Something Smells....
The merchant stands on the edge of the ocean, looking out at the deep dark blue. He seemed nervous as you approached. If the way he'd been wringing his hands is any indication. Yet he'd relaxed immediately as you approached as a group. He doesn't smile though, instead his expression is arrogant and a little... Well you get the impression he thinks very highly of himself. "I need a small group to go down into the ruins below here and bring up all the things you find living - and not - inside it." He motions to the net beside him. "You can use this netting as a place to put everything inside. It's very sturdy..."
Here he hesitates and glances around then shrugs. "I assume you will not need anything else."
"All the things," Nemori replies flatly, folding her arms as she moves one foot a half step back and settles upon its heel. "Down under the water." She says again. Statements are being made that she'd probably be better off asking as questions... but maybe she's running these statements back at the group's contact as a means of letting him hear how.. dubious these mission parameters sound.
Khepri tilts its head. It looks at the water. Then at the others. Then back to the merchant. "I am capable of underwater operation, but this does not seem like an optimal group for such endeavors." The war golem looks at the others, head tilted again. Its eyes flick to Nemori, and it inquires, "Do you perhaps have gills? Arcane augmentations can take many forms."
Sora cocks her head to the side, "Hmm" she looks down and then looks back, "I don't breathe underwater." she says and then shakes her head a bit, "Not going to be the easiest to do." she looks towards the net, "Or are we just netfishing and hoping?"
Dirk boggles a little bit at the merchant. Then looks at the ocean. Then his mates. Then the merchant. Then back to his mates. "Is he bein' serious?" he asks, hooking a thumb over to the man. He looks back over to the merchant. "Laddie, we're adventurers, nae fisherfolk. What exactly is it that's down there that yer sendin' us after?" Lulu hop-hop-hops along Dirk's shoulder, leaning over to peer at the lapping waves. She click-clacks her beak, then twists her head around to peer at the merchant. She draws herself up tall and skinny, gathering in her wings and narrowing her eyes, until she becomes a miniature little vampirowl, hissing softly at the man. "Aye, I'm wi' Lulu," Dirk grunts. "Dwarves dinnae do so well in the water. Even less so -under- it."
The merchant lets out a long-suffering sigh and looks at Khepri for a moment before carefully pulling out of his pocket _three_ potions. "No, no. I have potions for those of you who can't breathe underwater." He seems reluctant to hand them out, as if it pains him to part with him, but he does and eyes Sora. "The ruins are quite far, but the potions are of good quality and should suffice the length of time it will take you to traverse them and bring me back - everything - you find."
This last is said almost specifically to Dirk. "Everything. Every animal, every coin." He glances toward the sea and then back to you. He glances at the owl and frowns. "That should be easy enough for you all."
Khepri tilts its head again. "Marine animals do not typically do well outside of their element. I hope you have vessels to contain such creatures when they are brought up out of the water." The war golem begins to unsling its knapsack, as well as its bow and arrows; such weapons will not be useful underwater. It then draws its khopesh, inspecting the blade carefully.
"Do I have.." Nemori cuts herself off mid-response to Khepri. She can't quite determine whether he's joking or not. That's probably the thing she dislikes most about these living constructs that seem so numerous in the city. "No. I will certainly need the potion," she says, looking away from the bird shaped war golem to glance at the others. Sora and Dirk (and Lulu.) Then she lets out a self-suffering sigh and reaches to take one of the potions. "If the duration on these expire, I will be back to find you," she promises the merchant.
Sora nods her head as she listens. It makes her mood a little better but still not the best. She nods, "At least there is that." she says and glances around then then back for a moment. She looks at each of the others.
Dirk squints at the merchant, then at the vial he gets handed. He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Piss up my arse," he mutters. He shrugs off his cloak and unwinds his scarf, tossing them both over his pony's saddle. His tricorne gets tossed atop. His boots get unlaced and pulled off, along with his socks. "Sorry Lulu," he says, gently setting his owl atop his saddle's horn. "Underwater's nae place fer a wee little owl." Lulu headtilts at her master, hoo-hooing softly. But her sad mood brightens when he digs into the saddlebag for a handful of seeds, leaving them in a pile on the brim of his tricorne. She puffs up happily and goes to start peck-pecking at the pile. Turning back to the water, Dirk squares his shoulders. "Right," he grunts, gripping his thunderbelcher's stock. With the other, he lifts the vial, pulling its cork with his teeth and spitting it out with a P-TOOH! "Bottoms up, friends!" He lifts his vial in cheers before tipping it back and gulping the contents.
