[Cosette, please make three Athletics checks.  The first check should be at disadvantage as you get the hang of the game.  Your DC for each check will be:

11

20

5 ]

"Mind if I limber up first?" Cosette asks genuinely. "I'd like to make sure I give the King the respect of my best performance." She bows her head. Should there be no objection or offense, the woman would take a few moments to stretch thoroughly to warm up her muscles for the match. She'd hum along to herself as she did.

Casting: Enhance Ability - Cat's Grace. The target has advantage on Dexterity checks. It also doesn't take damage from falling 20 feet or less if it isn't incapacitated.

"That's better." Cos practically purrs as she comes to stand back upright. "Time to give it the ol' college try." She winks. Taking hold of one of Grugga's racquets, Cosette steps onto the court.

1: 19
2: 25
3: 27

(Super whoops!! Just realized I did Acrobatics instead of Athletics.)
Therefore applied the wrong Enhance ability lol If the DM allows for me to apply Bull's grace instead for adv on strengths checks, then just subtract 9 from totals above.
If not here's a roll for DA for roll 1 and apply the first rolls in 2 and 3, still with -9: 7
(Separate post as to not manipulate rolls)
(My apologies for any confusion.)

While Cosette begins her match, the other strangers make conversation with the rest of you.  All of this group seem quite excited about racquetball... it must be a favored diversion down here.

The one who led the trio you met on the bridge approaches Rohuzar.  "If someone sent you to explore the city for them, they must think you a great warrior.  Who are you, really?  What kind of beasts have you felled, that give you reason to think you can handle the darkness that still dwells here?"  Watching the hooded man prepare to serve against Cosette, he extends a hand to shake.  "I'm Templeton, by the way.  But mostly I go by Elton."

Another approaches Leelan and Grugga.  "I guess you two must be the brains of the operation, eh?" he whispers, casting a sideways glance at Aubrey, Raqisat and Rohuzar.  "You guys do the planning so the pretty ones don't wander into a cloakers nest and wind up a pile of clean white bones on the floor?  Heh heh."  He is constantly moving, whether fidgeting his arms or looking back over his shoulder at nothing.  "Have they got books about this place?  What do they say?  What do you know about what lives out here, and how do you plan to survive it?"

The last man from the bridge moves beside Aubrey.  Silent up to this point in your presence, he proves surprisingly loquacious.  "I see your companions allow you to do a lot of their speaking for them.  Public speaking skills and a wardrobe noticeably better than the others... you'd have to come from merchant stock or nobility.  You seem quite interested in the future of Amnifortis.  Unless that's because you stand to make a profit off of it, that tips the scales toward nobility.  Is that it then?  Looking to reclaim the seat of your ancestors?  Or carve out a new one?"  He is quiet for a moment.  "Its a tall order... this city holds tight to the bones of many who've come along before you."

The extra-large giant rat approaches Raqisat.  It circles a few times, eyeing him and sniffing with a long pink nose.  It might be your imagination, but you can't shake the feeling the creature is evaluating you with an unnatural intelligence.

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

The one who led the trio you met on the bridge approaches Rohuzar.  "If someone sent you to explore the city for them, they must think you a great warrior.  Who are you, really?  What kind of beasts have you felled, that give you reason to think you can handle the darkness that still dwells here?"  Watching the hooded man prepare to serve against Cosette, he extends a hand to shake.  "I'm Templeton, by the way.  But mostly I go by Elton."

 Rohuzar offers a hand. "Rohuzar. Ya. Ve are all fighters. And other things. Hardly as strange as living here. How does that happen?"

"Well, it would seem a waste to let this once mighty city be in the grasp of monsters." Aubrey answers plainly, hoping to seem relaxed but being very alert as their hosts spread out to engage the team members in various conversations, making sure to not have his back to any of them if possible, watching for any signs of deception. "I'm impressed by what you have done here though, making a living in a place that you say would be the doom for so many others. How do you deal with the aberrations that infest the ruins? Do they simply not find their way down here?"

(Rolls as per #2761)

     Raqisat keeps an eye on the game trying to determine just how it is played.  He notes the oversized rat hanging near him and absentmindedly puts a hand out to be sniffed as one would with a dog, but otherwise just tries to keep the creature in his peripheral vision.  ((Unless it seems friendly and receptive, then he would pet it as he would a dog...))

Leelan looks up at the man who approached them. He is intrigued by the odd line of questioning, but mostly by the man’s mannerisms.

"We have come as prepared as we can to face the dangers of this city. If you know anything that could help us in our endeavor, I would ask that you share it with us."

