Nanbako doesnt really much notice Henry himself. Her attention focused on the ship around her, bits and pieces that snag her interest. Baubles others were wearing or bits of machinery that took her interest. But it was because of that she noticed they skipped a few doors on the tour. Hurriedly going past them. Nudging Helena in the side she leaned over to whisper in her ear "We missed a few spots back there. Wonder what they dont want us to see."
Joy smiles at Nanbako. "It's our job, isn't it? And I'm very good at following orders."
Joy regards the machine in the Damnation's lower decks politely, but blankly. She has no knowledge of and little aptitude for such things. When the human man arrives, she is momentarily nonplussed by his rude treatment of Sin, but when it's revealed he will handle the next leg of their tour, her eyes scan over his body and she gives him a very friendly smile. He's one of the group Sin is wary of, she remembers, which makes it even more important she make a good impression on him.
She keeps her eye on him as they navigate the bowels of the Damnation's bowels, adjusting her tactics as she goes. She'd always planned to seduce him, but typically does so straightforwardly, making her intentions clear and presenting sex as mutual benefit. Henry seems less interested in such things, though - more interested in taking his pleasure than sharing it. She decides to present herself as a hapless clueless target for him to take advantage of. He's more likely to overstep if he thinks he's in the lead.
"What do you do on the ship, Mr. Tort?" she asks innocently.
"I keep some of the rabble-rousers in line," he says. "The Damnation gets all sorts, and not everyone's in the mood to play nice. So, if rules and norms don't get them to keep their heads down, I do."
He's not being totally truthful. You think he's on the level about keeping others in line, but there's something about his words that feels deceptive.
Henry smiles a little, and asks a question in return. "What about you, pretty thing? What do you do on the Highwind?"
"That sounds dangerous!" Joy gasps softly. She glances around, then moves closer to Henry, brushing against him as they walk. "You must be very brave and strong if your captain trusts you more than the rest of the crew! No one's going to - to hurt us, are they? You'll protect me - I mean, us - if anything happens, right, Mr. Tort?"
At Henry's "pretty thing", Joy giggles shyly. "Actually, I haven't done much of anything yet. The captain hired me at the last port. She says she's going to 'break me in', whatever that means, but right now I'm still learning. She wasn't even going to send me to the Damnation, but something went wrong on our ship at the last second...I don't really know what, but it meant one of the shipwrights had to stay back, so I'm filling in for him."
She pauses for a second, then looks worried. "Uh - I probably wasn't supposed to tell you that." She giggles nervously. "You can keep a secret, right, Mr. Tort?"
Charisma (Deception): 20 (rolled a 2, which would total 12, but due to Joy's Silver Tongue feature, any roll of 9 or less is treated as 10).
Joy attempts to present herself as innocent, oblivious, and easily taken advantage of.
Zahn Cragscale
Zahn followed along, staying close to his comrades at all times while keeping a lookout for anything that may be a trap or an ambush. He looked relaxed, because he did not expect such a thing in this instance, but being careful never hurt anybody.
Seeing Joy act so naive and defenceless had Zahn amused, though it did not show on his muzzle much, due to how different the human facial structure and musculature was compared to a lizardkin.
Helena watched the whole display, her face stoic, though she had to admit she was mildly impressed. It seemed that some tricks never fell out of fashion. She walked over to Zahn and nudged his side.
"D'me a favour 'n keep 'im distracted. Either with Joy or somethin' else. Reckon 'e 'as 'is 'ands full with one redhead. But just in case. I want ta see what they dinnae want us ta see." She whispered to the lizard man.
With that, Helena did her damndest to slip away, and went to have a look-see at some of the doors they'd moved past quickly, the ones with the clean floors near them. First she looked through the keyholes for anything interesting. If that didn't turn up anything interesting, she'd try to pick the locks.
The Tabaxi looked between Henry and Joy. A slightly bemused expression on her face as she folded her arms under her bust. She was content to watch them for the moment before noticing Helena slipping away. Since she might run the risk of bringing attention to the sneaky beaky, Nanbako moved over to Zahn standing next to him. Figuring it best to remain silent and let things play out before she didnt anything rash.
The Tour
Henry chuckles, and puts an arm around Joy's waist. "I'm doing what I can for all of us here. And you don't need to worry about a thing-so long as you stick near me, you'll be safe."