The merchant gives Khepri an odd look but doesn't reply to his words. He instead focuses on the question of if the potions will last. "Don't worry I paid... well for those potions. They should do their work." He looks pained by this admission, but he waves a hand at you all to get into the water. "The ruins are straight out from here. You can't miss them. Remember to gather everything you find!" He waves again.
And with that, Khepri turns and begins marching into the waves, sword in hand. It's not the most ideal situation for it, but at least the golem doesn't have to worry about drowning. "Please take care," it intones as it advances into the water. "Beware of jellyfish, blowfish, crabs, sea snakes..." It sounds like it's reciting off a list it read once.
GAME: Nemori rolls sense motive: (5)+3: 8
Nemori looks at the potion dubiously, then follows Dirk's example, setting it aside for the moment. Boots, hat. She looks at the hat a moment longer... she really will be quite sad if it disappears. In fact, she almost has second (or is it fifth by now) thoughts. Her narrowing gaze looks at the merchant again.. but she just hasn't had time to learn to read the people of this city very well. And there is a driving purpose behind accepting these jobs.
Ultimately, she decides to follow Khepri into the water after quaffing the potion, keeping the vial in one of her pockets as she draws her own rapier and wades in.
Sora drinks her own potion. With a glance towards the merchant and a narrowing of her eyes, she turns and then follows the others into the water. She isn't sure what they are going to find, but should be interesting anyway. She really hates the water. She mutters to herself as she pulls her greatsword gripping with both hands. After all who knows what exactly is in the water.
Dirk gives the merchant the ol' hairy eyeball. Given those shaggy caterpillars he calls eyebrows, that's easily done. He glances over his shoulder. "Keep an eye on our stuff, Lulu," he says. "An' if 'e tries anything hinky, put the ol' ancestral dwarven curse on 'em." Lulu looks up from where she's been happily eating seeds. Blink blink. "Hoo hoo hooooo!" She twists her head around to peer at the merchant, then draws herself up into her vampirowl shape again, peering evilly in his direction. Do not taunt the Lulu. Vast evil and hatred lives in the Lulu. Snorting a chuckle, Dirk turns and starts splishing his way into the surf. "Down we go!" he booms, tossing himself forward and going down into the drink with a GLUB.
GAME: Khepri rolls perception: (18)+8: 26 GAME: Nemori rolls perception: (18)+9: 27 GAME: Dirk rolls Perception: (16)+9: 25 GAME: Sora rolls perception: (2)+7: 9
"Fish!" Exclaims the merchant's... hat? In a high, light feminine voice. The merchant colors and looks away from the ocean that everyone is disappearing into, his voice low.
"Go back to sleep, _please_."
"But fish?"
"Yes, when they get back!" The merchant glances hesitantly toward the ocean.
The ruins are exactly where he said they would be, and there's a large stone blocking most of the entryway. Only it's not a stone, it's an octopus. Blending in with the environment. It's actually very cleverly hidden.
Khepri marches along, not really swimming so much as stalking weirdly under water. It looks strange, as its gangling limbs carry it along. When the group reaches the ruins, though, it holds up a hand to stop the others, before pointing out the octopus with its khopesh. "A creature of the ocean impedes us," it gurgles.
Evidently Khepri has never seen an octopus before.
GAME: Dirk rolls 1d20+1: (10)+1+4: 15 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+1: (13)+1: 14
Sora cocks her head to the side and looks around as she hears the reference about the creature. She doesn't like being in the water and it is distracting her.
Nemori, conversely, does swim.. though very basically. She won't be winning any medals for grace or speed. When Khepri does call a halt, she rights herself, but continues to use her arms to try and keep herself stationary. Buoyancy is a tricky thing to compensate for. "Well. He said every creature," she comments to the others, gesturing to the tentacled monstrosity with her rapier. "Are we starting with that one, or saving it for when we leave?"
