Thane nodded his head in agreement.  "I'll work the oars.  Someone else can tell me which way to go," he offered.  He then shrugged his shoulders.  "I'm not the lightest on my feet, but I think I can row quietly enough!"

"I figured that you might have some experience rowing," Arnan replied to Thane. "My eyes are sharp enough -- I'll get up in the front of the rowboat and try to keep us headed in the right direction as best I can."

Turing to Morgrim, he added, "I think that Kira's got a good point about not wanting the captain to get cold feet and sail away, leaving us out here in the middle of the lake. Since you've taken the lead in speaking to him, can you mention it to him?"

In reply to Arnan Aldwynne (msg # 15):

"Come on brother.  Let's go see the captain.  Perhaps he needs a bribe to stay or something.  I mean, incentive to stay.  Yeah, that's right.  He needs some sort of incentive to stay put."

Dal grinned at her brother and nodded for him to proceed.  She'd go with him to either support him or heal him.  It usually seemed to be one or the other when it came to their family.

Morgrim nodded. "Lets go have a word."

Ryev helps the party set the rowboat adrift of the fishing vessel and agrees to remain just offshore of the island chain while the group explores further. He suggests the adventurers use three short whistles to signal their return. "Hopefully you won't be gone too long. I don't much fancy waiting out here very long..." he says while nervously scanning the distance, perhaps expecting The Howling Fiend to appear at any moment.

Soon, the companions are aboard the rowboat and paddling their way to the nearby island. The small rowboat strikes several large chunks of ice along the way, but fortunately none puncture the boat's hull. However, it is quite clear why Ryev was reluctant to bring his ship any closer to the island.

Making landfall on a rocky shore, the group hauls he rowboat in. The distinct smell of burning wood fills the air. Fog hangs thickly over the island and the group can see no further than perhaps 30 feet or so at best, though often times visibility is even poorer. The island is steeply banked and looks as though a pile of jagged rocks has been thrust up from the lake at odd angles and kept aloft by strange magic.

Thane slung his shield and readied his crossbow after securing the rowboat as best he knew how.  "Alright, we'll need to be fast but not foolish about it.  In this fog we're likely to stumble right on top of someone before we can see 'em clearly.  What's our plan?  Take 'em down as soon as we come across someone?  Or if we come across a loner, knock 'em out and see if we can get him to talk?"

"Hard to plan in fog this thick," Morgrim grunted. "We take what we find. If its one sailor on his lonesome, so much the better. If its the whole crew we best be prepared to fight."

"If the Fiend isn't already launched I don't want to give them a chance to get her waterborne."

The fog was a blessing and a curse, giving them a chance to hide but also preventing herself or Arnan from trying to spy on whoever had the fires going.  "Let's just hope it's one person and if they aren't part of the crew they forgive us for smacking them," Kira stated quietly, trying to remain alert.

---

Passive Perception 16

"Trust brother.  Trust in our Gods to help out us on this mission.  We plan but be flexible.  I know that's hard for Dwarves to do but we must try."

Dalgura grinned as she said the last part, hoping that her brother didn't see the grin.  She mentally went through what spells she had prepared for the day and felt that she was as ready as she could be.

"Nay, we definitely can't let them get their boat launched whilst we are still on land," Arnan agreed with Morgrim.

Nocking an arrow, he turned to Thane. "Be nice to get some information from one of them, if we get the opportunity," he said. "Hard to say what we'll stumble across in this fog, although it'll be tougher for them to locate us, too."

"I'll take the lead, since I can usually be relatively quiet," he offered. "Hopefully the fog will muffle any sounds if I happen to make a miss-step."

OOC:

14:28, Today: Arnan Aldwynne rolled 12 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 7. Stealth.

Pretty mediocre. Hopefully if they have sentries posted, they aren't very diligent. :)

Morgrim took a deep breath of the fog choked air. "The smoke is strongest this way," he said after a moment. "I'm right behind you, Arnan."

22:09, Today: Morgrim Ironhammer rolled 18 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 13.  Perception.

