As Gerrard begins to question Qivys across the crowded, chaotic room, Farbern forcibly interjects.

"Order! The planning for this undertaking is happening right now. If you want to help instead of just criticize," booms Farbern to Qivys, "you're welcome to join the reconnaissance team yourself."

"That's a nice try ta misdirect but it ain't gonna work. Yer needin' to have folks scout out this place, an' ya said ya wanted tha group Captained by Gerrard Feldren, son of Duke Feldren, ta do it fer ya but ya haven't been one whit of help. " he says calmly to Farbern the scoundrel.
"Ya haven't been forthcomin' on arms, a map, ner details that those that once lived there could provide. Yer all fired ta send other folk out inta the maws of tha' beasts while ya sit back here all comfortable like, wrapped in tha cloak of yer self importance without makin any real effort ta sort this out. So, tha hired folk need a bit more coin ta cover their expenses, costs fer gettin' in and out of a watery domain, fer any healin' after an' any funeral costs an' tha like."
Qivys pauses a moment to let it sink into the councils minds.
"If yer gonna quibble about costs, I am sure ya can sort it out with tha Sahuagin once they arrive." 

Qivys doesn't respond to Gerrard. His gaze is fixed on the Council and Farbern the Scoundrel.

Peri:

Peri's jaw drops. Qivys! His mind races, a thousand questions tumbling over each other. Where have you been? How did you get Dwal's helmet? Where is Dwal anyway? But somehow, the one that fights its way to the top to escape his mouth is, "So where's the bird?"

"Order! The planning for this undertaking is happening right now. If you want to help instead of just criticize," booms Farbern to Qivys, "you're welcome to join the reconnaissance team yourself."

Peri shakes himself back to some semblance of competence. "Well now hold on just a minute, Farbern. Who are you to be decidin' who's welcome on the scout team? I don't welcome folks into other people's houses, and I'll thank you not to welcome anyone onto my team!" He turns back to the dwarf, who doesn't appear to be mad -- Well he is angry mad, just not crazy mad -- and tells him, "We've got a lot of talkin' to do, but most of it'll have to wait til this show is over. If you're still mad about the Winter, the council here had nothin' to do with that. We'll fill you in over drinks at the Goat."

Back to Farbern, "And how soon're you wantin' this picnic to happen?"

Kei 

Unusually quiet, Kei seems to be either taking in the information from the meeting or perhaps sleeping with his eyes open. Either way when the volume is suddenly turned up by this Qivys character he finally says something. A murmur intended for no-one "Great. Another self righteous dwarf. Just what we need." 

"So, tha hired folk need a bit more coin ta cover their expenses" 

Now this catches Kei's attention. The mention of additional coin causes Kei to stand. "Master dwarf has a point. You've offered up nought but a plan. No direction on how to execute it. No mention of assistance for the scout team." He pauses, like Qivys did but more for dramatic affect than anything. He stands on his seat to peer over the throng of people. "Time and again we've saved this towns, how shall I put it, ass and now you quibble over price? Shame on you. Shame on the whole council. Putting a price on what the town, nay, whole alliance is worth! I hope you can find a party within your budget to save this town. I for one shall not be in it." He steps down from his soap box and starts to push through the line of seated attendees and heads to the back of the room to the closed doors. 

Performance 18

((Presuming everyone's attention is now on Farbern)) Looking around and seeing only the back of everyone's head Kei casts Invisibility on himself and will wait in an out of the way place to watch the reaction of the council.

Gerrard:

…

…

…sigh…

…

…

"Order! Order!" shouts Farbern, slapping the table with an open hand. His face is turning an unhealthy shade of red.

