Trekking across the island might have been a challenge for a group without a dire wolf leading the charge. Whatever fauna might have considered the group an appropriate snack steered clear the second they got a glance at Echo in all his red majesty. It made for far faster travel than Illaria had counted on. Naya was no slouch either; at each possible fork in the road where Echo stuttered for a moment, she stepped in and deftly chose the pathway through the wilderness. Crowley must have kept the pirates and the Styxweed largely separate. It made sense; not every pirate would be willing to throw their lot in with devils. Too many remembered how the devils had fought in the war.

No one easily forgave the damage they had done to the empire, or at least the lives they ended. Pirates included. It made sense for him to have only his most trusted men sail over here to aid in the tending of the Styxweed. The night was still relatively young as the group stopped; overlooking the pirate outpost. The makeshift town was split into two sections. One of which still had lights on, and the sound of reverie could be heard drifting on the wind. The other was mostly dark and quiet; only a few lantern lights revealed that anyone was there at all.

"We haven't all day. Suggestions?" she asked the group.

"We send people to scout it out. Bait takes one side, and Rem takes another." Alvec suggested. Illaria frowned as they crouched beneath the foliage, keeping their voices low.

"I don't be liking the idea of splitting us up like this," she said.

"It's going to be a lot safer to let the two of them attempt to get us information than it will be to have us all try sneaking around," Alvec stated firmly.

"And why the two of them?" Illaria asked.

"We even have trouble keeping track of Bait," Mavec interjected.

"And Rem's a fox, not sure you know this, but he's very much local fauna. No one will suspect he's anything more than a scavenger," Naya stated.

"Not to mention, I can cast spells through him if necessary. So we can likely have him slip by, and if he encounters trouble, we can spell craft him out of it," Alvec replied.

"Alright, we send them both each way. Your goals are to find the Audacity 6 and locate any prisoners," Illaria stated. Rem yipped in agreement and trotted toward the darker section of the pirate outpost.

The first struggle he encountered was a raised wall at a steep angle. He crouched low and sprang up, repeating the process a few times until he could clear the top of it. He strolled down the dirt streets, sticking to the shadows as best he could. The few people he encountered seemed not to pay him any mind, exactly as Lady Naya had suggested they might. He counted about six or so men still awake and moving about. The information he was sure Master Alvec would appreciate. The buildings here were shoddy, quickly built structures of wood and cheap mortar. This base had clearly been here for some time, but it also wasn't all that built up, either.

A pack of dogs growled at him and approached. Rem arched his back and growled back at them. They continued their approach towards him. A surge of arcane energy roared around Rem; Master Alvec must have sensed his distress. A shield of arcane force floated around Rem. He crouched low and dashed right past them. Their fangs failed to reach him, and Rem just continued running. This protection was limited; it would only last a few seconds, but that was enough for Rem to jump. The small fox worked his way up onto some crates and then all the way up onto the roof of a building, where he lay quietly until the dogs lost interest. It took a bit, but when they did, he hopped down and continued walking.

More humans were on guard at the ocean's edge. Guarding several boats. None of them were large and grand enough to be the Audacity Six. This might still be good information for master Alvec. Rem was less sure how to confirm if people were being kept prisoners. He snuck around, peering through the windows and trying to see if any had iron bars. When none did, he began his retreat into the woods where his companions waited. His little excursion was only about an hour, but he missed being with Alvec and his friends. Alvec was very careful with Rem. Even though he was much tougher than a regular fox, Alvec tried to keep him close to him as much as possible. It made sense; the threats they faced so frequently could easily crush a small fox. Heck, Echo could fit Rem in his mouth if he wanted to, but thankfully, the big oaf was very friendly.

Rem returned to camp and ran up to Alvec, pawing at him. Alvec produced some blank parchment and ink for Rem to dip his paws into. Writing was still tricky. He knew the letters, but often, he'd have to sing the song to himself to remember them all. Twenty-six letters were impossible for a regular fox to remember, so of course, he'd need the song to keep it sharp in his mind. The most significant bit first. No audacity six, no family." Illaria looked over the paper and let out a sigh.

"Can't say I expected it to be that easy," she said. Rem continued to write. Small earth wall, small boats, and drunk pirates. He left out the mean dogs part.

"Was your cover compromised?" Alvec asked. Rem shook his head no and wrote one more word on the page. "Dogs."

"Ah, good job." He said before petting him on the head and supplying him with a treat. Hopefully Bait’s sneaking around went off without any trouble either.

