Selvin grinned like a cat who just ate the canary as they managed to get away without having to fight everyone....although, he did like SOME fighting. He loped along after the rest, watching the rear for any trouble.

Didn't want to assume

Malder and his crew catxh up with you three streets down. He comes to a skiddung halt and grins. "That was actual entertainment. A real treat for the senses." He peers at Choffrey. "Is he alright?"

Choffrey is still out. He seems not to be wounded but he is out cold, though a moment ago he began to moan and twitch in Vaddis' arms.

Malder shakes his head and wipes gore off his forehead. "You ot need us for backup? I...ah...would like ta clean up before showin' up at a whorehouse. They give ya better rates."

I'll leave that decision to ya'll

---

Eel's End is a whole other world at night. Still full of greasy shadows and the constant cloying stench of rotting fish, chemical dreams, and stale sex. But now they hve strung lines of paper lanterns. And now the crowd is much lrger and much, much more rowdy. As you approach you see a man set on fire by his laughing friends jump off the pier and into the water. Guards are moving towards them but the crowd swallows the whole scene up.

The House of Clouds is packed to capacity. The common room is full of people in various stages of undress. As you approach the door, a young wpman smiles at you and then spots Choffrey. Her smile fades. "May I help you?" she says nervously.

---

---

Tarrov looked at Malder's battle-worn appearance.  "I'm not sure," he said truthfully in response to the warrior's question about whether he would be needed.  "It's possible, though.  I see a couple of options.  Either we accompany you and wait for you to get cleaned up, or you come with us and wait outside until you hear or see us give the high sign that all is well, which would be me throwing a glowing rock off the boat and into the water."

"With the success of our mission in the balance, I think it's better to be careful.  I'm fine with accompanying you and waiting at a bathhouse or something for you to clean up.  Choffrey's been separated from his brother for a long time; I don't think a couple of additional hours is going to make much of a difference."

Later, at the House of Clouds . . .

Tarrov made an effort to look relaxed and gave the nervous-looking girl his most reassuring smile.  "You certainly may!"  He said, rather winningly if he did say so himself.  "We are here to see Helvara.  She'll know what this is about."

---

---

Malder cleans up quickly. They are tagging along behind you.

The girl nods and gestures for you to step aside on the deck. She turns and hurries inside. Choffrey yawns and nestles further into Vaddis' arms, looking more like some toussel headed sleepy child from town than a slave newly freed.

After a few moments, you all hear someone behind you. The young woman from before is there. She motions for you to follow and heads for a small hatch built into the deck beyond the brothel tent. She slips it open and descends the ladder.

Below is a small tight corridor. She leads you down it. From behind the walls you can hear the sounds of business: laughter, sighs, moans. At the end of the hallway is a small door. You all have to stoop to pass through before arriving in a large cabin. Your first guess is that this is Helvara's private quarters. Dresses of various complexity hang from hooks on the wall while satin sheets cover a day bed against one wall. A door in the far side of the room opens and Helvara steps through, pulling the sash tight on a robe she probably just hastily donned.

Without a word, she walks up to Choffrey and looks him over. She nods, satisfied, and gestures towards the day bed. "Yu may lay him down there. My thanks." She looks about at all of you and then at Tarrov . "You've kept your end of the deal. I will keep mine.

"Have you ever meet Devargo? No? The man is a dangerous fighter. And he is covered in spiders. They run all over his body. I know that those who have fought him before are often bitten by his pets as they engage him. He says he has trained them, but that is a lie. He has an...ally. A foul sort of thing that controls his spiders for him. I do not know what it is. But I know that ship is overrun with spiders, and none of them will harm anyone Devargo does not wish harmed."

She goes to a porthole in the side of the cabin and opens it. Through it you can see Devargo's flagship, The Eel's End, moored at the end of the pier. She points towards the aft end of the deck. "Devargo holds court there. He's turned the cabin back there into a sort of barroom. His throne...he calls it the Throne of Spiders..." She shrugs. "...he's not the most imagnative sorts...is there. The space right before the throne is a trap door. If you seek an audience with him, be careful of that space. Those who fall through it are not heard from again. I believe they are killed by Devargo's monster. But I can not say for sure."

She points now at the water line. "Now...look at the front of the ship. Just at the water line. See it?"

