Oceanus emerged from the sea and climbed a ladder onto the docks of Saltmarsh. His people, the Sea Elves of Manaan, had been excluded from the Marsh Alliance due to the king's treachery but he was an honorary member of the Marsh Water tribe of lizard-folk. He had been given a reptile name. He was honor-bound to serve Princess Orthokent's alliance. King Pelagius could rot in Hell!
He saw a ship approaching from the west, back lit by the setting sun. As it came closer he gritted his teeth in recognition - it was the Sea Ghost. He had once been assigned by King Pelagius to investigate the Sea Ghost due to its strange and mysterious journeys along the coast near his homeland. During his investigation he learned that the crew was smuggling weapons. He was captured and imprisoned in a small compartment on the ship. He cursed his time within the hold but remembered fondly meeting his fellow prisoner - the automaton Sentinel named Alot Aname.
As the ship came into port Oceanus was relieved to see his friend Alot on the deck of the ship accompanied by Aella the storm sorceress - the half-elf eldest child of King Pelagius and therefore his future monarch. He had not seen them for several months - not since the king assassinated the koalinth delegate at the Marsh Games. The thought of his king's treachery once again brought shame to Oceanus.
Soldiers were waiting for the crew of the Sea Ghost. Alot and Aella, as well as their other new colleagues, were whisked away to a tall structure at the center of town. Oceanus hurried to catch up.
CHAPTER 46
"THE FINAL ASSAULT, PART 1"
The B-Team:
- Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket, daughter of the king of the sea elves, Deck Sorceress of the Sea Ghost.
- Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater, Bosun of the Sea Ghost.
- Captain Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk), Captain of the Sea Ghost.
- Bordar Graniteshaper - Lawful Good Dwarven Bearer of Grudges (Barbarian), exiled from his clan, Ballast of the Sea Ghost.
- Craig "Blunderbuss" Oxworth - Lawful Good Dwarven Priest of St. Ogden (Cleric), sailor and shipwright.
Special Guest Star:
- Oceanus - Neutral Good, Sea Elf and friend of Aella and Alot.
DM Note-
A friend of mine is interested in using Roll20 so he asked if he could sit in on a game to see how it worked. He also wanted to play so I let him play Oceanus.
Planning the Assault
Oceanus joined the crowd of warriors consisting of a mix of humans, lizard-folk, mer-folk, and locathah in the town hall. He watched as Princess Orthokent personally thanked Aella and Alot's and the crew of the Sea Ghost for their daring raid. She asked them what they learned.
They each took turns describing the layout of the stronghold - noting the changes the sahuagin had made since taking it from the lizard-folk. Captain Baylore of the Sea Ghost described the inhabitants he saw in each chamber. He listed the defenses and provided an estimate of the number of sahuagin troops on hand. Princess Orthokent asked about the location of the sahuagin empress. Baylore admitted that he didn't see the empress but indicated the location of the throne room occupied by the baron in charge of the base.
Princess Orthokent once again thanked them and turned the meeting over to Eliander Fireborn, commander of the allied forces. Eliander told the assembly that there was no time to lose. The alliance would set sail for the final assault at once. The forces of Keoland from Saltmarsh and Seaton would sail by ship and would attack the upper entrance across the causeway. The combined forces of the allied lizard-folk tribes, the locathah, and mer-folk would attack the lower entrance underwater. They would set sail immediately so that the assault could begin at dawn - when the nocturnal sahuagin normally slept.
Commander Fireborn said that the crew of the Sea Ghost had the most experience with the the interior of stronghold and asked Captain Baylore and the crew if they would lead the assault as an advance force. The remaining forces from Saltmarsh and Seaton would follow a few minutes behind.
"Your mission will be to spend those minutes clearing a path for the invasion behind you. Kill as many of the enemy as you can. Target the higher ranking the sahuagin. The more damage we can do to their elites and their leaders the easier it will be for the rest of us during the assault."
Captain Baylore said it would be an honor but admitted that the entrance was protected by a thick stone door and a portcullis. It would be difficult to enter.
Newly invested Baron Anders Solmor interrupted. He said he could help. He had recently acquired twelve magical potions - six that would render the drinker invisible and six that would turn the drinker into a cloud of magical fog. He offered them to the crew to allow them entry.
"But there are literally only five of you," noted Baron Solmor, "What about the sixth potions?"
"Give them to me!" said Oceanus from the crowd, "Let me join you in the assault! That is, if you'll have me!"
The crew of the Sea Ghost greeted Oceanus warmly and gave him a place in their party.
The Assault Begins
The allied fleet, led by the Sea Ghost, sailed west that night along the coast of the Hool Marsh. The fleet anchored off shore from the tall rocky island stronghold of the sahuagin. Soon a floatilla of landing craft and long-boats carried over a hundred soldiers to the landing of the causeway that connected the shore to the above-water entrance. The allied forces established a base-camp and the landing of the causeway and formed up for their assault.
