Asfer looks at the silly Uraisa to help her out, "Eyeballing is sling up dead head to be caught and eaten by Eyeball." He points up in a curve then at Lilly for her friend. Folds arms again shaking head, "Eyeballing!."
With a twinkle in her eye, Lilly answers in more detail. "Eyeball is my...pet..." "We make a game out of feeding him". "You're welcome to come along and watch if you want".
Captivated by this strange discussion, Uraisa quickly agrees to accompany the pair. The pet is clearly not a normal pet. I wonder what sort of surprise is waiting?
"Eyeball won't try to catch and eat my head, will he? Or she?"
Turning back to Ms. Vandeboren, she calls out, "Well, looks like you have a team, ma'am. Hopefully we'll have something good to report in teh morning."
Lavinia looks on quizzically as Asfer and Lilly explain "Eyeballing" to Uraisa and after Uraisa speaks, she replies, "That sounds excellent. I hope that your report will be a good one. Good night and good luck on the Nixie!"
Lerith raises a quizzical eyebrow as the trio discuss the feeding. He turns and gives a small bow to Lavinia. "Indeed, Mi'lady. I anticipate we shall return with good news shortly. Your estate shall be preserved."
With that said he turns back to the others. "If you don't mind, I would care to accompany you as well. It would be interesting to see this final member of the team and will help take final stock of all our assets."
Unless anyone would like to do anything else at the Vanderboren Manor, Kora shows you to the door and thanks you for coming. After a short walk you reach Eyeball's roosting site without incident. The Dimorphodon flaps down to greet you and lands on Lilly's shoulder, squaking a toothy hello.
Turning his head quizzically he looks at all the new arrivals. Since none seem an immediate threat to either himself or Lilly, he proceeds to stare hungrily at the reeking sack at Lilly's side.
At her command he goes to retrieve the sling. It stinks too bad to keep in town and happily spends the next 30 minutes flying and diving for launched fish heads.
"What a neat little creature. I've never seen anything like him before. How big will he get? Does he only eat meat? Have you thought about getting him a collar? Something red with a silver buckle would look pretty with his plumage."
:-)
:-)
:P
Lerith raises his brow at the view the creature presents, watching as it begins to feed after fetching the sling. "Interesting. Not very subtle, but certainly interesting. I realize that beasts of his type are common in this area, but I have never seen this specific species. Its impressive and he is obviously well trained. Is he able to keep enough of a low profile to assist in the raid of the vessel?"
Asfer has nothing to add, just slings another head higher every few minutes. As Eyeball bites down hard, one of the heads goes pop, which is made worse by the fish eye spraying goo over those below.
Whenever the others are ready, Asfer is too. He keeps trailing along behind them watching for prowlers in the night, especially near the docks.
Eyeball in tow, now with a belly full of fish, you all make your way to the docks. As you draw near pier five, you meet up with Nimwi who is fully loaded for combat and sporting a variety of interesting weaponry. Your party complete, you turn towards the water and spy the Blue Nixie - moored to a float about 100 feet from the end of the pier.
The Nixie is a three-masted sailing ship measuring approximately 120 feet from bow to stern. There are several lanterns hanging about the ship providing light.
Eyeball seems agitated, but none of you can make out any movement on the ship from your current position (which is 200 feet away at the foot of the pier)
Nimwi moves over to the side of the pier where he sits down and removes his sandals. He pulls out two odd flat elongated shoes and begins strapping them to his feet.
Uraisa looks around the dock, checking to see if there are any community rowboats moored nearby.
Lerith looks out over the water, rubbing his chin lightly as he considers. "Strangely, I can't say that I've studied swimming."
He grins a bit at that before strapping his shield across his back to keep it out of the way and give his hands free, whether swimming or if they come up with a dinghy there seems a fair chance of ending up in the water and he would prefer not to have to make the choice of floundering or dropping the shield.
With the shield secured he will join Uraisa in looking to see if he can spot a better way out to the ship.
Looking around the docks, you do see a small rowboat tied to one of the other piers.
"How about letting Nimwi stealthily approach closer to teh ship, since he seems to favor swimming there, then the rest of us take the rowboat in a more direct approach? I'd expect if there are troubles afoot, that at least we could provide him a distraction, so he could approach unseen."
Nodding to Uraisa, Lerith smiles. "That seems most reasonable. It is possible that we could accomplish our task without it being known Lavina was involved at all in this way. If we could pull the guard's attention to our boat, perhaps giving the impression of out reveling and causing a ruckus, our friend Nimwi may be able to sneak aboard and retrieve the ring without being seen. Should anything bad happen, we will be there to intervene."
Asfer prepares to enter the water too. He shifts the curved blade on his back and slowly lowers himself behind Nimwi with a nod and a wolfish grin to Lilly, taking each step of the ladder carefully to remain quiet.
Before shoving off, Uraisa takes the time to carefully wrap her spellbook in two different waterproff bags, one around the book, and the second containing the wrapped book and her parchment, ink, etc. "You just know this is not going to go as smoothly as we hope. I just hope the darn boat doesn't end up capsized. If we end up in the water, and you can't swim, Lerith, hold onto the boat, until we get in a position to get you."
