'Naut, who has been shoveling eggs into a slot on their chest, suddenly stops. They reach a foot out and nudge Merigar under the table, cold metal digging into his shin. They lower a fork below the table, and looping cursive text carves itself into the handle. 

FOUR IN CORNER. LOOKING AT YOU. TROUBLE.

(Magical tinkering)

Merigar slowly turns his head in confusion to the corner Naut's message referenced. He doesn't know much about what he is talking about only that there seems to be trouble.

Thanks to 'Naut's keen eyes... or whatever they perceive the world with... Merigar see the rough-looking gang in the corner looking at him. They immediately get up and walk out a back door when they realize that they have been spotted, whispering to each other in a somewhat unsettling manner. Spoiler for Merigar:

Once the unsavory looking group leaves through the backdoor Merigar turns back around with a worried look on his face, like he just had the daylight's scared out of him. He seems to have lost his appetite and stops devouring the large breakfast. His whole demeanor had drastically changed from the second ago where he was talking with the rest of the party and eating. He takes out the same marble he had earlier except this time he isn't twiddling it, he holds it firmly in his hand.

"That gang in them there corner has to be up to something. If you didn't see them their were 2 large looking humans, a Tiefling, and the rock gnome. The rock gnome and i have history, he is Black Eye Jack, and he was a  deck wizard just like me. He was on one of my old benefactor's ships and the fact that I'm seeing were seeing him now probably means that they saw us going on to the Tide Runner, and he wouldn't be to privy to us working with the admiral."

'Naut says nothing, just flexes their fingers. There is a quiet hum, and those nearby the armored hulk feel a slight ache in their inner ear as the air pressure around them increases.

"Wha's tha call then? Ye wanna follow them an take 'em out?"

Aerleo cracks his webbed fingers, “It has been too long since Aerleo has felt the blood of another on Aerleo’s hands. The tribe shall fight now, no?”

At first it didn’t see anything special. They were a strange group and even amongst them ‘Naut was strange. Eyes were sure to be drawn, but it soon became clear that those four were different. They didn’t just look, they watched and with special attention towards Merigar. The hydrozoan was the first to warn the dwarf and he, in turn, shared the information with everyone one else all the while bringing an addend of his own.

“While I do appreciate Arleo’s enthusiasm it may be in our best interest to just let them be.” Emrys started lowering his voice, so no one outside the table should be able to hear. “I mean, it is part of our plan to have word get out to a certain troublemaker to follow our track and get blood in hands while being under attack.” The problem is if the quartet was part of a different crew. “Merigar, do you think he is connected to our target?”

The wizard had spoke about having experience in less savory business at the sea, which meant piracy. If the gnome was, at the same time, bad news and likely to be up to no good then he was a privateer. Someone that could leak the information they needed to be leaked.  

"If they saw us entering the ship, they know we're working with the Admiral. If the Captain learns that, all bets are off. It is in our best interests to prevent them from reporting back to him. The simplest and most efficient method of doing so is to end their lives."

Gridolpho grabs 'Naut by the faceplate and holds up a piece of chalk that appears as if out of nowhere.

"Wait one minute and then follow. Look for the nines."

With that, he raises his hood and follows the group out the back door and into his streets.

Gridolpho, go ahead and roll a Stealth check for me.

As Gridolpho comes face to faceplate with 'Naut, he can see a little bit through the tinted faceplate. Something diaphanous and pelagic states back. A shape simultaneously amorphous and intricate, radial cirri undulating in the unseen current within the suit. For a moment it returns Gridolpho's gaze with a placid, eyeless stare, only the faint glow of bioluminescence and his own reflected face shining back at him. Then the thief disappears, and 'Naut looks over at the others quizzically. They shrug, and look back at the departing Gridolpho.

Gridolpho slips out of the inn silently, deftly moving from shadow to shadow. The gang of brutes look back a few times, but see nothing. As you tail them, they begin speaking freely as they seem to be under the impression that they are alone.

"Well, looks like our boy Merigar is movin' up in the world," Black Eye Jack laughs. "I thought I saw 'im yesterday, but I weren't quite sure 'till I saw 'im just now. Mighty intrestin' comp'ny he's keep'n now..."

"Are you really sure this time?" the tiefling asks evenly. "The last time you got a feeling like this, we spent a week hunting down a crab fisher whom you somehow mistook for a foreign princess and then made her walk the plank only to find out she was a sea elf."

"It ain't like that time at all!" the pirate wizard snaps. "And the next time I hear you bring that incident up, I'll have ye' keelhauled! This time, I can feel it in my bones! That bugger is onto somethin' big, an' we're gonna get our cut, one way er another."

Gridolpho starts to look for opportunities to slow them down so his companions can catch up. 

Sayyida is on her feet but she is pausing before pursuing, " While its true they saw us meet with the Admiral we will likely be able to claim we were hired on as extra security to protect the shipment of firearms.  We just have to appear feckless enough that they believe our desire to switch employers...that shouldn't be difficult for a number of us."

Her eyes lingered on Merigar for some time.

" But I'll take majority rule. Kill them or let them do our work for us?"

"I say let em work for us. I could probably convince Black Eye that I've switched employers, after all he new that i only followed where the money was."

Gridolpho, how are you going to try and distract these guys? Depending on what you want to do, I'm probably going to need a Deception check, a Slight of Hand check, or an Acrobatics check.

Sleight of Hand: 11

(Okay... so, what do you do? Are you attempting to pickpocket them or what? In any case, whatever you were trying to do failed, but I haven't decided how yet...)