Sunday October 2nd, 402 (1:22 p.m.) [17]:
Chardes blanches when he hears Ydoran’s suggestions. “Oh, no, I don’t think we can do that, if you were to show you had state power, whether through deputization or association with the city guard, that could lead to a scandal! Even our meeting here can’t be mentioned beyond this room. Are you worried you’re not up to the task?” He turns to the man who appears to be head of trio of security guards. “Albeck, who do we have that can do this?”
Albeck has a moment of panic, not having expected to be put on the spot like this. “Sir, we have no one that can do this, not on short notice. We were guaranteed by Engstrom that they could handle the task, whatever was needed.” He gives a sidelong imploring glance to Ydoran and Caleb.
“Listen, I understand this is a very big favour,” Chardes begs, “That you’re taking great personal risk. I can promise you’ll be richly rewarded if you do this for me. I can make you honorary free citizens of Kephi, with property in the wealthy quarter, highly prized I assure you, no one would bat an eye at such a reward should you succeed. Would that interest you?” He flashes a hopeful but uncertain smile at the pair.
How will Ydoran answer?
2:20 p.m.:
“Pffftt – you’re cute, of course I can find him, that’s my specialty!” Kai takes another swig of beer and waves off any response from Drayven while she swallows. “I have magic that can see into the ship and can tell if there’s a dog in there, even from the shore here.”
The party, now reassembled for a conference at Tomosso’s Fish Shack (the establishment mentioned in Putter’s directions), sit at a long table just outside the bustling eatery with full bowls and tankards in front of them and stacks of seafood on plates to satisfy them while they discuss their next moves. The boardwalk here is thirty feet wide and swarming with workers, fishermen, longshoremen, stalls selling fish and cheap goods from overseas, and a healthy criminal element. There’s enough of a din here that they can talk freely without worrying about being overheard and enough passersby that there’s minimal risk of standing out in the crowd. Just as Putter claimed, the dock at which the Golden Hare is moored (or believed to be moored – a tarp is still draped over the section where the ship’s name is mostly likely limned) is about fifty feet to the left of where they’re sitting, and the ship itself is about two-hundred feet out on a right-leaning bend in the dock as Putter indicated.
“Can you tell whether it’s our specific dog or just a dog in general?” Whispin asks, encouraged by Kai’s confidence.
“Oh no, not our dog specifically,” she demurs, “I could just stand there [pointing to the water’s edge thirty feet away, which would have her facing the ship’s port side almost perpendicularly] and tell whether they had a dog aboard, and not anything more specific than front, middle or back. I do not know if I could figure out which deck it was on, not from that far away. And I would have to stand there for a few minutes to cast the spell, it might look strange unless we had a ruse to distract. And I would need until tonight, the dinner hour, to memorize the spell.”
“That’s better than nothing,” Caleb says, “If we can confirm there’s a dog on board and it turns out not to be the one we’re looking for, we can always claim it was a case of mistaken identity or something.” he suggests.
“I think we want to wait until later today anyway to do anything,” Konishi advises. “Way too many people around here right now, the cover of darkness will be our best friend.”
“Are you sure your magic can reach that far out,” Whispin asks, “That ship is at least two hundred feet away from where you pointed, maybe two-hundred and fifty feet, and then you’d have to reach to the end of the ship, that’s over three hundred feet away I’d guess.”
“I have located animals further away than that,” Kai responds, gazing out over the water to reassure herself of her assessment. “But I had better lay off the booze to make sure my head is clear.” She sighs a bit at this admission and pushes her drink a little further out of reach.
The ship is less active than others in the area, with only a dozen or so sailors arriving or departing in the time the party observes it (roughly 45 minutes). More seem to be boarding the ship than debarking it, usually with provisions in tow, suggesting that the ship is, in fact preparing for a departure in the near future. They access the ship via a single gangplank that meets the ship at the middle of its main deck. There are five men in leather jerkins milling about the access point at any given time, presumably acting as guards.
