Chapter 4: Trouble at Sea

Structure

Exposition

The group travels from the beaches of Dalterra to an uninhabited beach much farther southwest of Danarim (4 days sail), strategized by Kiara and plotted out by Haku & Hana. 3 days in, they encounter a hunting party of Sahuagin, who raid their ship to feast on their flesh.

Conflict

Conflict 1: The Team vs The Sahuagin

• Sahuagin raided their boat seeking to eat flesh
• Instead, they got annihilated in two rounds
• Team earns 4,250 XP for their efforts (4,150 XP for all the Sahuagin, 100 XP for style points)
• Advance to level 12

Rising Action

After demolishing their attackers, the group heals and short rests appropriately as they sail. continues to sail into late afternoon, noting that they'll reach their desired landing point by this time tomorrow. However, by nightfall, their vessel is crept up on by a Sea Dragon.
Conflict 2: The Team vs the Sea Dragon

• Were attacked late afternoon/early evening
• They engaged in a couple rounds of combat with the dragon, taking high damage and having their boat destroyed.
• Knowing what he must do, Nyrus tosses a single shuriken, killing the dragon with 7 piercing damage.
• Crew gained 13,000 XP for killing the dragon. However, they are now stranded in the ocean, too far away from their destination to swim or fully utilize Hana's powers.
• Since the dragon is still barely living, yet on death's door, Hana casts Organic Mending (2nd level spell, last spell slot) on Dragon & Jaguar for 7 HP, while Kiara simultaneously casts Telepathic Bond (3rd level spell) to link their minds.
• Kiara tries her hardest, but is unable to convince the dragon to get them to their destination. In fact, it seems keen on killing, lunging for the Jaguar. However, Viko plunges in with his sword for 14 damage through the dragon's skull, finishing it off for good

The group treads ocean water as they ponder their next move. Hana sees a fun opportunity, and with a knowing glance between herself and Haku, she casts Water Breathing on her friends (3rd level spell) and leads them under the sea. Together, the GaioCrew swim through the sea for an hour; Hana recasts the spell as they continue towards their coastal destination (will now not arrive until the next evening), but the group is tired. Hana takes them to the coastal shelf, but fails to find shelter. Kiara assists and spots a cave mouth, leading the group to it with haste. However, while swimming to the shelter, Kiara senses a dark presence within, casting Telepathic Bond (3rd level spell) on her teammates and telling them that "we may need to clear out this shelter first".

Climax

They swim in and split up into two groups: Haku goes with the Jaguar, Viko & Nyrus to find an air pockets while Hana & Kiara sweep the rest of the cave. Kiara's investigative skills uncover several bones & remnants of life scattered throughout the cave walls. She also detects the presence of another creature in the tunnel, swimming stealthily in the darkness. She casts Shillegah on her sticks and forms her bostaff. Hana notices they aren't alone, but only after Kiara's shift. They fight their attackers well, but the Sea Hag downs Kiara since she was still injured from the Sea Dragon fight. She loses consciousness and fails her first death save, so she loses the effects of Water Breathing and starts suffocating. Angered and afraid for her new friend's safety, Hana casts Blight and drained the life & moisture out of the Sea Hag, then uses the water she acquired to heal Kiara via Organic Mending.

Falling Action

Kiara uses her muttered Telepathic Bond with the others to ask if they've found air pockets. They respond, saying that they cleared out a few sea hostiles along the way but located one with enough oxygen to camp. After giving the directions, the Telepathic Bond sputters out, showing Kiara's exhaustion. However, neither her nor Hana suffer any level of true Exhaustion, and with successful survival navigation, they find their way to the guy's cave.

Resolution

The group recollects their recent adventures and eventually falls asleep.

Backdrops

Encounters

Team vs. Sahuagin

Creature	AC	Initiative	Current HP	Max HP
Viko	16	13	70	97
Nyrus	16	24	64	98
Haku	18	4	89	89
Hana	18	17	92	92
Kiara	11	13	53	65
Seregan Jaguar	17	6	40	40
Sahuagin Baron	16	20	24	76
Sahuagin Priestess (0/3)	12	19	0 (33 each)	99
Sahuagin (0/10)	12	19	0 (22 each)	220