Following the scent of burning wood, Morgrim leads the party eastward along a reasonably well-trodden trail of ice-strewn crushed rock. The adventurers trek northward across a large island, a relatively narrow channel spanning the distance to another island immediately east. The channel appears large enough to permit a boat's passage, but is filled with numerous jagged rocks and other pitfalls. Piloting a ship through such an obstacle course would be quite difficult, especially in poor visibility and without knowing the channel very well. All this to say, it's understandable why Ryev was unwilling to risk such a journey.

Eventually the party runs out of island and spots a roughly circular harbor, about 200 feet across, almost completely encircled by high rock outcroppings. Within the cove, the party spots what must assuredly be the Howling Fiend, her black ice prow shaped in the form of a demon being a clear giveaway. Beyond the ship, anchored just offshore, the party sees a series of tents spread across a frozen beach, about 20 feet wide. A few camfires here or there trailing smoke into the damp, cold air. Not many pirates seem to be out and about, though keen-eyed party members spot two pair of guards at either edge of the cove, obvious lookouts stationed ay watch for anyone approaching over the tundra or through the narrow channel from the lake.

OOC: The edge of the island the party is currently on is about 20 feet from one end of the beach. The water between the island does not appear to be very deep. The Howling Fiend is about 100 feet distant from the island the party is currently on.

4 sentries visible, of which two are looking our way?

What is the visibility like? You mentioned thick fog before.

How many tents on shore? Wondering about rough idea of number of enemies we can expect.

The lookouts are manning their posts but do not seem overly vigilant in their tasks. They are not staring intently in any particular location, but neither are they nodding off or ignoring their duties.

Occasional banks of heavier fog drift into the cove, obscuring visibility to all but 30 feet or so for brief periods of time, but in general, conditions can be described as low-light conditions.

There are 10 tents on shore, each large enough to comfortably house 4-6 occupants

Kira's eyes narrowed as she hunkered down to take it all in and it was clear she wasn't to thrilled.  "At best we're lookin' at about eight of them for one of us but that's if we're lucky.  Not likin' those odds too much," she said quietly.

She looked to the ship then, chewing on her bottom lip with that little crease in her brow deepening.  "Any chance of just sinking the ship and not takin' on a small army?  Unless you two got a way to keep them pinned right there ..." she added with a long look to Dal and Grim.

In reply to Kira (msg # 28):

Dal had looked at the set up and she wasn't happy with it.  Of course being on the water wasn't her favorite thing to do anyway so it wasn't unusual that she wasn't happy with it.

"Not sure either Kira.  We might have to wait until they are actually out away from the others.  Those aren't the greatest odds for us.  What do you think Grim?"

Morgrim watched the sentries from his hidden rest, ice forming on his whiskers in the morning light. "I can keep them from seeing us," he said at last. "Nothing I can do to disguise the sound of us fording the water, but if we're careful we can still sneak up on them." He turned and glanced at his companions briefly.

"Or at least Arnana and Kira can. I've seen ye play hide n' seek as a wee lass, Dal, and Thane has all the subtlety of a muskox."

Morgrim turned back to the far shore.

"Drop those two and we have a chance to get on board without being seen, or else make our way across the camp to silence the other sentries."

Arnan couldn't help but chuckle at Morgrim's comparison of Thane to a muskox.

Then his expression turned thoughtful as he surveyed the scene before him, and mentally counted the tents. After a moment he muttered "We can't take on the whole crew -- those odds will get us killed, for sure. Nor can we sail the Howling Fiend out of the harbor -- or at least I don't think we can. None of us have the skills to do such a thing, unless mayhaps you do, Thane -- you have mentioned being part of a 'crew' before, I think."

"Unless Thane can sail us out of here, we need to scuttle -- is that the right word? . . . it seems to me that we need to get aboard the Howling Fiend and sink her where she sits at anchor, then hopefully steal away again and get back to our own boat without having the whole mob of a crew chase us down. If Morgrim can keep the sentries from seeing us whilst we wade out and climb aboard, I'm not sure that we need to take them out."

OOC:

If I am reading Shane's description correctly, I believe that the party is closer to the ship than we are to the sentries (the four of which are posted on rock outcroppings, two each on either side of the spot where the narrow channel that leads into the lake feeds into the harbor). With the ship being at anchor within the harbor, we can reach it without having to pass the sentries. Do I have that right, Shane?

