((Would any of these people be known to Calwin as an Avowed whose been at the Keep for a while?))

The only person you recognize is Matreous. You have never seen any of these other people before. You know matreous to be smart but an arrogant prick.

Sallah whispers to Agar confidentially.
Soft enough that no one from the far side of the table will hear it, but perhaps Calwin and the rest of the ad hoc party are close enough to overhear. (Not intentionally.)

"You haven't seen the invitation. The handwriting is atrocious. I could barely make out Matreous' name or the password. I wouldn't be surprised if he meant to sent you an invite, but the messenger couldn't make out your name. Matreous may be a bright fellow, but he is such an arrogant prick, he wouldn't admit to messing up the delivery."

Jonathan takes a seat, one that looks appropriate to him. Hanging his coat on the back of the chair. "Expedition, where, why? And who are these folks?" He takes a small magnifying glass out of one of his coat pockets and makes it glow with a slight light.

The older man stands up and nods at Matreous, "Yes, thank you Matreous. My name is Gehir Greenloack and I understand this to be very sudden and frankly overwhelming so let me cut directly to the chase. I have been studying the stars for many years along side a group of halflings that have a rather... fanatically appreciation of the heavens. We detected a subtle but unmistakable alterations in the movement of the stars about two years ago. After much study and experimentation we found that this shift caused some tears in the fabric of this plane allowing other planes to seep into this one. With this knowledge I traveled to Silverymoon to confer with a notable planar scholar at the Vault of Sages. Unfortunately she had disappeared in some sort of accident but I was able to spend some time studying her work. Through rigorous study of planar theory she had been able to link movements in the stars and able to predict rifts in the planes and it turns out there is one developing only a few days travel from Candlekeep."

He takes a deep drink from a glass of water and clears his throat before continuing, "Knowing where a rift would form I began searching for a team that would be capable of not only exploring this anomaly but gather as much information, data and artifacts from it as possible. I found Gunnar and his team," he points to the tall man with beautiful flowing hair, "in Silverymoon and paid the handsomely to accompany me. While I am not devoid of power I am an old man I suspect the journey would be dangerous. We the briefly stopped in Baulder's Gate where Ms. Ninefingers," He, unsurprisingly, points to the women with nine fingers, "and her friends joined our merry band. The last stop was here to meet with my old friend Matreous and identify our.... scientific team... and that is why you were summoned. Now I am sure you all have questions, there is much more I could tell you but I don't want to bore or overwhelm you with too much information but please ask me anything you'd like."

"How will we determine authorship on any papers or treatise that come of our findings? I presume you'd claim last author position, as the financier of such an expedition, Mister...?", Calwin pauses to allow the older gentleman to introduce himself.

"Would Gunnar and Ninefingers be seeking first authorship? I'm not claiming it for myself with the task not yet completed, but one of Candlekeep ought to be in strong consideration. Master Matreous, your name attached to it would see it given due respect, will you be joining to contribute to the manuscript? Hmmm... unless she turns up in the course of our investigation, I think an acknowledgement will have to suffice for our lost scholar...."

"Yes Calwin an excellent academic question." Matreous chimes in, "Candlekeep's guidelines for authorship in scientific and novel publications are rather clear and I am disappointed you do not know them by now, though they are oft circumvented by the less ethical among us. Simply put anyone who contributes to the research in a novel and meaningful way that is substantive to the intellectual property shall be listed as an author of said manuscript. Now typically this applies to the one developing the thesis or hypothesis as well as those who analyze the data and shape the prose. As such your entire team would qualify for authorship. Mr Gunnar and Ms Ninefingers would not as their contributions are not involved in the synthesis of data but more the rote collection of said data. As for myself I would be happy to be mentioned as an acknowledgement I do not intend to directly participate in this particular line research. I have too many other projects which require my attention. The order of authorship will need to be evaluated on the grounds of the individual contribution, I suspect Mr Greenloack will occupy the senior authorship while one of you may claim first authorship should you take the initiative. Is this acceptable agreement?"

(The older man's name is Gehir Greenloack, He would have introduced himself I shall edit the post above.)

Calwin grits his teeth at Matreous' overly solicitous response.

"I'm well aware of the standard policy, but given that this is an outside venture brought to us by Mister Greencloak, second hand from the original scholar, and involving two additional parties, I felt a little clarity was warranted. Acknowledgements all around for those not authoring the paper, senior author to Mister Greencloak, remaining order to be determined by relative contribution."

He looks around at the others who responded to the summons, to see if it sits well with them.

"An academic feather in the cap for the Seekers among us looking to make a name for themselves!" 

Matreous lets out a heavy sigh, "Greenloack, his name is Gehir Greenloack. He is not a character in cheesy fantasy novel who is named after his manner of dress. That would be trite and insulting. Please pay attention to the details." ;)

Calwin halts with his mouth open, his dark complexion darkening in embarrassment. "My apologies Mister Greenloack, I must have misheard when you gave us your name the first time. We'd  be certain to have the spelling correct by the time we were ready for publication."

He keeps repeatedly clenching his fists, but the wind has been taken out of his sails for now.

Sallah chimes in, following Calwin's talking.

"Two questions for Mr. Greenloack. The first is, you mentioned the possibility of artifacts. If any are discovered that are of historical significance, they should not wind up in a private collector's vault. Will you guarantee that those sort of items belong in a museum?

"For the second, you said you went to Silverymoon to confer with perhaps the most notable planar scholar. It is somewhat dubious that you are dismissing her disappearance with the shallow explanation of "some sort of accident". Are there other groups or factions also interested in this phenomena, that would interfere with us during the trip?"