BAIT

Bait, in his strange goblin ways, could either blend in with the background or hide his sneaking into the lit part of the city. He hopped onto a wagon hauling supplies and simply lay there for a while as the cart was pulled through the pirate base's streets. He popped up on occasion to make sure that he wasn't going too far away from the ocean. That's where the boats would be, and that was what Bait was most interested in finding. Flying ship sound cool. Finding Illaria's parents more challenging. Boat big and easy to see. Two people among however many pirates were here? More challenging. Bait not even sure where to begin.

A pleasant scent caught his attention coming from a particular building. Cheese-Ale. His mouth watered at the thought of it. He hauled himself over the side of the cart and hopped down, ducking under the saloon-styled doors. He pressed himself against the first thing he could find and looked around.

Several tankards of it lay just outside of reach, and many, many pirates were here. He stood quietly and listened as he tried to develop a solid plan. "Hey, Milkin, glad to see you back already." One of the pirates shouted to another who was sitting at the bar.

"Yeah, just finished up on the flagship. Had to deliver food to the prisoners. We're going to be ransoming them off soon. We could use the extra coin."

"Why's he keep them on the flagship anyway?" The other pirate asked.

"Landlubbers can't fucking swim; even if they escape, they'd drown before they ever set foot on dry land."

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"That Crowley is a smart and dangerous man. Best I've ever worked under." A cheer went up in the room. Bait cleared his throat and practiced a moment. There was a man in the corner who hadn't cheered. He did his best to speak from the center of his chest as he pitched his voice across the room.

"Crowley sucks!" Bait shouted. He made ready to run; if this failed, his cover would be blown, and he'd have no choice but to run... but that sweet, sweet cheese beer... how could he not at least try to grasp the liquid amber perfection? He grinned a wide, toothy grin as the drunken crowd took the bait, and a fight erupted. While fists were being thrown, Bait crept up to the table with the mugs of ale on it and quickly grabbed all three before scurrying out under the saloon-styled door and back into the night. He rounded a corner and guzzled each beer in the safety of the shadows before moving towards the harbor. The Audacity Six sat alone, anchored in the harbor. Illaria would be happy to know this and even happier to know that the prisoners were kept on it. Bait beat a slow and steady retreat through the town and back into the woods. He found his way with relative ease towards his companions.

"Bait find ship, know where family should be." He exclaimed as he stood close to them. "Big flying boat anchored in harbor. Prisoners kept on boat, make sure they don't try to escape. Many prisoners can't swim. They drown like unlucky rats if they try to escape."

"Excellent, then we best be getting there," Illaria exclaimed.

"Problem, most of us can't swim either," Mavec replied.

"The small boats on the dark side. We could get into those and row ourselves into the harbor." Naya suggested.

"It's the best bet we've got; we can try to stealth our way through," Alvec said.

"We can certainly try," Illaria said; it was the best plan they had. The dark side seemed to have fewer people around. If they could evade a fight here, they might be able to pull this off without issue. The group set out, moving slowly and trying to be as quiet as possible as they approached the wall. The party struggled to get over it, but most everyone managed with a bit of teamwork to make it happen. Mavec, however, even with Illaria attempting to help, took a nasty tumble down the opposite side. He let out a small scream as he went down. Illaria followed quickly behind him. Alvec motioned everyone to hide as the sound of footsteps drew closer. He grabbed Sarbie and Echo, pulling them both gently into an alleyway. He didn't utter a single word, but the world around them went completely black. All Sarbie could hear was her heart beating in her ears like a drum. The noise of Mavec's fall had drawn unwanted attention. Mavec struggled to get untangled from the rope he had used to get up over the earthen wall. At the same time, Illaria stood before him, looking down at him disappointed. There was no way they could hide fast enough, so bluffing it was.

"Who goes there?" called out a man who approached them

"Hi there," Illaria said, waving to the man.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked. He was an older man of average height with wispy brown hair and sun-tanned skin.

"Crowley asked us to test the defenses of our base. Sent two people of differing skill levels to see how effective our wall was. As you can see, it wasn't much of an impediment to me... our colleague, on the other hand, literally got tangled in the rope and fell off this side. We'll have to go find someone a little better than him, I be reasoning," Illaria said without missing a beat. "I doubt our enemies will be this frail, less they send the wizards first."

"Ah, that makes sense. Not too many things have tried coming over the wall. I thought I saw a fox hop over it earlier, but my eyes must have been playing tricks on me. Less they came for our garbage. They do that sometimes when they can't find enough mice. But hell, we've had so many ships coming and going I can't imagine not being able to find mice on this island."

