Joining the others on the journey through the Outer City, Ysabell ignored the suspicious glares from the inhabitants, unconcerned with how they might see her or the rest of the party.  She had a job to accomplish and as long they the didn't interview, they could stare all they liked.

Quote from CrispyDM >>

A tall and imposing dark haired woman dressed in robes comes from downstairs. The inhabitants of the hovel part to let her pass. She stands in front of you all, sizing you up.

"I am Korvala." she declares. "I understand you are asking..questions..regarding the books we sell?"

"Yes it seems that a few of them have developed the nasty habit of transforming into vicious monsters.  Any idea why that might be the case?"  Ysabell kept her eyes squarely on the woman in front of her, attempting to read her as best she could.

• Insight (advantage due to racial trait): 24
• For fun, using one use of Eyes of the Grave to make sure Korvala - or no one in the immediate vicinity - is an undead.  (If there are, sorry ahead of time XD)

Nope. It's totally cool. There's no undead here. 

"Yes it seems that a few of them have developed the nasty habit of transforming into vicious monsters.  Any idea why that might be the case?" 

Korvala sighs. "Yes. I do." she turns to the inhabitants of the hovel. "Leave us."

The slowly scatter.

Korvala looks to Ysabell again.

"What I am about to tell you must remain secret." she says. "The gingwatzim that have attacked you and the others were created by me, using a ritual taught to me by a now-deceased lamia named Nidalia. I am the leader of the Amberdune Pack, a gang of jackalweres that sells books and scrolls in the markets of Baldur’s Gate. I commanded the gingwatzim to take the form of Mazfroth’s Mighty Digressions, one of the more valuable books in my collection. This ruse enables me to sell a copies of the book without giving up the genuine item, of which I am loath to part with."

"The Amberdune Pack remains fiercely loyal to Nidalia, even though she has been dead for months. Rather than corrupting individuals and acquiring slaves, Nidalia preferred to collect books and scrolls. Though she was peaceful and compassionate, she was nonetheless killed by a group of adventurers, like yourselves. The jackalweres that survived fled with Nidalia’s heart and what books and scrolls they could carry."

"With me as their new leader, the pack began working on a way to resurrect Nidalia. It soon became clear that wouldn’t be a simple task. After all, the resurrection spell requires both a diamond worth at least one thousand gold and the services of a sufficiently powerful spellcaster."

The plan to sell books and scrolls, as well as gingwatzims disguised as books and scrolls, proved to be more challenging than we expected. Most of our profits are spent to help us survive in a city with more than its fair share of bribery and corruption. We've pinned our hopes on raising enough money to resurrect Nidalia before someone discovers our ruse, but we didn’t account for the possibility that some of their gingwatzims would end up in Candlekeep."

Raastin lets out a low whistle. "That's some story," he says, turning to the others and whispering, "So bad guy? Not a bad guy? Accidental bad guy?" He shrugs before turning back to Korvala. "Ma'am, thank you for your candid response. It was, um, quite revealing, but leaves me with a few questions....like, um, what is a jackalwere and maybe even what does a fox say...but that's for another day." He smiles innocently. "But, yeah, what is a jackalwere? And, more importantly, what do we do about these ravenous books attacking folk?"

Garmus waves a hand in a dismissive gesture towards the woman. "It doesn't matter if the books ended up in Candlekeep, they're still tryin' ta kill people.  Ya say yer leader was peaceful and compassionate but what you are doin' is not.  He says, giving her a direct look.  "If she is as ya say then seems like she would be mighty disappointed in yer actions."

"Ma'am, thank you for your candid response. It was, um, quite revealing, but leaves me with a few questions....like, um, what is a jackalwere and maybe even what does a fox say...but that's for another day. But, yeah, what is a jackalwere? And, more importantly, what do we do about these ravenous books attacking folk?"

"A jackalwere is a jackal able to assume a human form. All of us can do this." 

"It doesn't matter if the books ended up in Candlekeep, they're still tryin' ta kill people. Ya say yer leader was peaceful and compassionate but what you are doin' is not. If she is as ya say then seems like she would be mighty disappointed in yer actions."

"Yes. We realize this. But, we were desperate to raise money to heal our past leader. If you have an alternate method we are all ears. We are a peaceful people. We simply need money to help Nadalia."

(OOC: I'm assuming based on her insight roll that what the woman said was truthful?)

