Lost Mines, Lost Labs, and Lost Hope (RobJFalcon's Campaign)

Dustfinger sucks at his teeth in disappointment and leaves. "Alright, boys. Let's get on to the next thing. Kost is going to have to get his answer elsewhere, and we've already done plenty for him. Hopefully he's still alive enough to make good on his end of the deal."

It is close to the end of the day. While you might make it out of the woods and to Conyberry, you probably won't make it to Old Owl Well without pushing yourselves.

Perhaps we should stay the night at Conyberry, and not push ourselves.

agreed

You decide to stay the night at Conyberry and not push yourselves. 3 You follow the trail SE from Agatha's Lair to the ruined town of Conyberry. The town was sacked by barbarians years ago and never repopulated. The Triboar runs right through the ruined town. There are no signs of life. Your night goes uneventful.

You're less than a day from Old Owl Well. 10 And that day nets nothing hostile. You approach Hamun Kost's camp.

"KOST! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU GHOULISH BASTARD!"

After Dustfinger yells, Everyone notices Az Emberi put up his hood on his new cloak and fades into the grass.

If you roll perception at Disadvantage and get 22 or above:

 A voice comes back from the camp. "I'm not here! Especially if you're just going to kill all my zombies again!"

Az Emberi:

 Anyone who approaches the camp:

I wait for everyone to get close to the camp and I am suddenly right next to kost. "Hey. We need to have some words. Then we'll let you get back to your business."

Fjolnir approaches while replying to Kost over his walls, "Ya sent us down in to that spider infested latrine, we got some gear, you said you'd identify it!" He stops and cups his hand near his mouth "oh, and while yer at it, identify that teleportin' poof benefactor of yers!"

Dustfinger picks up a random body part, inspecting it with passing interest, and puts it back somewhere else to clear space on the table so he can lean on it in front of Kost. He adopts a face of feigned sympathy for Kost, nodding along with Fjolnir's words.

"Hey, buttercup. Looks like we're all having a rough time. We're real concerned about the agenda your bro seems to have laid out for all of us. You guys seemed pretty tight, and while we're not usually ones who like to interfere in other peoples' personal lives, we can't help but feel partially responsible for the spat you two had, what with us killing his dragon and all. Seems we really ruffled his feathers with that one. Yeah..." Dustfinger's gives a comforting half-smile and leans forward slightly to rest a reassuring hand on Hamun's shoulder. "Anything you can tell us about him, to help us smooth things over for all of us, that'd be great."

Persuasion  7

"Gah!" Kost jumps at Az Emberi's seeming sudden appearance. The distraction of it all leads him to not even hear or respond to what Az said.

In regards to Fjolinr and Dustfinger, Kost replies, "I- oh, you found things!? Yes, I'll still identify those things for you, a deal's a deal. Willing to trade too if you want. Benefactor? I don't have a benefactor, I'm here on my own- oh him!? I've never seen him before in my life. Why do you think I know him? He nearly killed me, you know, the only thing "tight" was his grip around my neck." He rubs his still bruised throat. "He killed all my zombies, too! Set me back weeks! I don't even have the right thread to stitch them up, this is just a mess. If that dragon belonged to him then that's trouble. Not many people can claim to own dragons. He sounded like he was going to bring it back, so he must be powerful enough to control it, or at least for it to obey, which is troubling. I don't know anything about him though."

23  Persuasion  Looks can be deceiving, but there was nothing deceptive about what we walked in on.  Are you sure you don't want to tell us about that guy?  Clearly you aren't friends.

I slam my hands on his table and shift wolfy. I growl "bullshit. He called you by name. Tell me what you know about that wizard." Insight for his answer.   24

Dustfinger quietly tinkers with random gewgaws at Kost's table as his compatriots speak, emphasizing to Kost with his passive body language that he's more than content to not intercede on Kost's behalf against any escalations of aggression. Smiles helpfully.

"I never met him before then! I don't know how he knew my name! He came marching up, and I had all my zombies meet him like I do everyone, but they all had pretty bonnetts on and bright colors, like you suggested, and he just slices through all of them with some spell I've never seen and kills them all in one shot! Then I say he's got to pay for them and he ignores me and goes after your cart. I said that's not his and he should leave it alone, and what's he doing here anyway, and that's when he starts choking me and threatening to turn me into a zombie! And that's when you guys came back out, thankfully or I'd probably be dead. Can we talk about the things you found now?"

Az Emberi:

Uncertain but largely convinced I look to Az.

Finally approaching with his short-strides, "There was a vault of some sort there, secured by some pair a specters." Fjolnir says. "Do you recognize his clothing or accent? Was there any indication he was after anything or anyone but our cart?"