The hull of the ship is in a bad state. Even to the eyes of inexperienced sailors, you can tell the ship should not be afloat. "Devargo had pilings placed under the ship. It is now more like a house sitting on stilts rather than a proper ship. The bottom of the hull is rotten in places and has come apart. You can gain entrance that way. Provided you don't mind the swim and aren't afraid of sharks."

---

---

Tarrov admired Helvara’s mature beauty as she swept into the room.  She was certainly an attractive woman.  He wondered where she had come from to end up as the madame of this particular bordello.

“So . . . kill the ally and he loses control of the spiders?”  Tarrov grinned, imagining the spiders suddenly going wild in Devargo’s throne room, attack everyone there.  “I have to say that appeals to my both sense of theatre and justice.”

“But I have a few questions.  What do you know about his forces, Helvara?  How many men does he have on duty at any one time?  How loyal are they to him?  Do you know how many of them he keeps on that ship?  Does he have a particular lieutenant in whom he places special trust?”

He looked around at the others.  “Do you gentlemen have any questions?  And, before I forget, Helvara, about these sharks.”  The bard looked uncomfortable.  “Do you, um, have shark attacks around here?  On a regular basis?”

---

---

"Your questions are succinct and to the point and the information we need. I have no others."

Helvara laughs. "Oh my yes. Devargo will often 'season' the water with those who cross him. The area under the pier is like a stew pot for the sharks. But I assume they can't always be there." She shrugs. "As to his crew...he has twelve men I think who patrol the pier. They usualy work in shifts of five, with the other two having the day off. And there is always a gaggle of wannabes cluttering up his throne room. Devargo may be a demon, but he pays well. I doubt you'll turn anyone unless you have a fortune to drop. I don't know much of his operations outside of the pier. People come. They go. I don't knw who they are or why they come to see him. Sorry." She holds up her hands. "That is the best I can tell you."

Selvin apparently was channeling a bit of the tiger-like creature. He shuddered a bit at the thought of going in the water, let alone actually swimming. However...fish...did sound good. Even if it was shark. He wasn't looking forward to possibly fighting underwater, though. That sounded troublesome.

He listened to Helvara speaking, trying to take it all in. Lots of moving parts.

---

---

Tarrov sketched a short bow.  "Thank you, Helvara," he said sincerely.  "And believe me when I say I have nothing but the highest hopes that you will run this establishment free and clear before too many more days have passed.  But for now, I think we need to retire and plan based on the information you've given us."  He looked around.  "Do you have a room we could use for that purpose?"

He then addressed the group.  "Do you gentlemen want to talk here or would you rather head somewhere else?"

---

---

"I think we should leave here and not come back before the job is done. If we were to fail, Helvara would pay with her life elsewise. I could not stand that cost."

Toke nodded in agreement with Vaddis. He looked around nervously, "Yes the walls have eyes and ears. It would be best to find someplace more... private."

"If I were not a paladin of Iomedae, I'd say drop the ears of Delvargo over the side to feed the sharks just before we attack. As I am though, please do not, but keep his ears closed in here until the job is done."

It sounds like ya'll want to move off pier. So...

Malder clears his throat. "Might be best ta get back ta Verik." He shrugs. "Boss man 'll probably wanna know what's goin' down."

If I've read ya'lls consensus wrong, let me know.

---

Verik is seated in the same chair, at the same table, in the same upstairs room. He clasps his hands together and listens to your report. "So...how do you suggest we proceed?"

Selvin nodded at the suggestion to go somewhere private - although the group was already pretty much agreed on that anyway. He shrugged at Malder's suggestion, not having a better alternative himself. Once close to the Verik's, he unsummoned his ally for the time being.

"Tarrov's got an idea, actually."

---

---

“Indeed,” Tarrov nodded at Selvin.  “But first, let’s catch you up on what happened.”  The bard walked Verik through their experience at Chi-Dee’s and what they had learned of Devargo from Helvara.  “So it looks like,” he summarized,  “we’re going to need to attack Devargo’s ship, unless we want to lie in wait for him to leave, and I’m not sure we have that kind of time.”

Tarrov ran a hand through his silvery hair as he talked.  “It seems like we need to take care of this ‘ally,’ whoever it is, before we confront Devargo.  Helvara says we can infiltrate the ship from below, through the water, if we don’t mind fending off the local marine predators.”  He didn’t look too thrilled about that idea.  “On the other hand, it’s possible we could get them to come to us by setting the boat on fire or something along those lines.  I have no idea how easy or difficult something like that might be, though.”

