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"I would like to try and sneak past the guard."
With narrowed eyes and confusion spreading across his expression, Daniel peers ever harder on the player across the table from where he sits behind the miniature fortress of his dungeon master screen. "You do realize," he says slowly, "that the guard is staring right at your party. You can't sneak past someone who is already fully aware of your presence."
The rogue—or rather, the rogue's player Kai, makes a noise of annoyance.
"Can't we just like... knock him out or something?" the au ra turns to look at the rest of the party at the table whom all give him varying looks of agreement. Khalja is the first to say something in reply, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at the messy map of graph paper and tokens.
"Not unless you plan on dragging his body with us," he says, limbal rings glowing a soft emerald in the dim light of the room. "And trying to do so might start up another lengthy fight—one we don't have the resources to deal with." He peers towards the only person in their adventuring party with any sense of caution or forethought: Rakuyo, Kai's older brother as well as the party's cleric.
Despite being the oldest and perhaps the most physically large of players at the table, Rakuyo is as softspoken and gentle as a leaf swaying in a spring breeze. He catches Khalja's gaze for only a moment before offering a gentle shrug of his shoulders.
"I have a couple spell slots left if we need them," he says carefully, "but I agree with Khalja on this one."
A fourth voice rises from the other side of the table, pulling all sets of eyes toward him as party sorcerer and player R'avi offers a wave of his hand. "Could we possibly make this decision a little faster? I've been itching to get to the other side of this castle since the start of last session."
"Yeah," agrees the fifth and final voice of players sitting around the dining room table, perhaps the softest one of them all: party ranger and player Samilen, his gaze never quite meeting that of the other players and his roleplaying a fair bit passive—but the miqo'te has gotten better with it over time. "I think we could just bribe the guard, he doesn't seem all that loyal to the king, and it keeps us out of combat."
Kai merely huffs, "That sounds boring."
At this point, it is Daniel's turn to speak—and it is with a look of exhaustion and familiarity to what is unfolding at the table, indecision that threatens to twist into at least an hour of conversation simply because he offhandedly mentioned that the guard had keen eyes and a cautious tone.
"Alright," he finally says, making a point to make eye contact with each of the players. "So are you guys saying all this in character?"
"Oh gods no," Khalja speaks first, lifting a hand up dismissively at the notion. "We wouldn't be saying all this in front of the guard."
"I would," says Kai, whom is immediately jabbed in the side by his brother. "Fuckin'— ow! Come on, at least the guy's reaction would be funny!"
"Not if we get thrown in prison," R'avi says, almost offhandedly as he glances down over his character sheet. "I want to cast Charm Person, wisdom save of 16."
Daniel takes a deep breath, already feeling how the next couple hours of the session will unfold, and rolls a d20 across the table behind his hidden space. It clatters for just a moment against the wood before twirling on a corner, and finally landing on such a pitifully low number that he knew the guard had failed it.
In the span of but a moment, the hyur's expression shifts, mimicking what the guard himself might have looked like as magic effortlessly twisted caution into camaraderie.
"Oh, hello there! I don't mean to sound rude to you fine folk, but this hallway is a bit out of the way from where most people are allowed to be."
And to this, Kai's eyes immediately light up. The rogue flashed an absolutely devilish smile before taking the lead of the party's conversation—much to the dismay of the bard, Khalja, who knew they would be toeing the line of deception and persuasion checks the entire time. He had proficiency in the latter, while Kai, the former.
"Oh," the au ra says in-character. "We're actually from the security committee of the high castle, commanded by the king himself to make sure that all the dungeons down here are properly fortified..."
The entire table could tell this was going to be a long session.