So much fumbling of words. Common folk from this backwater island with no culture and a language to match. Not that she thought herself better than them by any means, but she did hold her homeland in high regard. And the one she'd pestered on the way to this city, oh, what could she say to make him seem civilized and...not insane? There was only so much she could do. The best option was to ignore that particular elephant (or octopus, as the case may be) in the room and distract everyone from the real issues (because the cult wasn't going to be an issue much longer, with any luck, and at the moment...octopus. And a man who didn't seem to see the problem with creating otherworldly entities, even if they were illusions, in front of the guards of a prominent general. So at the moment, [i]they[/i] were the real issue in her mind).

With a dramatic sigh (with a hint of annoyance because it meant having to switch back to focusing on [i]Mantle of Joy[/i]), Daisy knew it was her who had to step in, not realizing she was having the same thoughts as the other woman. "So, you're telling us to do what we already started doing? And you're not going to pay us for it?"

She stepped closer to the general. 

"I won't deny that it's for the greater good. Obviously it's for the greater good, and you're already considering giving us more information, but see, we're just starting out on this mission of yours," a gesture of camaraderie with her hand on the general's shoulder, "and I don't think it would hurt you too much to offer us just a little bit of money for supplies, too. If you have potions handy, we could use them, if you didn't have the money to spare -or in addition to the money, if you're feeling particularly gregarious- but this seems to be a pretty busy city with a lot of confidence in its military, so I would hate to think their confidence was ill-placed."

A nearly flirtatious smile. 

"And we could use anything you would be willing to offer to fight back any poisons that may be forced into our bodies..." A wink, followed by the drawing out of her clothing a map. "After all, we already have a pretty strong suspicion of where they may be already, we just need a little bit of extra money or other aid you can offer to prepare for what we may encounter."

[hider=The Stuff]Mantle of Joy is beneficial to the point of being annoying to have to keep switching back to it. However, in this particular case, it's probably not helpful enough.
 [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/2340]12[/url] (I mean, it's better than the 8 I would have had, so no real complaints)[/hider]