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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 2821183" data-attributes="member: 198">Session 19 - Tentacles and TrollsThe first two days of the voyage are uneventful. Corven and Gareth spend a lot of their time working on more magical items, with Luna helping some of the time, when she isn't busy turning into a bird and flying around the ship. Six spends some time getting to know the other passengers, especially the four people who are part of the expedition. These consist of Collus, a professor on sabbatical from Morgrave University who is an expert on ancient languages and the history of Xen'drik, his student and scribe Maura, the gnome cartographer Niff, and the dwarf Imre, an expert on precious gems and historical artifacts. Nameless spends some time talking to the Aereni Daelan, learning that he left Aerenal decades ago to see something of the world beyond, has been Syrina's shipboard artificer for three years, and is even less adept at social intercourse than the worst of the Angels. All of the Angels get to spend some time with Dala, who seems singularly excited about being on the way to Xen'drik and about the expedition in general.As for the crew of the Wave's Bounty, the Angels soon know them fairly well. Syrina interacts a bit with the passengers, or at least those who are near her when at the wheel, a position she seems to be at whenever awake (since without her the ship loses its following wind and travels at a significantly reduced speed). She is happy to answer questions and says that she has been sailing for six years and between Sharn and Xen'drik for three. Her first mate Bly is very friendly, interacting often with the passengers and regularly providing music of varied kinds on his harp. Daelan, on the other hand, never speaks to passengers unless spoken to, and almost nobody besides Nameless does. He appears on the deck only rarely, and when he does, stands in an unoccupied part of the deck for a little while, gazing out at the ocean. Some of the six shipboard warriors are always present, since they have three shifts of eight hours each that two are on duty. The crew of thirty usually has at least six on duty at any given time. With all of these people and the other passengers, the Angels always seem to have a number of people around. Early on the evening of the 18th, the lookout says that there are the lights of a ship in the distance, moving very fast and about to pass a few miles to starboard. Syrina says that it is probably a Lyrandar win galleon, but asks everyone to be ready for an attack, just in case. While the marines take up positions, with a couple manning the ship's two light ballistas, she comments that a few Lyrandar wind galleons have been stolen and used for piracy, but it is rare enough to make it unlikely to be the case here. The lookout soon confirms that the lights are that of a wind galleon, which changes tack to come closer to the Wave's Bounty. It eventually pulls up nearby and both ships stop to exchange news. The captain of the wind galleon says that they left Stormreach two days ago. He also says that they expected to pass a smaller cargo ship (the Merry Celestial*) out of Stormreach that left five days ago, but never saw it on the way. There was bad weather near Stormreach recently, so that may have had something to do with it, especially since it would have caught the smaller ship when it was passing through Shargon's Teeth. After the wind galleon heads on its way, Bly mentions that Stormreach has a history of bad weather, with a ship lost every couple of months or so. The fact that the route to/from Stormreach leads through the volcanic and dangerous archipalego of Shargon's Teeth adds to the danger.***The voyage continues without trouble for another day and a half. Six, Nameless and Luna are on the deck after the noon meal on the 20th, along with a couple of the passengers. Suddenly, the ship lurches as if it hit a large, solid object, which is followed by the sound of rending timber on the starboard side. One of the passengers, who is on the starboard side, looks overboard and screams, a moment before a tentacle the size of his waist rises over the side and encircles him, plucking him into the air. "Damn!" shouts Syrina, "Kraken!", even as a couple more tentacles rise over the side and grab onto the gunwales. The ship rocks slightly, the starboard side sinking a few inches below the port side, to reveal the huge bulk of a giant squid next to the ship, a pair of its tentacles buried within the sides of the Wave's Bounty. While Dala and the other passengers scream and run for the port side, the three adventurers all take prompt action. Nameless immediately summons a pair of pseudonatural crocodiles into the water besides the kraken, which attack it with powerful tail slaps, though