The Sword of Roses (IC)

[DigoDragon]

"Of course I can swim," Chaarix replies, completely unable to swim. "At the very least...it will get us into the city unnoticed."

Both kobolds seem to take this at face value.

She looks at the sky, trying to gauge how far it is to nightfall.

It's a little after noon, so there is time to prepare and study sections of the city if needed.

[Miltonian]

Chaarix sighs. "Well," she says, "I suppose it's time to go swimming or...something. Can you two swim?"

[DigoDragon]

The two kobolds nod.

"Yes, we learned to swim in the river beneath our mountain," Zuri answered. "We are not strong, but we can stay above water."

[Miltonian]

Stay above water. Good. They at least won't need her to save them.

Chaarix nods. "Then, climb aboard once more. We shall go and see if we can find somewhere to slip into the water unnoticed."

[DigoDragon]

Stay above water. Good. They at least won't need her to save them.

Yet.

Chaarix nods. "Then, climb aboard once more. We shall go and see if we can find somewhere to slip into the water unnoticed."

Zuri and Zido do as tod, although Zido is a bit uncomfortable for whatever reason. Maybe its his first flight.Or lack of any kind of harness that keeps him from falling. Maybe both.

[Miltonian]

Yet.

This goes without saying.

Zuri and Zido do as tod, although Zido is a bit uncomfortable for whatever reason. Maybe its his first flight.Or lack of any kind of harness that keeps him from falling. Maybe both.

Chaarix pauses for a moment and looks askance at Zido. "Would you prefer," she says, "If I carried you in my claws?"

[DigoDragon]

"Would you prefer," she says, "If I carried you in my claws?"

"No, I think I can manage. Just not... used to heights. Kobolds prefer depths," Zido explains.

[Miltonian]

And so, Chaarix shrugs and decides that, if he's going to be that way about it, there's no use in delaying. She takes off and heads towards the coast, aiming to enter the water some ways away from the harbor so as to minimize the possibility that she will be spotted.

[DigoDragon]

(3d6)[10]

Chaarix and her two kobold companions find their way to the ocean and take a bit of a dip. The water is pretty cool against the hot day sun. Zido seems to hold on quite tightly and doesn't seem to talk any. Zuri watches out for ships and points out a few.

"So, the plan? Do we want to steal a ship? Would make getting into harbor easier. Maybe lay low in a ship until sunset passes?"

Indeed there are a number of ships in the distance that could be reached. Most are small, but capable of smuggling a dragon with a good covering. The bigger ships would be more comfortable, but that does mean fighting off a bigger crew.

[Miltonian]

Chaarix studies the ships. A larger one would be more comfortably, but they could probably handle a smaller one better. She looks out for a likely target and answers the kobolds. "We are going to take a smaller ship. If the humans will let us on, all is well. If they refuse, we will lock them in their own hold and take it for ourselves."

[DigoDragon]

"Pretty sure we'll have a fight on our little clawed hands," Zuri says. "But, we can probably beat them. Just uh, don't set the ship on fire."

Zido flexes his fingers. "Chaarix can relax. We got this. I don't mind roughing up a few humans after what they did to us."

"Was talking to you about the fire part."

Zido frowns. "Fine. I'll just shove them off the boat with water."

[Miltonian]

Chaarix nods. "Right," she says, voice low and almost a growl, "Well, at least we will be surrounded by water. For putting fires out."

She begins to look around, searching for a likely victim target of her acquisitive tendencies.

Spoiler

Show

(3d6)[13] vs. 10

[DigoDragon]

She begins to look around, searching for a likely victim target of her acquisitive tendencies.

Chaarix seems to spot two decent targets.

One ship has several large cloth sails and lots of cargo everywhere to use for hiding. Lots of bags and sacks and burlap. There seems to be only a few humans sailing it. The other ship is a long flat rectangle, with the humans paddling it toward the city. There's the faint scent of animal coming from it.

[Miltonian]

Chaarix eyes the animal-filled ship hungrily, but she is not a glutton, unlike some. And so, she eyes the ship with better concealment. "That one," she says to her companions, "Do you think you can sail that one?"

[DigoDragon]

The two kobolds look at each other.

"It doesn't seem difficult," Zido says. "Keep the sails open like they are and steer it into the port. If humans con do it, we certainly could."

[Miltonian]

"Right then," Chaarix says, "I am sure this can only go well."

She begins swimming towards the ship and will leap out of the water onto it when the time comes.

[DigoDragon]

As Chaarix approaches the ship, a pair of sailors look out over the water and cheer.

"Whale off the port side! That means good luck, right?"

"I think it means dinner!"

"Yay dinner!"

