"Now now, let's not get snippy and lose our cool," Anachain says in as calming a voice as she can.

     "Misses Mayor Lady, if you wish to withhold payment then I am afraid we will need to return these two prisoners back to the forest where we found them.  Maybe give them a few tips on how to better themselves in their chosen profession before we continue on with our journey..." Anachain says more sweetly than the words would suggest.  "But nobody really wants that.  Except perhaps these two..."

     "We're willing to help you and your quaint little town here.  What we've done so far is proof of that.  Yet here you are talking about holding back payment when we're just looking for clarification on just what the payment is.  We didn't come here to play at being your henchmen.  We have our own task to fulfill which your needs are, frankly, distracting us from.  But we're kind, generous people who like to help... So we are willing to, under the right conditions.  But I must say, your tone and your threats are not very endearing..."

     "Now you can go do what you need to do.  We are going to go find our missing companion and then a good meal.  Find us when you are ready to pay us and let us know what you are offering for future work.  Or, as I said, we can just be on our way to other things, m'kay?"

"Or, perhaps a middle ground," Grimrin says, hastily, sensing the audience coming to a halt. "As you say, we have accomplished one of the objectives. You have need of more work being done, and we have need of some assurance that the magical items are indeed forthcoming and of worth to us. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself..." He clears his throat and then proceeds, still without introducing himself. "What if we receive stipend for now, subtracted from the money owed for the literal heads? Just enough for our operational costs while you withold the rest of the payable sum. In addition, we perhaps receive one of said magical items. Especially if said item may be helpful in the execution of our task..."

     "Out of the mouths of babes," Anachain says with a smile and a wink to their newest member.  "That is all we are saying... Trust need go both ways.  We already proved ourselves capable, it would just be nice if you proved the tasks worth our delaying our own quest."

Kulloda starts to grumble about assurances and stipends. "No stipends." Kulloda says. "Money and magic. Should just pay part of money now."

He doesn't insist, waiting to see how the mayor reacts to the others. But whatever a stipend was, he wasn't going to take that instead of cash or magic.

The Mayor sighs.  "I would not have threatened to withhold payment, if you had stuck with the terms of the deal and not demanded the magical items for a third of the work."

She pinches the top of her nose, squeezes her eyes shut and takes a few deep breaths.  The guards exchange a look and then look back to the mayor, obviously wondering what mood this will bring.

She seems to calm down a bit.  "Alright, we have clearly started off on the wrong foot and have continued down that path.  You all are doing a service for Rivermark, and we are truly grateful for that."  She glances at the barrel of heads and barely holds back a cringe, "So, you have taken care of one of our issues and I will pay you your 20 gold for that." she looks at Percival, and he runs into the Keep.

Turning back to the group, "As for the items, I do not have any here as I mentioned earlier." you can tell she is really trying hard to keep her voice level, "so I am afraid I can't come to a middle ground for that, but I'm hoping paying you the full 20 will suffice.  I will meet you at the Inn later today with a better idea of what we have, and then for those, you all take care of our other two routes.  Deal?"

At this point, Percival returns with a little pouch, gives it to the Mayor and she holds it out, not really sure who to give it to.

Grimrin takes a step forward, holding out his hand for the pouch. "Well, I am sorry I was not particularly versed on the details of our arrangement, but of course no ill will was meant. I am sure we still plan to carry out our full service. Isn't that right, folks?"

It is good to be back near the water again, and although the smell of the sea is faint and far-off, Deniz is the closest he's been in many days, and the sight of the winding river is welcome and refreshing. After taking sufficient time to enjoy the sensations of nature and the craft of the elven builders, he wanders slowly back through the town as far as the Sunstone Tavern to rejoin his fellow pearl-questers.

     Anachain snatches the coin purse away before Grimrin can get his hands on it.  "Umm...  I'll disperse the coin as always," she says with a polite smile to the mayor and then a sharp side-glance to half-pint there.

     "But as he mentions, not all of us were in the meeting.  Perhaps misunderstandings occured," she concedes.  "The bridge route we know nothing about.  As mentioned, if it's a construction problem you will need to get people skilled in such.  We're more of a body problem type of team.  But at the very least we can look into what type of problem it is... The faeries we encountered on our way here were troublesome indeed.  We may have already dispersed them... Or they may have gotten more recruits and be an even bigger threat now.  We can look into both issues and see if they are things we can handle or not and report back to you... But I am not agreeing to a deal promising to solve the issues until we have some clue what they are.  And what payment would be.  I am sure you can understand that..."  And in fact Anachain does her best to sound reasonable.  

(Persuasion a 10.  She's trying but she just doesn't like this mayor...) 

     "We can finalize terms at the Inn later, I am sure..."

Kulloda eyes Grimrin when Anachain snatches the purse before he can get it. Then he laughs.

"Faeries just have surprise last time. We not get surprise again." Kulloda say. Then he thinks for a moment. "Maybe get axe. Help bring down faeries if hide in tree."

He starts losing interest in the details of the negotiation that is going on and looks back towards town for any sign of somewhere he can get a good axe.

Then another idea comes to him.

"Axe good too if bridge closed by troll," Kulloda says. "Cut up and burn trolls best."

"Hmmm, yes... agreed."  Togar stands with arms crossed.  He turns his owlin head away from the mayor to hide his facial expression, which he's not sure she can read anyway.  "We will go a little further, see if we can accomplish these tasks, if they are in our purview.  I, for one, would like to rest and recover before we take on those dastardly pixies."  He starts looking down at his limbs again, flexing them, lifting one foot then the other off the ground, making sure.  "Do all of you.. need some rest?  I still don't like the secrecy of this.  Transparency is best, Mayor, unless you have somehow convinced your electorate otherwise.  If we feel... slighted ... after we see your reward truly is, that will not be a good feeling."  

