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"Thanks" Cassius breathes when the healing wave hits him. "I needed that."
While investigating, Cassius pockets the loose stone he found in a secure pocket. Something that might be worth investigating later. Taking time to draw as accurate descriptions, diagrams and samples of the the circles in the room.
"I have a good diagram set here."" Cassius nods at Indrana offering his sketch "Is this enough detail?"
"'Nother one?" Aramis mutters to herself, holding up the bullet as she stands back on the deck of Fury. "Funny 'ow they jus' keep- ey, drop it, ye daft ball a' feathers!" she barks, snatching it back out of the beak of an over-eager Rotgut.
She then tosses it, and the pouch, over to her co-captains. "Still can't fer tha life o' me figure 'em out. So what's this one seem ta say ta ye?"
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Indrana purrs out the start of her reply, changing thoughtful in tone by the end, "Yes, it should be Cassius. I was thinking these might be interesting as a basis for aiding the ship, if we could find a way to bind an elemental or two to the vessel we might have a nice advantage that others wouldn't expect. I'll have to start studying planar lore now I think to see if I can find a way."
The dwarf grins, exposing sharp teeth.
"I'm sure, with the right off'rins, we can probably get a few of the finned denizens to give us another nice advantage."
As the crew returns to the ship, they begin to move their way out of the basin.
As the ship begins to move into the river towards the ocean, one of the Vudrani riggers calls out from the Crow's Next, "Man 'o War ahead!"
With his finger pointing, everyone else can spot the upper mast of the ship. And the flag whipping in the wind.
A Chelaxian flag.
Amos curses under his breath. The captain's call here would prove their wisdom. There was no way this ship was going up against a Man 'o War. Hopefully they knew that.
"Avast, and come to. Keep us in the estuary." Maera shouts, hoping like all hell that they haven't been spotted yet. She had no desire to tangle with a Man 'o War, let alone one manned by Cheliax. Assuming that is enough for now to keep them safe and noticed, Maera will see if their spyglass can provide additional information about the ship, then seek to confer with the other officers about their options.
A man o' war will tear Fury apart. Though, if Fury can get a jump start on the man o' war, it can no doubt outrun it.
Indrana chants and casts two spells as they begin to move, one on herself, and one on Maura, both now encased in a field of energy. She hugs her companion and says, "Maura, I want you to find somewhere safe to hide in case we get shot at, the armor should help protect you." With that done Indrana goes tot he other officers, "If we get close enough do you want me to try and take out their ship's bell in the hopes it will prevent them from readying their crew as easily? I only have one acid arrow left today so I doubt I can do it, but I could try."
Amos nods. But we will still take heavy damage if she can bring her weapons to bear. We could try to disable her rudder. That would reduce or eliminate damage and prevent their pursuit all in one sh'bang. It'll be dangerous though. I volunteer.
"Well, lad, they don' call me a devil fish for no reason." Diabolito claps the black powder rider on the shoulder.
"Besides, can't let you take all the credit!" He laughs heartily and rubs his hands together.
"If we can keep them above whatever, I can work on tearing the underside of that ship a hole that will keep them well occupied."
I was thinking the rudder. The mechanism is usually rope, even on a vessel that large. should be simple to snap if we're silent and quick. Not to mention trying to re-run those ropes at sea is fiendishly difficult.
"That is exactly what I was planning on suggesting. Well done, Amos!" Sandara says with a smile as she pulls out a few vials. "We will need darkness and silence on our side. And it will require a bit of climbing. On the plus side..." She hands each member of previous landing party a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds, having tended to each of their wounds already. "Hopefully this will help."
Doc pipes up for the first time in a while, looking up from his notes, "I have something that might aid those who are climbing...if they feel they need it. You will be climbing a chain, so it should not be too terribly hard...but...if you don't feel confident, I can help a few..."
"So we need wait until the dark of night, when their senses are dulled by sleep and drink. Disable the rudder in the aftercastle, then make with all speed back here to sprint the ship past them whilst they lie dead in the water."
It occurs to Maera that if they had an adamantine rapier, she could very well disable the ship herself alone, simply by swimming beneath the hull of the opposing ship and striking away at the bottom where no one could reach her. Perhaps that was a tactic for another time.
"As for climbing, I should be able to swim far enough down to stay hidden, and use my watersong to carry the chain up, if need be."
I can remain under water for as long as necessary.
Indrana listens to all of this, her disgust at getting soaked like they are suggesting obvious, "I think I'll let those of you more suited to water handle this task. I'll help make sure that things are ready here."
"We may need our best and brightest for this situation, Indrana...as much as you may not like getting wet, I think they might need your magics on the ship..." Sandara says with a smile.
Indrana gives a shudder of distaste before replying, "If I must then. But don't expect Maura is willing to go." The golden cat on her lap opens one eye and glares at Sandara as if to say, You aren't getting this cat wet. Indrana just scratches the kitten between her ears before the cat jumps over to Sandara, obviously demanding her due attention.
The bearded druid just chuckles and wipes the hair from out of his eyes.
"Oh, Lass...I seriously doubt that it'll be too bad. Besides, we'll be better off in the water than that lot over there."
The dwarf just grins. "I believe that we'll be able to do ourselves a bit of damage. I can take a few watery forms, but the shark's about my most useful. If we can start knockin' off that ship...well, they ain't gonna last long."
"Then...we need to drop sail and wait until nightfall. Then under the cover of darkness, you sneak on board..." just as she is saying it, Fishguts pipes in.
"It is likely that they have a pulley system on their quarterdeck. Take that...a simple slice of ropes...and we can drop sail and blow past them."
Then Sandara starts again, giving Fishguts a look like she was about to say that, "We will start trying to float past in the night...hoping not to get seen. If that man'o war has as much weaponry as I suspect it does...we don't want to face it. Once you are done...you can meet up with us rather easily. Between the Captain, the horse, and the Little Devil, I think you should have plenty of ability to swim in and out...so we don't have to risk them spotting a boat coming up to the side...so close to them...I am going to try and cover our departure with some mist, though it won't last forever..."
Resigned to getting all wet Indrana speaks up once again, "It seems we have a plan then. Is there anything in particular we need to do before then or should we simply rest and be ready for the attack?"
"'S a good plan," Aramis grunts, glancing sidelong at Amos. "That fancy friend a' yours. 'Ow's tha magic at keepin' yer weapon dry? If I'm needed, any chance I could hitch a ride? Rather not risk gettin' me powder wet."
Not good. Keep your powder in the horn until we're back above the waves. Don't worry about breath though. The saddle takes care of that.
He winks and the first genuine smile in a long time creeps onto his face.
He saddles bullet up again as quick as he can. and triple checks the seals on his powder horns. After everything is set, he offers his captain a hand up.
Stay in the saddle, now. The magic quits if you fall off.
The dwarf grins and rubs his hands together.
"And the plan for me? This shark form gives me plenty of time in the water, but limits me to the water."
“And here I thought tigers liked the water,” Maera remarked with a small smile, before looking to address the concerns of their Striker. “If all goes well, we shouldn't be in the water for long. It might be better to save your shapeshifting for when and if we need a quick escape. With luck, this will be quick and quiet, and they won't know what hit 'em. Until then, restin' sounds best.”
[b]I can remedy the inability to swim, at least for a little for a little while Cassius."
It is decided then. Lets get moving. Amos declares from the back of Bullet.
Aramis is fearless. She's been on the seas her whole life. She's headed a mutiny, fought the living dead, and survived being run through by a wasp the size of a tiger. She's a pirate captain, a gun-wielder, and a hard drinker. She's never been afraid of anything in her life.
But damn it all, that horse did not look as steady as the ground he stood on.
She fidgets longer than necessary, making sure all her accouterments are sealed away, safe from the water's grasp. Her musket, her sidearm, her cartridges, powder, bullets... everything is triple- and quadruple-checked, to the point where even Rotgut shifts anxiously on her shoulder.
When Amos offers her a hand up, she sighs. "A'right, let's get this o'er with," she mutters, closing her eyes and clambering into the saddle.
Indrana gives a sigh, "Alright, if we're going to do this, let's get it over with."
A moonless night makes it easy to swim and sneak up on the boat with the the Fury begins to slowly drift up the river.
The forward motion doesn't draw attention, but the boarding party finds themselves with a long climb ahead of them under the cover of darkness.
Maera takes lead, using rounds of watersong to carry her up to where they need to be. She's cautious in her singing, keeping it hauntingly quiet, and should this go poorly, prepared to bluff a superstitious sailor into thinking she be a sea ghost or some other mystical maiden by the blue of her skin.
Air! Glorious, wonderful, air! Aramis eagerly gulps several lungfuls of it, grasping for the chain and pulling herself from the back of that accursed, magic-tainted, terrifying horse. Her hands shake at first, but she manages to quickly maintain a firm grip, taking the lead - foolishly, perhaps, but at least she wasn't underwater with that unnatural magic again. If people were meant to breathe water, she reasons, they'd have been born with gills.
Splash
I'll get there eventually, I swear
It takes Amos a long time to climb that slick chain. It was slippery in all the wrong places. His captain climbing up shoves him didn't distract him at all...
splish splash
I was
taken a
bath on a saturday night
The splashing goes unnoticed, luckily, as the guards on deck are busy throwing dice.
Since Maera is within range for the whole lot she'll attempt to use to keep everyone's attention on her, and allow the rest of the group to sneak back to the aft-castle to disable the rudder. Hopefully the lookouts find a dripping wet, and rather pretty undine worth looking out.
"Memories like voices that call on the wind, Medhel an gwyns, Medhel an gwyns. Whispered and tossed on the tide coming in, Medhel, oh, Medhel an gwyns..." she sings softly as part of the spell.
Three of the marines seem to be completely caught up in the "Siren's" song. The final one was rolling the dice and stops to turn and look at Maera as the rest of the group pulls themselves slowly over the rail. "What the hell..." the man says as he sees the group.
Indrana makes a few gestures as she speaks words in an infernal tongue then blows a kiss at the guard that Maera failed to affect. The man feels a feeling of friendliness towards her as she says, "Why don't you come over here with me and forgot about my friends, I'm sure I can show you a good time."
Amos draws his pistol as he falls back to the Aftcastle. Whether to shoot or clobber, it will be in use soon.
"Well...we have been at see for a while...I suppose a good romp despite your...nature...Curves are nice..." he says as he walks over to her with a smile, he tosses the dice on the ground.
Maera shares a smile with Indrana, and focuses her work on continuing to entertain the three sailors she's bewitched. Between choruses she nods to Aramis and Amos, and mouthing 'Go.'
True to her word, Indrana waits for him to approach so she can keep him "distracted". Once the marine reaches her Indrana leans into him, her body pressing against his as she moves her lips up to his to kiss his.
Amos moves quickly to the wheel and checks the calbling. It should be rope, but he wanted to be sure. If it is rope, he'll start cutting with his Travelers Any-Tool.
Aramis pulls a face at Indrana's antics, before giving a quick nod to her co-captain. She hustles along behind Amos, musket at the ready, prepared to cover him if disturbed.