Of Sound Mind the Halfling Way

[the Jester]

I'm actually planning on doing a slightly different take on Favored Enemy for Erasmuz. I'm going to play it more like he is fascinated by them (aquatic humanoids) than he hates them. Although there may be a dark secret there. We'll see.

Very cool.

 

[OaxacanWarrior]

Wahoo!! I am finally caught up in reading this thread. Great work, Jester! I have enjoyed this story hour quite a bit. I find the whole halfling party and the way the players have played them to be quite entertaining and humorous.

I have also liked all the players adding their comments from their points of view. I think it adds to the overall story hour.

The only thing that has been hard to follow is when some of the characters just disappear for a few adventures and then reappear as if nothing happened. I am guessing that this is because their players didn't show up for that game, but it makes things a bit confusing at times.

 

[the Jester]

Wahoo!! I am finally caught up in reading this thread. Great work, Jester! I have enjoyed this story hour quite a bit. I find the whole halfling party and the way the players have played them to be quite entertaining and humorous.

Hey, glad you've been enjoying it! If you think reading about the halflings is a hoot, you should sit it sometime. If you're ever in the central valley in California, try to look us up...

I have also liked all the players adding their comments from their points of view. I think it adds to the overall story hour.

Oh, me too! I really enjoy the pcs' perspectives- as a dm, I'm sure I miss some of the 'inner dialogue' and some of their mental concerns.

The only thing that has been hard to follow is when some of the characters just disappear for a few adventures and then reappear as if nothing happened. I am guessing that this is because their players didn't show up for that game, but it makes things a bit confusing at times.

Heh... sorry about that.

There are a couple of interwoven factors here: sometimes the player is absent, sometimes the character doesn't do anything really notable in that section of the adventure, and sometimes there are bits that take multiple updates that are resolved with one or two pcs in half and hour of game time.

I do try to 'write out' departed pcs when I know they aren't coming back, but sometimes that's a hard call to make.

 

[OaxacanWarrior]

Hey, glad you've been enjoying it! If you think reading about the halflings is a hoot, you should sit it sometime. If you're ever in the central valley in California, try to look us up...

Sometimes I make it out to the Bay area on business...maybe I can swing something on my next business trip. I'd love to be able to sit in on a session!

Heh... sorry about that.

There are a couple of interwoven factors here: sometimes the player is absent, sometimes the character doesn't do anything really notable in that section of the adventure, and sometimes there are bits that take multiple updates that are resolved with one or two pcs in half and hour of game time.

I do try to 'write out' departed pcs when I know they aren't coming back, but sometimes that's a hard call to make.

Well that makes a lot of sense. I appreciate the great story.

One thing that I noticed is that it's bad to be Chief Jawbreaker's advisor. First Timothy and then Zeke...who will be next?

 

[the Jester]

One thing that I noticed is that it's bad to be Chief Jawbreaker's advisor. First Timothy and then Zeke...who will be next?

The irony is that both Timothy and Zeke were played by the same guy (Brain).

We actually made a few comments in the game where Ezekiel died to this effect too.

 

[the Jester]

Strike on the Sea Devils

11/23/369 O.L.G., 5:30 a.m., on the Proud Pentose

The sun is barely pulling itself from the eastern sea when two merellin arrive, swimming through the waters in cetacean form. They change into humanoid form and clamber aboard, introducing themselves as Tweewak and Kilkelkik. When the party asks whether they have any experience with the sea devils, Tweewak says flatly, “I hunt them.”

The captain remains nervous about staying, but he and Grey Jorn have already agreed to give the party until noon. Naomi sweetens the pot, convincing him to stay until dark with a further ‘donation’. Weeweerinwee reassures the captain that he will keep watch over the boat.

It seems to take forever for the party to get ready to go. This is mostly because Erasmuz takes forever to prepare his spells. While he does so, Naomi takes the opportunity to cook up some breakfast. Ahh, bacon!

Finally, they cast water breathing and then descend back into the water. Weeweerinwee tows most of them, though the merellin swim on their own in their dolphin forms and Ari is doing likewise in the shape of a shark.* Over the coral landscape they swim, the scene beneath them a riot of color. Anemones, plants, mussels and strange growths dot the scape below them, corralled by a huge reef of coral. Schools of silver and orange fish dart past our heroes, an occasional sea turtle or jellyfish floats by. Slowly the sahuagin cave comes again into view. Weeweerinwee deposits our heroes and then retreats towards the ship.

