Kali gives Carrhae a light chuckle. “Red is a war machine, drugs and alcohol are no good for her system anyways. It was smart for the big guys to make it ineffective on her.” The hybrid watches the smoke swirl almost unsurely, as if it was deciding on what memory it wanted to bring forth. “As for the housewives, it was to satisfy their curiosities. I gave off that vibe, as I was told, that I’d give them a good time. Never heard a complaint so I think I did them some good, even got some to come back for more when they needed it.” She laughs. “My ship wasn’t used for joy rides and I never brought them to my quarters. Don’t want them to get all attached to me as I ain’t one for commitment.” Kali looks over to Carrhae as she sets an elbow on the table, holding her cheek in her hand. “Mm, might not wanna get too comfortable now. Drug also gets you pretty tired, but you’ll have the best sleep you’ve had in ages.”

Carrhae forces herself to sit up into a posture where it's less likely that she'll nod off. "Well if I do nod off, you invited me to use your bed. And this is my ship and I'm the captain, so I think that I can sleep in any bed I choose." She chuckles, clearly joking about abusing her authority like that. "But I can see how you'd give off that vibe. You're hot, especially when you use your muscles and you seem like you know when a one night thing is just that."

Misha knocked on Kali's door.

"Kali?" she called out, then opened the door, "I h- Oh!" she recoiled a bit, startled she didn't realize she had company. "Sorry! Deed not know Kapitan was here! Forgeev intrusion, apologies!"

“Aww, thanks for the honesty, blondie, I worked very hard for this body.” Not really. “Anyways—“ Kali was cut off by Misha’s intrusion, the brunette looking past the smoke to give her a lip sided grin before glancing over to Carrhae. “Looks like I’m popular tonight, yeah?” She lifts herself from her chair and makes way to Misha then wraps an arm around the red head pulls her in the room, closing the door behind her. “For the interruption I gotta punish ya. Now you're stuck here with the two of us while I tell our lovely cap’n here a story about little ol’ me. Be a good girl ‘n sit down. Make sure I don’t bore her to death for me.” Kali let’s Misha go and settles back in her chair, crossing her legs. “I think we got another three minutes to go on this shit, probably trying to sift through the garbage to find something worthy of showing you guys.”

Obedient as always, Misha has a smile and a look of excitement as she settles down and listens, remaining quiet.

DANGER AT DUNWATER - EPISODE TWO

With the smuggling operation of the Sea Ghost rendered inoperative, Misha received her orders from Acheronian Command and went to Carrhae's quarters early morning after the Belle's upgrades were complete. The party had discovered through the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh - Episode One, that a band of Tharizdunian cultists were smuggling weapons out of Saltmarsh to Lizardfolk buyers for an unknown reason. After letting Anders Solmor know about this situation, he hired the party again to scout out the Lizardfolk encampment.  According to Acheronian Intelligence, the site of the lizardfolk colony has been tentatively identified as a coastal promontory adjacent to a small river, the Dunwater, some ten miles southwest of Saltmarsh. Solmor also explained how the Saltmarsh council considers it essential that a scouting party be sent to reconnoiter the area and ascertain the strength and size of this colony, as well as the intentions of the lizardfolk. Solmor and the Council believe the lizardfolk are buying weapons to mount an attack on Saltmarsh. The Belle must determine if this is true or not.

Thus began the Belle's second mission.

MISSION: Approach the Lizardfolk colony, reconnoiter the area and ascertain the strength and size of this colony, as well as the intentions of the lizardfolk. WARNING: The Belle is not required to act with hostile intent. You may reach the colony by sea, or by land, your choice. A reward of 750gp will be award to the Belle for any information they are able to acquire through peaceful means.

Syltra spends most of her time with Sana and Wolf, using her disguise abilities to make herself appear about a foot shorter, as usual when she is in social situations. 

It is during this time that you learn Syltra can put away a surprising amount of wine without showing any signs of intoxication. 

“These potatoes are excellent, Wolf,” she says around a mouthful. 

After dinner and some conversation, she moves on to some brandy, and ends up taking a large glass with her to go and sit at the bow of the ship and stare out at the ocean.

If asked her thoughts about the current mission, Syltra will opine that traveling by sea would likely preclude any attempts at stealth. They would see us coming for sure. The question is, is that what we want?

When spending time with Sana, Syltra would notice that the changeling has quite a gift to chatter endlessly about absolutely nothing at all. Her favorite topics of conversation are often the sea, people passing by, or the events of the battle with the Sea Ghost. However, Sana's chatter seems like an accessory to her work, and all her tasks are done efficiently and on time.

Weed Smoking:

Carrhae chuckles. "What a terrible punishment. She has to sit here and watch two beautiful women have a conversation."

Danger at Dunwater: 

"I vote that we go by sea. The majority of us aren't particularly stealthy and we don't need to speak with them, since we're heading towards the colony to speak with the Lizardfolk. I believe that sneaking up on them like thieves or spies will make them less willing to converse, not more."

THE TENETS OF CONQUEST
THE CODE OF THE PRIME PALADINS

"Hope is in my hand, you shall not take it. I wield my power to control my hope. If yours is different from mine, it shall stand down. If I am hungry, I will feast. If I am irate, I shall smite. If I am sad, all will mourn with me." - Taetanicus, Legion Commander of the Prime Paladins of Acheron

Douse the Flame of Hope. It is not enough to merely defeat an enemy in battle. Your victory must be so overwhelming that your enemies’ will to fight is shattered forever. A blade can end a life. Fear can end an empire.

