The Garbage Men walk into the command tent, heavy bags jingling with the sound of coin, and Finn accompanies them.  As it happens, the dented breastplate from Greenest is fitting, as it somewhat fits with the cobbled-together aesthetics of the Garbage Men's uniforms.  You don't feel that you look out of place beside them at all.

Inside, the tent seems even larger than it did outside.  There is a lot of negative space, with a heavy wooden desk in the center, a few bookshelves and tables, and then some chairs and large lounge pillows tossed about on the floor.

Behind the desk stands the half-dragon Langdedrosa Cyanwrath, who so recently had bested Jirel in single combat.  He stands formally, arms folded behind his waist.  Gone is his half-plate armor.  He is dressed instead in a more ornate version of the purple robes you saw last night.

The red robed wizard and the white dragon monstrosity are standing next to the desk.  Seated on one of the pillows, bound and gagged, is a human woman in chainmail.  She looks young, perhaps less than 20.

The red wizard holds a purple stone in his hand and is speaking to no one in particular when you enter.

"... said nothing, even under pain of death.  Absolutely a spy... a Harper, most likely.  It explains the bolstered defenses in Greenest.  Your orders?"

Everyone in the room stands silently for a moment.  Then Jozen steps forward and clears his throat.  All eyes snap to him, and Cyanwrath barks, "Silence, mercenary."

Another 30 seconds pass in awkward silence, and then the red wizard continues, "Understood.  Safe travels, then.  We shall meet again at Naerytar."  He sets the purple stone down on the desk.  Then he nods to Cyanwrath.  "As expected.  She wants us on the road."  He looks down at the bound woman.  "You can put her with the prisoners," he smiles cruelly, "I know a spot has just opened up."

Cyanwrath calls in one of the guards, who listens to some quiet orders from the half-dragon, then pulls the woman to her feet and leads her out of the tent.  Meanwhile, the red wizard takes a pair of velvet gloves from his pockets and make a display of slowly putting them on as he looks over the Garbage Men.  Through all this the white dragon creature is quiet... a silent menace lurking in the room.

"The guards state you are here on business for Lady Rezmir.  She has already departed, so you shall be dealing with me instead."

Jozen smiles and sets down a bag of treasure.  "Yes, well, the name is Jozen Ivory and these are the Garbage Men.  Pleased as punch to make your acquaintance.  You see, we were contracted by the Lady Rezmir...".

The wizard cuts him off.  "As I said, the guards announced your arrival and I know why you are here.  Show us the treasure."

The three Garbage Men open their bags, spilling a bit of loot onto the floor.  You see coins - silvers, gold dragons, coppers and more - along with necklaces, rings, silver candlesticks... it is quite an assortment.  The wizard nods.  "I trust the hamlets along the Amnish border didn't give you too much trouble?"  The wizard's eyes then turn to Finn, taking note he has no sack of gold.

Jozen shakes his head, answering the last question, some of his charm wearing thin.  "No trouble at all.  Now, about our deal...".

"A curse, yes?  To be undone.  A simple matter."  He places his hands behind his back and walks slowly back and forth.  "I wonder though.  Perhaps we have something more you can do for us.  Not so much..."  he stops.  "Yes.  I think you can help us out with something else entirely.  Then we can talk about this curse."

Jozen smiles at the wizard, but it is malignant.  "That wasn't the deal, mate."  You didn't notice their hands move, but see now that all three of the Garbage Men have their hands resting on their weapons.  All of them, even the previously nervous Morty have eyes like ice.  On the other side of the room, there is no hint of urgency in the wizard, Cyanwrath or the white dragon monster.  If they are worried about the Garbage Men, they do not flinch or even summon the guards.  The moment hangs in tension...

..."So be it," says the wizard.  He turns his back to the Garbage Men and then spins, pointing a wand at Balthazar in a flourish.  "Turpis Dimiterris!"  Before any can react, a column of darkness spirals out of Balthazar and into the wand.  The man gasps and falls down onto his backside.  Morty and Jozen remain, eyes locked on the wizard.

"You alright, Balz?" asks Jozen.  The larger man stands back up, clears his throat... and then laughs.  

"Yeah, man.  Whew!  And look..." he opens his mouth wide.  "No flies!"

The wizard smiles, basking in his display of power.  "You may depart.  If you aren't interested in more work, then you have no more business here."

Leaving the treasure behind, the four of you leave the tent.  The Garbage Men have a quiet conversation among themselves back at the horses, debating whether they should go back and ask about the other job, now that the curse has been lifted.

9

16

Finn, based on your ride through the camp, you would guess the number of kobolds here to be 50+ ands the number of human cultists to be 40+.