"Ah, well, keep up the good work, and we'll report our findings. The walls are great vs weaklings, but not experts. We'll send someone else to test how it does vs a more seasoned climber." The man turned around and walked away, continuing his patrol. Slowly, everyone emerged, and they made their way towards the small boats. Rounding a corner, they discovered that a whole slew of men had set up outside of small docks and were drinking away the night.

"What do we do now?" Naya asked.

"I suppose the only thing we can be doing about them is to kill them quickly before they can raise an alarm," Illaria said.

"Naya, you have another use of summon animals?" Alvec asked.

"Uh, yeah... why?" she asked.

"I've got a really dumb idea," Alvec said with a smile. "So dumb I hate myself for even thinking it."

"I like where this is going. Alvec's dumb ideas are usually next level." Mavec said

"I'm thinking we create a distraction, say, two animals doing a cockfight. Any chance you can call up monkeys?" he asked.

"Yes, but no. I won't call up two creatures to fight for these pirates' entertainment."

"Look, we give them knives; we have them put on a real show of it. When the spell ends, they pop back to wherever you pulled them from. It's fine; any harm they suffer will be extremely temporary."

"Summon monkeys, give them knives, and have them fight for the pirate's entertainment. No, this is animal cruelty. I'm not doing it," Naya hissed in a whisper.

"Naya, Naya. This could work. These guys, they're drunk. Look at them. They'll fall for this. If some of us stay here and sneak on right away, and only you and Illaria lead them a few minutes away from here... you and Echo could easily make it back to shore well before they do, and Illaria too. Alvec's right. We make the monkeys fight to save the goddamn empire Naya. Think of how many people will be butchered by pirates if we don't do this?" Mavec asked.

"Illaria! Help me out here," Naya said. Illaria merely shrugged.

"I think the boys have a solid plan, albeit, I think it is, in fact, so dumb Alvec should feel bad."

"Oh, believe me, I do," Alvec said, shaking his head.

Naya groaned loudly. "Any other plans?"

"I give the monkey's guns?" Bait said as he pulled out two flintlock pistols.

"Monkey's with knives it is. Ok, Echo, let's get into position," she said as she hopped onto Echo's back and headed a few minutes away from their current position. Illaria, once she knew where Naya was going to set up the show, headed right up to the group of pirates drinking by the boats.

"Hey guys, want to see something cool? Two monkeys are fighting with knives over here," she said excitedly as she ran off before they could ask questions.

"Holy shit, that sounds awesome!" One of the men roared before staggering after Illaria. The rest followed suit.

"Ah, man, I hope it's not over before we arrive!" another said.

"I'll be taking bets as soon as we arrive... if someone else hasn't started," another one said as they faded down the street.

Alvec, Mavec, Sarbie, and Bait loaded into a small boat and began to row as fast as they could away from the shore. Shortly after, Echo, Naya, and Illaria emerged from the streets. Echo plunged into the water with the two women on his back. He doggie paddled over to the small boat, and the two of them hopped off his back and onto the ship, where they did their best to dry off as the group rowed towards the audacity. Echo swam beside them nearly effortlessly. It wasn't long before they reached the boat. It was quiet, but that didn't mean the boat was unattended.

"Bait go first; make sure boat safe." He insisted as he took the rope up the boat quickly. He scampered quickly across the open deck and did his best to be quiet as he moved about the ship's underside. Curiously, there was still no one around. Bait didn't bother fearing it; could be many reasons. Maybe pirates dumb like the monkey fighter pirates? Maybe all drunk? Bait, no care, just glad for now that no one was in his way. After some searching, he found the brig. It was less static iron bars and more like iron curtains. The ceiling and floor had some mechanism by which the layout of the cells could be changed. There were at least a dozen people in here, any of which could have been Illaria's parents. Bait no want to blow cover, so he decided to head back to the group.

"Bait no see anyone, but Bait did find brig. Lots of people, maybe parents? Bait, no ask, not want to blow cover if Bait missed any enemies," he informed the group. Illaria pulled herself quickly up the ship. The rest of the party followed up shortly behind her. Getting Echo onto the boat took a lot of rope and a team effort. The entire team grabbed on and hauled him up. Once he was safely on the deck, Alvec turned to Sarbie.

"You, Rem, and Echo, stay on deck here. Try to get the anchor up. We need to be ready to go as soon as possible. The rest of us are going to head to the brig."

"Alright," Sarbie said nervously. She knew Echo was safe, but on the same token, he was still a giant wolf, and being left alone with him worried her, even if it was irrational.