The First Ring

Great, bandits. Maybe I can smooth things over. Jaeger walks forward, putting on a friendly face, "Hello. I'm afraid my friends and I knew nothing about a toll. How much would it be?"

Lenrasec watches wearily, positioning himself to the side.

"I apologize, my name is Geth, you must be new to this land. The King of the elves has issued a tax on the roads leading to Lacryma. The price is 12g per person." The man says.

Getheon looks raggedy and tired as if he hasn't slept in years.

The half-elves that are with him all carry weapons.

Annabeth quietly draws her dagger, keeping it behind her back, and places one hand on her short sword.

Zumaoriridoka simply sits down, meditating and preparing for what may be his first strike.

"12g? That's a little steep, don't you think? By the way, you look a little worn. Everything alright there, Geth?" Jaeger asks, hoping sympathy might win Geth over a little.

Lenrasec eyes Annabeth and walks over to her, then looks at the others. "I don't think we can afford 12g a piece, so I'm afraid we can't pay you. If you'll excuse us, we'll just be on our way." Lenrasec then puts his hand on the dagger behind Annabeth's back and steers her around, trying to avoid conflict with the elves.

Geth responds, "I'm sure you have something you can pay with. And sweet talk won't make the toll go away."

Annabeth immediately shoots a glare at Lenrasec, and has half of a mind to use her dagger on him... but she knows it would be counter productive, she then calls for her party to gather up around her.

Zumaoriridoka wakes up, sensing the weak points and movements of the other group.  If they choose aggression, pain will befall them. He approaches Annabeth and stands a few feet away from her, staying silent; he's not particularly good at conversations.

"Excuse us for just a second." Jaeger says before joining Annabeth for the group meeting.

"Listen, we don't know where these guys come from, what they're capable of, or if they have others just waiting to ambush us. Fighting now is crazy. We should turn away from this path and go elsewhere. If they insist, we try to distract them and run."

"Maybe we don't have to. I'm trying to reason with them. Just give me a sec, and I can resolve this without violence."

Zumaoriridoka nods and waits for their next move.

"I can create darkness around us for a few seconds, if we need to run, we can use that."

Lenrasec raises his eyebrow at Annabeth. "Smart plan. Lets use that."

Jaeger turns back to Geth, "How about instead of paying you, perhaps we could perform a favor instead? Would you, by any chance, have something that needs to be done?"

Annabeth grabs Lenrasec and prepares to cast Darkness on their entire group.

If we do stealth out of this we'll have to be quick. Zumaoriridoka watches and waits.

"I guess you could do something for me. You saw the forest back there right? There is supposedly a treasure in there. If you bring it back to me I'll let you through toll-free." Geth responds.

Lenrasec looks over. "Treasure? Sounds like an adventure."

Annabeth stops everything and gains a sinister gleam in her eye, "Treasure?"

Jaeger smiles, "Deal. Do you have any information that could help us find and obtain it?"

"Nothing but stories and legends, though most who talk about it seem to think it's a scarab or something." Geth says, "Anyway I think you best be going, I wouldn't want to be caught in those woods at night."

"Why, what comes out at night?" Jaeger inquires