Noticing his fidgeting, he adds "Are you well? You seem somewhat agitated."

Leelan would try to look out for any physiological sign that this man may be ill.

Perception: 17

or would that be Medicine: 16

Grugga smiles at Cosette as she publicly praises his craftsmanship. "Well, it was a team effort."

When the jittery man approaches, Grugga lets Leelan do the initial talking, but he does jump in after the first salvo of conversation: "Leelan here is the finest Monster Hunter we could ask for, and an intellectual powerhouse to be sure." He says, confirming that Leelan is the brains of this operation. "There are plenty of books on Amnifortis. You can learn just about anything up until the point of the Breach, and then the information stops. I've never seen a book describing the events of the Breach in this city..." He looks the man dead in the eyes as he asks, "Do you have any stories from your ancestors what happened in Amnifortis during the Breach?"

Regarding the last of the man's questions about the aberrations of the city, Grugga lets Leelan answer it more thoroughly if he chooses to.

Cosette begins the match against the hooded stranger.  With her magical augmentation, she holds her own at the opening of the game.  Its a tricky thing to get used to.  The court is small and positioning seems to be most important.  The ball bounces unpredictably... it looks like a balled up mass of hair with something like a cork core inside.  

The game requires a combination of strength, speed, change of direction and anticipation.  You come very close to taking the first point but the hooded man's stamina seems limitless.  You are a half step slow and miss what would have been the winning point.  While you both catch your breath, he seems delighted.  "That was impressive.  You must play this a lot, wherever you are from."

Rohuzar:

"Our people were down here long before the Breach.  When the topsiders died or fled, it just opened up the city and its wealth for us.  Sure, life is a constant battle... but how else should it be?  We're the only ones left standing in a city built 2000 years ago.  And even if princes and emperors come back to reclaim the stone towers above, we'll still be down here, richer and stronger than ever."

Aubrey:

He shrugs.  "They do come down from time to time.  At first, they were too busy devouring all the poor souls on the surface to bother with the underground.  And once that was over, we just had to make it too much of a hassle to mess with us.  You need to understand... the aberrations aren't 'smart' in any way a person would consider smart.  But they aren't stupid either.  Most of them, anyway.  Teach them that coming down here means pain, and they stay out.  Most of them."

They don't seem to be up to anything nefarious.  In a way, this feels almost like a lobbyist social back at the forum... albeit a dirty, underground social attended by a giant rat.

Grugga and Leelan:

"Me?  Well?  Sure!  Why do you ask?" the twitchy one asks of Leelan, while continuing to fidget in an agitated manner.

"Stories?  Sure.  We got lots of stories," he says to Grugga.  "Most of us kept down here during the worst of it, but survivors from up top came underground to hide and they brought stories.  They said a great black hole opened in the sky, and aberrations poured out like it was raining giant, tentacled meatballs.  And it was a trifecta of plagues... half the folk got eaten by monsters; half the folk got covered in boils and other sores and diseases, and half the folk went stark raving mad and started killing the other half.  The humans, that is.  Most of the survivors were elves, dwarves and orcs.  They didn't get sick or crazy, though they didn't dare any better against the monsters...".

Raqisat:

You don't get the impression the rat is interested in being petted.  It looks like it wouldn't be pleasant for either of you, anyway.  Its fur is more like a porcupine or razorback hog... all course and prickly.  It remains cordial, sniffing about and observing you while the others talk.

Aubrey relaxes somewhat as he listens to the sincere words of the survivor while enjoying the intense match of racquetball on the court, watching the players style and grace as they agilely move around. "So, would you care to share what kind of aberrations you have identified and how you most effectively inflict that pain on them?" He says with a polite smile, pausing briefly to give Cosette and the hooded stranger and applause for their entertaining game. "Good show Cosette, you make us all proud."

Leelan keeps a close eye on the twitching man. Something about him raises a few red flags for the gnome.

"Aberrations are tricky. By definition, their thought process is hard to understand because of how foreign, or rather how alien it is compared to ours. Which is why there isn’t a lot of literature about them."

The gnome tries his best to understand the story that the man is telling them. "It all sounds awful, but you do realize that you mentioned four halves, right?"

     Finding the giant rat a bit unsettling, Raqisat decides to see how the others are getting along with their minders.  Calling out words of encouragement to Cosette "Looking great out there!" Raqisat then nonchalantly walks over to Aubrey and asks what he thinks of the match so far...  Mainly looking to see if the rat follows him like mall security or not.

