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The Rangi-shark () attempts to take a bite out of Yellow. He manages to sink his jaws into Yellow's leg and tear out a large chunk before swimming away. Snarlfist manages to terrorize Yellow before driving his longspear into his head and out the other end.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1-2
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
Before Your Turn:
After Your Turn:
------------------
Those with ** may go
-2-
Snarlfist - AC 22, 64/68
Rangi - AC 21 (23 w/shield), 56/56 (Shark Form: AC 20, swim speed 35 ft, tmp hp: 5/5)
White
Elsha Ustosh - AC 20, 48/48
Blue
Sunshine - AC 21 (22 w/shield), 56/56
Rannarix - AC 21, 50/50; Mr Snappers AC 19, 26/34
Red (-22)
-1-
**Smell of the Pines - AC 16, 49/49; Resinosa AC 19
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<BOTTING SMELL OF THE PINES>
The leshy shambles down the gangplank and summons the power of wind and storm to punish its collective's enemies.
Electric Arc vs Red and Blue. Reflex Save DC 18.
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Red appears to avoid most of the damage but Blue doesn't and the smell of burning fish permeates across the beach as Blue boils.
White throws down his longspear and races back onto the bridge. He tries to bite Rannarix before taking a swipe at Mr Snappers.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
Before Your Turn:
After Your Turn:
------------------
Those with ** may go
Snarlfist - AC 22, 64/68
Rangi - AC 21 (23 w/shield), 56/56 (Shark Form: AC 20, swim speed 35 ft, tmp hp: 5/5)
White
**Elsha Ustosh - AC 20, 48/48
Blue (-20)
Sunshine - AC 21 (22 w/shield), 56/56
Rannarix - AC 21, 50/50; Mr Snappers AC 19, 16/34
Red (-27)
Smell of the Pines - AC 16, 49/49; Resinosa AC 19
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Elsha steps away from Mister Snappers and hurls a pair of bombs at Red and White. Unfortunately both bombs miss and only catch them with splash damage. Red is barely hanging on but is still on its feet. White gets hit by the poison but doesn't appear to be affected by it.
Blue drops his longspear and clambers onto the bridge. He immediately attempts to bite .
He then attempts to claw Mr Snappers.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
Before Your Turn:
After Your Turn:
------------------
Those with ** may go
Snarlfist - AC 22, 64/68
Rangi - AC 21 (23 w/shield), 56/56 (Shark Form: AC 20, swim speed 35 ft, tmp hp: 5/5)
White
Elsha Ustosh - AC 20, 48/48
Blue (-20)
**Sunshine - AC 21 (22 w/shield), 56/56
**Rannarix - AC 21, 43/50; Mr Snappers AC 19, 16/34
Red (-29)
Smell of the Pines - AC 16, 49/49; Resinosa AC 19
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Sunshine makes his way to Blue, getting into a flank with Rannarix. Already injured, Sunshine's chain finishes the job and Blue tumbles into the water. Rannarix and Mister Snappers attack White. Mr Snappers' stinger misses but because White appears to be attacking with abandon, Rannarix's jaws manage to remove a large chunk of White's thigh. ()
With nothing to lose, Red attempts to poke Mr Snappers with his longspear.
Appears that the blood loss is making his strikes ineffective.
Smell of the Pines darts forward and sends an electrical charge at both Red and White.
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The lightning ends Red and it drops into the water. White is staggering, but still fighting.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 3
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
Before Your Turn:
After Your Turn:
------------------
Those with ** may go
**Snarlfist - AC 22, 64/68
**Rangi - AC 21 (23 w/shield), 56/56 (Shark Form: AC 20, swim speed 35 ft, tmp hp: 5/5)
White (-25)
Elsha Ustosh - AC 20, 48/48
Sunshine - AC 21 (22 w/shield), 56/56
Rannarix - AC 21, 43/50; Mr Snappers AC 19, 16/34
Smell of the Pines - AC 16, 49/49; Resinosa AC 19
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Rangi returns to land and resumes his original form. He attempts to demoralize White but White doesn't even flinch. Snarlfist flanks White and stabs him in the belly, ending the fight.
COMBAT OVER
You also see Meleeka finish off her opponent with a fiery punch. Several Vudrani monks and other inhabitants arrive soon after, including Melipdra and Rirzik, a gnomish monk. They report that the remaining sea devils have been defeated and the settlement is safe.
One of the dockhands comes up to you. "Thanks for your timely intervention. We kinda got together and thought you deserve this. It's not much but it's all we can afford." The dockhand hands you a scrimshaw whistle made from dragon turtle ivory (worth 5gp).
Venture-Captain Melipdra hands over a pair of minor healing potions as well.
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Elsha looks around the scene for more creatures, not immediately certain the threat is over.
Is-is that it? Perhaps it was just a first wave.
After several moments of skepticism, about the time his teammates are bandaging each other up, he eases up.
He seems visibly embarrassed when they are offered the ivory whistle.
