Thardigord walk towards the right room with his eyes fixed on the ghost and immediately enters as soon as he reaches the oaken door. He wipes of the cold sweat accumulating on his face with his loosely hanging shirt tied on his waist.

"I'll take me chances on having a heat stroke than confronting the spooky ghost. I'm sure me body can take a few hours without a drink."

As the four of you enter the office, you all notice that is a pretty good sides and will fit six people comfortably. You also see a large ornate dark pine desk that sits in the center of the room with a candelabra on one side with five unlit candles; there is a pile of books on the other side and between the two a mess of scattered papers and rolled parchments. Behind the desk sits a simple dark pine chair and a five foot wide, four foot tall smoke glass window that dims that light streaming into the room. In front of the desk are five more simple dark pine chairs that complete the furniture set. The left wall is a floor to ceiling bookshelf that is filled with unorganized books, papers, scrolls and rolled parchments. The right wall is all but bare, it does have a weapon mount that is currently holding a sheathed cutlass with gold trimming on the sheath and hilt; and hanging above the cutlass are two six barrel revolvers. In the back right corner of the room sits a nondescript large wooden chest. As the last of you enter the room, your host walks in and quietly closes the door behind him and says, "Please take a seat, and I apologize for not meeting you all right when you arrived; but a surprise appointment that showed up before you all arrived. I hope my friends treated you well at least as you waited." He makes his way around the room  and sits in the chair behind the desk, clearing up some of the paperwork and parchments. "I am Theo Roosevelt, though some do call me General or The Bull. Mostly it is just those you meet outside that call me those names." Theo turns to you Thardigord and says, "I hope old Reginald didn't frighten you too much. I understand his presence is a bit unconventional for most people, but he was a packaged deal with Yesola." Theo turns back to address you all. "Now, I do know of each of you but it would be nice to put a face to the name." He folds his hands on top of the desk and leans slightly forward waiting for your introductions.

"Huh, never thought there would be an interview but I guess that would be reasonable."

Thardigord steps forward for a bit as he gives his speech.

"Me names Thardigord Boulderbreaker, living at the nearby Chard Mountains. Worked as a guard fer the miners against the local beasts. Skills include but not limited to: bashing using me hammer, building stone structures, and brewing ale. Looking at the barrels on the bar, ye may have heard of The Poisoned Apple. Me family owns that brewery and I'm proud of its unique sweet taste among the ale served around these parts."

The shirtless dwarf nods and steps back.

Tarkin stands and steps forward "It's a pleasure Theo. The names Tarkin. No last name that i know of. I was born in a village near Witch's Run named Deadwood. Ended up in Kalveldar where i grew up. Got a ship and a crew and navigated the rivers doing a little of this and some of that. As my luck would have it, or lack there of, someone decided to take the River Snake off my hands. I'm good with a sword. Better with a whip and excellent with words. I know the rivers intimately and I still have a few connections in port towns." Tarkin bows and steps back.

Pulling sharply at the bottom of his leather jerkin, Mattias stands tall and to attention. "Mattias Dolph, sir. Until recently I was working with the militia out of Oldrin."

Coughing, he quickly continues "I was intrigued by your operation here, thought I might have skills you'd find useful." Quickly motioning to the bow on his shoulder and sword at his hip. "I also have a little skill at tending to injury and sickness."

Umuni pays attention to everyone else's presentation before making her own. She kinda steps forward like the others did, but without the same serious tone as them, her shoulders are still relaxed,.

"I'm Umuni. I got a few skills from a guild I made part of until a few months ago, turns out the thing didn't have a good start, so they disbanded, I have a craft I'm really involved with but I'm still working ways that they could be useful for me in an adventure, those other abilities from the guild I talked about I'm sure it'll help us in this mission."

Her body expression is still relaxed as she walks back, and sits on the chair she was on before. 

"A pleasure to meet you all. I'm sure you will all make good additions to the Rough Riders." Theo says leaning back in his chair visibly relaxing. "Unfortunately, we are a new guild in the area so we are not going to get any big ticket jobs right away. It is just myself, my four and half friends, and now you four that are apart of the Rough Riders. However, I do have some connections still that I've been in communication with to see about getting jobs from; and luckily he came by yesterday. Now where did I put his request..." Theo trails off as he rummages around the paperwork on his desk, making the mess worse. After a few seconds of searching he holds up a sheet of paper and pulls out a pair of small round glasses from one of his shirt pockets, unfolds them and puts them on. "Ah, found it. Lets see, he wants a poison gland from one of the giant Black River toads. Doesn't say what he wants it for, but it is probably best not to know in his case. He has also included the payment of one-hundred gold, which I have safely stored away and will give to you upon completion." He takes his glasses off and places the paper down; then takes his time looking at you four carefully. "You think you're up to take on a giant Black River toad?"

Thardigord wrinkles his forehead at the given task presented by Theo.

