Talinian shakes his head in frustration and a touch of anger.  "We should have gone after those students, taken the 3-for-1 mission.  I told you we had no way of knowing if daughter meant child, which it did not, or even wanted to be found.  And while we also have no way to know if Eris is under some compulsion, it would appear not.  In any event, Korba, our mission is to find Anneleth's daughter, not to bring her back. That is the job sent to the guild and the one which our group accepted.  As far as I am concerned we will have fulfilled that mission once we tell Anneleth, or his servant that Eris is with a troupe of bards the next town over in a tavern called The Frightened Fang."  Turning to Olivia he says, "You should drink the tea.  It heals."

Talinian pauses, gathering his thoughts, "I agree with you, Korba.  We should start back right after we accept Bali's kind hospitality and finish sharing the meal with her.  As kind as your offer is, Bali," he says with a short bow to her, "we have a mission to complete."

Thinking back Kobra says "Talinian. You are both correct and incorrect. But I do remember the frog telling us that his master did want his daughter back, not simply 'located'.“ He sighs and continues "but again, as an adult, taking her from where she wants to be would make us the criminals... And as far as I can tell from what we've seen, she seems rather content where she is."

Talinian nods, "You are correct, Korba.  The Gekk did indeed say Anneleth wants his daughter back.  However, he never said that was our task and, more importantly, that is not the mission for which he contracted the Guild.  I do not think we have failed.  We have found her.  We may wish to go to this tavern, assuming she is there when we get there, and try to persuade her to return, but as you say, forcing her would make us the criminals.  Let us eat and discuss on the journey back to town."

Olivia sits down where she was previously sitting and waits for the other two to finish speaking before speaking again, "If we go and tell them where she is we run the risk of her being captured by her father. I personally like the idea of returning to the guild and asking how to proceed."

"Are you suggesting that we might not give her father the information we have?" Talinian asks.

"I mean I don't know all that much about laws, but this is an adult woman. If we tell someone where she is we could be accomplices in what is essentially kidnapping, which is something I'd wish to avoid." Olivia responds

"Providing information does not equal us being accomplices. What is done with the information isn't something we can definitely know." Korba adds to the discussion "If that would fulfill our contract I have no problem with reporting her location."

Bali listens to the whole conversation and her squirrel comes back and says.  "Dinners ready." Seconds after the door to the room opens up and 4 plates of food come floating into the room, one is placed at each of your seats and one in front of Bali.  She then seems to be whispering to thin air, when she finishes whispering a second passes and the door to the room closes.  As you rap up eating Bali speaks up.

"I have a few solutions for you.  Well one solution, with several steps.  I will contract you to one NOT return her to her father, inform him she is safe.  Two deliver to her" as she is saying this the door opens back up and in floats 2 bags. "These two things, first this wire works as a message spell, I have another end of the wire, as does her father, the other is that bag of gold.  So now you have completed your contact for Anneleth, and you have a new contract, the second bag includes pay from me, it should include enough if Anneleth refuses to pay you."

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"Providing information does not equal us being accomplices. What is done with the information isn't something we can definitely know." Korba adds to the discussion "If that would fulfill our contract I have no problem with reporting her location."

 Talinian nods, "I believe Korba is correct."

After listening to Bali, he says "We may not be able to accept contracts outside of the Guild but if I may have a moment."  Pulling out some parchment and a pen Talinian quickly jots down a contract, using the many they read the morning as a guide. "Now, I believe it would not be prudent to include the first portion of your contract in this.  After all, we certainly cannot contract on behalf of the entire Guild and there would be nothing to stop Anneleth from contracting with the Guild to return Eris to him and using other members for that task.  Whether or not the Guild would accept such a contract is another matter but I do not see that we have the authority to bind the entire Guild.  The second part is easy enough and is already included."

