Walt looks to Aranor, smiles and nods in agreement and then looks back to Itzmin and replies “You see, our goals here are aligned. We all want what’s best for the people of San Citlan.” He pauses for a brief moment before continuing “All of the people of San Citlan, that is. Would you be opposed to us investigating the mine? For the sake of safety, of course.”

(Ooc: DM, how much time do we have left until sunset?)

"I'm glad to hear that we are in agreement," replies Itzmin. "As to entering the mine, I would advise against it. However, I will not try to stop you." 

He removes his thin gloves, revealing well-manicured hands with multiple fine rings. He examines each of your faces in turn.

"I am a member of the Trecena. I serve as Councilor of Arms. I might ask your names, and your stations. Forgive me, but you do not appear to be from San Citlán. Who sent you here to Hollow, if I may ask?" 

The sun is beginning to get lower in the sky, but you have several hours before sunset.

Tuuli makes a quick and not necessarily smart decision, and pops up from where she was hiding, jogging unhurriedly (and unthreateningly) towards the group, her hair wafting, steps light. "Hey guys!" She sort of stops nearish the woman with the crossbow, aware that everyone is looking at her. She turns both hands out, empty. "I... uh, yeah, I couldn't hold it any longer... um, you'd think with this heat it... but I must have drunk a whole skin worth of... um... water? So..." Her brain catches up to her mouth and she just stands there, her blue face flushing purple, staring at the woman.

Lucky covers both eyes with his paws.

"Thse folks were sent to this land to check on a fellow's mother. Unfortunately it appears she succumbed to the curse. It seems this curse is associated with a fiendish owl of sorts which has been seen near this mine, hence my earlier question." Pax pauses to offer a friendly wave to Tuuli. "Myself, I came here to pursue the fugitive Paloma. What do you know of this Paloma? She has been accused of a few crimes."

Aranor can't help but stare at Tuuli as she comes running up to the group. His features express exasperation but the corner of his mouth turns up in a half-grin. Shaking his head a bit, he turns back to Itzmin in time to hear Pax tell him everything. Well, not everything, the moon elf noted with satisfaction.

"My name is Aranor," he finally says to Itzmin. "It is as Pax says. We are here investigating this strange curse. Forgive my ignorance, but what is this Trecena?"

Eyes go to Tuuli in alarm, but soon return to the conversation.

"Paloma is a wanted assassin who has been charged with attempted murder. There is a 500 gold piece reward for her capture," replies Itzmin. "There are many bounty hunters currently out looking for her."

"As to the Trecena, it is San Citlán’s ruling council, consisting of thirteen elected representatives. I am privileged to be one of them."

"We are concerned that this plague is caused not by any 'fiendish owl' but rather a contagion that may spread rapidly into the city if we are not swift and prudent with our efforts to stop it."

Zartan speaks up “My arcane research into the cause leads me to believe it is curse based and not disease based. “

"That is true!" Walt says firmly while nodding in approval in response to Aranor's remarks.  

"I am a Druid–one learned in the powers of nature. In our travels, we have found several people suffering from this plague. I have used rituals to detect signs of disease amongst the afflicted, and my rituals have confirmed that this is not some disease!

Why are you so quick to dismiss reports of this owl fiend? What makes you think this contagion only lurks amongst the houses and not in the mine? I sense that you know you more than you let on."

"I will not stop you from entering the mine to look for owls fiends, although I advise against it for your own safety. As to this plague, I still cannot rest leaving these unsanitary abandoned dwellings standing to fester and incubate. You may approach this problem with your strategy, I with mine. In the end, we have the same goal, do we not? I applaud you for your efforts today. The health and safety of our people is of foremost importance."

"If you'll excuse me, I have urgent business to attend to. Please do notify me, however, if you learn anything new."

He gives a small bow and steps back into his beautifully-decorated carriage. An older man joins him within.

“Hey,” Tuuli says to the crossbow woman, with a very smooth eyebrow move.

Then the bad guy/government functionary declares the audience over and she snaps back to the situation at hand. “Um, yeah, okay, so we’re going in to the scary mine while these people loot the town? Peachy. I mean, I’m sure you’re a nice person just doing what the boss says,” she tells the woman, who has probably moved off at this point so it’s just to her retreating back.

After that brilliant flirtation, she rejoins the party. “So, we just met a bunch of new people who seem kind of suspicious and we’re just going to go into the mine and leave them at our backs. Let’s do it.”

Walt considers Tuuli's assessment of the situation. He looks down at his feet, shrugs his shoulders and lets out a sigh of frustration. 

"I don't know. I don't think there's much we could do. The guards didn't attack us on sight and they seemed rather indifferent to us. All but your lady friend there went about their business." He looks up and cracks a little grin at Tuuli. 

"Earlier when I said this place reminds me of home–I wasn't merely talking about the landscape. The people, the politics, the inequity...all of it reminds me of my home. Perhaps, that's why I was a little snippy with Itzmin. He reeks of monied rich folk profiteering off the blood, sweat and tears of good, hardworking people just scratching and clawing to get..." Walt catches himself before his temper gets the best of him. He reaches for his waterskin and takes a swig while wiping the sweat and sand from his brow. "Whats the plan?" 

“Oh, that’s him letter perfect,” Tuuli says. “Reminds me of people I grew up around. He’ll be put in his place someday. Maybe we’ll be the ones to do it. In the meantime, if we’re going into the dark, we’ll need some light.” She looks around hopefully at the others. 

Zartan says "Since there's no problems, let's check out the mine."

The crossbow woman glowers back, her weapon gripped but unloaded. Her only reply is a slight wince of acknowledgment in her eyes.

Two buildings stand between the party and the entrance to the mine, covered by a few loose planks. The buildings are in poor shape – one (north) has a collapsed roof, and neither has windows or doors left. One young man is trying to pull something out of the dirt floor in the southernmost building.

Pax also regards Tuuli "I sense much sarcasm. Do you have another suggestion? My appraisal of the situation is that we have three choices here: return to Milzapuil or San Citlan before nightfall and emtpty-handed; continue to question Itzmin and these folks somewhat fruitlessly; or enter the mine and see what we discover. The latter is of course the most dangerous, although I feel pressing Itzmin further could have it's own risks. I will return to San Citlan if that is what you choose although I do not feel satisfied doing so." 
Having presented his speech, Pax stands motionless while allowing the others to discuss. If moving forward to the mine is consensus, he reaches into a cavity inside his chest and pulls out a lamp consisting of glow worms, hanging it there providing a decent amount of Light.
As the group approaches the southernmost building, he moves up to the young man trying to pull something out of the dirt floor. "Do you require assistance?"

Tuuli tilts her head and smiles at Pax, a little confused. "What? No... Oh, I see what you mean! No, I just, um, I just have a tendency to blurt. Ruby hates it. I really am all in on this."

The old wooden double doors of the mine are kept shut with a few loose planks that look easy to remove. The workers are mostly elsewhere, continuing to loot the old buildings of a variety of abandoned items of questionable value, while a few continue to keep a bead on your whereabouts. The closest activity is the teenage boy chopping at the dirt floor within the southern house near the mine entrance with his short blade. 

As the group slowly makes their way to the mine entrance, Walt spots a mound of stones at the corner of the southernmost house. He stops for a moment to pick out a handful a small be hefty stones to add to his possibles pouch. He finds one particularly nice specimen, a conglomerate rock with a mixture of dark and reddish brown minerals.

While foraging for stones, Walt hears someone in the rundown house chopping at something. Walt steps towards an opened doorway, surveys the scene and scans the room looking for anything that might stand out to him. Perception check 24 (19+5)

 Walt calls out to the young man ”hello there, would you like a hand?”

Walt can see that the interior of this one-room building has long been stripped and emptied. The interior has been exposed to harsh weather for many years, and animals evidently nested in one corner some seasons ago. A ratty-looking rug or carpet or blanket was once laid upon the dirt floor, since covered in years of dirt, debris, and sediment. The boy is evidently trying to tear up the fabric through the thick layer of hardened dirt to see if anything lay beneath.

He pauses to look up at Walt. "Nah," he replies, and goes back to work.

Tuuli will approach the mine doors as Walt engages wit the kid and give them a once over. If nothing appears out of place, she will investigate the bars for anything tricksy, then, if she still finds nothing amiss, she will begin to remove them.

In Game Log:

Perception (for taking in the doors as a whole): 20
Investigation (for examining the bars and latches and stuff for traps and whatnot): 13