Sorith feels the tooth has picked up some of the magics from the fight, it seems like the magic is wild and unstable but has sparked a connection to the first dragon Io. While wearing it you feel a connection to all the other dragons.
[Sorith can place the tooth in her mouth and call on the power of Io to change her breath weapon damage type to that of another dragon born, selected by the player, for one turn. Afterwards it reverts to the normal damage type. Placing the tooth in her mouth takes an object interaction. Every time you do this roll a 1d20. A roll of 7 and below means that the tooth is destroyed by the breath weapon and cannot be used again. Please update the custom description in your character sheet with this.]
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Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
(OOC: @KW - as we made our way to the VIP room, was it just the tournament room that was shutting down for the night? That is, did it seem like the other gaming areas would be open all night long, or were all of the patrons leaving the casino for the night? Just trying to get a sense of whether we're holed up in the VIP room in a mostly-empty casino or whether the casino operates 24 hours a day. If we don't know, one of us could go ask the restaurant staff to confirm whether the casino will be open open all night long.)
Falkas walks into the VIP room and moves away from the door to sit against a wall in the back near Sorith, dropping his mop to the ground beside him he lets out a huge sigh. "Holy hells, I can't read much of anything, mostly common and a bit of elvish or orc by the way. I do think that if we can get into the tournament grounds in the middle of the night I can darken a single mirror in there or somewhere that could shield us from being spotted. Unless of course they keep all the lights on in there all night then that could be a problem."
Elovar says, "When I went to the gaming hall to get Vrakhazar, there were still boats just arriving with new patrons. I got the impression that the casino is open for business all night long. Of course, if they're pausing the tournament until tomorrow, it's possible that they'll use dimmer lighting in the tournament hall once they've finished cleaning up in there ."
Elovar sets down his small chest on the floor next to one of the tables and opens it. He looks at the History of the Ffolk longingly for a moment but then moves it aside so that he can take out one sheet of paper, his ink, and a pen.
He sits in a chair at the table, looks to Sinak, and says, "We need to find out what's in the papers you took. Maybe there's something in there about security plans or how to disable the wards that protect the statue? Or maybe they'd at least be interesting to our 'employer' and could help pay down our debt to them? But most importantly, are those files something that Well'ard would be likely to reference or notice is missing before morning?"
Elovar asks Sinak to find out whether Vrakhazar can read Infernal.
If she can, Elovar is eager to hear the translation and takes notes on any key information. He wants a second copy of any key information in case they lose the original files. In this case, the translation would go from Infernal to Gnomish and then Sinak would have to translate Gnomish to Common (or Elvish). "Hopefully, we don't lose the meaning in translation!"
If not, he asks for the stolen files, and if he can identify these items, he starts copying the label or heading of the folder and the first full paragraph from each page. "While Falkas rests, I can try to find someone who can read Infernal, but I don't want to walk around the casino with a bunch of stolen files." (OCC: Is that possible? Is Infernal written with an alphabet that is used by other languages? Or is more like trying to transcribe Chinese logograms with no knowledge of the language or its writing system?)
Once they learn more about the files, Elovar confirms that he's happy to attempt the heist either overnight or tomorrow. "I'd love to watch Sorith win the tournament, but if she doesn't mind skipping tomorrow's final round, it would probably be better to finish the job tonight. Let's not steal a golden cup from a dragon's hoard and then get caught camping on the his doorstep! Since we already have the keys -- thanks to Sinak's quick thinking! -- I'd like to get out of here before anyone notices."
Sinak nods as Elovar speaks, saying “I think we need to act tonight. We have an opportunity here.” He turns to Vrak and says in gnomish, “Can you read Infernal? Can you tell me what it says on these files?” He shows her the files from Well’ard’s office.
“We have the keys to the trophy case, but also I think this other group is to the vault. Do we want to try that? Pretty gutsy to try both, not sure that we would be able to do it without a fight. What does everyone think?”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
“We have the keys to the trophy case, but also I think this other group is to the vault. Do we want to try that? Pretty gutsy to try both, not sure that we would be able to do it without a fight. What does everyone think?”
