Pyrus relaxes some, relieved that diplomacy is working out.  He smiles and nods, "A pleasure to meet you both.  I'm sure many other surface-dweller names will sound strange to you, but no, I was not raised by a dragon.  Sorry about your unfortunate predicament.  Yours is no easy task for just two sets of eyes.  I would ordinarily insist on a reasonable pay in exchange for helping with a search for a lost trinket, but in your case I'll be happy to help as a favor.  Can't speak for my friends, though.  They might not want to spend the time if there isn't something to make it worth their while involved, but I assure you they are all quite capable."

Elysia answers, "Thank you, but we simply do not have the funds to hire anyone, though we may have information to offer them that would lead them to some treasure. Your offered help for free, however, we will gladly accept on the stipulation our boss never finds out. But out of curiosity... where are these friends of yours? Maybe they would be willing to help in exchange for the information I mentioned?"

Angel doesn't break away from her hiding spot. But she does look at Sarah and JB to see what their expressions are, or if they show any indication of being interested.

In reply to Angel Bard (msg # 465):

Johnny just kneels there, just taking in the whole scene, with his large ears focused toward where Pyrus and Elisia is.

Returning to being meiou the rabbit carefully came out of hiding just in his clothes no weapons,no armor,nothing that would show hostile actions. "Hey i'll help either way but treasure is always a nice motivator."

  Tark's 'awkward politics' senses are tingling.  Hopefully it's a false alarm and there are no underground wars hinging on a fashion accessory.

Pyrus really likes this Meiou guy.  Kinda reminds him of Tark with his mix of practicality and altruism.

With a pleasant smile Pyrus introduces everyone.  "Elysia, Kalannar, this is my friend Meiou.  May I ask what sort of treasure?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:34, Tue 23 Oct 2018.

Elysia says, "Gold, jewels, magic items... you know. Treasure. I'm not trying to pull one of these things where you go and find an egg and then I'm all: Don't you get it? The life inside was a treasure." he glances to Meiou. Then looks back at Pyrus. "Any other friends waiting in the shadows?"

Angel admires Meiou's willingness to make himself known. But all the same stays hidden along with JB. She is leaving it up to Pyrus how honest he wants to be with these drow. If anything, Meiou's action has caused Angel to aim slightly between the drow and Meiou so that if they make a jump for Meiou, her arrow will hit them by the time it makes it to the currently vacant spot.

In reply to Angel Bard (msg # 470):

"Now there goes a brave rabbit," Johnny said from behind Angel as she readied her weapon.

He crossed his arms but still let his hands be seen as to not cause any problems.
"Sounds lovely. How might we be of help to you firstly though. Treasure can wait but you could use our aid now I feel. " he would leave it up to pyrus as to announcing anyone else.

  Tark would only be in shadows if Kobolds base their interior lighting around 60ft Darkvision.  Though he's too far away to hear such sass anyways.

(( Gah!  So sorry how long it took to post!  D8 ))

Pyrus smiles all the more at Meiou's response.  Most adventurers would very much prioritize the treasure over giving a free favor to some strangers.  But not this guy!  Maybe Tark knew better just how golden-hearted Meiou is and that's why he felt so strongly about defending him.  Angel sure was acting exceedingly loyal.  Either way, Pyrus is very much convinced that this friend is a keeper.  If only he knew the compliment paid to Meiou by Johnny.  But at least Angel could hear it!

Pyrus turns an apologetic smile to the Drow men and gives a slight bow.  "Forgive any impoliteness, good sirs.  I did not intend to imply that you were trying to deceive.  I was merely curious.  And my apologies if the arrival of my good friend Meiou made you uncomfortable.  Allow me to tell you more about my friends.  Tark is a no-nonsense Half-Orc warrior, quite loyal and noble.  Jamie is a lovely elf mage with a charming sense of humor.  My newer friends include the kind-hearted Rabbitfolk Angel, and her Mousefolk jester Johnny.  Also there's my loyal kobold fan club and the lovable Squirrelfolk Sarah.  I trust them all to have my back, and to be fair with you two should they show up."

He was sure to mention the wide variety of his friends' races to put the Drow at ease about any possible racism.

Angel smirks over at JB at his comment. "...sure is..." she says quietly with a honey-sweet tone and winks at him.

Elysia says nothing for a moment, kind of surprised.

Angel doesn't yell, but calls out in a solid tone, "Hello." from her perch, but has her bow pointed down at this point, not wanting to antagonize the drow.

