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((Pfft, there's always time for Portal 2.))

The Baron blinked at the man who had spoken out before he cleared his throat and rose to his feet. He bagan to walk closer to the group, as if sizing them up. Surely the Baron didn't think they were all capable of doing whatever he happened to throw at them? There was more enough of them available, and most of them seemed like capable fighters or close.

Seemingly satisfied with his search, the Baron stood before the the group and eyed them. Gods, he's tall. Sevyc couldn't help but think. Then again, nearly everyone was taller than the elf. Well, except the dwarf.

"I assume you've all heard of the drought that has plagued my town?" He rumbled. His voice was as commanding as his eyes, a rich baritone that rung deep in the room.

Sif lifted her head slightly, studying the Baron's moves. He was a tall man and seemed to want to seem so too. He looked a bit more important than he was. Maybe that was just his ego? She pushed herself away from the wall and finally spoke up in a calm tone, making her voice sound more mature and very different from the angry battlecry she had made earlier. Maybe that's overexaggerating a bit. "Of course we have. We're professionals, at least I think most of us are." She raised her eyebrow slightly and then shrugged her shoulders. "I was just wondering... about the reward.. How are you gonna afford it? I don't usually complain, but.. I can't be the only one thinking that, can I?" She glanced at the other bunch of adventurers, who were standing a bit away from her. She had distanced herself from them a bit. She's used to being completely stealthy, which means her social skills weren't always that good, but most of that had nothing to do with it. After asking what needed to be asked, she crossed her arms, while patiently and politely waiting. She hoped she didn't sound too harsh. She could be a bit.. well, she could seem rather spontaneous and rude. But that's just the way she was. She was always serious.

The Coffeys, while not wanting to offend the guy paying them, did wonder exactly how much they would be getting paid. They also saw an excellent opportunity to show off their whole "finishing each other's thoughts" thing, and glanced at each other to confirm. Small nods all around. Karen went first, as always, from the left of the group. "Actually, we did have some questions." and Dalia picked up, "About the reward, of course."
"Will we each get equal shares?"
"Is it a total sum that's split?"
"Because we've got sisters back home..."
"...And they all need to eat."
They both nodded respectfully, and said in synchronization, "But not to worry, mister Baron, we are professionals." Karen snuck a glance and a smile at the assassin girl, while Dalia glanced momentarily at the new arrival, then they both turned their eyes back to the Baron.

Seeing other people speaking, Seraphine assumed it would be alright if she also spoke. "They are right Mister Baron. There are quite a lot of us. I'm pretty sure most of us are experienced, but how are you going to afford this? You displayed a hefty amount of money there," she spoke out confidently, while being as respectful as she could muster. The Baron's eyes turned to him, but she didn't waver under his gaze. He seemed amused at her response, though he didn't show much of an indication of it.

The Baron seemed to fit the type at least. This wasn't the first nobleman Valder had to deal with and he wouldn't be the last. He placed his arms behind his back as he looked at the man with his own stern eyes. He and him were of the same ilk, and Valder was going to show this.

Or, at least, he was, until people started asking about money. The corners of his mouth dropped as he looked at everyone."Bah! Bloody sellswords. The man isn't done talking yet and already you're worried about gold." The Dwarf complained audibly.'Have some bloody dignity."

Good job, Valder. That'll make you friends.

Sif immediately turned her gaze on the dwarf warrior, striking down at his words. She took a few steps towards him. "I'm terribly sorry, but we're not all as noble as you are. Some of us live off this money and it's our job, so excuse us for wanting to do our job." She put one hand over her knife and one on her hip. This didn't mean anything though and shouldn't be misunderstood as a declamation of war. "Besides.. do you know something that we don't?" She seemed a bit annoyed to say the least. One does not simply mess with an assassin or Sif for that matter. She looked at the Baron once, then back at the dwarf. "I apologize." She said to the Baron.

He might've been right though, but the Baron didn't say much, so someone had to ask. He wants them to do something for him, and she doesn't want to waste her time on a quest if she's not even informed properly. What if the idiot has no money? She doesn't need that much money, but she needs a bit to get by. And he would betray his village by not informing them properly. Might seem a bit harsh, but people are worried. Perhaps he is well financed, but they just asked, and they have a right to do so. If he doesn't want to tell them he can just say so, she doesn't care.

The tall man looked over the group, his gaze lingering on every single one of them. He did this while they bickered, eventually letting out a low chuckle. "How I have come across my wealth is of no importance to you." The Baron responded with a small smile. "And as for how you are being paid, I will tell you once I am done explaining what you have to do."

"I have learned that the reason behind this drought is nothing other than a very powerful water spirit. I do not know the spirit's name, or even what it's quarrel is with my town, but I want it dead." The topic obviously made the Baron angry, but a man like him seemed to be good at controlling his emotions and the only sign of his turmoil was the glint his eyes took on.

"The one to bring me the spirit's essence will receive the entire bounty."

Sevyc sucked in a breath. What did this man think he was doing? If he was offering this, then these people would tear one another apart to get to this spirit. It may be a bountiful sum, but Sevyc would not be pulled into it by the reward. They were only here to find out what the call was, and if that meant going to the spirit, then so be it.

Draken, having kept silent during the other people's bickering and the Baron speaking was shocked at the fact that only the person that brought the essence of the target would be getting paid the bounty. Hopefully, the others don't result to slaughtering each other over getting the essence.

After a bit of thinking silently, he had thought up a plan. Instead of trying to tackle this thing by himself with the possibility of getting killed over the essence, he thought why not make a team out of the mercenaries which are in here, and when one of them turns in the essence, they can all split it evenly between themselves? That would be a great idea! Only problem is, he didn't know if the others were willing to team up.

He puts his goggles over his eyes and starts eyeing people around the room. After a bit of looking around, he thought the dwarf would be a good team mate. He would try to convince him to team up with him first.

"Hey! Dwarf! Come over here for a minute!"

Nocturnus started to lose his patients since he couldn't hear or tell what the group of adventurers where doing inside the Baron's mansion. "Bah! Forget this" he declared as he walked away from his spot away from the mansion. Irritated and lost in thought, he ends up stumbling across the dried up river. Before realizing it, he tripped and fell into the dried riverbed face first. He slowly got up and wiped some of the mud off. "A dried up river...just recently too" he said as he looked left and right seeing the dried up river as far as his eyes can see. A feeling came to him, a pulling sensation, an attraction. "What is this feeling...its similar to me" he said to himself. He faced to where the sensation is coming from and started walking in that direction, following the dried riverbed. "I can't believe I am doing this" he said to himself as he drew his claymore and walked in the riverbed, the weight of his armor leaves footprints in the mud going upstream of the riverbed. Nocturnus follows the sensation, determined who or what is behind it.

The Dwarf decided to ignore the woman. He didn't care for bickering much, despite his first outburst. His second would come when the baron gave his explanation.

"Are you simple in the head!?" The knight suddenly called out."How's setting everyone up against one another going to get results? Everyone'll be focussed on killing one another rather than take out this damned spirit of yours. As a knight I refuse to lower myself to that level!" He shouted, spitting a green glob on the floor the floor.

Someone called for him, in a rather racist way. He turned his head to what seemed to be a Human."No, human. You come over here!" He spoke in an ice cold tone, pointing for Draken to come over to him like he was summoning a dog over to his heel.

When she heard that only one will receive the reward, she was shocked. People would fight and kill each other off just to make sure there would be no competition and they will be the one to kill that water spirit. Then, she was furious, and balled her fists. "What about the people who will make the effort and helped, but didn't get the essence? That would be unfair!" She almost yelled, glaring at the Baron. Because of the other protests coming from other adventurers, her voice drowned in all the yelling going on.
She inspected all the other adventures, eyes switching between each of them. Some of them looked... greedy. Who could she trust now? Nobody, that's for sure. Well with that kind of reward, of course people would be willing to kill for it. She sighed, crossing her arms. She was torn whether she should continue on with this. It was a tough decision, considering the many days it took to go to this town, which was kind of far away from her own village. "I'll just wait and watch first to see if anything worth staying will go on," she decided. She didn't know what that is, but she knew she'll know it the minute it happens.

Sif was done arguing with the dwarf and therefore chose not to say more, but merely crossed her arms and turned her attention towards the Baron. As soon as he said it, everyone started complaining. Not that she minded. She wasn't completely coldhearted though, but she had no intentions of killing anyone. If this turned out to be too much of a problem, she would find another quest. "I agree with the knight here," She nods towards the dwarf. "making a decision like this will only make things worse. And isn't there a chance that it could make the water spirit more agitated and cause things to escalate?" This was almost a suicide mission. It was doomed to fail unless people could work partially together. She was used to fighting over quests though.

Both Karen and Dalia groaned audibly at the explanation of payment. They were used to sharing, what with all the other Coffeys, but having to compete with the others? They had about three options: kill the spirit (laughable), take the essence from whoever did kill the spirit by force (ahahahaha) or put together a team that could split the rewards. The third one seemed like the best option, and it sounded like people were already trying that.

Let's see. They needed magic and muscle, as they made better eyes than anything. The best ones that seemed unoccupied were the young woman who'd arrived late, and the elf. Karen and Dalia made eye contact, pointed to whom they would ask, and nodded. Karen went to stand next to Seraphine, and Dalia went to Sevyc. Neither said anything yet, waiting until the Baron was done speaking.

Draken gave a confused look at the dwarf, but walked over anyways.

Overhearing Sif he decided to wait on the Baron's response in hope for him to change his mind about the bounty.

(short post I know, but I like to keep things concise. sometimes embarrasingly concise.)

Her mind was still fogged in anger. She wanted to listen to the Baron's response to their protest and questions. She was waiting for it. However, her rage slowly faded when a woman walked up to her. Seraphine tilted her head slightly in questioning as she stood beside her. She glanced at the Baron, but he didn't seem to speaking yet. Her gaze went back to the woman beside her. She seemed like she wanted to talk to her. "I should be cautious here," she thought. She looked at her suspiciously, and asked, "Yes, is there anything you need?"

(Gods, I'm sorry guys i got caught up in thanksgiving and my final paper! Speaking of, for those who celebrate it, how was your Thanksgiving?)

Sevyc only glanced at the person who had come to stand beside them. They decided to keep quiet until the Baron was done explaining. If this group was half as smart as they looked, then they would wait until they had been dismissed to discuss, perhaps, sharing the bounty.

However, Sevyc couldn't help but think that this man was more than he looked. He looked like a stern, fair ruler, but Sevyc, ever the wonderful reader of people, thought that he wanted them to fight. That he wanted to watch them as they killed one another over an unseemly bounty. Sevyc didn't trust him, but decided go along with it for now.


The Baron waited until everyone was quiet before continuing, "My reasons are my own. If you desire the bounty, then you will kill the spirit."

Everyone started pairing up around her. Seemed like a pretty reasonable idea. She, however, didn't think of inviting anyone and currently stood, waiting for silence to fall, for the Baron to continue. She sighed, when he was done. "Aye aye, here we go again." She then turned around quickly and started walking out. She was the first out of the door. On her way out, she silenced the guard she had argued with earlier, with a look. She took in a deep breath of the fresh air and started heading towards the area of her quest. She didn't trust anyone, so she dragged the hoodie of her cape over her head and looked around. She was pretty good at being stealthy and pretty good at noticing if something was wrong as well. She knew this quest was dangerous, so she was prepared for an ambush.

"Bah." Valder muttered. He allowed the Baron a chance at retribution. Truth be told, as a supposed knight, Valder would have to go kill this spirit anyway, regardless of how much of a prick the baron really is. The people would suffer otherwise, and that went in against his vows. Though he may not be recognized as a knight anymore at home, at heart he still was one.

As Draken walked over, the Dwarf eyed him."What is it you want, boy? If it's a beard I suggest you grow some stones and wait a few years." He quipped at him after realizing he was quite young still.

The Coffeys let out simultaneous deep sighs, glanced at each other, then glanced at their respective potential partners- for the job, of course, but- never mind, they just wanted to get a feel for their personalities. Dalia noticed that the elf seemed... skeptical, while Karen took note of the woman leaving. The whole "Aye aye" probably meant she had taken the job. Dammit. Conpetition. Both Coffeys decided to untroduce themselves to their respective accomplices as soon as the baron was definitely done talking.

After a bit of rethinking the situation, he thought it would be best as to talk about the situation outside.

He ignored Valder's remark and kept focused on what he wanted to ask of him. "I think it would be best if we talk about our situation outside, rather than in here surrounded by listening ears, don't you agree?"