I know, it is soooo hard to get the attention with all those others running around in plain sight! LOL.

Aye, both entrances would be best.

Devin will position his cat in the best tree or wandering if needed to watch the prison, carver's, C52 and the warehouse, fluyt and Smuggler's Dock. He will wait a short time after Captain Jac's crew start their distractions. Then he and the Saucy Siren ladies will slip out the back alley and saunter west along the waterfront. He will play his lute while they all appear to be drunk and leaving the area to party elsewhere. Devin will observe everything he can, paying special attention as they pass the warehouse and the fluyt. He and the ladies will dance and drink along the shore until Devin spots Captain Aylar's team ready. Then Devin and the ladies will grow very loud and pound on the prison door, looking for more to party. Once the door is open, Devin will use his bardic skills to Charm and Influence their way in, slipping a metal pin in place to jam the door barely open. He will Sleep any guards while the ladies use their seductive wiles to tie them up, and listen for possible reinforcements. If Devin senses life drain, vampirates or any undead, he will immediately take the Necrotic Resistance potion and move to defend the ladies and team with rapier and dagger, applying lightsheen only if necessary. Reserve Moonbow for Greater Undead or Shadows.

Devin has the cat watch C69, C74, C52 and the warehouse, fluyt and Smuggler's Dock. He waits for the distractions and takes the ladies to the prison. He pays special attention near the warehouse and fluyt ship. When the C69 door is opened, Devin uses bardic Charm to get inside and jam the door open. He and the ladies will Sleep and tie up the guards, listen for reinforcements and be on alert for undead while waiting for Team 2.

On that note, I ought to paint fer ye all a small, and hopefully decent picture of our fair vessel before we depart: Aylar does his best to give the Ship an appearance of a typical mannish smuggling vessel striving to do just enough slightly dishonest work to stay decently running, but nae worth a glance of a respected sailor or some particularly motivated guard looking to do some additional investigating to grease their palms. In other words, a solid but scruffy piece of work that would not be out of place keeping anchor at a smuggler's dock, away from the main port where her team would nae have business or enough coin fer.

"Sure, me no use Dakka if not discovered (even if he sad). But bonk not stelth?"
"Just sneak in? Or Benchi be talkin'?"

"Quick quiet sneak up and bonk be fine. No yelling or lots of breaking things."
It be more BenKii's musket she be concerned about ... whether the potato works, we'll see what the dice say. (Oh, and let's hope the guards and carver not be female.) :P

Just finishing up the new turn post, coming soon.

Mission 5 - Turn 1
*Turn Ends 11PM UTC, 7 October 2024.*

It is a clear night with a waning crescent moon which gives off only a little light. The breeze comes out of the southwest, with small occasional gusts.

(roll dice) Captain Aylar, you set about Working your glamour, that of the appearance of a typical mannish smuggling vessel striving to do just enough slightly dishonest work to stay decently running. As you slide it over the Ship supported by the Wards, it flickers a bit before settling, almost as if the Ship itself debates shaking off the scruffy visage that has been imposed upon it, but relents with almost a huff.

Seeing this, Cap'n Rummyfangs dashes into his cabin and returns without his hat or longcoat, in an old patched shirt and his worst breeches. Admiral Cliodhna grins and gestures with one hand, and her long hair is now short curls tucked under a dark scarf while her visage, figure and clothing is that of a waif of a human boy. She can't help throwing a wink at Captain BenKii and a small smile at Count Karnstein.

Kyp, you, Finn and Pearl take the buckets with the acid mix and are off. (roll dice*3) You encounter no problems on the way to the westernmost harbor entrance and locate the chain. You are lucky, there are two links with a bit of rust already between them. In the darkened night time waters of the Naval Harbor beyond you see a large shadow gliding about. It is a 12 foot tiger shark.

(roll dice) In the main part of the port a tavern brawl breaks out and spills into the street, catching bystanders of another drinking establishment as well. A port brothel erupts with shouts and screams as ruffians start throwing a few customers out minus their breeches and their purses. Then at the eastern far end of a pier a fire erupts in one of the older port storage buildings just as the breeze comes in off the water, threatening to blow the blaze into the more official port buildings.

Team 2/Prison Team - Aylar, Argy, Grog'tial, Baldbeard, Karnstein:
(roll dice) You mount Zephyr and take off with a leap and a slight whoosh of wings. From your vantage point up in the air you can see a fire at the far end of the port, several fights starting to get out of control and hear the alarms going up calling for the guard. In the flickering lanterns of the waterside you see seven ladies surrounding Devin and wandering towards the west end. They seem giddy and drunk.

Grog'tial (roll dice) the lay of the land points that the tunnel most likely descends from where you saw it in H1, to somewhere underground in the dungeons of C69, most likely SW or W.