It feels good to lose herself to the motions of sport and to give her limbs a stretch. “Us northerners are built resilient teh say the least.” Cosette offers a humbled smile as she catches her breath, satisfied with her own efforts for a first game. 

The match continues.  Cosette feels like she is getting the hang of this sport, but the hooded man is clearly just getting into his stride.  He is in the right place every time, and every one of his shots pushes Cosette harder and harder to reach and return.  Eventually he takes the second point, clearly relishing the game.  For the third and final point, he slows his pace down, offering pointers to Cosette as they play.  He doesn't let you win, but he does clearly play the last point more for fun than for competition.  Cosette coasts to an easy victory on the last point.  

With that, he collects the paddle back from her.  "These are great," he says from under his hood.  "I couldn't tell if these are exactly the same as the originals, but 'who cares', right?  They work damn fine."

The bridge leader answers Aubrey, "Chokers and Cloakers, mostly.  Seldom more than one at a time down here.  The chokers are fast as hell, but can't really take a punch.  A few crossbow bolts or stabs and they are done for.  In numbers, they can be a real threat but that's a topside problem.  Cloakers... cloakers are more of a problem.  They're ambush hunters.  They'll drop on you, wrap you up and no one will ever know what happened to you.  If you can spot them first you're ahead of the game, but it takes practice."

"Of course, there's always weirder stuff out there.  They tell stories about some real crazy stuff that was seen back when the Breach first happened... huge piles of sentient slime... giant tentacled masses that could turn invisible... but we don't see much like that even when we venture out above ground.  "

Leelan, if you had to guess you would suspect this man suffers from some sort of nervous disorder.  He is either unaware of it, or playing games about it.

"Four haves?  Have what?  I don't follow?"

Raqisat, the rat does indeed follow.  Not exactly like mall security... more like it is curious and still hasn't finished sniffing you up down and sideways yet.

     Raqisat does his best to ignore the rat...  He had thought to be friendly with it but up close, well the thing was very rat-like afterall.    Instead Raqisat will focus on the match and be ready with a waterskin for Cosette between matches or when there is a break.  "It is best you let him win," he mentions before the second match begins.  "Royalty and all that..."  He is then pleased that she makes her effort look so convincing in the second match so that he is assured to take the game.  

"So, I suppose you wouldn't mind if we hunt down some of these aberrations then, a little less for your hunters to worry about at least." Aubrey says tentatively. "We are aware that there are things in the ruins we would not want to encounter, but we are planning to proceed with great caution and although I myself are mainly around to oversee things I sincerely believe that the other members of our team are the best one could have for an expedition such as ours. If there are any specific areas and places within the ruins we should know about I would greatly appreciate if you took it up with our cartographer." He says, inclining his head to Cosette. "After she is finished playing your esteemed king of course." He adds with a polite smile.

When the match is done, the hooded man turns the paddles over to the men who had been talking to Grugga/Leelan and Aubrey, who start their own match.  Neither displays the skill of the hooded man, but they clearly have enthusiasm for the game.

The hooded man and the bridge leader approach your group while the others play.

"What do you think, Nic?"

The hooded man smiles.  "Oh, I think I've seen enough.  We can trust them.  Why don't you tell them what they need to do, Elton?"

Elton nods.  Then he looks at Aubrey and Rohuzar.  "If you seek leave to have free access to the city for your explorations, we are prepared to give our blessing.  Provided, of course, you do us one more favor."

"Something new has come down into our lair.  Something we haven't seen before.  It's killing our rats and crocs, and... one of our clan.  We can't afford to throw more of our people at it without knowing how to kill it.  But the location is it hunting is an important crossroads in the undercity.  We are cutoff from a large section of our tunnels as long as it is there."

"And so the gods have delivered you to our doorstep," says Nic with a sweeping hand gesture towards all of you.  "Monster hunter extraordinaires, here to slay and study the worst of the Breach vermin.  Well, here is your chance.  If you want our permission to access the city, hunt and kill this thing for us.  And if you can't... well, then you would not have lasted long in Amnifortis anyway."

     Raqisat squints and listens closely to Nic and the others skeptically.  (Insight 16 to judge trustworthiness?)  He doesn't doubt how deadly this monster may be, nor their unwillingness to continue going after it... But he's more wondering whether this will indeed be the last favor or if there will always be one more.  Add to that the wondering of just how long their permission will last...

     Raqisat will try to catch Aubrey's eyes and convey some of his concern to him nonverbally but not knowing the man yet isn't sure just how much he can get across with a look.  Still, he seems solid enough to ask about more than just the monster itself...  Right?

Raqisat: