Dahme'dre blesses this match keeping her intent hidden (Deception: 19, -2 if it must be Stealth.)

You manage to deftly hide your intentions as you walk onboard the ship. She is indeed hexed!

As both players take their seats, the game can begin.

The game will have 3 rounds, with both sides using a round to make a skill contest. The one that comes out higher out of the three is the winner. Only one skill may be used each time! Thuluku offers Wick the first move.

In front of Wick is an intricate board of fine wood, with neatly carved pieces arranged into a pattern. They seem to be made of some sort of sea stone.

Wick racks his brain, trying to think back to those never-ending afternoons playing chess with his angry old uncle. Was it hot on this ship? A bit of sweat begins to form on his brow as he thinks, "This is such a stupid idea."

He then pushes a thought to his friends. "Hey! If someone is listening, tell old scaly-butt to clap me on the shoulder and pass along that Splendorous whatever spell again!"

Wick never once beat his uncle at dragonchess. The surly old bastard was who-knows-how-many centuries old; there wasn't a trick in the world that could get by him. That hadn't stopped Wick from trying, though. He set up the Morra gambit, hoping that Thuluku would be as direct in opening moves as she is in opening doors. 

Deception: 12 (If advantage from Eagle's Splendor applies: 13)

(subtract 2 from both of those rolls! My modifier is only +5 for deception)

(I would argue that any roll of Thuluku's to counter a feint or gambit on Wick's part would require an investigation (Int) check, btw)

Thuluku looks over the ensuing move, History: 8, yet is unaware of the move and falls for your gambit. You manage to take a key piece from her, excellent. She squints at you in frustration.

Dahme'dre sends one of the crew to fetch her a drink and she insures its chilled with a touch as she gives Alijurn a meaningful glance, regardless of whether or not she can hear Wick's thoughts.

Wick is shocked. He made two solid mistakes in setting up that gambit, but she still took the bait. Feeling bolder, he sets out his Griffon and his Warrior into forward positions, all while leaving his most vulnerable pieces behind a cluster of clerics and mages. A daunting field, but there is a single opening that he leaves intentionally wide open, if she spots it (with a careful trap should she follow it).

Intimidation (most likely): 18 (advantage, if possible: 9)

Persuasion (if you'll let me use that instead): 7 (advantage, if possible: 17)

(Edit: haha, let's call it intimidation)

Given that the 18 was rolled first, I’ll allow it. As Thuluku is on her ship, the crew will Help her this round only. She will carefully examine the field, Investigation: 15. However, she cannot avoid the trap, even with her crews assistance. The only hope for her now lies in a crit next round, or a crit fail on your end, as both count for 2 successes or failures, respectively.)

Fighting down his grin (his uncle had once come back from a worse position, ultimately humiliating him), Wick reveals his final plan. He has been slowly, stealthily moving his Paladin into an end-game position. It comes down to this: if she fails to notice that piece, the game is his.

Stealth: 19

Thuluku will try her own stealth move as she attempts to enact a counterblow, 7. In the end however, her plan comes to a stalemate between you two. As she’s distracted, you move your final piece. Checkmate.

She just stares daggers at the tiny piece, as if it’s to blame.

Dahme'dre cheers and carries her drink down to the table where, rather than congratulating Ellywick she moves to talk with the captain. "This is a beautiful ship, you'll have to show Ashe and me around." She smiles to Ashe who is surely immediately opposite her already. She wraps her arm around Thuluku's, and starts going on about the ship, the hair, the hat, everything. Her generosity has earned her useful friendships today.

 "How quickly will we be able to depart? I do hope the port authorities aren't giving you too much trouble. We'll be able to help with that if it's needed. Of course it's always easier to avoid confrontation." She glances back. "What is up with Mr. Duck? Have you two been friends long? I can't help but thing he needs to find a stable girl. You seem pretty stable. Pretty and stable..." Pick-a-little talk-a-little cheep cheep cheep.

(I'm guessing this took around an hour?)

Wick sits back with a grunt. That took more out of him than he was willing to admit, but that old bastard's lessons were worth something after all...

He looks to a nearby crew member ( a rock gnome of all things!), "Hail, cousin! Have anything stronger than water on this beauty?"

Thuluku gets led off down the ship by a suprisingly convincing lady, “What? No why would they- Er, I met him about a day ago so I don’t really- Where are we going?”

The gnome, an old, wrinkled, gnome with a wild, white beard who seems to be wearing two eyepatches, lifts one up and looks you over, “Eh? ‘Ere, try some o’ me special brew.” He offers a very murky jug to Wick. He closes the eyepatch regardless of if you take it.

 "Surely they wouldn't give you any trouble, except they had restricted travel from the city for some reason. Has that been lifted?" Dahme'dre is pretty interested in expediting their journey. "Do show us the helm, we'd love to see how everything works. You command such respect from your crew, very admirable." Dahme'dre releases the captain's mind and hums confidently again as they walk toward the wheel house.

Wick stares blankly at the jug, then back to the overly-eyepatched gnome. It was almost as if the old codger were summoned into existence out of spite. Wick takes a tentative sip from the jug...

And he's back to his water. 

The sip is but for a moment, yet the taste is enough to fully understand exactly what this drink is. First, it’s sweet beyond belief. You can practically feel your stomach churn from the taste. Secondly, it is heavy. It has the consistency of molasses and sends your head spinning. It scares you a bit at what exactly this stuff is, who can really say. Probably the gnome...

Quote from JcAndD >>

The sip is but for a moment, yet the taste is enough to fully understand exactly what this drink is. First, it’s sweet beyond belief. You can practically feel your stomach churn from the taste. Secondly, it is heavy. It has the consistency of molasses and sends your head spinning. It scares you a bit at what exactly this stuff is, who can really say. Probably the gnome...

 “Is it? Interesting. Hadn’t come up. We’re privateers of Marigold, so we pretty much have diplomatic immunity when it comes to that sort of thing. The Nomad Corps. don’t really have any jurisdiction on us.” She leads you both up the stairs to the helm. The helm itself is quite simple in that is his a ship’s wheel as with a normal galleon. However, you notice that the wheel is inlayed with what looks like silver grips on each spoke. On those spokes are carvings that seem to trace throughout in a winding pattern, almost like a circuit. Thuluku gestures to the wheel, “It’s a custom build, a special planar helm designed to work with our ether sails, cost me some serious coin. I’d say it’s certainly worth every copper. It allows the user to connect to the entirety of the ship, sails, doors, engines, you name it. I’m a bit more comfortable behind a proper wheel than those new cockpits and whatnot.”

Alijurn watches the blatant mistakes made at the fine game of dragonchess with a series of cringes and sighs. "Like watching two drunk men fight" , he mumbles as the game nears its end. While the girls lead Thuluku off and Wick starts talking to the old codger, the dragonborn takes a stroll around the ship. He is looking for any suspicious behaviour in people 15 (insight) and poorly hidden away smugglers goods or anything of the like 10 (investigation). He does so in a discrete manner. 

As you stroll throughout the ship, you surprisingly don’t find anything that could really be considered illegal, aside from some very select cigars in one crewman’s bunk. Aside from that, these people might actually be on the up and up. It’s a refreshing feeling to be sure! You do notice some people now and then looking and whisper to each other.