Elovar recites:
"There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted -- all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures."
He smiles and says, "Well, it's part of an old tale about the struggle for an empire, but the point is to seize the opportunity when it presents itself. You took a risk, Sinak, and the gods favored you with the keys to the vault! Let us not offend them by tossing that gift aside. 'Fortune favors the bold.' I say: let's not get 'stuck in the shallows.' Let's be bold!"
"I can see in my own magical darkness if that would help us any, either in the vault, use it to block a mirror or two. Hells I could even drop it in the security room, though it only lasts about ten minutes in total. I can do it twice for a total of twenty minutes, tonight would be the night either way."Falkas runs a hand through his hair to get it out of his face, "the vault would be the harder of the two, we finish there, we make a break for the tournament unless it goes smoothly, smash the glass and have grandma contact our contact and portal us outta here. Something like that at least.."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
"I can see in my own magical darkness if that would help us any, either in the vault, use it to block a mirror or two. Hells I could even drop it in the security room, though it only lasts about ten minutes in total. I can do it twice for a total of twenty minutes, tonight would be the night either way."
Elovar suggests, "Pulling off the heist in darkness is useful if we want to walk out quietly before they even figure out who stole what. But if it turns into a smash-and-grab, we may want you to keep that darkness in reserve to help cover our escape."
"That's two votes for doing it tonight," Elovar says with a smile. "While you rest up and prepare, I can try to book us passage on one of the boats out of here and get someone to translate these files. With any luck, there's something in here that details the casino security, which could help us avoid traps or figure out the best way around Virgil."
Falkas runs a hand through his hair to get it out of his face, "the vault would be the harder of the two, we finish there, we make a break for the tournament unless it goes smoothly, smash the glass and have grandma contact our contact and portal us outta here. Something like that at least.."
Elovar nods, "Agreed...unless the tournament hall is currently unguarded--or only lightly guarded."
"In that case, I'd suggest that we take the statue first. If we can get the statue without raising an alarm, then we have what we came for. At that point, we could always just cut and run for the docks if the plan to take the vault 'goes south.' As long as we get out with the statue, we're good."
"Oh! And I thought that Vrakhazar said that we must get out of the casino before she can open a portal. Sinak, could you check that with her? Otherwise, we could just drag her into the vault, close the door, defeat Virgil, and portal out from there with all of the casino's coin!"
"The vault will definitely need to be fast: in-and-out, as quick as can be. The two big problems will be the room full of guards that blocks the only entrance to the vault, and the big Virgil skeleton inside of it." Elovar references the employee map that Sinak got, "There's only one way in or out of the vault, and if we get stuck there for too long, we'll be trapped. We do not want to get trampled by Virgil, of course, but we can't even afford to get bogged down in a long fight there."
"Sinak, did you say that your goddess can help you repel the undead? if so, that may be our best option for handling Virgil. Keep him at bay for a minute while we grab anything that we can fit in the bucket."
(OOC: not going to type this in Elovar's voice so that I can make it more compact for everyone to read.)
Elovar suggests two ideas for robbing the vault:
"Sneaky" - rob the vault without the guards noticing (at least, not right away first)
Sinak makes an approved trip to "clean" things in the vault.
Elovar casts invisibility on himself or one of the other party member so that they can go with Sinak, undetected.
Once Sinak is in the vault, he turns undead to repel the skeleton. (Let's hope that works!)
Then Sinak and the invisible party member stuff as much as they can in the Bucket of Holding before the turning wears off.
The vault's security mirror only seems to watch the door, but maybe they send Falkas so that he can cast darkness to obscure the vault's mirror, if needed.
Maybe leave the door open when finished so that Virgil eventually chases them out? Letting Virgil loose in the monitor room may be just the distraction that the party needs to get to the docks.
