The small village of Whitehaven sits on the frontier between the halfling lands of Lahiri and the gnomish homelands of Ararosa. In the small frontier town that hugs thw shores of the massive lake called Bras d'Or an unease has settled on the residents. The party finds a mix of Emberains from human, half-elven, gnomish, and halfling heritage. But in Whitehaven the wee-folk distinctly own the businesses and services offered with other races among the residence bit mostly moving through. A small market has been assembled as the party comes out of their accommodation that morning after many nights camping rough on the road between Lahiri and Ararosa. Folks are gathered there to sell their wares but the atmosphere of the town seems tense, the same as the night before when the party arrived to nearly abandoned streets at sundown. The party has only been in Whitehaven overnight having stayed in a small tavern and inn called the Amber Road. Through the small market the party makes their way to where the Amber Road innkeeper instructed they could find work outside the law master's court on a job board. This work aids the local law master and watch of the village. As they look at the board they see a myriad of posting from hunting bandits harassing travelers on the road to Whitehaven, a bounty for hedgewitches, and several others huntingwarrants for dangerous creatures lurking in the lake that are making trade as well as transport complicated. The party can inquire within for more details.

Ruz is dressed to impress this morning, with an elvish face and long blonde locks above his heavy chain mail. He has pair of throwing axes in his belt, a longbow and warhammer strapped to the pack on his back, with his helm in his hand. 

Ruz is glancing from job sheet to job sheet, comparing expected rewards in his head. 

“What do you all think? Witches sounds interesting! Not sure I want to go for a trip into the water. Maybe we can set bait to lure whatever it is above the waves and skewer it?”

Ruz reaches out to the door, and pushes to hold it open for anyone coming through as he continues to consider the options. 

Malcom ducks through the door, giving a nod of thanks to Ruz as he does so. Malcom has a tousled and messy head of brown hair, and faint stubble is beginning to form on his face from days of not shaving. He wears simple travelers clothes with a nondescript robe, but looking closely one can see a leather tome within the folds of his clothes and a small opal ring that glints in the morning sunlight. 

Malcom too looks to the job board, quickly reading the different opportunities. ”Yes... hags do sound interesting. But from what I have learned can be exceedingly... dangerous without the proper precautions.” He says calmly and softly. “Perhaps dealing with some bandits first may be smarter. Hags though may also present a larger sum of money for completing the job. However, I defer to the group.” He says with a small smile, stepping backwards with his hands held out. 

The dark brown cloak surrounding Sef does not quite conceal the rapier at his hip nor fully hide the leather armor he wears.  As usual, his short brown hair appears a bit neglected as he halts a few steps from the job board.  He quickly scans through each one as he considers them.  

"Yea, I think we ought to play it safe for a bit.  We've handled bandits before. Witches and mysterious creatures maybe should wait." As Ruz holds opens the door, Sef hangs back to allow others to proceed first into the office. "But we should head inside and get more details first." He glances to Gale for her response.

Gale stands next to the others, fingers absentmindedly drumming on her hip as she reads through the different postings. The symbol of Sehanine is prominently displayed on the chest of her sleek, black armor, and a shield and warhammer are strapped to her pack. Her white hair drifts gently in a nonexistent breeze, and she makes no attempt to hide the swirling blue markings on her face and arms.

"Seems like bandits are the popular choice," she says with a small nod of assent. "Fighting anything in the water seems like more trouble than it's worth. I would be interested to hear about the witches, though, if only out of curiosity." She shrugs slightly, then follows Malcolm inside, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure the others are following

OOC: Did Sim before Malcolm? I'm confused.

The party enters the law master's court and finds a narrow brightly lit room with a desk centered in the small space. A human man wearing dull purple official looking robes is seated pouring his attention over several large ledgers. He seems engrossed in his tallying in one and doesn't look up. The room has two doorways that head somewhere behind the desk but they are both closed. There's a banner of Ellyria hanging behind the clerk's desk on the wall. The symbol of the all eyeing and all knowing eye on brilliant purple tapestry the eye the silver embroidery.

"Yes," the clerk at the desk asks his tone is curt, it's as if he's annoyed by the mere presence of the party disturbing his work!

Sef slips into the room after Malcom and Gale, as Ruz still holds the door.  He takes only a few steps away from the door and leans against the back wall.  As the clerk speaks he shows no signs of having heard him as he slowly looks about the room. 

OOC: Sef want to tell what he's looking for? 5 senses: see, smell, taste, hear, and feel is perception OR traps, secret doors, building features etc... is investigation.

Gale approaches the desk, stopping a few feet away with a polite smile on her face and hands folded in front of her. "Hello. We were hoping to inquire about some of the jobs posted on the board outside. There was one mentioning bandits, and anything else you have of a similar nature." As she speaks, she tries to get a quick glance at what he's working on. He seems to think it's important enough that he can't be bothered by visitors, and she's curious what it is.

