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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9499705" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 65: SEA CRUISEPC Roster:Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 16             Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 16             Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 16             Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 16NPC Roster:Orchid, elf druid 16Game Session Date: 30 October 2024 - - -Alistair cast a teleport spell and returned the group to Greyhawk City, where they once again spent the night at his older brother Atherton's villa.  And that turned out to have been excellent timing, for the elder Pastlethwaite had a request to make of his younger brother and his band of adventurers."I have lost two vessels recently," he admitted.  "Both on the nights of the full moon.  They were making their rounds on the Nyr Dyv, and disappeared - they never showed up at their next port of call, nor has anyone seen them since.  I fear they were beset by pirates, or worse."  He looked over at Alistair.  "I would be eternally grateful if you and your friends would agree to accompany me on the next merchant vessel I send out, along the same route, to the city of Admundfort.  The trip will take about seven days, and it will be a full moon the night of the fourth day out.  I intend to find out what's been attacking my ships, and I would feel much safer with a band of Trained Professional Adventurers along for the ride.""By all means," agreed Alistair at once; it was a different feeling, having his older brother, to whom he had looked up to his entire life, seeking something from him - actually acknowledging his worthiness in the profession he had taken up once his latent sorcerous abilities started manifesting.  "That is, I at least...""We would all be happy to assist you in your endeavor," assured Harlan, receiving nods from both elves and a "What, for free?" look of shocked surprise from Ageratum.  But the next day found them all boarding the Lucky Dave, a multidecked sailing vessel loaded up with cargo for trade.  The ship was manned by a crew of 30, all humans, and Atherton himself would be captaining the vessel.  He showed the adventurers to the bunkroom he'd reserved for their shared use, knowing full well they'd actually be sleeping inside the extradimensional confines of their magic dwelling; Alistair had kept him appraised of their adventuring tricks of the trade.  Shushitan had been left behind with Atherton's wife Julie and the twins, where he was more than happy to take on the temporary status of "borrowed family pet."The first few days on the massive lake were rather boring, as the crew handled everything needed for the smooth running of the ship and the heroes mostly just needed to stay out of the way.  Alistair was glad to discover the Lucky Dave, a much larger ship than the one they'd sailed on to go rescue Blorkane Trotter, didn't rock about as much, and as a result he did not suffer the seasickness he'd experienced on the smaller vessel.The group had decided they needed to have one of their number on guard at all times, and split up the night rotation into five two-hour shifts, filled by Alistair, Ambrose, Chaevaris (who offered to do two shifts in a row, covering four hours, given her much reduced need for time spent in reverie), and then Ageratum.  When not on guard duty, the heroes slept in their extradimensional dwelling, armed and armored as needed so they could rapidly respond to any danger.Each morning, Alistair cast his mage armor spell as well as an unseen servant, allowing Ogilvy to do any fetching he might need.  Orchid habitually wildshaped into an octopus and leapt overboard, clinging to the front of the vessel, underwater, and casting a commune with nature spell, which provided her with the following information about the local environment:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There were no powerful unnatural creatures within 16 miles of the Lucky Dave</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There were no other ships within 16 miles</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The general animal population within 16 miles included fish and aquatic elves in underwater caves</li> </ul>The druid then returned to the ship and cast a water breathing spell upon the five heroes.On the fourth day - with a full moon scheduled for that night - Ageratum was on the last shift of the night detail, in the two-hour block before dawn.  She was up in the crow's nest, which she shared with a crewman who was unaware of her presence, given she had walked up the mast using her cloak of arachnida's spider climb function and remained unseen because of her bracelet of greater invisibility.  It had been a boring shift thus far - this whole trip had been boring, as far as the little halfling was concerned - and she was looking forward to having the rest of her friends up and about in a few hours, when a little bit of activity occurred: a small flock of five seabirds flew towards the ship and four of them landed on the deck, while the fifth circled the crow's nest.  They seemed a bit big for sea gulls, Ageratum thought to herself, before realizing they were albatrosses.  