Divide-and-conquer - Use Sinak's idea from earlier to trap (at least some of) the guards from the monitor room in the cells.
Elovar may be able to help with a combination of Invisibility and a Minor Illusion. (For example, make it look like Sinak is lying in a cell, wounded.)
We'd need to steal the guards' key cards before we lock them in the cells. Otherwise, they could get out as soon as we leave.
Elovar could cast silence on the cells to keep everything quiet, but since they're both concentration spells, it's either silence or invisibility, not both.
Reducing the monitor room to just 1 or 2 guards may even the numbers enough for the party to win in a fight with the remaining guards.
Once the guards from the monitor room are all trapped or subdued, the party could hit the vault with less worry about guards arriving, at least until someone notices that all of the guards are missing from the monitor room.
Sinak nods and says “I like both plans, those are great options, Elovar. What do the rest of you think? Hey Vrak, can you read these files? Have a look at this … and tell us again about your teleportation out of here? Is there some sort of magical block against teleportation inside the casino? If we can make it to the dock, is that “out” enough to teleport out of here?”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Vrak replies in Undercommon "Dock are part of the casino you silly boy. You need to go through the caves and out onto the river proper. And these aren't in any language I know"
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Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
"I don't know about letting Virgil out, might be a command word someone knows to halt it so it could be too brief of a distraction to do too much, or they could sic it on us and fight alongside it. "Falkas shrugs, "I'm fairly light on my feet, so I can go with into the vault, having backup nearby would make me less uneasy though... Then again locking up some guards sounds quite fun as well, we could potentially combine the two plans together one way or the other. We get the coin out, something goes wrong we do a rush on a smash and grab and make for the nearest exit. I think we can do this, if Sinak possibly be cleaning the mirror room while we go into the vault perhaps?"
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Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
"Can we free the circus animals?" Sorith asks suddenly when things quiet down and the barbarian holds up the drake tooth she'd been preoccupied with looking at for the past few minutes. "That could be a distraction. And, apparently, this thing's awesome. It can change my breath to a different element, but if I bite down too hard on it, it'll break."
"I don't know about letting Virgil out, might be a command word someone knows to halt it so it could be too brief of a distraction to do too much, or they could sic it on us and fight alongside it. "
Elovar shrugs. "Good point. I guess I should finish copying some Infernal here so that I can see about finding someone who could translate this writing for us. Maybe there's information in these files about Virgil."
Falkas shrugs, "I'm fairly light on my feet, so I can go with into the vault, having backup nearby would make me less uneasy though... Then again locking up some guards sounds quite fun as well, we could potentially combine the two plans together one way or the other. We get the coin out, something goes wrong we do a rush on a smash and grab and make for the nearest exit. I think we can do this, if Sinak possibly be cleaning the mirror room while we go into the vault perhaps?"
Elovar agrees with having backup. "Yes, even if we had Sinak going into the vault with an invisible partner, I'd also feel better if the rest of the party is close enough to help when needed. That really makes me like the gambit to trap the guards in the cells."
Still addressing Falkas, Elovar adjusts that plan slightly: "The guards already think that you and Sinak are brothers, and you already made a bit of a scene in the tournament room. Maybe we all go in the Monitor room together. Sinak could say that he wants to put you in a cell to sober up, and Sinak recruited this nice dragonborn, Sorith, to help me carry you back to the cells for him. If they let us into the cells without a guard, I could cast a minor illusion, as I said, and then become invisible. That might make it easier for me to steal the guards' pass cards as they come to investigate the trouble in the holding cells. That way, we could lock them in before we have to deal with any guard who is still in the monitor room. If we pull that off, we should have at least a little bit of time to try the vault before someone notices that the no one is monitoring the security mirrors."
"But I'd still like to get the statue first, if possible. In case we get caught and have to make a run for the boats, it felt like a shorter distance to the docks from the employee area than it was from the tournament hall."