Mayor Windrider sighs.  "The ones that have turned back from the bridge didn't seem to want to talk about it, but they seemed scared about it.  If the bridge was just broken or in some sort of disrepair, I'm sure that would have been easily communicated."

"I am glad you're all here and are helping us out, I am.  I will get you a list of what we have, I just don't know.  You all need rest, why don't you head to the Inn, get yourself some rooms, and I'll meet you there later this evening, alright?"

Unless someone stops her, she gives a curt nod, turns on her heel and heads back into the Keep.

"Um, do you guys need directions to where the Inn is?  It's kind of in the middle of town." Arthur asks.

“Tsk, tsk.  We’ll just follow our noses.  I'm sure we can wander and find our way.  Some food and rest, will do us and our mood some good.  Arthur, go tell the mayor that we will be at the inn if she needs us.  If she needs us before then, she can just whistle for us.  She knows how to whistle, right?   Tell her to just put her lips together and blow.  You go on and tell her.  Run along now.”  Togar starts walking in the general direction of the inn.  As a delayed response about 3-5 minutes later, he starts chuckling to himself with his odd owlin clicks and clucks.  

     "That'll be fine," Anachain tells the mayor, trying to be calm and reasonable.

     When Togar starts ordering poor Arthur around Anachain rolls her eyes and shakes her head.  "Actually I think we're wanting Arthur to take these two that we arrested and do... Well, whatever the town does with bandits," Anachain suggests.  

     On their way to the Inn she watches for some stores or other vendors as she would like to do a little bit of shopping.  Anachain is looking for some herbs, some charcoal and some incense...  She is looking to spend 10 of her gold on this in order to be able to summon Myrth again if something tragic ever occurs.  Otherwise Anachain is content to find the Inn and settle in for a bit of relaxation. 

Kulloda leaves the barrel of heads by the main entrance to townhall and gestures at Arthur that they're all his now.

When he listens to Togar mention whistling and lips, he looks more closely at the Owlin.

"Ha. Kulloda think Togar can't whistle then. No lips." Kulloda says.

Togar cocks his head sideways, makes a few clicking noises and you hear sounds of air blowing out of his mouth, his eyes blinking, he looks surprised.  “Damned if I can’t.  Something else to practice…” he says to himself.  He makes his way to the inn, looking forward to some rest, study of his spell book, and a nice meal.  

     On the way to the Inn Anachain takes a moment to walk besides Grimrin.  "Are you ok here?" she asks him quietly.  "It didn't occur to ask before but you were hiding in our cart to get out of here, no?  Are you wanted here or something?  By the authorities?"

Grimrin sighs, squaring up with Anachain. "I suppose if I'm choosing to throw my lot in with you all, I might as well be open about it. It was more that I was snooping around for some food. I didn't expect the barrel to be empty, and had to hide when you all showed up. Now as to whether I'm being chased..." He looks over his shoulder furtively, checking every corner and shadow. Then he continues quietly, "I am being hunted. So I usually can't stay in one place for long. But I haven't noticed the taint of the demon pursuing me in this town yet. Fear not for your own safety though. It's grudge is with me and my cursed bloodline alone."

     "Taint?" Anachain asks, a bit put off.  "Demon taint??"

     "Surely this is something we should have a drink while we discuss..." she adds, mentally checking on where the invisible Myrth is and making sure he is keeping himself invisible.  She doesn't know just what Grimrin's story may bring but surely he doesn't need an Imp popping up out of nowhere scaring the bejeebies out of him before he tells it.

Arthur takes the two men from the group and heads inside the Keep.  Percival stares at the barrel of heads, swallowing hard.  He looks back to Kulloda, seemingly going to say something but changes his mind and looks back to the barrel, not taking any steps towards it.

Mother Anachain does indeed find what she is looking for in the Market, as she makes a quick visit there on the way to the Inn.  She is greeted warmly at the stalls and finds trade here quite easy as the people manning the stalls seem eager to trade.

The scent of roasting meat and fresh-baked bread greets you as you step back into the Riverkeep Inn. Warm firelight flickers across the polished wood beams, casting soft shadows that dance along the walls. The inn is comfortably busy as a few locals linger at tables or near the hearth, each adding their own quiet energy to the inn's atmosphere.  

At a corner table beneath a hanging lantern of glowing glassvine, an elderly moon elf with silver-streaked hair braided down his back—scribbles into a thick, weathered tome. A small glass orb hovers beside him, pulsing softly with magical light as he mutters arcane words beneath his breath.  Near the window, two younger wood elves, likely scouts of the Riverwatch, share a drink while sharpening their daggers and murmuring in Elvish about strange tracks they found by the riverbank.  A short distance from the hearth, an elegant elven harpist in flowing green robes plays a haunting melody on a lap harp made from willowwood and bone. Her music drifts over the clink of mugs and the murmur of voices, carrying the feeling of misty forests and fading dreams.

There, seated at a round table with a half-finished mug and a thoughtful look in his eyes, is Deniz. He looks up as you approach, his expression shifting into a relaxed smile.  Behind the bar, Cassie, the inn’s barkeep, gives a cheerful wave. "You're back, hope you found what you needed. We’ve got a fresh pot of stew on and Mulberry cider if you're thirsty."

Kulloda nods happily at the idea of stew.

"Big bowl, then another big bowl," Kulloda says with a smile.

He looks around the room and despite the over abundance of elves, he decides it's not all that unpleasant.

Kulloda sits down at the table with Deniz and gestures at the two elves sharpening daggers and murmuring to themselves.

"What those two doing? Strange place sharpening blades. Bandits?"