they seem to bother it very little. Luna begins to cast a summoning of her own, while Six sends an arrow into the creature. One of the two marines begins shooting too, while the other tries to wrestle a ballista into position to shoot down at the creature. Bly begins to chant a song that gives magical strength to those who hear.Below-decks, Gareth and Corven have just risen to take a break from their crafting and stretch their legs, when they are rocked by the impact and hear the screaming. Gareth rushes out to fling open a door across the passage and hurry into the room of a screaming passenger. For once, the screaming isn't because of the armed and armored paladin bursting into the room, but because of the kraken that he can see outside the porthole. Catching a glimpse of it over Gareth's shoulder, Corven rushes for the stairs that lead to the deck. Zeke, who has been keeping the two company, flies out the porthole of the room they were in (on the port side) and up to the deck above.The kraken is evidently smart enough to know who the dangers are, since it lashes out at the three adventurers, their movement to be able to see it and cast spells or shoot having put them within easy reach. Large arms grab Six and Nameless, squeezing painfully. Luna is even more unfortunate, being grabbed by a much longer arm, that sinks painful barbs into her flesh as it constricts her**. Six barely manages to slip out of the arm grasping him***, but his companions are not as lucky, and he learns that humanoids have their eyeballs bulge when squeezed hard enough. Though Luna is unable to concentrate on her spell and Nameless almost rendered unconscious from the pressure, they are luckier than the marine at the ballista. Even as he is about to fire, the other long arm snaps shut around his head and upper torso, killing him instantly and pulling the corpse overboard. The already grabbed passenger suffers a similar fate, being simply squeezed into two. The last unoccupied arm grabs onto one of the summoned crocodiles, crushing it too.Luckily, unlike the passenger and marine, the trapped adventurers have magical means of escape. Nameless manages to pronounce the words of a dimension door, disappearing from within the tentacle to reappear above in the crow's nest, further scaring the poor lookout who is crouched down in his perch and apparently not enjoying his bird's-eye view of the action. Luna wildshapes into an eagle, and the sudden reduction in size lets her fly out at the expense of a few feathers. She heads up to join Nameless, wanting to put as much distance between her and the beast as possible. Deciding that being able to fly would be significantly helpful here, Six backs up to the port side and pulls out a potion.While the other marine (and Gareth, from the porthole) keep shooting with limited effect, Bly rushes across to the already placed ballista and fires it, burying the large dart into the kraken's side. While Nameless' summoned crocodiles do some more damage, Zeke has less effectiveness. He flies across to the starboard side and unleashes a scorching ray. It hits the kraken right in the side with no effect, indicating that it actually has some significant resistance to fire. Zeke's luck is quickly worse, as a tentacle whips up to grab the little mephit. Though his magical nature protects him slightly, he is grievously wounded. Now safe and beyond the kraken's reach, Nameless summons another three crocodiles, which swarm around the kraken, inflicting significant damage before it can rip some of them apart. Luna unleashes a flame strike, which does only minimal damage, only the fact that the flame is infused with holiness letting it have any effect at all. Corven, who has just reached the deck, has a similar effect with his wand of scorching ray. He curses and tries to infuse it so as to create other elemental effects. Luckily for him, though he is within range, Nameless' creatures keep the kraken busy, letting it only bat at Bly with a tentacle, which the changeling avoids by falling prone on the deck. Zeke, on the other hand, is already within its grasp, and far too weak to be able to break out. Gareth staring out the porthole, sees the mephit whip by. Zeke spots him at the same time and just has time to scream, "Boss! Hel...", before the tentacle tightens, causing him to explode into a splatter of gore. With a shout of anger, Gareth unleashes another shot, but the turmoil in the water makes him miss, his arrow instead hitting one of the mortally wounded crocodiles and dispatching it. Realizing that archery will not help here, he rushes out and heads for the bottom level, hoping to find the tentacles that have punched through the ship's side.For the next few seconds, the battle continues, with Nameless summoning more crocodiles and Luna doing the same for a large shark. Six, having swigged his potion and flown up to join them, shoots down at the kraken with his bow. Two more of the marines have also emerged to join the remaining one, and one helps Bly use the ballista again, while another also shoots at the creature. Even though the kraken is quickly dispatching Nameless' creatures, the sheer number of attacks begins to overpower even its great vitality, and it evidently decides that it has had enough. It slowly sinks back under the water, even as Nameless hits it with an acid arrow. As a parting gesture, one of the long tentacles lashes out, ripping a marine in half. It leaves behind a huge pool of blood in the water, more blood on the deck, and a significantly holed ship. Though the Wave's Bounty is too well made to risk sinking because of the attack, the next couple of hours are spent by the crewmembers repairing the ship. The Angels, meanwhile, tend to their wounds, with Gareth mourning Zeke's death***. After having organized the repair parties, Syrina comes to the Angels. She says, "Dala had told me that you were all skilled warriors, but I had not realized how much. Thank you. Without you we'd have been in serious trouble. I've only fought a kraken once before, and that time it took three ships to drive it away. Again, thank you." After that, she leaves to go yell at Daelan, who was apparently meditating so soundly in his cabin that he only made it to the deck as the kraken fled.After a couple of hours, the ship resumes its voyage.***The next day passes peacefully, and on the morning of the 22nd, the lookout warns of Shargon's Teeth ahead. Soon, those on the deck can see a multitude of small islands and rocks that dot the sea ahead. As they approach, they can see that the archipalego stretches away to east and west as far as they can see. Steam hangs above many of them and the area is warmer, indicating the volcanic nature of the place. Syrina very carefully guides the Wave's Bounty into it, with Bly standing at the stern to note the shoals and coral reefs that fill the area. After about an hour, she brings the ship to a stop. She tells those assembled that they will wait here for a local sahuagin tribe that she uses as guides. Bly signals the sahuagin by producing a strange-looking shell and blows on it. None appear, however, and gradually three hours pass, with Bly blowing the shell every half an hour or so. Syrina begins to seem a little concerned, saying that this is very unusual, and if they have to proceed through Shargon's Teeth they will do so, though it will be risky.Nameless suggests that perhaps Luna could take on an aquatic form and guide the ship. Syrina agrees that this would help, but says she would prefer not to risk it if she could, since the dangers of Shargon's Teeth include not just shoals and reefs but also dangerous creatures and the sahuagin tribes that are not as friendly. While they are discussing this, the lookout calls out that there are sahuagin approaching and they see a dozen in the water nearby. They seem very well armed, which Syrina says is unusual. A rope is thrown overboard, which lets two sahuagin climb up to the deck. One is a large warrior with four arms, while the other is a smaller and older-looking one, with charms and knickknacks strung across its chest. They speak to Syrina for some time before jumping overboard, and she returns to let the assembled people know that they will be waiting here for a while. Then she asks the Angels and Dala to join her in her cabin.Once they are inside, Syrina explains that there is a problem. The sahuagin have recently been attacked by a small group of scrags (or marine trolls), which slew many of their tribe. They want the "surface-folk" to help destroy the trolls, in return for which they will guide the ship. Normally, Syrina says, she would not even consider aiding in such an enterprise, but having seen the adventurers in action, she thinks they are capable of doing so and asks if they will. She offers to provide them with whatever resources she can to help. The sahuagin have said they'll help them breathe and see underwater if needed, and will send a number of warriors with them. Syrina tells Dala that in return she will refund some of the group's fare, if they want. She also mentions that the sahuagin said the scrags are lairing in a nearby ship that sunk in a storm a couple days ago, which may be the Merry Celestial, in which case there would certainly be a reward for information and the return of anything they can find. Nameless is the first to agree to help and the others quickly follow suit. Syrina thanks them and goes to fetch Daelan, saying that they have certain magical items on board for emergency situations. She returns soon with the Aereni, and he says that he can cast spells of water breathing on the group, as well as providing them with elixirs of swimming. He says that he could also provide spells to see in the dark, which will help to some degree underwater, but the sahuagin shaman can probably provide better magic in that area. The group discusses the possibilities and Nameless suggests that they wait until the next day, so that they can be as well prepared as possible. Luna agrees, saying that she can then prepare spells that will aid the others better underwater, as does Corven. Syrina admits that she'd have preferred to take care of this as soon as possible, but says that the adventurers should take whatever time they need.Bly and Syrina let the sahuagin know about the plan and they agree. They leave to head back to their camp, leaving a couple of them behind to warn the ship if the scrags happen to come near it. The rest of the day is spent in making preparations and fending off questions from the other passengers, who have only been told that the adventurers need to help the sahuagin in a certain task. ***The next morning, the sahuagin return, and after making some preparations the Angels enter a large boat with Daelan and two sailors, who ferry them to a small island nearby where the sahuagin await. Before they leave, Dala wishes them luck, joking weakly that she'd hate to have to explain to Kidro that they got eaten en route to Xen'drik. Once they reach the sahuagin, the shaman greets them in broken Common and tells them a little about the scrag attack. Apparently six scrags and four sharks attacked their camp. The sahuagin slew one scrag and a shark, but suffered heavy losses. The scrags have arrived in the area very recently and moved into the wreck of the ship the day before. Two sahuagin are keeping watch on them right now.Having learned that they are now able to breathe underwater, the shaman says that he will provide them with a way to see underwater. He produces a coral bowl, which another sahuagin half-fills with seawater. The shaman breaks off two of the charms he wears and drops them in the bowl, and then begins to chant, rocking back and forth. After a couple of minutes, he takes a deep breath, makes a gurgling sound in his throat, and leans over and spits a huge green wad of saliva into the bowl. The water promptly turns green and the charms dissolve into it. He then hands the bowl to Gareth and says, "Drink - but little!"With differing expressions of distaste, the Angels do so, discovering that the concoction tastes just about as one would expect sea water laced with sahuagin spit for flavor. The liquid has no evident effect, but the shaman seems satisfied. He suggests they leave, which they do, traveling in the boat with eight sahuagin (two of which can speak poor Common) swimming ahead, sometimes dropping back to give them directions. Luna changes shape into a six foot long shark and does the same.About forty minutes after leaving the ship, the sahuagin indicate that the adventurers should enter the water. Daelan casts a last couple of infusions to aid them and then he and the sailors head back to the nearest island to wait. The Angels enter the water and find that they are able to see almost as well as in open air, though the clear vision extends only to 120 ft. Gareth and Six, both of whom Luna has used a freedom of movement on, move through the water almost as smoothly as they move on land, while Corven and Nameless swim reasonably well due to the elixirs they drank. The eight sahuagin take up formation around them.The group soon reaches a low underwater hill, which the sahuagin indicate they should hide behind and look over the crest. Doing so, they see the wreck about 200 ft away, lying near the bottom of a rocky slope that is probably the bottom of one of the small islands. A couple of jagged holes indicate what happened, and in sinking it has split almost in two. At a distance of about 120 ft, a scrag floats in the water, munching on something. A pair of sharks, about the same size as Luna's current form, swim in wide circles around the scrag.Nameless suggests that a sahuagin show itself as if it had failed to hide, so as to draw the scrag closer. A sahuagin complies and a second later, the scrag gives a bellow and charges forward, the two sharks arrowing in too. Which sets them up perfectly for Nameless. He releases a fireball as precisely as if he'd been casting spells underwater all his life, which catches all three targets in the blast. The sharks succumb to the unexpected attack, both rolling over, and the scrag screams in surprise and pain. Which it gets to do even more shortly, as the sahuagin charge it, along with Six and Gareth (whom Nameless has enlarged so that he is actually taller than the scrag). The sahuagin land some blows with their tridents, but it is Six and Gareth (both of whom have weapons infused by Corven to damage giants like the scrags more easily) who do the most damage. The direly wounded scrag fights back, but it is quickly cut down, allowing the sahuagin to gleefully begin dismembering it. While this is happening, more enemies appear, another three scrags and four sharks swimming out of holes in the wreck and heading towards the Angels and sahuagin. The latter quickly move forward to engage them. Nameless and Six now find themselves at a bit of a disadvantage, their limited swimming speed leaving them far behind their allies. Still, it allows them to dispatch the unconscious scrag magically before its regenerative powers can revive it. They then proceed to slowly move towards the others.Luna and the bulk of the sahuagin engage the sharks, leaving Gareth, Six and two sahuagin to face the scrags. Gareth smites one, ripping it almost in two, while Six does significant damage too. Nameless, from behind them, uses another fireball to wound two of the scrags, before following up with another spell to haste most of his allies. The fireball slays the scrag Gareth wounded, but another one wounds him grievously. The Angels' sahuagin allies also acquit themselves well, having managed to dispatch all the sharks and help wound the scrags, though two of the sahuagin are killed as well. Luna is the only one who has luck not going her way. Trying to use a flame strike on the scrags, she finds the combination of her shark form and the watery conditions too problematic and the spell fizzles. Her luck then infects Corven, as two new enemies emerge from the hull. One is a large shark, fully fifteen feet in length, but the other is more singular. This seems to be an old woman, her flesh sickly and yellow, covered with warts and oozing sores. The fact that she's completely naked except for a belt and a couple of straps (as are all the scrags) doesn't add to her attractiveness. Some of the adventurers immediately identify her as a sea hag. One of her magical abilities is immediately made clear, as those seeing her feel a wave of weakness wash over them. All of the adventurers manage to fight it off, except for Corven, who feels his strength drain away until he is unable to move*****. Swearing in frustration, he drifts downwards till he hits the ground some thirty feet below. Three of the sahuagin seem similarly affected, though they remain able to swim, weakly backing away from the fight.Gareth smites the scrag that wounded him, striking it with a series of blows that leave it almost unconscious. Six takes the opportunity to use his hasted reflexes and slices its throat open with his spiked chain, using the backswing to drop the remaining wounded scrag. This leaves only the large shark and the hag, the first of whom zooms forward at great speed. Its jaws slam down on the biggest target, namely Gareth, almost ripping him apart******. The paladin blacks out instantly, missing the next interesting development, which is when the shark drops him and transforms, changing into a large and muscular scrag. Alone facing the large scrag, Six swings and wounds it, but quickly discovers that his weapon does less damage than it should. Nameless explains why, shouting from the rear, "It's a lycanthrope - you need silver weapons!" Nameless also summons a pair of large pseudonatural sharks to keep the scrag busy, which immediately rip into it. The two sahuagin unaffected by the hag's appearance also boldly charge in, one having its head ripped off instantly for its pains. Nevertheless, they buy Six enough time to back out of the fight. Remembering the vial of silversheen he found so long ago, he pulls it out and begins to use it on his chain's barbs (which, in these conditions, consists mainly of opening it and hurriedly swinging the chain back and forth in the cloud of silversheen that forms in the water).The hag is evidently a spellcaster too, since it swims closer and pronounces the words of a hideous laughter spell. Six manages to shake off the effect and continues trying to enhance his weapon. Luna, having just dispatched one of the unconscious scrags permanently with a produce flame (amusingly delivered with the shark's snout), notices that the hag has no enemies and zooms forward. Her teeth slam shut on the hag's arm, causing it to scream in anger. Unnoticed on the ground below, Corven painfully uses an infusion of bull's strength to give him the strength to stand, though he still cannot swim, and starts slowly trudging towards the others. Above him, Nameless begins to swim closer to the unconscious Gareth, casting a spell on the way to summon another shark to bother the large scrag. While the scrag continues to shred its multiple enemies, slaying the sahuagin fighting it and going on to wound one of the pseudonatural sharks, the hag uses less physical methods. It gazes deep into Luna's eye, and she feels a strange weakness overtake her. Unable to resist********, she rolls over, floating motionless near it. The hag grins in triumph and swims closer, until another pseudonatural shark appears before it and wipes the grin off its face, as well as a significant amount of flesh off her body.Having laced his weapon with silversheen, Six rejoins the fight, and for the next few seconds the battle consists of Six and the summoned sharks against the scrag and the hag, with Nameless slowly nearing Gareth and Corven doing so on the ground below. The scrag has trouble dispatching its multiple enemies due to the pseudonatural creatures' resistance to non-magical damage and the infusion Corven had placed on Six earlier, making his form as resistant as granite. Though Six suffers significant damage, he is able to keep fighting, and causes wounds that even the scrag's regeneration cannot fully overcome. The hag tries to use her evil eye on the shark fighting it and is surprised to fail*********. By the time she manages to affect it, she is badly wounded.Nameless finally reaches Gareth and uses an item that Corven had crafted on the voyage, which allows him to heal the paladin. A groggy Gareth regains his balance, and (realizing that his locked gauntlet has kept Kizmet in his hand) then steps in and smites the scrag with everything that he has. The badly wounded creature cannot resist and collapses. Corven, who has finally got close enough to use his wand on it, gives a disgusted sigh and then triggers the wand anyway, blasting two holes in its chest and slaying it for good. The hag, now alone, decides to risk flight, but the most recently summoned shark bites into it as it passes by, knocking it unconscious. The shark promptly proceeds to chew some large holes in it.With the enemies all dead, the Angels heal themselves and proceed to check on the enemies. They discover that they cannot revive Luna, who is unwounded but completely unresponsive. Nameless says that he has read something about a hag's evil eye affecting its target for days on end, but that a spell to remove curses should work on her. Leaving the three sahuagin to guard her, the others proceed into the wreck. They discover that it is the Merry Celestial and was almost certainly sunk in a storm, as the sahuagin had said. There are a few smaller holes that seem to have been ripped by the scrags trying to make lairs for themselves. Some bodies litter the wreck, though most have been stuck in a makeshift larder with a couple of sahuagin corpses, some of them partly eaten already. After checking what was probably the captain's cabin, they find a bag of galifars and a pouch of gems. Six also locates and takes whatever papers have survived. In checking the bodies, they discover one of a man in armor, who has a magical buckler and a well-made longsword. They take these along, as well as the similarly well-made spear of the hag, and the magical ring it wore. The ship has little cargo that would be salvageable, and even that would take serious time and effort, so they do not take any of it.After finishing their search, the group heads back. Nameless suggests they take the corpses along, so they do so, after wrapping them in tarpaulin and tying them together. The sahuagin seem a little confused at this, one suggesting that if they need snacks they can find fresher fare. With the corpses and the still-dazed Luna-shark in tow, they head back. Once they reach the boat, the trip back is quite simple.When they reach the Wave's Bounty, the sahuagin leave them, and the adventurers re-embark. They are greeted with cheers and Syrina thanks them profusely for their efforts once she hears what happened. She also thanks them for the papers that they recovered, and takes the money and gems to return them to their owners. She suggests that they retain and make use of the longsword and buckler, saying that she will tell them if anyone ever asks about it. While the others are already healed, Daelan takes care of Corven's drained strength. Unfortunately, neither he nor Corven can heal Luna yet, so sailors have to take shifts keeping her afloat and in the water. As well as quickly pull her out of the water when she turns back into her normal form. Then she is quickly dried and taken to her bunk, to remain there till she can be cured the next day.The sahuagin who are supposed to guide the ship arrive shortly after the adventurers return, and once Luna has been taken care of, the Wave's Bounty heads into Shargon's Teeth.* Yes, that is a reference, and yes, I know it's a sickness on my part.** Took 54 pts of damage in one rd*** Rolled a 19, which exactly matched the 4 the kraken rolled, and only because it took a -20 with Improved Grab**** And swearing at the DM***** Went down to Str 1*******Took him exactly to -10. Yay for action points!******** Natural 1 *********Shark got a natural 20</blockquote>

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