Arya buts in, stepping foward to join Arenel and Elaina in front of the desk.
"Listen, your man Vark is a cheat and a liar! Lady Van Rebvorn has already paid those mooring fees! Vark's men wouldn't even let her board the ship! All we need is for you to sign a writ, something Vark can't deny, that will let us on to inspect the ship on behalf of the good lady. I'm sure that if everything is in order, she will gladly pay the mooring fee again, just to get that brute off her ship!"
Arya's impressive stature adds weight to her words as she glares down at the seated harbormaster. Her cheeks flush and she puffs out her chest to show that the group mean business.
Mimi startles slightly at Eliana's opening gambit, but otherwise she remains leaning against the wall near the door while the other three woman engage with the boy behind the desk.
It isn't a bad idea Arenal has, and in some situations it could work. But, although she won't speak against the attempt, she knows it won't succeed.
If there was anything her time in the military taught her well, it was that the structures and procedures of bureaucracies were more real to those who operated them than the things or people they controlled. If a form was filled out (and correctly) a thing was real, if it was not filled out (or filled out incorrectly) it was not real.
Those who could use the system, like Vark, could find the nooks, crannies, and ratholes around the rules, papers, and processes. They could be corrupt, but the system was not built to care about that. People like her and her compatriots did not know the system, so they could not be corrupt, the system was was built to prevent that.
She remembers that one soldier in her company who had grown tired of eating the maggoty porridge they received during one siege. They ate maggoty porridge because the cooks' quartermaster skimmed away the good grain and sold it to soldiers who didn't want to eat maggots.
That one soldier stole a half sack of grain from the quartermaster. He was caught, and the flesh from his back was removed with a whip. The quartermaster's paperwork was in order. He continued to sell the grain without maggots to soldiers who didn't want to eat the other stuff.
Mimi waits for the others to give up so they can move on to the next idea.
The young man lets out a small laugh. "I am not the harbormaster. He is much too busy to answer the questions of any driftwood that happens to float into his office." He pauses for a moment, finishes writing on the paper he's been working on and moves it to a pile. A paper in another stack is selected, then he hesitates and looks up. "Regardless, the process for requesting access to an impounded ship is clear - you must go through the individual assigned to the case. Soller Vark, in this case."
Mimi walks forward to stand by the young man's desk.
"I'm sorry, we didn't understand and we're wasting your time. Thank you for clearing the correct procedure up for us. We will be on our way now."
Mimi sticks out her hand to shake the young man's.
"Thank you Mr.... Oh, I'm afraid I didn't catch your name...?"
She also glances over at the stack of paperwork, trying to spy exactly where into it he stuck the Blue Nixie's" form.
"Jonavon Galdan."
"Nice to meet you Mr. Galdan."
Mimi looks to the others. "Well, shall we be on our way?"
In the process at looking at her comrades, she also scans the doors and windows, taking in the particulars of the locking or barring mechanisms if they have them.
"Might as well. This fool is no use to us and if we can't get in to see the harbor master then we have no other reason to be here." Arenel said as she headed out. "Lets go find Vark. I can have a nice chat with him."
"Oh, one last question Mr. Galdan. Where can we find Mr. Vark?"
Valghaz sighed at Arenel's remark. While the man was still there no less! He put his hand on his holy symbol and muttered a prayer to Merodach for patience.
"Don't mind her, lad. She doesn't mean it. But aye, where be this Mr. Vark?"
"Soller Vark will be at the docks. You may find him there, or you may fill out a form requesting a personal audience." The young man seems completely unaffected by the insult.
Mimi: The door seems to be a simple one made of wood with a lock set in it. The windows look to have latching mechanisms, though you can't really see any details.
Arya's tough stance is thrown off when Mimi pushes in and the dynamic of the meeting suddenly shifts. Arya doesn't understand why she seems so quick to give up and leave.
She huffs and crosses her arms as she realises they came all this way for nothing.
Once they are outside she turns to Mimi.
"What was all that about!? Now we're right back to where we started!"
"Calm the fook down, the lot of ye. I've got two hundred gold ridin' on this an' I don't want lack of patience to fook me out of it. Arenel, don't insult our contacts, especially when they may be of use later. Arya, keep ye voice down. And for the lot o' ye, let's start workin' together. Now then, we know that we need to speak to Mr. Vark an' we know where he is. Let's make a plan 'fore we talk to him."