A trip down the boardwalk far enough to catch a glimpse of the starboard side of the ship (i.e. the side not facing the dock) reveals a few lines reaching water level which, if not removed by nightfall, could conceivably be used to gain access to the main deck by one willing to swim out to reach them. There are two rowboats, inverted and stacked, on the main deck. Judging from the size of the ship (similar to the party’s own) it most likely holds roughly two dozen crew members (including the aforementioned guards).
[With the magical berries having expired I don’t know that there are any magical means to breathe underwater within the group – please correct me if I’m wrong!]
I’ll leave off here and give everyone a chance to brainstorm a scheme, feel free to ask questions about details of the ship, crew, dock, etc., of course!
J
The Docks and the Hound
Sorry for the novel! lol
Sunday October 2nd, 402 (1:37 p.m.) [17]:
The elven paladin is secretly pleased at Putter’s prideful airs. The warrior believes in raising others up, and in this brief interchange he’s given a man, with likely few victories in life, a moment all about him. Upon hearing the sum proposed, including the round for the house, Drayven pauses a moment as if debating the amount. After a few moments he smiles and adds, “That seems fair.”
After paying Putter and receiving the map [along with the information] the elf thanks the man for his help.
2:20 p.m.:
In reply to Kai’s initial response about using her magic’s to find the dog on the ship the elf offers a good-natured smile and a nod of his head.
Later when Kai mentions memorizing her spell, Drayven follows ups with, “I think I may change my spells as well. I’ve currently at my disposal two spells for healing minor wounds and one to detect magic. I think I’ll keep the healing spells and then memorize another spell that allows me to briefly compel another to take certain actions…like ‘run’ or ‘sleep’, I must admit I’d rather use my blades to dispatch adversaries, so I typically have only used it to calm others in danger of hurting themselves or others…I even once used to make a cutpurse freeze in his tracks. It may come in handy in this situation, more so than detecting magic I believe.”
As the party watches the ship, Drayven will look for any people that stand out (i.e have a limp, unusual hair colour, distinctive clothes, non-human races etc.) anything that could be used as a possible “description” in the scenarios below. He’ll also try to determine if any of the sailors boarding are checked as they do so.
He has a variety of thoughts* on how to approach the situation, none he is sold on per say, but offers them as jumping off points for other ideas. Perhaps bits and pieces from multiple ideas could be used. While his deity, Horus, dislikes deceit the paladin does offer some less than honest options to illustrate the various paths that could be taken. His preference [due to his religion and swashbuckling nature–as seen in his sample scenario] is to take more of a “direct” approach.
[Note: Drayven has an unusual knowledge of spells for a paladin, this knowledge come from his father who was a fighter/mage…and would use spells as part of his act in the carnival.]
For example, a possible scenario**** could be:
He’ll add that this is just a rough possible scenario, but that fine-tuning would be required.
*All actions below are assumed to take place after the dinner hour once crowds have thinned and darkness could be used, if needed, as cover. it is also assumed that Kai’s spell has located a dog on the ship and perhaps even the ruff, er rough, location.
**Any scenario where the party talks to the captain/leader/etc. could also be used as distraction while the rest of the party takes out the crew with magics and/or stealth. If anyone has Charm Person, maybe that could be used on the captain/leader. Or the Command spell to possibly out him to sleep.
***Konishi would have to go armorless which isn’t ideal. If there are only human sailors Caleb and Whispin might draw too much attention. As an elf, Drayven could cover his ears, but his elvish features might draw attention and he’s not keen on actively deceiving. Even if not called out for being an elf, if there are no women, Kai might be caught out. That leaves Ydoran as the best candidate unless an illusion could be cast on one of the folks mentioned above.
****Here I’m assuming the spells others have have been discussed. I took a look at the character sheets online to see what Caleb and Ydoran have.
S