When our heroes move into the coral cave of the sahuagin, the sea devils are waiting for them again. This time, however, our heroes have come in force and with merellin allies! Although Kilkelkik fumbles badly, Tweewak shows his hunting skills are as impressive as he implied on the ship above while Federico japes to inspire our heroes with courage. Meanwhile Ari summons sharks of his own, which take big hunks of flesh from the foe with their bites. Together, the party and their allies put paid to the sahuagin guardians. The shark-rider proves fairly challenging, jerking the shark out of the way of the halflings’ blows. However, Erasmuz’ suite of protective magic and psionics is so potent that the trident-wielding sea devil can only hit him a few times! The blows that do land are signficant, however.

But our heroes tear through the lesser sahuagin, and Naomi’s mental attacks blast more than one of the devil men of the deep into oblivion. The shark-rider makes a feeble attempt at parlay before trying to bolt, hamstringing Martini along the way and bringing him to the teetering edge of unconsciousness. He’s already been damaged, and his allies are all dead or unconscious...

Tweelak swims in at high speed, smashing his nose into the sahuagin’s gills, and with a gasp it expires. Naomi’s mental attacks blast his shark’s mind to jelly, and the initial battle is over.

Our heroes don’t even stop to loot, reasoning that they can do so after they’ve found and rescued the elves and mermaid. “How could the elves even still be alive?” queries Ari dubiously, but the merellin have an answer.

“They could have a bubble.”

”Really,” says Naomi, intrigued. “Do you know of such things? They exist?”

With a ‘what a stupid question’ look, Tweelak replies, “Yes.”

The party moves quickly down the leftmost exit from the chamber. They explore a few chambers sets with matted sea weed- they assume these are beds- before stumbling upon a room with three sahuagin in a circle.

There isn’t an instant of hesitation as our heroes rush to the attack. Whatever three sahuagins are doing in a circle, it’s unlikely to be good. The party strikes them down. Later, when they come back to search, our heroes will discern that the sea devils were gambling. For now, they leave the chamber unsearched and hurry on. They are all too aware that the clock is ticking with their water breathing!

The passage continues, and they follow; but soon a chamber branches off to the side. Naomi moves through the arch leading to it and feels a blast of cold! Cursing to herself, she shivers and looks around.

Clearly, she has found the sahuagin armory. Tridents of bone, nets of woven seaweed, underwater crossbows, daggers and knives- if sahuagin were smaller, this would be a gold mine for our heroes! As it is, it is somewhat disappointing, especially when nothing radiates magic.

Moving on past the armory, our heroes stumble into the jaws of trouble.

So to speak.

Its name is Tzalraugh.

Next Time: Tzalraugh, servant of Sekolah! It wants to eat you, you plump little morsel!!

*Cetaceans are not technically animals in my campaign, as their intelligence is above 2. This means that druids technically can’t wild shape into them, which was a surprising thing for me to realize when Ari tried to turn into a porpoise at this point. (Cydran dolphins are actually a playable race when I run aquatic games. Whales, especially large baleen whales, are known for their wisdom and insight. Cetacean culture is pretty interesting- dolphins and merellin are generally considered to be the “good guys of the sea.”

 

[the Jester]

Tzalraugh

The passage widens, growing ever wider as the party swims down it. Soon it widens into a huge chamber with a high ceiling. The coral is shaped or carved into a series of benches in four levels up the wall, all overlooking what has the look of some kind of arena. Dominating the scene- though only the deep halflings can see it at this point- is a horrendous monster.

It is huge. Its body is nearly twenty feet long, built along the lines of a shark but with some differences. Its fins end in jagged spurs. Its tail has a jagged, vicious look to it. Its eyes glow an infernal orange color. Its great mouth could engulf a human, and it gnashes its razor-sharp teeth and roars a challenge as our heroes swim to a halt with it in view.

Tweewak attacks! He can’t see it, but his echolocation has found his target anyway. Propelling himself forward, the merellin smashes into the creature, but he rebounds to a surprising extent. “Beware, it’s hideous!” he cries.

Then, the hapless merellin feels the immense jaw of the devil-shark crush down on him. Terrible agony flares through him as, in a single crushing bite, the monster slays the merellin. As Federico moves close enough to see the thing with his darkvision, he gapes in horror as it gulps half of the merellin’s body down. Nara is moving forward, her morningstar glowing with light. Federico yells out, “It’s some kind of mutant shark!” Snickering, he starts to jape and joke, inspiring his allies with courage.

