Joined: Sep 11, 2014 Posts: 979 Location: Right behind you!
Sai moves away from the docks and waits until he's out of earshot of any sailor to ask, "Anything else we want to get done today? Any other gear or provisions we require?"
Joined: Sep 11, 2014 Posts: 979 Location: Right behind you!
Sai asks, "Then why didn't we talk to the guys down the way that are loading up their boat that I first suggested? They look like they're about to get underway anytime now."
Swift Snake, takes off his tengai hat for the first time since you met him. "Well sometimes appearances can be deceiving captain." Underneath his hat pitch black short hair frame a rough tan face adorned with a couple of old scars and the weight of the road. It is all illuminated by intense gold eyes currently fixed on Zheng Sao.
After she has had enough time to observe him he covers his head again and after a second slight bow he turns to leave.
Rest of the day
Swift Snake will probably share with the others his thoughts about the trip being too expensive, even if travelling with smugglers might have its positive quirks. He will accept whatever decision the group takes. The rest of the day he will probably pass partly relaxing and playing his lute (probably meditating during the day the four hours needed to rest, and passing the rest of the time along with the night surveying the towns surroundings and hunting. He is especially on the look out for people going or coming from Ceonling and their tracks.
He leaves gathering information about what is happening in the surrounding regions to his companions though he himself doesn't suggest any particular course of action. He will probably try to hunt something better for Sai Yun since he was the one to offer him the rations.
"Well, nothing is stopping us from doing that right now."Chen Wu than notices the missing member of the company. "Maybe our restless monk that can't stand still for five minutes..."
I am still with you, I just described what I was doing the rest of the day because I thought we were moving forward to the next day as you people proposed on the ooc thread, so I am still with you. I leave the group later in the evening to rest by meditating somewhere in town and then I roam the surrounding wilderness during the night (of course I tell you what I will do beforehand)
The adventurers approach the other ship, where the gruff man, who only went by Stone, seemed reluctant to take on passengers but was willing when pressed. "Yeah, we're leaving soon. But I can only take you to the edge of Oshi, which will be about a week. That's maybe a third of the way down the river. Or I can drop you off at the start of the imperial road to Soenglau, maybe four days from here. I won't go into Jin Tung territory, but you can probably find a passenger boat from the border. We'll say four gold per day for the lot of you."
Chen Wu shakes his head at the captain's offer. "We would still have to walk most of the distance. I rather take the Owl. A single day more in the beginning will save us weeks in the end."
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Yes, I'm from Brazil and no, I'm not an annoying ****.
Joined: Sep 11, 2014 Posts: 979 Location: Right behind you!
Sai's eyes flit from Chen to the Captain. He says, "Please give my fellow travelers and I a moment to confer."
He steps away from the docks and motions for Chen and the others to come with him.
When they are close by, he looks to see if anyone from either boat is watching them, cutting his eyes rather than turning his head so that the gesture is not noticed.
Stealth
LordFluffy rolled 1d20+4 and got a total of 14:
He whispers, "We should take this one. I don't care if we have to walk part of the way. I do not trust that woman. She sized us up for a fight the second we arrived at the docks. The fact she wants her pay upfront also raises my concerns.
"This other captain is leaving now, is straight forward and I have no fear that he will give us passage and no complications.
"What reason do we have to take the first ship instead?"
"It saves weeks of traveling, basically. If you want to take this boat, we should rather walk all the way to save some coin. I still think we should take the first boat, though. This guy gave us no more reason to trust him than the first captain."
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Yes, I'm from Brazil and no, I'm not an annoying ****.
Joined: Oct 30, 2013 Posts: 7305 Location: England
"You raise a good point Sai but I am inclined to agree with Chen Wu."Hon Yin glances down the length of the docks, first to the Snow Owl and then to the smaller ship. "I too have my doubts about the captain but, if my suspicions are correct, it should not prove a problem for us. Just so long as we keep our new-found wealth a secret they should prove honourable enough for our purposes."
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Welcome! I'm Garren and I'll be your designated villain for the evening.
Joined: Sep 11, 2014 Posts: 979 Location: Right behind you!
Sai, outvoted, doesn't wait for the monk to speak. He nods and says, "Okay. Only one of us should show that we have money on us and not all of it. The script is probably the best for this. Chen, you want to appear to be the money man? It will play, I think, since you were doing the negotiation."
Chen Wu shrugs at Sai's question. "Whatever. She's asking a lot of coins from us, but it's not like the price isn't fair. We'll be traveling a very long distance, folks. We can always say that she stripped us of every money we had for the passage. Or we can do as you want and do the 'scientist funding an expedition' trick. I don't really care which is going to be. Point is: it's either the Owl or walking, because this barge here is going to be a waste of money."
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Yes, I'm from Brazil and no, I'm not an annoying ****.
Stone shrugs, his strong and scarred shoulders rippling in the motion. His workers seem to have finished moving boxes onto the boat and have settled down to eat.
As the sun dawns, the hills of Two Hills cast long shadows toward the western mountains. The adventurers approach The Snow Owl, where the crew are already working to start their voyage. Zheng Sao greets the men on the wooden planks that pass for a dock in front of her ship. "We will be shoving off in a few. I trust you all have your payment of fifty gold?"
A raven appears on the gunwale of the boat from an opening in the fabric, caws loudly, and flies away.
The woman with a tangle of rope around her body appears on top of the overhang, pulling the dark fabric up to reveal the deck. Mad Mei's hands move quickly, tying knots and lashing rope. Thu helps her but he also seems to be looking ahead and around a lot. He watches the adventurers as they approach.
Fai Wa's spears are not in sight as the fabric lifts to reveal him testing the stability of the stacks of small boxes netted to the sides of the keelboat. He pulls and reknots where necessary. Charopos is bent over the gunwale on the other side, half out of sight.
As Chen Wu hands over the paper notes, Zheng Sao seems to frown a little. "I would prefer actual silver or gold, but lucky for you, they're still using these in Soenglau." She steps to the side and flourishes her hand toward the wooden plank up to the boat.
The Snow Owl is almost sixty feet long. The back third of it is an enclosed cabin, with gauzy net occluding the inside. An overhang juts out over the middle third, creating a shaded area. Both more of the lighter gauzy net and the heavier dark fabric is tied up along the edges of the canopy, ready to be let down. Along the sides are stacks of small boxes, netted into place.
The adventurers have to slowly adjust to the swaying of the boat on the river as Fai Wa shows the adventurers where they can stow their belongings within the cabin. The room is mostly crowded by eight hammocks, basically on top of each other, and lines of wooden storage boxes, nailed along the sides of the room. A smaller room is within, for the captain. His voice is sibilant as he explains no one is to ever enter that room, ever.
A whistle breaks out from above and the Fai Wa gets a mad glint in his eye. "We're off," he grins, and the adventurers have to catch their steps again as the boat lurches forward.
As the Snow Owl sets sail, a sigh of relief comes from Chen Wu. "Finally we have that damn town behind us." He approaches Fai Wa with a polite smile. "My friend! What's your story? And what can you tells us about the crew? I believe we're going to spend a few weeks together, so we should make that a pleasant time for all of us."
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Yes, I'm from Brazil and no, I'm not an annoying ****.
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