The forms are empty, to be filled in, on topics to declare captured prisoners, to ask for information and release forms. The files he ordered for you have been sent. Alsoon the desk is an envelope with two tickets to go to a performance by The Crimson Nightingale, in the local opera house on Haven. Appearantly he’s got plans tonight.

On a desk at the entrance are all your confiscated gear. Free for the picking.

In reply to Snargle (msg # 23):

For now the coast seems to be clear.

"Hey, listen, I love being trapped in an Imperial brig as much as the next goblin, but if you got a plan Cap, I'm all ears" he grew his ears bigger and wiggled them in response. He had ignored Lady M's suggestion, not because it was bad but because Captain had to agree. Otherwise, it wasn't going to happen.

Snargle kept watch at the door, blending his skin in with the bulkhead. He was itching to act but forced himself to wait. "Coast is clear right now."

Naomi suppressed a smirk at Snargles antics; especially the ear-wiggling.
But as she glanced back out the door, she rolled her eyes a little.

Standing at the doorway now with the goblin ... one on each side ... Naomi also awaited her Lady's decision.

The Lady rifles through the papers until she finds a release form, grabs a quill and thinks for a second.

"I am going to be… let’s see… Alice Bell? Yes, that’s a fitting name for a commoner. Age, twenty-one; profession, mmm, ‘lady of the night’, released on grounds of not being a part of the crew, just a passerby. And you, my loyal Naomi, shall be… hum… Clare Canter. Yes, deliciously plebeian too – twenty-five, contractor longshorewoman, hired help, not part of regular crew. There."

She fills in the release form, then rubberstamps it with the adequate seals. With a flourish she hands the document to the captain.

"We women are patently inoffensive, and it is an unfortunate accident that we were caught in this raid here. You, officer, are to escort us to The Owl until we can be dropped somewhere. As for the first mate and the goblin, they have just confessed their guilt, and you are taking them to The Owl as well, in chains, to show you the secret nooks and crannies where they stow the contraband. So I would suggest you get dressed at your earliest convenience, dress the guard with your clothes, drop him in the brig and let us press ahead before we are spotted. No questions? Capital!"

She turns around to allow the man to change clothes according to decorum, and continues rifling leisurely trough the paperwork.

Oh, opera tickets? What a lovely little touch...
This message was last edited by the player at 10:59, Fri 23 July 2021.

Captain Vance, are you gonna just do as you’re told? You are the Commander! If you are, you get the possibilty to buy off your Key of the Commander.

Cyrus looked to the guard, to the lady, then to Snargle. If he hadn't been told to do it by someone else, he may have put the uniform on. But damn it he was the one in charge! He shook his head and locked eyes with his passenger.

“I regret to inform you, madam, that my face, no matter what I'm wearing, is absolutely notorious. I believe your bodyguard would be best to don the uniform and escort us to my ship.” he spoke with firm direction, gathering up his gear and replacing it in his jacket. He looked back up from the table at the Lady, a smug grin on his face and a quirk in his brow. “Unless you would like to guarantee a failure. Snargle, do you think you can sabotage the Hand and meet us at the Owl in time for us to get away? We're gonna need to cripple these guys before we can safely get out of here.”

Cyrus then turned in a quick circle, scanning the room for ventilation. The vents would be the most effective way for Snargle to make his way about the ship.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:54, Fri 23 July 2021.

Lady Blackbird raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. She was not used to being gainsaid, least of all by the hired help. Served her well, for contracting the services of scoundrels and rapscallions! They were all in that particular pickle because of his bad reputation, and he took the liberty of countermanding her?

"What is this? Are we going to argue about who-wears-what now? Have I suddenly woken up in the Ball of the Primrose of Illysium? Oh, very well, mister Vance, suit yourself," she said, in the tone she used when some particularly tedious old Duchess cornered her at a soiree, babbling about old scandals.

"Let us be done already! Naomi, dear, see if that awful uniform suits you. Turn around then, gentlemen, for decorum's sake, and so that mister... Sgargle? So that mister Sgurgle can tie your hands behind your back. Loosely, Sgralge, so they can free themselves should a contingency arise. Then you are free to do... whatever mister Vance wants you to do."

She appropiated the opera tickets and proceeded to complete and stamp the paperwork: Kale and Vance, pleaded guilty to smuggling charges, off to The Owl to surrender their contraband.

Something was wrong, she felt it, but still didn't know what it was...
This message was last edited by the player at 14:07, Sat 24 July 2021.

