"on the contrary there is a wonderful sight to see, and hopefully equally wonderful conversation! and perchance even a spark of hope!" ilifir argues "for that balloon is a wonderful contraption, do you perhaps know how it was made, or is that a secret?"

New to this place, Lerak follows Val's lead. He is unsure on how friendly will be the bullywug. He stands behind his new friends, trying to look impressive.
When he receive the telephatic message he mentally reply "This is neat. I am unsure how to help here. I guess I'll just stay ready for any fighting". 

During the chat, Lerak will look around to pinpoint possible foes. Where and how many, trying to place himself in the best position.
Perception: 13

"It was made in the balloon workshop that recently burnt down. The lift is created by the swamp gas in the balloon. Now I as given orders by my King to not let anyone take this balloon as the last one was stolen by a traitor of a Bullwung and a Faeriedragon. Now go on about your business or whatever you are doing."  says the Bullywug guard. 

Lerak you notice the poor condition of the pier. A strong attack may break parts of the pier. 

"i dont want to kill them" ilifir says abruptly "I also dont see how im going to talk them into this, if we can group them up i might be able to subdue them temporarily" 

"a faeriedragon? what painful pranks they play, perhaps twere preferable they passed from your perception? and a traitor? what nasty business, is there anything i could do to assist?"

Finley balls his hands into fists, a slight hum begins to emit from them, but he looks around at the others before acting, hesitating due to Ilifir's comment. "Aye, ah faerie dragon ye say?"

Otto will relay to each of the four, one by one, as he continues to slowly sneak around. "If we get the sense charming or persuading them is going nowhere, before anything turns violent, I can try one more thing. I can link myself to the Bullywugs' minds like I have done to you folks, and send a message into their brains. I could pretend it's some Sending message from the King, or Bavlorna, and that they need to report immediately to somewhere else to deal with an emergency. Now, I'm not the best liar, all things considered, so success isn't a guaranty. But it may be worth a shot if we think the only remaining option is face-punching."

Quote from Weathervision >>

"It was made in the balloon workshop that recently burnt down. The lift is created by the swamp gas in the balloon. Now I as given orders by my King to not let anyone take this balloon as the last one was stolen by a traitor of a Bullwung and a Faeriedragon. Now go on about your business or whatever you are doing."  says the Bullywug guard.  

Valrieth tries to help Ilifir persuade (or intimidate) the guards by emphasizing their deeds and connections: "Well, who do you think put out the fire and prevented it from burning the balloon factory to the ground?  It was us!"  She touches the fly-shaped badge on her tabard, making its wings flap, as she says, "And we found favor with Duke Ickrind for that deed!"

Val says, "And we are agents of King Gullop XIX.  Why do you think that he clothed us in these fine outfits?"  She pulls back her cloak and shield arm to show the fine green tabard that she wears and gestures to Finley's fancy longcoat.  "It was so that we could make a good impression when we went, on the king's behalf, into Bavlorna's cottage," she says, pointing toward the center of the lake somewhat dramatically.  "We have met Bavlorna and successfully completed the mission the king gave us, and now we are on an urgent errand to bring something back to Bavlorna from her sister Skabatha in Thither.  I think that the king would not be pleased to find that you delayed us and angered Bavlorna." 

While the guards take that in, Val thinks toward Otto, "We need to imply that we're still working for the king and that we need to use the balloon to complete the next part of our mission. If we fail, Bavlorna will be upset with the king and his subjects in Downfall. Do they really want to stand between the king's agents and this urgent errand for Bavlorna?"

The bullywug guard considers your words though he fears failing to safeguard the balloon again as he failed the first time. "No, I need no assistance. I see that badge and that makes you a guest, but I must have direct orders from the King. I suggest you visit the king and ask him to send his orders to me. If you work for the king then this matter can be cleared up in moments"

Anyone can try to roll persuasion, intimidation, or deception to try to convince the guard to let you take the balloon. 

Quote from Weathervision >>

I suggest you visit the king and ask him to send his orders to me. If you work for the king then this matter can be cleared up in moments" 

The guard started speaking while Valrieth was sending a telepathic message to Otto, so it takes her a moment to absorb what he was saying.  This telepathy is trickier than she expected!  She looks away from the guard, glancing toward Otto and then Ilifir, wondering whether the hobgoblin got the message.  

