Krinix is all for heading back to town

Qiran's spell book glows dimly against the pouring rain.  The spectral image of a red dragon rises from the cover, more animated than before, and gives a tiny angry roar at the rain.

"Yes, heading back to settlement is agreeable."

Faerieth also agrees to head back, trying her best to shield the young man and all his supplies from the worst of the rain.

((In case you were wondering, the way I determine how the weather is treating the group is via percentile. An 'average', partly-cloudy day is around 50%. 75% and above is a beautiful day with great sightlines and air quality. Under 25% is poor visibility/rain/unpleasant and under 15% is a straight-up storm. Now I'll roll for how long the storm lasts and what the weather will be like after the storm passes))

11

26

((The storm will last 2 hours and will clear up to a relatively pleasant day. BTW, it's currently late spring, so while it gets cool at night, it's not so cold that anyone NOT Chroma would suffer exposure without a campfire (though having one would be much more comfortable. This is also why the city council is so eager to get the farmland back to being a healthy state; they're going to be planting their crops soon.))

3

 ((In 2 days the weather will change again.))

Jules is more than happy to gather up his belongings if it means they can get inside and out of the blowing wind and pounding rain.
"Thank you. Truly. I clearly need to re-think my packing strategy." he says to Faerieth as he hurries along as quickly as his city slicker knees will carry him, no doubt bringing up the rear of the group. Nothing else out here is braving the weather either, so the group is able to make it back to town un-harassed.
Jules heads towards city hall once they're through the gates, eager to give his report to Harken and Jarvo. Does the group follow to give a more personal account, or do they have other plans?

Faerieth follows Jules in to explain

Krinix might as well also go and see how the process unfolds.

Qiran hesitates for a few moments.  There were other things to tend to. . . but they could wait.  Information was a weapon of its own, and Jules' report could prove useful.  He falls in line with the others.

Jules delivers the report to Jarvo, who is keen to look up old records of the city as the account given about the tunnels under the city is recounted. As Jarvo searches, he has difficulty finding any records of the tunnel's construction. He'll need time to research, but the group has at least given him a starting point. As for the upward sloping tunnel, Jarvo makes a few calculations on an abacus and according to his measurements, the tunnel may actually run parallel to the old irrigation trenches out by the original farmlands outside 'Old Phlan'. Perhaps they may have even lifted the 'crimson plague' that caused the old farmland to be abandoned in the first place.

When Jarvo learns of the bodies the group found in the tunnels, however, Jarvo's face blanches.
"Wait, you said that there were Hillsfar officials there?"he asks, looking deeply disturbed.
Jules looks confused as Jarvo gets up and closes the door to his office, then turns to face the group.
"I may be young for my people but I think I'm a decent judge of character, and my instincts are telling me that trying to feed you some kind of fabrication would serve nothing. What I'm about to tell you needs to stay within these four walls. For Phlan's sake." he says,

Krinix places a clawed hand over his heart and says,

"We will exercise the utmost discretion and care."

Jarvo looks over the rest of the group, and Jules speaks up.
"I don't think you have too much to worry about, Jarvo. These four have worked hard for Phlan so far, don't you think?"
Jarvo rubs his chin, then nods.
"This is true enough..." he states, then clears his throat.
"The truth is, the reason that the expedition teams are encouraged to loot rather than bring back only important artifacts is that Phlan is positively drowning in debts." he says, going back to his desk to poke at the abacus there.
"Following the liberation of Phlan those years ago, Hillsfar offered to assist us in our rebuilding efforts. The city council was afraid that the Grey tribes to the north were going to take advantage of our weakened state and didn't look too closely at our benefactors. I don't know if you were aware... but Hillsfar has enacted a strict population control policy, allowing only elves and humans inside their borders. Once Phlan began accepting refugees to grow our workforce and population, Hillsfar began to insist on sending 'representatives' to monitor how we've been utilizing our credit, but we're all but certain that they're also going to attempt to 'help themselves' to whatever artifacts or knowldge that's uncovered." he explains.

Jules's expression sours somewhat.
"I had my suspicions.. what are you saying, exactly? If Hillsfar goons come sniffing about, we're just supposed to stand aside for them?"

