Greetings from Fire Island - Chapter Three

> "*So is this Hellraiser meets pirates?*"
> ― Arson Nicki
>
>

**The Tide is High** is the twelfth episode of Queens of Adventure. In it, the party defends the Golden Palace from a seaspawn attack.

## Synopsis

The four queens of Booty and the Hofish have fortified a cabana before an attack by seaspawn. A bell tolls at the casino: High Noon has begun.

The monsters are roughly humanoid, but twisted together with pieces of sea creatures. Six head towards the cabana. One steps on a trap Butylene had placed. Two get stuck on the umbrella spike fence Harlotte set up. Three remain, closing in quickly. One has a fish head, carrying short sword. Another has a shark fin on its back and a dagger. The last one is a pale eel with a trident. The eel spits at Fraya, but misses.

Butylene throws a molotov cocktail at the shark-finned one, but crit fails, catching the vines at the bottom of the tree she is in on fire. A knife of ice appears from Fraya's hand and hits the fish's chest. The shark jumps the trench and swipes a dagger at Fraya, who dodges. Instead he chomps on Fraya's arm.

Arson uses her trusty *eldritch blast* on the shark-spawn, knocking out some of its teeth. She curtsies. Meanwhile, the fish headed monster slashes through Fraya's armor.

Elsewhere on the beach, other battles are going on. A tentacled seaspawn has gripped a tourist and is dragging them towards the water. The playground is ablaze. Somewhere a sandstorm spell was cast, and sand drifts through the cabana.

Harlotte, perched over the battle, fires with her short bow at the shark.The eel hocks another glob at Fraya, sizzling through her wounds before running away.

Flames continue to rise up the tree Butylene perches in. She does a front flip off the tree shouting "Unagi!" and lobs a bomb at the eel-spawn. As she lands by a cabana table, the bomb explodes behind her.

Fraya swings her mace to knock the fish-spawn into the trench full of flammable constructs before turning to snarl back at the sharkspawn on her other side. The shark swipes his dagger at her. As soon as the blade hits, Fraya unleashes *wrath of the storm*. A bolt of lightning crashes out of the sky against the shark, incinerating. Some of the sparks ignite the kindling in the trench. This catches the attention of many across the beach, approvingly.

Arson drops into the splits and shoots an *eldritch blast* at the eel. In the pit, the fish writhes in the flames and spits at Frayar. Harlotte finishes the eel off with another arrow. The rogue hops down to the ground and suggests Fraya use *turn undead*.

As more people run around the beach, more seaspawn arrive. One of them is wearing a jeweled neckbrace. Harlotte recognizes her as one of the passengers they met on the SS Salty Starfish. A tentacled seaspawn, a crackling eel one, and an eyepatch wearing one with crab legs come up. Two others, looking like puffer fish, are riding a giant crab monster.

Butylene, not liking how these creatures come for queer performers, unleashes *vicious mockery* on the electric eel before crab walking out of reach of its retaliatory sparking tentacle. The crab legged creature targets Butylene, intrigued by her crab walk, grappling her.

One of the puffer fish inflates a sack of flesh on its back, and it slowly rises into the air. It launches several poison quills down at Arson. Fraya sends it packing with a *gust of wind,*puncturing it on a sharpened stick.

Arson casts *mirror image*, summoning three duplicates of herself before she climbs up onto the cabana.

Harlotte finds herself surrounded by the fish creature, the eel, and the floating puffer fish. All attack her while she misses with her own attack.

With her and her friends all nearly dead around her, Fraya conjures the sea owl glyph on her chest and casts *turn undead,* driving half of the monsters to flee. As the fishface turns to leave, Arson kills it with another *eldritch blast.* The duplicate Arsons pose around her, with finger guns.

The crablegged man begins to drag Butylene away. Harlotte hits the claw arm grappling Butylene with an arrow. The giant crab charges towards Harlotte, knocking her unconscious, and starting to drag her away too.

A cannonball sails overhead, knocking down palm trees and blocking both crabs's paths. The queens look up to see Jim-Jim the half-elf manning a canon on the lifeguard stand. Butylene takes the moment to spill acid on her captor. It releases her.

Fraya tries to leap onto the giant crab, but lands poorly, dangling in front of its face. She manages to reach over to slap Harlotte, using *cure wounds,* awakening her teammate.

