Tide of Retribution (Campaign Thread)

With the potions acquired, the party members that can't breath underwater now have a total of 2 hours worth of air. And the party makes it back to the ship with no fuss - Usul leading the way, no doubt trying to hide his gloating at having snagged the dust of dryness. 

"And so the merry band of misfits returns," Captain Three Earrings says as you all arrive back at the ship. "The crew just about has the ship ready to head back out. Are you ready, now? You’re about to risk life and limb for naught but treasure and a sense of vengeance. The only folk who would do such a thing are the greedy, the foolish, and those with nothing left to lose."

Insight checks for the lot of you:

• Darla: 14 
• Snurk: 18 
• Stanley: 19 
• Usul: 13 
• Nalos: 2

"Ready as we're able tae be, all told." Darla says, walking up to the Captain. "So, Ah assume ye have a plan o' attack fur this endeavor. What say we all go have a sit down, work out th' finer points as we go."

For Darla and Nalos:

 "I do have a plan - we attack!" she says with a slight chuckle. "Let's get underway!" Then with a wave of her hand towards the party members, gesturing for them to follow her, she walks back to her captain's quarters.

Once everyone is in her room, she says plainly, "So, the plan is simple: we sail back for Palma Flora. You take the equipment I procured for you and you dive into the trench and retrieve the rod and any other treasure you might find there along the way. Any questions?"

Darla grabs Stanley's hands, turning to the others to say, "Give us a wee moment.", then pulls Stanley out of the room. "Stanley, dear, take a deep breath fur me, would ye. Hold it in fur a bit, then let it out slow, nae less than a ten count. Then count tae three, an' do it one more time sweetheart." She says calmly. "Ye jus' let me know when yer feelin' better, okay?"

Stanley thinks about retorting, but Darla's demeanor calms him.  He follows her words, breathing in through his nose, and out slowly... then says, "Okay, but Darla... I don't want to die, and this is practically throwing ourselves into the deep end - no pun intended.  I like the idea of adventure but we have no real plan going in there.  Oh, just attack, she says.  Ha ha.  Look at us, Darla.  We're not fighters."

"Ah know dear, that's why we're havin' a plannin' session. Ah fur one willnae allow any o' us tae jump intae this mess unless we have a clear idea what we're doin'." Darla says, then looks around, pulling him gently away from the door a bit further, whispering, "Frankly, Ah 'hink things arenae quite as they seem. Somethin' is aff about th' whole affair. We'll get a good plan in place, take a look at what we're dealin' with, and go from there, aye? Jus' need tae keep our heads in th' meanwhile."

Stanley looks at Darla for a moment, then closes his eyes.  Nodding, he opens them again, deciding to trust his friend.  "Alright, I'm with you."

When the two of you come back into the room, Captain Three Earrings is waiting and says, "Everything okay? I think you might be over complicating the mission in your mind, which seems to be causing you some stress. You have everything you need, already, to make this work."

"Oh, Ah'm sure we do. Now, tae say we're goin' in swingin' is all well an' good, but Ah 'hink we oughta really take a look at what we're facin'." Darla says, holding up one finger, "Firstly, an unknown number o' Sahuagin an' their pets," another finger, "secondly, one o' em has some terribly powerful rod o' some sort," a third, "and thirdly, there's five o' us, an' we nearly got our blocks knocked aff against jus' a few o' em back on th' Isle. That seems th' long an' short o' it, aye?" She says, walking around the room some before turning back to the group. "We were caught wi' our pants down th' first time Ah'd say, but still, this willnae be a stroll through th' glenn, so Ah fur one wouldnae be against a day fur scoutin'. These bubble hats give us an hour. Nalos an' Snurk, yer naturals tae th' water. If ye can, go down, get th' lay o' th' land... er, sea, Ah suppose," she laughs a bit, "then come back up, tell us what we're facin', and we'll go from there." She puts her hands on her hips, grinning. "Sound good fur a start?"

"I wouldn't mind scouting once we get there so we can get an idea of what we're dealing with," Nalos agrees.

Captain Three Earrings nods. She says, "Fine. Once we get back to Palma Flora, we'll let Nalos and Snurk go down and scout the situation out and report back to us before you go down to get the rod and take out the sahuagin."

Darla nods and turns, looking at Snurk. "Snurk, sweetlin', is tha' alright wit' ye'? Protectin' Nalos  whilst th' two o' ye scout things out?"

Snurk stomps his foot in another of his odd mannerisms. “I will be the overseer of Nalos.”

Darla smiles brightly at Snurk, looking like she's barely restraining herself from hugging him, "Oh, thank ye, darlin'"

Nalos looks at Snurk, not sure whether to be amused or concerned. Regardless, he says, "Then, it's settled. When we get to the island, we'll scout ahead."

As the meeting concludes with a safer plan in place, Captain Three Earrings sends you all out to take care of your ship duties. Within minutes, the crew has the boat underway. Within an hour, you are safely out to sea. 

The winds favor the characters on their return journey, and they arrive at the sunken ruins of Flora Isle at dawn on the third day of travel. Heidi Axebeard shouts out from the helm. “Sharkfeather Abyss! We’ve arrived!”

The crew moves to the starboard side of the ship to look across the waves as the first light of dawn creeps over the horizon. Along the distant coast, you can make out the mainland section of Palma Flora, which is intact but appears deserted, its residents presumably having fled in case of another sahuagin attack. The waters around the ship are murky and marked by only a few stray scraps of driftwood bobbing lazily on the surface.

When Captain Three Earrings hears the call that you have arrived on location, she sets everyone to get to their final preparations before Nalos and Snurk dive underwater. Before you know it, in the commotion to get everyone ready for infiltrating the depths, Nalos hears someone at the aft of the ship yell, "Ambush!"

Just then, everyone is attacked, simultaneously by a group of Sahuagin (6 of them) and two new creature that you hadn't seen before: they look like men, but the upper part of their bodies are sharks. (Since no one's passive perception was high enough, they get one surprise attack round.)

Sahuagin 1 & 2 are fighting crewmembers in the back of the ship.

Sahuagin 3 attacks Nalos: 

• Attack: 23 Damage: 11 

Sahuagin 4 attacks another crewmember.

Sahuagin 5 attacks Darla:

• Attack: 12 Damage: 2 

Sahuagin 6 attacks Stanley:

• Attack: 19 Damage: 4 

Sharkbody 1 attacks another crewmember and Sharkbody 2 goes off towards the captain's quarters.

• Sahuagin 3 misses Nalos
• Sahuagin 5 misses Darla
• Sahuagin 6 misses Stanley

For the purpose of allowing this fight to not take SUPER long with all of the enemies, I'll worry about the fights with the creatures and the crewmembers in the background. 

Initiative time!

• Darla (AC14): 19
• Snurk (AC15): 15
• Stanley (AC11): 17
• Usul (AC14): 22
• Nalos (AC13): 20
• Sahuagin (all 6) (AC12): 2
• Sharkbodies (both) (AC12): 5
• Crew (all of them minus Captain Three Earrings):  18
• Captain Three Earrings (AC15): 9 

Initiative Order:

1. Darla
2. Captain --> Crew
3. Usul
4. Nalos
5. Snurk
6. Sharkbodies
7. Stanely
8. Sahuagins

So, Darla is up! The nearest enemy to her is Sahuagin 5.