150411 Party is Attacked at Night by Sahuagin Assault Forces!

JOIN THE GROUP! NOTICE : Two seats are now open for those individuals that would like to be a part of the action each and every week, be sure to send the DM a private message of your interest, and we'll be sure to send you an invitation in advance of this coming Saturday night game. Don't delay, these opportunities don't come around too often, and are filled very quickly. You are free to roll up a character, or use one of the pre-made sheets that are also available. Speak up, and make yourself known ASAP. Thank you ! TWITCH STREAM Be sure to participate with the group each week LIVE! at <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire" rel="nofollow">www.twitch.tv/dm4hire</a> every Saturday night at 6 PM CST until late. View this entire session here... Part 1 <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648872773" rel="nofollow">http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648872773</a> Part 2 <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648873194" rel="nofollow">http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648873194</a> Part 3 <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648874362" rel="nofollow">http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648874362</a> Part 4 <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648885639" rel="nofollow">http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648885639</a> Part 5 <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648901984" rel="nofollow">http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/648901984</a> Twitch.tv keeps each broadcast for one week only , so be sure to stay up-to-date while it is still available, and be sure to click the heart icon under the twitch screen to 'follow' the group and be alerted of each new session. BEHIND THE DM SCREEN TALK (twitch.tv broadcast transcript) <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1829336/150411-b" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1829336/150411-b</a>... QUICK READ RECAP The party chooses spells to be learned for the following day and settles down for the night, volunteers assign themselves to guard duty, and the first watch are alerted to trouble when their row boat is seen on fire, Argo's war dog starts barking and an initial assault of sahuagin forces advance to their base camp from the nearby river access point. Battle ensues, but some party members are still asleep and some haven't had sufficient time to learn their new spells, putting them all into a seriously precarious position! DM SESSION LOG 150411 Spells memorized. Svava, Bard - audible glamor, sound bubble, color spray, web* Tralann - sleep, magic missile*, invisibility, wall of fog*, web* Argo - 2x magic missile*, armor, color spray* , mirror image, web*, Melf's acid arrow* , fireball* (Spells cast are marked with an asterisk *) Spells to be memorized the following day. Svava, Bard - audible glamor x3, web Tralann - hypnotism, magic missile, invisibility, wall of fog, web Argo - 4x magic missile, mirror image, blur, water breathing ------------------ Previously.... Party retreats to base camp after initial assault. Karmadel notifies the party that the ship out at sea is on fire. Sahuagin points to burning boat and laughs. Party establishes guard duty for sleeping, since the sahuagin obviously know that they are there. Karmadel asks aquatic friends to make noise if they see anything attempting to approach the western side of the plateau camp. Party rests to regain HP and spells for next day. Aaron, Fred, Barney, Argo 2nd watch: Traalan, Bjorn, and 4 marines, Early Morning Watch: Svava, Bard Fans: Balfon Continued... Party recommends using priest messenger spell as to what is going on. Gather information from prisoner. Party extinguishes camp fires before retiring for the night. Karmadel's sword exclaims 'You snore too loud, can you keep it down!' Sahuagin attack party while sleeping from NE corner setting fire to row boat afterwards. Hitting Argo the mage with a javelin for 6 hp of damage reducing his health to 18 hp of life. Argo's dog starts barking. Sahuagin attack from darkness. Aaron screams 'Everybody get up!' and moves to attack the forces missing on an AC 5. NPC Fred hits with a 17 THAC0 for 8 hp of damage. Aaron moves to attack previously attacked sahuagin and drops his weapon. Bjorn comes charging out to cause 9 hp of damage on the line of sahuagin javelin throwers. Argo dog attempts to attack and misses. Argo fires off Melfs acid arrow and hits AC7 which is a miss. Fred makes a critical attack on a sahuagin fighter for minor bleeding and half move for 12 hp of double damage. NPC fighter hits at 18 for 7 hp of damage. Lizard man hits AC4 for 3 hp of damage. Fred the NPC manages to dodge all sahuagin net 6 attacks. Ballista fires and hits a sahuagin for 9 hp of damage. Argo war dog hits AC 5 for 7 hp of damage. Lizard man trapped by sahuagin net breaks free. Tralaan casts wall of fog spell behind javelin throwing sahuagin behind bjorn. Argo casts color spray affecting 4 sahugin javalin throwers making them unconscious for 5 rounds. Svava fan coup de gras argo affected sahuagin. Javelin throwing sahuagin hit bjorn for 5 hp of damage reducing his health to 41. Lizardman fans perform coup de gras on color spray affected sahuagin x3 Lizard man NPC hits sahuagin for 3 hp of damage. Balfon hit sahuagin for 10 hp of damage. Sahuagin attack NPC for 10 hp of damage bringing him to 0 hp unconscious. Karmadel casts Entagle attempting to cause all vegatation to trap all affected sahuagin. Aaron destoys sahuagin warrior with 10 hp of damage. Bjorn hits sahuagin for 7 hp of damage and knock down. Party lump sum XP with all aspects considered (including but not limited to) session survival, skill usage, role-playing, alignment checks, etc: XP DISTRIBUTION: Svava, Bard (Aurora): 600 Karmadel, Priest (Christopher S.): 600 Oceanus Elf, Aquatic (Andrew A.): 600 Bjorn, Fighter (Cody):600 Tralann (Shalvenay K) Elf, Half: 600 Balfon Stonefoot (Skyhawk): 600 Argo Mage (Paul W.):600 Aaron Greencork (Rod D.): 600