(roll dice) Zephyr lands and you get off behind some bushes NW and uphill from the prison C69. Luckily the hill and outer edges of the prison is not well trimmed or cared for and there is scrub brush and bushes to hide in. You seem to have gone unnoticed. It isn't long before you hear Devin and the ladies getting nearer.

Team 1/Carver Team - Bellandra, BenKii, Gilius, Durik:
The griffon returns and is loaded with four ropes to use for binding as well as securing the figureheads for Zephyr to haul back over the wall. The team mounts and Zephyr takes off again. (roll dice) You land behind three trees and some bushes NW of the carver's workshop home. You seem to have gone unnoticed. (roll dice) From the back you do not see a door anywhere, it must be around the front. From the look of things there will be one door into the workshop (the square western end) and maybe one into the house part (they are together in one building) or else the house is entered through the workshop itself. A half-orc guard walks around the building in a clockwise direction. You can hear him grunt something to another guard in the front as he passes. A human voice answers low and briefly. The window curtains are closed, but from the flickering light inside you can see at least two shadows inside the house part. The workshop window is dark.

(roll dice*5) Devin, you and the seven Saucy Sirens have made it to the prison and one of the ladies pounds on the door, laughing drunkenly. The door faces north and is opened by a human guard, with another standing behind him. At first he seems irritated, but that quickly turns to amusement as he calls back to his fellows about the girls and party at the door. Luck is with you, the captain is away for the evening at some shindig in the upper town. Your music is entrancing and they let you all in the door. You enter a small guard of the watch room, but beyond is the guardroom proper. While you slip a small pin in place to jam the door slightly open for the Prisoner Team, the ladies quickly move into the guardroom and get to work encouraging the guards to drink drugged wine and ale.

The guardroom itself is round and open, except for a walled off area that must be the captain's office along the south wall. There are curved wooden stairs going up the eastern side, probably to the barracks, and curved stone stairs going down along the western wall, probably to the dungeon cells. There are currently five guards (2 human 3 half-orc) in the room, being entertained by the ladies. Two more humans start to come down the stairs, hearing the party. (roll dice*3) You are able to Sleep all but one of the guards, a human. Two of the ladies knock him out and manage to make him swallow some drugged wine. Devin, you sense the slightest twinge of unease, but not a life drain.

hmmmm.... a big tiger shark... I have 2 options... leave the tiger shark alone and try not to alert it in anyway on the mission or try to communicate with it and establish some sort of peaceful understanding...

Kyp asks pearl and finn using his mind what they think is the better option, trying to not catch the sharks attention and be aware of it in case of battle or try to establish communication early to have an understanding and potentially have a peaceful connection.

(This is just me thinking out loud to the rest of the players of Team 1. I'm trying to think of a way to incapacitate the human and orc guards outside. I noticed in the teams' inventories that Gilius has a blowgun with 12 needles and Bellandra has stun bolts. Will the blowgun knock out the guard in one hit? Maybe the human but not sure about the orc. Stun bolts sound like they explode so don't think those will work. We could also avoid the guards and go in through the workshop window while the guards are on the opposite side of the house but then we'd have to keep going back and forth to load the griffon with the carver and his carvings. A simple sneak up from behind with a bludgeon might be the best option if this game employs a sneak bonus to attack. Finally, I was thinking of just walking up to the guards myself and pretend I'm giving them new orders to guard the undead pit at C52 instead. You know, Axel Foley style from Beverly Hills Cop. Just total BS them. Will still have to deal with 2 other individuals inside the house part of the building. Could avoid that section entirely but I have a feeling the carver is there and the carvings are in the workshop of the building.)

Pearl answers Kyp. She thinks his idea to communicate is a good one. To get to the other chain, they will either have to swim through the Naval Harbor and past the tiger shark, or take the long way around the outside. Tiger sharks have a reputation for aggressiveness, but outright attacks are actually very rare, and Kyp is half-mer and should be able to talk with it. Tiger sharks are also very curious, so it could be this shark is more curious than looking to attack. If it does turn aggressive, then they can handle it then.

Finn is sure he can out-swim and out-manuever the tiger shark if Kyp needs him to, so if Kyp wants to try to talk first it loses them nothing.

Grog'tial, Prison team communicates the likely location of the tunnel entrance to the rest of the team. Taking care to remain hidden, he then investigates the outside and surroundings of the dungeon with his mirror. If any anomalies are spotted, he investigates them (depending on their color, since he knows enough by now to avoid (most types of?) traps - those, he warns the team about). He also eyes the building to determine how many floors it has, taking particular note of the roof (is it flat? could anyone be stationed there which they might've missed from the air?) and possible movement behind any windows.

Once sounds coming from inside the dungeon indicate that it's safe to proceed (and/or Devin gives a signal, and/or some other team member enters), he goes in. Inside, he again scans the room with his mirror. He has no preference for heading up or down first, so will follow the lead of whoever moves first, keeping his crossbow at the ready to provide ranged support and shooting any enemies which appear. If there's no immediate fight in the next location, he again scans it with his mirror.