"Well I didn't want to come here to begin with." Elaina also huffs, mimicking Arya's stance. "These people are completely useless. I fear even my silver tongue won't be able to convince Vark. He's probably screwed a bunch of other people. We could put together a forum or something and do a... petition...or..." Feeling foolish, she trails off.
"Merodach give me strength!"
"Let me knight if they answer you. Arenel sighed as she crossed her arms. "But that is a good point." She said. "If we can talk him down at the very least we can distract him no?"
Pacing back and forth Arya tries hard to follow Valghaz's advice and calm down.
"Okay. No, you're right. If we are going to have any hope of finding this ring then we're going to have to start working as a team. That was sloppy in there."
"We've learned one thing at least; the harbormasters have no interest in bringing Vark back in line. That means its up to us."
Mimi tries to speak up a few times, but with the others talking so quickly and loudly she can't find a way to cut in. She gives up and waits until the talk dies down.
"We're not exactly back at square one. We do know several useful things now. We know the harbor management will not be helping us board the ship. He really wasn't going to give us writ to board the ship, no matter how much he was begged, And if he was threatened he would have just summoned the watch."
"It's important to understand that he is simply doing his job, and that's to keep the harbor running smoothly and productively according to the rules and policies. He's not there to right wrongs and see justice done."
"We know the Harbor Master will believe Vark over us. That only makes sense. He's one of them, and we are random people. Of course Vark will be believed, there's no evidence we can present that anything we are saying is true. Why would they?"
"We also know some good things. We found out Vark is both the source of our problem and the only one who can solve it according to procedure, a paradox for us. Vark isn't going to let us board the ship. Eliana is probably right that Vark has done similar things before, and will do them again in the future. But since Vark can operate without direct oversight, he is probably acting alone, a rogue."
"We will have to board the ship without permission. We can also use what we know of Vark and his position to help us do that I think. We didn't get a writ to board, but what if we just say we did? How would the guards know we didn't without reading it? And guess how close we have to be to hand it to them to read? By the time they know it's not true we're already aboard and moving against them."
"Of course the guards might just refuse without hearing from Vark first, so it would be better if Vark were on the ship already. Then we could claim the writ was issued by Galdan. We have a name that could credibly do it. Vark might not believe it, but he can't know without seeing it firsthand."
He will be frightened and angry that Galdan might do such a thing. He could react that way for several reasons: fear he's been found out, anger that Galdan broke standard procedures, fear the others at the Harbor Office are undermining or sidelining him, anger at the lack of respect it shows for him at the office. Whichever it is, the root will be the same. The great fear of bureaucrats is loss of power and authority. That can be a good weapon for us. And it may get us onto he boat."
"So, here is what I think we should do. First, beg Vark to let us on the boat without any mention of our trip to the harbor office. When he refuses we say we will go to the harbor office about it and leave. He will know that we will get nowhere with our complaint. Second, let it slip that there is something of great value on the boat we want to recover. Not the key, that would not likely temp him much anyway. Instead a family heirloom, jewelry. It is hidden below decks and we only know the general location. Third: He must tell the guards to search the ship for the item, and likely would want to supervise the search himself, so we wait and watch for him to go to the ship. Fourth, we give it some extra time, then we row out with our writ from Galdan. Vark will allow us aboard because he will have to see for himself. He can't be wrong about the harbor office after all. Or can he? If that isn't enough, he might want to try to get more information out of us about the treasure he hasn't found yet."
"So yes, I'm sorry but there is going to be a fight. One way or another. Hopefully some of the guards will be downstairs searching when we board."
"Of course we could always try to board the ship by stealth under cover of night instead... What do you think?"
Mimi stands blinking at them wondering if she has talked for too long.
Chan blinks rapidly, trying to keep the pace of his thoughts with Mimi's speech. A few seconds after she finishes, he finally smiles. "There is wisdom in your words. I like your plan!"
Elaina fusses with the laces on her corset. "I don't wanna fight anybody." She says quietly. "What if my outfit gets torn? Besides. We can't go on someone elses boat and start attacking people. There are laws and stuff. We'll get in trouble."
Mimi looks at Eliana quizzically.