"Can we free the circus animals?" Sorith asks suddenly when things quiet down and the barbarian holds up the drake tooth she'd been preoccupied with looking at for the past few minutes. "That could be a distraction. And, apparently, this thing's awesome. It can change my breath to a different element, but if I bite down too hard on it, it'll break."
Elovar looks a little anxious about that: "Good idea. I just worry that...well, a more experienced bard once warned me, 'Never work with animals or children.' And besides that, we haven't done any recon on the circus, yet. If we want to get things in motion tonight, maybe someone could see whether we can get access to the circus animals and how to set them loose while I focus on finding someone to translate these files?"
“Hey guys. She can’t read it. And she says that getting to the docks isn’t good enough, still a part of the casino. We’ve got to get out onto the river.” Sinak relays her information to them.
“I like the idea of letting the circus animals loose. The guards could be chasing them down, half their numbers, hit the control room, then head for the vault, and then the trophy on the way out. Position Vrak near the docks, jump on a boat and then teleport out when we get clear. It is risky, but doable. Who wants to let the animals out?”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
“Hey guys. She can’t read it. And she says that getting to the docks isn’t good enough, still a part of the casino. We’ve got to get out onto the river.” Sinak relays her information to them.
With that information, Elovar finishes making a one page "sample" of the content that they'd like to translate. Then he holds up the page and says, "OK. Let me take this and see whether I can find someone who will translate Infernal for us without alerting security that we have these files. I'm going to leave the originals here and bring them back down to the restaurant, if that's OK."
Elovar also suggests getting towels: "Sinak, if you leave the room, you may want to check whether you can get a few towels or tablecloths or something like that. If we start any part of this heist before we've cleared the monitoring room, we may want a simple way to cover some of the security mirrors without Falkas having to cast darkness. That'll draw the guards, but when they arrive, we may be able to walk away before they figure out who's to blame."
"While I'm up in the casino, I'll check at the docks. If I can pre-book a spot on a boat, when should I say that we're leaving? It looks like the good cleric is settling in for a good, long sleep. Should we delay a few hours and kick things of a little before sunrise (in about 6 hours)? Or do you want to start sooner and plan to leave the casino in...what?...about 2 hours from now?"
Once he gets his answer, Elovar heads out of the room, up the stairs, and initially over to bar to get a drink. Carrying his drink, he'll stroll past the gaming tables around the slots (A3) and to the docks at A1. At the docks, he inquires how return passage works. Do the boats leave at scheduled times or just as soon as they fill up? Are they first come, first served, or can he book a return trip ahead of time?
When he's done at the docks, he'll cross over and wander around the games at A2, finally ending at the lounge. While he walks, he's looking for
Nightshade, the tiefling who was playing in the tournament earlier.
Any tiefling who is
just watching the games or hanging out at the bar or lounge, especially if they're looking bored
or not actively gaming, especially if they're alone and looking sad or looking somewhat drunk already
or playing the slots obsessively, especially if he's there right when they run out of coins / tokens.
Countess Trilinda or her husband, Douala
(OOC: @KW - not sure how much detail you want to put into role playing this part. Basically, Elovar doesn't want their translator to report him, so he wants to find someone who may have a bad attitude toward the casino (bored spouse, etc.) or someone who would be happy to earn some more coin / tokens by doing a bit of translation. Pulling someone away from an active game may be difficult, but it shouldn't be difficult to persuade someone to do some translation work so that they can get "back in the game." Barring that, maybe he can find the countess, and she'll know someone here who reads Infernal.)
"Letting the circus animals out while we steal the artifact would be a good idea, the mirror room might pay close attention to what's going on there." Falkas says, "I can also still play drunk to get the guards out of the way to the jail or I could drop that darkness into the mirror room itself as the animals get loose so no one can see us taking the artifact," He thinks for a moment, "All I need is a security card to get out from being back there to meet up with one of the other teams. That would give away that something more is going on though."
Sorith feels the tooth has picked up some of the magics from the fight, it seems like the magic is wild and unstable but has sparked a connection to the first dragon Io. While wearing it you feel a connection to all the other dragons.