[Grog'tial scans for secrets with his mirror, outside and inside, and follows whoever first moves up or down a set of stairs.]

Devin, inside Prison, is on high alert. He visually checks the moonstone in his rapier. He tries to sense if his unease is from his earring or the feather. Does he hear anything (footsteps, breathing, shifting) upstairs, below them, from the captain's office, possible hidden areas or elsewhere? Is there any sense of a breeze stirring from where it shouldn't, or a wrong odor?

If he doesn't sense immediate danger, Devin would position himself in the shadows and stay on guard while the ladies use the leather and silken restraints and gags of their craft to tie up the guards after making sure each one has been given a dose of the drugged wine. He stays watchful as they take the coin purses and any jewelry as the agreed reward for their assistance, and then sends them out as a signal to the Prison team if the team hasn't entered yet.

[Devin tries to determine the source of his unease. He listens, tests for faint breezes or odors. He stays watchful as the ladies restrain the guards and sends them to signal the Prison team.]

Grog'tial: Outside Prison. (roll dice*4) While remaining hidden you scan the area around the Prison. You detect nothing hidden or magical beyond what the Prison team is carrying. The building is squat, with thick stone block walls and only two floors above ground. However to your half-dwarven eyes and experience, the foundation indicates probably three levels below, possibly four. There are no windows, only eight deep arrow slits at the points of a compass upstairs and none on the ground floor. Most likely the upstairs is a barracks, it looks dark, except for the very faint flicker of what might be a single candle. The roof is flat, but your adapted dark vision saw no one there, neither while in flight nor now. The only movement seems to be a bat circling and darting above it, chasing a meal.

Devin: Inside Prison. The moonstone in your rapier is giving off a faint glow. There is at least one undead within sensing range. The feather confirms it. (roll dice*4) Your ears pick up the sound of snoring and heavy breathing above, you judge there are two sleeping guards upstairs. From directly below you pick up only the skittering of vermin, but you catch sounds that indicate there are the rumored other levels below and footsteps are ascending those stairs to the level just below you. There are no breezes, but the odor from the downward stairs is not as stale or musty as you would expect it to be, although there are still the scents of blood and misery.

(roll dice*a lot) sigh. Your luck and the dice confirm all the guards are drugged and will be out for at least several hours, even the half-orcs. When they do wake they will be groggy and won't remember faces or what happened. Except all indications will be they had a very wild night!

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You two make quite a good information team. Devin, I'm used to your ways but the Crew isn't. Next time please include in post (not just the earlier intent PM to me) that you visited the shop among those establishments and drugged those marked bottles of wine and small casks of ale.

With the advice of his friends Kyp puts the needed acid on the nearby chains and then reaches out to the shark giving the impressions of peace and good will towards the shark.

Specifically Kyp says "Hello Sir, mighty fine night we are having... You see I do not want any trouble with you, me and my friends are severely bothered by these chains in this cove, so if you don't mind I will be breaking them. If you want to help or watch you may join us with completing the task"

How close are we to the dark of the moon, waning crescent proper or just before or after?

Devin: Inside Prison, amended/added actions. Devin sees the faint glow of the moonstone and knows there is at least one undead within sensing range. Even though he cannot detect a life force drain at the moment, he takes the Necrotic Resistance potion and pulls on his gloves. Hearing the footsteps (soft or loud?) from below, he draws his rapier and silver dagger and positions himself in shadows near to the downward stairs from which he can strike quickly and stealthily while also keeping an eye on the other stairs and doors.

Devin signals the ladies to hurry, but be thorough, making sure each guard has been given a dose of the drugged wine, tied and gagged. After the ladies have done so and taken their promised payment, he would quickly send them out to signal the Prison team.

He listens for any interruption in snores or heavy breathing of the two sleeping guards upstairs while analyzing the ascending footsteps. Do the footsteps stop, are they cautious or unsuspecting, heavy footed or lighter? He would keep his senses open and watch the moonstone for clues. If the air below is not as stale or musty then he suspects the rumored tunnel is below.

Once the Prison team enters, Devin will quickly and silently signal with his dagger hand, putting a finger to his lips while pointing the tip of his rapier to the lower stairs to warn of the approaching footsteps. He will then point upstairs with two fingers raised to indicate the sleeping guards, and lastly indicate his rapier's moonstone and silently mouth the word "undead."

If the cat is close enough Devin will briefly contact it to check if it sees or hears anything around the places he set it to be watchful of.

[Devin takes his potion, pulls on his gloves and arms himself, positioning himself to strike from shadows. He urges the ladies to hurry while making sure they are thorough, then sends them out to signal the Prison team. He uses silent signals to warn the Prison team of the approaching footsteps, upstairs sleeping guards and "undead". Devin checks in on the cat.

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Thee be correct, Fair One. I should have posted that. My apologies to thee and the Crew.