He leads you further along the ship, where you soon reach a ladder. He 'helps' Joy up it, taking ample time to observe her rear.
Normally, the absence of one fourth of the group would be pretty easy to spot, no matter how well they managed to sneak away. However, with Joy occupying Henry's full attention, he seems rather oblivious to the disappearance.
Not On The Tour
Helena quickly reaches the doors that Henry moved you past. Looking them over and through the keyhole, the rooms are too dark to make anything out, but they seem empty. With no info from that, she quickly picks the locks.
I rolled for you. Got an 18 on die, for a net of 25. More than enough to pick the locks.
See OOC Thread for a post about a general note.
The door she picked opens smoothly, quietly. There's a lantern on the wall that she lights, revealing what used to be a sleeping hall. However, while the first few rooms are intact, the further ones have had the walls between them torn down. The entire place is immaculately free of dust, grime, and anything else like that, but at the same time, it's also messy-items strewn about, clothes on the floor, all sorts of things like that.
While unusual, nothing about it seems particularly wrong, but there is a locked chest in the back, full of who knows what.
The chest's lock has some kinda mechanism on it-a trap, maybe, or an alarm?
It's hooked up to a minute talisman, ready to break it.
Ok.. I seem to be v lucky thus far. let's hope it doesn't bite me in the ass.
Perception. Passive 15 enough to see the mechanism
Roll= 15 +5
Investigation to check for anything interesting besides the chest:
19 +2
Also, thieves tools check to disarm the trap mechanism. Don't know if i need a separate one to pop the lock too.
17 +10
What the fuck are my rolls? I swear to god i'm not fudging these either. I'm rolling on discord so I can provide screenshots.
Helena looked around at the sleeping hall. She closed the door behind herself to make sure she wasn't interrupted, then inspected the room. Seeing all the crap on the floor despite how clean the room was, it was somehow disturbing. Or at the least it caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand to attention. She yanked a dagger from her belt and held it in her free hand in case of shennanigans. She walked over to the chest and gave it a once over, spotting the talisman hooked up to the lock.
For the moment, she looked around for anything else of interest that might be in the piles of crap. Either way, she went to disarm the mechanism before picking open the lock. After all, she was known to enjoy a nice chest. Hopefully curiousity would be rewarded, rather than killing the cat.. She smirked to herself, wondering how well that joke would go over if Nanbako heard it. With the lantern on the floor, and her dagger clutched between her teeth, Helena got to work.
The talisman is arcane enough that you know better than to touch it-but the mechanism attached to it is quickly disarmed. You carefully open the chest, to avoid messing with anything too much, and inside find some chains, stone runes, candles... Lots of ritual supplies. They are all just as clean as the room around them, but likewise, haphazardly placed within.
With only basic knowledge of arcane and divine magic theory, you can't piece together what exactly the rituals are for. But digging a little deeper and discovering a humanoid skull gives a hint.
The chest also contains a small smattering of coins, gems, and a few trinkets that don't seem connected to the ritual supplies.
You've got 28 GP, 57 SP, and not enough copper to even be worth listing.
There are a half-dozen gems, varying in size between an inch to two and a half inches in diameter.
The trinkets include two dice, a metal disc with a feather inscribed on it, and a small wand.
If you would like to make a check to try and figure out what the ritual stuff is for, it'd be Intelligence (Arcana or Religion).
The ritual objects are not written in Draconic, as would be typical of most arcane rituals. It's not any language you recognize.
Helena looked through the chest, definitely more than a little put off by the ritual supplies. Of course, she'd never admit that to anyone. She quickly memorised the contents of the chest, and tried to figure out what kind of ritual would need this stuff. However, she quickly discovered that dressing up as a nun was not the same as having religious knowledge, so the purpose of the contents escaped her.
Still, this little escapade wasn't a total loss. She deftly picked out the non ritual contents and plucked them from the chest, depositing them into her pockets, bag, and coin pouch. She briefly considered nabbing the skull too, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth the risk and left it. She closed and re-locked the chest, reactivated the trap mechanism to cover her tracks. She then slinked back to the door and pressed her ear to it. Once she heard a lack of activity, she quickly snuffed out the lantern, slipped out, and relocked the door before heading back to rejoin the tour group. She prepared to cast prestidigitation if needed, conjuring up a partly eaten sandwich as part of her excuse. If anyone asked, she'd say she nipped into the mess hall to steal some food.