But an albatross wasn't anything to worry about, although it was kind of weird how that one just kept circling, circling, circling...it kind of reminded the halfling of when they'd send Ambrose on reconnaissance duty, keeping an eye out for danger while the TPA went about their business.  Was it possible the albatross was some kind of familiar?But then, before she was able to follow that thought, something else caught her attention: what had first appeared to be nothing more than a reflection of the moon upon the waters of the Nyr Dyv coalesced into something else entirely: the broad shell of a dragon turtle surfacing from below.  And it wasn't alone, for on its shell were perched four aquatic elves, raising their longbows up at the railing of the ship to shoot anyone who might peer over the edge."Dragon turtle off the starboard bow!" called the sailor in the crow's nest to those below, giving a warning to what Ageratum had seen.  The massive turtle was swimming rapidly forward, and the impact just below the water-line shook the ship.  But Ageratum knew her immediate role was to go fetch the others, so she used her daily web spell from her magical cloak and sent a strand of webbing from the bottom of basket of the crow's nest to the deck below, then slid down it and raced to the doors at the back of the ship.  Bursting through them, she ran into the berth assigned to the adventurers, opened the extradimensional door hanging on the wall there, and called to the others that they were under attack.  Behind her, another crewman had come running into the back section of the ship to warn Atherton of the same, while the two other crewmen on the mid-deck ran over to the weapons locker at the ship's front to fetch their swords.And each time the dragon turtle rammed the ship, the impact could be felt by those aboard (but not, unfortunately, by those inside an extradimensional dwelling not even on the same plane of existence).All at once, the four albatrosses on deck changed shape into aquatic elves armed with tridents and went after the crewmen hastily arming themselves.  "Boarders!" came the cry from the crow's nest.  But his warning was too late for one of the newly-armed sailors, who took a three-pronged trident to the chest before he could block the attack with his sword; his lifeless body was left to drop to the deck as the elf turned to find his next victim.Harlan was the first of the heroes to run out onto the mid-deck, his Starblade out and ready for combat.  But the albatross circling above cast a flame strike upon him as soon as he appeared, bathing him in fire from above.  Then there was another impact from the side of the ship as the dragon turtle resumed his attacks, trying to smash a hole into the wooden vessel and cause it to sink.  It seemed the first part of Atherton's plan had succeeded, in that they now presumably knew what had happened to his other two vessels - now the focus would need to be to ensure it didn't happen a third time!The circling albatross called down another spell upon Harlan, bathing him in a blast of electricity from a call lightning storm spell.  But then a door on the deck slammed open and another six sailors came running from belowdecks; they'd heard the ramming and were here to fight off any intruders.  Armed with swords, they made a rush for the aquatic elf fighters on board.Orchid ran through the doors onto the mid-deck, saw the dragon turtle and its four passengers off to the right (the turtle had backed up a distance in preparation for another ramming attack), and the druid cast a reverse gravity spell at the waterborne attackers.  immediately, a column of water erupted from the lake, at the top of which bobbed the helpless dragon turtle, the four aquatic elf archers on its back scrambling to grab hold of the side of its shell before falling off.  They stabilized about 85 feet above the surface of the water.Chaevaris came flying out onto the deck - or, more accurately, above it on her carpet of flying - and aimed a shot at the nearest aquatic elf fighter.  But the rocking of the ship caused her to miss her shot, as the deck swayed and the elf was moved just out of the arrow's path at the last second.That left Alistair, Ambrose, and the still-invisible Ageratum still in the sleeping berth in which the extradimensional door was hung.  "Carruthers, go out onto the deck and attack any enemies you see!" he called to his shield guardian, before beginning the words to a spell.  Ageratum, recognizing it as the words to the sorcerer's dimension door spell, reached out and grabbed hold of his leg as he finished, and the three of them were instantly transported to the crow's nest, where Alistair had figured he'd have the best vantage point from which to cast spells down upon any intruders.Carruthers, as instructed, ran out to the deck and swung a massive fist at the nearest aquatic elf, but the nimble fighter dodged below the construct's attack.  Up in the crow's nest, Ageratum gave the circling albatross the stink eye, realizing it was an enemy druid employing the same tactics Orchid used when casting spells down upon enemies while wildshaped into an eagle.  