"Shadows keep you," Neya bids Denae farewell.

"While we are not blood related, we spent more than a fair amount of our youths training together. We are so close, we consider us to be sister." Neya elaborates. "Whether or not we see eye to eye on a subject, we still care for each other.

"Olida is one to follow follow orders more closely than either Denae or me. You caught a glimpse of her a while ago. Recall the incidents leading up to exposing that Zhentarim agent who was posing as an official of House Brokengulf?"

She pauses to allow for questions regarding Olida.

"This schism is the latest of many, but the sentiment is the same. Traditionally, we let ourselves only known to some select individuals or groups. However, a great number seem to be unsatisfied with that sort of lifestyle. So far, it seems it only seems to be a point of disagreement and no violence has been seen on either side. With that in mind, Denae says she's much more interested in recruiting me to join. I'm inclined to believe her and don't think she would attempt anything to jeopardize that."

"Not anymore," Denae replies to Neya's farewell phrase. She raises the mug in response to Doozey's.

After Neya elaborates on her relationship to Denae and Olida following Utar's question, Graxx releases a pensive grunt: "I am glad to hear it hasn't come to blows so far. This sort of disagreement could bring down an entire community. Reconciliation may seem like an unattainable target when the bickering sides are too far apart." The man crosses his arms before changing subjects: "Well, I am glad the person taking my spot is someone Neya knows and trusts."

Meanwhile, Doozey searches about for anything inadvertently, or perhaps purposefully, left behind by Denae. Admittedly having spent little time in the kitchen since Sagin grew into his chef's hat, the halfling's eyes soon get lost in the many utensils and ingredients stored away in cubbies and drawers. Frustrated by his mundane findings, Doozey soon opts to cease his search. 

(OOC: I don't want to rush this conversation, so I'll not go into the long rest yet, but feel free to let me know if you are ready.) 

Utar furrows his brow as Graxx talks of splits in communities.  "Neya, if we undertake work wtih Danae are we likely to run afoul of Olida's side of the argument?  Are we making bigger targets of ourselves for those who take the opposite view?"

With his investigations stymied by unfamiliarity and exhaustion, or so he'd blame in the moment, Doozey eventually takes a moment to rub at his face and breathe a sigh of relief. "Yep. Yep. Time to sleep." He muttered, and on his way through dining area grumble something about heading to bed along with a haphazard wave to the others. Upon arriving in his room Doozey felt groaned and pulled at his face upon seeing it fully occupied by Biscuit, having given up on finding Sagin's bed, and Sagin both asleep in his bed. So it would be without the strength to wake up and admonish his "brother", Doozey set about rolling out his bedroll and calling it a night with Gravy doing much the same in landing on his writing desk.

As for Basil, he sat with his paws crossed under his maw as he laid his head down on the table, sleepy-eyed yet still watching the exchange between the other party members with interest. "A fair point to make, Master Utar. Although given how informed Lady Danae appeared to be, they may already suspect some according having been struck, and thus be wary of us already."

"To be honest?" Neya hesitates. "They... would see it as almost expected behavior. I just took it an borderline-insubordinate extreme. I've brushed up against our rules in the past."

"I suspect that's why they assigned me to audit clients and potential clients. It's a duty that necessarily requires me to be exposed to the public and in the sights of our foes. I can only suspect its to make me appreciate our mostly seclusive way of life."

@Doozey: You've been back for a bout a tenday, but the smell of a different halfling still lingers in your room. You met her and can associate the smell with this Obby, the witchling who, much like it is about to happen in Graxx's case, temporarily filled the Doozey-shaped hole in CRAP's formation.

As Utar, Neya, and Berry continue the discuss the potential implications of this new understanding with the Silent Wood's other half and, by extension, with the Red Plume, Graxx sets his mug down in the kitchen and declares: "Well, like I said, Neya's seal of approval is more than enough for me, even if some uncertainty remains. I am going to bed now, and so should you. You are starting a new adventure first thing tomorrow, and I have preparations to make regarding my own long trek ahead. We said our farewells in the party already, so no need to re-do it in the morning. I'll see you all again soon enough."