Rolled a 9 +2 on religion
There goes my lucky streak lol
"Thank you, Mr. Tort." Joy lets him hold her close to him, letting her body brush against his if he doesn't take the initiative to do so himself. "You make me feel safer already."
She follows his lead throughout the ship, pretending not to notice any wandering eyes or hands.
Helena returns, her little sandwich deception unneeded. Henry's eyes are on Joy, as is one of his hands.
The tour continues, but after another level, you run into a group of people gambling. Like Henry, they're scarred and tattooed-which is not altogether an unusual look for people aboard the Damnation.
However, a little more unusual is that they all have the same tattoo on their left shoulder. Two of them are sleeveless, making it easier to spot, but the others with short sleeves are moving their arms enough that you can tell it's the same.
"Afternoon, gentlemen," Henry greets the gamblers.
"Henry!" one of them says, setting his cards face-down to shake Henry's hand. "Where'd you find the ladies? And what's his deal?" he asks you three ladies, the second question at Zahn.
Henry gives a little chuckle, and tells them "These are the folk from the Highwind. Any of you good at cards?" he asks. "We can always use more players."
The rest of the gamblers are, for now, focused away from the game. Largely on Joy, with hints of jealousy in their eyes.
Helena slipped right back in unchallenged and gave the rest of the party a subtle grin, glad no one else noticed and she didn't have to resort to half baked lies. She first looked to Nanbako.
"Rooms outside the clean doors were clean 'emselves.. odd like. Clothes everywhere, but nae dust or grime. Saw a nice chest that was nae mine fer once. Was trapped, had ritual supplies, a skull, and some things nae'n 'd miss."
With that, Helena repeated the message to Zahn before looking ot the card game.
"Ah cannae say 'am good, but.. ah'll join ye fer a 'and. If'n we 'ave time of course." She said, directing the last part to Henry with a cocked eyebrow.
She then turned her eyes to her fellow redhead, joining seemingly everyone else in the room.
"Cheers fer distractin' 'em. Didnae even 'ave to ask."
"This one of 'em games where everyone be tryin' to cheat everyone else at te table?" Helena asked, her eyes now back on the cards.
"We've got time," Henry says, "so long as you got something to bet. How much coin did you bring with you?"
The other assembled men include an orc; two elves with turquoise hair, looking much like brothers; another human; and a dwarf who is missing an eye. The dwarf says "We play it fair, as is only right."
If anyone has proficiency in cards, gambling, or anything like that, add your proficiency to any rolls involving this.
If you simply wish to play fair when you play, roll a check with Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma; representing counting odds, reading the other players, or bluffing the other players.
If you want to cheat, that'll be Sleight Of Hand, rolled against their Perception scores. Failure by 1-5 means you can't cheat safely, letting you either not cheat at all or do it and risk getting caught. Failure by 6 or more means you get caught cheating. Success gives you advantage on your gambling check.
If anyone wishes to intentionally fail, such as Joy to get pants removed, you can invert your bonuses and treat your die roll as a 1.
Nanbako shuddered as Helena gave a telepathic message. She wasnt a fan of people talking in her mind, still it was interesting information. The Tabaxi looked around at the table and folded her arms under her bust. "Im out, but you can rely on me if you're worried about losing your shirt." she said with a grin towards Helena. The feline didnt like gambling, Tymora didnt see fit to bless her luck in that regard.
Zahn Cragscale
Zahn kept quiet when Helena whispered to him. Only a very slight nod indicated that he'd heard her, doing his utmost to not be noticed by their tour guide. He plodded along, without interjecting: he had a feeling that Henry was a straight man, so he did not have a way to help her keep him distracted.
Then, the whole group arrived at a room that Henry opened for them. Helena's telepathic message was something Zahn had experienced before and so he managed to keep his surprise to a blink, instead of reacting outwardly in a more noticeable manner.
The pirates of the Damnation looked the part and the lizarkin raised his shoulders in a shrug. "I play, but it is merely a way to pass the time."
He made himself comfortable at the table, chair creaking ominously as he sat his bulk down near one of the Damnation's riggers. And with that, he waited for his cards, to play with the opposing crew in a friendly match.