DM Note-
Baylore's player told the others, "Okay, I have a plan." And he laid out his plan and listened to alternatives. His plan was agreed on and set into motion.
I later told him I thought his plan was going to be, "Okay, I have a plan. Everybody else stay out here. I'll be back in five minutes."
He said that WAS an option.
I also pointed out that while in gaseous form they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other. Baylore said that he was carrying Shern the telepathic lobster and that as long as everyone stayed within ten feet Shern would act as a communications node. Baylore would transmit a visual image of what he wanted to Sher and Shern would share that with image with the other members of the party.
I thought that was pretty inventive so I didn't spend a lot of time poking holes in it.
The B-Team prepared to lead the way. They organized their formation and crossed the causeway. Once they were outside the stone door they each drank a magical potion. They turned into vaguely humanoid gaseous shapes and oozed through the cracks around the door.
They found that the entrance had been reinforced with half a dozen sahuagin warriors and a commanding officer. The defenders marveled at the fog as it poured through the cracks and slithered towards the portcullis as if directed by some unseen force. They grabbed their spears and began jabbing at the gaseous shapes.
It was then that the intruders discovered that they were not impervious to harm while in their gaseous state. They could feel the stabbing spears and experienced the pain of being impaled even as the attacks caused no visible injury.
The B-Team endured the attacks and pushed through to the portcullis.
One through the portcullis the B-Team resumed solid form and fanned out. Craig and Aella took the right flank while Oceanus, Alot, and Bordar pushed forward to the left. Captain Baylore moved around the room at random, emerging from the shadows to attack individual sahuagin warriors. The team was unable to stop sahuagin guards stationed at the exits from escaping to warn their fellows.
Captain Baylore and Bordar pushed down the corridor leading to the armory and held the line at a left turn in the corridor. The corridor contained another dozen guards who readied themselves behind cover in preparation for an attack. Aella and Bordar made tentative forays into the room but were attacked by the prepared defenders.
DM Note-
I misread the rules for the Ready action. For some reason I thought it said:
Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger.
-and in my mind that included their full action - move and attack.
So the defending sahuagin were hiding behind cover, moving out to attack, then moving back behind cover. The players did not like that so a stand-off developed and the players ultimately opted to back up and take a different route.
After the game, I looked it up and the whole section reads:
Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it.
I apologized to the group for my error. As compensation I'll be awarding some additional victory points.
Meanwhile, back in the portcullis room, Craig said a prayer to Saint Ogden and was surrounded by a maelstrom of glowing hammers. Sahuagin backed away from him to avoid the spiritual attack but he moved around the room following them. A few hardy defenders charged Craig in an attempt to end his concentration but they failed.
Alot was locked in deadly combat with the sahuagin commanding officer. The two traded blows but the officer was unable to do much to the heavily armored automaton. Alot ultimately defeated the officer with assistance from Oceanus'.
Subterfuge
The defenders of the portcullis room were eventually defeated but reinforcements could be heard running down all three corridors that led into the room. Baylore ordered the others to form up and use the magical dust of disappearance to become invisible.
"What about Craig?" said Alot.
"Don't worry about me!" said the dwarf, "I can't get close to you. You aren't exempt from my spiritual guardians! I'll drink my potion!"
The team retreated into the room and formed a tight group. Alot threw the packet of dust into the air. The sparkly dust fell upon them and they became invisible.
Craig moved to the corridor to the right. Several sahuagin were blocking passage about thirty feet away. They retreated as Craig, surrounded by his spiritual whirlwind, advanced down the corridor. The others moved invisibly behind him.
The defending guards from the armory moved into the portcullis room but were unable to locate any of the invisible intruders. They were soon joined by the second wave of sahuagin guards from the left corridor.
The B-Team was now strung out down the corridor to the right but no one knew where the others were located. Captain Baylore was far out in front of the group - scouting ahead and locating sahuagin defenses. Craig was engaged with two defenders in the hallway. Bordar was moving stealthily down the corridor behind him followed by Alot and Oceanus. Aella was still making her way out of the Portcullis room as the defenders from the armory searched around for invisible invaders.
More defenders prepared for them.
To Be Continued...
DM Note-
I paused the game at round 10. The invasion began around 9pm. From 9pm - midnight we managed ten rounds of combat.
I followed the book's instructions and didn't tell them how long they had before the assault began. However, by NOT telling them it removed the sense of urgency. As a result I told them after the session that they had used up 10 rounds of the total 30. That way they have a motivation to ignore the little guys and target the high scoring big bads.
And finally, I realized after the game that I absent-mindedly deleted some of the sahuagin tokens to clear room. I shouldn't have done that because they count towards the party score tally at the end. I'll just have to assign +2d4 points at the end to accommodate the missing points.
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