Dirk does, contrary to popular belief, actually swim somewhat decently. Although, like all his kin, he tends to sink rather than float. Still, he holds his thunderbelcher out like a bar, gripping it with both hands while steadily kicking his feet to propel himself through the water. Breathing water's quite the novel sensation, but he's a ranger. He adapts to natural environs easily. When he spies that octopus though, his eyes get big. "Beards o' me fathers," he mutters. He pulls himself up, treading water as he studies the great mollusk. "Now -there's- summat ye don't see every day, innit?" He swims a bit closer. "C'mon laddie, we're nae here tae hurt ye. Could ye just... let us by...?" Fortunately his beard has taken on a rather tendril-like appearance, swirling and swaying like great snowy fronds around his face. Perhaps it makes him look a bit like an octopus himself, for the creature is able to be hustled out of the way. He glances over his shoulder towards Nemori. "Och, how d'ye plan on carryin' it? Look at the size of 'im! He's -yuge-!"
The octopus moves a little out of the doorway, scurrying off to the side and then taking up its posture as a rock once again. It does a very good rock impression. It IS a rather large specimen of its species, but it also has conveniently moved to allow you access to the interior of the ruins.
Khepri eyes the large, multi-armed creature a bit suspiciously. "We might want to collect it as we leave. It seems uninclined to move too far, so long as we do not harass it." The yellow eyes turn to the others. "I for one do not think we can wrangle it while fighting anything else within the ruins."
Nemori looks at Dirk strangely for a moment. Maybe she, too, sees the octopus impression. More likely it is his question. "Me? Why would I carry it? I am hardly the muscle in this group, nor the one who talks to animals." The latter sort of kind of maybe being a bit of recognition of Dirk opening the way. Then she nods to Khepri and seems content to heed the suggestion of leaving it for now. "Then let us be about it. I keep feeling myself a fool for trusting that merchant." Though, she doesn't seem eager to be the first one through.
Sora just stays pretty quiet herself and just looking back and forth as she keeps an eye out for things around them as well.
Dirk shakes his head, making his beard-fronds swirl lazily through the water. "Well... 'e's nae -in- the ruin now, so... think we can give that big lad a pass." He squints a bit at the octopus as it once again re-rocks itself. "Lad? Lass? How d'ye even -tell- wi' octopuses? Octopi. Eight-arm-squiggly-things?" He wiggles his fingers. "Well... this ruin isn't goin' tae plunder itself!" Giving the octopus a two-fingered salute, he turns and starts swimming into the ruin proper.
The ruins lead you down a long hallway to a huge room which has three dark fish swimming around in it. The fish _immediately_ notice your presence and begin swimming toward you intently. You notice their sharp teeth and... Well that's the most notable thing about them before they close in on your location.
GAME: Sora rolls strike: aliased to finesse+3: (7)+11+3: 21 GAME: Sora rolls powdam: aliased to 2d6+3+2+1+1+6: (4)+3+2+1+1+6: 17
Sora doesn't like the water and here is a good reason why, fish with sharp teeth. She shakes her head and starts to dance with her greatsword, that is the best explanation for what she does with the greatsword that is almost as big as she is. Her movements seem to focus a bit more on power than accuracy as she whips the large blade and nearly splits one of the fish in half, not quite...but she came awfully close.
GAME: Khepri rolls weapon1: (17)+4: 21 GAME: Khepri rolls 1d8+3: (1)+3: 4 GAME: Dirk rolls Ranged-2: (13)+7+-2: 18
Right after Sora, Khepri comes, pulling itself along gracelessly -- but it's -there-, big and metallic and best of all, they don't seem to -notice- the golem. As one of the fish is savaged by the woman-warrior's silvery blade, Khepri comes in from the side and neatly spits it on its khopesh... giving the blade a shake to knock the cloven sea creature off.
GAME: Dirk rolls 1d12+4: (2)+4: 6 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+2: (19)+2: 21 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+2: (18)+2: 20
Dirk startles as he sees those three great fish with their yuge, sharp teeth come swimming their way towards him and his mates. He backpaddles, swinging up his thunderbelcher to his shoulder. The sound of the hammer striking the pan is muffled by the water, but the great spherical BWOOM that blossoms from the rifle's end is a sight to behold. The recoil sends him wafting back a bit, throwing his aim off. The bullet tears a decent graze out of the fish, but doesn't seem to hurt it much. "Gah!" he growls, racking the slide and setting up for his next shot.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d6: (1): 1 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+10: (14)+10: 24
The fish gnash their teeth, trying to get a little bite of flesh. The one attacking Dirk manages to bite him, and it... somehow attaches to the dwarf.
GAME: Sora rolls strike: aliased to finesse+3: (2)+11+3: 16 GAME: Sora rolls powdam: aliased to 2d6+3+2+1+1+6: (7)+3+2+1+1+6: 20
Sora avoids getting munched on and whips her blade around and that fish isn't going to be able to go after anyone else as she splits it in half. She shakes her head, "I hate the water." she mutters.
GAME: Khepri rolls CMB: (7)+3: 10
Once one fish is down, and a second hacked apart by Sora, Khepri moves to try and assist Dirk. "Curious. They seem attracted to living flesh and not so much golem structure." It grabs for the fish, but the scaly little creature slithers through its fingers. "Please hold still, I cannot remove it with you flailing around."
GAME: Dirk rolls cmb: (6)+5: 11 GAME: Dirk rolls cmb: (11)+5: 16 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+2: (19)+2: 21 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d6: (1): 1 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+10: (16)+10: 26
Dirk yelps as the fish chompfs down on his arm. "GYAAH!" He turns loose of his thunderbelcher, the rifle settling down onto the ocean floor. He goes into a death roll with the thing, his stumpy legs kicking and flailing as he scrabbles with his free hand to get a good grip. Finally, he manages to latch onto the thing's tail. "Grrrh! Get off GET OFFA ME!" he roars, heaving with all his strength. The fish's teeth rip free, leaving strands of his sweater floating as the cable-knit tears, along with a small cloud of dwarven blood. He does his best to fling the fish away. Of course, it doesn't go far, but at least it's not trying to eat him. Until, of course, it -is-. "HAAAGH! GET THIS THING OFFA ME!" he shrieks.
The offensive fish swims quickly forward while Dirk is distracted, and reattaches to his OTHER side.
GAME: Nemori rolls perception: (7)+9: 16 GAME: Nemori spends ONE use of BIT OF LUCK.
GAME: Sora rolls cmb: (16)+7: 23
It's quite obvious by now that Nemori is not wont to be the one to first step foot into danger. She places a certain value on her own well being that tends to rate higher than the value she puts on anyone else. Granted, she was a /little/ bit slow this time in following in.. but swimming like this makes close quarters even closer. By the time she hears the yells and sees the churning waters from the sudden assault, well, by then she's finally swimming into the room. It takes a moment for her to take in what's going on.. probably too short a time to get a full account.. and there's a fish attached to the dwarf. Of course there is.
"I thought the animals likes you," she remarks, not quite snidely, as she swims up behind Dirk and touches him on the arm, infusing him with a bit of luck. "Stop fooling around and get rid of that fish."
Sora looks at the last fish, and Dirk, and then her greatsword, "Suppose you don't wanna risk losing the arm." she mutters and then shakes her head and then holding her greatsword with her flesh hand she reaches over with the artifice arm and grabs onto the fish and rips it from Dirk's arm in a puff of blood.
GAME: Khepri rolls weapon1+2: (10)+4+2: 16 GAME: Khepri rolls 1d8+3: (5)+3: 8
Khepri is quick to take advantage of the fish being knocked loose again, and lunges with its khopesh, the blade cutting into the voracious sea creature. "It definitely seems to have developed a taste for dwarf." Pause. "Perhaps this is why dwarves live in mountains? Sea life instinctively preys on dwarves?"