I don't mind playing a little bit of their card game, so I rolled 1d20+wisdom to read their faces for the game(s). I rolled a 13, plus my Wis makes it a total of 14!
Helena thought about it for a second, then sat herself at the table and tossed 4 gold pieces into the pot.
"Well, always a nice distraction." She said with a grin. "Anythin' new aboard yer floatin' nation? Weddings beddings or beheadin's of note?" She asked, fishing for any interesting gossip. Despite the grin, she had quite a good poker face.
Sleight of hand cheating roll: 5 +10
Charisma check: 15 +5
Rolled without advantage because I'm hoping I can still back out and play it fair.
Joy, in her feigned ditzy fashion, pretends to have not enough coin to gamble. They all grin, and the dwarf says "Tell you what-you can bet something else. I'll offer, say, four silvers against your shirt."
With the pot settled and cards dealt, there's a few rounds played. The dwarf, much to his chagrin, ends up losing his four silver as he is the first one to fold. That's quickly followed by the orc and the other human, leaving you all comfortably clothed and wealthy. And then, just as it looks like Zahn has the worst hand, Joy reveals her own-not a disastrous one, but just barely worse than Zahn's.
The assembled gamblers eye Joy eagerly.
We'll wait for Penny to get a post up, once they're all done with travels.
When introduced to the card table, Joy giggled and waved shyly. Upon hearing Helena's message, she glances at her long enough to make eye contact, but then looks at the rest of her companions as if silently asking for permission. "I'll play, but I don't know hardly anything about cards! I hope you don't mind if I'm not very good!"
Joy is a decent read and an excellent bluff, but true to her words, she is not very good at cards. She lays the hand down on the table, checking it against Zahn, and finds she's just barely eked out a loss. Innocently, she asks, "So...who won?"
She waits for someone to explain her loss before pouting and sighing. Reaching up, she unbuttons her silk shirt and slides it off her shoulders, putting on a show of embarrassment while sticking her chest out, and tosses it among the coinage. Underneath, her breasts are bound only by a simple strip of black cloth, enough to provide support but very little modesty - her cleavage is well pronounced, and the bumps of her nipples are obvious against the fabric. She gives enough time for the others to see both before shyly crossing her arms over her breasts.
The assembled men are quite interested in the beautiful lady in front of them. With the distractions properly begun, now would be an excellent time to delve deeper.
Helena's question is answered belatedly, as they've been focusing on the game. "Oh, er, yeah," the orc comments, "Someone in the crew, one of the important folk, is marrying my cousin. Don't have all the details-that cousin and I don't get along."
Asking OOC (and feel free to answer in the OOC thread, don't have to do it here)-do you have any particular goals you want to accomplish at the moment?
Is there anything you want to learn from them?
Any favors you want to extract?
Anything Nanbako wants to do while they're occupied?
Zahn Cragscale
Zahn did not notice Helena doing what she could to cheat and mark the cards to have a better chance at figuring out the hands in the game. He kept his eyes over the folk trying to win against his companions, while he himself sighed as the silver he used in the bet was lost, for the time being. But it was still enjoyable, since he got to see something good.
"He has won."
The lizardfolk informed Joy, which meant that she had to lose her top. Zahn's eyes did not linger overmuch, as he accepted the deck of cards and the hands of the gamblers, to shuffle and distribute the little pieces of cardboard for the next round.
I got a total of 7 for the perception check to spot the Sleight of Hand attempt of Helena. And, in case the game continues and we need another roll, I got a total of 5 to play cards.
Nanbako folded her arms under her breasts watching the situation. Her feline eyes locking onto Joy's bust for a moment before she returned to the cards. "Got a cousin marrying someone important huh? Congratulations regardless if you dont get along. Have you considered getting them a gift? Might be a good time to patch up old wrongs." The Tabaxi said looking to the orc. Figuring the more they talked, the more likely something slipped that would be important to the party.
Joy keeps one arm crossed over her breasts as she picks up the cards with one hand. "Well, now I gotta win my shirt back," she pouts. "I'll bet my trousers...I guess."
Her next round of cards doesn't go much better, but she pretends not to notice. Her mood brightens as the conversation continues, turning to the orc. "Why not? They're marrying your friend! Now you have two connections! Even if you have bad feelings about them, you'll be seeing them more often, won't you? It'll just make things harder if you don't patch things up!"
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