Melii sighs. "Very well, then. Have him send word to this location when he returns to port." She gives the man her contact information then, unless Urashu has any other ideas, she will return to the group.
"Alright, here's some scrolls. I thought I had more, but guess not. There's only two in here" he says, handing you a sturdy leather case.
"And here's the map," he says, unfurling a larger scroll across the desk. It's large, approximately 5 feet wide by 3 feet tall, and covered in notes and small diagrams. Some areas of the map are highly detailed, while others are vague or even blank.
"I would greatly appreciate this map being returned to me. A colleague of mine made it personally."
Urashu follows, pretty sure that the guy was being straight with them.
Morvan nods. "We will do so. Thank you, Maralictor, for your aid. We shall have to see if we can learn anything of the terrain so we know what supplies to bring."
Back at the villa, Kallant hands the two scrolls of teleport to Urashu. "Congratulations. Birthday gift from the Maralictor."
Then, he finds a big table in the squad's suite and spreads out the map of Numeria and starts studying it and attempting to commit to memory.
Urashu examines the scrolls.
Morvan looks over the map with Kallant, studying it, before turning to the Hellknight and saying, "Lord Vezivo may also have maps we can consult about some of these blank areas. If so, we may benefit from reviewing those as well. Regardless, we'll need to plan accordingly for the terrain."
"Aye, sir.| Kallant replies to Morvan while continuing to study the maps.
Urashu tucks the scrolls away in his case. “So what is the plan, Maralictor? Our contact at the docks was not very optimistic about a trip happening in the next couple of days.”
Morvan smacks a fist on the table. "We can't afford to waste time. See if you can find out about anyone else who could ferry us across the lake - discretely. Our main reason for needing a smuggler is that Hellknights aren't well-received in Ustalav. If need be, we will have to travel fully incognito - armor stowed away, allegiances hidden."
Urashu nods and salutes, though the conversation has been informal to this point. “Understood, Sir. ” He will head out.
“Did you manage any leads when we were trying to find Allain earlier? Or do we need to start fresh again?”
Melii grumbles as she leaves with Urashu. "No. We have to start all over again."
She asks around about any other smugglers who might help.
Urashu nods, frowning. He splits off, noting to meet back at entrance to the docks in an hour.
Urashu will journey as directed and discretely ask around again.
Kizziar again invisibly circles above Melii and Urashu, keeping watch.
There seems to be a single public entrance on the north side, guarded by a single Blackjacket.
Melii approaches the Blackjacket cautiously. "Greetings. We are trying to find passage across the lake and were directed to this warehouse. Are we in the right place?"
"I'm sure you could get something arranged," he says, waving a pair of wands and tapping himself on the forehead with each. His eyes glow, and he stares intently at you for several moments before nodding and unlocking the door, holding it open for you, and locking it back once you're inside.
You walk directly into a small foyer, with a half wall to your right, behind which sits a secretary.
"Good afternoon, how might I direct you?" she asks brightly.
He then follows into the foyer, still invisible, and examines the room.
Melii smiles at the secretray. "Greetings. We are trying to book passage across the lake into Ustalav. Four passengers, no cargo."
"Just a moment please," she says, before turning back to her paperwork. A moment later a well dressed gentleman steps into the foyer and shakes your hand.
"Good afternoon! A pleasure to meet you," he says, holding the door open for you and then leading you briskly back to his office. It is a simple office, with little more than a wall of filing cabinets and a desk, that's cluttered with files and folders of all sorts.
"So, need to get into Ustalav. Shouldn't be a problem, not at all. Just some details to go over. When do you need to leave, and when do you need to arrive? Are there any special considerations we need to be aware of?"
"We would like to depart and arrive as soon as is feasible. No special considerations. We are hoping for a straightforward journey."
filling out a form of some sort.
”Barstoi would be best, though I am unfamiliar with the waterways and specific landing areas. ” he smiles amicably, though he is a little surprised at the tone of what should he feels like should be a much more clandestine errand.
"Well, I'd suggest either Caliphas or Thrushmoore. They're the only cities of any note on the bay that are also safe. Thrushmoore's closer to your destination, but Caliphas is larger and it would probably be easier to find travel arrangements from there."
"Thrushmoor will be fine. What is your asking price?"
He pauses, smiling conspiratorially.
"But unless I miss my guess, I feel you might want more... security for your travels. And therein lies my specialty. I have a number of ships that are highly warded, against all the most common impediments one might encounter, and then a few extras. I can offer security from bad weather, divination, teleportation, to include planar intrusion, and even more mundane attacks. I have a personal guarantee that travel on one of my secure ships will be unimpeded or you will be reimbursed and compensated for any travel plans that go awry."
"We'll leave first thing in the morning. We would like the anti-divination countermeasures if you can provide them. The rest we can handle."
Did he just promise to reimburse us if our vessel were to sink? How is he doing that? Urashu stands quietly, letting Melii handle the negotiation. He agrees with her assessment if need, so there’s no need for him to speak up. He moves to stand at attention and then stops himself, realizing that they should t give away any information relating them to the hell knights.
"Now, how would you like to do payment? The cost for arranging things as soon as possible is, of course, noteworthy, and it will certainly speed things up if you are able to pay today. However, we do offer payment plans, for a small fee of course. The total cost will be..." he trails off, mumbling under his breath as he does some mental calculations.
"2300, with an additional 10% fee if you wish to pay upon arrival or via some other payment plan."
Melii nods. "That seems a bit steep. I can go as high as 2000."
"We can pay via notes." Melli works with him to finalize arrangements.
After signing a bit of paperwork, running over to the bank and arranging the transaction, then running back to present the receipt, he informs you that he has a crew ready, and that the ship should be coming in later tonight, and he would be sure to send a runner to let you know as soon as it is ready. You nod your thanks and then return to the villa.
Once the others get back, Morvan says, "Were you able to arrange transit?"
"Yes, Maralictor. The ship should be coming in later tonight. A runner will arrive as soon as it is ready."
Urashu runs through the assets in his head. He tries to come up with a plan before asking, as practice for a time when he would be in command.
The boat to get us there most of the way there, and very importantly unseen
i can extract a few of us quickly with the scrolls of teleport, and with a 2nd scroll I can get back to help out.
What else do we need? Do we know how to get from Thrushmoor to the meeting site? How much coin do we still have?
“Maralictor, do we have maps of the area to help us get from Thrushmoore to our meeting site? And how much coin do we have left in reserve? The boat trip, with added protection from divination magic, cost us 2,000 gold. And now that some of the details are set, what is our overall plan?”
"Tonight? Should we disguise ourselves to get the ship? On the ship, I suppose it would not matter."
"My only armor is hellknight plate or hellknight parade armor. I probably should only where the parade armor on the lake unless we need another anchor. Don't think it would be too safe. What do you think?" Kallant asks the squad.
Did we ever get a name or business card or anything from the man at the warehouse? Kizziar asks Melii and Urashu. It seems a bit risky to trust someone we know so little about with our secrecy.