((Insight from Jaq and Ernos now, please.))

20

Insight: 16

Ernos spots, from his position of inconspicuousness, that Thir is on the verge of attacking or running at the dragon. Her entire body is tensed for action and her hand is squeezing the hilt of her short sword so tightly he is pretty sure he can hear her knuckles cracking. Beyond Thir, Ernos sees that the dragon is relaxed, and seems to be completely unconcerned. She is also very much aware of Thir and, while she is ostensibly talking to Jaq she is looking at Thir with...a dragony smile?

Jaq spots a range of emotions on the faces looking at them from the tomb mouth. The goblin looks hopeful, the hobgoblin angry and the bugbear looks exhausted. The golem's poker face remains as unreadable as ever. Beneath the various looks, he also detects nervousness.

The dragon responds,

"Close you say?"

She sniffs and narrows her eyes at the small hill before continuing,

"I am talking to my subjects, elf. Aren't, I?"

One, gobliny head, nods with vigor in the tomb entrance.

"Now, elf, why does it always seem that you show up when I am tracking down...trouble makers?"

A small amount of green gas leaks from her nostrils.

"Bring the rest of your companions here, elf. Now."

Jaq keeps his face blank an nods at the dragon.  Hoping that will appease her a bit and be the subserviance she is looking for.     "I will have them come here.  You do understand that we have no desire to have any sort of fight today.  We already had to deal with some crazed ogres that were in a frenzy and just wanted to kill anything they saw. (It was ogres we fought that were with the kobolds, right? Or else I use whatever it was we fought against the kobolds)  We just want co-exist, no fighting."  

After he gets an answer that doesn't say that she is just going to eat Kroshav or something of that sort, he will yell for the rest of the party to come forward.

The dragon listens to Jaq without a change in posture or expression that the elf can see.

Only Ernos notices that her eyes ever so slightly switch from Thir to Jaq when he mentions fighting crazed ogres.

"Coexist? As long as my rules are followed, I'm most welcoming."

She responds sweetly.

"Rules, I am good with rules.  I would rather have rules than chaos." He holds a slight smile.

"Excellent, call your companions. I won't have them lurking about."

"Guess we could have tried sneaking after all..."

Kroshav remarks to Clad before straighting his gear and striding forward.

Berylberlia (Beryl the dragon),

Turns her head slightly to track Kroshav and Cladmir as they come around the drift. She asks,

"There aren't anymore back there are there? I don't want this to become a situation where more and more of you wander around."

She looks between the companions for an answer, before continuing, with a bit of...amusement in her deep voice,

"So, what are you going to do now? I think I have lost patience in waiting for you to swear your loyalty freely. Now I need something extra, what can you offer me to come under my graces?"

This entire situation is going completely over the old soldier's head and he has absolutely no idea what is going on or what the dragon is talking about.

He has also not readied his weapons at all.  Just shuffling after Kroshav.

Jaq waits for the others to get closer and join the group.

"We are talking here.  Beryl," he looks and nods at the dragon, " is asking what we can do for her to get in her good graces.  Any thoughts guys?"

While he is here and so close to the dragon in light, he will try to gauge exactly how old/large/strong this beast is!  Nature check?  20

He then looks back to Beryl, "Do you mean a task you want us to do for you?"

((Jaq rolled on this before and got about the same, she's over a hundred years old, maybe even two hundred. Jaq would estimate he is dealing with a dragon equivalent of a teenager.))

Beryl gives Jaq a thoughtful look.

"Let me think... Mmmm."

She makes a show of going through ideas, and it is clearly a show, muttering a word in draconic now and then before tapping a claw against the icy stone. Her lips pull slightly back from her teeth in a slight snarl or grin,

"Oh yes! I do have a specific task in mind. This area is plagued with gryphons. Kill them. Bring me their heads."

"They've attacked us already, tried to take my horse. I've no love for the gryphons."

Beryl, who has thus far only been vaguely aware of Kroshav, turns and considers the dragonborn. She leans in towards him slightly and gives a deep sniff.

"They are a nuisance, love eating horses."

She does actually sound oddly concerned as she continues,

"May I ask, where is your horse?"

She glances towards the small rise you came around,

"Back there by itself?"

Thir keeps on glaring daggers at the dragon but does seem more in control.

"She's safe from gryphons, knows to look out for them, and don't think they'll be out while you're around."

All Cladmir could think of was the fall he suffered from the darn gryphons and shivered. 

((Insight from everyone and an intelligence check from Cladmir and Jaq (I think) for more on yon griffon lore.))

Beryl raises a reptilian eyebrow at Kroshav's response but only pursues the middle statement,

"Your horse knows to look out for them? What a clever horse."

She looks between the group and before continuing,

"I will take your responses as acceptance then. They nest somewhere in the mountains slightly to the north and east of here. I would recommend you start climbing now, you'd probably not enjoy if they find you clinging to the side of the mountain."

She waits to see the response of the party before turning slightly to face the trio in the tomb entrance, before pausing and adding as an afterthought,

"Oh, and if you succeed you can find me here. I need to coordinate matters with my followers for the next little while."

Kroshav Insight: 19

"Yep! Smartest horse I've ever met!", the big paladin agrees.

Kroshav's heart swells and he has to wipe away tears of pride, completely missing whatever reaction Beryl might have had to anything he said.

His pride is only slightly lessened by Sword's,

 And a mild, impossible sense of horsy abandonment as Charlie flashes through Kroshav's mind.