Time to Face the Music

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 80: Time to Face the Music, Beezaura scuttled away from the Short Ports with a new potential lead in her investigation – but before she could decide where to go next, she passed a halfling collecting money for the poor and hungry.  Chip Amberbelly worked at the general store, but his sympathy for his fellow jobless northerners was strong – men and women who were getting pushed out by the growing demands of the Gentle Void at the docks.

After offering a generous donation to the cause, Beezaura had made a potential ally here in Wampurani-Na – one that knows the area well and had new insights into the local job market, including the unusual prerequisites for being employed by Arenado McKenna… a kind of brand or mark to prove your loyalty.

Elsewhere, beneath the surface of the Navika Burial Grounds, the rest of the party caught their breath after a fight against a Myconid Mutant – one that we would come to believe was once Niels Bagas's half-sister after poking around the Firnogo Vighotrio where we first discovered the creature.  It wasn't entirely clear whether Niels was partly responsible for his sister's transformation, or if he'd be horrified by the news – so we vowed to return to his shop and confront him when we had a spare moment.

Trudging back up the stairs, we relayed a condensed version of what we found to Avavarius – who was thrilled to find that we had dispatched the beast and vowed to sing our praises to Khlyff and his Advocates.  In addition, we were offered an extra free ride through the Steederway before it was open to the public – something that Safira was happy to take them up on while the others rode the horses back between the townships.

It was while Graven returned his borrowed armor to the nearby blacksmith that things became contentious, as Erland revealed that not only did he know of Beezaura's contract issued by the assassin Saraswati – he'd been clinging to the physical note from way back at the Mollefaire Wine Tasting that bore a wish-list of information to get from Orba.

It was hard for Orba to believe that Erland's intentions in hiding the note were entirely for good – and the conversation left us wondering whether tensions in the group would reach a point of no return during our excursion north to the Rapra Mountains.  The discussion was tabled by Graven's return – and as we rode west we said goodbye to Na-Qhusi, now focusing our sights on the potential ambush at the Upa Alehouse.

Oddly enough, a mention of Saraswati must have summoned him because as Beezaura crossed back over toward the main part of town – he was waiting for her on the bridge.  The mysterious tiefling seemed to expect a chat but didn't force the issue – and with other priorities on Beezaura's agenda, she kicked that can firmly down the road and headed to the house of Palomer Franco, known Gentle Void associate and tinkerer of magical items.

At first wanting nothing to do with an outsider coming around asking questions, Palomer was persuaded by a gentle nudge of the door and (perhaps more importantly) a pair of valuable potions that piqued his interest as a practical magic enthusiast.  After allowing Beezaura inside, he was able to fill in the blanks regarding a phrase that had come up multiple times before in the case of the missing wizard: "metallic attunement".

Using special metals and a rare level of expertise, one could infuse a portion of someone's skin to allow them to instantaneously attune to magic items – a useful trick, though it was yet to be seen how exactly this was being utilized by the parties in question… so Beezaura saddled up and headed west in search of answers.

At the Upa Alehouse, things were beginning to look quite festive in advance of Bremise Yorde's performance – and Safira, having chosen the arachnid travel option, even had time to fit in a short bit of rest where she tended to wounds and cleaned herself up.  By the time the others arrived it was nearly showtime – so we went through the plan to keep eyes on Erland once more and then seated him close to the amphitheater in his fine blue and silver K'iraw robe.

As the bard began her beautiful ballads recounting tales of the meddling gods and their impact on the villages of Nolan's Woods, Erland heard someone take the empty seat beside him.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: no natural ones were rolled in this Chapter.