Tylaerys, as you wander more freely through the camp, you would estimate the number of kobolds to be between 75 and 100, while there are probably 60 or so human cultists.

[Need another stealth check for exploring among the tightly packed prisoners.]

As far as their bindings, there are no locks on the chains.  The chains are wrapped tightly around and between their wrists and then tied with twine.  The chains are then fed through a hole at the base of each post, with a prisoner on each end.  Based on the length of the chain, it prevents either prisoner from standing without pulling the other prisoner down.  But, a simple knife would be all that's necessary to free everyone.  The noise of all the rusty chains could be a big problem, however.

As for sneaking out... the human cultist area of the camp doesn't have any tent openings facing the southern wall of the canyon.  But down by the kobolds the layout is much more chaotic and the kobolds are constantly coming and going.  It might be possible to sneak through that part of the camp undetected... but you're not sure how likely it could be pulled off.

You were told to look for a half-elf monk.  None of the prisoners here are half-elves.  Disturbingly, while you cannot be certain, the charred corpse's suggest it may have been a half-elf in life.

Regarding Red Wizards:  You know they are one of the groups the Harpers are interested in keeping an eye on, but you haven't been involved on any such assignments or briefed on them.  You would know that Thay is a nation far to the east, said to be ruled by powerful undead wizards.  At times the Red Wizards have meddled in Sword Coast politics.  They wear brightly colored red robes - hence the name.

New stealth roll: 15

Somewhat disheartened again by the realization that her contact might indeed be the charred corpse, Tylaerys quickly ponders her options but prepares to head back out awaiting the distraction from the peformance before setting her escape plan in motion.

Would a dagger do the job with the twine?
Any sign at all that there is a performance starting?
30 minutes left on the spell right? How long would it take to make it out without the prisoners?

Some of those questions are difficult to answer. 

* Finn is a bit behind you in time, so I cannot say yet if music has begun (it depends on the next few minutes of Finn's timeline).

* Yes, a dagger would seem to be all you need to start cutting people loose.

* How long to get out is another tough one.  If no one sees you?  You could all walk out in 3 or 4 minutes.  Less if everyone runs.  

(Tylaerys will await any sign from the others for now, waiting until it is about 15 minutes left on the duration of the invisiblity spell if okay. :-)

Finn and the Garbage Men come back outside of the tent after only a couple of minutes.  The Balthazar character looks noticeably better, his features no longer beastial.

They gather at the horses and have a brief discussion about whether or not they should listen to an offer from the 'Red Wizard.'  Finn encourages them that there is no harm in hearing them out.  The four of them then step back inside the tent.

And it is just the four horses and three cultist guards again.

"That's the spirit," Jozen says in response to Finn's encouragement.

He leads the four of you back inside the tent.  

"On second thought, the boys and I were a touch curious about this additional work you had on offer.  What's the pay to look like, and what's the job?"

The half-dragon looks at you with contempt.  "You were told to leave...".

The Red Wizard looks at the four of you with a slim smile.  "Perhaps they do have some sense, Langdedrosa."  He leans over onto the desk, while the white dragon creature leers in the background, silently.  

"A spy attempted to infiltrate our ranks during the raid on Greenest last evening.  I suspect a Harper, though I could not confirm it before he... succumbed to harsh questioning."  He shakes his head, as if the news were sad indeed.  "The job is quite simple.  I'd like the lot of you to ride to Greenest, put your ears to the ground, and find out what is being said about our attack.  Are the Harpers truly engaged and investigating?  Is the Lords' Alliance getting involved?  I want to know who, if anyone, is snooping about on our trail.  You're entertainers by trade, yes?  Surely you can loosen a few tongues with a little wine and song.  If you learn anything of value, ride back here in haste and you will be rewarded."

Jozen ponders this for a moment.  "And just what might that reward look like?"

"That, my new friend, would depend entirely upon the quality of the intelligence you return with."

Jozen ponders a little more.  "And what if we could nab you a prisoner or two, for questioning.  What might that be worth.  A bonus?"

2

     "Obviously hostages would be good.  IF they were truly connected.  We'd have to be sure they are Harpers and know something worth while, not just random do-gooders with delusions of grandeur like back in Solbar..." Finn says with a side glance to Jozen.  Finn worried the Garbage Men might consider selling him and his friends out, but Finn felt he could likely cause enough distrust and confusion before that happened to make the cultists want to kill the Garbage Men as well for safety.

     "Once we have the information you want, and any worthwhile hostages, where will we find you next?" Finn asks, as if the deal is done.  "Sounds like you're all pulling out of here soon..."

"Prisoners?  Any reward would be determined by what information we could extract from them."

"You will return here.  Some of us will be departing but a force will remain here at the hatchery."