Transformation Theater

[Shifting Sands]

UNFORTUNATELY, only the first person to bother with looking around is allowed to take a risk in investigation. (I don't know what sort of DnD you play where you're allowed to have multiple rolls on the same thing by different people, but that's some crazy talk) Because Yilin is supremely stupid and inept lately, he fails to note the signature flickers in the water of some elemental creatures native to the depths of the sea. While your party moves along, seemingly free to bicker and whine among yourselves like you seem to always do, those same creatures set in around you and set up to strike you down.

From behind you come a series of miniature whirlpools, twisting and pulling at the water like extreme winds, so strong that they could rip your limbs out of their sockets. It takes some effort to avoid - they seem to have only been warning shots. ...but the sources aren't backing off. Maybe they were just sizing up their prey.

Hulking creatures of crystal glow and shimmer in the water, limbs ending in fine, sharp points. They could cut through rock - and they demonstrate this by slicing the ground beneath them in twain. Their bodies reflect your shocked faces, and lack any real faces of their own. More monsters, it seems - Shards. Probably put together by the aboleth in their free time, when they're not busy corrupting people into skum or devouring minds and flesh. They make for very decent guards, and they seem intent on "guarding" you far away from here.

[Virmir]

Blast it!  These things weren't here when we came back the other way!

No matter--I'll blast these things out of the water.  I puff my chest up and then spray a stream of bubbles at Shard 1, except the bubbles have FIRE in them!

[Dragyn]

((In every DnD and/or Pathfinder game I've played, all players make their own reactive checks...since perception in this context is passive, It would have been allowed.  You're the GM here, just throwing my 2 cents out there.  ))

[PrincessHotcakes]

How many times are they going to be accosted in this underwater hellhole!?  Granted, it had actually been a while since he had fought, but seeing that he had still been human at the time that seemed to be a lifetime ago.  And how the heck had these ugly critters snuck up on him without him noticing!?

For once, seeing that he's caught off guard, Yilin attempts to use his magic defensively, casting up a wall of ice in front of him.

[Draykin]

Attor doesn't really know what he's looking at, but he doesn't like being attacked much either. So, given his options, it's obvious that he's got a spear, so it's time for stab-stabs.

At being caught off-guard, though, Attor's not in the best situation. He decides to go for the slowest shard, but even then he's pretty slow to begin his own attack.

[Virmir]

It's a tense moment--so tense that it seems drag on for 11 days.

[Shifting Sands]

(I was writing a story for you and then I had papers and I have two DnD groups so I don't even know what's gonna satisfy you)

The monolithic Shards seem to be pretty defensively-minded themselves - all the magic and striking in the world could simply chip at their bodies. Still, the spear from Attor could possibly do some damage. On the other hand, Vir's bubbles wouldn't even leave a little bit of a singe on their bodies.

Despite their overbearing size and unwieldy forms, they can do their best to topple down on top of the enemy. Two of them head for Yilin, bringing arms up like icicles to try and bust through his defense (AGI +1 thanks to his blockade of ice). The last ignores the pitiful display from the seahorse and moves to Attor, slicing in front of him.

[PrincessHotcakes]

Yilin gains quite a lot of room for manuever thanks to his ice wall forcing the Shards to behave rather clumsily, room that the changed-eel wiggles to try and gain advantage with!  

For once during this miserable day the former human is able to gain quite the advantage over his opponants, and whips his claws about forward, attempting to turn the ice wall into an icey prison against one of his attackers!

[Virmir]

Well, blast.  It seems as though 5% of the time my magic attacks don't seem to do anything, and for some reason that 5% of the time happens a lot...  It must be something in the water.

Regardless, even though these things passed me over, there is no way the eel is going to last two against one for very long, and then the two of them are going to turn on me, and I'm not keen on dying again! 

I'm getting the sense that magic (or physical attacks, for that matter) aren't going to be very effective on these things. Keeping my distance from the dark magic being tossed around, I opt for a different approach-- "Hey, you!" I swim up behind Shard 2, trying to attract its attention, then let out a FERAL SEAHORSE SHOCKWAVE ROAR.

[Draykin]

Attor, twists and swirls through the water to try to avoid sharp, crystal-y pain and death.

Failing to do this causes the krait to feel quite a sharp pain from a sharp thing. If only his scales were harder!

Despite this, though, he tries to stab the crystal with his spear, letting out an aquatic hiss.

[Shifting Sands]

Determined and angry (or at least, what could probably be conceived as anger), the two Shards already on Yilin continue to try and strike at him with their crystalline bodies. They throw their whole being into every strike!

And despite a general lack of intelligence in MOST seahorses (and occasionally in animals possessing the name Virmir), this one seems to have found the weakness right away. Hardened crystal of this size is not really in any danger from physical or magical attacks, but the bonds possessing it are easier to target. They don't really possess a mind, either, so where would the struggle come in influencing or outright controlling them?

Still, Attor attempts to strike at them, and the Shard retaliates in the same way.

[Virmir]

(You're asking for it with these posts, bird brain. )

Hmmmm, somehow that seems to have shaken up that thing somehow, at least a little bit more than the other two's more direct attacks.  I wonder if I can somehow shake it up enough to make it fall apart?  I puff myself up and SHOCKWAVE BLAST it again!

[Draykin]

Attor attempts to dodge the shard's attacks, being a failure so far in combat starting to get to him. Granted, being hit has made him all the more dodge-happy.

However, Attor's stab attempts aren't working! He's at a loss for what to do against this stab-immune foe! But then, he remembers, he has magical items!

He whips out the wand, and attempts to use it to slow down the shard he's had so much trouble trying to stab, or at least do SOMETHING to it. (Shard 3) Unfortunately, he has little to no idea how to actually use the thing, so expect flailing and pointing.

[PrincessHotcakes]

Yilin glares-or at least glares as best a strange eel creature can- at the shards and wiggles and wriiiithes, hoping that this slimy form is at least good at slipping away from the incoming blows!  He whips his claws out, creating a wave of icicles from the sides to crash inward at the first shard to try and finish him off.

[Shifting Sands]

The Shards don't seem to be phased by any amount of damage that they take. Probably just an upside of being constructs... or maybe you really aren't doing anything noticeable. That'd be pretty sad.

There isn't much variation to their attacks. They definitely don't possess much of a mind, if there's anything at all in what might be their brainspace. Attor's wand, however, does do something... but the target he was aiming for is not exactly what it hits. It affects him instead, his form turning more fluid and losing some definition. He's going to be even more difficult to get a handle on now, but he does lose a touch of the strength behind his attacks that he used to have. ...and the wand seems to have disintegrated after causing its change. (+2 AGI, -1 STR)

Virmir is much smarter than your average seahorse, it seems - his shockwave blasts are so effective that they completely burst apart the second Shard, sending little bits of crystal about. That's a bit of space created for the party.