"Agreed Sarai" - Hedran nods - "It is risky, but we can give it a try"
Cameron laughed softly to Nessa, "That involves surviving till the evening! Look here comes Sarai with news no doubt..."
He listened to Sarai's report and Headrn's assessment, it did seem risky. Smiling Cameron added, "Sometimes you just have to take a gamble. Fortune and lady luck, favors the bold! Finding some potential allies or at least non-hostile folks would be wonderful."
Hearing Sarai's report Sam chimed in "I would expect this is Zincher's camp, likely some of his men. As long as you all aren't enemies with the man I suspect you are right about trying a diplomatic approach."
Nessa nodded in agreement with what Sam said and added, "If it is his people he won't be happy to see us since he told us to stay away from here, but at least we aren't exactly his enemies either." She looked at Sarai, "As for the talking, I think I can handle that part."
Thyra nods in agreement. "If there's going to be a problem, I would rather have it up front than trying to sneak around."
The group heads toward the camp no longer trying to be stealthy and it doesn't take long for the men to notice your approach they draw their weapons as they call out "Stop there! Who are you and what's your business here?"
Nessa led their group towards the encampment and when the guards drew their weapons and demanded to know their business Nessa said, "Oh thank Calistria you aren't more of those horrible....things! They are all dead, with blue tongues, and walking around, they...they...they slaughtered most of the Cypher Mages expedition and we only just barely managed to reach the mages and get away alive. There is something really big with them to and it knocked down the lighthouse!"
Nessa looked every bit the panicked woman in distress, her outfit disheveled from the fall and traipsing through the forest, and her shock and relief were not feigned. "Please, let us speak with your leader. Surely we can come work something out so we can help each other?"
Leaning on his spear and speaking in Varianian, Cameron added in a more level voice, "You're Clegg's boys right? We've done business with the boss before. Anyway mad as it sounds, she's not wrong about the light house, something really did knock it over the cliff. Dunno about you but in my book anything capable of doing that is bad news. Reckon your boss will want to hear about it."
Hedran grunts.
The men don't seem all that interested in what you have to say one of them near the back calls out to the group "You can save all yer 'pretty words' for someone who gives a damn. You say you've done business with Zincher ay? You want to speak to the boss, you leave your weapons with us and we'll take you to him."
The other unfriendly men stare you down, ready for a fight if it comes to that as the one doing the talking waits for your reply.
"Yeah... I'll just wait out here I guess" - Hedran nods in agreement, and steps closer to Sarai.
Cameron sighed, Scarnazi were all the same just as he'd been warned, or were they? He considered their words and body language, were they just being cautious with obviously armed folk or was a more sinister motive?
As far as Cameron can tell there are no ulterior motives, they simple want to keep their boss safe.
Nessa sighed as her efforts at diplomacy failed and understood the reasoning of the guard. When most of her companions said they weren't willing to put their weapons down Nessa sighed and said, "Fine then." She took off her component pouch and handed it and her pack to Cameron. "Here, hold these for me," she patted his cheek a moment and then turned to the guard as she said, "I'll go with you then, I have no weapons and my components are in his hand," she gestured to Cameron, "I am as unarmed as I can get."
"Nessa..." - Hedran offers a veiled warning to his companion.
The one man who has been doing all the talking nods as he walks Nessa toward the big tent the other guards waiting there starring down the group, still armed.
This immense red pavilion sticks out in the forest setting. Easily fifteen feet tall and twenty feet wide, the tent is larger than many buildings in Riddleport.
A bizarre place of opulence despite its isolation, the inside of this pavilion is divided by a curtain that runs from roof to floor. In the open front half, a massive, iron-banded wooden trunk rests along the north wall while a row of boxes lines the south wall. Four heavily cushioned leather chairs sit in the middle of the open space in pairs. A tall, wrought-iron candelabra stands in the center of the area, its twelve evenly spaced candles burning merrily and giving off a mixture of pleasant aromas.
The thug calls out for Zincher who comes out from behind the curtain moments later. Seeing Nessa he just shakes his head "I would say I'm surprised to see you here, but really I'm not." He motions to one of the cushioned chairs as he continues "Please make yourself comfortable."
