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Previously on Call from the Deep
Starring:
Gotwald Ironhorn, level 5 minotaur Rune Knight Fighter
Mac, level 5 tortle Drakewarden Ranger
Savra Akkedis, level 5 lizardfolk School of Necromancy Wizard
Torrel, level 5 kenku Fathomless Warlock Pact of the Amulet/Fighter
The party had punched through the pirate blockade, creating an opening into Neverwinter harbor. The other ships were circling around Captain Tentrix, or dealing with Captain Callous’ tenacious hit-and-run.
Feeling emboldened from the last ship-to-ship battle, Mac wants to continue the pursuit of Tentrix. But even Gotwald, who has personal beef with Tentrix (pun extremely intended), looks over the harbor and sees citizens and guards in distress, being killed or captured by sahuagin.
They sail into the churning waters of the harbor, where several giant sharks have surfaced, attached to large coral growths like horse-drawn carriages. The sahuagin are bringing captured victims to these organic ships, and placing them inside humanoid sized mollusks.
The party recall the sahuagin from Gunderlun had been capturing many people as well, people that had been turned over to the mind flayer in Berranzo Mine.
As they make their way to the docks, they spot a half-destroyed ship, an early victim of Neverwinter’s naval defenses. Several bodies float in the water, but some still thrash and cling to life. Circling them are half a dozen sharks.
Surprising everyone, Savra is the first to leap into the water. To alleviate her aquatic aversion, she has the air bubble stones from the Wreck of the Golden Crown tied into her robe. They flare out, providing a small personal air bubble that keeps the water out. She then uses her handy familiar to help propel her hamster ball over the water toward the survivors.
Not to be outdone, Gotwald leaps over the side of the boat, embiggens himself, and lands right on top of one of the sharks, horns down!
Mac and Torrel stay on the ship, providing covering fire with long-range attacks. They quickly figure out the best way to save these people is to take out the sharks as fast as possible.
The sharks take a few bites out of the poor survivors, but soon they’re blasted, arrow’d, or aggro’d by the giant minotaur or the hamster ball-lizardfolk.
At one point, the embiggened minotaur literally has both hands full of shark.
With the sharks defeated, Gotwald and Savra grab the survivors before more can arrive, and haul back up onto the boat.
The weakened guards claim the enemy ships arrived with no warning and caught them by surprise, crippling their defenses. The combined might of the sahuagin and organized pirate fleet is proving disastrously effective.
Thankfully, the Zoo Crew has arrived!
Shandri takes the survivors below deck for medical attention, and the party continue into the churning harbor.
One of the giant sharks is between them and the docks. Naturally, they move to charge into it with their ram. It’s a unique surprise round opportunity born not of stealth, but of speed.
Gotwald aims the ship, Savra unleashes a witch bolt, and Mac and Torrel fire off arrows and eldritch blasts.
The opening salvo takes the 120 hit point giant shark down to half health! Its ripped from the seaweed tethers of the coral prison, where several sahuagin have arrived with fresh prisoners struggling in nets.
A large wave crests through the harbor, knocking Mac off the ship! Miraculously, the giant shark misses with its bite attack (Mac is still uninjured; no blood frenzy!).
Without a quick way back up, he activates his cloak of the manta ray and dives toward the coral, where he notes several tentacled barnacles writhing around as a deterrent.
Mac’s loyal drake, Cheese, leaps after his master, but the poor creature is instantly surrounded and destroyed by the sahuagin, magically poofing back out of existence.
Torrel and Savra remain on the boat to fire spells from afar, attacking the sahuagin and occasionally the giant shark when it surfaces.
The still-embiggened Gotwald jumps into the water toward the coral growth. Sure enough, some tentacles wrap around him, squeezing and restraining.
To add insult to injury, a random ballista bolt from a ship grazes Gotwald, further wounding the trapped fighter.
Mac activates zephyr strike, leaps out of the water like a dolphin, arrows one of the sahuagin in the face, and lands on the coral growth in one of the coolest moments of the battle.
With no immediate targets in the water, the giant shark attacks the ship, ripping out a huge chunk. Ruh-roh!
Savra turns the fight around with a a clutch wither and bloom spell, targeting the coral growth. The tentacles shrivel up, the clams open (revealing several more prisoners), several injured sahuagin die, and Gotwald gets a chance to heal. Nice!
Mac grabs several nearby netted prisoners and swims toward the ship with herculean effort. One of their ship NPCs lowers a rope ladder to quickly get the survivors on board, but the giant shark spots an opportunity and rips into Mac, knocking out half his health in a single massive bite!
Shocking everyone, Mac swims into the giant shark’s mouth, and uses his scroll of thunderwave to explode it from the inside!
Then rolls 2 damage on 2d8. The DM awards another 2d8 damage for the inter-explosion, but the giant shark still has 40+ HP remaining.
The shark burps, and Mac is expelled, but the odd, uncomfortable feeling shakes the shark out of its frenzy (failed WIS save), and the injured beast decides to look for easier prey elsewhere.
Gotwald finishes the final sahuagin off, and grabs the rest of the survivors.
Once again the party successfully rescues victims of the attack, and much higher cost. They catch their collective breaths with a quick, 5-minute short rest while they point their damaged ship at Neverwinter docks.
The docks have exploded into anarchy, as sahuagin spill from the sea, attacking and capturing people. As the party arrives and disembarks, guards and militia are rallying against the sahuagin, but that changes when a new threat emerges: a monstrous, mutated whale with huge teeth, eyes, and tentacles hauls itself onto the docks.
The monstrosity opens its mouth, spilling out hordes of sea spawn, the same mutated humanoids the party fought in Berranzo Mine. Former people of Fiskrbak mutated by the mind flayer Thilliosk. They begin a mindless rampage across the docks and streets, threating to overwhelm Neverwinter’s final defenses.
MVPC – Mac (‘n Cheese)
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