Hew looks at Three and with a somewhat furious glance and says, "As far as I can tell, there's no such thing! Just something made up by them forest-folk! Never had it, as I know of, and if it is real, wouldn't know if I had it anyway. Besides," looking over at Fujin, "us Dwarves don't get sick!" He then looks over at Taman, "Well, it sounds like you're looking for something particular, and ye knows what it is, but ye ain't tellin' ol' Hew what it is. I need to know where we're going, or what we're looking for, so's I know if there's any special equipment we might be needin'. If you'se're lookin' to find an underwater ruin, we'd need special underwater gear, lessin' you got's ways of breathin' underwater. If you'se're lookin' to climb the Peaks of Flame, we'd need special heat resistant gear. Ya' see what I'm sayin'?"

"We are looking for an old temple." Taman says with a shrug. "after that, you know as much as we do. Likely going to be ancient traps, dark exploration, and who knows what sort of monsters and undead to deal with."

"Aie, well he's mostly right. Us dwarven folk don't be gettin' sick lest we get sneezed on by some real nasty wall-crawling abomination. Me friend Garch got spat in the eyes by some disgusting mountain beast once, poor son of a ***** was bed written for 8 hours from all the hallucina-whatevers he be seeing. Longest time any dwarf's in our mountain been bed written for a non-injury, he never heard the end of it, HAH!" Fujin reminisces whimsically on his past for a moment before shaking out of it and regaining his focus. "Ah, anyway. Ye, I've never heard of a mad monkey disease either, probably just a stupid local way'a sayin' Dumtharak Bar-mathar!"

"Oooohh~ Cool! Surprised Boss hadn't made me outta one of ya. But then again, there were probably some 'ethical issues' there." Three admits with a few air quotes thrown in towards the end. She then grinned at at Hew, seeming to have presumed all was well in her trying to pat him on the shoulder as well. "But there you have it! It ain't much to go on. But from what we were told at least, there's s'pose to be, uhh... hold on, I'm pretty sure I took notes..." She trailed off from there patting down her person before eventually pulling out a small booklet to flip through. 

"Let's see, let's see... Hmm... Yea, no, apart from it s'pose'n to be near-ish to port, the only thing we know is that it's a temple with jade stuff. Like, the one these guys showed us was a statue of some warrior dude made out of like, uh, jade! But, they had like feathers and some kind deer hide for garments."

Hew looks at Three when she describes the jade figure and his eyes widen. He digs into one of his pouches and pulls out a piece of jade. He holds it up for inspection and says, "Ya' don't mean jade statues like this one, do ya'?" 

After inspecting the jade piece, you notice that it is the upper half on what might be a statue like you saw back at the Yawning Portal. The one distinct difference you notice is that this one has very jagged edges towards the bottom of it, and dried blood.

"Yes, that is what we mean." Taman nods with a grim smile. "Do you happen to know which of those locations I mentioned that may have come from?"

Hew looks at Taman, and thinks a bit before speaking. Taman can notice a very slight flash of fear cross Hew's eyes before he pipes up with, "I don't know which location this statue came from, an' I don't rightly care ta know. I keep this as a memento in remembrance of my dear friend Corsar and his brother Megido". Hew looks down at the floor for a few moments, then says with a low voice, "You won't find none a' us that'd be go lookin' for where this came from. They were leading an expedition headed towards the Swamp of Sorrows, bunch a' scholars what shoulnd'ta been travelling in the jungle anyways. Didn't know what the hell they were up against, or even where ta' look. When we found what was left of Corsar's body, he was gripping this in his hand, as if the damned trinket would save his life. Whatever came after him wasn't gonna be stopped by a damned trinket". He quickly shoves the jade statue in his pocket, and grabs a small flask out takes a couple of sips then says, "Only fools I know of that'd even think a' going to find that place are River Mist an' Flask of Wine. Don't know if they're really brave, really stupid, or just don't care what's out there, but they'll pick up any Expedition they can".

Three puts on a show of being more speculative in her trying to look at the piece from every angle. But with Taman further confirming their intent, she gives up giggling and nodding in agreement. "Yep!  Well, not /quite/ like that, but the same kinda, uh, material! That's it. I can't... remember how they said they found it. But yea." She shrugs then shifted about in her seat for a more comfortable spot and leaning in to intently listen until the end of the dwarf's tale.

By the end of which her chipper attitude waned and just about vanished from view. "I-I'm sorry for your loss. But, uh... uhm...is there really no way we can convince ya take us on? We're a lotta tougher than we look. Tougher than some silly scholars for sure. Plus, uhm..." She trailed off from there tapping her chin and looking up at the ceiling in thought.  

Taman shrugs. "If that is how you feel, I have no desire to have a guide who needs to be convinced to lead us where we wish to go." He glances to Three as she asks her question though, and waits to see what the dwarf has to say.