Matreous mumbles under his breath something that sounds like, "You belong in a museum..." but he is quickly cut off by Gehir, "Depending on the nature of the artifact I am open to them being sold to a reputable museum after we have thoroughly investigated their meaning. While this is just a hunch I am hoping we can find some meaning into the disappearance of the stars within one of these rifts. We can not discard any artifacts too quickly. Should we find anything of substantial value, I propose we split the profits equally among all participants in the expedition."

He seems to ponder your concern about the scholar a bit more carefully before responding. "I suppose it is possible that others are interested in this line of inquiry though I don't know anyone specifically. Scholar Galadon is... or was... brilliant but those who research the planes and planar travel as she was doing do often times disappear... it is an unfortunate risk in that line of work... To my knowledge there was nothing nefarious about the circumstances of her disappearance... other than her disappearing. I am afraid I don't have much more details regarding that."

Calwin History on Galadon?: 19
((Apologies if you prefer to ask for rolls, I don't think we'd cleared that. Would you prefer we roll when it seems warranted or wait?))

You have come across a book recently entitled; Defense and Security of Interplanar Rifts by Ysildea Galadon. It was brought to Candlekeep in the beginning of the summer. It dealt mostly with how to conduct research into Rifts and portals safely so you didn't get stuck or sucked into one. It was well thought out and written but otherwise unremarkable.

Good question. Feel free to roll anytime you want for a relevant skill so you don't have to wait for me to ask. If I think it is needed I will use it, if it's not needed I will just ignore the roll. The one thing I don't like is just random perception rolls. If you roll perception, investigation or insight let me know what you are looking for.

For example; DONT -- I walk into into a room and look around. Investigation: 25. DO -- I walk into the room and examine the strange painting of dog's sitting around play cards. Investigation: 1

"From what I read of Galadon's work, she was very careful about not getting trapped by rifts, but I suppose it would only take a moment of lapsed attention...", Calwin muses.

((Divine Sense class feature))

Brutish? Agar chuckled mirthlessly, then quoted the arms instructor at the Order who trained him and other would-be paladins. "Everyone looks down on the swordsman - until the ogres charge." He sheathed his sword and moved toward a free seat. He listened to the old man and, on a whim, focused on his intuitive sense in a special way taught to him by the paladins, which would warn him if any of them were unnatural monsters or fiends. Not likely - but he just couldn't forget the dream's end.

Once he found a chance to put in a word edgewise, he said "Let me make sure I got this right. There's a hole opening up or already open from this world to another, nearby. May be the reason why the starts are gone, and all that music before. And you want to send us there, just like that? Without any knowledge of where we're going and what we can expect there? Are you joking?

What's your plan for when we die within the first ten minutes, will you apologize to our ghosts? Have you considered divination first, perhaps some manner of summoned creature or automaton? Or is it just less trouble to hire a bunch of strangers? And speaking of hiring you haven't said anything about what we would gain, on the insignificant chance we'd make it back."

@Agar -- As you open your mind and spirit to the room and world around you gain a glimpse into the nature of those around you. You get nothing... there is no evidence of a fiend, celestial or undead to your divine senses.

Gehir simply shrugs and smiles, "Agar, was it? Adventuring and exploring the unknown is dangerous. It is very possible you, all of you will die. I can not guarantee your safety but I know the discoveries and opportunity to learn what exactly is going on this world is important enough to try. I am certainly not sending you there alone, I fully attend to come with. I will risk my life for this knowledge but I will not, nor could I, force you. If you don't have the stones for it then by all means stay here where it is safe." He pauses and looks about the room, "You can see, I don't do this lightly. Fifteen strong arms and minds I have assembled to venture on this task." He simply sits down and waits for your reply

Matreous however has something to say, "If you need more substantial motivation Candlekeep is prepared to compensate you for your time. You will each receive 500 gold on completion of the expedition. We will extend the stay for all Seekers who participate to 6 ten days and will split any profits made from the expedition equally among all participants. There are also the potential academic benefits which we discussed a moment ago."

Jonathan shrugs "Sometimes you can't learn anything without taking risks. And it seems this world is in trouble. I'm in." 

Sallah gives the others a chance to speak up, then makes another comment.

"That sounds good that resources are being devoted to this unusual event. Will transport (wagons, horses) be provided, or are we walking?

"You know the location of this event. What are the dangers along the route to this place, and at the location? Are there any settlements nearby that we would use for shelter instead of camping out in the open?"

Gehir returns to a business like manner as he responds "Ah yes, important practical questions. I have a wagon full of supplies for the entire expedition. It is obviously not big enough for everyone to ride but three could take turns resting in it while the rest march. In terms of the location, I do have a... rough idea of where the anomaly will be found... It should be to the east, in the Wood of Sharp Teeth as you call them. Perhaps 100-150 miles if the stars were correct. I was able to create a crude map based on the stars last known location. I am confident we will find it. As for settlements and shelters Candlekeep is the last outpost of civilization to our destination. Once we leave we shall be on our own." He takes a breath before continuing. "We should be prepared for anything. The closer we get to the anomaly the more unpredictable the environment will become. It wholly depends on the planes that are involved. The Woods themselves are dangerous as I am sure you are aware. Forest folk mostly but there are always rumors of worse."

Anyone who wants to can roll history to see what they know of the area. 

"I know this is sudden but I would like to leave at first light tomorrow. It will take us 4 days to get to the woods edge and time may of be of importance. If there is nothing else I will let the rest of the expedition make their introductions and grant you leave to make your preparations."