Ayo bristles at the implied accusation, her thick, orc hair strands visibly raising at her nape, widening her pixie cut into a bit of a wolfish look. She does not care for the attack on her crew.

“It’s just a name,” she says. “He hasn’t been anything but kind to my crew. From what I’ve heard, he’s been nothing but kind to your crew too.” She tilts her head toward Ylis, referencing the spear. “Just drinks a bit too much from what I have seen.”

Galsariad leans forward and says in a matter of fact way. “I was against returning the spear. It is magical and likely powerful. It could have been useful to us and at the very least, would have been worth studying. You seem to be flush with magical artifacts anyway. Irvan insisted however. He insisted that it be returned to Ylis specifically.” He leans back and after a moment of consideration, adds, “I was against Ayo giving you the pendant too, for the record. Something like that is obviously a Vestige, given the context of its discovery. Ayo is our leader, however, and is impossible to sway when she has measured right from wrong in her mind.”

”If my crew has a problem, it’s my job to fix it.” Ayo insists. “If you think Irvan is a problem, I’m sure you will watch him, but he will be my problem.” She punctuates the statement by jamming her thumb into her chest. Realizing she may have burned a tad bright over the question, the blue of her skin darkens in embarrassment, but she holds firm.

Maggie watches impassively, but her several plates of food currently forgotten. Dermot’s wrinkled, shar pei like face is twisted into anxiety, like a child watching parents argue. Irvan continues to drink copiously at the standing bar. Standing seeming to become increasingly difficult for him.

"See? Told you."

Joy is quiet with contemplation, wondering if recent experiences have simply made her overly anxious. Still, she has to tilt her head when Gal mentions them being 'flush with artefacts'. Perhaps she'd been worried about the wrong person.

"So you wanted to snap up a spear that you can't use after Ylis put in all the work to get it?" Her gaze narrows like a protective parent, taking on a chilling sharpness. "Ah, I was meaning to ask, whose idea was the rockslide? I suppose you were against checking if it had killed any of us too."

Lucky insight on the answer: 13

Ayo, Galsariad, Entropy, and Dermot exchange confused looks. “What are you talking about?” Ayo asks.

Galsariad barely gives a shrug. ”I’m not sure what you are referring to regarding a rockslide, but the spear was discarded. ‘Finders keepers’, as the saying goes. Not that it matters much, as Ayo made it clear that is not the kind of organization she wants to run.“ He smiles, blasting some tension out of his nose. “I will respect her wishes for as long as she will have me a part of her crew, even if I occasionally disagree. I am sure we can all agree that she has demonstrated several instances where she would be worthy of respect. She was, after all, the person responsible for pulling you out of the grotto before you drowned.”

Ayo’s blush darkens further. More so than one might expect for such a compliment. She looks away from Galsariad and brushes a fallen strand behind her ear. 

DM: Ayo is obviously telling the truth regarding her confusion, and Joy can also see that it is rather obvious that she is harboring a bit of a crush on the drow whose nose rests in the air. Galsariad is much harder to read. He is certainly holding his cards close to his chest, but as far as Joy can tell, he seems genuine enough. 

Elder Ushru raises a finger. “Ah, before tensions rise further and allegations move from implied to direct, I will say that the rock slide is manufactured, as part of the challenge. So was the riptide and all the hostile animals you encountered. This is why we only allow the best of the best to compete in the final challenge. We also had people watching at each room to make sure everyone avoided permanent injury. We were quite alarmed when you disappeared for about 20 minutes or so, but you eventually came back, and Ayo and her team carried you out, according to my reports.”

Vazo'yn raises a hand in a placating gesture directed at both his own companions and Ayo and her crew. It is neither an apology or a dismissal, but intended to momentarily break the rising tensions.

"This is good," he says in his familiar quiet but certain tone, seemingly encouraged by the direct, open discussion.

"If we are to travel together on such an important journey, there can be no secrets or misunderstandings between us. We must lay all the cards on the table."

He turns his golden-eyed gaze to Ayo, nodding to her to acknowledge her defense of her crew.

"I will take you at your word on Irvan's character. It's true Irvan has acted well today. But that's one day. His clan carries with it a reputation far greater than one day. Perhaps it's unfair of me, but I'll be watchful."

DM: It is worth mentioning that you didn’t encounter a riptide, Ayo’s path had it. But Ushru is addressing what might have been frustration harbored in both crews.

Joy takes a breath to calm herself, feeling some relief as Vaz speaks up as the voice of reason after the Elder's explanation. It lessens the crushing shame she feels for accusing Ayo's group, at least enough that she can bring herself to admit it.

"...I'm sorry. I should've known it was all part of the game." 

Merek talks a short walk to the bar and orders a coffee, and some bacon and eggs. He smiles politely to Irvan, trying to determine the man's state of mind and body.

Randa rises but the tensions already seemed to have eased slightly as she walks between the groups, " Someone pulled me out of the fish.....I honestly don't know who that was as I was a little....severed...at that point but I think all of my group were too far away to have been responsible.   I owe that person a life debt......as I owe many to my own companions for them saving my arse over the years."

" I accept any assistance freely offered."

" Ylis, Whose judgement is always clear and perfectly considered. says we should do this. So we will do this.", she almost manages to keep a completely straight face through this entire sentence.

Merek receives his coffee promptly. It is a self-serve table for the non-alcoholic beverages, but the staff at the inn seems well-acquainted to serving people who are accustomed to being served. Without a word, they nod and prepare a coffee for him. While he waits, Merek observes Irvan as he handled two pints of ale, one in each hand. Irvan catches Merek's gesture from the corner of his eye and turns his head to Merek. He raises his eyebrows in acknowledgement and tilts his lead slightly. The gestures are slow, but sloppy, like one who knows they are drunk and are trying hard to pretend they have it all under control. 

Ayo swells with pride at Randa's praise. She is young and has not had many opportunities to do something so dangerous and worthwhile; that one moment is particularly special to her and may even be a defining moment in her life. She nods a thanks to Randa. Then she sits upright like a bolt of lightning struck her. She digs into her pack and roots around a moment, pulling out two rather large teeth, roughly the span of a human hand. A leather cord, died the same leaf green Ayo wears, runs through the root of the teeth. She hands one to Randa. "I wanted to give one of these to you. I figure we were the ones who bled over the shark, so we can have this as a reminder. Plus anyone sees these around our necks, they will know we are total badasses."

Ayo responds with a crooked smile at Joy. "No problem at all. It was a race and one without rules, except for the ones we bring to it. You don't know me and since you've been adventuring for a while now, you probably have a lot of reason to be suspicious of anyone. But if I can't win on my own terms, er... honorably, I guess, I don't want the win. It, I don't know, it cheapens the victory, you know?" Ayo's smile fades and she slowly extends her hand as she speaks. "You're adventurers and once I knew that, I immediately admired you. During the race, I worried that I might have misplaced that admiration, but with that," she nods at the pendant that Randa has shared. "I kind of feel like I was right to look up to you. I mean, the gods chose you to rescue someone important to them. What could that mean other than that you are worth looking up to?"