Unhappy with the plan, but resigned to i t,Kale played his part.
But not without grumbling first.
"...better make sure we get ride of all records. I dont want it out that I pleaded guilty to such petty crime. I'll look a right fool."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:24, Sun 25 July 2021.

Naomi was loath to act as a Empire Prison Guard.
'Empire' and 'Prison Guard' were two things that had brutally abused her for most of her life, after all.

But the Lady had asked her to do this, and so Naomi would do so ... for her.
       Brutally punching my 'Key of the Guardian':  Hit your key when you make a decision influenced by Lady Blackbird
It was clear to everyone present, though, that this went against most every fibre of Naomi's being, as she dressed herself in that most hated uniform.

She made sure, though to keep that taser-baton loose and handy:  and she silently swore that she was going to stick that thing as far up as many Emperial Asses as she could before they left this ship.

"I'm gonna need Kale," Snargle said to the captain, ignoring everything Lady M had said. His sympathy for her was quickly evaporating with how she spoke to him and the captain. "He knows machines better than I do and I've never thrown a wrench in an engine this big."

"Oh hey, Lady Mysterious, just a quick acting note," Snargle turned to her. "If you don't want us to know who you are or that you're nobility, maybe don't say things like Ball of the Primrose of Illysium. Us commonfolk don't get to the Ball of the Primrose too often."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:19, Mon 26 July 2021.

The Lady patted Naomi's shoulder softly, lowering her voice.

"I see the scowl on your face, my dear. I know. But we must away, before someone recognises me. I am sure you enjoy playing an Imperial flunky as much as I like pretending to be some harlot."

Which was an attempt at kindness, but less than completely truthful - she had actually been having fun with her charade so far. Just like one of sir Throttlestepbury's comedies of errors, really, only more lively. So her tone was mostly light and displicent when she replied to Snargle:

"I fail to see why I should endeavor to conceal my good breeding from the very men who have been handsomely paid to provide safe passage to my destination, mister Sgurgle. And have not delivered quite as promised, I daresay. So perhaps you might want to concentrate your talents, such as they are, on that particular task, if *I* may give *you* a quick acting note."

And with a self-satisfied nod she turned her attention to Vance and Arkham.

"Are you ready, gentlemen? I should like to avoid spending another minute in this insalubrious brig at any cost."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:05, Mon 26 July 2021.

"You get hit on your head or something? It's Snar-gle," he chided as he reintroduced the crew. "That's Kale. And the real tall one is Captain Vance. You remember him, right? He's the one who agreed to shelter an aristocrat on the run, instead of ransoming her off to the person who she was running from."

He peeked out the window again, still keeping an eye on the corridor. "That's what a lot of people would have done. Even these Imperials would probably turn you over for a promotion. But the Captain is better than that and he hasn't had any 'good breeding'. He's just a good person."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:13, Mon 26 July 2021.

Hating the idea of cuffs, and an curtailing of his freedoms, Kale tossed a thankful glance at Snargle.
"I'm more useful unseen, than in the eye of the law...My Lady."
He sketched a try at a courtly bow to The Lady.
Then ruined it by adding "...I Would like to go to a ball though..think of all the rich drunk aristos there..."

As Cyrus chewed at his cheek, a twist in his stomach growing from the explicit dropping of his title, he glanced over to Snargle. A wide smile grew on his face, defended by his crew. Snargle’s words cause a chuckle to rise from his belly, and he put a heavy mitt on the shoulder of the goblin.

“Your loyalty knows no bounds, eh Snargle? While I do agree, breeding doesn't do much for character, the lady did hire us for a job. And, ” Captain Vance looked at his passenger with a pointed pause. “I intend to see it through. Regardless of what wrenches are thrown at us. The lady may just have to learn the patience that the Blue requires. Now, let us be on our way. If we can sabotage the ship, and actually make it to the Owl, we can continue on our job.”

Cyrus then turned towards the exit and held his wrists out for cuffs. “The faster we get a move on, the faster we can get the lady where she's going, ” Cyrus spoke, giving his crew a wink. He then looked at the bodyguard, and could see the discomfort on her features.

“Your efforts are appreciated, I do hope you realize. I would have the same bile in my mouth, were I standing in those shoes.”

"Eh, don't flatter yourself," Snargle said with a wry smile. "It was either be loyal to you or her. Just wait until Kale tries to become captain..."

"Speaking of," Snargle says to Kale. "You ready to throw some wrenches into complex and voliate machinery?"

