"what business do you have with the dead three? And why do you want the fists to fail? What family do you belong to?" Archie blurts out impatiently as it becomes apparent that she is really sick of things continually happening since the group got into these dungeons to start with, she unbuckles her hammer just in case and prepares to throw it if she doesn't like this guy's answer.

Glory of Morning slips down into the water, and she moves forward with Roo still mounted in the saddle.  His shield remains draped over one arm, his short sword in the other hand as he steers the possum with presses of his legs. 

"You have a lot of moxie for someone who was just getting murdered by someone half his size."  Roo' Stor says.  "Here's another question for you, then.  The Gallus that was entombed in this hellhole you featherless curs seem so fond of, he was in this armor." 

Roo puffs his chest out even further. 

"You tell me what happened to him, who's responsible, and perhaps you may parlay for quarter.  At this point, though, I think I'm prepared to kill every motherclucker within these four walls and be done with the lot of you.  Bawk."   

Corlith stands down as the smaller combatant disappears.

"It seems like you have some answers to give. I'd like to know whether there is another way out down there?", he says to the big guy.

Virro steps forward to get a better look at the big fellow and suppresses a smile behind his hand.  “Yes, what is the reason that you want the Fists to fail?  What is going on here?  Why is all of this down here?”  He says in a softer quieter voice “What kind of a group wants to meet in such a literal shithole anyway….”

The man looks back towards where he came and his foe had fled and remarks, “I was betrayed. These assassins conspired with my brothers to kill me. If you hadn’t come along, I’d be dead. I owe you my life.”

The man scratches his head as the questions start, "Well, I belong to the Vanthampur family, I guess, my name is Mortlock.. though not any more in my opinion, not after they tried to have me killed.  My family is paying the Dead Three cultists to murder people in the city. The goal is to prove that the Flaming Fist can’t do its job.  Once the city stops paying them, the Flaming Fist will have less of a reason to stay in Baldur’s Gate. With them gone, no one can stand in the way of my mother becoming the city’s next grand duke. If she gets her way, Baldur’s Gate will share Elturel’s fate and get dragged down into the Nine Hells."

Looking at Corlith, he points with his thumb to where the smaller guy ran off, "Down the way Vaaz ran?  No," he chuckles, "there is treasure though.  If you guys made it this far, you've killed most of the leaders of the Dead Three cult. Without them, the cult will break up."

He looks questioningly at Roo, "What's a Gallus?  Entombed in this hellhole?  Shit, I don't know what all was down here, that would be my brother Amrik's department.  I'm done.  I'm finished.  Look, let me leave this, shithole as you call it, and I'll tell you what I know and get the hell out of Baldur's Gate.  I'm never looking back."

Corlith gives Mortlock a hard look before turning to the others, "I believe him. He is at least telling the truth as he knows it anyway. There is perhaps more to come, so an alliance might be beneficial".

"Vanthampur..." Archie mutters, sending a very concerned look toward Wilf, "we've heard that became before... Right?"

Reed listens to the conversation with some interest.

"He's not trying to kill us. I like that about him," Reed finally says.

Reed moves forward, guiding the skeletons along in front of him until he gets to the corner where the other guy ran off to and takes a look around to see if anyone is there.

While he does he adds a question to the mix.

"You don't happen to know anything about a scary lady back that way do you?" Reed asks. "She may or not be scary but that's how she was described to us."

Roo listens, his head quickly cocking back and forth between speakers as he dissects what he's being told.  He spends most of his time looking back and forth from Corlith to Mortlock and considering the Tiefling's response.  

"If you believe him, Corlith, then that's good enough for me."  Roo says.  He puffs his chest out and turns his head around one hundred eighty degrees and begins to preen his long, elegant tail feathers as he waits for his chance to speak.  "What's a Gallus?  What's a Gallus?!  I am absolutely appalled by your audacity, you cretan!  We Gallus are a proud feathered people, children of the Gallus, the Light of Day!  I find it absurd that you would claim to know otherwise!  BAWKBAGOP!"  

He spurs Morning of Glory a little closer to Mortlock and regards the big human a little closer.  

"You're not done yet.  We have killed everyone we've crossed in this mass grave.  If you want to live, you help us finish this mess.  And I want Amrik.  You do that, and we let you go."  

Wilfred accepts the vial from Reed, and moves over and starts to drink it down. 

He stands close to the exit, in case someone decides to run. When he hears the name Vanthampur, he perks up and starts paying attention. He blinks his eyes a bit in confusion at what he just heard. "I'm sorry, I'm a simple man and I don't know if you are pulling my leg. Did you just say Elturel got pulled to the Nine Hells? Do you mean that figuratively, or did it really get pulled to the Nine Hells? How in tarnation did that happen? Did that happen?"

He shakes his head, then focuses on Mortlock again. "Have you heard of the Cliffvine Vineyard? I hear you have a man named Blar Heartsong working in your kitchens. Anything you can tell me about him?"

Mortlock looks at Reed with a question on his face as the skeletons come into view and get near him, "Hey little dude, where'd you get the bones?"

As Reed looks around the corner, Mortlock watches him and raises a finger to his chin as he considers his question.  "Skeletons and scary ladies.. you lot are interesting, I'll give you that.  If you're talking about the Bhaal worshipper that likes to go by the name of Nebra, then yes.  You haven't taken her out yet?  Ooh... might want to if you're trying to remove the Dead Three cult."

"Cretan?  Yeah, probably.  I've been called worse.  Sorry to get your feathers all in a twitch."  The man looks at Roo'Stor, considering as he comes up to him and demands his help, "Sorry, Amrik?  Yeah.. you're on your own.  He's scary."

He raises an eyebrow as he considers Wilfred, noticing he is the more hurt of the lot.  "You been under a rock?  Or just down here too long in the swamp?  Yeah, Elturel has been literally pulled down into the Nine Hells.  And like I said, I think my mum is quite pleased about it."  He looks at the empty potion bottle in Wilfred's hand a bit longingly and you notice he is not in good shape, but he continues, "Cliffvine Vineyard?  No.. sounds like a wonderful place, so it makes sense I would know nothing of it.  Yeah, I've heard of Blar though.. not much to tell you, he makes a mean BBQ chicken." His eyes go wide and he looks to Roo, "Oh, sorry."

"I don't give a cluck how clucking scary he is."  Roo says, huffing, his voice as close to a growl as a chicken can muster.  His feathered hand lands on the hilt of his sword and squeezes it hard.  "Barbecue chicken?  Chicken?  You refuse me, then use such a vile word?  Wilfred, give me a good reason not to gut this rat-cluck motherclucker right now..."  

Archie looks around, seeming relived at how the back and forth between this new guy and Wilf was going.

At Roo'stor's outburst she simply questions, "no one is stopping you Roo, why do you always ask for a reason not to fight? It makes your threats feel empty..." She crouches down and looks Roo in the face, "hey buddy, at some point you're gonna have to get over the fact that your race resemble chickens, hmm? But if you can't do that then go ahead and go toe to toe with this guy's great axe. I'll even watch!"

Corlith listens further, also concerned by the surety that Mortlock has for Elturel's fate.

"We know Elturel has fallen, the refugees are testament to that, and there have been rumours of course. How are you so certain that was it's fate? Is your mother linked to the powers responsible?", he asks.

He ignores Roo for the moment, knowing better than to try and get between the Gallus and his thirst for violence. Better just to get as much information as he can before his feathered companion kicks off.

"And this Nebra, is she a leader of the cult of Bhaal then? What powers does she possess to make her scary?", he asks looking to the others and motioning back the way they came.

"It sounds like Vaaz is trapped, but this Nebra has a clear escape route if we don't block it now", he whispers to the others.

Persuasion: 3+7=10

“So… it sounds like we need to find this Nebra and take her out.  More fingers for the bag I suppose.”  Virro, stands watching Mortlock, examining him.  “Hey uh, no offense meant or anything, but … how did your face get all scarred up?  There are things that we do to bodies after they die to cover up scars and so forth, make it nicer for the viewing and everything…. Just asking, curious how it happened…..”.   Virro puts his hand up to his own face where the scar is on Mortlock.  

“Vanthampur….” He muses, trying to recall the family name, and if they ever had any services for any of the family members.

History : (Nat 20 + 1) : 21.  

"You don't give a cluck eh?  Well then you go fight him.  I can, however tell you where to find him."  He looks to Roo 'Stor with a scowl forming on his face, and then back up to the rest.  "Look, I told you I'd tell you more once you assure me that you'll let me out of here, do we have a deal?  I just want to leave Baldur's Gate and never look back."

At Virro's words, his hand goes up and tries to cover the scars that tendril over half of his face.  "I uh, it happened as a child.  Fire."

Reed turns back.

"Dead bodies and water that way," Reed says. "I'd say it's safe to say anyone left that way knows we're here."

He looks at the skeletons.

"They were a prize for winning a contest back there," Reed says in answer to the big guy's question, nodding back the way they came.

He then nods and looks at the rest of the group.

"How about we go visit Nebra and deal with here. We can close the secret door and leave the skeletons on guard while we do that."

"You're right, Archie."  Roo says with a nod.  "However, unlike some petulent children amongst us, I respect Wilfred's opinion in this matter.  Now run along and play."  

He returns his gaze to Mortlock.  

"So are you going to tell us where Amrik is or are you going to continue to whine about everything?  Trust me, we'll be fighting him soon enough.  Are you going to answer my friend about what's so scary about Nebra?  You keep asking to leave and not providing all the information you have.  It's not strengthening your case."   

An unsettling calm begins to fall over Roo...

“Fire…. as a child?  Did you trip and fall into a fire?  Did you have an explosion that burned it?  Or did some sick, twisted adult shove your face into it?”  Virro makes a step closer to him, saying “I’m not going to hurt you, just want to have a better look.  Like Corlith said, we can help each other.  Right?  A little “you scratch my back and I’ll promise not to tie you down and let the ants eat you”, something like that?  A loose partnership.  A noncompete pact.  A truce.  Right?”  Virro glances over at Roo, tilting his head as he asks.  

Worried that Nebra might escape, and seeing  no movement in response to Reed’s suggestion to go find her, Corlith decides to go and stand on the other side of the secret door.

At least this way he can hear what is being said whilst ensuring no avenue for escape exists.

As he moves, he catches Reed’s eye and indicates he might wish to follow.