"Or we can quit. That's a third option. But why did you agree to this job if you are worried about legality. We were hired because legal means won't work. I mean that was made pretty clear by Lady Van Rebvorn. If they could work she would just do it herself. You going to have to face the fact that we will be getting no help in this."
Mimi shrugs "I really wish I could tell you otherwise, but wishful thinking is a waste of time."
After arriving back at the Trade District docks, the group attempts to find Soller Vark. After an hour of looking around:
Arya listens intently to Mimi's speech.
She shared the woman's sentiments on the stubbornness and of authority. Still, if you were so sure that begging the harbormaster wouldn't work why not say so before we got in there?
Arya tries to focus on the positives in Mimi's summary of their current situation and when the woman starts to outline a plan, Arya's characteristic grin returns to her face.
"It's the best plan I've heard so far. I think we may be able to pull it off!"
"I'm a pretty fast talker," she boasts. "Even if Vark doesn't want to let us on board I might be able to trick him into thinking he does."
"My one concern is with getting Vark to search the ship. Let's not forget that the key to Lavinia's vault is in actuality an heirloom piece of jewelry, her father's ring. And we don't know where it is hidden. We may inadvertently direct Vark right to the prize we're after. And that is assuming he doesn't know about the vault already and his reason for keeping Lavinia off the ship is that he is busy searching it for a key already."
"I do like her base idea." Arenel agreed as she crossed her arms. "Maybe we should tell him that all we're looking for are papers? Something that Lavinia may need to finish paperwork that would allow her to pay Vark once more." She suggested.
"Papers would be a reasonable suggestion, and the idea of being payed again would surely appeal to Vark" Arya agrees.
By the time they reach the dock, Arya is in high spirits again and is focused on the task at hand.
She makes her way around, keeping an eye out for familiar faces, old crew mates or drinking companions who she can exploit for knowledge on Solllet Vark.
Catching the eye of an old sailor, she sits down beside him and strikes up a conversation.
The old man would often sit by the docks watching the ships go by and Arya knew he would be the best one to ask.
After buying the sailor a mug of ale and bowl of siren's stew, she asks him if he'd seen Vark around, or anything else of interest concerning the Blue Nixie.
Over his meal, the old man relays to Arya that he has seen Vark and seven other men and women row out to the Blue Nixie on several occasions recently.
"Well lass, I found me a street urchin, who said he saw Vark and four burly men row out to the Blue Nixie this morning. So e'en talkin' to him is goin' to be an issue."
Elaine stomps her foot in protest, face flushing. "There's breaking the law and then there's murder and that's what it's going to be if we go in there swinging our swords!" She retorts to Mimi. "We have to do this without fighting. Vark is already entrenched in the system, no one will take our side."
"No one is saying we have to jump aboard and slice up the crew unprovoked. We can try our best to talk things through and overcome Vark with our wits, but if things go south you need to be ready to defend yourself. There's no crime in that." Arya tries to reassure the young dancer.
When Valghaz relays his news, Arya smiles. "If the urchin is right, perhaps we're in luck. My good man over here says that Vark usually takes out seven with him. Unless the others were already on board this morning that tips the odds in our favor."
Her heart sinks, recalling the three men she'd seen on board when they first came to the docks.
"Does the boy know what time they rowed out? Was it after we'd stopped by?"
"If we go to their ship and anyone tries to besmirch my honor I will cut off their hands. If they just tell us to leave we will have to leave. Unless we wear masks so they can't tell who broke into their ship? I can't go to prison prisons are cold." Elaina reasons. "So, we can go to the ship when most of the crew is gone. Some can distract the crew and someone else can wander off to look for the key." She clicks the ring piercing in her lower lip while she thinks. "If we wait till seven or eight are gone... I bet if the worlds cutest girl, inexperienced in matters of boating, crashed her boat into the Nixie, that would be a pretty good distraction. Then someone else could sneak on board while the crew rescues the damsel."
"Elaina, I mean no offence, but the only real difference in your plan is that if something goes wrong, one of us has to fight their way off the ship alone. With Mimi's plan, they could have had the rest of us at their side."
"Now, given you've already placed yourself safely in your own little boat in this scenario, I'm guessing it's going to be me up there alone. Unless any of the others want to volunteer? I doubt anyone will make less noise searching for the key than me, or will be any more familiar with the ship's layout."