Well, w-we think anybody else should do the same in this situation, but we accept it w-with honor.
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"Only one? You’ve been bested, Meleeka," Melipdra finishes dressing a wounded porter while gesturing toward her assistant. The martial artist drops the smoldering remains of a sea devil’s torso into the sand and returns to the pier to rummage through the scattered crates. The venture-captain continues the briefing. "Like I was saying, the Society has enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with the Monastery of Unbreaking Waves. The local undines have made great strides in rebuilding the monastery since we defeated the undead responsible for the school’s disappearance.
But the tradition now faces a new threat. An incursion of sea devils is attacking the monastery. You might know them as sahuagin. I was told that the monastery needed our help, but to see a shiver of this size make it to Wavebreak Haven means the situation must already be dire. We must come to the aid of the Unbreaking Waves, now!" She gestures to the surf, where a short figure is soothing several half-horse, half-fish creatures. "Rirzik here will escort you by hippocampus to the underwater monastery, where Grandmaster Remendi is organizing the resistance."
Rirzik steps forward, smoothing his turquoise eyebrows, and takes a deep breath, "I have enough hippocampi for everyone. They were a little spooked by all the noise, but I calmed them down."
"And the Society came through with the supplies!" Meleeka interrupts, hauling several large bags across her shoulders as she rejoins the group on the beach. "There are enough potions and fins for each of you. I wish I could join you, but as my fire burns brighter on dry land, I think I’ll be better off seeing to the defense up here."
Melipdra rests a hand on her agent’s shoulder in reassurance. "There is more to a battlefield than the front lines. Support our allies on the shore however you can, and remember to not lose sight of the bigger picture. Helping our allies means helping to preserve a still largely undocumented tradition. We must not let the Unbreaking Waves become another casualty of this senseless violence."
Meleeka supplies four potions of water breathing to each of you (including any animal companions, familiars, or the like). She also hands each of you a pair of swim fins.
"Please return them when you complete your mission. Do you have any questions before you depart?"
Malentis are a rare type of sea devil, said to look exactly like aquatic elves, except for their sharp teeth. 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.
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"Malentis are a rare type of sea devil, said to look exactly like aquatic elves, except for their sharp teeth. 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."
Says Rangi sharing what he knows. with the others. He takes the water breathing potions.
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"'Hierarchical empires'," mulls Rannarix. "That's a mouthful. So, do we know what their problem is with the monks? Is it just a 'this is our water' sorta thing? You know, territory and all? Or did the monks do something to annoy these sea devils?"
"I mean, it's always 'they took the Egg of Tomfoolery and we want it back", isn't it? Or 'they don't wash behind their ears on a Tuesday like our fish-god ordered.' It's something like that, I'll bet."
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The leshy thanks while grabbing the potions. It gives some to Resinosa, apparently the creatures both need air in some way.
While Rangi gives information about the creatures, it can’t help but wonder if they would also go into frenzy at the scent of its or Resinosa’s sap.
“If it was a territorial feud, wouldn’t they have clashed with undead? Unless they were frightened of them. They might just be trying to expand their empire’s territory recently thought.” The leshy look shifts his focus from Rannarix to the Venture-Captain. “How long ago does the monastery have been freed from undead and what kind of creature was it?”
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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 explaining that the PCs are Pathfinders.
"Be calm! These are Pathfinders come to help us!" Rirzik explains.
The attitude of the guards immediately and visibly shifts as they bow and gesture you to the central building. Rirzik departs with the hippocampi, while the guard 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!"
"Our intelligence has confirmed sea devils and sharks," Remendi says. "But the exact details of other threats are difficult to confirm given the variety of sea life in the region and unpredictable cunning of our enemy."
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Elsha, realizing the going might be tougher in the water, draws his dagger and begins tacking practice stabs into the air.
----------------
In the arena, at Remendi's briefing...
Elsha nods at Rangi and Snarlfist's suggestion. S-so, they're coming that immediately, are they?
His hand instinctively moves to the handles of his dagger.
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Remendi, or a pilot fish sent by one of Zulfibha’s animal messenger spells, directs you to a supply depot on the outskirts of the monastery’s grounds.
"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!"
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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The leshy is suprised on entering the water after drinking one of the potion. It’s even more surprised at the ability to speak underwater.
After listening to the Grandmaster and his wife, it departs toward the supply depot.
–––
As the crate is about to drift, the pine tree creature moves toward it, intent on grabbing it before it gets too far.
While Resinosa goes after the crate, the leshy tries to attract the attention of the merfolk and frighten them enough to move.
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Smell of The Pines manages to grab the crates and set them aside. Elsha and Sunshine manage to untangle the sailor from the rigging while Rangi and Snarlfist treat the wounded. Snarlfist also bellows at the merfolk to get out of the way.
Off in the distance, you see the Dragon Turtle dislodge the sea devils on its back and begin biting them. You have just enough time to prepare before the enraged creature is upon you.