Glancing at Farbern, Owland speaks up. "We have spent many delicate days in strategic negotiations with th' Merfolk, with th' Locathah, with th' Crown, th' Sea Elves, and with th' Lizardfolk to coordinate a complex, multipronged, unified assault on their stronghold that will crush them in one hammer blow. We are poised. We are ready. But we are not fools t' think that the Sahuagin don't have unusual defenses. They are th' Sea Devils. They are clever, they are powerful, and they have powerful allies. We need intelligence. Before we rush headlong into the fight we need to know precisely what we are up against. I will not see our people getting unnecessarily slaughtered by a surprise we should have anticipated if we'd just looked first."

Farbern cools down a little as Owland speaks. He interjects very quietly. "The reconnaissance team may have your pick of arms from the Tower. But this mission is for eyes, not arms. You want supplies? The town will supply anything you need. We will provide transportation, by our most skilled mariners. We will provide a map to guide you there. We will even provide a few arcane tools to give cover. We will NOT provide cash up front. There is no shopping bazaar in their fortress."

"And we need to move quickly. Tomorrow. Every day we hold off the main strike is a day they can use against us."

Peri:

Eda Owland's words help put things into perspective. They do need to take care of the Sea-Devils. "All right, give us a minute, will ya? You may have been plannin' for a while but we just kinda got this dumped on us 5 minutes ago. Tell ya what: anyone fool enough to stick their heads in a fortified underwater lair teemin' with enemies, join me over here. We can put our heads together and see if we can't come up with a plan for how to pull this caper off, and anything we might need from the rest of these folks."

((If there's a side room they can fit in, Peri would like to gather there with whoever is part of the recon team. If not, they can gather outside.))

Gerrard:

”I will do this, because I promised I would, because the peoples represented here need it, and because it is the right thing to do.  Come, Captain Fenwader, let us assemble your team with whatever personnel and materiel we can muster,” says Gerrard, his expression serious but calm.  He stands and moves over to join Peri.

Qivys shakes his head but joins the party.
"Might want ta discuss this out of ear shot of these folks." he whispers. "I still don't trust 'em, especially tha town watch." 

There's no side room they can comfortably adjourn to, but there is a lobby-like area at the bottom of the stairs frequented at the moment only by a few passing servants, and an obviously-drunk old woman leaving the meeting early. It seems like they can probably have a private conversation here.

Oceanus joins your subcommittee. He gives a modest nod and a tight smile to everyone. 

You can hear Farbern in the distance going on to discuss the local logistics of the main assault, including working out the wooding, watering, and wharfage for Seaton's naval forces.

Gerrard:

Giving a warm smile and a friendly greeting, Gerrard says, “Welcome back Oceanus.  It seems like an age since we last saw you, but in truth little time has passed.  How have you fared since we last met?”

Oceanus smiles and nods. It's unclear how much of that he understood. "Goodbye," he responds confidently, nodding vigorously. He seems eager to participate, and observes each of you carefully. His outfit is practical but very finely woven. 

Peri:

Peri heads into the anteroom and waits for the old woman to move out of earshot.

"Might want ta discuss this out of ear shot of these folks." he whispers. "I still don't trust 'em, especially tha town watch." 

"No, nor do I, but this is as private as we're gonna get for now. All right, introductions are in order. You all know Gerrard and me. Boko here is the newest member of the team; she helped us boot the cultists off Abbey Isle and she's a whiz at what she does. Oceanus, good to see you again. Glad your trip home was productive; the sea elves will be a big help, especially underwater. We helped Oceanus out of a scrape with some smugglers; in fact, that's what kicked off this whole thing with the lizardfolk. Kei here joined us right after that. His nephew was caught up with those same smugglers. I wouldn't trust him around my purse, my ale, or my sisters, but I do trust him with my back. And this one," Peri pauses a moment to look Qivys up and down. "This is Qivys, or at least it looks like him anyway. He's a stone wall in a fight, but last we saw him he was chasin' a bird down the street in his briefs, or that's what the rumor mill says. We can catch up later, but are you okay to fight?"