"I can handle any poisonous creature or two any time of the day but extracting a poison gland? Never tried it before. I'll have to rely on their skills on this one."

The dwarf points his thumb to the rest of the team.

Mattias, now seated along with everyone else, furrows his brow. What medical training he has relates to people, not animals. He trys to recall from his time in his parents shop whether the gland has any particularly useful applications.

Medicine check - 17

Leaning forward in his chair he asks, "Is there any further information on the removal of the gland, sir? I wouldn't want to reduce our numbers accidentally."

Tarkin leans far back in his chair. He puts his hand on his chin. Tarkin is trying recall any lore about the Giant Black River Toad 

Nature: 15

Then Tarkin leans forward and looks at the team.

"I believe we are up for the task."

"Poisons, eh?" Umuni looks a bit anxious hearing about those sort of substances, but then she shrugs.

"Yeah, it's nothing hard, killing a frog, I believe I have all the weapons necessary to do it easily, and the group looks confident, so I'm up for it."

Alchemistry and the creation of poisons not being too far apart, she tries to see if she remembers anything about the Giant Black River Toad's poison

Nature 20

[Mattias]
During your time in your parent's shop, you've read somewhere that the secretions of the gland can be reduced into a substance that can be smoked and is a powerful psychoactive. Theo thinks for a moment before responding, "Well, removing the gland does not pose much treat, just make sure to not to come into contact with secretions for too long. I've heard tale that people become incapacitated for some time afterwards." 

[Tarkin]
Because of your time spent up farther north, you don't really recall any lore specifically related to these toads. However, do you recall that the only times you have seen any giant toads were during and after times of heavy rain fall; which you also know happen around this time of year.

[Umuni]
From your studies and research, you remember that the toad uses the poison as a defense against creatures that might see it as prey and that the smaller Black River toad's poison may be potent enough to kill a grown dog. However, you don't remember seeing any recipes that call for the copious amounts of poison that would be found in just one gland of the Giant Black River Toad. 

[All]
"Well, it sounds like the four of you are pretty confident in taking on this task; I'm glad to hear that. It reminds me of myself when I first started adventuring. Now, this task isn't very time sensitive so feel free to take what time to need for preparations and to stock up on supplies that you think you might need. You all are also welcomed to stay in the rooms up stairs any time you need." Theo leans back in his chair folding his hands just above his stomach and continues, "Unless any of you have any other questions for me, you are free to do as you please. Also, to get you all started on the right track. There has been rumor that a few of the toads have been spotted about a days walk south along the Black River."

Thardigord lifts his maul and leans it on his shoulder along with his stuff on the backpack.

"I have enough supplies if it'll only take a day to get there. I would like to bring a vial of Antitoxin for good measure but I dun' have the gold to buy one. I guess I'm good to go."

Nods and stands, "Gloves for handling the gland. I think I have everything else I require, sir."

Picking up his pack, he shoulders it carefully. "Other than the gloves, I'm with Thardigord; good to go."

"Seems like a pretty simple in and out task. Gloves, and something sharp to cut the thing open... yup, I am good to go." Tarkin says as he stands up. Then he reconsiders... "Maybe we should take some antitoxin along... just in case. Theo, would you be able to procure us some?"

Theo glances over at you Tarkin, "An antitoxin huh? Unfortunately, we don't have any in our small stock of supplies. You might be able to find some in either The Curium located in Grand Market Square, or The Snake Oil located in Old Town Market." 

"I could craft the antitoxin myself if I had the ingredients, but, well, I don't. If I buy it, I'll still need some time to actually make the thing." Umuni is distractedly juggling her dagger on her left arm while she speaks, but she stops when another thing came to mind. "But if it's not time sensititve as you say, I can take the time to make some of it, as long as I can have my hands on the right components."

(DM, how much time would it take to make just one vial of antitoxin, are we using XGtE's rules and saying it's one long rest?)

Umuni tries to remember if there's any possibility she could find, in the nature close to the city, the ingredients she needs to make the antitoxin.

Nature 15

Tarkin mulls it over a bit. "Well if as you say the secretions only cause a psychotropic effect then I think we can handle that. I am sure we all have had a few nights or more like that." Tarkin says with a chuckle.

((I will say to use the XGtE rule of it taking a long rest to automatically succeed in making one vial. If you want it to take less time, you'll have to roll; but the DC will depend on how short of a time you are trying to make it in.))

[Umuni]
Unfortunately, you have not had much of an opportunity to explore the area and take note of the local flora and what possible concoctions you could make with them, or even if there are any usable flora in the area. 

Mattias look round the group as he speaks, holding eye contact with each.

"We could visit the shops mentioned on our way, they may have anti-toxin or the reagents to produce it. We can either decide to move out then, or return depending on what we find. It doesn't sound like there's an immediate need to strike out now, leaving before first light would likely make for a more pleasant journey?"

Turning to face The Bull, he asks "Sir, is there a preferred method for making contact when out in the field, or are we free to use our discretion?"