Nara stops her advance (as most of our heroes have done) as the light starts to pick out a cloud of scarlet swirling in the water. Both merellin are gone, she realizes with a shudder. We need some bodies here. She begins an involved prayer to Coila, summoning a trio of fiendish sharks of her own that swim forward to engage the huge monster.

Tzalraugh is its name.

It is not the smartest creature on the block, but it certainly is the hungriest. It is a grandchild of Sekolah the Great Shark himself. And it wants nothing more than to devour. And look at this little collection of bite-sized morsels! Tzalraugh’s dim intellect determines immediately that they are too small to pose a real thread; first it will devour the inferior shark-scum aiding the little snacks. At least they have teeth.

Naomi starts blasting at the devil-shark with her mental powers, but to her dismay she finds that it is resistant to psionics. Federico has a similar bit of frustration with his wand of magic missiles, which fires a single glowing blip of force that splatters off Tzalraugh’s resistance like water off a duck. It finishes off Nara’s fiendish sharks and flicks its tail. It shoots forward, mouth gaping, and Nara kicks madly to swim away in time. Its teeth crush down on her, breaking ribs and bringing more red fluid into the water. She gasps and cries out in pain. But she has prepared an inflict wounds spell and now she touches Tzalraugh as he is right next to her. Her spell strikes through the monster’s resistance, opening a serious wound.

Naomi glares at the devil shark, grimly blasting away mentally. Ari, Erasmuz and Federico start to flee, but they realize instantly that the shark-thing will out swim them with ease. Desperately hoping to find an escape, Federico casts detect secret doors as he swims back. To his delight, the chamber at the far end of the hall- one of the bed chambers- seems to have a secret passage in the floor! He yells for the others, scrabbling at the trap door- and to his dismay he finds that it is only a small compartment with some hidden treasure. “Never mind!” he cries in frustration, turning back towards the fight.

Nara has slipped away from Tzalraugh thanks to the freedom of movement she cast at the beginning of the caves. Now she retreats, and Erasmuz suddenly finds himself in the rear. “Hey, buddy, don’t leave me here alone!” he cries. He pulls out his rapier, shaking with fear, as Tzalraugh charges and its great maw chomps down on him. He has been spending the last few moments activating all the protections he has, though- and it is enough to deflect the blow from him. Quivering, he pokes the creature with his rapier- and it doesn’t even get through Tzalraugh’s hide. Damage reduction, the shaven-headed halfling thinks sickly.

Well, all is not lost.

He manages to cast a spell without lowering his guard, and suddenly his rapier glows with magic. The next time he pokes it, he draws blood... albeit not much.*

Naomi stops her retreat, hesitant to leave even the creepy old guy behind. He’s a halfling, after all! But she has barely been able to harm the monster so far... and underwater, fire magic won’t work- will it? Desperate to try anything, she pulls out the wand of fireballs taken from the serpent-folk who slew Sandy, Beau and Lundey and points it at the devil-shark. Focusing all her mental energy, she concentrates-

Nothing.

Cursing, she starts moving forward. At least she has her energy retort when it bites her. And she can’t leave Erasmuz behind.**

Nara, meanwhile, is firing sound bursts that splatter off Tzalraugh’s native resistance.*** Groaning at the ineffectiveness of it all, she starts healing her wounds and bracing herself to go back into battle. Once she’s in reasonable shape- that bite is vicious!- she swims back to the melee.

Tzalraugh and Erasmuz are having a time of it. The devil-shark finds the deflective and guarding magic and psionics around the halfling very frustrating, while Erasmuz finds the blow that gets through now and then frighteningly dangerous. He’s bleeding from two major wounds, losing strength fast; but he has pricked his foe several times now. When the two girls come up and begin aiding him, he starts to land more blows than before, and then he gets the one that really counts- a swift jab through the eye and into the brain! Tzalraugh thrashes for a few more moments, but it is clearly in its death throes. Nara, Naomi and Erasmuz retreat for a few moments while it dies. Then the group reassembles.

“That thing was tough,” exclaims Erasmuz.

The party is wounded and low on spells. Nara uses the wand of cure serious wounds that Sandy had for so long to heal the party most of the way up, and then the group decides to leave.