Val says, "Oh, I see.  Um....", hesitating.  She looks again to Ilifir and Finley, hoping that they can pick up the argument.  She knows that the bullywug is being reasonable, but they really didn't want to waste a few hours just to find the king, get his approval, and probably get sent on some other errand before they could borrow the balloon.  That's assuming that the king even permits them to borrow the balloon!  "More delay!," she exclaims with some frustration.

(OOC: still helping Ilifir persuade the guards.)

Otto will relay Val's mental guidance to Ilifnir, Finley, and Lerak.

"We need to imply that we're still working for the king and that we need to use the balloon to complete the next part of our mission. If we fail, Bavlorna will be upset with the king and his subjects in Downfall. Do they really want to stand between the king's agents and this urgent errand for Bavlorna?"

"the king sent us to talk to you" ilifir says, visibly frustrated "im not going to go back to him and tell him he needs to send orders twice. i value my life and position. do you think the king has time to waste coming all the way over here to give you instructions in person?" 

deception with adv from help= 23 (rolled in game log) (idk if this is deception or intimidation but both are the same bonus)

here is a picture of the bullywug guard 

(Nice roll now let's see how good is the guard's insight)

14

The bullywug guard tilts his head in thought and then slowly moves out of the way. "Alright I know how temperamental our king be. Go ahead and use the balloon but please return it as soon as possible. He already raked me over the coals so the speak when I lost the first balloon."

Lerak does not wait for the guard to change his mind and in a matter of two seconds, he jumps into the basket. "Very well, let's move. Our mission awaits!"

"thank you, i really wasnt looking forwards to telling the king the mission had to be delayed!" ilifir bows slightly to the guard he was speaking with and climbs into the basket

"Excellent work, folks!"

Otto will join his allies on the balloon before it takes off.

Valrieth says, "Thank you.  We'll be back as soon as we can with the painting for Bavlorna.  Could you just release those lines once we're all in the basket?"

Val then hurries forward with Clapperclaw.  She'd like to take off before anything else goes wrong.  She helps Ilifir get Clapperclaw into the basket.  With a little hop, Val puts her arms over the edge basket, which is presumably as tall as she is, and then gets stuck there with her feet dangling a few inches off the ground.  She squeaks, "Er...Lerak?", hoping the larger harengon can pull her into the basket.

If they don't run into any more problems before they take off, once they're clear of the bullywugs and hovering over Downfall, Val says, "Good job, Ilifir!  I'm glad we gained a gregarious guy for our group!"

Once Clapperclaw starts flying the balloon toward Thither, Val takes a moment to share some information with the others.  She says, "You know?  We actually met the faerie dragon who escaped Downfall a few days ago in the other balloon."  She takes off her backpack and takes a notebook out of it, filled with neat hand writing and little doodles and diagrams.  Flipping back toward the beginning, she finds a page and checks her notes.  She says, "His name was Sir Talavar, and he was emissary of Tatiana, the Summer Queen.  He was captured by the hag Bavlorna, who had him locked in a cage in her cottage until a couple of bullywugs rescued him and stole the cage.  One of them apparently stole a balloon to fly the cage out of Downfall.  The other bullywug, Margot, was captured.  She's the one we freed from King Gullop XIX's jail yesterday."

Val unsheathes a long, thin-bladded dagger from her belt, "Sir Talavar gave us his magic 'sword' as a thank you before he returned to his queen.  He's also the one who told us what happened to Zybilna: that Hither is ruled by a hag named Bavlorna.  How Bavlorna has two sisters whom she loathes. Together, the three hags form the Hourglass Coven.  They used an artifact called Iggwilv’s Cauldron to trap Zybilna in her palace, frozen time."

But then Val looks out over the edge of the basket as the balloon rises higher into the sky.  "The reason we met Sir Talavar on the ground at the 'Leaning Tower' away to the south is that skies of Hither are patrolled by giant swamp birds.  They punctured Sir Talavar's balloon and sent it crashing into the trees.  We need to keep watch and be sure to scare off any birds who threaten to come close to our balloon."  

Finley gets into the basket with everyone else, “ah’m pretty sure tha’ ah can fly this dirigible. Although ah didn’t get a good look at the one we saw before since it were crashed.”