He turns to his companions, "Bali suggests that our contract with Anneleth is already complete.  The wording suggests she may have a point.  Whatever we were told in his tower, the contract Anneleth sent to the Guild said to 'find his missing daughter.'  We have done that and merely need inform the Guild of our success.  They, and certainly Anneleth, may take the position that we have to provide them Eris' location to fulfill the contract.  Given what we were told about Anneleth's past dealings with the Guild I believe our superiors will side with him and we will be forced to provide her location.  I find this acceptable.  Here is what I propose.  First, we return to the Guild and advise them that we have located the missing daughter and give them her location.  Second, we then show them this contact which, as you can see, does not name parties but does advise the overall tasks and compensation.  We tell them we have accepted this contract and then immediately leave to find Eris and deliver the items.  We will then be ahead of whomever the Guild sends after Eris, if that eventuality comes to pass.  What do you think?"

Olivia wait and thinks for a moment before responding to Talinian, choosing her words carefully she says, "Is it a requirement for us to do our business through the guild? If not perhaps we could simply take the package and our payment and tell the guild we found the girl but she did not wish to return and we did not wish to force her to come home. If we simply say we found her with the only proof we have being her fondness of a group of bards it may not be enough, so it would make sense for us to travel to find her if we did not have confirmation of her location already."

"I do not remember agreeing to do no work outside of the Guild." Korba says at first, he then takes a minute to think adding "I do not think we would need to have her sign an official contract, as this could be out of their purview; assuming the two of you think this is worth doing of course." As he looks to the others he continues "We should go back to the guild to report her location at the least. If we simply used this wire to tell him we've found his daughter, that might seem even more strange. And he would certainly know from where the message came. Olivia is also correct, though we have found her, it was only through this orb. Would that be enough proof for the guild?"

"I see your point, Korba, though the Guild may not, and agree with that course," Talinian says.  "As for proof, I see no reason why we would need to divulge the source of our knowledge.  We have found Eris and that should be enough.  My assessment of the Guild's agents is that we are competitors.  As such, we should jealously guard both our methods and our sources from fellow agents.  Olivia, what do you think?"

"I very much agree that how we came across the scry should remain untold. Though the fact that magic was used would be hard to not divulge." Korba says, nodding along with Talinian. "Shall we report our findings to the guild in the morning, and then would the two of you like to be off to deliver this package?"

"I still feel as though we should go see the girl first, give her some kind of warning before we let loose the hounds you know?" Olivia turns to Bali, "Do you happen to know how far a walk it is to where she was? She'll likely be on the move with the group too so it might be smart to either leave now or take another look at where she is if we end up staying the night."

"I am not opposed to helping the girl." Korba says slowly and thoughtfully, looking between each member of his team "But. Our responsibility currently lies with the Guild and our agreement with them."

Olivia sits back in her chair, taking a drink of whatever the woman gave her. "Annndddd we don't have to do that now. Nothing says we can't take a little detour, plus we could just say we're going to confirm her location."

"True of course." Korba nods "I simply worry of the the line we'd be riding, as it feels we're 'playing both sides' as it were."

"I get that, but I don't think I would be able to look Bali in the face if we were to put the girl in potential harm." Olivia says her next words rather hushed, "I also don't want to piss this woman off."

Talinian nods understanding with Olivia, "I see your point, Olivia.  However, I would prefer to start back now and come to a final decision on the way back."

He stands and bows to Bali. "Thank you, Bali.  You have been most gracious and helpful and we are in your debt."  Talinian look intently at Bali and tries to determine if Bali has been completely forthcoming with them (Insight: 13).  He also ponders how easy it would have been for Bali to 'lie' magically to them with her illusions and the so-called scrying crystal.  After all, they only had her word for it that it was scrying (Arcana: 25)

He bows again and starts to the door.

(THIS PART APPLIES ONLY IF THE GROUPS LEAVES)

After dinner and discussion Korba turns to Bali and says "I think we would all love to help you help the girl, but we are contracted to locate her for the guild first. Is there any way we can easily contact you from a distance if we're able to make this delivery for you?" He then thanks her for dinner and her hospitality following his friend out.