Elysia looks at Angel. Then back to Pyrus and Meiou and says, "...thank you. Why you feel the need to help me, I am unsure. But I'm not one to say no to help when my livelihood is on the line. The reason we are searching in this area is because our boss was here with us a week ago. We met with a human named Karl who, although dressed more like a warrior, claimed he knew the area and was willing to show us around for a fee. We agreed to his services and he led us where we needed to go." He points in a direction that looks off the beaten path. "There are some sacred falls that way. We went there to bless the boss's holy symbol. Then returned where we came from. But when we were back home, her old childhood talisman was missing. Which is what we are looking for. Maybe Karl took it? Maybe not. But we have been searching the area from here to the falls, repeatedly and... no luck. To search for Karl would be suicide since drow are not welcome in human towns..."

When Angel smirked over at JB, she could almost see hears appear in his eyes and the smitten grin in his face, much like when she first met him.  (If Meiou thinks that JB is pushing his buttons, imagine how Angel is pushing Johnny's.)

"well you can more than count on us to find out where it is. wether here or taken we will assist in getting it back. " the rabbit said to the drow in honest tones. Eager to help assist get back the item . Difference being in Angel's not purposely pushing Johnnys buttons one would say compared to the mouse going out of his way to rile up a certain rabbit.

  The Drow are surrounded by people far more tiny and adorable than they are (Pyrus is toooootally a Drow, so this comment is factual!).  So hopefully that alone puts them at ease, if only from a smug superiority at being able to reach the cans on the top shelf standpoint.

  "...My 'what an asshole' sense is tingling. I didn't even know I had one of those." Karl. Not even around and leading to disappointment.

Pyrus so happy his friends are being so nice to the Drow.

"You're welcome.  As for our reasons, I get the feeling like I'm not the only one who understands what it's like to be made to feel unwelcome.  I have some good news for you.  We confronted a human named Karl for his other crimes, so chances are he can be questioned about this talisman.  Allow me to show you what he looks like with prestidigitation."

Assuming the men don't object to Pyrus casting a spell, he'll conjure up an image of Karl.

"Is this the man you hired?"

Angel half-imagines a He-Man voice to what Meiou just said and smiles knowingly.

Elysia watches Pyrus produce the image and looks a little creeped out. "...y...  yes, that's him."

Angel chuckles from Tark's comment. She looks at the image of this Karl guy she hadn't been around to see. She makes no comment, though.

Johnny pretty much imagines the same thing with Meiou, only adding a line where the rabbit mutters something about tying up a certain mouse jester at the back of a wagon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:02, Fri 30 Nov 2018.

Meiou would appreciate being thought of in a he-man voice but likely would NOT mention the mouse. No need to bring up something that doesnt need to be mentioned. "oh hey its that dumbass. Yeah i remember him. I wouldn't put it past him to steal something. If he did I think we should turn him over to you."

  Tark upgrades to officially on the scene as opposed to probably on the scene, as he comments "Also we first ran into Karl helping out a lizardman screwed over by him.  So there's another reason species popularity isn't really something you should worry about."

  Sure, it's a Half-Orc saying it.  But on the sliding scale of fantasy racism Half-Orcs have it better than Half-Elves (somehow).

OOC: Sorry for the wait for essentially filler.  Holidays+"JUST sick enough to be a drag!"+etc. Just a bunch of small mere annoyances adding up.

Pyrus can only guess that the "small world" coincidence of bumping into people who've also met Karl is the reason for the creeped-out reaction.

Pyrus wobbles his down-turned palm in a "maybe" gesture in response to Tark making his point.  "I'll bet things would have turned out very poorly for Sess if he had tried to resolve the matter without our help.  Wouldn't put it past townsfolk to be very rude to even May if they hadn't yet heard of the lady's reputation.  So their caution isn't unwarranted."

He then turns an apologetic look to the Drow men.  "And unfortunately, surface folk are so daytime oriented that they're automatically suspicious of anyone out and about at night.  So it will probably be best if you guys continue to stay away from town.  Give us a time and place to meet with you, and we can tell you if our questioning Karl turned up anything."

Elysia says, "How about the waterfall I mentioned?"

Angel says, "That works. Let's make it tomorrow when the stars appear in the sky."

The drow agree and head off.

Angel faces the others, "So now we need to find out where Karl went."

"Yeah," JB says, "And unlike my socks, he has legs and can walk away."

The rabbit shrugged at Pyrus' comment "Just like most folk think my kind cheat when it comes to anything luck based. Though usually at gambling more than anything else. "

He looked to the drow "We will either find it or find where it is. In either case we will meet up with you to let you know the result of our findings and if its the latter we can discuss what to do."

Not that gambling was meiou's thing but he'd read it in some book on the races of the world that his kind were almost super naturally lucky and when it comes to gambling that isnt always a good thing.

  Immunity to the worst possible luck must seem like an unfair amount of good luck to those at the cruel mercies of dice, but Tark doesn't usually think about that sort of thing.

  "We should probably see if we can find out how many more people Karl has pissed off to save on time in the future, if they even remember half of them."