[Sorith can place the tooth in her mouth and call on the power of Io to change her breath weapon damage type to that of another dragon born, selected by the player, for one turn. Afterwards it reverts to the normal damage type. Placing the tooth in her mouth takes an object interaction. Every time you do this roll a 1d20. A roll of 7 and below means that the tooth is destroyed by the breath weapon and cannot be used again. Please update the custom description in your character sheet with this.]
Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
((Thank you for letting me know and I apologize for being so quiet as of late, been going through a rough patch irl.))
(OOC: @KW - as we made our way to the VIP room, was it just the tournament room that was shutting down for the night? That is, did it seem like the other gaming areas would be open all night long, or were all of the patrons leaving the casino for the night? Just trying to get a sense of whether we're holed up in the VIP room in a mostly-empty casino or whether the casino operates 24 hours a day. If we don't know, one of us could go ask the restaurant staff to confirm whether the casino will be open open all night long.)
[The casino is running 24/7. Its only the tournament that is taking a break for those players. Some races prefer to come out at night anyway]
Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
What do you do next?
Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
Elovar says, "When I went to the gaming hall to get Vrakhazar, there were still boats just arriving with new patrons. I got the impression that the casino is open for business all night long. Of course, if they're pausing the tournament until tomorrow, it's possible that they'll use dimmer lighting in the tournament hall once they've finished cleaning up in there ."
Elovar sets down his small chest on the floor next to one of the tables and opens it. He looks at the History of the Ffolk longingly for a moment but then moves it aside so that he can take out one sheet of paper, his ink, and a pen.
He sits in a chair at the table, looks to Sinak, and says, "We need to find out what's in the papers you took. Maybe there's something in there about security plans or how to disable the wards that protect the statue? Or maybe they'd at least be interesting to our 'employer' and could help pay down our debt to them? But most importantly, are those files something that Well'ard would be likely to reference or notice is missing before morning?"
Elovar asks Sinak to find out whether Vrakhazar can read Infernal.
In this case, the translation would go from Infernal to Gnomish and then Sinak would have to translate Gnomish to Common (or Elvish). "Hopefully, we don't lose the meaning in translation!"
"While Falkas rests, I can try to find someone who can read Infernal, but I don't want to walk around the casino with a bunch of stolen files."
(OCC: Is that possible? Is Infernal written with an alphabet that is used by other languages? Or is more like trying to transcribe Chinese logograms with no knowledge of the language or its writing system?)
Once they learn more about the files, Elovar confirms that he's happy to attempt the heist either overnight or tomorrow. "I'd love to watch Sorith win the tournament, but if she doesn't mind skipping tomorrow's final round, it would probably be better to finish the job tonight. Let's not steal a golden cup from a dragon's hoard and then get caught camping on the his doorstep! Since we already have the keys -- thanks to Sinak's quick thinking! -- I'd like to get out of here before anyone notices."
Sinak nods as Elovar speaks, saying “I think we need to act tonight. We have an opportunity here.” He turns to Vrak and says in gnomish, “Can you read Infernal? Can you tell me what it says on these files?” He shows her the files from Well’ard’s office.
“We have the keys to the trophy case, but also I think this other group is to the vault. Do we want to try that? Pretty gutsy to try both, not sure that we would be able to do it without a fight. What does everyone think?”
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Elovar recites:
"There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Omitted -- all the voyage of their life
is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat.
And we must take the current when it serves,
or lose our ventures."
He smiles and says, "Well, it's part of an old tale about the struggle for an empire, but the point is to seize the opportunity when it presents itself. You took a risk, Sinak, and the gods favored you with the keys to the vault! Let us not offend them by tossing that gift aside. 'Fortune favors the bold.' I say: let's not get 'stuck in the shallows.' Let's be bold!"