“We should search on the way back,” Federico opines. “I already found a little treasure.”

The group agrees to this sensible suggestion, examining the bodies of the sahuagin already slain and the rooms explored. From the secret compartment they take 28 gold pieces and a silver necklace. Another chamber has a whalebone comb and a silver dagger within it. Many of the sea devils the party has slain have a few coins on them. A couple have gems- pearls or, in one case, opals. The shark-rider’s trident radiates magic, so our heroes take that as well. Nara, as a prophet, performs a few auguries on unexplored areas, trying to gain a clue or two as to the location of the captives the sahuagin have taken. Then they return to the Proud Pentor to recuperate.

When they speak to Weeweerinwee he begs them to keep trying. “Pleeeeease,” the whale implores, “you must help meeeeeeeeee find theeem.”

The party, in turn, speaks to the captain, who is plainly very nervous about the prospects of remaining in sahuagin-infested waters. Again, Weeweerinwee offers to stay close enough to keep an eye on things. Finally, the party successfully persuades the captain to stay one more day.

Rest ensues.

Next time: Our heroes find some captives!


*Tell us Erasmuz’ strength score, Brain.

**There we see the Lawful part of Naomi’s LE alignment come out.

***Though it sounds like he had really good SR, it wasn’t really all that hot. But a lot of our heroes have low caster levels, and they rolled crap all night iirc.

 

[Brain]

He manages to cast a spell without lowering his guard, and suddenly his rapier glows with magic. The next time he pokes it, he draws blood... albeit not much.*

*Tell us Erasmuz’ strength score, Brain.

Erasmuz has a Strength of 10 and is armed with a small rapier. I think with Divine Favor and Magic weapon he was doing 1d4+3 damage. Got a couple of crits in (thanks to 18-20 crit range) and coaxed the girls to come back and help me out. Now Erasmuz has something real to brag about (standing up to the devil-shark) rather than making up his exploits.

 

[hippiejedi2]

Nara was able to escape Tzalraugh because she had freedom of movement and boots of haste.

 

[the Jester]

11/24/369 O.L.G., 9 a.m., the sahuagin lair

It is unsettling, being deep underwater. Halflings are not made for such things. Nonetheless, our heroes are back in the underwater cave, continuing their search for the captive elves and mermaid. Ari grows more uncomfortable the longer they stay in the area, yet he cannot persuade the others that they should depart, so he continues to stand by his friends.

The party is continuing to explore the wandering caves, searching several branches they had left unexplored previously. Soon Federico announces that he has found a secret door, and our heroes open it. Beyond is a shaft leading up; and near the top, it breaks into an air bubble. Quietly, Erasmuz swims forward- there is land over there, and he hears voices-

Suddenly a bolt whizzes past his head. They’ve heard him, or seen him! He manifests his force screen to protect himself.

Our heroes are at a disadvantage, for the sahuagin are on a jet of land and can defend it, keeping higher ground. After they fire their crossbows, the drop them and pull out their tridents. Federico hits one with a sleep spell. Ari, below, has begun his patented summoning barrage.

Naomi rises to the top of the water and pulls forth the wand of fireballs. Now that they are in the air, she can make it work just fine! She points it, then hesitates. Unless she throws the ball pretty far back, she’s going to roast her friends as well. And pretty far back- she squints- there is something huddled against the wall.

She grimaces, raises her other hand and unleashes a crystal swarm instead.

The battle is fierce. One of the sahuagin, in particular, is extraordinarily tough, both larger and stronger than the others- all of whom are fairly tough themselves. At one point the leader nearly pins Federico all the way through with his trident!* The kobold howls mournfully and keeps japing about fish-folk, staggering back another few paces before collapsing unconscious. One bull rushes Erasmuz into the water with a huge splash, following him in and tearing and raking at the little deep halfling. Still, Erasmuz’ magic and psionic defenses serve him well; he withstands most of the blows, and in moments the sahuagin collapses into unconsciousness. Soon the battle is over, and our heroes have triumphed.

The huddled forms on the other side of the air-filled chamber are a pair of elves. One of them is alive, shivering in terror, and has been reduced to helplessness. The other is dead, eyes wide in horror, large bite marks taken from the corpse. Ari looks down impassively, then brushes the elf’s eyes shut.

