"That... wouldn't be entirely a bad idea. If any of that pirate crew survives this whole mess, they'll... probably, maybe still try tat mutiny almost as soon as he makes it clear their pirate days are done. Though some might stick it out, if, uh, the plan for the future is to getting into "privateering"." Hun offhandedly comments. But almost just as soon as Krodhen looks on in disapproval, the kobold nervously chuckles and says, "But, uh, that's a whole different, uhm.... a-anyhow! Back to planning."

"'cause like, as far as that goes, a formal challenge might at least distract him and whichever pirates he has inside long enough for some of us to sneak in using that as cover. But, mmmn.... eh, this is a whole lotta speculating we're doing, so I second Mr. Yully on checking things out first and NOT wrecking the ship... at least not yet." He turns to Rhogal. "You can do the whole turn into small critters, yea? So you can make like a spider, Young Blue here can turn you invisible as a bit of extra security, you climb up and over the wall and check everything out, then report back. And if you wind up in a serious pinch, get to any prisoners and use the conch if you can near them. That way you guys at least aughta be protected for a good while."

Hun turns to the others. "Meanwhile, we stash the loot nice and good on the off chance some roving pirate might run into it. Maybe even see if we can cobble together a, uh... Pepper bomb or bombs or something. And uh... hmm...." He side-eyes Kairus. "How do you feel about wedding gowns and veils?"  

As the plans get wilder and wilder, and the number of prongs in the multi-pronged approach multiply quickly (all very fun, though, please keep going) Krodhen shares some more details: "Some among his crew are better fighters than others. If we were to goad him into a proper team duel, he would surely pick his beast men to stand beside him." Turning to Kairus: "If you want to pinch one of his nerves, so to speak, make sure you pretend you never heard of him. He bathes on the fearsome reputation he has built over the years, so it should be an easy way to irritate him."

Kwilgok pipes in when Hun mentions stashing the treasure trove: "DT and I can take care of that." Then, when Yulmiath suggests opening the gate for the dino as part of the plan, the tortle guide winces: "I am a guide and DT is a beast of burden... We are not cutout to overthrow pirate lords." Finally, when Rhogal mentions sinking the ship, Kwilgok asks a follow-up question of the entire group: "Wouldn't you want a functioning ship so you can leave the island you have been stranded in?" 

Then, all eyes turn to the party's kobold as the plan reaches a new pinnacle. Kwilgok asks the question that is in everyone's mind: "Wedding gowns and veils?"

Yulmiath sets out a few follow up questions,

Krodhen: "So what is your father's name?"

History - 21 - Has Yulmiath heard of him? What sort of reputation does he have?

Kwilgok: "We know that DT is not a war-beast, but the pirates don't. Seeing some armed tortles and DT here might give them pause? Although I think we'd want you at the entrance to take care of any tortles who spill out of Ahoyhoy. And yes, I think we should try and keep the ship intact if at all possible. Turning it's weapons against the pirates might be possible and at this point, if Krodhen's arse dad is holding any tortles on there, we need to free them before we go sinking anything."

Rhogal and Kairus and Hun: "So at this point the plan is sneak into the village and report back, yes? We need a signal for if things go wrong.  I could swim out to the ship undrwater and try to get a little more information if I can, keep close to the water-line see if any of the pirates there are talking? If the signal goes off I can climb into Ahoyhoy and start causing a ruckus?"

Kairus looked at Hun with confusion. "You all right, Grandpa? Too much sun, maybe? What, by the earth and sea are you talking about? What dress?" He waved the nonsense away and summed up everything said so far. "So, first - we do not want to involve the turtles - so, DT and Kwilgok stay and watch over the treasure. Should we perish, at least the remaining turtles will have something to start over with." He extended first finger.
"Second, we want to scout the area. If Rhogal can do his trick and turn into a small spider - good. But I will not waste the invisibility to cover it on top of such disguise. Feels redundant and wasteful. Might be better to save it for turtles or even Mrs. Thinn as a surprise weapon." Another finger was extended.
"Third, we keep the ship. Right? Meaning, no burning or scuttling. And we will need the crew to manage it. Sounds to me like goading the "father" is the best way here. Dangerous, but no more than any other movement and safer if pirates have hostages already. I can not explain the inactivity of the hunters otherwise. And if some bad apples will break their word and jump into the fight too - we could deal with them as well."

Kairus looked at his hand with three extended fingers. "Did I miss anything?"

"I mean..." Hun started to answer Kwil's first question; but, once the second one hits, he starts to answer that, only to waffle on answering and wind up interrupted by another. Instead of being annoyed or furious however, the oldbold took it in stride finding more interest in the various points from the others.

"Well in regards to your point, Young Blue, there's almost no such thing as redundant defenses! For if there's one thing I've learned over my many years is that you never, ever, EVER underestimate just how much of a jackass folk can be to random critters. Or worse yet, some island lizard stumbling on poor Rhogal and chomping him good in a compromising spot!" Hun insist.

"Secondly, they arrived hours ago judging by the time we saw the fire and smoke. And if what Kromakah here said about his Pa is true, not that I doubted it, odds are any hunters that were of the rowdy kind are likely already dead, or were fortunately out and about on the island still. But if any did survive, you're head is in the right place on the why. Yet even so, I wouldn't necessary count on them." He continued.

"Thirdly, and this is circling back to you be nitpicky about the invisiblity thing--" He halfheartedly shoots Kairus a glare, "You can use it on Mr. Yully for his scout mission... Or on yerself, if you're incline to take his place on that. Up to you two to sort that out tho'" He says, waving his hands about in a dismissive gesture. "But regardless, and at the risk of increasing the odds a little bit on somethin' going wrong, it couldn't hurt to have 2 scouting parties out to tackle the different task. 'cause again, short of learning his dear old son is on the island, the pirates ain't likely to stick around for more than a day or two more. A week if they really fancy the place. But we shouldn't count on it. So, the more we can learn quickly, the faster we can resovle this before things get too out of hand. Understood?" He gives everyone a quick once over, but hardly let anyone mull over his words before briskly moving on to another point.

"Now, we recently came into some alchemist fire. For those not in the know, this crap doesn't die out easily. So, if whoever is on the ship absolutely needs to cause some damage and keep whatever crew there at least distracted fer a bit, I can give you one of those. Now, as far as signal goes, I can tinker with a couple of crossbow bolts so that the emit a certain light. You'd just need to fire up in the air. The light isn't the greatest, but the off-color should stand out against the sky and grab plenty of notice so long as we're keeping an eye out for it. And I can rig up four of these, or trick out one or two with other, uh... saucier augmentation." Hun said before finally taking a breath to really breath. At that point Mrs. Thinn trundled up to start massaging his shoulders and calm down the somewhat worked up Kobold; who unless has the subject of the veil brought up again, probably won't of his own accord at this point.

"...And the brave heroes hid in the bushes while one of them turned into a spider and went scouting..." Kairus grimaced. "Somehow it does not sound that brave. Or heroic. Oh, well. Guess we are reluctant heroes. Happens, but I do not see myself making that kind of song. Anyway, the plan, for now, is just scout and wait, without any thought about afterscouting? Sure, I'll make Yulmiath invisible. At least in this case if anything drops on him, he will remain invisible nevertheless." He nodded to the Dragonborn. "Whenever you are ready. You will have one hour."

As soon as Yulmiath was ready to scout, Kairus will cast invisibility on him.

Hun scoffed. "Oh hush now with all that disappointment, Young Blue. There'll be plenty of time to exercise bravery for later o' don't you doubt." The Kobold added with a smirk to his voice and Mrs. Thinn nodded curtly in agreement. "What's important right now is patience, and to take things step by step. Once we have actual intel to act upon, then the real planning can be begin! Even... if it is just us falling back on the whole leader challenge, which can still serve to weaken their stronger members before his inevitable betrayal. Which on the subject of which, you, Krimshaw, Mrs. Thinn, and Mr. Yully will have a starring role in, if we wind up going that route... and honestly, I'm kinda hoping we do in the end."

"He goes by 'The Renegade Captain'," Krodhen answered, "but his real name is Ozor." 

Although Yulmiath feels like this should ring a bell of some kind, all he can think of at the moment are generic horror stories of an evil pirate known as the Renegade Captain. Yulmiath always thought he was just part of a tale to scare wimpy folk from taking to the seas.

Next to speak up is Kwilgok, who looks at Yulmiath and Kairus and seems a bit lost: "I am getting mixed messages here. Am I supposed to guard the treasure, scare the pirates astride DT, or ferry the other tortles away?"

With Kwilgok's questions hanging in the air for now, the Snackers strive to refine their plan and seem to narrow it down to an initial scouting mission. Each mispronounced version of Krodhen's name by Hun earns a strange look and a raised eyebrow, but the half-orc seems worried otherwise. "Is the parallel scouting mission with Rhogal's spider still a go?"

(OOC: Before going forward with this, let me get confirmation that @MB/@Yulmiath is ready to scout ahead by swimming underwater while invisible. I would also like to confirm whether @Drache/@Rhogal is scouting as a spider. Finally, I would like to get a clear directive for Kwilgok, even if just for this first part of the plan. It can certainly change later.)

Yumiath sighs, "I guess in reality Kwilgok, herding any other tortles to safety has to take priority, right? Keeping an eye on the treasure a close second."

Wanting to check he understands his part in the upcoming plan, Yulmiath lays out what his understanding currently is.

"So I'll sneakily swim up to the ship, listen into any loose lipped sailors, then skeddaddle myself back here to report in before we prepare and launch our main action, keeping an eye on the sky in case something goes wrong, which I'll know about because a light will appear in the sky. At which point, I start a fire on the ship, then skeddaddle myself into the town to meet up with the rest of the group and open the gates to get the rest of us involved and from there we kind of play it by ear, right?"

"Aye, I ken spider my way in and check out what these water wankers are up to and where the rest o' the villagers be."

Kwilgok nods along with Yulmiath's directive: "Alright, I'll ferry them to safety once the gate opens. Before that, I still need some time to stash the goods in the foliage. Maybe I can do that while y'all are being sneaky and all spy-like."

Yulmiath and Rhogal then both accept their intel gathering mission, but not before confirming with the rest of the team the exact steps they are supposed to follow, according to the group's plan. Kwilgok reminds the group: "We are still some 15-minutes away from the south gate, so the others will need to find a spot to wait for you." Krodhen has a suggestion: "We could all go stash the treasure in the rainforest somewhere and wait there for their return from the scouting mission. Ideally, it would be a place from which we could watch the south gate and see/hear if anything goes wrong."

@MB & @Drache: When ready, please go ahead and roll stealth and perception checks. Yulmiath can do so with advantage assuming Kairus casts invisibility on him as mentioned above. Rhogal should use the stat block for whichever spider he picks. A few options are Spider, Giant Wolf Spider, and Fiendish Giant Spider, the last two being medium creatures. If going with the fiendish option, I'd like to hear a nicely-flavored backstory on how Rhogal has seen one of them before, as they are supposedly rare inhabitants of the Underdark.)  

"Alright.  Let's step softly and come back safe, then we can see about what we can do for Ahoyhoy. Best of luck to those who are remaining as well.  Sitting on your hands won't be easy, but it will mean that we can really put the hurt on this Ozzie when we want to."

(OOC Assuming that Kairus will cast the spell, but just in case he chooses not to I'll only roll one stealth check 12.  Yully's bonus is +5 should anyone want to roll his advantage roll for him. Also I'm assuming that Yully now is the proud owner of some alchemist's fire? But I don't think we ever bottomed that out, so if not, he won't try to set the ship on fire. Also, here's that perception check - 12.)

((I'll repeat again: "As soon as Yulmiath was ready to scout, Kairus will cast invisibility on him."))

(@MB: He is indeed. In fact, Hun will give him two for good measure.)

"Of course, master dragonborn. We will be sure that our hands are nice and toasty for when we slap that Orc arshole 'round later." Hun replied half-jokingly as he handed over not one but two alchemist's fire to Yulmiath for the road. "But all jokes aside, Young Green and Kremlin has the right of it. And remember the flares in a... Oh shoot! Right! Uh, bolts. Hand'em over. And Rhogal if you don't have a crossbow, take one of the extras with for the flare." As soon as Hun had the bolts, he and Mrs. Thinn hustles into the nearby brush, collecting a few things, prior to then returning with the modified bolts. Which at first look as if the only modification were vines coiled part way up the shaft, making the one end more heavy headed. But after dipping them into his satchel they come out brightly glowing either red or green. "Just make sure to wrap'em up  till yer ready." 

-Using Magical Tinkering to make 4 bolts gain 10ft bright light and 10ft dim light

Yully's second stealth roll: 7

Rhogal goes with the small spider option this time around. Not need to stir the pot of chaos when in the thick of it. Yet.

Spider-Rho stealth: 8

Spidey senses: 23

The group puts the the final touches on the first phase of their plan. Rhogal and Yulmiath are to perform a two-pronged intel-gathering mission. The dwarf id furnished with light-emitting crossbow bolts, while the dragonborn receives a dousing of invisibility and a supply of [item]alchemist's fire (flask);alchemist's fire.[/spell]. The handing off of supplies/enchantments only takes place before the entire group approaches the gate from within the jungle (as opposed to from the path). The Snackers are far enough away to not be spotted by any guards at the gate but still keep an eye on the gate. Kwilgok and DT are off somewhere stashing the loot.

@Rhogal: You transform and make the final approach to the gate. You find it closed but unguarded. you climb the wall and descend on the other side, spotting several dying but still smoking fires, more than a few motionless and prone tortles with signs of severe wounds, plenty of property damage, and about half-a-dozen pirates of varied races walking about, laughing, and collecting the last bit of pillage-able supplies Ahoyhoy has to offer. Unfortunately for you, you notice with a delay that your spider coat/color contrast with the washed-brown/beige look of the internal side of the town walls. This is enough to enable at least one of the pirates to spot you from a distance. You her him say in Common: "Ughh... nasty jungle creatures. Let me squish it before it finds its way into one of the rowboats."

@Yulmiath: Now invisible, you don your cloak and enter the ocean. You swim underwater toward the ship, knowing that this puts you quite far away from both your party and the town proper. You also know that your silhouette might be quite visible, given the apparent vacuum your body creates in the sea. Not only that, it moves too! As far as you can tell, though, no alarms are raised as you approach the ship. You put the vessel in between you and Ahoyhoy so those in the city cannot spot you surfacing, just an an extra measure. You look up and see the odd climbing angle you's have to climb if you were to scale the side of the ship. You here pirates talking from above, Some are taking stock of their loot, other are busy celebrating, others are getting their ship ready. Among their prized spoils, you hear mentions to "Eggs that will sell for a fortune!" 

Treading water as quietly as he can underneath the ship trying to hear a little bit more about these eggs.

After a few minutes, Yulmiath decided to press his magical advantage and see if he can't get an idea of how many pirates are on the ship. Slowly paddling himself to the ships anchor, he climbs hand over hand until he can see the deck.

Athletics - 23

Stealth - 22

Rhogal attempts to scuttle out of sight cause he knows this spider form is not exactly the sturdiest.

Stealth: 18

As everything else is going on, Hun stares up at a tree from wherever it was the remaining members of the group relocated, rubbing his little chin in thought. A motion Mrs. Thin tried to mirror, but as she lacked even a chain, the construct settled fur pretend to rub the 'chin' of the flower currently still sticking out the top half of her head. "Hm... Probably get a decent view up there in case of a signal... But, what if one of those springy snakes is sleeping up there." He idly comments as time passes by...