[CLOSED] THE MINANTER JOB

[katabasis]

WHO: Yseult, Flint, Darras, Kostos, Adalia & Six
WHAT: A riverboat raid goes exactly as planned.
WHEN: (Backdated to) End of Justinian
WHERE: The Odovacar, a sprawling floating casino somewhere on the Minanter.
NOTES: Hijinks ensue.

"We've traced the source of the funding to the Odovacar, the personal boat of Cassir Odell, a Nevarran merchant growing in prominence. The Odovacar plies the Minanter - never more than two days from the border of Nevarran-Marches border, entertaining prominent guests around its gambling tables. I've twice heard mention of a Venatori sword being in Odell's employ. They must have some hand in managing the accounts, and may know something of the many ends toward which the coin travels."

The plan born of the report is simple enough. A small team of combatants will take a light craft along the Minanter, locate the merchant's yacht, then board and capture her under cover of night. The ship's hold shall be emptied of its funds, the Venatori "sword" sheathed and surrendered into the raiders' custody, and then they will all be on their way. With the right arrangement of fighters, it's easily and quietly done. It should take no more than six to capture the kind of boat used for day cruising by a merchant of middling reputation from a country currently arrested by the very real likelihood of a civil war.

Unfortunately, the Odovacar is not that boat.

'Boat' is, in fact, maybe a misnomer altogether. The craft that the team finds meandering down the Minanter is more sprawling floating island than it is any kind of ship. Its two visible stepped decks are festooned with live greenery and winding slate paths leading between the small village worth of brightly colored open air canopies under which gambling games of every assortment are being played by the light of great burning braziers and more delicate, intimate torches. There are no less than two full compliments of musicians flocking about, and every breed and variety of Thedas' wealthy and prominent meander between the tables. On the upper deck, a full score of men and women labor under the broad swath of canvas required to manage the boat as it creeps slowly along the Minanter; who knows what lies beneath the absurd monstrosity’s waterline.

So much for simple.

Comments

THAT'S NO YACHT (group thread)

[katabasis]

Someone spots the sails first. From a distance in the failing light, it seems the boat must be coming around and that they must be seeing the Odovacar in profile. How lucky: it means to beat its way back up river. The piragua won't even have to work to meet it - they can simply let the current carry them down.

Only the distance doesn't seem to be closing as it should. After a few minutes where maybe only the sailors in the piragua know something isn't quite right, Flint surrenders the working of the rig entirely to Darras and picks his way forward over and between the rest of the boat's occupants to crouch in the bow with a spyglass pressed to his eye.

When the glass is eventually lowered, Flint remains there a few minutes longer seeming to evaluate the course of the river and in actuality thinking, Fuck very loudly.

He climbs back to midships and hands Yseult the glass.

"We have a problem."

[hassaran]

Yseult is standing alongside the mast, squinting at the yacht up ahead, its sails catching the last scraps of red-grey sunlight. It's difficult to make out much with just the increasingly-pointless shade of her hand to assist, but something does feel off.

Still, she is not prepared for what she finds when she takes the glass from Flint and has a look. Literally, none of them are.

"More than one," she replies, "That is not what the report described. Is that a garden?"

[exequy]

Kostos—who does not know the first thing about sailing, but does enjoy being on the water enough that he's in an arguably good mood, sort of, if you squint and measure everything relatively—lifts his head to frown at them, then to squint glasslessly into the distance.

He can't tell what's going on, and he doesn't ask. But he does lower a hand over the edge to sweep the wisp he'd been letting float over the river back into the boat.

[swordproof]

Six knows more about sailing than she might have been willing to admit; her father had been a sailor and had taught her a great deal in his more sober moments. She takes advantage of that now, checking on things and moving around, doing what she can - and keeping her armour off, at least for a little bit.

When she hears the shout she frowns, coming down and moving to stand beside her peers.

"Do I need my armour?"

[staysail]

"To fight plants?"

It is, after all, a floating garden. Darras, minding the rig, still doing what he's here to do (or partways what he's here to do, at least), has let that work carry him along toward the midship as well, so that he's not left out of this conversation.

He points, toward the fore of the curious yacht. Their little piragua is getting near enough that the bloom of green life is beginning to stand out clearer, a streak of vibrant color like a banner, even without the benefit of a spyglass. The peaks and folds of the canopies thrust up between the festoons like bright mountains.

"Think that might actually be a tree just there. Or a pole decorated with garland meant to look like a tree. I'm not equipped to fight either one. Have we got a backup plan?"

[hassaran]

"It's a tree," Yseult confirms, "And no, armor won't do us any good here." She lowers the glass and hands it back to Darras rather than immediately back to Flint, lips pressed thin. "We can't assault a ship that large. Not directly."

A backup plan is indeed in order, and she looks around at their little crew, taking stock. That part doesn't take long.

"We aren't best-equipped for stealth," she says, "But we know the target and the gold are here tonight. There's no way to know if we'll get another opportunity."