Round 1

Creature	Actions	Damage Dealt/Targets	Ammo/Spell Slots/Resources Used	Other Effects
Nyrus	Pierces Sahuagin Baron with grapple blade, then pierces him again after Baron escapes grapple	32 piercing to Baron
Sahuagin Baron	Crits Nyrus and hits him again with his Blood Frenzy advantage	16 piercing to Nyrus
Sahuagin Priestess (3)	Priestess 1 calls six sharks to surround the boat underwater; Priestess 2 casts Guiding Bolt on Hana, but misses; Priestess 3 casts Spiritual Weapon and attacks Viko, but misses		1 1st level spell slot (Priestess 2), 1 2nd level spell slot (Priestess 3)
Sahuagin (10)	Sahuagin 1 attacks Viko twice and misses; Sahuagin 2 attacks Viko twice and gets one crit, Sahuagin 3 attacks Nyrus twice with advantage on all but misses; Sahuagin 4 attacks Nyrus twice w/ advantage and one hits; Sahuagin 5 attacks Haku twice but misses; Sahuagin 6 attacks Haku twice but misses; Sahuagin 7 attacks Kiara twice and slashes her; Sahuagin 8 attacks Kiara twice and bites her; Sahuagin 9 attacks Hana twice but misses; Sahuagin 10 attacks Hana twice but misses	17 piercing to Viko, 2 piercing to Nyrus (Uncanny Dodge), 5 slashing to Kiara, 2 piercing to Kiara (Warian Dodge)
Hana	Casts Hydro Rush on the starboard side of the boat with two priestesses & six Sahuagin in range (5/6 Sahuagin fail, both priestesses fail).	22 cold damage to 5/6 Sahuagin & 2/2 priestesses, 11 cold damage to 1/6 Sahuagin (121 total damage to Sahuagin, 44 total damage to priestesses)	1 2nd level spell slot	Killed 5 Sahuagin & 1 Priestess, slowed the other Sahuagin & Priestess 15 ft
Viko	Cuts the Sahuagin warrior who crit him in two, then draws his morningstar and destroys the slowed Sahuagin, flinging his corpse into the sea	10 slashing & 14 slashing to Sahuagin, 11 damage to slowed Sahuagin		Kills the slowed Sahuagin and one in the crowd
Kiara	Casts Shillegah and attacks the Sahuagin that bit her, getting one hit in	7 bludgeoning to Sahuagin
Seregan Jaguar	Slashes at a Sahuagin twice and hits both times	21 slashing to Sahuagin		Kills a Sahuagin
Haku	Turns his Trunk Weapon into a staff and attacks a Priestess, crits her on the second hit and obliterates a Priestess in a cloud of guts	13 bludgeoning to Priestess & 27 bludgeoning to Priestess		Kills a Priestess

Round 2

Creature	Actions	Damage Dealt/Targets	Ammo/Spell Slots/Resources Used	Other Effects
Nyrus	Shock Enhancement & Shock Hilt whip, follows up with one martial arts strike that misses	7 slashing & 16 lightning damage to Baron
Sahuagin Baron	Two trident jabs (one hits), then sinks his teeth into Nyrus's flesh	12 piercing to Nyrus & 4 piercing to Nyrus (Uncanny Dodge)
Sahuagin Priestess	Casts Mass Healing Word to grant all her allies 3 HP	3 HP each regained by Sahuagin (2) & Baron	1 3rd level spell slot	Revives one Sahuagin, but just barely
Sahuagin (3)	Sahuagin 1 gets two attacks on Viko w/ avantage and hits both, Sahuagin 2 gets two attacks on Kiara w/ advantage and hits both, Sahuagin 3 gets two attacks on Haku but misses	10 piercing to Viko, 5 piercing to Kiara (uses Warian Reaction)
Hana	Casts Aqua Whip on the Priestess	15 slashing & 2 cold to Priestess	1 1st level spell slot	Kills the Priestess
Viko	Destroys Sahuagin with morningstar and dual-hand wields it for a hammer bash on another. then whips out his glaive for a roudnhouse slash	7 piercing damage to Sahuagin, 10 bludgeoning to Sahuagin, & 16 slashing to Sahuagin		Kills revived Sahuagin & another Sahuagin
Kiara	Thorn Whips her attacker	16 slashing to Sahuagin		Carefully knocks it out
Seregan Jaguar	Two bite attacks on the downed Sahuagin, one hits and one crits	14 piercing damage & 26 piercing damage to downed Sahuagin		Kills the downed Sahuagin and eats him
Haku	Goultani Martial Arts with two successful punches, finished off with a roundhouse kick	18 bludgeoning & 6 bludgeoning to Baron		Kills the Baron and sends his body flying off the boat. The sharks in the water scatter

Team vs. Adult Sea Dragon

Prior to this fight, Kiara healed Viko by 11 HP with a 1st level spell slot. Hana healed Nyrus & Kiara by 17 with a 2nd level spell slot. Haku Hana & Kiara sailed while Viko & Nyrus took a short rest. Both used 2 hit die to heal themselves.

