"Hmmph.", he frowns. "Doesn't sound like fun."

He looks at Randy, head tilted a bit to the side.

Randy raises an eyebrow. "Yes? You have a question?"

"Just trying to decide if you're hiding something, or the desert baked all the polite out of you. You know the names of me and mine, your healer I heard goes by "Coljin", but I don't have a name for you, the flaming dwarf, or the other gnome that is walking way too close to my daughter for my comfort if you're wanted men or the like. So. You have a name you just forgot to share, or should I be concerned about what else you might be not mentioning?"

Randy chuckles.  "Your pardon. Randerwaith Buckthorn,  ranger in the service of the church of Obad Hai and liaison to and for the Church of the All Mother in Circle Vale.  Since some of our errands are sensitive in nature, we've become a bit...cautious." 

Randy carefully observes the fellow to see if he reacts to the name. He's not really expecting anything , but there was that dust up in Ander's town....  A long ways off to be sure, but with magic and enough money and animus, anything is possible.

Dornikal scratches his stubbly chin,

"Discussing, like meh telling ye about him and ye deciding if ye want to pay respects to him. That kind of discussing. Either or ye interested?"

To the flames comment he responds,

"Aye, great for hydra! Maybe aye should make a career out of being a hydra exterminator. Unfortunately it required that the thing hit me for it work. Aye'm Dornikal Greystone by the way, Acolyte of Dumathoin. Of the Greystone Greystones."

"Oh, I'm hoping I'll be able to tell you at least some, for sure!" Ulmwin says, as they approach the rest of the party, soon enough calling out. 

"Greetings, everyone! Did Randy finish introducing me already? It's Ulmwin, bard extraordinaire, but I'll accept just Ulmwin. Anyone still injured?" he says, doing a cursory inspection. Barring obvious injuries, he at least points to some of the torn outfits he sees, at least any ones he wouldn't call a total loss. "I can help you patch that up in a bit, if you give me a moment."

Brucho's smile widens as Randy apologizes and introduces himself.

"Caution's a fine trait, Randerwaith, have a streak of that myself. If the Oak Father has an clergy in Torfelna, I've not met them, but there's an oak grove to the north... well, northeast from here, that has a shrine dedicated to him. Can't say as I know much one way about the Circle Vale folks."

He doesn't seem to react to you name in any sort of way that makes you think he'd heard it in any sort of less than savory contexts, or have any odd responses to your religious affiliations.

"Wwho is Dumathoin-Heart-of-the-Mountain, a friend of yourss?", the tabaxi asks, eyes following the flicker and crackle of flames as they dance around Dornikal.

"Dwarf god. Gems and the like.", Evar supplies, as he unrolls a bundle, revealing assorted skinning knives and other tools.

"Yyou can talk about your dwarf gem god, and I will listen, Dornikal-Greystone-Bytheway-Acolyte-of-Dumathoin-of-the-Greystone-Greystoness."

For a moment, Dornikal almost thinks he caught the hint of a smile from the terse and dour tracker, before he selects a blade and begins pushing it into more easily penetrated portions of the bulette hide.

Ulmwin arrives, and sees that Coljin seems to have healing well in hand, Dornikal being the only of your party that got attacked by either of the creatures, and one of the hunters seeming to have sustained minor injuries that have been tended to. The man with a torn sleeve who is thanking your cleric looks a bit younger and a shade lighter hair than the large, bearded fellow that Randy is chatting with. Dornikal is with a wiry older man and a tabaxi, while a tall woman is a little ways off, starting some sort of work on the hydra.

"He only just got around to introducing himself, hadn't made it to you yet!", calls the fellow the the torn sleeve. "Don't worry about it, one more tear just makes it better!", he says as he gestures to the outfit which is a similar mound sporting short bits of frayed rope and rags dyed various shades of green and brown. His is obviously more well used than the one that Vaduta is wearing. 

The young tiefling quietly fills Ulmwin in. "That's Nunkle Boskin, he's my Da's brother, not my Mum's. Evar is the one getting started on the bulette, and Whoopsie is the one who's entranced by your... fire dwarf? He's gonna want to study your dwarf. I mean, I kinda want to too, just... just maybe quietly let him know to hear any experiments through before agreeing, yeah?"

Coljin listens and takes in all the new people and the conversation.  After a bit he will take a walk over to the bulette and Evar.  "Mind if I watch and learn?  I grew up in a forest and we, too, butchered our kills and used most everything.  Be interesting to know what you all get from this thing."

