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: 2346530" data-attributes="member: 1210">11/24/369 O.L.G., 9 a.m., the sahuagin lairIt 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).</blockquote>

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