After Qivys answers (no doubt in a pleasant and understanding way) Peri continues. "All right, they want us to go tomorrow. What do we need from them -- not rewards, but supplies. I have a way to breathe underwater now, thanks to Kei," and he looks at him suspiciously. "Obviously Oceanus is good, Boko's got her ways, and Qivys has Dwal's helmet -- how about you two? And anything else we're missin'?"

Gerrard:

”My armor lets me swim quickly,” says Gerrard, “but I have no way to breathe underwater.  I can use my rapier as a minor light source, but I was hoping to get a more potent magic weapon before taking on the sea devils…I doubt just being sneaky and avoiding combat will work for too long, and I’d rather fight my way out with something a bit more powerful. Still, items of stealth would be a great aid to our scouting.”

"I'm here ta fight." Qivys says. "I'm representin' tha widows and orphans of those that died on the Winter. I've taken up their cause, as it were and Dwal set me on it fer tha healin' he done fer me." he explains. 

Boko tries to follow the cacophony of recriminations and accusations and probably gets one in ten details right. She follows the group out, but not before asking the council to get the lizardfolk’s best estimate of a map of the fortress before they left. Even if things changed, it would be useful.

She waves briefly to the new arrivals and tells the group outside that she can get everyone who needs it the ability to breathe underwater, for 24 hours. She can also wildshape herself, and is happy to turn into a small crab or octopus and enter from below to scout around. If she can be made invisible beforehand, much the better.

Kei 

Invisibly, Kei chortles to himself as Farbern turns a shade of crimson that even the most revered silk merchant would be jealous. In response to Peri's suggestion of a private meeting he slinks out the door, hot on the heels of Gerrard and this Qivys character.

Once the whole group has joined them he let's his spell lapse. Now visible to all he nods to Qivys when formally introduced. The dwarf had an air about him that seemed to demand respect. At Peri's question of water breathing he fires back with "Never mind me. I can look after myself."

Boko is able to quietly get the map from the two lizardfolk, together with a quiet explanation.

The map is just a crude chart that identifies the general location of the sahuagin stronghold on the coast. (It occupies an island in the estuary of the Javan River, some fifty miles west and south of Saltmarsh. A coastal headland covers one flank of the island, which is connected to the mainland by a stone causeway.)

The lizardfolk lair was a three-level cave system inside a rocky island. That has probably not changed. Based on the amount of stone fill that was seen removed, and the sounds that could be heard from the outside, the sahuagin have evidently made drastic changes to it, the most apparent being the submerging of the two lower levels beneath the surface of the sea.

The stone causeway extends for 190 feet from the coast to the ledge. This was built by the lizardfolk. But the cave entrance that once provided the lizardfolk access to the lowest level of the island caves has now been submerged in deep water. So the causeway that previously led to the cave entrance now leads to a new set of stone doors built by the sahuagin on the top level.

Peri:

"That covers the problem of breathin' underwater. I'll still be slower, but we probably aren't goin' anywhere in a hurry. Gerrard, we'll see if anyone has a solution for you seein' in the dark. Not much to be done about a sword upgrade, not with Xondros out of stock. Anyone else need arrows or anythin'?"

He turns his attention to the map -- Maybe Boko should be leadin' this maneuver. "So without knowin' any more than what we do now, I'd say we should focus on identifyin' every entrance to the caves so the attackers will be able to box the fishheads in. We can keep count of the ones comin' and goin', but how we're supposed to tell 'em apart I don't know, so our count could be way off. We should also figure out how those big doors open. If we can sneak in before the attack we might be able to open the doors and let the land-dwellers charge right in. Any thoughts?"

"We are to scout well before the attack so they may plan with reconnaissance, correct? Unless I missed something, Peri?" Boko says, peering at the sparse map again. "They know nothing. We are to go first, and find out all we can, and not engage, and then return, give a full report, and then they will plan their attack? Unless, of course, something goes terrible wrong and we are forced to engage the whole underwater citadel or accidentally release an eldritch horror upon the deep. Then the plans go out the window. Of course."