Creature	Initiative	AC	Current HP	Max HP
Viko	5	16	65	109
Nyrus	23	16	92	105
Haku	16	18	48	98
Hana	8	18	69	105
Kiara	5	11	20	70
Seregan Jaguar	5	17	7	40
Sea Dragon	4	19	7	212

Round 1

Creature	Actions	Damage Dealt/Targets	Ammo/Spell Slots/Resources Used	Other Effects
Nyrus	Shurikens at Sea Dragon	39 piercing to Dragon	4 shurikens
Haku	Throws Trunk weapon twice, hits once	7 bludgeoning to Dragon
Hana	Casts Cone of Cold & jumps into the water	31 cold to Dragon	1 5th level spell slot	Dragon is slowed 15 ft
Viko	Rouzhai Flamethrower	21 fire to Dragon	1 2nd level spell slot
Seregan Jaguar	Pounces & slashes, followed by a failed bite. Jumps into the sea with Hana	14 slashing to Dragon
Kiara	Casts Mind Proble, but the dragon resists		1 1st level spell slot
Sea Dragon	Lightning Breath with 50 damage (Viko Nyrus Hana pass, Haku Kiara Jaguar fail). Can't move much due to Curse of the Sea	25 lightning to Viko & Hana, 12 lightning to Nyrus & 50 lightning to Haku, Kiara & Jaguar	Breath weapon charge	Boat is on fire, Jaguar is downed

Round 2

Creature	Actions	Damage Dealt/Targets	Ammo/Spell Slots/Resources Used	Other Effects
Nyrus	Grapple Blades twice, hits but the dragon resists the grapple attempt	30 piercing to Dragon
Haku	Launches his Trunk Weapon as a trident, swims over to the dragon, calls the weapon back and slashes as an axe	11 piercing to Dragon & 6 slashing to Dragon
Hana	Launches an enhanced Hyrdo Rush via Empowered Spell, dragon failed the dex save	22 cold to Dragon	1 sorcery point & 1 2nd level spell slot
Viko	Draws and tosses Glaive at the dragon, tosses the Shield as an attack but it doesn't harm the dragon, then leaps from the shield and covers the distance for a Morninstar smash. It misses, so he draws on his Action Surge and launches a Rouzhai Flare crit at the Dragon	14 piercing to Dragon & 13 fire to Dragon	1 Action Surge, 1 1st level spell slot
Kiara	Uses Cure Wounds on Jaguar to restore 12 HP	12 HP to Jaguar	1 1st level spell slot
Jaguar	Swims up and slashes twice, but does not hit
Sea Dragon	Couldn't recharge lightning breath. Bites the Jaguar, slashes with a claw at Hana, and a tail slam to Viko	29 damage to Jaguar, 11 slashing to Hana, 19 to Viko		Jaguar downed again

Hana & Kiara vs. Merrow & Sea Hag (450 XP to Hana & Kiara)

Creature	Initiative	AC	Current HP	Max HP
Hana	1	18	61	105
Kiara	5	11	13	70
Merrow	8	13	0	45
Sea Hag	11	14	0	52

Round 1

Creature	Actions	Damage Dealt/Targets	Ammo/Spell Slots/Resources Used	Other Effects
Sea Hag	Claw at Kiara and crit fails
Merrow	Claws at Hana but misses. Bites at her but misses
Kiara	Resists the hag's Horrific Appearance. Strikes the Sea Hag twice with her staff	19 bludgeoning to Sea Hag
Hana	Ray of Frost via Quickened Spell, then Aqua Whips at 3rd level power	21 cold damage to Merrow, 14 slashing & 9 cold damage to Merrow	2 sorcery points & 1 3rd level spell slot (last one)	Merrow is slowed by 25 ft, then reduced to 15 ft

Round 2

Creature	Actions	Damage Dealt	Ammo/Spell Slots/Resources Used	Other Effects
Sea Hag	Claw at Kiara	11 slashing to Kiara
Merrow	Claw at Hana (hits) & bite at Hana (miss)	8 slashing to Hana
Kiara	Smacks the Hag twice, but misses
Hana	Acid Splash at the Merrow, which he partially dodges	9 acid to Merrow		Kills the merrow

Round 3

Creature	Actions	Damage	Ammo Slots & Resources	Effects
Sea Hag	Claw at Kiara	11 slashing to Kiara		Kiara is downed, water breathing spell is still active but will end on her first Failed death save
Kiara	Failed Death Save			Water Breathing spell ends, Kiara now has a Death Fail and cannot be stabilized until she can breathe again
Hana	Casts Blight on the Sea Hag. Used the life force she drained to cast Organic Mending on Kiara w/o a spell slot	48 necrotic to Sea Hag, 13 HP healed on Kiara	1 4th level spell	Drained the life & moisture out of the Sea Hag, then uses the water she acquired to heal Kiara

Plot type

Chapter

Related Characters

• Haku
• Hana
• Kiara
• Nyrus
• Viko

Related Organizations

• Grettanian Empire

Related Locations

• Hythenos