Also, will wading out to the ship require Constitution checks, Shane? The water will be awfully cold, but if it is shallow enough (and as long as the party doesn't stand around in it for too long), I'm hoping not. Does Arnan (IC) know this as a matter of common knowledge (and his personal background and experience), or should he make a Survival check? Thanks!
This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Mon 04 Dec 2017.

"The water is awfully shallow here," Morgrim warned. "If we don't drown it deeper they might be able to haul it onto the beach and patch the hull. But I'm certainly game to try."

Thane held his tongue while the others talked.  When it seemed that his input was needed, he spoke up.

"Sailing a ship isn't that hard," he responded to Arnan's observation, "but in this case it would be best to row it instead of sail it."

He looked at Morgrim and Dalgura thoughtfully, or as thoughtfully as Thane could.  Hard thinking made him look uncomfortable, anxious, but excited all at the same time.  Kind of like a little kid who just got a long-awaited present that he desperately wants to unwrap but also has a very strong need to jump on the potty and let out some solid waste.

"I don't think we should take on all those crewmen on the island.  To do that, we'd need to swim to the boat and climb up the anchor lines.  I'm sure I could do that if the water weren't so awful cold.  You two got any magicks or blessin's from your gods that can ward off the cold?" he asked, his brow furrowed with the task of mentally wrestling out his idea.

"Nearly all the crew should be on shore.  Just a few members would be on the boat itself.  If a few of us could get on board, a pair could see to attacking the on board crew while another would have the task of casting off lines and making it so that none of the other crew could get on the ship.  Maybe even someone with a strong enough bow could fire a light rope back here so that those not in the boarding party could heave the ship to this side of the waters."

Thane seemed to run out of mental steam.  It was an incomplete plan, for sure, but a very different one than what had been proposed thus far.

Dal glared at Grim.  "Tis not my fault that I do not sneak around all quiet like.  I'm a Priestess.  We are trained to raise our voices unto our Gods and to get through to stubborn dwarves who have partied and drank too much the night before."

Dal tried to look offended at Grim but since he had spoken the truth she couldn't.

"I am sorry but my Goddess didn't deem it necessary for me to have any spells that could help.  She did grace me with some spells that might work on an individual, like 'command', but for things like boats I'm afraid it is more like my firebolt and healing for those who have spilled blood. Well I do have mend in case the boat needs that.  It's not the boats fault that it carries such despicable people."

"Speaking of boats, I think I have an idea..."

Morgrim suggested the group return to the longboat, pilot it along the shore to the inlet and then disguise its approach with a Fog Cloud conjured from the banks of the already mist choked isles.

"We can board out of sight, raise anchor and be underway before anyone is the wiser."

Barring no objections from the others, he turned back along the route they had come...

Kira had looked to Dal and Grim when Thane had asked about magics to help endure the cold but when Dal said she didn't, Kira let out a sigh along with a mournful look as she crossed her arms over her bust.  The girls were not going to be very happy and she could just imagine the boys' reactions.  A little smirk formed then as she envisioned the 'retreat' process but then it faded.  She liked these guys and didn't wish them any discomfort.

When Grim came up with the idea to go back and get the boat, she nodded with a much happier expression.  "I like that option a lot better.  Not sure I'd be able to move about too well once I'm dunked in ice water and I'd rather stay dry and limber," she whispered.  Hopefully they could take out the few on the ship without an alarm being sounded.  "Just need to be sure to keep the little boat close for when we sink the big nasty.  Give us a better chance to get away."

"Good!" Thane agreed enthusiastically, but quietly.  "I'll row," he declared and then followed Morgrim back he way the group had come.

Looking at Kira, Thane winked at her as he walked.  "We're not going to sink the boat, we're going to steal it!  Wouldn't want you to get all chilly an' wet, now would we?  Even if there'd be volunteers aplenty to help you get warm again!"

The party treks back to retrieve the longboat and is soon back out on the water, piloting the craft through the narrow rock-strewn channel between the two craggy islands. Dense fog flits in and around the adventurers as they quietly oar the boat through the confined channel, towering rock and ice on either side, to say nothing of the sharp rocks visible just above the water and those lurking just below.

OOC: Whomever is piloting the boat, please make a Survival check (DC 15) at disadvantage