With that, Graxx puts a hand on Utar's and Neya's shoulders as a way to wish them a good night. "We are dragon-killers. Nothing can bring CRAP down now." He smiles proudly and leaves to find his bed.

"Nevertheless. I will bid you safe travels, Graxx."

With the others deciding to head to their own beds, Utar follows suit but collects up the various cups, piles then onto a tray and takes it to the kitchen before heading to his own cot.

The group calls it a night and heads to their respective rooms. Amidst all the recent adventures and quests to come, the relative safety of the Leadstopper Residence is always welcome.

(OOC: You may complete a long rest. Utar should have a DM's Inspiration token as he wakes up, as a result of his downtime activities.) 

Keeping to her word, Denae is back at dawn. This was a shorter night than you would have liked, but the last several days have been restful enough. You do not feel tired. Plus, the smell of Sagin's morning sausages could wake anyone up. The resourceful kobold has learned quite a bit from Mar over time, and the experience has been quite rewarding for him. He sometimes calls himself an alchemist, for what is cooking if not extracting the best flavors out of strange ingredients.

Denae is a bit rough around the edges when it comes to manners. If she is the first to the breakfast table (up to you), she fails to keep etiquette and wait for others to join. She grabs three of the twelve sausages available, which is more than the fair 6-way split. She asks for more of that chamomile tea from the previous night, pointing to the still dirty mug she had taken with her then (at least she brought it back). "Eat well and fast, we shouldn't delay our departure. Is the gentleman-dog coming along?"

Graxx has stayed in his room. As he mentioned last night, farewells have already been said from his point of view.

(OOC: Is there anything you'd like to do before leaving Phlan?)

Being woken a little earlier than he would really wish, Utar decides to combine his preparations for the day with the recital of a few of his favourite litanies.  The rhythm of the words punctuates the process of donning his plate armour.  The end of the process, Utar feels like he's undergone something akin to a ritual and it is appropriate the last words flow from his mouth as Lightbringer is secured to his hip.  Heading downstairs, he swings his pack over one shoulder and hefts his shield onto the other.

Picking up one sausage, and just the one sausage, Utar takes a bite. "Sorry Danae, the tea we had last night was the last of my private stash.  We've likely got some breakfast tea we can get on the go though? Something to wake you up and put a pep in your step."

Though a night owl by nature, it is biscuit more than Doozey of the hunter pair that's slow to rise even with the promise of food on the air this time around. But once the stoutling of the pair had fully geared up (including a packed away Gravy & Berry) for the day, all would be treated to the comical sight of the big mound of fur, muscle, and primal power seeming to slide cross the floor until being unceremoniously being shrugged off the shoulders of his stoutling companion. "C'mon ya lazy boofer you. We got work to to do!" Doozey asserts as he dusts off his gauntlet covered hands, before then making his way over to the table to grab what he can of some breakfast.

And Contrary to any new expectations of the stoutling, Doozey doesn't begrudge Denae's gluttony and impatience. If anything, once it dawns on him what happened, he jokingly mutters something along the lines of "And then there were two", before aloud answering, "Fraid not. Berry and Gravy are... a special case. So unless our mucking about has us out for a few days to a week, he won't be joining us I'm afraid. But if all goes well and survive whatever awaits us at the end of the investigation, you can feel free to drop by around then."

Neya is very flexible when it comes to sleep schedules. But, that doesn't prevent her from waking up groggy every now and then. Today, is one of those mornings. She spends a little bit of time taking out the scroll case in the bag of holding and slides her scrolls containing her defensive spells in the space available. She places it so she could easily access it while not being in the way.

She comes downstairs goes to the magic vase and with a touch, a small collection lilies appear from the vessel's mouth. They won't appreciate them for long. But before they leave, they seemed like a nice idea.

