Ashley glances over toward Tayla, gives her a hard stare for a moment. Then, looking content, averts her attention to the new member that arrives quite loudly. She winces at the sound of the heavy tool drop, the piercing sound hurting her ears. She inwardly wonders a moment if people had any tact, but releases the thought as quickly as it came. "Gram, Ashley," she says, introducing herself before pointing to the others. "Right there that's Tayla, Delight, Caelynn, and Overly-Enthusastic Man. He's overly-enthusiastic."

A small grin stretches across her face as she turns back to look at Wilgrim. Her gaze still is hard, but one could see it has flecks of jest in it, not malice. "You haven't missed much, so do not fear your tardiness. We've simply been taking the time to become acquainted with one another. Clarifying some things about our background."

She gives a pointed stare at Tayla, but once again, does not comment. "I'm sure we'll be departing soon however. I do believe that we are missing a member, but I do not see the harm in him or her catching up later. Every moment we stand here is a moment wasted somewhere else."

"And I'd like to be somewhere else as soon as possible."

Ashley can't help but chuckle at the odd sight of the gnome bowing back to her. She feels like she was having a case of 'small man, big armor'. "Very well, Wilgrim. If that is what you wish to be called," she says back to him. "I don't suppose you know where our last member is. We don't quite have all day to wait for him or her."

Her eyes shift back to the sewer entrance, and she frowns. Quite an awful lot of people to shovel sludge in a sewer, she thinks to herself. Granted, she didn't imagine it would be a small feat, and she appreciated any help that she could get. But who hires a gnome, a water lady, and a handful of miscellaneous people to do a task that a group of strong, heady men could do themselves? Didn't they have professional sewage workers for this job?

"How long do the rest of you all want to wait?" she asks.

"I like this girl," Ashley tilts her head and smiles over toward Delight. "Allow me to buy you first drink when we return, Ms. Delight."

She shifts slightly in-place as Delight speaks about birthrights, and averts her gaze. The young woman falls quiet for a long moment, as if something had stole her tongue. "Yes, well," she says softly, her words audibly dampened. "About making the best of it. Eventually one tires of repetition. Sometimes one tires enough to the point they venture out and do something about it."

"I do concur though," Ashley says quickly, changing the subject. "I see no harm in proceeding forward as is. I'm certain there'll be plenty of muck to shovel out when our other member arrives. Not that I don't appreciate the excuse to wait, but I'd rather not bleed the cow out."

"That... is a good question," Ashley says, then looks back toward the sewers. "The supervisor didn't quite tell me exactly what he wanted; he merely said to 'clean the sewers'."

Ashley approaches the sewer entrance. Her nose turns up at the harsh stench of the human waste, but fights through it as she reaches the opening. She tilts her head and peers on inside, seeing what was in there. Her human eyes didn't allow her to see too far into the darkness, but she could hear quite well at least.

Ashley's cunning hearing does indeed pick up something, but it was the elf behind her. "I was merely taking a peek," she defends herself.

She steps off to the side and allows her to look. Her mind begins to wonder how deep these sewers could be, how many endless mazes and turns and dead-ends the five of them could get lost in. The thought horrifies her, not just because of how disgusting it would all be, but the sickness and the disease and the slow, agonizing death they'd have in there.

She suddenly begins wondering how big the rats would be in there.

Ashley opens her mouth as Wilgrim begins handing her the candle. She closes it and frowns as Gram speaks. "Ah, oh dear," she says back to Gram. "I nearly forgot too. Good catch, my lad. Our little excursion could have ended quite a bit sooner than we expected."

She leans back in, listens for a moment. Her ears catch the sound of sloshing water, and she frowns. "Wait, I hear something," Ashley says, then stammers. "Dear gods, it sounds quite big!" She tenses up, prepares to reach for and draw the hidden dagger inside the bracer on her left arm. She relaxes at the sight of the tabaxi.

After she finishes talking though, after the massive gibberish that she spoke, Ashley was nearly back on edge. She wonders if one of the giant rats inside the sewer had grown sentience from the mad ravings of the woman, from mud avalanches to Pit Lords being worshiped by wererats to being hungry. She wonders if it was even physically possible to be hungry in such a filthy place.

"I... see," Ashley says slowly, before scratching the side of her head and looking at the others behind her. "I... am Ashley. That is Tayla, Delight, Caelynn, Wilgrim the Overly-Enthusiastic Mam, and Gram. I nearly wish Gram and Wilgrim swapped names, so I could say Gram, the Overly-Enthusiastic Man, but..."

"Enough talk. I don't see any point in waiting longer now," she sighs as she turns and enters inside the sewers.

"We've been hired to take out rats?" Ashley blinks and looks back toward the sewer entrance, but is only able to make out silhouettes from the darkness. She frowns and continues on forward. "Gods, why didn't they tell us before? That makes far more sense than shoveling man manure out of a sewer."

"I'd appreciate that spear if you can spare it," she calls out to Caelyn's offer. "I left most of my weapons at the tavern, on the premise that we were doing manual labor. I did not know we were here to exterminate things."

"By the way, as a side note. If any of you can see better than the blind 'rich' girl here, you're more than welcome to take the lead. It would actually be greatly appreciated."