"I can see in my own magical darkness if that would help us any, either in the vault, use it to block a mirror or two. Hells I could even drop it in the security room, though it only lasts about ten minutes in total. I can do it twice for a total of twenty minutes, tonight would be the night either way." Falkas runs a hand through his hair to get it out of his face, "the vault would be the harder of the two, we finish there, we make a break for the tournament unless it goes smoothly, smash the glass and have grandma contact our contact and portal us outta here. Something like that at least.."
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
Elovar suggests, "Pulling off the heist in darkness is useful if we want to walk out quietly before they even figure out who stole what. But if it turns into a smash-and-grab, we may want you to keep that darkness in reserve to help cover our escape."
"That's two votes for doing it tonight," Elovar says with a smile. "While you rest up and prepare, I can try to book us passage on one of the boats out of here and get someone to translate these files. With any luck, there's something in here that details the casino security, which could help us avoid traps or figure out the best way around Virgil."
Elovar nods, "Agreed...unless the tournament hall is currently unguarded--or only lightly guarded."
"In that case, I'd suggest that we take the statue first. If we can get the statue without raising an alarm, then we have what we came for. At that point, we could always just cut and run for the docks if the plan to take the vault 'goes south.' As long as we get out with the statue, we're good."
"Oh! And I thought that Vrakhazar said that we must get out of the casino before she can open a portal. Sinak, could you check that with her? Otherwise, we could just drag her into the vault, close the door, defeat Virgil, and portal out from there with all of the casino's coin!"
"The vault will definitely need to be fast: in-and-out, as quick as can be. The two big problems will be the room full of guards that blocks the only entrance to the vault, and the big Virgil skeleton inside of it." Elovar references the employee map that Sinak got, "There's only one way in or out of the vault, and if we get stuck there for too long, we'll be trapped. We do not want to get trampled by Virgil, of course, but we can't even afford to get bogged down in a long fight there."
"Sinak, did you say that your goddess can help you repel the undead? if so, that may be our best option for handling Virgil. Keep him at bay for a minute while we grab anything that we can fit in the bucket."
(OOC: not going to type this in Elovar's voice so that I can make it more compact for everyone to read.)
Elovar suggests two ideas for robbing the vault:
Sinak nods and says “I like both plans, those are great options, Elovar. What do the rest of you think? Hey Vrak, can you read these files? Have a look at this … and tell us again about your teleportation out of here? Is there some sort of magical block against teleportation inside the casino? If we can make it to the dock, is that “out” enough to teleport out of here?”
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Vrak replies in Undercommon "Dock are part of the casino you silly boy. You need to go through the caves and out onto the river proper. And these aren't in any language I know"
Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
"I don't know about letting Virgil out, might be a command word someone knows to halt it so it could be too brief of a distraction to do too much, or they could sic it on us and fight alongside it. " Falkas shrugs, "I'm fairly light on my feet, so I can go with into the vault, having backup nearby would make me less uneasy though... Then again locking up some guards sounds quite fun as well, we could potentially combine the two plans together one way or the other. We get the coin out, something goes wrong we do a rush on a smash and grab and make for the nearest exit. I think we can do this, if Sinak possibly be cleaning the mirror room while we go into the vault perhaps?"
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
"Can we free the circus animals?" Sorith asks suddenly when things quiet down and the barbarian holds up the drake tooth she'd been preoccupied with looking at for the past few minutes. "That could be a distraction. And, apparently, this thing's awesome. It can change my breath to a different element, but if I bite down too hard on it, it'll break."
Elovar shrugs. "Good point. I guess I should finish copying some Infernal here so that I can see about finding someone who could translate this writing for us. Maybe there's information in these files about Virgil."
Elovar agrees with having backup. "Yes, even if we had Sinak going into the vault with an invisible partner, I'd also feel better if the rest of the party is close enough to help when needed. That really makes me like the gambit to trap the guards in the cells."