She turns to the table for a distressingly familiar sight. Denae's etiquette, or lack thereof. There have been attempts to improve it in the past, but any lessons she did not care for faded quickly. Neya mentally notes that this behavior is still a thing and does not probe much futher,

Denae grunts disappointingly at the lack of chamomile tea and waves away Utar's offer of any substitute. Her grunts only become more audible when news that Berry won't be joining immediately come to light. She tries to suss out if Doozey is lying to her with a mean stare.

Neya's silent arrival signals to Denae that departure time is upon the group. Throwing a sausage to her sister-in-all-but-blood, Denae orders the CRAPers around as if she had led them for years. "Alright, pick up your bags and move outside. It is time to go. Follow me." Whether they join reluctantly or gladly, the CRAPers are led to the Phlan Path and begin their journey east. The trek will take a few hours and, with some luck, it promises to be a fairly boring one. Denae shares more information along the way, though only in bits at a time, as if trying to fill idle time during the walk in a manner that doesn't use all of her "ammo" at once.

"As I mentioned, the man who hired the Red Plumes on this mission is called Romsan Kal. I never met him but I did my homework. He is a large, brusque individual and a retired adventurer. A human, if you are wondering, originally from Amn... not that this last bit is of any importance. We should recognize him promptly, as his bald head houses many jagged, crisscrossed scars. I hear the man is quite capable of keeping order should travelers become unruly within his inn."

"Romsan has a staff of a dozen humans and stout-hearted halflings from across the lands. My contacts say they do a bit of everything. They serve the patrons and tend the kitchen, livery, barn, and docks at the river's edge. You know, the typical services of a standard tavern or roadside inn."

"News of the disappearances traveled quickly up the road and river over the past tenday. With Phlan only a few hours away, travelers have started altering their plans to avoid the area or pass through it as quickly as possible. I mean, look just how empty the road is..."

"There is no doubt Romsan's business dropped dramatically. If not for the missing people's sake, then the lack of business surely prompted him to not only search for the cause of the trouble but also try to discover a means to end the problem. He ultimately hired us but has also been asking for anyone with news or clues about the disappearances to send word directly to him. He also organized a few search parties, which were dispatched with no success. In coming to Phaln, he had hoped to hire professionals. So, here you are."

"Did you get all of that? That's the kind of intel our network is capable of digging up. Pretty good, right?"

Doozey met Denae's stare with a nonplussed one of his own, as he had spoken from the heart. Whether she ultimately believed him or not in the end however, he gave no indication of caring one way or another. Either way, he'd take the woman's "strongly worded request" in stride, seeing as the sooner the group were done mucking about elsewhere, the sooner they might get back to more personal matters.

However, even with such things weighing on his mind Doozey still listened intently to the debriefing along the way from the back of Biscuit, and might've still lost himself overthinking about the information delivered about Romsan were it not for mentions of stout-hearted halflings. It's at that he flinched and looked even a bit troubled, but quickly snapped to attention at Biscuit's low whining. "There, there brother. It'll be okay. Hush now." He whispered while delievering the soothing pats to the head.

If the whole drew attention from the others, he'dshake his head and say, "He'll be fine. Let's stay focused", before then resolving to sitting more stone-faced throughout the rest of debriefing. "It's certainly bad intel for initial investigations into this mess. But we'll definitely need to see how things have progressed with Romsan for sure, even if its not by much. Perhaps even dig up some clues about if any of the parties went missing, or perhaps even notice other strange things in their search that might otherwise be overlooked." He furrows his brows and rubs his chin. "Makes me also wander if that stand had anything to do with it..."

Utar shrugs off Danae's dismissal of the more standard tea that he has access to.

"I'll have an extra cup then."

Draining his cup, Utar pours himself a refill. Slightly bitter, nicely malty. A little sweet. Admittedly, it isn't as fine as the fare that Madame Freona served up at the Tea Kettle, but what was? Maybe one day he'd see what was on offer to the higher echelons of society, Dornal or Ekmong might be a suitable guide but until then, tea was tea and it was good enough.

"Romsan Kal. Romsan Kal."