Hew looks at Three, and says, "Nae, I wouldna' want to go there, I'll face many a danger, but something that can do what it did ta my friend. I wouldn't be able to do that". 

Three sighs and bowed her head in defeat. She then look to the others or namely the new guys with yet a hopeful look that either of them might have a convincing remark/point to make. But if none had anything to add as well, it's only then that she nods in grudging acceptance and adds, "Guess we got a flask and a Not-Mr. Riverz to find then. Uhm... where are they again? Exe-a-something or other? Or was somewhere else, I honestly can't remember." She smiles sheepishly to the group. 

Fujin gets right up in the face of Hew with a stern look beaming through. "AIE! That don't be soundin' like a proper way to avenge yer pal's! I know if any'a my ol' friends got killed by some right ugly ****er I'd be kickin' his teeth in makin' 'im scream uncle until I beat the last inch'a life outta 'im!" Fujin's look then softens into one of understanding, trying to make his point come across less threatening. "You'd be doing 'em right to be leadin' us there so we can kick it's ass properly, that way 'ey can rest in peace knowin' the dunce-faced bastard ain't gonna be hurtin' anyone else."

Persuasion: 18

Hew looks back at Fujin, his stare as cold as steel and looking like he'd just seen a ghost and says, "Well, there is part of the problem. No one knows where this place is, only guesses. And we tried to go and avenge Corsar and Megido, tried and failed. I'm normally not afraid ta go out and traipse around in the jungle, by Moradin's Beard I'm usually the first one in line! But there are things out there that even a iron blooded, stone skinned Dwarf would be in his right mind to avoid. It was that thing out there what did this," as he points to his left eye that has a deep scratch over it, his eye you can now notice doesn't look to be a natural eye. "If ya really want me ta take you ta try an' find this temple, my normal fee is 5 gold per day with 30 days up front. For this trip though, I'd have to ask for 10 gold per day and 6 months up front. So as ta be able to get my affairs in order, as I'd likely  not be coming back".

"That's... fair, I think? But uh... hold on." Three held up her fingers and looked to be trying to do some quick mental math. "So like, eighteen, uh... yea, eighteen hundred gold up front? That sure is a lot for insurance." She then gives Hew a once over. "Hmmn.... Also for 6 months at that? You really think we'll be out there searching for that long at least? Or are you trying to hustle us?" He asked with her hands at her hips at that point. 

Insight: 8. 

Hew turns to Three, "Nay, I'm not tryin' a' hustle ya'. I just need to make sure everything's taken care of should this be my final adventure. You may be out there for 6 months or more, at least your bodies will be if the scavengers don't pick 'em clean anyway. For me, if I see that thing again, it'll be my final stand, and if not, and we make it back alive, maybe we can talk about a refund".

Rivon pulls Taman aside and tells him, "1800 seems pretty steep.  I only have about 40 on me.  Not sure what we have in the party fund.  I will say, though, that I like the cut of this guy's jib."  (Rivon was paying attention during the cruise down here.)  "Those other two...just dunno about them.  This is your area of expertise though, I trust your decision."

Taman shrugs. "Unless someone else in the group has money laid aside, we cannot afford the 1800 gold." Taman speaks frankly. "I personally do not have enough to cover more than a fifth of that cost myself."

Taman has about 400 GP left right now, so he cannot afford the cost himself, and he does not know what everyone else has left over...

"Wwweellll, I got a lot I think aside. 'cause like, I couldn't really think of anything I'd need 'n all that. Still new to this whole, uh, venturing thing." Three smiled sheepishly at the group. "But between me and Mr. Tamato here alone, we could only really half by the sounds of it." She admits sadly. But then she suddenly did a little jump in her seat and ask excitedly, "You said people had guesses of where it might be, yea? If you got a spare map or know where we might get one, even if its the not the best one, think you could at least circle a few spots for us at least? Just in case things don't work with the Flask 'n Riverz 'n all that. I'll give ya, uh... twenty five gold for that!" 

Hew says, "Well, I could mark off a few spots for ya ta check, sure thing". You see a little relief cross his face as you hand him the map to mark off. He looks the map over for a few minutes, then marks off a few spots. "These are probably the best spots to check out".

Three practically looms over throughout the entirety of the process, watching with rapt attention. "Ohh~ Some of those places look pretty close! Oh! And 'fore I forget-..." She quickly pulls out easily forty pieces of gold and slides it over, not at all caring to count them. Such was her confidence perhaps that if she came up short, the dwarf or someone else might let her know! "There ya go! Now let's see... hmm... yea... yea, if we can get like a boat, there's at least two of'em we could get pretty close to in a bet three to five days tops! Well, the general area at least. You guys think Flask and Misty would be up for it?"