Justice for Just Us

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 82: Justice for Just Us, Beezaura squared off against the tiefling warrior who had come to compete for a spot in Khlyff Ironcloud's trusted group of guardians.  It was clear right away that he wasn't pulling any punches, using every tool at his disposal to swing the fight in his favor – including caltrops, throwing axes and even magic potions.

Despite her disadvantage in raw foot speed, Beezaura made the most of every opportunity – infusing her strikes with the power from her draught jacket and raining down blow after blow with her flail.  The fight took a perilous turn when the dilapidated walls of the former inn began to collapse around us, but after a timely dodge of some explosive lightning breath – Beezaura charged forth and knocked her foe into unconsciousness.

One of the Advocates came forth from the darkness to confirm that she had passed her test – and suggested the Upa Alehouse as a place to recuperate before reuniting with her horse, which had been brought to Butez's tattoo parlor at her request.

She didn't know it yet, but there Beezaura would be reunited with the rest of the party – who had just acquired the address of Marvyn Bishop's safehouse near the coast.  We stayed for the remainder of Bremise Yorde's performance and plotted out our next moves – which seemed likely to include some combination of confronting Niels Bagas, addressing Marvyn's captors and getting Graven back to "The Deck" where he was set to lend his armor to the man he'd borrowed from after the fight at the Burial Grounds.

Beezaura's post-concert arrival marked the first time we'd been together as five since splitting from Na-Garwas and it was an excellent opportunity to compare notes – particularly in the case of the unusual practice of metallic attunement, which seemed to bear importance regarding both Mr. McKenna's employees and the disappearance of the wizard Mr. Two.

By infusing metals in his inks, Butez had apparently been commissioned several times to craft tattoos that allowed for the instantaneous attunement of a magic item – though it was unclear exactly how this practice was being used… and whether it was a boon to the recipient of the mark, or a hindrance.

With his shop unlikely to be open this late, it would have to be an undertaking for tomorrow – but in wanting to make the most of our time in Na-Upa, we split up to accomplish some after-hours investigating.  As Orba and Safira took on the nauseating task of relocating the Myconid Mutant's rancid remains, Erland headed to Dienst to break the news to Niels Bagas about his half-sister.

Niels was (perhaps not unsurprisingly) skeptical about what we claimed happened in the Firnogo Vighotrio, but sensing that he was holding back on how much he knew – Erland pushed the sympathy angle by displaying his own infected nature through the use of his Septic powers.  It was enough to keep his attention, but Niels wanted more proof – so Erland rushed back to the Alehouse hoping that what was left of the Mutant would tip the scales toward trust.

As this was happening, Beezaura had solicited Graven's help in tracking down another pawnchaser – his whereabouts provided by Pibraf hours earlier.  They headed into Lipatro, Na-Upa's most destitute district, and immediately felt on-edge wandering these streets at night.  A bribe got us to the house of Colt Moreno, who had leads on chess pieces provided by Percival Mollefaire – but we had little patience for his unwillingness to negotiate and the conversation quickly devolved into violence.

After extracting the details of the contract, there was no guarantee he wouldn't come for us later – so we opted for the "no loose ends'' justification and struck a fatal blow before fleeing the scene.  With thieves lurking in the darkness, we hastened back toward the Alehouse with one less pawnchaser to compete against.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: three natural ones were rolled in this Chapter. 1 by John, and 2 by Anthony.