Rolling the name of their patron around as he makes his way through his second cup, Utar casts his mind back for any tales about a bald, heavily scared human before casting his net more widely.

"Should we know that name for any reason? What's the name of this inn we're heading to again?"

History - 5

Neya snatches the sausage out of the air and takes a bite while Denae briefs CRAP.

"That's kind of the problem with cases of disappearances, I suppose. All of the important information is taken with the people in question," Neya says. "But, we work pretty well with less intel before.

Deflect missile: 21

IN PHLAN

Doozey can't quite tell if Denae believed him or not, but he is certain that she soon chose to drop the topic of discussion (i.e., Berry). It seems like she took some offense to the short discussion.

Utar drinks extra tea and Denea can't help but assume the gesture was meant to spite her. She whispers a few words letting you know of her conclusion.

Neya deftly grabs the flying sausage. "Hmm... You've improved." Was that a compliment? Those are hard to come by from Denae.

 ON THE PHLAN PATH

(OOC: Just to be clear, Denae is sharing the info above during the many-hour trek, not while still in Phlan.)

"It is certainly NOT bad intel, you mean?" Denae tries to clarify with Doozey, screwing her face tighter to show she took offense to his, hopefully mistaken, assertion.

Utar fails to match either the name or the provided description to a person he might have met or heard of in the past. His attention is brought back to the long walk and conversation when he hears Denae answering his question. As Utar already noticed, Denae is not afraid of possibly insulting acquaintances: "I already told you last night, but I guess you might have forgotten on account of your celebrations. It is called The Crossing Inn."

"Right." Denae affirms in response to Neya's comment. "Let us get see this inn for ourselves, shall we?"

CRAP continues to walk for the entirety of the morning. At some point, you pass the spot where you had made the decision to deviate from the road on your pursuit of Elisson, during the last time you walked down the Phlan Path. This time, Denae keeps you on the road. Postponing your lunch break in hopes of being served a warm meal at the inn, you power through and eventually spot your destination down the road.

The Crossing Inn is a well-worn, heavy wooden structure perched above a row of keelboat docks on the east bank of a the Trank River, south of the Phaln Path. It is a single-level building, with short perimeter walls and a towering faceted roof around a large central stone chimney.  "Well, there it is. Shall we go in and meet our benefactor or...? What is your usual preferred approach?" 

"I am leaning to meeting with Romsan. Perhaps he could give us further details?"

Doozey looks over confused at Denae for a moment or two with furrowed brows before his eyes shoot open wide at the error. "Heh, aye, that is indeed what I meant. Many apologies, Ms. Denae, as I meant no offense. Sometimes my mouth can't keep up with my thoughts, you see, so every now and then some words embarrassingly don't come out as they should, if they come out as all." He explains while mentally berating his player for the slip up and making him look bad.
-Persuasion(if needed): 23.

As if to further corroborate with the admission, Biscuits lets outs several ruffs and "boofs", before giving Denae a look as if to say 'you know how people can be'. Having hopefully mollified the party's latest recruit, Doozey continued on in silence for the rest of the trip, if but to mitigate the odds of another misspoken or forgotten word spoiling the mood. At least until the party seemed to finally arrive at their destination with bellies perhaps gurgling a bit in anticipation.

"Ms. Neya here has the right of it, and that's the usual go to start. Though if any of us pick up any possibly leads in transit, such as by overhearing something or what have you, then they are usual free to pursue it while the rest of us carry on. 'cause, well, we can always meet back up to discuss things as needed." Doozey explained. 

(OOC: Forgot to note, but until we're out in the wild or at night, Doozey otherwise has/is keeping his piece of the dragonmask in its leadbox tucked away on his person.)

Utar silently stores Danae's scorn away. Maybe a thin skin, maybe a chip on her shoulder. There was no offense meant on his part, so the half-orc brushes it off.

On reaching The Crossing Inn, Utar heads straight for the door.

"Best we get the information straight from the source. Might have a fresh new happening for us to know about."