“Again.” Leto says. “You’re assuming the invaders into their lands are the ‘innocent.’ Would it not be just as easy to simply tell sailors that this area of sea is to be avoided? We approached, were warned that encroaching into the area that they consider sacred would not be tolerated, and chose to avoid conflict, so left peacefully. If we could do so as easily as we did, surely others could as well.” 

"Who is it these bird-people worship?"  Morgana asks, stepping up next to Kierro.  "Did you learn that?"  She asks Leto.

Latrius sighs.

"And here we go again, overcomplicating everything.  Not everything has to be a moral debate.  Whether the birds are innocent or not, we agreed to investigate the rock."

"And that includes taking a look at it ourselves," Naivara says after a shaky breath, "this is why I like animals more than people," she murmurs to herself before speaking up, "regardless of who's 'innocent' or not, a compromise surly can be reached. Balance of some sort."

“Do as you will then. I’m not here to defend the bird people.” Leto says, shrugging. “I simply suggested that your job was done, and we could focus on what is important. It seems fairly likely that we will all feel another pull tomorrow morning, to an object that seems likely to grant us more knowledge. We all now know we’ve been brough to this realm from ours, where each of us had nearly everything we could have wanted. Our pasts we now know, yet not why we are now here. I cannot be the only one curious to learn how this has come to pass.”

"As curious as I am Leto," Naivara says, "we made a promise. I suppose we could just tell the people on the other ship what you found out, but from what little I understand about it laws of the sea seem different from normal, everyday stuff. You can't just tell them to avoid somewhere and expect them to comply."

Honor shakes her head. "I agree with Leto. We have found the source of the issue, and hopefully a general size of the area to be avoided." She looks at him for confirmation. "We are not familiar with the laws or customs of the sea, or the nearby land. We also have no authority to make any promises. I would suggest that at most we pass by the periphery of the area on the way back, and ask for terms under which a negotiating party might be sent in order for sea passage to resume, or negotiate for capture and ransom of any trespassers instead of death."

“Is that not exactly the purpose of laws though?” Leto asks, sipping his wine and shrugging. He then sits up and looks to the human(?) that spoke to him “Ah! And speaking of gods... You! Native of this land. Do you know...” and he rattles off the names of a few common gods from their realm. “I am curious if the gods are the same across realms. It had already been suggested that perhaps the gods are responsible for our current position.”

"Sometimes laws need to be broken for the greater good," Naivara says quietly. She scratches Vale as she watches the discussions go down.

"Honor, it was you and Kierro,  who made a deal about the ship, were you not? The rest of us does not even know the conditions of that agreement. Decide between yourself if you fulfilled the conditions. If you believe the word of two professional liars, that disappeared ships should blame themselves for disappearance, and the rock is occupied by some peaceful bird-people, and this second hand information covers your deal - then let's just get back to the ship and sail back to the city."

It was not, in fact, Honor and Kierro who made the deal.  It was Tessa and Sylcan who did so. Just an FYI.

(I think the ship deal was Sylcan and Tessa)

"Peaceful or not, it would definitely be worth it to check firsthand, if only to know for sure." he turns to Leto. "To be honest, the god they worship has nothing to do with it; the concern is that they've destroyed the passing ships and threaten anyone nearby. If the ships have all been attacking them, that would be one thing, but I doubt that's the case."

Kierro stands and stretches a bit. "If you don't think it's worth it to check, then I can't make you come with. Might as well get underway, though."

Fishing his holy symbol out of his pocket, he casts sending to contact Castisha:

Found what we're looking for. We'll be back at the shore in an hour or two, and row out. Meet you there.

Tessa looks up from her revelation to find the group in conversation regarding the news of the trouble plaguing the shipping lines. She says, "In exchange for passage to our treasure we agreed to investigate the matter of the interruption of the shipping lines. It appears that Mylene and Leto have already done so. We can return to Neverwinter and provide them with the information. What action the city chooses to do with that information is not my concern. We were not compensated to resolve the matter, merely investigate and report. I see it as fortuitous that these two have saved us time and effort."

"You are the boss here," did not argue Vilana. "Shall we return to the ship then?" She would move with the returning group.

"I had nothing to do with any agreement," Honor says. "If the tower is on the way, taking at least the step of confirming their story, and investigating possible terms for negotiations seems a good middle road, allowing us to also asses the claims of the bird people." She shrugs. "It's no skin off my nose if we don't go, or if we do. But I think it puts us in a stronger bargaining position if we do at least take a peek." She turns and heads out as well.

It is now about 2 P.M. in game time.  Trip back to the boat will take about 2 hours.

Everyone, as you come out of the underground area you can now sense the presence of a dragon.  it is just to the north, not visible since it is in a valley in the rock, but you can all sense it.  You would know, from your memories, the ability to sense dragons when they are near is one of the first dragonlord powers you manifested.  It started out small, but grew to larger distance as you grew in power.

You would recognize the feeling as that of a young green dragon.

"So they did bring the dragon." Honor looks at Higgul. "What do you think of all this dragon business? More than you signed up for, or exactly the kind of thing you were hoping for?"

“As it will take time to get back to the ships anyway, let us meet our two ships in a harbor, and anchor in for the night. We will need to discuss with our captain as well if we plan to continue needing their ship. And maybe all of this discussion will be for naught and our next pull will bring us straight to your tower.” Leto says chuckling as he stands up, finishes his wine looking at the cup clearly disappointed in it’s quality,  brushes off his tunic and looks around to the others.

"It sure is an adventure."  Higgul says with a shrug.  "Not sure how I feel about a bunch of dragons together, but I am good tagging along if you still want me around."

Assuming everyone heads back to their respective ships then.  If you are doing anything else then let me know.

The trips take you some time, though Leto and Mylene do their quicker with the flying mounts and the fact their ship is closer.

What do you guys do once back in your own ship.  You can post in the PM for your more private discussion about what to do, if you feel it is appropriate to keep it there instead of here.