"Let me tell you now though, taking on a gang of thugs single-handed is not what I signed up for. I vote we stick to Mimi's plan, let's try and talk our way through this."
"Aye, Mimi's plan is sound. Plus I'd feel rotten if I be safe here while Arya gets killed."
Elaine rolls her eyes. "I would be on the boat too, since mine would have to sink. You guys have no imagination! At least my way makes a good story." She slowly shakes her head. "So are we going to wait for Vark to return from the ship today and hope he will be willing to go back out to it, or are we going to intercept him on the dock in the morning? Better not to make an appointment with him, don't want him to be able to this think it over too much."
Chan smiles at Elaina reassuringly. "Worry not, my dear; should it come to fisticuffs, I promise I will only incapacitate--I will not kill."
"So, here is what I think we should do. First, beg Vark to let us on the boat without any mention of our trip to the harbor office. When he refuses we say we will go to the harbor office about it and leave. He will know that we will get nowhere with our complaint. Second, let it slip that there is something of great value on the boat we want to recover. Not the key, that would not likely temp him much anyway. Instead a family heirloom, jewelry. It is hidden below decks and we only know the general location. Third: He must tell the guards to search the ship for the item, and likely would want to supervise the search himself, so we wait and watch for him to go to the ship. Fourth, we give it some extra time, then we row out with our writ from Galdan. Vark will allow us aboard because he will have to see for himself. He can't be wrong about the harbor office after all. Or can he? If that isn't enough, he might want to try to get more information out of us about the treasure he hasn't found yet."
As you flesh out the finer points of your plan, you keep an eye on the Nixie. As evening draws in, you notice a flurry of activity on the ship. With only a few moments of observation, Arya realizes the people on the ship - numbering at least 6 - are preparing it to be sailed.
"Lets find a rent boat now. We may not be able to find one if we wait much longer. Arenel stated as she looked down the pier.
"Yes, whatever we do we have to get onboard before they leave. We need a boat right now."
"Agreed. Arenel, how quickly can you get to your father to forge the writ? Could you get it done by the time we've found a boat? I fear we're going to have to jump right ahead to the final stage of our plan, having a document we can confidently show Vark will be a big help but if you can't get there quick we may lose our opportunity all together."
"We can't forge a document if we don't know what it looks like. There's no time for any of that, we must go."
Arya places her hand to her head and makes a gesture indicating her stupidity. "You're right, of course. Let's get this boat then!"
Arya makes her way down through the docks looking for a row boat anywhere that might be of use.
"Aye, let's do this." Valghaz gets on the boat and prepares to row.
"We have to steal a boat to stop a stolen boat? Now the story is getting interesting." Elaina says, casually following the others on their search for a suitable boat to steal.
"I will help you row, Valghaz," Chan says with a friendly smile.
"These boats belong to honest men and women Elaina, I'm not looking to steal anything. But if someone here is done for the day I'm sure they'll be willing to part with their vessel for a good cause, or a little extra to add to their day's earnings."
"Well don't tell em you want it to chase the guy who runs the harbor!"
Arya quickly finds a rowboat you can rent for the price of 1 sp per hour (minimum 2 hours, and the first two hours must be paid upfront), or 1 gp for an entire day.
After renting the boat, you row out to the Blue Nixie. When you arrive, you squint up into the setting sun and see a thuggish-looking man looking down at you. "Who goes thar?" Another man walks over and watches you intently, a light crossbow cocked and aimed in your group's direction.
"Good evening, we represent Lady Lavinia Van Rebvorn, rightful owner of the Blue Nixie." Arya calls up to the man on the ship.
"We request permission to come aboard, from Soller Vark, for the purpose of retrieving an important piece of documentation which Lady Van Rebvorn requires in order to pay the mooring fees outstanding on this vessel."
"If you would be so gracious as to allow us aboard, we would not take long, and you would quickly be rewarded once Lady Van Rebvorn is able to amass the required gold."
Elaina wants to complain about the water and the salt and the fish smell, but she controls herself. "It's very important you let us on board! This is a time sensitive matter, as such Lady Rebvorn has authorized us to offer a small reward to anyone who can help expedite the matter. After the matter is settled, of course."