"Ask what the bounty is... oh, and if wisps leave a corpse, and if they don't how they like to have them claimed."

"Right. I think we're going to take this on, lord Maro. What's the bounty for these will'o'wisps currently? Do wisps typically leave a corpse and how should we present proof if not?"

"They're invisible when they're not glowing, but they're not incorporeal. That said, the last time somebody brought one in they said they'd slain another and it sank into the swamp, and Fiducia Papinia just confirmed with a truthspell that they were sure they'd killed it and she only charged a small fraction of the bounty. I can authorize three hundred gold per successful wisp kill."

"Ah, so there is an Abadaran in town. That'll be handy. We came straight to the castle."

"Three hundred gold. That's a lot. It makes me - more worried, that this is seriously risking our lives, actually, maybe worse than the cave journey."

"Yes, the Abadaran church is right next to the stream if you go a bit south of here."

"It's a chunk of cash for sure. We should check with the Abadarans how much drow gold is worth against upstairs gold. It might just be - expensive to saddle up an expedition to go to the swamp, and they'd have to do it themselves if we don't do it for them? Also I do notice they're only offering the money for the wisps, and not for anything else we trip over looking for them and have to also kill, maybe they're amortizing over some expectation that we'll handle a dire crocodile or two."

"This- Literally this - is likely what the tolls are paying for, now that I think of it."

"Do you have any questions for us, sir? Or shall we wait for the runner?"

"Is it just the two of you? I usually see parties of three or four, even five."

"Just the two of us for now. I don't think we're necessarily averse to teaming up with more people, it would even be helpful if you have someone in mind we could talk to, but we two have got plans that line up well."

"-Someone who can heal would be very good to have along just in case, for example. Only need to trust them a little bit for a single job."

"I'm up for asking the Abadarans while we're there but if they don't have anybody third circle or better they'll probably not be a great fit for combat even if they're good to have for patching us up afterwards."

"I think we'll quote the Fiducia or another cleric about being on hand in Chillbriar in the case of our success but not perfect success."

"Might want some cleric buff spells too, I think wisps might have a lightning attack we could stand to go in Resist Energy'd for. I might be able to get the spell off the baron's wizard - don't have it yet - but I've only got so many slots."

"Or! Or! I could make a lightning cage, ooh- This isn't the time or place for Sparking, ahem-"

"Calm down, alchemical barbarian."

Says the lord, bemused by this foreign-language exchange, "I'm not sure how much another wizard would add to your party composition but I'd recommend you find a cleric, yes. Fiducia Papinia has gone on the occasional adventure, though I believe she's just second circle."

"Everything I've ever heard about Abadar makes me think she would be very professional, which sounds perfect. It's a solid option," she says to the lord. "We won't be troubling Fourchurches by possibly hiring away its Fiducia for a few days?"

"There's a lay banker who can handle routine matters and there's Sowers and Songbirds for healing, I shouldn't think it would be an issue."

"Good. I hope we can take care of these wisps and all shall be well. Should we wait for the runner here, or...? I wouldn't want to take up too much of your time."

"I haven't got another appointment and it shouldn't be too long, possibly he's going to come back with the wizard and - and I hear them now, yes."

In comes the wizard, complete with wizard robes and a headband. "Hello!" he says, but he says it in Draconic so this may be lost on Waltana.

"Hello! You're the wizard, I take it?"

"Well, there we go." She smiles at the lord. "I'll just wait a minute for them to talk."

Belmarniss and the wizard have what sounds like a cordial conversation; at one point she produces a redacted spellbook index for him to look at. Eventually they settle on some kind of trade, and she tells Waltana, "I'm going to go to his office and trade him Chimney for Rope Trick, I think we both believe we're getting the better deal but that's how it goes in the best case."

"Oh, they've got a deal, it seems."

"Want me to come along?"

"It'll be very boring but if you want to come supervise you can? Maybe after you've pestered this guy for maps and more intel and anything else he knows about wisps though."

"-Right. Sir, preparation is the start of good work and it would be remiss of me not to ask if you have maps to Chillbriar and the surrounds, or any information on will'o'wisps to confirm ours, or other common swamp threats. I can sketch, I'm not asking to borrow good maps, naturally. I'm sure we both want us to come back, having dispatched the threat, and not need to send another party in after something that's already gotten one?"

"Oh, no question," says Lord Maro. "If you'll come with me to my brother's study that's where he keeps all the maps. Most of the time the complaints run to the tune of mosquitoes, only occasionally dire, and both ordinary and giant leeches, but I wouldn't be too surprised to hear about a kelpie, or a black dracolisk, or a black pudding. Fortunately we have a sufficiently strict policy about appropriate burial of the dead that we do not have a swamp zombie problem."