The smaller crab chases Butylene and crunches on her leg, knocking her out. Arson fires another blast at the crab, cracking its shell. Harlotte breaks loose large chunks of its carapace with her blades.

Patrick and Karin charge down the beach, spears in hand, arriving to help as a bell rings at the palace. High tide is starting to end and seaspawn are starting to move towards the ocean, dragging anyone they had grappled with them.

The giant crab grabs Butylene. Fraya, dangling on top, jabs her trident into the crab with a natural 20. Patrick and Karin pierce it as well, killing the giant crab, and ending the battle. Arson revives Butylene with a health potion.

With the battle over, Jim-Jim joins them as Karin suggests they go and meet the boss. As they head in, Harlotte asks Karin how long they've been here. She explains they were here half a week before the attacks. Some people did manage to get on ships to leave, but they all sank, she said. The queens worry about what they have gotten into.

Arriving at the casino, the four queens ride the elevator to the penthouse. It is an enormous circular office, decorated with chandeliers. The top of the aquarium from the base of the casino is in here. Crossing the room they come to a wooden desk covered in Trixie LaBouche memorabilia.

A chair turns, and a woman wearing a rigid porcelain mask greets them. "How nice to see you again, face to face." To the right, a door opens, and a tea service appears being pushed by Ramshackle.

"I think I might have a booking for you," the woman says.

### Party

* Arson Nicki - drow warlock
* Butylene O'Kipple - tiefling alchemist
* Fraya Love - water genasi cleric
* Harlotte O'Scara - human rogue

### NPCs

* Apollonia Dumont (turned to a seaspawn)
* Jim-Jim
* Karin and Patrick
* Belfry
* Ramshackle

### Monsters/Enemies

* Seaspawn
* Giant Crab

## Episode Notes

### Lore

* The seaspawn ranks include people the queens met in their adventure on the Salty Starfish.
* Patrick wonders if the attacks every high tide are tied to the moon.

### Inspiration Earned

* Arson - curtsying after an attack.
* Fraya - intimidating a shark monster
* Arson - dropping into a Tandi Imon Dupree split

### Memorable Quotes

* "I'm going to go for madame sharkbeard." - Butylene O'Kipple
* "I'm feeling very Seattle, like I'm going to pick you off from afar." - Arson Nicki
* "Roll your damage, Heather." - DM Matt
* "I'm at the top of this flaming tree. It's happened before." - Butylene O'Kipple
* "I'm going to intimidate him like this: Didn't we use to date?" - Fraya Love
* "I'm holding out for a hero and the hero is me." - Arson Nicki
* "Fraya was dying, while I was *Living!*" - Arson Nicki
* "You're not exiting, and you're not being pursued by a bear." - Arson Nicki
* "Be the bear you want to be pursued by in the world." - DM Matt
* "We're going to do some wisdom saving throws to see who can possibly resist Cher. The answer, of course, is nobody." - DM Matt

### References

* Hellraiser
* Bacardi 151
* Taylor Lautner
* Street Sharks
* Left Shark from Katy Perry's Superbowl show
* Finding Nemo - "Sharkbait Hoo ha ha!"
* Lord of the Rings - Legolas
* Trident gum
* Olivia Pope
* Tandi Imon Dupree
* Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" - Exit, perused by a bear.
* PhiPhi O'Hara's "Go Back to Party City" line
* Harry Potter patronus
* Clash of the Titans
* Charlie's Angels
* Fallout 4
* Psycho
* Drag Race All Stars 3
* "The Night the Light Went Out in Georgia"

### Name That Tune

* "The Tide is High" - Blondie (episode title)
* "Girl on Fire" - Alicia Keyes
* "Believe" - Cher

## Behind the Queens

* While the previous episode had no battles, this episode consists almost entirely of a battle.
* Before the March 2020 renumbering, this was the third episode of Season One.

**Greetings From Fire Island**: Ch1 - Ch2 - **Ch3** - **The Show Must Go On**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Operation Watersport**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6 - Ch7 - **Trials**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Ghosts of the Coast**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - **The Devil's Due**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Special**: The Story So Far
**The Beautiful Place**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6 - **A Dance in the Dark**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Drama in the Deep**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6 - **Whispers From the Heart**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6
**Danger Rangers!**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6
**Mist Connections**: Ch1 - Ch2
**Unreleased**
Lost: Camp Crystal Light - Pax West 2018 --  vs the Lizard People
Live Shows: Seattle Style -- Minneapolis Style