Jarvo links his fingers under his jaw.
"If at all possible... try to avoid conflict for now. If Hillsfar feels its interests aren't being served here, they could pull their funding or demand reparations ... at least until our infrastructure is restored, we are reliant on Hillsfar's .... 'generosity'... to continue paying for the expedition efforts." Jarvo says.

"So our task remains the same for the time.  We try to rebuild Phlan.  Perhaps fortify it when we can in case tensions. . . escalate."

Qiran glances between the parties.  He didn't understand too much of local politics and economics, but a rival city of xenophobic humans would be a problem for his plans. 

Jarvo nods.
"Yes, I suppose it doesn't change much, but the fact you found Hillsfarians in the canals means that they must have their OWN people involved in the expedition... and they're likely not going to follow the rules that they should." he states, then sighs.
"If it comes to it... IF they are the ones who cross the line... if you can bring them to town restrained and intact... not necessarily unharmed, but intact, we will at least have legal grounds to get some leverage and possibly put a halt to their interference. Not a word to the other groups should you come into contact about this... but I can even offer you a bounty should you encounter more Hillsfarians trying to sabotage the rebuilding effort so we can build a case to renegotiate the terms of our agreement with their treasury." he says.
"Hopefully, however, it won't come to that."

Krinix nods and says, "I understand."

He's already thinking of the next journey out, what they might encounter, what they might discover. He wishes he had more time to study the complicated magic at the site they had left, rather than fend off hordes of monsters. Perhaps the next excursion would be less...exciting.

"What tasks should we do in the city before heading out again?"

Jarvo rubs his neck.
"There's nothing else that you necessarily need to do, your time is your own, after all." he says. "However, on the matter of the evidence you gathered showing Hillsfar's interference, you can either turn that over to me or hang onto it until the council has a better case to present to our Hillsfarian representatives, it's up to you. It should be safe enough here; after all, no one knows you've found proof of them investigating expedition locations without permission." he adds.

"Aside from that, perhaps you should make good use of your writs to restock and resupply."

Krinix would like to go and see what’s available with his writs. He’s most interested in provisions, high quality inks and papers, and magic items / potions.

Faerieth wants to vist the man Jule's mentioned about getting her acorn made

Jules leads the group to the commercial district, where Faerieth can meet up with the 'odd fellow' that he told her about. Apparently this merchant has a unique supply of magical implements and rare artifacts since the gnomes and halfling labourers need so many components for their engineering projects. It's also where the group can order special supplies or even have them custom made.

The commercial district is currently seeing the most construction as it straddles the borders to the old slums that have since been cleaned up and has become the new home to a lot of refugees and other displaced residents. There are larger stores and industrial businesses at work; a textiles production company, woodworking shop, a smelting forge, everything the town needs to put new workers to task and produce the goods and tools needed for the revitalization effort. Amidst these larger enterprises is a small building that looks like a miniature museum. Ancient dwarfish architecture sets it apart from the others as probably one of only a few original Phlan buildings left since Phlan's heyday.

Inside the building, it gets even stranger. Shelves lined with preserved specimens of various species, a botanical garden growing on the second floor beneath a sunroof, all sorts of strange knicknacks stuffed away into little cubicles with only the most vague of labeling, this is clearly not a store one just comes into and orders something off the top of their head.

Jules turns to Faerieth (and anyone else who came along that's curious) and whispers.
"If he starts rambling, just try and remind him why you came... he gets easily distracted." he says.

There's someone working up on the second floor, tending to the garden, and they haven't yet realized there's a customer waiting.

((Super duper sorry i somehow missed this))

Faerieth knocks on the door again, saying loudly, "Ex...cuse me? Are you open?"

Qiran's gaze drifts about the shop as he follows Faerieth and the others.  He needed some supplies as well, but being a stranger here, intended to follow the firbolg's example first.

"Ahh! I'll be right with you." comes a strangely lyrical voice, almost as if his speech was autotuned.

The sound of awkward footsteps descend down a spiral staircase somewhere amidst the clutter rings out as a hand-carved, human-sized marionette makes its way to the group. It's clearly being controlled from afar on magic strings that seem to disappear into the air about 10 feet above it. The marionette is proportioned in a whimsical way, dressed in formal clothes with colours that might have been picked by a blind person. Nothing matches, everything is bright and garish.

"How may I be of assistance to you fine people today?" the puppet asks. It clearly doesn't have a voice of its own, it's wooden mouth clapping open and closed while the voice comes from somewhere else.