ooc: Each PC gets 33 XP for defeating the skeleton.
"I am quite sure that you did indeed invent the drink, miss Periwinkle. I just plucked the thought of it from your mind when you first arrived so that there was time to prepare it while you were engaged downstairs as with the drinks of the others." Verminar answers while accepting the scroll from Xir so that he may read it for himself.
After finishing, he looks startled. "Oh my goodness, he's alive. After he dissapeared for over three months I had given up hope and his will came into force when he was declared dead. Now to find that he is alive, and on the other side of the portal! This is not good. That portal was warded for good reason, you see. Once, far back in the history of Orrussus, this gate was the source of an invasion of undead which ruined the town and was nearly not turned back. No one knows exactly what is on the other side, but sometime after several heroes vollunteered to go through the gate it's flow of undead stopped for long enough that the arcane masters of the time could seal and ward it. If such a flood begins again, the city's defenses would be bypassed as the attack pours forth from within."
Taking a deep breath and pausing for a moment, Verminar continues. "I know exactly which staff he means. He suspected that it was related to the portal somehow, so he kept it at teh top of the tower in order to have as much distance as possible between the two objects. Well, it seems that I must ask if you are willing to undertake this new assignment for me and my master. You mentioned 'hazard pay', I believe Mr. Shadowcatch. Let me see what I have handy while you three discuss the matters at hand for a few minutes."
With that, Verminar leaps into the air and flies upstairs seeking possible payments for the group. The silence is thick as you look at one another and around the room...