Graydon hesitates at the edge of the water, and sucks in a large breath. Then, more lithe than a fish-man, he dives into the watery darkness, and within a few powerful strokes he nears the hull's breach. He pauses, closing his eyes in concentration, and suddenly a burst of sea vegetation erupts from the hull--various forms of kelp and seaweed, bits of lichen, long vines and several tree saprolings. Graydon focuses, weaving the plants together, forming a seal for the hull's breach that will keep the water out and stitch the hull back into one piece.

Thibor follows Graydon, but he stops before he reaches the water. He puts Goldenhammer on the floor, but close to him. "Oh, Moradin, give me strength to face my worst fear." He prays before initiating the Make Hole ritual.

Quinn rallies up five sailors who were being useless and together they start pulling on the rigging to turn the mainsail and try to turn the boat. He is able to get the sailors in line but the wind is too strong for them to twist the mainsail. "We need more help over here!" Seeing Agamemnon appear back on deck he throws them man the rope and calls out, "Agamemnon, aid me!"

On hearing Quinn's cry Agamemnon jumps to his feet and sweeps up the rope thrown his way. "DO not worry bard! I Agamemnon, Master of the Oceans, is here to aid you in your time of need!" Wrapping the rope around his arm and pulls with all his might in an attempt to straighten the sail.

There was an emptiness where normally he felt the power of the Divines. Even Melora's influence felt weak, in the middle of the ocean! The men do not need to here this, it will only weaken there resolve. But some terrifying force lies on the horizon, the wizard thought to himself. The men needed courage in any form possible... Saint Cuthbert hit me with your cudgel for even thinking of trying this insane idea. But it will have to wait until this ritual is completed.

The men need courage... Oh sod it. he said before shouting out to the men, his throat catching betraying his nervousness. "M-men take heart! The divines w-will give us their, um, protection! We will survive the, gulp, s-storm! The darkness on the h-horizon shall n-not hold us b-back!"

Gods, Ioun must be cursing my lying tongue!

Thibor is in full preparation for his ritual now, chanting and praying like mad to make it work faster than normal.

After forming a temporary patchwork over the hull breach, Graydon rushed up top-deck and along with Quinn, Agamemnon, and a handful of sailors, they turned the mainsail to pick up the gusts of wind that would aid them in their plight. Between them and the rudder controlled by the Captain, the ship finally started to turn against the waves. But all their efforts was just enough to prevent the ship from being pulled further into the vortex...not get them free of it.

Just then, Jiardem finished his ritual, and like magic the roaring thunder from outside the ship silenced itself. The Captain immediately started barking orders which were easily heard across the ship and the entire crew was able to rally together and work harder. Their renewed focus allowed them to take over for the heroes and keep the ship on course without their aid. A few crew members were even freed up to go help Thibor finish his ritual faster, and before he knew it Graydon's temporary patchwork was a nice permanent seal.

"Well," Quinn said, "At least we're not being pulled further into that thing. So how do we get out of it?" Quinn is reeeeeally good at pointing out the obvious...

"Hey, I need help here. If you put some value on your lives, help me to achieve the completion of this ritual." Thibor cries to whoever can listen him while not stopping his ritual, but at the bottom of the ship his cries for help will probably not be heard.

Graydon ears perk up as he discerns Thibor's cries for help. "Two of you," he points to two sailors. "Join me belowdeck and let us help the dwarf with his spells or begin ridding this vessel of its seawater. Come on!" The warden thunders down below and joins Thibor. "How may I help?" he asks.

"Just kneel and start to pray for this ship to repaired. The rest I will handle." Thibor says to Graydon, not showing gratefulness, but grateful nonetheless that his cry was heard.

Jiardem took comfort in hearing the captain's voice once more, but as Quinn pointed out, they were not out of this yet. A couple of the crew would unlikely have that comfort any longer...

"Captain! I have an idea that might help, just point me to which sail to send my thunder at!" he said grabbing his staff and readying a spell that was both a concentration of sound and air.

And just when I had blocked out all the noise of the thunderous waves...

Water splashes as Graydon drops to his knees, pulling the sailors down with him. He claps his hands together in a monk-like pose of supplication, and begins murmuring a prayer, nodding to the sailors to indicate they should follow suit. "Oh great gods above, please hear us in our plight. He humbly beg of you safe passage ashore, that no more lives may be threatened or lost, that these great men and crew be safely ferried to their destination... he trails off, murmuring praise and worship.

"I knew you have the right tools to be a good cleric, Graydon. When the situation get better, remember me to teach you the protective word of Moradin!" Thibor says in awe at the faith that the goliath showed. "The ritual is finally complete. Now the tough part."

Thibor looks the water with fear in his eyes, but his companions are counting on him to succeed. He flexes his knees to jump on the water, but he fails to achieve courage in the first attempt. He flexes his knees again and then he jumps while holding the black sphere that is the ritual at his left hand. Thanks to his belt he can ignore all the metal he has on his body.

Despite this, he sinks like a nail, but he is able to reach the hole walking at the bottom of the water. He uses his ritual and instantly the black sphere starts to grow. The ship's pieces being sucked by it, then like a miracle the hole vanishes.

He manages to reach the dry wood, but he collapses right there without breathing.

Graydon picks up the brave dwarf with one hand, and smacks his back once, twice, three times, trying to get the dwarf to breathe again...

Thibor's ritual was a success! The temporary patchwork Graydon provided is now a nice and sturdy permanent seal. The ship is no longer sinking!

Topside everyone is working together to get this ship under control! Jiardem's spells put some thunder in them sails and started actually giving them the thrust they needed to escape the vortex! The crew starts singing "Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you're part of a team!"

Quinn and Agamemnon lead the crew on deck doing all kinds of tasks to keep the ship in order.

Everything seems to be coming together!

Then, all of a sudden, the waves stop; the whirlpool vanishes; everything gets calm.

"We did it? We escaped?" One crew member says as they all start to look finally relieved that the ordeal was behind them.

CRASH!

It sounds like a mighty explosion, but really it is just the parting of the waves as the massive creature emerges from the depths below. Water falls from its head like powerful waterfalls raining down onto the ship. Everyone on board, perhaps save for the battle-hardened heroes, stare in horror at the black leviathan hovering above them.

"Oh ****," Quinn says, not even caring that the language is not period-appropriate because that's how serious the situation just became.

ROLL INITIATIVES

BATTLEMAP:
Big Freaking Monster vs. Karaboudjan

Combat Encounter: Big freaking Monster vs. The Karaboudjan

BATTLEMAP:
Big Freaking Monster vs. The Karaboudjan

SPECIAL ACTIONS
At any time there's a dozen crew running around on the main deck. You can order them to perform a standard action with a Minor action, most of them don't have weapons ready however. The won't comply if they are too frozen with fear or if your orders contradict the Captain's.

PECKING ORDER

Graydon
Jiardem
Quinn
Serpent
Agamemnon
Thibor

COMBAT ROUND 1

The Leviathan-sized Sea Serpent lies off the port bow. What do you do? Graydon Vlanche is up first!

Graydon hurries up the stairs to emerge on the deck. He pauses at the top of the steps, his surprise momentarily incapacitating him, his rush leaving him breathless.