We're All Running From Something

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 57: We're All Running From Something, the party enjoyed a quiet night of retrospection at the Acqly Elves' encampment, just inside the border of the ISI region.  After hearing a cautionary tale of what the Elves believed was the downfall of the city of Joiruk, we had a few of our own stories to tell: Safira's struggle to reconcile her respect for authority with a man who deserved none at all, Orba's early days of dabbling in magic when she was perhaps not supposed to, and Beezaura's decision to leave her family behind when they would not come to their senses about their grim situation.

With a nod to the past and a look to the future, we took our leave for the evening after solidifying our intention to hire Daud's services for the next day or so.  Erland volunteered for the first watch, and in doing so bought himself a window of opportunity to speak privately with our new guide about a bit of shared history.  Daud deflected at first, but Erland's conviction in this matter became clear to him – and he opened up about his training, his instructors and his difficult path to "remission", which was the monastery's version of (mostly) releasing you from their service.

It was a rare opportunity for Erland to speak of his past, and he got a couple of names worth looking into if he wanted to acquire another contract for field work before Jillian's grace period had ended.  With a mutual agreement to avoid these topics in the company of others, they headed to bed – a full night's rest necessary for the long road ahead.

Orba made sure to keep everyone on schedule – waking the group at first light with a bevy of fruits to fill their bellies.  After settling his affairs with the Elves, Daud turned the horses east – and we began the first leg toward the ruins of Joiruk.  There was plenty of time to converse as we made the slow trudge through the dense forest, but we kept our answers short and simple when Daud inquired about our travel plans and motives.

He seemed to take the hint – and it was during a long, quiet stretch that Erland spotted a dull flash emanating from his backpack.  It was the stone given to him by Marvyn Bishop – and with a hasty flip through Grahmari's Giant Grimoire he watched as writing appeared in real time on the always-enigmatic page 216 of the tome.  Marvyn was clearly under time constraints, but he managed to get down a bit of his story before it was erased: the people responsible for his imprisonment, Grahmari's motives in working with Myconid Extract, and some recent events that led to his abduction by another group that he did not yet know the reason for.

It wasn't entirely new information, but there were pieces there – and we had little doubt that when we inevitably dipped our toes back into the inner workings of the Myconid trade, these tidbits would prove useful.

Also during this portion of the ride, in what had become a recurring theme, Q'usni voiced his displeasure over Orba's refusal to acknowledge his blessing – and tensions rose as Graven insisted there were benefits to her presence while the light god urged him to find a new companion, a notion he was unwilling to entertain at this time.

The first bump in the road came while traveling through an unnerving former battle site, where Black Lion Barbarians and Acqly Elves had clashed many years ago.  The bodies there were in a state of stasis – not alive but refusing to decay either – and our concerns about such a place manifested quickly when Orba began to hear whispers that tried to infect her mind.  The party went into damage control – pushing the horses to move as fast as possible while those in the back battered the corpses that had turned their eyes to the Tiefling.

It was a sobering and bleak handful of minutes, but Daud was correct about the path being easier to traverse here – and the ability to ride quickly kept us from reaching a critical breaking point in Orba's sanity.  We took a moment to collect ourselves before setting off again, and we were thankful to find that the next person we came across was both alive and indicated no intent to harm us.

A dwarven man named Fenster had come to the Acqly Grove to complete a dangerous mission given to him by Carver Colossus – a Goliath of great renown who was offering valuable rewards to inspire the next generation of hunters.  Fenster needed to capture a bit of Tempest lightning in a glass bottle – but his limited intelligence meant that his best (and only) plan for doing so was sticking his arm up during a storm and hoping for the best.  In exchange for some helpful tips on how he might accomplish this task, Fenster agreed to pass along Beezaura's name to Carver – and even gave us one of his "famous" battle cries, which was quite inspiring despite the ringing in our ears.

We took that invigoration east, and it was a smooth ride until the sound of trickling water turned the soil to mud beneath our feet.  Daud recognized these signs as a trap laid out by Lizardfolk – and right on cue the reptilian creatures came slithering out from between the trees.  As most of us sunk deeper into the mud – Daud shouted to target the shamans, which Erland and Safira wasted no time in doing.  Isolated in a pit she could not escape from, Orba was unable to position herself out of harm's way – but a great blast of radiant light put a number of the Lizardfolk out of action, tipping the odds in our favor.

As Beezaura wound up a mouthful of scalding steam to down the final foe, we marveled at this never-seen-before talent of hers.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: two natural ones were rolled in this Chapter. 1 each by Riley and Matt.