[h3]Jaelnec, Freagon, Irah, Lhirin, Nabi, Yanin, Jordan and Madara – Borstown, Bor Manor, dining room[/h3]
Freagon turned his head to fix his blank stare at Yanin, only to then turn back to Vela again. “Not particularly,” he grumbled, though his lack of alternative courses of action did not appear to deter him. “Nor is it relevant. Think back to your days with the Melody of Freedom, baroness; back then, would you and your party have accepted an offer like this for such a task? Would you not have haggled?”
Meanwhile Jaelnec kept his eyes firmly locked on his food, all while trying his best to stop himself from visibly cringing with discomfort. This was nothing new, of course; in the past, any task offered to them – or more accurately to just Freagon – that was not of great enough urgency for every minute to be precious, the old knight would try to argue his way to a better reward before accepting. The amount offered was not the motive for doing it, he knew, since Freagon did this even when his would-be employer offered a reward that was clearly more than the task was worth.
Of course the young nightwalker, having been with his master for as long as he had, knew very well that Freagon's protest was not as firm as it might sound. For a task that promised to actually provide a benefit to the innocent, which hunting down this vampire absolutely would, he was almost guaranteed to relent even if negotiating a higher reward proved impossible. As abrasive as he might seem, Jaelnec was firmly convinced that his master was not actually a bad person, he just did not care what most people thought about him. It just frustrated him that Freagon was acting like this in front of all these other adventurers and making himself look even more callous than he already had.

At the head of the table, Baroness Bor poured herself a cup of wine and drank a mouthful before setting it back down again. She drummed her fingers quickly on the table. “I'll be candid with you: I could afford to pay you more, but my resources aren't infinite, and I'd rather have that money for later than spend it all now. I know that I wrote in my invitation that I'd give worthy successors to the Melody of Freedom all the treasure we collected... but frankly, you haven't proven to be worthy yet. That's part of why I'd like you to stay here a few days waitin' for help from Nemhim City: so I can get a good look at you all and figure out if I've struck gold or need to keep diggin'. If you're as good as I'm hopin', I'll make all my resources available to you, offer my manor as your base of operations and help you figure out where you can do the most good. I'm hopin' that you – all of you – together could be a party of heroes for this new era, the protectors the lands need. So many adventurers nowadays are barely any better than the crusaders we fought earlier...” She shook her head grimly. “The lands need heroes.”
Freagon cocked his head. “So that's a 'no' to increasing the reward?”
Vela let out a groan of frustration. “Here's what I can do: when I write the duchess for help, I'll also suggest she pitches in to increase the reward. And since all the attacks have been in Wenal, I'll write the noble assembly there, too, though it'll probably be weeks before they reach a decision. Otherwise, all I'll promise is that if you all keep impressin' me, I'll make sure you're some of the most well-supported adventurers in Kirirak.”