The trouble being, with the sahuagin in their sheer nastiness and cunning, didn't miss a beat to attack the party at night, unfortunately, if you look above at this DM Session Log posting, you will see that the spells available to the casters are the ones without an asterisk beside them. So, this might present a problem if the ones that are still available, are accidentally/inadvertently used prematurely for limited effect (ie, not maximum effect).

THE Dungeon Master said: Water breathing was added in place of fireball. Spells were chosen with pure assault in mind, by Argo anyway. if recon is going to be on the floor now that we can actually discuss things, i feel my fireball would be water breathing. keep in mind Argo has not rested yet, he was on first watch.

Karmadel has some news to share with the group regarding Oceanus.

Well Oceanus is an Aquatic Elf, and one of his abilities is to Confer Water Breathing once per day on any one person for once hour per his level, I have a Helm of Underwater Action (basically a one item that allows me to breath and have free action, and Oceanus can confer water breathing on the one wearing the ring of free action, + I also have the spell Water Breathing as the a Cleric.

It should be pointed out, and clarified, that there was confusion between the stated initial landing point of the main ship with the location of where the row boat ended up. The module ( and the in game map handout) mark the point of disembarkation with the letter 'A' at the mouth of the river. The assumption was incorrectly being made that any potential invading sahuagin forces would some how only be able to approach the base camp from the fortress directly, failing to make the realization that, after the burning of the main ship, that a group was already at sea actively looking for any other possible intrusions, and rather than hiding the row boat for concealment (irregardless of it's placement), the presence of the party had been discovered (randomly of course) and as a a result, accidentally drawing them into an unprotected area. I hope this helps us understand the current situation better.

Ok, here's the run down folks, first our ship is destroyed, second so is our long boats that got us to shore. Now to get home would be even more dangerous since the swamp is completely unknown even to the lizardmen that lived there. So with what info i can obtain from our sahuagin prisoner, write down all, then use the Messenger spell to have a bird deliver it to the mayor of Salt Marsh for a request of another ship cause the sahuagin destroyed it. So we are staying to be the first and hopefully be the final wave to stop the sahuagin. I will also in the note warn them about the giant octopi they seem to control, which is completely unusual since octopi and sahuagin are natural enemies and how they sunk the base 75 feet deeper underwater. So now here's the battle plan, yes only a small force of 3 can go underwater and fight, and that is exactly what will have to make the underwater assault. Me Karmadel the cleric, Oceanus our fighter / thief, and a fighter with the Ring of Free Action, I can cast water breathing on him, and so can Oceanus cause it is an Aquatic Elf natural ability to Confer Water Breathing once per day for 1 hour per the casters level. We will position our selves hidden out of sight from the underwater access point at the back of the base. The rest of our party on the shore will draw them out, and fight them on land, once they draw their attention then my party of 3 will go in and deal with the leftovers which will be unavoidable, but should't be to much that we can't handle, since the sahuagin so far as they can see, knows we never tried anything underwater which means they would think we don't have the capability to do so. After we deal with whats left through the underwater portcullis, we will seal the portcullis and break it so that the sahuagin can't retreat back down through it. Now we are committed inside the shore party deals with those sahuagin, then move to front gate and set up a defense and start laying siege on it to keep drawing them. All this will help keep the sahuagin attention so they don't notice or at least make it harder for them to notice us inside as we take them / their leader out.

Water breathing spell was added per Argo request, given the current flexibility due to the recent changes (see above).

i dont think you get just how far metal clinking can be heard underwater. Oceanus, as our only "theif" should be going alone, our other fighters and cleric should be out holding attention. unless our cleric and the other fighter are going completely unarmored, of course. This is not sanctioned as a seek and destroy or even seek and hold till reinforcements arrive. our objective is to gather intel. period. we announced ourselves, now use that yes, but not to wipe them out, but to do our job, so Salt Marsh can do theirs. stop the whole "wipe them off the face of the earth". thats not what we are being paid to do, and in the end will get us killed.

