Elsa looks at the sky and judges the time.
Around dusk would be best, when the crew are mostly eating or out on the town. That's the time to do this.
"Very well. Let's return here at dusk. Abadar willing, they'll be distracted already with food. Then I'll provide a simple distraction of asking to parlay, while Armanus sneaks in. Our goal is to rescue Suradesh. Fighting will be only if necessary. Is everything clear?"
"If Elsa does indeed have expertise in stealth, I'll let her come along and we'll both go", counters Armanus.
Elsa smiles. Thats a plan
Time passes, and the party gets ready to infiltrate the ship. The hour approaches dusk and word around the dock is that the Razor Jenny is getting ready for departure in the morning, guards working around the clock to get the ship ready. If the party wants to retrieve Suradesh, it'll have to be fast and it'll have to be quiet.
At the appointed time, Armanus stands before Elsa. "Please stand still and hold out your hand in hopes that I can find it when I also turn invisible, unless you have a better way of staying invisible together."
"May Abadar's protection be upon you both. I pray for your safety." Aakif says. "Unfortunately, I can only offer one of you His protection. So to Armanus, please accept this Barkskin spell."
Before the cast, Elsa recasts her mage armour spell.
She watches the cast with interest. Nice she comments. Holding Armanus's hand, They head to the gangplank.
Before they leave she says
Ships cabins are usually to the back of the ship, it's likely he is there. We may have to exit there, into the water. Watch there for us. If we are somewhere else, we will try to signal. For a distraction, fire really gets sailors attention, by the way
Armanus follows his fellow invisible invader as best he can.
The two sorcerers creep along the deck, avoiding the notice of the guards and workers that hustle and bustle around the ship, preparing the complex steam vessel to leave the port. The door, once Armanus and Elsa reach it, proves to be soundly locked.
Armanus wants to examine the lock to see if it could be easily broken by force or by spell.
Damn it, locked door
[We need a key. Maybe we can wait for them to feed him? Er, how long does this spell last? Elsa whispers
This lock looks tough. Without precise engineering knowledge it’s hard to exactly say, but it’s certainly possible that sufficiently strong magic could destroy it.
"Forty minutes." Whispered Armanus. "Let's search this room for a key."
Good plan
With Lanatir and Zyrel at his side, Aakif approaches the vessel. "Good evening, gentlemen! In the name of Abadar, I come with a lucrative business proposition. May I speak with the captain of this vessel?"
A scarred, dark-skinned human woman leaning on the side of the deck sighs and says quietly, but still loud enough the hear, "I knew I should've listened to the first mate when he told me to post those No Soliciting signs." She shakes her head before saying loudly, "We don't want any business! Shove off before things get ugly!"
Lanatir has his hand on the hilt of his sword, and stands ready.
I do not think Aakif's approach worked as well as he intended.
Zyrel mirrors Lanatir. Where Lanatir looks forward, he looks back, every inch the professional.
"You could profit too, ma'am, if you were so inclined. I have already made over a thousand gold pieces in little more than a week. I doubt your captain could afford anything so spectacular."
The guard is still nonplussed, but seems at least mildly interested by Aakif's proposition. "Hm, not like I've much else to do. What're you peddling? Could be worth pickin' up before we ship out."
Elsa studies the ship but doesn't spy anyone with a key. Studying the door closer, she does notice something strange. Beyond strange, even. She's able to peek through the crack around the door and sees not a ship's hallway, but one made of stone bricks, lit by flickering balls of everlasting flame. The inside of the ship shouldn't be there, and yet it is.
Er, Armanus. You better look at this. That's seriously odd.
"Yes it is." The tiefling begins the cantrip detect magic on the door and beyond.
This is a bit off-putting. Maybe we should leave to think about this?
She considers for a moment
But then again, I am really curious about this. What do you think?
She also casts detect magic, and examines the door
"I think it's either an illusion or possible some powerful conjuration magic", Armanus supposes.
This door is very strongly magical, radiating powerful conjuration magic belonging to the creation subschool.
Whatever's on the other side of that door, it's not the boat.
Aakif begins a long presentation regarding a unique business opportunity involving skin care products. Yet selling the products is only a minor portion of the business, and the real money to be made is to recruit new people to sell the products. For every product they sell, the recruiter earns a percentage....
Aakif is far, far more convincing once he's able to get into specifics of the scheme. The guard seems intrigued, very intrigued. "You know, the first mate might want to hear about this." She yells to someone on the deck, "Oy! Tafmet! Get over here, fella's peddlin' something good!"
As Elsa and Armanus are studying the door, they see a man walking down the stone hallway. A blast of cold air hits them as the door opens, a tall Osiriani man walking across the deck, leaving the door open as he goes.
Aakif, Lanatir, and Zyrel see an Osiriani man ramble over the the bannister of the ship, "Right. What is all this, then? Skin care, you say?"
Elsa considers their options.
OK, there is no key here, and we have a weird-ass room in there. So we either break down this door, voiding our invisibility, or we leave to reconsider.
She pauses a moment
There is more going on here than we understand. I think we should leave for now, and maybe come back with more force. Or at least someone who can pick this lock. I don't think our patron would want us to light up the dock area in a brawl. And guards are notoriously unsympathetic to that as well. We should go.
Well, let's have a look
And hand in hand, they enter
While Aakif and the elves discuss skin care with the thugs, Elsa and Armanus sneak into the hallway. The hallway splits, going straight, right, and left. The left has a sign reading Bunks and Quarters, the right reads, Offices and Admin and the straightaway reads Storage.
Storage? Of the three that is where a prisoner is most likely.
"Yes. Let's go."
Lanatir remains quiet, letting Aakif do the talking.
He looks for any signs of trouble or alarm among the guards.
The two invisible sorcerers sneak further into the complex. The hallway is short, leading to a truly massive room, bigger than the ship itself. It's almost entirely full of crates, boxes, barrels, and every other storage vessel. None of it, however, looks fit to house a human.
So much stuff! Elsa whispers
She looks around
Despite doing as thorough of a search as she can manage of the cavernous space, she sees nothing that could hold a person without extreme, possibly fatal discomfort.
If there is nothing valuable to pocket, and no obvious exits, Elsa says
We should try elsewhere.
"Indeed", Armanus whispers, as he leads the halfling out of the dimensional space.
Let's go to the offices and admin.
A dozen or so doors line the hallway that Elsa and Armanus go down. One in particular stands out. It's locked, and a bar is placed against the outside of the door.