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-----Lady Mitan answers the Dread Pirate first, "Midren Crawmurd is the matriarch of the family. She lives with her old crone of a sister, Priscilla, and her decrepit father, James. Midren has two twin sons, Morfred and Willy. They tend to be a very sullen bunch, hardly venturing out during the day. They have one manservant attending their house. They have an odd habit of collecting antiques and hiding them away for no one to see, but then what could you expect from a family of humans?" The Lady then teasingly looks at her warrior guard before turning her attention to Seth. The warrior simply stands by with no expression reading on his face.
-----"A small upfront fee?" she says to the musician with the raise of her eyebrow, "Something on the order of 50 gold?"
-----The Dread Pirate nods, then says, "Arrr, if'n it were a house full o' old decrepit folks, ye could just walk in there yerself without a problem. So what's the catch? Is it a family o' wizards or whatnot?"
-----Seth nods at the lady Mitan as she mentions the fee. And for everyone else's benefit, he mentions "Antiques!!" and visions of more wagons wending their way back to his shop in Hearthorn bring a smile to his face.
-----After a while he considers the import of people who do not go outside very much in the daylight and asks, "These Humans you speak of, they aren't werewolves or vampires or the like are they?"
-----He shudders at the thought and secretly wishes to be in Oakwood immediately so that he may be cured from his possible infection.
-----"The Crawmurds are an old family in good standing with the nobles of Oakwood," Lady Mitan explains, "There is nothing I know of that is supernatural in nature with them although I would not be surprised if there is."
-----With a frustrated look, she adds, "There is certainly a mysterious aire about them that I cannot put my finger on. Their manservant and the twins are particularly odd."
-----Kazel stands with a frown on her face and her arms crossed. "If we survived a night with werewolves and a paladin, we ought to be able to retrieve a piece of jewelry from a house in a human town," the butcher says.
-----The Dread Pirate thinks for a bit, then says, "So, how and why would the Crawmurds take yer necklace? If'n it's a family o' decrepit folk, I wouldn't think they'd be able to manage it. They must have somethin goin fer 'em. There must be rumors or word on the street about 'em. Ye have to have more information then yer lettin on. I'm perfectly willin to do the job, but I'll not be walkin blindfolded into it."
-----Seth shrugs and says, "Well, if they be as odd and the way you described them, they should have an excellent art collection, maybe we could make use of it as well."
-----Lady Mitan lifts her head and looks at the ceiling. She then straightens herself in her chair and replies, "I have hired spies who have spotted seeing the Mitan Ruby within the house. The gem is well known to the high society families and I suspect Midren could not bear to not hold it in her possession."
-----Lady Mitan then looks at the Dread Pirate and adds, "I know what you are thinking. Why did I not have these spies retrieve the Ruby for me? I tried. On three separate occasions, I hired spies and each time plans were carefully made but my spies were never seen from again."
-----A hint of fear quickly crosses her lovely eyes as she continues, "One day, as I was riding through the town, I saw Midren standing before her window glaring at me. It was shortly after that, that the attempts on my life were made. So it is that here I have fled."
-----The Dread Pirate finally shrugs his shoulders and says, "Well then, if'n these spies saw the ruby, did they get inside the house? Did they leave a floorplan o' the place? And what were their plans? If we know what they tried, then we'll know better then to try it ourselves. And what about these attempts on yer life? Tell us about those, they might be informative also."
-----Lady Mitan replies, "My spies saw the ruby through a window where Midren had it on display in a glass case."
-----With a somewhat apologetic expression, she adds, "The plans of those I hired are unknown. As I would with you, I make it a habit to leave plans up to the discretion of those I hired."
-----"As for the attempts on my life," here the Lady flashes an uneasy glance toward her warrior guard, "I found myself at times at peril with snakes in my bedroom, poisoned leaves in my tea box, and rocks thrown through my windows."
-----The Dread Pirate finally gives up in defeat and says, "Alright. You have almost no useful information whatsoever. This has been the most singularly useless conversation I've ever had. Do you have any information at all about these people? Do you know their address? We'll do the job, but we're almost flying blind here."
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