24 hours til game day, I would like to take a moment to encourage other folks to weigh in with their concerns, strategies, etc. as well, so that we have it all on the table to discuss...outside of game play. Thank you. Love what I see so far. Good work.

I read what was written and it still is not what we are being paid to do. our job is recon, not wipe out. we can use your animals and water breathing spells to escape through the water after the recon is done. we complete our mission. trying to wipe a group with enough power to sink an island is suicide. Our mission objective is recon, not this twisted kill them all fantasy to fall into.

This is true. we could very well indeed upset the council causing their wrath to fall upon us. i presume we should all quickly call a council of party members to get an adequate idea of what our next move is. seems very well like we are constantly discussing how too achieve the same thing different ways. but paul is right. from what i gather....we should proceed with the path that concludes the councils goals if we are really going to go off the books with the agenda, then what IS our goals? our objective seems not too clear. if the water creatures are not reliable at best. minimal intelligence with a lack of desire. really they are not much use even under control of us. because the enemies our still attacking and the creatures just stand by and watch because they are charmed or something. i believe they would serve us better free where their instincts may actually aide us..also, it is my belief that too much time we spend debating next move and the enemy simply just keeps antagonizing us with out fear. seems unlikely that we will just walk through their society and then not discover us. it is complete suicide. why must us going inside be the only option? maybe we could send word to the council for a decision, recruit other natural enemies of them. reveal their location to all who hate then. seek a different entrance or make our own? maybe? magic is powerful used correctly. any team is only as good as the leader is act making precise decisions, when that fails.....really attack an enemis stronghold when they know we are there already? omnly if our forces were stronger.!

also truly, this should be a group effort. not just a couple trying to ad-hoc play multi characters. each character would have choose his course action. and have input. a party as defined...a detachment,squad,or detail of troops assigned to perform some particular mission or service.when a person varies from the course he should be removed from the detail. see thin about a mission , we are here to complete it sucessfully , not change our goel to suit anothers personel agenda.

Going in is the only real way to complete the objectives the council gave us which is recon and intel. we all jumped in and announced ourselves through blood lust, now that we have ruined any advantage we had, our only real choice is distract and infiltrate. these things seem to target spellcasters innately, and if a caster is missing, something is not right. we need to remember, they are not animals, but an intelligent society. thats why i say, our fighter/thief go in as concealed as we can make him, as the rest of the power launches an 'attack'. this is our only clear path now, and we use the whales/sharks, under charm, to ferry us back to Salt Marsh.

I have a question is there anyplace that you guys can fall back to? I mean aside from the deadly swamp. (And not the sunk boats lol) if you abandon your defences and just move away from them and keep your carbon footprint to a minimum you could very well allow them to think they've won and that you've fled into the swamps to be eaten by crocodiles or whatever. That then would allow your theif a chance to slip in while they are all congratulating each other and high fiving. Again just another idea from me lol. Don't you all have someone with an ability to tell how many critters are in the base to begin with? I think someone mentioned a heartbeat spell or something like that, with that spell and the way that water conducts sound you should be able to get an accurate count of the shahugin. At least that way you'd know how many the folks of salt marsh will have to deal with.

No Tomas H. we are actually stuck is a proverbial hard place on this one. No Place to retreat, wish there was, we didn't mean for the fight to start, we was just things setup at first, then we was attacked and had to retreat. then our ship / boats was destroyed. And yes a lot of this could've been possibly averted but not anymore, we have a leader that we all elected and agreed to, and was following her, even if her decision was wrong, we followed through, and now stuck with what inevitably to come.

All good stuff. Tabling all discussions now is the smart thing to do, and the healthy thing to do, whether right, wrong or indifferent. We obviously need to consider all of the options available to the group and exploit them all to best advantage; stay true to what is expected, and with a little luck, and, most importantly, proper timing of all the elements , the party should do fairly well, and not suffer too badly when the smoke clears and the dust settles. When we step outside of our comfort zones, and talk through these things, all eventualities will surface, and only then can they be considered, which alone, in my humble opinion, is worth the price of admission. Has everyone commented on the pros and cons of the proposed plans? That is always a good way to further any given study, by breaking them down to their constituent parts, piece by piece, and analyze them individually, and not only the plans, but also the other comments made by those offering assistance.. It has once been said, the solution to the problem is in the problem itself. It has also been said, sometimes the best solution, is the simplest and easiest, and often times right there in front of us, if we just look at our strengths and our capabilities, and use them to best advantage, by thinking outside the proverbial box, so to speak.