“But no matter what we decide to do, it’s probably best if we do it quickly.  We don’t know how long our intelligence will stay fresh and we can’t be sure how long we’re going to keep the advantage of surprise.”

---

---

"Why not just throw some blood inta tha water further along the pier?" Malder grins as you all look at him. "Blood in tha water would draw away the sharkies. Wouldn' it?"

Verik studies Malder a second then nods. "It would." He looks over at you. "Devargo may have information on his ship about his network. It does us no good to take down one Mr. Kindness just to have another sprout up in his place."

---

---

Tarrov nodded thoughtfully.  "That's a good idea, Malder."  He scratched his chin.  "Do you all have access to anything we could use for chum?"  The bard looked back at Verik.  "Okay, then.  No fires.  We'll go in and do this hand-to-hand, I suppose."  He shifted uncomfortably; straight-up fights were not his forte.  But there was nothing for it, he supposed.  And tactical options usually presented themselves.

Usually.

"So, the plan.  We head down there with Malder and his men and head in through the hull while someone chums the water to distract the sharks.  Once inside, we try and find this 'ally' of Devargos and take him out.  At that point, Devargo loses his control of the spiders, and things in his audience chamber should get very interesting."  Tarrov grinned; he liked this plan.  "The only question is when we should go.  I'm thinking either early morning, just predawn, or else at night when things are busiest.  Both times have their upsides, in my estimation."

He looked around at the others.  "What do you gentlemen think?"

---

---

"Either way, we go in around midnight or a little later to avoid suspicion is my suggestion. As there is so little access to Delvargo, there will be just as many guards and people in attendance either time, but they will be more likely to be off their guard predawn, and tired."

OOC: Are the operations of Devargo more active at night or during the day? I would assume at night but thought I would ask.

Selvin, you are correct. Eel's End wpuld be a busier place at night.

Malder laughs. "This is a butcher shop. We got nothin' but chum."

Verik nods. "Alright. We can go down to the closest pier and slip into the water there. One of my men can chum the water off a pier on the other side. Malder and I will go with you. Baldraggo can go to a pier on the other side and chum the water. I want to station Parns and Karallo in the crowd on the docks. In case things get hairy. And to open up another front for when we take the throne room." He shrugs. "The six of us should be able to take the lower decks and hold them if need be."

So the operation begins at midnight then? If any other questions/comments/counters to Verik's suggestion, please make them. We'll mve to the assault on Eel's End tomorrow. Thanks.

Selvin frowned slightly and spoke up again. "We wanna go at night, durin' the busiest time fer the operation? Or do ya think that's the only sure-fire time he might actually BE there?"

---

---

"Well," Tarrov said, tapping his fingers on the sleeve of his tunic, "it really depends.  If the guards are active at all times, then slipping into the water while things are busiest makes a lot of sense.  They're definitely going to notice a group of men trying to slip onto Devargo's boat when no one else is around.  When the place is packed with people?  Maybe not so much."

An idea struck.  "Especially if we create a distraction.  Maybe we can have a couple of people start a ruckus outside the gambling ship or somewhere else that would draw the guard's attention while we make the swim."  He nodded.  "Yes, but now that I think on it making our move while things are busiest might be our best play."

---

---

Verik nods. "Parns and Karallo can do that. We can arrange a signal with them. They'll get into a fight or start one or such at the far end of the pier."

We'll move to the Assault on Eel's End thread if there are no more questions/concerns. Thanks.

In reply to Tarrov Garrick (msg # 129):

(Sorry I've been swamped IRL)

Toke listened soberly to his party's deliberation, letting them speak their mind as he consoled his. Personally, if it were up to him, he would just sabotage the ship and attack their target as he exited but as there was a "Paladin" in the group, he hardly believed the party would allow that much potential collateral damage to happen if it could be avoided. Still he hardly felt that entering the water was particularly safe, especially when the only defense they have against a painful death was a handful of blood and guts. Then something even more terrifying occurred to him.

"Uh, I don't think I can swim." He mumbled even more quietly than usual. He couldn't remember the last time he ever took an elongated bath, much less being in water deep enough to swim in but that particular tidbit was best kept to himself.

No worries.

Malder laughs. "Good time ta learn, eh? Don' worry. We'll keep ya afloat..."

We'll assume you piggy back with Malder or one of your teammates.