Rafftry looks stunned at Karanak's display, and leans forward in his chair as if about to get up, but then thinks better of it and leans back to his former seated position as Karanak reforms into his treeish state.
As Thalin follows, he begins to calm, and indeed he seems much relaxed and more amicable by the time the half-elf is finished. Rafftry smiles jovially at Colgrave's magical antics and takes in the brief statements of the other two without a word, although his eyes take on a shining look and his smile widens as Experiment 354B presents himself.
He nods to each speaker in turn as they present themselves.
"Well met, all of you," he says with a grin, taking another sip of his wine. "Well, now that that's out of the way, and you all seem, at least, not terrified of entering The Mournlands, let us speak in more detail.
What I specifically need from you is to retrieve a notebook that was left at a research laboratory in Eston. It's taken me a long time to determine that's where it is, and I very much want it."
The greed shining in his eyes is clear for a moment, but then he continues and it vanishes as quickly as it came.
"I cannot tell you what is in the notebook, but it has a particular symbol on it, and the place where it's being kept should also have a similar symbol somewhere nearby. I will provide you will a drawing of said symbol.
Now, I'm sure I needn't tell you that the journey to Eston will be treacherous in and of itself. They say that spending too much time in The Mist is unhealthy. Unfortunately, on top of such dangers I'm afraid that the laboratory, and the book, are likely protected by traps, enchantments, and locks of all kinds. I know such things were common and I have little doubt that there was time to activate such things before the end.
I have some maps here that you are welcome to use to determine the best route to the city. I will bring them in and you can look them over once all the terms are agreed upon.
When you return, I will have a token for you to give to the guards at whatever gate you return to Sharn by. They will alert me of your arrival and I will meet you back here. Again, I must I ask you not to open the book. I suspect it may be heavily enchanted and any attempts to open it without proper care may result in damage to it or the information inside. I can't have that.
For your troubles, I will give you each 150g. I will pay half up front so you may gather any additional supplies you might need for the trip. I also have some magic items laying around that one or more of you might find useful. If you return with the book, I will see what you think of them.
Well, what say you? Any questions? Will you take the job?"
He takes another sip of wine after his long speech and looks around at each of the applicants in turn.
[sblock=ooc]If you don't all have 2 approvals by the time you set out and he makes to give you the money, I'll personally go through and do a second approval on your characters. That may delay things a bit, but I really want to give you half the money up front. I think Kaelen is the only one who doesn't have a judge approval yet, but I'm sure we can get that worked out.[/sblock]