This is another post going back to yesteryear, working backward from my oldest post date in the Subject Line. Otherwise I haven't posted since July 2013 due to the absence of Players. They are expected to appear again the beginning of October. This post is just to get me back in the mood again.

++++ Start of Session ++++

The party started in the middle of a battle with about 3 dozen Mermen mounted on Dolphins. There was an endless tap, tap, tap, at the bottom of the ship and a small breach was made by the attacking Mermen. Emergency repairs were made before the ship took on too much water.

Numrendir (the party's conjuror), took control of three other Dolphins, some Packasites, and a rope. A pair of his Dolphins were trying to sweep the bottom of the boat with the rope to prevent the Mermen from causing further damage. The Packasites had climbed aboard one other Dolphin and made some more desultory attacks on a Merman or two.

Snizzlephish our Illusionist, borrowed a Wand of Illusions from Numrendir. He created the illusion of attacking Sharks that drove the Mermen away. (They failed their save versus spell.)

There was a minor faux pas as one of our new characters, a Fighter named Aeon, had entered the water after drinking a Water Breathing potion, he forgot to take off his Brigandine armor (35 pounds). So even though he had an hour of breathing time left, he was rapidly sinking. While Numrendir's Dolphins were making one of their last sweeps with the rope, Aeon made a Dexterity check and managed to grab one end of the rope. Others managed to get the other end and they were able to pull him in.

So ended the first encounter of that sailing day.

While Aeon was being pulled up, his feet touched something solid rising up faster than he was. Apparently the next encounter, a Dragon Turtle, decided to come up underneath and tip the ship over. The ship survived, and the party decided to rapidly make sail away from the creature. (Also Aeon also avoided being crushed between the Dragon Turtles shell and the ship's hull.)

Next day ...

The party encountered Harpies and all but a few of the failed their saving throws versus "spell" and were Charmed. So it actually became a matter of initiative rolls to see which crew or party members made it to the head of the line so they could be carried off, tortured and eaten. Only two of the party members were able to resist and killed one Harpy. Snizzlephish fortunately was one of them. He created the illusion of a staircase leading upward towards the Harpies. Even two of the three Harpies believed it and the staircase confused them, either that or they eagerly waited at the top of the staircase. Meanwhile the crew formed a conga line and attempted to climb the stairs. Since only the first three in line were eligible to be grabbed by a Harpy, I only needed to make three rolls whether a Harpy grabbed one.

Two failed grabs, and one success. Since it was an Illusory staircase, that meant any failed grab by a Harpy meant an eligible crewmember simply walked over the side and into the deep.

For some reason, Snizzlephish managed to be the one grabbed by a Harpy and carried off (I think it was voluntary). Regarding the two who went over the side, once again one of them was Aeon, still wearing his Brigandine armor but no Water Breathing potion drunk ahead of time. (I think he can try however, but I'll leave that for next week.)

++++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR ++++