The party heals both themselves and the elf. Then, quickly, Ari casts another water breathing, this one to safeguard the surviving elf. The party moves quickly, tugging him to his feet and pulling him over to the water. Though reluctant to move and fearful, the elf is far more reluctant to stay. Soon the group is swimming cautiously back towards the Proud Pentor. When they arrive, the sailors grin in surprised joy that they have rescued one of the elves captured by the sea devils- usually, the sahuagins’ victims are lost once they are taken, devoured by the devil men of the deep or their shark companions.

“Did yooooouuuu fiiiiiiiiind the mermaid?” Weeweerinwee asks.

Ari’s face falls. “No, and I don’t know if we dare go back in there. They must be ready for us- we’ve killed a number of them, and I’m sure they’ll be out for revenge.”

“I slew haaaaalf of them myseeeeeelf,” the whale replies. “There cannot be toooooo many moooore.”

“Still, I think we should leave-“

“No way, buddy!” Erasmuz replies. “I think we should rescue the mermaid. I’ve never met a mermaid before.”

“Well, the danger-“

“We’re cleaning them up,” Nara comments.

“But the sharks-“

“We can handle the sharks, buddy! Why, we even took out the devil-shark!”

Ari shakes his head. “It’s a bad idea,” he announces. “They are going to be ready for us.”

“We probably already killed their chief in that last fight,” points out Nara. “And we’ve already explored lots of the coral caves. How much more can there be?”

Ari sighs. “Grey Jorn?”

Grey Jorn purses his lips thoughtfully. “So far the whale has kept all the trouble away from us,” he says. “I don’t see why we can’t stay until dark.”

Ari shakes his head again. We’re going to regret this, he thinks.

Our heroes return to the sea. Silvery fish flit past them. An octopus, changing color to match its background, clings to a mussel-encrusted rock. Anemones wave their tendrils, pulling their tiny food in. The party has a little over an hour of water breathing left when they reach the sahuagin coral lair again.

Back in they go, swimming along the passages they have not yet explored. Here and there fish dart one way or another within the lair of the sea devils. Soon they enter a room dominated by a shark’s jawbone and teeth, gaping wide enough for a human to stand in upright. Strange bluish balls of seaweed dangle from it, dancing in the gentle currents stirred by the passage of the halflings (and kobold).

And, perhaps, stirred by the room’s inhabitants.

With a snap of its flippers, a giant snapping turtle swims forward towards the party! Nara stumbles away from it, but its sharp beak slices into her ankle, leaving her hamstrung!** A disturbance in the water moves towards them as well.*** As always, Erasmuz starts initiating a series of defenses, while Ari begins to summon nature’s ally. Also true to form, Federico starts japing and telling jokes about silly turtles and turning them over so they cook in the sun (“they’re so tasty,” he adds) to inspire courage in his companions.

Nara, dismayed at the damage she has already taken, casts cure moderate wounds defensively. As her goddess favors negative energy over positive, she cannot spontaneously heal; she hopes that this will be enough to stave off the turtle’s attacks! Indeed, its next bite takes a chunk from her shoulder, but it is nowhere near as bad as the first blow. With a grimace she makes another defensive casting, this time channeling an inflict serious wounds on the turtle. It gives a rasping cry and begins to withdraw.

Erasmuz, meanwhile, has unleashed a flurry of misses on the water elemental, and though he has been unable to land a blow on it, it has been unable to land a blow on him in turn. Then Ari’s summoned sharks appear and begin to tear at the watery distortion. Erasmuz takes advantage of the momentary distraction to swim away and poke at the turtle with his rapier.

It takes a while, but our heroes defeat the elemental with a combination of sharks, squids and old fashioned pokes. Soon they are clear to search. They turn up a salvaged, corroded chest holding 545 gp and 230 sp. Furthermore, the blue balls dangling from the shark’s jaw radiate faint magic- which the party only checks for after Erasmuz has pierced one and watched it deflate. “These guys have pretty decent loot, at least,” comments Federico.

”We’re not here for the loot, we’re here for the mermaid,” Ari reminds the kobold.

The party moves on...

Next Time: The conclusion of the sahuagin adventure! The mermaid! And- rewards?


*30 hp in one blow. Ow!!

**The first action of the battle and it was a critical hit for 42 points of damage. Ouch! (When converting the giant snapping turtle I gave it the Augmented Critical special attack for x3 damage.)

***This was a water elemental. I rule that an elemental is effectively invisible when immersed in its element (i.e. its hard to see a water elemental underwater).