Randy relaxes a bit and nods. "If I can get the time, I'll see if I can swing by the shrine and take care of any maintenance it may need then.  Appreciate knowing where it is now. I'm not really expecting the All Mother to have much outside Circle Vale as the brothers have not been the traveling type.  Hence the reason that they "barrow" someone like me from one of the other churches when they have business outside of the Vale." He shrugs. "They have a fine library that they let me use when I'm there, so I don't mind.   We are on our way to the University to make some inquiries and do some research in fact.  You say the University placed a bounty on the Hydra? Interesting.  Is it an experiment that got away from them?"

((Hmm. Not sure if we should go back to color coding the speech or not. What do you think?))

Dornikal perks up at both the awareness from Evar and then the opportunity from the tabaxi.

"Let meh give ye a hand there with that bulette, and aye'll explain while aye work!"

Walking over he examines what Evar is doing and sees where to best join in before starting his lesson,

"Yer companion here isn't wrong, Dumathoin is a god of gems but he is also a god of exploration, and when the time comes death. Aye've embraced all aspects of his holy guidance, and he doesn't only accept dwarves into his worship!"

"Dumathoin isn't a jealous god so ye can worship him along with most others, thanking him for the beauty of gems, both raw and cut, or for guiding ye down new paths, both literal and figurative. For instance, today aye got the opportunity to try fighting a hydra, something new for meh and aye thank him for seeing meh through that, giving meh the strength to stand toe to toe with it. When the time comes to explore beyond this life, aye know Dumathoin when guide meh to the life beyond as he has guided those before meh."

Dornikal checks on the tabaxi to make sure they are following before continuing,

"And worship is easy, hold Dumathoin in yer heart as you try new things. Thank him for the beauty of the gifts from the deeps of the earth. Commend those who fall into his halls."

He looks over again,

"Do ye have any questions?"

((Guessing a survival roll to help: 5 (10)))

Ulmwin starts out with a slight, defusing laugh toward Boskin. "Ah, that's Randy for you. So worried about being official and polite, he slips some of the basics. Do forgive him!"

Ulmwin nods to each of the introduced names so far by the tiefling, giving a hearty nod and smile should anyone catch their name in passing to greet them back. He gives a little triumphant chuckle at the torn outfit, too. "Aha, I see. Is it like victory scars, but without the potential ache?", before his eyes eventually dart to "Whoopsie" and Dornikal. His mouth opens for a moment, but Dornikal has already started by the time the first words come out. He glances back, saying softly.

"Frankly, I think it's Whoopsie that should have been warned about Dornikal...", he grins, mostly jesting. Eyes slowly dart over the rest of the ragtag group, spotting at least a few more people that Vaduta has not gotten around to introducing yet.

"You've quite the big family! Ma and da present here today as well?" (If there's only two people left to introduce, he's asking if they are the family members in question instead-)

((If it makes it easier for you guys to parse, I can at least make an effort to color code the NPCs?))

"Mind if you only watch.", Evar says, and hands Coljin a pair of short wooden handles with a hook sticking out of the middle in a "T". He shows you how to hook under the heavy plating to allow him better access with his blade.

Dornikal joins in, but he get so caught up in talking about his god, that he doesn't realize he's been just leaning against the dead bulette until Evar gives him a bit of a nudge to get out of the way. He also realizes that his fire has gone out, much to the tabaxi's disappointment. 

"Yyour god makes you catch fire without burning, Dornikal-Greystone-Bytheway-Acolyte-of-Dumathoin-of-the-Greystone-Greystoness? Ccan you do it againn? Vvery much interested in knowing how it workss. Ggems have many uses, does your god let you use them, or does he consider them sacredd?"

"If you're looking for books and research, few better places in the known world! Nah, not an escapee... well, not as far as I know. One of them needed hydra blood for something."

"Something like that!"

From introducing her father's brother, Ulmwin would take the similar looking, older, darker haired man talking to Randy to be her dad, leaving the tall woman by the hydra to probably be her mom. It's quite obvious that neither of them are tieflings.

Dornikal glances around at the lack of fire,

"Just Dornikal is fine. And the fire? No, fire was from a gem blessed by some friends in the desert, not sure how it works. It needs a bit to recharge now but if ye are asking about what boons he grants? If ye go all in he will grant ye the full abilities of a cleric, healing, moving earth, finding gems, putting down the undead. He grants his strength to meh in fights though, ye saw the flashes of light when aye hit the hydra and bulette? That was Dumathoin's blessing. Far as the gems go, Dumathoin wants us to find them and use them. Get them out in the world to be appreciated, seen and, if needs be, used. Part of meh worship of Him is working raw gems."

Dornikal steps away from the dead beast to not be in the way again.

Ulmwin appears to either have pegged the girl already as adopted, or considers the potentially complicated familiar matters to such a simplistic point, he shows not a hint of surprise to see the "mom" and "dad" as normal humans. Normal people likely have predispositions, especially when it comes to the matter of considering a tiefling... But while Ulmwin may not be as naive to be ignorant of those, he doesn't seem to let such things influence his judgment.