She bites off a small piece of twine and uses it to tie her shoulder length hair back, as well as she could. She didn't want it in her eyes, if things devolved.
Lerith takes a moment to tuck away his non-combat gear into the backpack, keeping only the rope on him. He then stuffs the backpack somewhere out of sight on the shore, hanging beneath the dock or behind barrels. Nothing inside likely has any value of anyone but him, so he isn't terribly concerned about it being stolen, but he would still prefer not to get his papers wet.
When he returns he flashes a smile to Uraisa at her concern. "I suspect I will be able to keep my head above water if needed. It was primarily jest, though swimming definitely isn't something I rank highly in. I do appreciate the worry and the advice, however."
Asfer and Nimwi swim up to the boat undetected. As you draw closer you can make out the forms of three figures moving about the deck. The rest of the party follows in the rowboat, keeping a good distance between themselves and the swimmers. By the time Asfer and Nimwi reach the hull of the boat, the rest of you are 60 feet away. No one on board seems to have taken note of your presence. What do you do?
Before the swimmers leave, Lilly gives each of them a small piece of light wood, with a ribbon attached. "If necessary you can attach the ring to one of these pieces of wood and throw it overboard. Eyeball can retrieve it, and then we can make our escape."
"So do we just move closer, and board...or did we not think that far in advance"
Asfer does not discuss the plans, he has neither the intelligence nor leadership to do that. Instead he simply aims for the far side of the vessel and slowly climbs out up the side of the Blue Nixie. His slow speed is partly to give the boat time to row round to the other side.
Brushing off his scholarly robes, Lerith tries to take on as noble a bearing as possible, standing in the boat and letting himself wobble a little bit to make it look more convincing. He shouts up at the deck, taking on a regal tone but giving a bit of a drunken slur to his words.
"I say up there! Announce yourself at once and tell me what you are doing on my ship! What you have done to her?! Oh, my poor Coy Dolphin, how these cruel men have ruined your luster!"
Once I have several guard's attention, I will demand to speak with their leader on the issue, continuing to refer to the ship as the Coy Dolphin and arguing(for as long as possible) anytime they try and say otherwise.
Between such arguments, I'll point out long winded details about things I claim they have changed to ruin the beauty of my ship(You took down her lovely peach sails, I purchased those from the great market in Katamash and they were especially made by a Vudrani monks who believe the gods can be found in cloth and thus are the greatest tailors in the world, ect), always pointing to objects which are away from the area between the other side of the ship and the cabin so that with luck if the guard's aren't looking at me they aren't looking towards where the others are.
I will also use this time to demand that they surrender my ship to me, telling them I will trade vessels in insulting ways(You seem to be more fit to be in charge of a dinghy, ect). I figure if I insult him enough he will pay attention to us without inviting us on board to talk through this.
If at some point it looks like I am losing the guard's attention, I will threaten to fetch the city watch and use some of my connections to have them confiscate and search the ship so that it could be proved it was in fact my vessel. Obviously its an empty threat, but I'm counting on him not wanting to searched if he is extorting money and the possibly I could have the influence to cause it will hopefully keep him at bay.
Finally(phew), in a worst case scenario if he seems to have spotted the others or be looking to call guards on us, I will bark orders at him that I told him he should come get on the rowboat(using the command spell for approach).
Bluff
Uraisa rises unsteadily as well, attempting to help the scholar in his ruse. "It is a travesty what they have done to your ship, sir," she says in a helpful way. "A man of your bearing should not have to stand for that! Call for the guard! They will straighten these hooligans out in a proper fashion."
Aid Another on Bluff check
As you begin to yell out, one of the thugs who is moving about the deck walks over and takes notice. He is wearing leather armor and is holding a crossbow pointed in your general direction. He listens to your first announcement and calls another thug over to hear you.
"Oy! You drunken dog! This be our ship and you'd best bugger off lest we shoot a few 'oles in ya to let the liquor drain out!" yells the first thug laughing.
His partner chimes in, "Yeah! Git outta 'ere!"
As you continue to bluster, they continue to yell insults in your direction, but as long as you're staying put they don't attack you. Eventually a third thug joins them in the heckling. It seems they're rather amused by your faux-drunken ramblings and are all having quite a laugh at your expense.
Assuming Nimwi and Asfer are still planning to climb up, they are able to do so without drawing the guards' attention and end up on deck (the climb was quite simple as you were able to take advantage of a number of ropes hanging down the side of the ship)
If Nimwi and Asfer want to attack or interact with the guards at all, they can take actions as part of a surprise round, or they can attempt to move about the ship. There are cabin doors in the front and rear of the ship and also a ladder leading belowdecks.
When Asfer stops dripping so loud, he slowly climbs the side of the ship and then takes a look around. If the two sailors are the only guards on view he will slip over the side rail and walk as quiet as a mouse up behind the pair, then push them over the side.
Otherwise he will wait to see what they do next.
There is a third guard standing next to the two, but no one else on deck. Pushing them over the side may be difficult as there is a railing so you can attempt it against one of them with a successful CMB roll (as a Bull Rush), but not both. If you still want to try to push one of them, give me a CMB roll.