Ysabell was quiet as the woman shared her story before responding in a serious tone.  "I am sorry to hear about your fallen friend.  That being said, resurrection is not something that should be done so carelessly.  Death, as unfortunate and painful as it may be, is a natural part of life that should be respected at all costs.  Only when a death was unjust or truly before their time should something like this be considered, and only if the Mother of Souls wills it.  You intentions, though well meaning, have created ripples, ripples that have so far  left innocents hurt in your wake.  I fear what worse may happen if you continue down this path..."  

(Yes)

"I am sorry to hear about your fallen friend.  That being said, resurrection is not something that should be done so carelessly.  Death, as unfortunate and painful as it may be, is a natural part of life that should be respected at all costs.  Only when a death was unjust or truly before their time should something like this be considered, and only if the Mother of Souls wills it.  You intentions, though well meaning, have created ripples, ripples that have so far  left innocents hurt in your wake.  I fear what worse may happen if you continue down this path..."  

"Then, what do you suggest?"

"Why must ya bring her back?  Ysabell's right"...pointing at the elf..."ya don't bring someone back just for the hell of it.  Ya need to move on with a new leader.  Use what ya learned from yer previous one and carry on."  Garmus states.

"I am the new leader, but our pack is becoming segmented. The people do not follow me or trust me completely. With the rebirth of Nadalia, our pack would be strong once more. Otherwise, I fear we will fall apart and fight among ourselves."

Raastin holds up his hand like a schoolboy once again. "Excuse me, a jackal. A jackal that can turn into a human," he looks to the others with a bit of an incredulous look. "No pause? No shock? Just something that happens every day, right?" Turning back to the woman, with a sigh and then a sincere look, "Apologies and, um, condolences on your loss, but the ladies are right. Two wrongs don't make a right. What can we do to stop this...whether that be by helping you or turning the page on these hungry novellas?"

Ecko completely disregards Raastin's concerns. "I've seen worse! Remember the wererat we killed? This isn't much worse, right? They seem peaceful enough," he babbles, construing his words from a shockingly large array of voices. 

"Making money is doable, right? We can help with that some. Baldur's Gate is just too amazing, I would spend all of my money on stuff..," Ecko frets, eyes slowly swiveling towards a bookcase in the corner. Her rapidly readjusts his glasses and returns his focus to Korvala. "Sending out gingwatzim is a surefire method of drawing attention to yourselves. I suggest you gather together and move on as a group. We lost a few good people in the Omni-Smelter because, really, who follows safety protocols? But we didn't stop in what we were doing just because our bosses got frizzled." Ecko cheerily echoes Raastin's last question in his own voice, wondering if there was anything they could do to help. Ysabell certainly wouldn't permit the revival of Nidalia. Right? Ecko didn't really care much about life and death. He was here to have fun while he was alive. 

"How did ya earn money before she died?"  Garmus asks, stroking his beard, always a sign of him thinking or pondering.

"Excuse me, a jackal. A jackal that can turn into a human," he looks to the others with a bit of an incredulous look. "No pause? No shock? Just something that happens every day, right?" 
Eralynn nodded. This was, after all, a magical place. She places her hand in front of her face, and as she raises and lowers her hand, her expression changes from surprise to a smile like it's a slide show.

"Making money is doable, right? We can help with that some. Baldur's Gate is just too amazing, I would spend all of my money on stuff..," 
Eralynn wrote on her sketchbook. Why don't we work together and raise the money they need to bring back their loved one? They would be happy, and no one would be harmed by the books anymore?

"How did ya earn money before she died?"  Garmus asks, stroking his beard, always a sign of him thinking or pondering.
"We simply sold books and scrolls that were originals, not copies."

"What kinda skills ya got in yer group?"

"We are mostly crafters and sellers of books and scrolls. We don't really have any other skills." 

Eralynn looks up thoughtfully. Maybe we can donate them money?

Raastin grabs his heart, feigning a sharp pain in it as he reacts to Eralynn's suggestion. "We could just procure the needed diamond. Surely, there's some layabout noble who has one too many and wouldn't notice our generous re-appropriation of wealth."

Eralynn giggles, but looks up imploringly. There must be something we can do to help them? Besides stealing? Which i'm not completely against, but still.

"What can we do to improve your standing among the rest of the pack?  This seems like a better and a more realistic option than resurrection."  Ysabell commented to Korvala.

"With the option of resurrecting the dead, it would be difficult to dissuade my people to forgo such a plan of action." Korvala states. "With the information you have brought to us, we will consider your words and attempt to come up with a plan of our own. If you will excuse us, it is now time to leave. Thank you for your time."