“Aye.. I haven’t gots any plans er ideas.  We gots to get to the dam I suppose N see what we can do. Don’t suppose we kin steer this thing on our own? Or should we just swim up and take our ships over?”   Cass says, sadly looking at the situation.

"Does it seem this ride is ruined for them? If so lets go back and use our own ship to catch them." The frog girl nods.

Quote from Great_Axeblade>>

Greetings, Cousin.

       You and your detachment has already received its sailing orders from your superiors, but I am writing you to inform you of your mission. I have chosen you for this task because I trust that you will succeed. Relay all relevant information to your crew. At the depot, I have sent a demolition squad with orders to sail with you. As you know, your three ships are to sail inland through the Lamason River until you reach the dam. And, as you are well aware, the system of locks at the dam is the central vein of traffic to the Otteran capital. Destroy it. When you arrive at the dam, you will deploy your chain barrier and stay anchored to the lakebed for exactly two months from your day of departure. This timing is essential. The night marking the end of the second month, you are to send your demolition squad to the surface via the escape pod. They will scale the dam and plant explosives. Upon their return, your deck mage will detonate them from the safety of the ship. The destruction of the dam is crucial to our plan. As the river will become unsailable for perhaps years, This is the last letter you will receive from me for quite a while. The turmoil the dam's destruction will cause will make my duties at the Otteran court much more busy, so I cannot visit, although I eagerly await your arrival there someday as a victorious conqueror. The lives of hundreds of your brethren are at stake here. Do not fail to destroy the dam, at any cost.

May the gods bless your task,

-Baron Wraymore

(I realize very few of the original crew is still sailing with us. For those who have come aboard recently, here is the other letter the party has intercepted so far. https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/102651-assault-on-the-crimson-fleet?page=68#c1346)

 “Lemme look at that letter again.” Birdie requests.

”Seems their plan is to return here and then the deck mage would blow up the dam from this ship.” He scratches his chin.

”Wouldn’t it be best to set a trap for their return? Having the mage trapped here under water seems a lot safer than confronting them on the surface where he could go out with a blaze of glory.”

"We don't know how they plan to detinate." Robin says with a shake of her head. "Might be something the mage can just do, and we wouldn't have any way to stop it from happening on this end. We would need to get to the devices and disarm them there, though that too is dangerous as the mage could set them off while we are doing so. Everything just got a lot more complicated... Wish we had been quick enough to stop them here, before they set off to do the work."

Is this the correct timing of the details from the letter, or does it appear we forced them to move up their timetable?

Quote from DragonDenn >>

"We don't know how they plan to detinate." Robin says with a shake of her head. "Might be something the mage can just do, and we wouldn't have any way to stop it from happening on this end. We would need to get to the devices and disarm them there, though that too is dangerous as the mage could set them off while we are doing so. Everything just got a lot more complicated... Wish we had been quick enough to stop them here, before they set off to do the work."

Is this the correct timing of the details from the letter, or does it appear we forced them to move up their timetable?

 (This is a correct timetable. The demolition squad likely left before you arrived.)

“The timing of this is tough.” “Birdie” says. “We could go to the surface and sail to the dam and they could pass right underneath us on their way back here.”

”Or we could catch them in the act of setting the charges. I just don’t know.”

(The letter mentions three ships. I know you all captured/dismantled one of them just before “Birdie” joined the crew. Does that mean there are two ships chained to the bottom of the lake? The letter doesn’t mention multiple demolition squads/deck mages/escape pods)

”Birdie” reads the letter again and has an AHA moment.

”I think the deck mage must still be on board here. There’s no mention that the mage was to be sent on the away mission. They could have been ordered to stay onboard, not risking the journey. If I’m right, we should scour this ship and eliminate this mage before the demolition squad returns. That mage is probably itching to let loose whatever spell will start the fireworks, but wouldn’t dare do it until the squad returns and confirms their mission was successful.”

Quote from PlotArmored >>

“The timing of this is tough.” “Birdie” says. “We could go to the surface and sail to the dam and they could pass right underneath us on their way back here.”

”Or we could catch them in the act of setting the charges. I just don’t know.”

(The letter mentions three ships. I know you all captured/dismantled one of them just before “Birdie” joined the crew. Does that mean there are two ships chained to the bottom of the lake? The letter doesn’t mention multiple demolition squads/deck mages/escape pods)

”Birdie” reads the letter again and has an AHA moment.

”I think the deck mage must still be on board here. There’s no mention that the mage was to be sent on the away mission. They could have been ordered to stay onboard, not risking the journey. If I’m right, we should scour this ship and eliminate this mage before the demolition squad returns. That mage is probably itching to let loose whatever spell will start the fireworks, but wouldn’t dare do it until the squad returns and confirms their mission was successful.”

 (Two were captured/destroyed. This ship is the only surviving one.)

“Let’s search this ship right quickly mates-  mayhap the mage is here, or something else whot could be of help.  If nothin, then we kin go up top and go to see what they’re up to.  I reckon they could do a lot of damage with that stuff- from whot we saw afore..” Cassandra leads the way through the ship, searching room by room.  

Gianna follows looking for hidden doors and such.

Investigation 8

Quote from Wysperra >>

Gianna follows looking for hidden doors and such.

Investigation 6

 You do not find any secret doors, only the two unopened ones from before.

Quote from Tesservett >>

“Let’s search this ship right quickly mates-  mayhap the mage is here, or something else whot could be of help.  If nothin, then we kin go up top and go to see what they’re up to.  I reckon they could do a lot of damage with that stuff- from whot we saw afore..” Cassandra leads the way through the ship, searching room by room.  

 The first door you enter is directly across the hall from the escape pod room. Upon opening it, you find yourselves in a control room. Various buttons and levers line the walls, and a periscope hangs from the ceiling in the center of the room.

If no one is in the control room, then Robin moves to the only other unexplored door and checks to see if it is locked.

The door handle does not budge. A quick inspection reveals that the door is both locked and deadbolted. As you try the handle, you hear a scuffling noise come from behind the door.

Finding the door locked, Robin attempts to use her thieve's tools to open it.
Thieve's tool check is 23. Add 3 to that from guideance.

She would make sure to get the other's attention as she works, waving to indicate she heard something from inside the locked door.

With her knowledge of thieves' tools, Robin masterfully unlocks the door on her first try and slides back the deadbolt. The door is now unlocked, and the scuffling inside grows more frenzied.

“Birdie” fills both hands with firearms, auto pistol in his right hand and revolver in his left. He quickly glances at both guns to verify they are functional and loaded and takes a position to breach the room the moment the door is opened for him. He smirks a smile of invulnerability as he nods that he is ready to “light up” the other side of the hatch.

Ready to fire at the first threat encountered.

Cass charges in sword drawn” surrender or die ye scurvy crimson scum!” 

Gianna readies an attack against whatever bad guy closes with the group.

(I assume one of you will open the door)

As you push the door open, you find yourself in a small study. The room has a cot, a desk, and two disorderly bookshelves. In the middle of the room is a man wearing dark red robes with a mess of books and scrolls in one hand and frantically scrubbing the floor with the other. Upon hearing you, he leaps to the back of the room with a yelp, revealing some partially-erased runes on the floor. He mutters some incantation, but does not attack yet.

You may now choose to go through with your Ready and roll initiative if you would like to fight.

Robin moves directly to the runes, letting the others deal with the mage. She tries to figure out what they were for...

Arcana check is an 18 plus a guideance of 4

Initiative is 25