NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2341163" data-attributes="member: 1210">Strike on the Sea Devils11/23/369 O.L.G., 5:30 a.m., on the Proud PentoseThe 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.”</blockquote>

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