"What..A promotion? Bloody brilliant" Laughing at his own joke, because he knew at least one person found him funny then, he continued.
"Sure...violating machinery is my second favorite thing."

Then winced. "That sounded better in my head.."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:11, Tue 27 July 2021.

Okay, as I understand it there will be two groups going forward.

Group one is the Lady, the Bodyguard and the Captain, going for the classic prisoner transport routine, like Han, Luke and Chewy. Except that Naomi is a guard escorting the Lady and the Captain to their ship due to a misunderstanding? You don't seem to have a story ready yet as we move the scene onward.

Group two is Snargle and Kale, doing their best impression of a certain divisive Christmas movie and crawling through the vents. The crawling itself is no problem for the two, one being a contortionist and the other being a shapeshifter. The difficulty though, will be to move silently and to find your way.

---

Group two disappears into the vents as the Naomi gets dressed for the disguise roll. You have a slight time left to straighten up your story or to do something else, Lady Blackbird and Captain Vance.

Kale and Snargle, you follow the vents until you come at a crossroads. Roll to see how stealthy you are (both of you), I'll set the difficulty at two in general. If something else comes up, the difficulty might increase. Also, how do you plan to find the way to the engine room?

---

Meanwhile — the clerk running the numbers on the ship finds the correct papers in the database. We see a shot of her reading the papers and her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. Smash-cut to her running to her desk and writing frantically.

(After that last small scene, we will have group one start out through the hallways with their plan, all disguised up, but you have a slight moment to straighten things out before that (one post, basically).)

The Lady ignored Snargle’s whole reply (she had already wasted too much time explaining things to the knave) and replied to the Captain, in her cool civil tone.

"I scarcely think the current circumstances call for patience and caution, captain Vance. Indeed, boldness and speed are of the essence, and yet we are wasting time in idle talk and goblinery."

She said no more until Snargle and Arkham were out of the room, waiting with her arms firmly crossed and her nose in the air. Not until the three of them were alone (with Natasha getting antsy while Naomi finished dressing up and Vance looked at the wall) did she break the silence again.

"It seems there is much about yourself you did not care to mention when I hired you, captain," she said in a lower voice, still formal, but slightly more confidential.

"Was this life of smuggling and crime something you chose of your own free will, or was it thrust upon you by fate or misfortune? And when you offered to escort me to the Remnants…"

She closed the robe a little tighter around her.

"…did you really mean to, captain?"

This is my first attempt at a Refreshment Scene, no idea if it's correct...

It’s definitely a possibilty, but it will be your only action at this point as I will escalate the situation after. I’d say that there’s not really time for a drawn out refreshment scene ‘on the spot’, but a flashback by the captain before he answers you is possible, or if he does not want, a flashback of you boarding the Owl or signing the contract, or something like that.

Eager to be doing something, Snargle practically leapt into the life support vents. That turned out to be a mistake since he needed Kale to figure out where the engines were. Snargle had a general idea where to go (follow the hot water pipes) but that would only get them to the general sector. Oh well, it couldn't be helped.

I'm going to roll 5 dice to sneak. 1 for trying, 1 for my Sly Trait, 1 for the Sneaky tag and 2 from my pool.

07:36, Today: Snargle rolled 24 using 5d6 ((5,3,6,6,4)).

Four successes!
This message was last edited by the player at 11:46, Tue 27 July 2021.

His crew mate was faster than an oiled snake at times, and had already disappeared into the vents by the time Kale had dumped his boots to make less noise in the vents.
Trying to catch up, hes not as quiet as he could be, but eventually finds Snargle at the join of two breezeways.
"Alright, squish over, follow me. IF, and only If this thing is designed for efficiency and not bombast, I think we go this way."


00:04, Today: Kale Arkham rolled 14 using 4d6 ((5,2,1,6)) 2 success for sneak (2 pool die used.}

Plan to use trait mechanic-sabotage to find the engines.

I'm fine with that, as the Lady is mostly waiting here.

In reply to Kale Arkham (msg # 45):

Kale, I think you can roll a lot more dice. You’ve got your starting die + a die for your trait (burglar) + a die for each tag that fits in that trait. (quiet, sneak, hide, dextrous and darkness would fit I think) + any pool dice that you want to gamble on it. This would let you roll 7 dice, without any added pool dice. You only rolled four, including two pool dice. I’m not sure how you got to that. You got it, 2 successes, but you could have rolled more and did not have to spend any pool die (so take those back in your pool).

ahh...i didnt realize i could 'stacks on' All the applicable tags. thanks I'll klnow next time