
"Before anyone gets seriously hurt?? It is a little late for that. Besmara's creatures have paid the blood price!! Ardym, can you smack some images too??"
Warren performs his last communal summoning ritual of dolphins for the day invoking more flippered fury.
Round 6
Captain Tobias continues his assault on the water naga and his images.
"Unless the dolphins are called, no they aren't." The druidess argues.
"Naga! You're surrounded! Can we try to talk this out?" Earthsong shouts down into the water.
Maureen still reluctant to jump into the water continued to uplift her companions with a rousing oratory.
This thing is all but done for, Ardym thought. With a splash and a kick Ardym was few feet below the surface and he was positioned to strike from below.
Warren realized with a facepalm that Lady Maurine's inspiration made his bless somewhat ineffective.
We better not Besmara find this out, wait she is a goddess, she may know anyway.
The dolphins hurt the naga some more. It ignores the call from Earthsong.
It is quite hurt now and decides to flee, retreating through all the dolphins upriver.