The salty smell of the air is overwhelmed by the smell of burning fish, as Aoth turns 3 pounds of Zeflan's catch into a lump of charcoal. Luckily, Zeflan caught a surplus today, so it isn't too bad. Zeflan finds fishing rather easy today, catching many fish, though he doesn't catch anything particularly large. He's so distracted by the smoky smell of Aoth's cooking and Welby's singing that he almost loses his rod as he hooks onto something much larger than he's ever caught before. Welby sees a dark shape in the water where Zeflan's line disappears into the ocean.

Zeflan, please make a Strength(Athletics) check.

It was a strange sensation to say the least. Normally Zeflan's fishing occurred in peace and quiet but in between the smell of burnt fish, the captain's singing and the yet still unfamiliar setting, he found himself losing his calm. He would have also lost his fishing rod were it not for practised reflexes when he felt something large tugging at his line.

Athletics 10
Haha, mediocre...

The thing at the end of the rod pulls back: 5

But Zeflan holds on, reeling it further in. After some more struggling, something breaks the surface, but it's not a fish. A fierce, fishlike head rises out of the water. It's almost triangular in shape, sloping down and outward toward its wide mouth, filled with small, sharp teeth. Large eyes stare unblinking from its hideous face. Next out of the water is a scrawny chest, covered in fish scales, supporting two long, wiry arms which end in three clawed digits. just under the surface of the water is its long, eel-like tail. You can see Zeflan's hook firmly lodged in its lip as it opens its mouth, letting out a horrifying scream. Strangely, the scream sounds like a terrified woman's scream of fear and pain, rather than the scream of rage you expected to escape the creature's lips. It grabs onto the line and pulls.

Everyone, roll initiative!

(I dunno why there's all that random text below, let me know if you can't see the image.)https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/[img]https:/i.imgur.com/BeuRh3G.png[/img]" alt="">https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/[Imgur](https:/imgur.com/BeuRh3G)" alt="">

(just realized y'all aren't gonna get the notification for me editing the message unless I post, so here you go notification ahh)

Oh yeah also its initiative: 19

Welby Initiative: 15

Aoth Initiative: 20

Zeflan initiative: 20

Initiative Order:
19 - Eel-Goblin Horror
17 - Zeflan
15 - Welby
12 - Aoth
8 - Eradius

The eel-man creature yanks at the fishing line, attempting to pull Zeflan in with it.

Zeflan, please make a DC 16 Athletics check. On a failure, you must make a dexterity saving throw. If you make the saving throw, you can choose to let go of the rod rather than be pulled in. If you fail the saving throw, you are pulled into the water. On a success on the check, nothing happens.

 Athletics 23

Zeflan felt the creature tugging at his fishing line. It seems like it was trying to pull him off the ship and into the water! Zeflan was always up for a swim but he was not having any of that right now.

'Could. You. Not.' Zeflan grunting at the impromptu tug of war. He turned to the others. 'Some help, please.'

Zeflan took a couple of steps back, dragging the creature towards the boat, and tried to the same to it as it tried to do to him.

Mechanics
- Move: 15 feet backwards (I take it I'm currently grappling the creature?)
- Action: trying to reel in the creature onto the boat. Athletics: 10
Feel free to adjust if that is not possible.

The creature pulls as hard as it can, but Zeflan manages to keep his ground(ties result in no change). He begins pulling it in, and the creature offers no resistance, allowing itself to be pulled up. I'm not saying it's quiet though, as it screeches once again in a plethora of voices, some deep, some high, some young, and some old. The hook tears out of its lip as soon as it reaches the deck, causing blood to ooze out(2 damage).

Everyone else, you're up! Feel free to post in any order, though your actions will happen in order of the initiative order.

Welby runs in and tries to position himself to stop the creature from moving too much around the deck (allowing for a flanking position). He stabs the creature with his rapier first, then follows up with a jab from his dagger.

Rapier Attack: 19 Damage: 5

Dagger (Off-hand) Attack: 9 Damage: 3 

Aoth yelps in surprise as he sees the creature, "That's not a fish I can cook with, Zeflan!"

Aoth's eyes glow a faint golden-yellow as he begins speaking unintelligible words, and extends his arm, pointing at the creature with a finger. (Sacred Flame)

(Meta: DC 14 DEX save, or the creature takes 2 radiant damage)

Welby stabs at the creature as it flops about on the deck, catching it in the arm. It howls in response, but doesn't seem incredibly injured. He attempts to follow up with his dagger, but the gods of action economy descend from the heavens and stop him. 10 The creature is too busy flopping about to notice Aoth's beam of holy light, and its skin is scorched, reminding everyone of Aoth's cooking. Everyone feels unusually confident, as Eradius blesses them.

The creature lets out another shriek or two as it leaps toward Welby in a flurry of teeth and claws.

Attack: 7 Damage: 6

Attack: 18 Damage: 3

While Welby dances out of the way of its teeth, its claws hit home, slicing into him. They wrap around his body, holding him still.

(Welby is now grappled and restrained, escape DC 13)

(Everyone is up)

No longer needing to keep hold of the fishing rod, Zeflan dropped it on the deck and reached for his trident. Seeing the captain in danger, Zeflan charged at the creature with his weapon firmly in two hands, fully intent on piercing the creature's flesh. He charged headlong at it, a combination of adrenaline and divine favour spurring him on.

Attack: 8 Damage: 5
Bless: 3
Total attack roll: 11

OOC: and so it goes, the curse of every first PbP combat having shitty rolls...
EDIT: added in Bless

Welby, now restrained, glares into the creatures eyes and says "You're going to make an excellent belt!", casting Vicious Mockery (Wisdom Save DC 14 or 1 psychic damage and disadvantage on next attack).

Aoth yells over the shrieking of the fish-humanoid-thing - "Well, actually, maybe I can cook it!" - and points his finger again at the creature, speaking in an other-worldly tongue as his eyes faintly glow yellow. (Sacred Flame)

(Meta: DC 14 DEX save or the creature takes 1 damage - Bless: 1 I forgot it's a saving throw, and not a spell attack. And also damn, we're rolling poorly!)

Saves: 21 13

Zeflan stabs at the creature, but it dodges out of the way, straight into Eradius' mace. The creature's knees would buckle from the blow, but it doesn't actually have knees. Instead, it just kind of flops in an injured manner. Welby's words cause it to look confused, and it fails to notice Aoth's searing light before its too late, and another patch of skin is blackened and burnt. While the damage done isn't impressive, it's certainly adding up, and the creature seems to be weakening significantly. Not significantly enough to stop it from trying to eat Welby's head and tear him to shreds, though.

Attack: 15 Damage: 2

Attack: 23 Damage: 12

Inexplicably, Welby manages to dodge both blows, despite being firmly held in its grasp. Slippery little hobbitses.

(Everyone is up)

Zeflan, encouraged by the fact that they were getting the upper hand on the creature, attacks once more with his trident.

(level 1, not much he can do yet)

Attack: 16 Damage: 10

Aoth frowns this time declaring, "Okay, actually, maybe I can't cook it! It doesn't smell nearly as good as last night's meal!". Aoth runs forward, and starts trying to pry the creature's arms apart, to help Zeflan get out of it's grasp.

(Meta: Providing the Help action to Zeflan)

(It's grappling and restraining Welby, not Zeflan)