He nods to the thug and then toward the door and the man steps outside leaving the tent flap open. He looks to Nessa with a grin "You lot must be fearless, or perhaps desperate, to brave the perils of Devil’s Elbow simply to pay me a visit." He gives her a brief smile before he immediately becomes more stern "Honestly though, why are you here?"
Nessa entered the tent as instructed and gave a curtsy to Klegg when he greeted her before heading to one of the empty chairs. She took a seat as instructed and smiled as she said, "Thank you Mr Zincher." She considered what to tell Zincher as he asked her to tell him why they would brave this place. She wasn't sure how much she should say but deemed it better to be open with the man rather than hide anything.
Nessa finally began to speak and said, "I bet we're here for similar things. We're looking into the rock that fell through the hole in the sky though we aren't after it so much as what brought it here. It seems this was intentional, as was the fact it missed the city, and we're looking into the person who did it."
Zincher furls his brows for a moment then smiles "Well, good to hear you aren't out here chasing after the valuable stones. Would hate to think of you all as competition. I suppose it's good you are looking into what caused all this, but not sure how much help I can be. Half my men our out searching for more of the metal to collect the rest still alive, here defending the camp. Speaking of still alive, have you run into any other groups out here searching for the skymetal? How are they fairing?"
"Uh..." grunted Cameron as Nessa handed him her spell component pouch, he did not like the idea of her walking alone into the lion's den one little bit. So he handed his spear and Nessa's pouch to Hedran whispering, "If something happens tell Kwava for me will you?" That this implied getting off this god forsaken island and living to tell the tale was something he left unspoken.
He hurried after Nessa and standing by her side he let her do most of the talking, however when ZIncher asked about other groups he spoke up saying, "When we arrived we met a bunch of dwarves, something spooked them, they couldn't wait to leave. There's defiantly something uncanny here, something that casually knocked over a perfectly good tower for example.". He paused for a moment before asking, "Hey Mr Zincher, mind if I ask a question? Have you or your men seen any funny looking elves on this island? Might sound like a strange question but if you've seen one you'd know what I mean..."
After having filled Zincher in on an overview of what was going on and what brought them here Nessa listened to his response and questions carefully. She decided that what she knew could be safely shared, and it would be best to do so, and said, "We ran into some dwarves fleeing for their lives when we first arrived and managed to get them off of the island safely after they'd been attacked by these strange...things."
Nessa explained about what all they had run into since arriving, the fate of the Cypher Mages, the blue tongued space zombie things, and the giant thing that knocked the lighthouse over and into the water with them inside of it. "We remembered you were headed here, or at least that's what we suspected given what you'd said and the rumors around town, and had hoped you would at least be willing to take in the surviving Cypher Mages and maybe even work together in getting to the bottom of this. After all, if another, bigger rock, is brought down it might be the beginning of a second darkness and that," her tail lashed side to side in emphasis, "would be very bad for business."
Hedran accepted the weapon and materials from Cameron, then turned around to Thyra and Sarai - "We should have just left"
As the two bombard them with tales of what they've found and Cameron mentions funny looking elves, Clegg pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration "Well this all sounds like a right proper mess and worse than I had thought, though on the upside if most if not all the competition is gone that's more money for me to make..."
Lowering his hand he steps toward the tent flap and looks out to see the rest of your group and one addition, Sam, "We can house the cyphermage and yourselves even but such hospitality doesn't come for free. I would except you all to do some work for me while your here. I have three particular tasks already in mind." He turns back to look to Nessa and Cameron with a grin.
Cameron glances at Nessa before asking neutrally, "Mmm. Okay, what did you have in mind?"
Nessa felt a wash of relief that Zincher was willing to provide some shelter for them and the mages and, while she didn't want to get deeper into his debt the fact that he did have a way to resolve that was a relief.
While she was naturally suspicious of the man Nessa felt his words were genuine. He obviously had little to nothing to lose by helping them and would gain much even from just the added security of more people to deal with any threats, particularly with the magics the cypher mages could help bring to bear, and nodded slowly. "That seems reasonable to me, though more details on what you want us to do in exchange would be needed."
Nessa finally said, "Would you allow the others to come into the camp so we can discuss this proposition further? The guards wouldn't let us through without taking our weapons and spell pouches and they weren't going to do it."