"Quite the interesting group you have. Not that our own group is any less rag-tag mind you, hah," he says, indicating himself as much as everyone else of his group. He's even briefly scanning the horizon, looking for Zokk to really finish off the picture... But then shrugs. "You've all been together long?" he says, briefly glancing at the bulette... But seemingly finds the hydra a far more interesting specimen. At least it looks as if he might want to help with it while conversing, even if he's not sure about the "how" yet. 

The tabaxi seems a bit disappointed that the fire isn't attributable to the god you're telling him about.

"Ddornikal thenn. Tthe dwarven god Moradin is known, but Dumathoin is neww. Yyou can call me Whoopsie, everyone else doess. Ddid see the light, I have made devices that use gems to focus and produce light, but in a different mannerr. Wwould you like to seee?"

((Ulmwin, you can make what I'm going to call an Intelligence (Insight) check about the girl's parentage.))

"Well, I've been with my parents since I was born," her hand gesture encompassing the two others confirms they are who  you suspected, "but only been helping on jobs the last year or so, once I got old enough they weren't quite as worried bringing me. Nunkle Boskin and Da been working together since they were young, before he met my Mum. Evar got hired on for a job maybe ten years back and gets on well with everyone, though he doesn't always show it. Whoopsie is the newest besides me, he makes all sorts of stuff that make jobs go better. Without his inventions, we wouldn't have taken this job."

"C'mon, I'll introduce you to Mum," she says, clocking the bard's interest in the hydra, leading him over. "Ulmwin, this is Kayleera, Mum this is Ulmwin, the other set of eyes in the sky."

The tall woman turns, and Ulmwin notes at least some elven ancestry as she looks him up and down.

"Ulmwin. Appreciate you being up there to help keep an eye on things, this your first hydra?"

Insight: 13

The gnome nods. "So it is miss. Only heard about them in stories up until now. Always did wonder if you could just keep chopping off the heads to have an infinite food source, but after seeing the kind of fight it put up I'd see why that wouldn't really be a viable option," he notes, and yet... Briefly leans over, checking out some of the stumps, if it could even be remotely considered "appetizing" in the first place. 

"With all the preparation you had, you would probably have all been fine. Still, glad to have helped."

"Neck meat isn't the best tasting. Think it's something about how fast it grows, just kind of bland. I agree the logistics would be a nightmare. Vad, give me a hand, dear? Ulmwin, you can pitch in if you like...", she glances at your instrument case, "or if you'd rather not get your hands messy, perhaps a tune to speed the work? If that's not too presumptive."

As she speaks, she pulls out a length of metal tubing, and feeling around on one of the cauterized stumps, finds what she was looking for and pushes the tube the length of her forearm into the flesh. Dark red blood begins flowing out the tube and into a waterskin affixed to a hook on the end. Vaduta nods and rolls up her sleeves, helping her mother locate and tap the arteries, moving on to the next neck once this one is set.

"Gotta get it before it coagulates and doesn't flow anymore.", Vaduta explains.

"If you want your first taste of hydra, there'll be plenty to go around this evening, if you and your friends are sticking around, that is."

((Ulmwin's not sure, she could be adopted, but if she's not, she's either the biological offspring of one or the other parent, or something hidden in their ancestry cropped up in their daughter that neither parent expressed. Either way, he's sure it would be rude to ask if it weren't done in a carefully thoughtful manner.))

Ulmwin can't help a wide smirk as he pulls out his lute with a little flourish, finding a suitable rock or similar to set himself upon. His fingers are already finding the correct strings for a jovial tune, even if he explains.

"Far am I above making my hands dirty, but I agree that this might make the happenings more pleasant for everyone," he nods. He spares at least one bardic inspiration to Vaduta and her mother while they work on the hydra (and will sneakily also claim this totally counts as the "help" action on one of them.)

"And if you'd have us, I'd personally see no harm in sticking around for a while. I did promise your daughter here some stories, so I do not see why I could not share with all."

fluff performance: 20 (11)

Ulmwin is apparently doing a very, very average performance... He's probably just distracted by also keeping up conversation. Maybe being humble and not wanting to drag all the attention to himself. Yeah, that's definitely it.

((He's saving himself for when his audience can give him their full attention, clearly if he were to go all out here, they'd be so enraptured that they'd miss their window on collecting viable hydra blood.))

"Nice to meet ye Whoopsie, and aye glad aye could spread knowledge of Dumathoin. It's part of the reason aye'm out and about! Also, aye'd love to see yer gems! Do ye cut them yerself? Dumathoin would definitely approve of ye using them in creative ways!"