Still addressing Falkas, Elovar adjusts that plan slightly: "The guards already think that you and Sinak are brothers, and you already made a bit of a scene in the tournament room. Maybe we all go in the Monitor room together. Sinak could say that he wants to put you in a cell to sober up, and Sinak recruited this nice dragonborn, Sorith, to help me carry you back to the cells for him. If they let us into the cells without a guard, I could cast a minor illusion, as I said, and then become invisible. That might make it easier for me to steal the guards' pass cards as they come to investigate the trouble in the holding cells. That way, we could lock them in before we have to deal with any guard who is still in the monitor room. If we pull that off, we should have at least a little bit of time to try the vault before someone notices that the no one is monitoring the security mirrors."
"But I'd still like to get the statue first, if possible. In case we get caught and have to make a run for the boats, it felt like a shorter distance to the docks from the employee area than it was from the tournament hall."
Elovar looks a little anxious about that: "Good idea. I just worry that...well, a more experienced bard once warned me, 'Never work with animals or children.' And besides that, we haven't done any recon on the circus, yet. If we want to get things in motion tonight, maybe someone could see whether we can get access to the circus animals and how to set them loose while I focus on finding someone to translate these files?"
“Hey guys. She can’t read it. And she says that getting to the docks isn’t good enough, still a part of the casino. We’ve got to get out onto the river.” Sinak relays her information to them.
“I like the idea of letting the circus animals loose. The guards could be chasing them down, half their numbers, hit the control room, then head for the vault, and then the trophy on the way out. Position Vrak near the docks, jump on a boat and then teleport out when we get clear. It is risky, but doable. Who wants to let the animals out?”
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Vrak not understanding any if this, sits down for a long rest.
(Wake her up if need be. Otherwise she is refreshing her spells)
Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
With that information, Elovar finishes making a one page "sample" of the content that they'd like to translate. Then he holds up the page and says, "OK. Let me take this and see whether I can find someone who will translate Infernal for us without alerting security that we have these files. I'm going to leave the originals here and bring them back down to the restaurant, if that's OK."
Elovar also suggests getting towels: "Sinak, if you leave the room, you may want to check whether you can get a few towels or tablecloths or something like that. If we start any part of this heist before we've cleared the monitoring room, we may want a simple way to cover some of the security mirrors without Falkas having to cast darkness. That'll draw the guards, but when they arrive, we may be able to walk away before they figure out who's to blame."
"While I'm up in the casino, I'll check at the docks. If I can pre-book a spot on a boat, when should I say that we're leaving? It looks like the good cleric is settling in for a good, long sleep. Should we delay a few hours and kick things of a little before sunrise (in about 6 hours)? Or do you want to start sooner and plan to leave the casino in...what?...about 2 hours from now?"
Once he gets his answer, Elovar heads out of the room, up the stairs, and initially over to bar to get a drink. Carrying his drink, he'll stroll past the gaming tables around the slots (A3) and to the docks at A1. At the docks, he inquires how return passage works. Do the boats leave at scheduled times or just as soon as they fill up? Are they first come, first served, or can he book a return trip ahead of time?
When he's done at the docks, he'll cross over and wander around the games at A2, finally ending at the lounge. While he walks, he's looking for
(OOC: @KW - not sure how much detail you want to put into role playing this part. Basically, Elovar doesn't want their translator to report him, so he wants to find someone who may have a bad attitude toward the casino (bored spouse, etc.) or someone who would be happy to earn some more coin / tokens by doing a bit of translation. Pulling someone away from an active game may be difficult, but it shouldn't be difficult to persuade someone to do some translation work so that they can get "back in the game." Barring that, maybe he can find the countess, and she'll know someone here who reads Infernal.)
"Letting the circus animals out while we steal the artifact would be a good idea, the mirror room might pay close attention to what's going on there." Falkas says, "I can also still play drunk to get the guards out of the way to the jail or I could drop that darkness into the mirror room itself as the animals get loose so no one can see us taking the artifact," He thinks for a moment, "All I need is a security card to get out from being back there to meet up with one of the other teams. That would give away that something more is going on though."
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire