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Makena finds the gnome's dance amusing. She pats Twigg gently on the head as he spins around, and says "A good effort, little one. Maybe we can dance later, but now, on to the mission."
She looks at Astarton and Twigg, and then turns to Gryne and Roary, measuring them up. She recalls the dwarf and the barbarian being a little noisy back at the inn. She looks at the ship and says "We should try to get a sense of the situation. Twigg, Astarton, do you think you could help me get in and out stealthly, so we can devise a plan?"
With these words, she starts to walk up the boarding plank as quietly as possible.
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"I prefer to take that kind of imitation as flattery." He said to the gnome, giving him a stiff bow.
And then as if he were aware of the pun, he pointed at the decorative front of the ship, "That kind of imitation seems a bit more like mockery to me. But even so, I can't let a lady go unaccompanied especially if the dance is low class and likely to be filled with unsavory characters." He followed along with his "agile dance" while remaining as quiet as he can muster.
As Makena moved quietly across the gangplank and onto the vessel she did so with the grace and agility of a trained sailor, easily managing to cross the gap between dock and ship without a sound and landing softly on the deck. Astarton on the other hand...
Despite any noises the thinks he made, he also makes it safely on board the ship and finds himself standing on the main deck. The both notice that the deck has been recently scrubbed clean and there are still signs of drying soap bubbles on the newly scoured wooden planks. You both notice doors leading into cabins on this deck, one immediately to your north, and one further away to the south. There is also a set of stairs to the south leading below decks.
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A hundred feet from the boat Twigg ducks into an alley and whips out a scroll and reads from it.
A light blue field encases him before vanishing. The scroll quickly evaporates into mid air as if someone lit the bottom with a candle.
"Most non-gnomes get freaked out when you use magic in public... I suppose they are worried about explosions and the dead rising" Twigg laughs. "I have much more fun magic than doing boring stuff like that!"
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Astarton notices the others coming up the gangplank. He turns to Malena and whispers. "It might suit our interests not to get too separated. Behind any of these doors could be a bunch of smelly half orcs that want to do more than give me another black eye. As long as they stay a bit distant, we should still be able to do some good scouting. I'll check the stairs first."
Having stubbed his toe when he came on board, he tried his best to be stealthy while compensating for his injured toe. It certainly hadn't been a good day for him so far...
Astarton makes his way towards the stairs while the others follow him along the main deck of the ship. As he approaches the stairs he peers down into the darkness, seeing nothing below that appears to be moving. Everything else about the ship appears quiet.
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Astarton comes in the middle somewhere, and an annoying tune he had been trying to get out of his head earlier popped in and rattled around the inside of his skull. He really wanted to start humming, but he fought the urge and proceeded with the group. Sometimes it was real inconvenient being eccentric.
The party decides that there is strength in numbers and decides to descend the stairs together, Roary in the lead. As that make their way to the area below the main deck they find the weapon fitting area of the boat.
Six large ballistae are housed here, screwed to the deck and mounted on rails so they can be pushed through the swinging doors on the side of the hull and fired at nearby ships. There is no ammunition present for these weapons, however, and the deck is empty. The northwest corner of the room contains an open trap door. There are doors to the north and south as well, which are closed.
The ship is eerily quiet, the only noise is the lapping of the waves outside against the hull and the rocking of the masts above in the wind.
Roary steps up to check the door, pulling it open and peering inside. These finely appointed quarters contain a table, some chairs, bookshelf, and a few barrels, all of which have been screwed to the deck. A thick stack of papers are on the table. This room is dusty and dirty and doesn’t appear to have been used recently.
The stack of papers on the table is from the ship’s former life as a slave ship for Qadira and contain manifests and records of deliveries throughout the Inner Sea.
Astarton takes a close look around the room, but finds nothing of importance. Any personal belongings seem to have been removed some time ago.
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Makena's eyes widen as she realizes what the papers are. She flips through them anxiously looking for familiar names, completely distracted from the mission at hand. It is a long shot, she knows, but then again, slaves are always being moved around. A small part of her still hopes she might find someone from her family. So many names... I will need to look at this more carefully later.
She grabs the papers and starts folding them into her backpack. Trying to keep her voice steady, she explains her actions to the group. "I... these are slave trade records. I would like to hold on to them, if you don't mind."
The noises you heard before appear to have fallen silent, the area below the deck you are on seems still and quiet. As Roary moves across the room to open the second door he discovers what appears to be a crew's quarters. This room contains several recently slept-in beds and the dark lantern on the floor is hot to the touch, as if it were recently lit.
Astarton smirks at Twigg, "You know, with the kind of day I have had, that wouldn't surprise me a bit."
Astarton notices nothing out of the ordinary in the room, it seems as though it has been used recently but the occupants left no clue of their identity and nothing personal except the still warm lantern in the room.
Roary heads down into the lower hold, Gryne and the others close behind him. As he makes it to the foot of the stairs beneath the trapdoor he notices a number of people tied up at the far end of the hold. Stepping off the stairs he makes his way into the main area of the hold. At that point Gryne, who is next in line, steps down into the hold and notices a pair of half-orcs skulking in the shadows, waiting to ambush the party.