Meeting the smugglers

[Breila]

Today is the day. This evening, both moons will be gone from the sky. What is more, the day is overcast and dull, with only a slight wind, and the sea is calm. The perfect night for doing anything that should not be seen.

Thanks to Brax's care, both Gunter and Vee have recovered from their illness. The little house has become habitable.

What are you going to do?

[Jenara]

Brax ensures the group are fully healed praying to Pelor to aid them all.

(Keeps the same spells, they will be useful.)

"So this is our plan?" She asks, sitting in the living area, Pelors light beaming down on her as she crosses her arms.

"Reller and Drake go in first, and we sneak on board. I believe we are all capable of being quiet." She says, "Are we all happy on ship?"

[Stik]

[OOC]In addition to a second boat, we need someone at the mansion to begin signalling, then drop their lantern without burning the place down in the process. Although I suppose Reller and Martin can do it before setting out. That would give the rest even more time to get underway.[/OOC]

Martin will spend the morning of the new moon sorting through his gear and poring over his spellbook.

In response to Brax's suggestion, Martin will say: "Reller and I shall be noisy as possible, whilst the rest of you are being quiet. You may want to give your gear a twice-over - tie down anything that might rattle or make noise, or better yet leave it here. We shall try to make enough noise to cover your approach - there may even be singing.

"You should bring Frik and Frak in your boat, Radiance. I doubt we can hide them in ours. We can brief them beforehand, tell them what we are up to, and make sure they know Reller is one of us. I do hope we can trust them - they will tip the scale considerably, whichever side they are on.

"Searos - will the smugglers recognize you as a friend or a foe, do you think? If friend, you can go with Reller and me, or go with the others. If you are with us, we'll all need to decide on a cover story. I suspect you'd do fine on your own, bluffing your way onto the ship and killing time once you got there - you strike me as a man who could talk the legs off a horse if you needed to. But I'd like to take the lead, because I can do that and talk the horse into getting up and running afterwards.

"This, my friends, is improvisational theater, storytelling, in its most dangerous form. If I had six months, I could turn everyone here into an expert, but I don't, so remember these two words: 'Yes, and...'. Go with what is said, and add to it if you can, but don't contradict. If I tell them: 'Don't mess with me, I've killed five men,' you say: 'Does that include the dwarf?' That gives us an opportunity to discuss our respective histories of violence, burning time while our backup is getting closer and closer.

"We do this right, and we're heroes tomorrow. We do it wrong, and we're crab poop two, maybe three days from now. I want to do it right."

[Jenara]

"They can come with us, although no one can talk to them." She frowns, "Perhaps a few words might be useful?" She suggests. "My armor is mostly silent, but them...?" She shakes her head.

"Gunter?" She asks, taking his hand. "A moment please?"

[Kafen]

Reller suggests. "We could bring along one of the small bells to cover most noise, too. Even in a small boat, the ringing would cover the entry of the others unless there was a loud spash."

[The_Muffin_Man]

"If they recognized me at all, I'm not sure how they would recognize me. They offered me a job, I accepted, then they left for some reason which I can't really remember. If they have that damnable half man with them, he will most assuredly recognize me. Regardless, it probably wouldn't be the worst idea for me to head off with you."

[Stik]

"Half man? What's the other half?" Martin asks, feigning much more puzzlement than he actually is feeling.

[Jenara]

"Halfling, a halfling who fooled us." Brax explains.

[Stik]

"Gotcha. A halfling. I thought perhaps you meant half a man and half something else. Or perhaps half nothing else. Just half a man, and no other half. Like Eric. He was a half bee. Or rather half a bee. But 'half a bee, philosophically, must ipso facto half not be.' It's all very confusing."

[Jenara]

"Gunter?" Brax asks once more, putting her hand to her forehead, she was starting to regret this. "Searos, go with them, please?"

[The_Muffin_Man]

Searos waves off Brax, "Yeah, yeah, I was going to go with these guys anyway."

[Breila]

So, what exactly is the plan?

Who goes to the upstory window, waiting for a signal?

I gathered that Martin, Reller and Searos want to man a small boat and go first, while the rest of the group come second, in stealth, in the larger boat rowed by the Saltmarsh fishermen, correct?

Also, I think someone mentioned in the planning that they wanted to learn a few words of gnoll, I assume then those interested went to meet the gnolls at night in the company of Evgeni. Please make a list of "coordination words" you want to have learned in gnoll. In turn, those two will have learned to understand some Common, too. Speaking it is made difficult by the pecularities of the gnoll anatomy, though they will have learned something like a hissed "yesss" and a growled "nrow". Also, they have made clear they will accompany you to the ship to get their revenge on Sanbalet who enslaved them, but afterwards want to leave for the mountains between Saltmarsh and Dunreese, where they have found "a good cave and plenty of food nearby, to make a den".

[Stik]

[OOC]If I may be so bold:
The plan, which as I mentioned before, is actually a PLAN, is as follows:

Martin, Reller, and Searos in a small boat - a large rowboat would be fine, we don't have to go far. The rowboat will be beached below the mansion, or in the cave there. They will wait for a signal from offshore, and will respond as mentioned earlier - two lamps, one of which will be purposely dropped with the resulting fire being extinguished before it gets out of hand (because burning down an abandoned haunted house is a bad idea)

The other boat, containing the rest of the group plus Frik and Frak, and Geraldine if she is willing to come along, will head out as soon as they see the signal exchange, and loop around out to sea so as to approach the vessel from the seaward side. If they can make headway under sail power in the scant breeze available that would be best - its quieter than rowing.

After a suitable delay, the small boat will row out to meet the ship, making no attempt whatsoever to be quiet. Kafen mentioned something about bringing a small bell. Martin will sing on the way out as well. The idea is to keep the smugglers' attention on them completely, and to make enough commotion to cover any noise from the other vessel. They will also keep a lit lantern on board, hooded until they get close, ostensibly to reveal themselves to those aboard the ship (but really to impair the smugglers' night vision).

Once they reach the ship, they will ask permission to come aboard, then will proceed to distract the smugglers with conversation and noise while the rest of the group boards the vessel. From there, we shall have to play it by ear.

Have I got it right, everybody? [/OOC]

[Jenara]

(Fine)

(Brax will go with Gunter to learn a few words of Gnoll.
Yes, No, Attack, stop and go.)

[Robbo]

{I love this plan, even if it goes wrong it will be a good show!}

Gunter, still feeling slightly out of sorts, looks up at Brax as he finishes strapping his longsword down and takes her hand' swinging himself up to a standing position.

"Are you ready for this?"