Well, she wasn't about to let her keep on doing that - not when the halfling could put a stop to it!  Standing invisibly on the rail of the crow's nest, she timed her leap into mid-air and stabbed her short sword into the side of the albatross as she passed by, then hung on and allowed their combined weight to drop them down to the deck, 60 feet below.  At the last possible second, Ageratum released her blade from the wounded sea bird and tumbled across the deck, lessening the impact on her a bit.Harlan swung his Starblade into the side of the aquatic elf he was facing off against, getting past the trident he was using both defensively and offensively, to score a deep hit into the elf's side.  The sailors from belowdecks did their part, to much less effect; there was simply no comparison to the levels of combat experience enjoyed by the seamen and the paladin adventurer.  Still, every bit helped against these invaders, and Harlan was certainly glad of the assistance.The dragon turtle roared in shock and gave forth a blast of his breath weapon, sending an explosion of steam erupting from his mouth.  But floating helplessly 85 feet above the lake's surface, the steam wasn't even close to hitting anyone on board the Lucky Dave.  On its back, though, the archers had regained their feet and were aiming their longbows down at potential targets, while on the deck the albatross wildshaped back into an aquatic elf druid.  But Ageratum was right there as the elf stood up, and she stabbed the spellcasting intruder in the gut with her bloodied blade.Some of the aquatic elf fighters were engaging with the sailors, and doing a fair bit better than the sailors were managing in the melee; already, one of the seamen was staggered, trying to stay conscious as blood dripped down his torso from a trio of puncture marks.  "Why are you doing this?" Orchid called out in the Druidic tongue.  "Why are you attacking us?"The enemy druid scowled and replied, "You're in our hunting grounds!" - as if that were all the answer needed.  But it was answer enough for Orchid: they were no better than pirates.  Casting a firestorm spell, she engulfed the enemy druidess, all four aquatic elf fighters, the dragon turtle, and all four archers in burning flames.  The turtle, it turned out, was completely unfazed (not surprising in hindsight, as it breathed out scalding steam as a breath weapon), but three of the fighters and all four archers were slain by the attack.Chaevaris raised the elevation of her carpet of flying and aimed an arrow at the dragon turtle's left eye.  Releasing the bowstring, the arrow went straight at its target, blinding the turtle's left eye and sending the sounds of thunder rumbling across its thick-scaled body.  Still in the crow's nest, Alistair leaned over the rail and cast a chain lightning spell down at the enemy druid, Shallamane Seacrown, knocking her senseless to the deck.  As Ageratum slit the druid's throat to ensure her death, Harlan went charging across the deck at the sole remaining fighter, an aquatic elf named Shellhammer.  His Starblade nearly cut the elf in two, leaving him lifeless on the deck.That left only the dragon turtle as a foe, and he was as helpless as possible.  Before the reverse gravity spell ran its course, he'd had his other eye shot out and been subjected to several chain lightning spells; it was a lifeless corpse that eventually plummeted back into the waters of the lake when normal gravity resumed underneath his cooling body.Ageratum was able to collect a few choice pieces of jewelry from the bodies of the elves slain on board the ship; whatever goods the archers might have been carrying were lost along with their burned bodies.  Shellhammer had worn magical armor and wielded a magical trident, according to the detect magic spell Alistair cast upon the assembled loot, and Shallamane wore a magical ring of protection slightly more powerful than the one Chaevaris wore herself, so the archer made a quick swap and tossed her old ring into the pile of loot that Ageratum gathered up for eventual sale once they got back to Greyhawk City."You know," Alistair suggested to his older brother when he was on deck to see the results of the skirmish, "there's no reason we couldn't try to track down where these aquatic elves laired.  If there are more where this group came from, the attacks could possibly continue.  And we might be able to determine where your ships - and the cargo they carried - were taken after they were sunk.""I like the way you think!" Atherton smiled.  It was the highest praise Alistair could recall getting from his older brother. - - -Dan used the same Paizo mega-map of a ship for the Lucky Dave, which he named on the spot when we asked the name of the ship on which we'd be traveling, as he'd used before when we were investigating a similar ship in the Pastlethwaite merchant fleet.  And it was Logan who suggested we try to track down the missing ships and cargo, thereby giving Dan his next adventure all wrapped up in a bow.  But we'll be skipping a week - I have a business trip on Monday through Friday that will make that unavoidable.(And yes, this should technically have been titled "Lake Cruise," but that's what Dan called it.)</blockquote>

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