GAME: Dirk rolls Ranged-2: (17)+7+-2: 22 GAME: Dirk rolls 1d12+4: (3)+4: 7 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+5: (14)+5: 19 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+4: (1)+4: 5
Dirk snarls and growls as he wrestles with the fish determined to make a meal of him. He always knew he had good taste, but perhaps he's a little too good. Thankfully, Sora's there to give him a hand. Swimming down, he scoops his toe under the barrel of his thunderbelcher and swoops it up into his arms. "Eat -this-!" he snarls, pulling back on the trigger. BWOOOMF! The bullet flies true, plunging straight through the fish's body and leaving it to drift quite deadly beneath the waves. He racks the slide with a growl, glancing over at Nemori. "They -do- like me. These are nae animals. These are -devil- fish!"
Out of the dark of the water, whilst you are all focused on freeing Dirk from the fish attached to his arm a shape takes form, grabbing Khepri and shaking him once before releasing him and peering at you all with eyes that are practically blind. It's sense of smell though? Very acute.
It's a massive shark.
GAME: Nemori casts Spiritual Weapon. Caster Level: 4 DC: 15 GAME: Nemori rolls 1d20+4+3: (4)+4+3: 11 GAME: Sora rolls strike+2: aliased to finesse+3+2: (6)+11+3+2: 22 GAME: Sora rolls powdam: aliased to 2d6+3+2+1+1+6: (5)+3+2+1+1+6: 18
Nemori whirls around.. over-whirls, really. She's not accustomed nor adept at this three dimensional movement at all. But she still manages to see the creature attacking Khepri. "Maybe that one is your devil fish," she tells the dwarf, slipping her hand into her pocket and grasping the token held there as she summons the now familiar looking translucent rapier. Whether it's the water or Nemori's distraction or just the toughness of the bigger fish, the blade bounces and cuts only water.
GAME: Khepri rolls weapon1: (12)+4: 16 GAME: Khepri rolls weapon1: (12)+4: 16 GAME: Khepri rolls 1d8+3: (1)+3: 4
Khepri is caught off guard by the shark grabbing it, a startled sound emitting from its faceplate as the teeth rake its armored form. "There may be a flaw in my theory," the golem admits, as it finally breaks loose, lashing out with its sword once again. Unfortunately, the blow is weak, drawing little more than a scratch along the marine predator's flank. "This is very confusing," it complains.
GAME: Dirk rolls Ranged: (12)+7: 19 GAME: Dirk rolls 1d12+4: (12)+4: 16
Dirk's jaw drops as that great shark makes its presence known. "Oh, piss up my -arse-!" he growls, bringing up his thunderbelcher. He sights down the barrel, eye narrowed as his beard-fronds drift and swirl. He lines up the shot and pulls back on the trigger. BWOMMF! He's getting used to shooting underwater! The bullet tears through the great piscine's tail fin, leaving a swirl of icky red shark blood to swirl in its wake. "Last time," he growls, racking the slide. "-Last- fucking time I go under water!"
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+5: (5)+5: 10
The shark isn't terribly smart. It tries to grab ahold of the person that booped it on the nose. However Sora's armor proves that it's worth its money and all its teeth do is grind against it uselessly. Letting go of her it peers around warily. Too much metal. Not enough blood.
GAME: Nemori spends ONE use of CHANNEL ENERGY. GAME: Nemori rolls 2d6: (8): 8 GAME: Nemori rolls 1d20+4+3: (2)+4+3: 9 GAME: Sora rolls strike: aliased to finesse+3: (20)+11+3: 34 (THREAT) GAME: Sora rolls strike: aliased to finesse+3: (4)+11+3: 18
While her summoned rapier continues to flail about.. maybe she'll think next time before summoning it under water... Nemori opens herself up as a conduit to the healing energies of the positive plane. It fills her in a matter of seconds before exploding outwards in a wave of faint, healing light... leaving the shadow elf momentarily staggered from the effort.
GAME: Sora rolls 4d6+6+4+2+2+12: (17)+6+4+2+2+12: 43
Sora growls a bit as the shark tries to take a bite out of her and just scratches the armor. She shakes her head, "you shouldn't have done that." she says and whipping her greatsword around again she builds a little momentum in her dance and then slams it forward in a powerful downward strike. She hits just right and her blade cuts deep into the shark and keeps going and going right through the shark.
A blessed silence (even underwater). And then Khepri notes, "He did say we had to bring back all the animals. He did not say they had to be in one piece." As the two halves of shark start to drift to the ocean floor, the golem almost shrugs.
Dirk boggles as Sora makes sashimi out of that shark. As the two halves drift away, he shakes his head. "Aye, fair point," he says, nodding to Kepri. Taking up the net, he swims after the drifting bits. "Hup!" With a grunt, he swirls the net around the two shark-halves, scooping them up. "Right... what else?"
Nemori shakes her head slowly to clear her head, then treads to stay in place. "Hah." Getting a good look at the body.. well, the severed body.. now that the fight is over gives her cause to grimace. It was rather large, after all. And terrifying. But she learned a long time ago to mask fear and terror. Usually, behind anger. Or snappishness. "The little ones too. They said all of them." Her frown deepens, only now piecing together what she saw just as they were submerging into the depths. "I believe we have been sent on a fishing expedition."
You find absolutely nothing of value in the ruins. Just a few more fish that are too busy swimming around to attack you. You put them in the net with the shark and other fish. You capture the octopus by luring him with their bodies and haul it all to the surface where the merchant smiles broadly. "Yes! Excellent! You got them all?" He doesn't seem dissatisfied in the least with your haul. He simply urges you to pull it up onto the beach.
Khepri helps with dragging the net ashore, especially as it's not sure when those potions will finally give out for the others. "Greetings, sir," it addresses the merchant. "I hope you and your talking hat will be pleased." Evidently Khepri did notice right before it went underwater. Oops.
Sora cocks her head to the side and then looks at Khepri, "Talking hat?" she asks and then glances back at the net, "Pieces of shark, some fish pieces, some that weren't sliced." she chuckles just a little bit.
Dirk comes trundling out of the ocean, showering water hither and yon as he goes. "Aye, we got 'em all," he grunts. He grips his beard and starts wringing, looking sourly up at the merchant. "There's some dangerous fishes down there, ye know! Whatever it is ye got up in yer hat should be happy! There's -plenty- o' the nasty things tae chow down on!"
Nemori emerges with the rest, deigning to assist Khepri with the net as well... at least once they're at the water's surface and gravity reasserts itself fully upon the cargo. Once it's pulled up on shore, she quickly adjusts her hair to hide the scarring on the side of her head. "There must be easier ways to have gotten.... this," she says, gesturing to the octopus and its grisly roommates. "Have you considering a fishing trawler?"
The merchant blinks. "My talking... hat?" He seems utterly confused until the word 'fish' is mentioned and the hat whisks off his head. Underneath is a golden dragon of incredibly small size who immediately pounces on the fish and begins to dig in with voracious appetite. The merchant pales and then shakes his head sadly at Nemori. "I haven't the resources for a fishing trawler. She's eating me out of house and home!"
He waves to the little dragon and sighs. "Yet she blesses my life somehow. I've never had a more lucrative season! My wife is pregnant after twelve years of trying! I didn't know what else to do! So; thank you for bringing in the fish. I don't know what I would have done without you!"
Despite herself, even jaded and cynical Nemori boggles. A dragon is no ordinary sight, even one on such a small scale as this golden one. It actually disturbs her a little bit, and she finds herself stepping away, pausing only to scoop up her hat and her boots. "Well," she says, trying to recover at least a little bit of her composure. "I hope you are at least well off enough to be sure we get paid for this!"
Dirk can only... stare... as that golden dragon goes flitting after their haul. He gives himself a shake to get the worst of the seawater off, and trundles over to his pony. Lulu and Thistle have been busy keeping each other entertained. The owl leaned forward, beak-to-nose with the animal as they converse in a mixture of hoots and whinnies. Getting his socks and boots back on, Dirk throws his cloak over his shoulders and sets his tricorne atop his head. He swings up into the saddle, holstering his thunderbelcher. Lulu wings up to his shoulder with a pleased-sounding hoot. Looking between the owl and the merchant, Dirk grunts. "Give 'em the curse, Lulu." The owl hoo-hoos, then hop-hop-hops over to Dirk's other shoulder. Up she squinches, turning her wickedly baleful glare upon the merchant and his dragon friend as she is once again become the vampirowl. Fear the vampirowl. "Aye, we -better- be gettin' paid. I nearly got et down there!"
-End