Perception: 21

OOC: Sef is mainly looking to see if he notices anything of interest. (See/hear/smell - Perception: 16)

Gale can see it's two ledgers with names. It's a census of some kind with births and deaths in one but the other is titled 'reapings' with the several breaks with many years listed with only one or two names but this year there is no names written. The man seems to be focused on the births and deaths records as if trying to work something out.

"Yes, yes," the human finally looks up. "Bandits on the road have bounties," the human man with a pencil thin mustache looks up. He has sallow skin and a head of thinning brown hair with a widow's peek. "These bounties can be collected for ten gold pieces on each bandit you bring in for trial. As such you'll be temporarily deputized in the empire's service. So, any death you cause will be equally punished by the law unless unavoidable. We seek justice against these lawless hoods not vigilantism. They will be tried and made examples of," he explains steepling his fingers looking the party over curiously. "Is this a task you feel you can accomplish," he adds with a curiously cocked eyebrow.

Sef can see the room as previously described but can hear low muffled voices behind the door nearest to him. He can't hear what the voices are saying but he knows that the clerk isn't on his own in the law master master's court.

Ruz nods happily. “That sounds like the job for us. Oh, but uh... can’t say I walk around with a lot of manacles in my pack. Gives the wrong impression in this part of the world, what with the uh ‘reapings’ and all. Can you provide them?”

“Yes and perhaps knowledge of where we can find these bandits would be helpful.” Malcom adds, poking his head out beside Ruz and Gale. “Maybe also how big of a problem are we dealing with. Are they violent? How long have they been a problem? Has anyone tried to defeat them before? Ecetera.” He then stops himself, and steps back again with an awkward chuckle. “You know, any information you may have would be helpful. It is always good to be... prepared.”

(OOC: Forgot to roll portent for the day, so here it is: 16 and 15. Not sure how easy this will be to use in PbP, but we will figure it out)

Sef keeps to the back of the room, but slowly drifts over to get a bit closer to the door he hears voices coming from.  He keeps his eyes focused on the conversation between the human official and the rest of the party, while trying to see if he can pick up anything from the other conversation. 

(Perception: 13 - if needed.)  

"Yes, of course some equipment can be provided. Our small hamlet is someone over taxed at present and the  town town is...recruiting if you are so inclined," he says with a bit of hope in his tone looking over the party. "See the blacksmith at the barracks for those just to the west of town. The bandits seem to be about an hour out of town concentrated on the road to Ararosa. The gnomes seem uninterested in giving us aid but I will admit the bandits seem to come from all dregs of Emberain society and not one heritage in particular over another. Dangerous? Well there have been beatings and a stabbing. They harass travelers and caravans making commerce here complicated as are the beasts in the lake," he adds. "We've rounded them up a few times but they work off their debt to town and we release them hoping they'll find different work if you consider robbing work," he pauses to sign loudly. "Some move on and some go right back to it. They're leader is...not even what I would call a man. They call him Dirtyhands. He's a demon," the man adds frowning. "Catch him and I think our problem will be solved. He is worth 25 gold pieces," the weasel of a man finishes with a grin fixing his dull purple robes.

Meanwhile...

Sef moves towards the closed door and conversation.

 In the room a door swings open and two figures exit, an androgynous black scaled dragonborn and a male dwarf with dark skin and a braided beard adored with gold. They both wear the same dull purple robes with the symbol of Ellyria on them. They cast looks over the party but do not linger quickly shuffling out of the law master master's court.

"Are you still interested," the weasel like man asks the party stroking his mustache and looking bored.

OOC: cleath just tell me who's roll you'd like to replace OR what roll you want to use it for and we'll work it out ok? No worries!

How desperate does this guy giving us the job seem? 
Ruz insight15 

Ruz finds the man hard to read but no at all desperate. He seems more annoyed by your party's interruption of his work than anything. He kind of more or less 'take the job or leave' attitude.

Gale pauses to watch the two leave the room, making sure they aren't paying the party any special interest. Once they're gone, she turns back to the clerk. "I think that's something we can handle," she says with a polite nod. "Should we bring whoever we capture here, or is there a better location?"

"The barracks and jails at the west end town," the man answers. "Now if you are all in agreement I will proceed with the induction as temporary deputies of the empire," he adds looking over the party.

Malcom gives a nod. “Yes, I believe we are ready, thank you for the help.” He says trying not to upset the man. He clearly was busy and had power in this town. Best to stay as unassuming as possible and get out of his hair quickly so as to avoid being noticed as a spellcaster. Looking closely, someone might be able to notice Malcom seems a little nervous being here.