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[HP: 27/32... I think. Might've missed a heal.]

Leah is somewhat glad to see the gnome girl leave. Her presence probably would've made the coming talk more chaotic. She might cause other messes in the meantime. Either way, they can deal with those when the time comes. After the girl is gone, Leah turns around and looks for the rapier she threw away just earlier. Throwing the leader boy a thankful smile (not stabbing her deserved at least that much) as she passed him again, she picks up the weapon and carefully cleans the blood off it. As she sheathes it, she considers that it might not be the best idea for her to take too much part in the negotiations. She almost sent one of the kids to the afterlife. Awkward. Koko, having made contact with them before, might be a better alternative.

(Full HP, and I hear we're coming out of combat time so I can take more than six seconds if I need to.)

Adoett, feeling that things are starting to cool off a little, clambers the rest of the way out of the tunnel. He makes sure to be very clear that he's coming and is unarmed to avoid further escalating the situation. When he makes it out, he digs around in his pockets to see if he has any snacks and after finding some crackers, offers them to the kids.

"What? It's safe - I run a bar. Carrying poison crackers would be stupid." He then eats one.

(Diplo natural 1!)

The kids look a little disgusted at Adoett's attempt at 'diplomacy', yet even that was perhaps a good sign -- at least they had calmed down enough and not agitated enough to reply with an arrow or axe.

In the meantime, their leader seemed reasonable enough to answer Ashkaran. He lowered his shortsword (but did not put it away) and stood up straight. "It was dug by kobolds," he noted, "me and my buddies simply cleared them out for a secret base and a roof over the orphans' heads."

"So..." his wary gaze swept across the old group as they emerged from the tunnel to a ceiling just barely tall enough for the average human (but not enough for Adoett's normal size). "I've a fairly good guess what brought you here -- and it's certainly not to feed the kids crackers, nor slaughter everyone who gets in your way either. So state your term! I'm willing to discuss so long as you leave my friends alone and unharmed!"

( out of combat order )
( Koko stops feeling the urge to throw up after a few seconds, although her pride was quite literally tarnished by vomit and its linger taste )

As a sign of goodwill, Gadget sheathes his shortsword.

Goodberry focuses on his collective. "Feel better allies." he thinks, focusing on closing their wounds.

Manifesting two times, for 4 PP each time.

1st cast: 1PP base cost, 2PP Augment extra HP healed (9 total), 1PP augment extra target(via )
Targets are Gaget and Ashkeran, redirecting 1 healing from Gaget to Leah (via ) .
Target 1: Gaget (Heals [9-1]/2 = 4), Leah heals 1
Target 2: Ashkeran (Heals 9)

2st cast: 1PP base cost, 2PP Augment extra HP healed (9 total), 1PP augment extra target(via )
Targets are Gaget and Ashkeran, redirecting 1 healing from Gaget to Leah (via ), redirecting 3 healing from Ashkeran to Leah (via ) .
Target 1: Gaget (Heals [9-1]/2 = 4), Leah heals 1
Target 2: Ashkeran (Heals 6), Leah heals 3

Total healing:
Leah (5, full)
Ashkeran (15, full)
Gaget (8, still down 7)
Goodberry (0, Full, 12/30 nonlethal) Nonlethal heals at 4[level]/hr naturally.
Over the Telepathy
Gaget: "We can enact more repairs when we know what is going on. Or now might be a good opportunity to use one of those repair potions."
To group: "We seem to be mostly patched up. I have 65% power remaining. Minor slowdown has started to occur. Estimated time to full recovery 3 hours without expending healing."

Cadroc sheathes his own shortsword as he listens attentively to Koko, casting only a sideways glare toward the other kids when he heard the name Sear mentioned. Most of them shrunk back -- there was no doubt whom their undisputed leader was -- but the archer kid atop the stairs was the only to reply:

"Everyone knows it and speaks of it, but you wouldn't listen. She's been a terrible influence on you ever since she came here, coming up with this whole 'game'..."

"She's just had a rough life so far and still bitter about lot of things," Cadroc retorted on reflex, though not happy to be sharing the group's dirty laundry in front of strangers. "And we all agreed to it Vice."

"Sure we all did," Vice interjected, who seemingly spoke just as much to the party as to Cadroc, "back when it was taking foodstuff and blankets and things we orphans actually needed! But she pushed the success into your head and soon enough we were competing over valuables 'just to prove we could'... we're going to return it -- was what you said, except when the Cyrans grew alert that their cultural relics went missing we couldn't just return it anymore. Look what that brought down upon our heads now?"

Vice then turned towards the party: "Sear was that gnome girl who just left."

"And she's not to be harmed either," Cadroc stressed the point to the party. "But we did intend to return the valuables we took, until they starting keeping watch one everything and made it too dangerous."

Knowing not to talk to an external party, Goodberry broadcasts to the group "If that were the case, wouldn't the saplings have returned each item before they stole their next target?"

The whole time the negotiations went on, Leah has been keeping a closer eye on Cadroc. The story didn't completely add up, and she wanted to know how exactly or why.

[Sense Motive: 1d20+9 = 28 ... +settlement modifiers?]

Ahz finally finishes making his point known to the water elemental, a difficult thing to do since he couldn't actually speak to it. It vanishes in a puff of smoke, going back to the plane of water.
(It's been at least 42 seconds, duration ends.)

(Sense Motive 1d20+9 = 19)

Hoping the tunnels aren't too big, Ahz attempts to locate the Axe of the Boar of Cyre, calling forth the power of his dragonmark to see if it was nearby.
(Locate Object to locate the Axe of the Boar of Cyre, 520' range)

(Ahz is now sensing some axe directly above him, with a close-up visual of some dwarf's butt from which it's hanging over... he's pretty sure he cast that wrong.)
(Sense motive results given to players directly)

"I think that's going too far," Cadroc noted, "she's just angry at the way you blew your way in here. Still... can't hurt to you show all the goods now."

He lead you all into the next chamber, it's ceiling just as short and its ground covered with tattered blankets that the children were using as food tables. But at the moment, most of the dirt-covered kids were hiding in fear, while only the few armed braves who followed Cadroc tailed the party from behind.

"I also agree that we should have a story to tell those up there, but..." he hesitates, troubled by the predicament this whole situation put him in. "I had hoped that if we waited a while this would just blow over, then we can quietly restore the things we took. But you see... many of the kids in our group are also Cyrans -- some with parents, others without -- and the last thing I'd want is for them to be ostracized by their own people."

The next room was a messy makeshift kitchen of sorts, and some of you could smell the mold from the foods that they failed to clean up properly. Behind that was the pitch black storage room. An assortment of items filled its space, most of them haphazardly piled together with no noticeable order.

It might take you some time to search through everything (so use what tricks you can =P)

"Stand by." Gadget stated, moving to the head of the group.
I would like to scan for traps or other deceptions before we proceed. He broadcasted to the group, link.

(Initial Perception Check for traps and anything that seems "out of place": 1d20+8= 25 (27 vs. traps))

(nothing seems unusual or trapped... they're just really messy, apparently)