Rule with an Iron Fist. Once you have conquered, tolerate no dissent. Your word is law. Those who obey it shall be favored. Those who defy it shall be punished as an example to all who might follow.

Strength Above All. You shall rule until a stronger one arises. Then you must grow mightier and meet the challenge, or fall to your own ruin.

- Excerpt taken from The Acheronian Codex

The next morning, Erriviel brings his own set of plans to the briefing room. He speaks to the other officers, "I believe it would be in our best interests to conduct a two pronged investigation of the lizardfolk. First, we should send the Belle at half-crew as a gesture of openness, and see what information and promises we can acquire through honest conversation. Then, we should reconvene and send a smaller party of stealthier members to verify and expand on the information given.

I nominate myself, Chandor, Sloop, and Wolf for the secondary party. I trust that everyone else can appear strong enough that the lizardfolk will be intimidated, but not to the extent that they will attack preemptively. I don't believe there is anywhere convenient to dock between the camp and Saltmarsh, so Kali can be our line of communication between the ship and the ground."

Snoop Dogg's dream:

As Misha and Kali sat themselves down, the smoke that swirled and danced slowly came to form a figure pointing at another. Off to the side's there came to be other's, seemingly nodding at whatever the original figure had been saying. Kali squints her eye, trying to push past the haze to try and figure out what exactly this memory was of until it finally clicked. "Well, I wouldn't say this is heroic... Impressive maybe? But, uh," She leans back in her chair. "Aye, this is when I was elected to be the new captain of The Halcyon." Her lip twitched downward as her eyebrows knitted together, her tone going more solemn now. "We lost our captain in a sea battle prior and when it came down to it, we needed a new captain. You don't just pick up some ol' joe off the street when choosing someone to lead a ship. You vote for 'em," Kali points to the first figure that had formed. "And the quartermaster, Olvani, was the first to vote for me. I was the bosun before, actually." She gives a short laugh. "Finrich, our cabin boy was so quick to agree to it along with our chef, Vono." For a moment, she looks forlorn before focusing on the story, keeping her face somewhat stoic. "Then... everyone. Jilara, Faeyses, Aldeyr... Charlotte... They... They didn't have any qualms. They chose me... and from then on I became Captain Kali of The Halcyon." At the end she stays quiet and closes her eye, the frown on her face slowly turning upwards and quietly muttering to herself: "So long halcyon days." With a breath she opened her eye again and looked at the two women. "So, any questions?"

A nightmare:

When Erriviel finished talking about his plan, Kali was the first to speak up. "Sounds good to me. Send in a buncha pretty faces to butter 'em up and get 'em friendly, then get the juicy bits from you guys. No objections here." She leans back against the wall and wait for anyone else to say their piece before dismissing.

Misha listened intently and watched the puffy visions manifest as Kali explained. 

"How..How ees thees possible? How does clouds make shapes? Thees memories.."

For a moment, Misha wished she could participate, but, since she couldn't, she smiled, listened, and wondered.

“The pipe, love,” Kali points a finger to Carrhae who had it in her hand. “Makes it so that when you smoke it, a memory of your most heroic or impressive achievements play. You may not be able to get high but we can try it next dawn to see what happens when you exhale.”

In conversations with Syltra, Sana will find that Syltra prefers to listen before speaking, is soft-spoken when she does speak, and rarely offers her opinion unless asked directly. 

Misha's expression saddens a bit knowing she couldn't participate, but was still grateful she could learn something new about Kali, and perhaps Carrhae.

Sloop was excited about the opportunity to get more action (wink-wink), and heartily agreed to Erriviel's plan.  After the meeting, he went back to his hammock and rooted around in his personal belongings, looking for something better to wear on the mission than his usual starched white military uniforms.  Seeing nothing, an idea pops into his head.  Rushing topside, he tracks down Syltra.

"Madam Syltra?  I noticed you took a liking to the bolts of silk we captured on our first mission.  Do you have skill with needle and thread?  Would you be willing to make me a camouflaged cloak, that would aide me in slinking around on our next mission?  Something swamp colored!"

Despite being high, Carrhae listens and pays attention to Kali as she tells her story. "It sounds like you were quite the sailor even then, if everyone would vote for you to be Captain. In the event that something should happen to me, you have my vote to be Captain, whatever that's worth. I trust that you would be able to take care of the crew." Carrhae sees Kali grow more somber as she finishes. It looks like we have something else in common. But I suppose that if she was still Captain of the Halcyon, she wouldn't be here with me. She thinks, before opening her mouth to speak again. "So real crews choose their Captain, instead of responding to an application posted around the city!" She says laughing. "Yes Misha, I would very much like to see some of your stories in the smoke. I know that you told me about them, but seeing them is better. And, I'm not going to say no to smoking with Kali. 

Recon:

Carrhae spends 150 gold to buy three potions and gives those potions to Erriviel, as well as the last one that she had from Waterdeep. "Just in case".

Syltra explains to Sloop that she doesn’t have much skill with things that delicate, but she will take the silk into town and have it made to order.