"Can you speak to the other sea lions?" Leon asks the trident. "We would rather not have to destroy such beasts, but will if they will not let us pass."

There was a pause while Wave was trying to reach the creatures' minds but then came the answer. "They are forced to attack. You will have to kill them all to get through." Wave was not all that sad - a battle was a battle for the weapon, that spent so long in idlness.

"The sea lions are going to attack." Leon informs the others. "They are forced to do so, so there is no reasoning with them. We will have to slay them to reach the door." He grips his trident as he moves towards the beasts. As he does so he will send the one under his control in to attack the others. "We should attack with the sea lion I control, so we can overwhelm them quickly." he advises the others.

Ramious nods, “Let’s lure them out of the water then.  make them fight us on solid ground.”  

He moves back so his back against the wall and waits with his sword ready to strike. 

"Can you taunt the sea lions to get them to come out at us?" Leon asks his trident as he nods to Ramious, seeing the validity of the teifling's tactics. He then looks to Bugs. "You have any way to taunt and anger the sea lions as well?" he asks.

 "What? How? No! Are we fighting or not here?" Wave seemed to find the question ridiculous and was eager to start another blood spree.

Water creatures looked comfortable enough in the air as well as in the water - should they need to reach anyone on the ledge right now, they would clearly be able to do so.

Bugs touches his ring and feel the magic activate.  He clears his throat and yells out.  "We control your friend.  Only way to free him is to come get us!"

Activate ring for speak with animal spell.

S1 9, S2 21, S4 10

Hart to tell if the creatures understood Bernard in their current state, but he certainly got their attention. All of them stopped tearing apart the bodies of the manticore and focused their eyes on the still moving prey all over the pool. A growling chorus filled the air and heads turned to people on the "shore" - the lions were ready to attack.

 Initiative order: Bernard Ramious Leon S3 -   S2 S4 S1 - Alyssa

 Round 1

Bernard Ramious Leon&S3 - go!

"You and I can dive in and fight them, but we would be better served, and fighting smarter, if we get them to come to us." Leon advises his trident with a what-you-going-to-do shrug for the flesh-and-blood companions near at hand. "If you can provoke them into a senseless attempt to get to us out of the water, then it would be easier for those who fight alongside us to aid in the combat." He casts minor illusion making the smell of blood fill the water, hoping to rile up the sea lions a bit himself.

((Agitated animal are ready to attack now but you can strike first - see post above))

(Still staying with my previous post, as I don't believe the sea lions are on shore at this point. Leon would use his action to try to draw them to land still, so waiting on their action to see what they do, and moving back from the water as he waits.)

Alyssa would quietly wait for the three to work out what they could do to try to lure the creatures to shore. She’d glance around and shift her weight. Eventually, she’d reach in her pack to grab a torch. If the wizard had to move a little closer so all of the creatures could hear her clearly, she would. She’d then test the weight of the ‘stick’ in her hand, waving it a bit extra to try and flag their attention. Blue hues stare down the beasts. They begin to cloud over white. *“Fetch.” The elf lobs the torch to a safe/strategic location outside of the water.

Movement: To accommodate 60ft if necessary
Free Action: Drop(lob) Torch in a water free space
Action 3rd level: Command to target all 3 sea lions. Wis DC 14
(*Contemplated using “Come” or “Forward”, but thought ‘Fetch’ could allow for us to ‘direct’ where it goes if Blue allows for the free action? Could use Grovel for advantage but thought would be best out of water?)

(Lions do not need to first get to the "shore" to attack. They will do it at their turn while attacking. So, right now Leon just allowing them to attack first. Though one later has a chance to be commanded by Alyssa)

Bugs shrugs and pulls one javelin from his quiver.  He checks its weight and then throws if at the sea lion.  

Attack: 5 Damage: 2

It is as effective as tossing a stick into water... splash.

Lions, feasting on manticores, are big enough targets, but the slippery floor made the strong shot hit the water.

Ramious readies his spell...booming blade....his weapon out...ready to attack if a Sea Lion should burst from the water.  The spell will punish them if it attempts to withdraw back into the pool.

(If there were undeclared readied actions - use them)

The waiting tactic worked, maybe even too effectively. One line did jump out of the water -  to attack Bernard. Others did not bother to fully leave the pool and their tails agitated the water near the ledge. But they all attacked sweet two-legged meat.

S1vs Bernard: Attack: 10 Damage: 13
                          Attack: 16 Damage: 8
                          Attack: 14 Damage: 14

S2vs Ramious: Attack: 14 Damage: 8
                          Attack: 24 Damage: 12
                          Attack: 19 Damage: 16

S4vs Leon: Attack: 19 Damage: 14
                          Attack: 18 Damage: 5
                          Attack: 22 Damage: 14

The attacks halted for a moment, though, when Alyssa's strangely full and commanding voice filled the room. Save vs Command: S1 14 S2 12 S4 21

The air and the solid ground instead of water did weaken the creatures - even those half-submerged were less than a half successful. But they were determined to continue, except the one: the lion attacking Ramious suddenly lost interest in its prey and slid back into the water, trying to catch that torch, that Alyssa dropped into the water and now could be seen at the bottom of the pool. (S2 is inactive for the next round)

 Round 2

Bernard Ramious Leon&S3 (S4 is by Leon and can be attacked by both him and "his" sea lion)

Ramious' readied attack vs S2 : Attack: 10 Damage: 14 + 3 thunder.  It then takes 8 thunder damage when it tries to leave to go get the torch. 

So it does, but the desire to obey command is stronger than pain!

I believe this turn Ramious still has an action

Seeing his foe flee, Ramious turns and attacks the one fighting Bernard.  (Do we get flanking in this campaign, I can never remember, i"ll roll with advantage in case we do)

Attack: 23 Damage: 11 + 5 thunder damage. (+5 additional thunder damage if I had advantage, due to crit)

So, if flanking:   Nat 20, 25 total damage.

No flanking:  Hit AC 18, 17 total damage.