Zincher considers a moment before noting "Until we finalize an agreement I would ask they relinquish their weapons. As you can see I have no interest in doing you any harm, but I've seen what you lot are capable of so I would prefer to be safe. They are welcome to join us if they lay down their arms just as you two did. Feel free to speak to them if you like and then we can continue."
Nessa considered what Zincher said, and then said, "I highly doubt they will do that so why don't we discuss this and then Cameron or I can go out and explain it and return with their reply then." Nessa waited for Zincher to decide and then asked, "What are these jobs you wants us to do for you?"
Zincher nods, he holds up his pointer finger "One, I want you to gather skymetal from the large crater site. I’ll pay over full price, 60 gold per pound, for any skymetal you recover for me."
He raises his middle finger to join the pointer "Two, I'm sure you've run into the blue beasties yes? If you can catch one alive and keep it caged, I'll pay you 500 gold to each of you."
Finally he raises his ring finger to join the other two. "Three, two nights ago, a pair of nasty zombies attacked the camp. Last night, there were four. I suspect these zombies were once members of the Cyphermages or even Slyeg’s group, but the fact that each night brings more worries me. I'll pay you 50 gold per night spent helping to guard the camp."
He lowers his fingers then looks to you "Of course, in addition to the above, you get a tent of your own, food, and some safety in numbers."
Nessa listened to Zincher's propositions and, while not the kind she normally got from people, decided that they were likely acceptable with her allies. "I can't speak for them but I think those are reasonable, maybe not the second one, but the rest should be fine. Second is just dangerous but I'll let them know."
Nessa looked to Cameron and asked, "What do you think?"
Cameron considered for a moment before replying, "Sounds... Mutually beneficial, sure I don't see a problem with this." He glanced at Nessa before suggesting on the spur of the moment, "Perhaps two tents though?"
Clegg shrugs "If you need two tents that's fine, whatever as long as you agree to my terms. Feel free to speak with your companions if needed."
Turning to the others Cameron asked, "You've heard his terms, what do you reckon?" The terms seemed reasonable enough to Cameron, assuming they where kept to...
"I do not trust them one way or another" - Hedran pipes in, after joining the others - "But I have no issues with making some gold while we are at it. So count me in"
Nessa nodded in agreement with both Cameron and Zincher and said, "We'll go talk to them and let you know their answer." With that she and Cameron went back to tell the others the deal and see what their reactions were.
Nessa let Cameron fill them in on the offer and listened to what they had to say before she added her own thoughts on the matter. Once they had done so she said, "I think it's better than staying out here alone with those...things," Nessa said, "and I agree the extra pay is goo too. As long as we watch our backs I think we'll be safe working with him until he has what he wants at least."
Zincher sets you all up with two tents near his large tent and close to the path leading SW out of the camp. He comes to check on you all once you are setup and notes "I'll leave you all to it then. Don't forget to have some people join the watch tonight as part of our agreement. Unless there is anything else, I have some other things to attend to."
He looks to you all in case there is anything else you need or want to talk about before heading back to his own tent.
Cameron nodded his agreement at Sari's assessment before volunteering, "I don't mind taking a watch shift, although I will need a proper night's sleep to meditate in the morning. Perhaps first or last watch?"
While waiting for Nessa and Cameron to talk with Zincher, Thyra keeps her counsel, trusting her allies to do what they think is best. He mind wanders back to the dreams from recent nights, trying to think of what they could mean, and why she is the only one that seems to be affected in this way.
Her musing are interrupted when they return with Zincher's proposal. While she doesn't like the thought of having to deal with the crime boss more directly, she has to admit that the jobs are relatively straightforward.
"I will help with the watches. Someone needs to make sure that these mercenaries know how to setup a proper perimeter."
With their agreement reached and tents pitched Nessa considered the watch rotations and finally said, "I can see just fine in the dark, as long as I can get enough sleep to recharge my magic for tomorrow I'm good." She looked to Cameron and said, "Hmmm, I did promise to show you my thanks," she was coming across as very suggestive in tone, "would you like to find somewhere to experience that right now?"
”I can also help with the watches” - Hedran chuckles - ”Two tents means me and Cameron will be sharing I guess, so you will have all the privacy you need while I am doing my watch turn” - he offers a toothy grin at them both.
”For now I am going to check if this deal involves dinner” - and heads out in search of food.