They go ready their harpoons and nets, expecting to catch a whale. How thy mistook Chaarix for... you know what? Don't worry about it humans are weird. They also have no idea what's about to jump out of the water. Zido and Zuri get ready and they make the jump from Chaarix to the ship, jumping in two different directions which separates them and leads to confusion on what who is supposed to be doing what. On the plus side, Chaarix is not repelled from jumping up onto the ship either.

[Miltonian]

Chaarix is both pleased that they are happy to see her and offended that they mistook her for a whale. "Zido, Zuri," she growls, "punch those two in the crotch for me, please."

As the two kobolds leap aboard, Chaarix grips the side and heaves herself up and out of the water. Her scaled head is the first thing to clear it, and she grins widely at whoever is on deck, giving them a full view of her complement of teeth. "Good afternoon," she says, pulling herself more onto the ship, "We're commandeering this boat of yours."

[DigoDragon]

Chaarix was met by a startled crew.

"Dragon!"

The ship protested the weighty new passenger. Several stacks of boxes and barrels slid and rolled over, causing the crew to rush and secure things from knocking them down. Their efforts were mediocre at best, due to a pair of kobold siblings attacking two sailors with a paid of well aimed strikes to the vitals.

One human (wearing a bit better of clothing) rallied the crew to arms and fight off this attack. He seemed to regain control over the panicked crew, though with two already stunned that left only ten to muster a counter attack.

[Miltonian]

Chaarix finishes pulling herself up onto the deck and looms over the crew. "Now, now," she says, flexing her claws, "Can't we discuss things like reasonable...well, I am loathe to call your kind 'people' after everything you've done, but there was one girl who was decent. For her sake, I'll try to stop at maiming."

She lets electricity form between her jaws, giving them one last chance to run. It would be easier if they did, from a practical standpoint.

[DigoDragon]

The crew weighs their options and decide that perhaps it is better to flee. They jump ship, taking one little rowboat with them. Zido and Zuri chase them off, tossing some small items that float to give them something to use. This leaves the ship pretty much in the claws of Chaarix.

"What now, boss?" Zuri asks.

[Miltonian]

Chaarix eyes the rowboat. It would be so easy now. They are all bunched up in a small space with no way of retaliating. However, there is no need. She has the boat already.

She turns to her servants. "Now," she says, "You sail the ship into port. Like you said you could."

This is a flawless plan.

[DigoDragon]

"Right, like we said we could!" Zido repeats.

Before Zuri could add anything, Zido moves to loosen some sails and re-tie ropes and move some other things around. Either the kobold knows what he's doing or he's attempting to copy what the humans usually do. (3d6)[6]

Zuri opens a hatch on the deck to the hold below. It appears to be half full of barrels that smell of freshly caught fish. She leaves it open for Chaarix to use and goes to try steering the ship at its helm. (3d6)[8]


Edit:
Somehow... they seem to keep the ship on course to the port as instructed.

[Miltonian]

The success of her minions is no more or less than Chaarix expected. They did their job, just as they said they would, and so she is pleased with them. However, for the time being, she has a date with a few barrels of fish.

She lumbers down into the hold and sets about gorging herself, filling her belly for the path ahead. She will re-emerge once they are actually in the port for phase two of her plan.

[DigoDragon]

Delicious fresh fish, all for the taking and no one to stop Chaarix!

A short time after enjoying her meal, Chaarix will feel the ship hit something solid. This is followed by something big splashing into the water and then the sound of two small kobolds arguing over who is at fault.

[Miltonian]

Chaarix licks her lips. Ah! Delicious fish. Too bad she cannot afford to enjoy them for longer. She turns her attention upwards to the noise from above. She had been hoping to enact stage two before they ran into something, but this would work.

"You two!" she calls up, "Get down here now!"

When they obey, she demands, "What happened?"

[DigoDragon]

When they obey, she demands, "What happened?"

"Well, we uh..." Zido begins.

"We missed the docks," Zuri completes, "And the ship hit ground. I don't think we broke anything."

"No, I think the ship is okay. Some humans gave us funny looks so we hid."

Zuri points up. "They'll eventually get curious, so we should plan quickly the next step."

[Miltonian]

Chaarix nods. "Good. Now, for another, more important question."

She leans down towards them. "How long can you hold your breaths?"

[DigoDragon]

She leans down towards them. "How long can you hold your breaths?"

"Half a minute?" Zuri answered.

Zido seemed less sure. "Maybe that. Half to brush up on my water spells."

[Miltonian]

Chaarix nods. "Good! Because we..." She eyes the side of the hull. "Are going to sink the ship!"

She lets that dramatic proclamation hang in the air.