Laniel says with a smirk, "Aren't you guys best friends with one dragon already? I think you might be able to sweet talk a second one."

"Ha! Yeah "best friends". I think we managed to make it out very nicely last time, but it could have ended very different if the dragon hadn't been so amiable to begin with."

"Considering it is a dragon, maybe we should bring a gift, to start off our encounter on a good footing?"

"I suggest we ask a couple more questions of Golorr, to try and get some more details on some of the main points, as well."

Morph thinks for a moment,

"Ah...what are everyone's thoughts on how to handle the treasure? Should be be talking to our respective organisations? What if they have conflicting orders?"

"Or...do we want to...maybe keep it all for ourselves? I mean, our orders from the Grey Hands, was to just get it first, so the less reputable factions cant have it, nothing about handing anything over though."

Morph looks around at their dilapidated manor.

"We could certainly use the money..."

Morph looks at his friends, to see what their thinking is, on what to do.

"Well," Laniel says slowly, "Where did the money come from? If it was ill-gotten or honestly obtained, that might make a difference. To me, at least."

Rethan gives morph a look.  "What kind of 'gift' do you bring a dragon that you're hoping to take five hundred thousand gold from?"

"I dunno - food? Something shiny that isn't gold? Also, aren't we supposed to be cleaning out bedpans right now?"

 Rethan grimaces at the reminder.

"I know we just got up, but it is still the same day as our trial. We don't start until tomorrow," Laniel says.

"Ah, right. Never could tell dawn and dusk apart. 'S what comes of staying up all night, I suppose. I think Misha told me that at some point, when I was still an uncouth youth. Still, a dragon's hoard beneath one of the largest cities in the world - I'll have to start tuning my dulcimer. When we're through, I fully expect each of you to have contributed at least two verses worth of darings-do for my Cantos Draconicus of Waterdeep!"

“Hmmm, considering how many seem to be after the stone and the treasure, maybe it’s wise to involve the Lords Alliance and the Grey Hands, we could probably use some backup. Someone firebombed the whole damned alley and then robbed our home and attacked us just to get their hands on this information. At least now we know why... but think of all the terrible things people would do for that kind of money.”

"The thing is, the more people we tell, the more likely more players are going to get involved who would be willing to repeat those actions. Maybe we can strike a deal with the dragon? Give him the stone in exchange for a small portion of the treasure, sealing off the information leak about its existence? Just thinking creatively here."

 "That's true," Laniel says. "We can always involve our respective parties after the fact. We just have to have a plan for how to handle the dragon before trying it alone."

"Do dragons like riddles? Quips and a quick wit? I know a book shop over in the North Ward that sells the most lovely joke books. I don't know if I'll have too much to offer other than a few stories to trade - I'm sure a dragon's got some interesting tales to tell. This all assuming, of course, that the creature doesn't think I'm a tasty tidbit." Mal shivers at the thought.

Morph remembers something, at the mention of shops.

"Oh, I have a couple of weapons that we took from that construct the other night. Mal, did you say you had mastered the spell for identifying if an item is magical?"

"I'm not sure they are magical, but considering who we took them from..."

Morph takes out the Unidentified Dagger and the Unidentified Rapier, that they took from Bel the construct, and places them on the bar.

Morph gives them a bit of an examination, trying to gain any clues to if they are magical in nature or not.

Arcana check on the weapons, to try and determine if they are magical or mundane: 7

"Uh, yes, though it is a little bit expensive to use."

OOC: are we paying attention to material components? I haven't been, so far, since as a bard I have an instrument as a musical/magical focus, but I don't know if that is something that was discussed as a game mechanic.

If no material components are required: Cast Identify twice, once to learn the nature of the dagger, and the other for the rapier.

If material components are required: "Any of you happen to have a pearl on you? I think I can find an owl feather up in the rafters." Mal flits upstairs to rummage through the attic, "Ah, Ghost-my-friend, any owl feathers up here?"

Morph turns to Rethan,

"Rethan, we have some money from our Grey Hands contact, did we wont to see about getting anything you would need to get Midnight back?"

"The shops might be open for a little longer. Maybe we could acquire the pearl as well? How much are pearls anyway?"

Morph looks outside, as the streets darken into night, and Mal returns from upstairs, remembering something else.

"Actually, we know the details of the incident in our street now, didn't the shop keepers promise us money if we could workout what happened?"

Morph thinks for a moment,

"What should we tell them? I don't think we should explain the complete details to them, but maybe something like:"

"Two different representatives of criminal factions, one for sure being from the Zhentarim, where both tracking a target, who was passing through Trollskull alley. The non-Zhentarim operative believed, that the Zhentarim operative was about to acquire the target, and decided to make use of a necklace of fireballs, to stop them from succeeding. We managed to track down this other operative, but where unable to take them alive for questioning. They refused to surrender, and just kept attacking us, so we had to put them down. We are unsure who they represented, but it appears this was just gang on gang violence that spilled out onto our street."

"I don't think we need to mention the Grullhounds, as that cant be confirmed by others, and could get us in quite a bit of trouble, socially."

"So, what do you think?"

Morph looks to Mal, the more socially adept of the group, for input.

They are definitely mundane without any identify spell necessary.

(Re: material components. I like them as flavor or as important to the quest/story or has a high cost by default. You could presume to have a feather but a pearl might be something you need to purchase. Otherwise, I don't worry about them too much. The only other consideration is when components would take a hand spot. I think with a bard components are unnecessary entirely, though.)

(Edit: Ah, unless they have an associated cost. The feather is unnecessary but the pearl might be.)

"This is an incredibly rare and special dagger! It's incredibly valuable - why, I hear you cry? Because it has my blood on it. We should really clean these things, every now and again. Poor things are likely to tarnish. Same for the rapier, by the way."

Looking to Morph, Mal replies.

"Let's not be hasty, Myrth. No need to tell them that we killed the poor fellow. He was a real hard case, you know? We could well say that we parted ways quietly, but didn't learn much from him. No need to implicate ourselves in any more, you know, nasty business."

"I'm not sure anyone would have a problem with us taking down the person responsible for the death of so many innocent bystanders, but if you think it wise..."

"How are we to explain to the shop keepers what happened to the person responsible?"

"If we say we handed him over to the watch, might they not find out from them, that they don't have the person?"

Morph picks up the totally mundane weapons and puts them back into his pack.

"I will see if we can get some money for these, unless anyone could use them."

"A dagger's nice to have - and it is my blood on it, after all."

Mal takes the dagger and stows it somewhere on his person.