Two Can Play at This Game

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 87: Two Can Play at This Game, Graven took his own labored breathing as a sign that he had not yet passed on to the other side.  He opened his eyes and he was still in the waste chamber beneath the abandoned Broken Crown outpost, but he was not alone.

Mr. Two himself, clad in a mask and rifling through our belongings, had set a dangerous Glyph of Warding beneath Graven's feet – and he was prepared to trigger it if we did not follow his instructions.  In addition to ceasing our investigation into the murders, Mr. Two had a more specific demand – and it involved getting access to the Room of Protected Deposit within the Broken Crown offices, where precious items were kept under lock and key.

Without explaining what its purpose was, Mr. Two wanted us to destroy a crystal held within this room – and to be certain we wouldn't neglect our duties, Graven was outfitted with a cursed ring and his gold distributed among the city's poorest citizens to keep a careful eye on him at all times.

It was a demoralizing development in a case that had just started to feel like it was within our grasp, but Graven had his life – and there would be time for redemption later after we'd met Mr. Two's deadline and removed the cursed ring.

Speaking of deadlines, the agreed upon time to rescue Erland had long come and went – and after bargaining with Marvyn's captors he was loaded into a wagon with a bag over his head to be shuttled off, away from the safehouse.  The nodes from the Healing Girdle had afforded us the opportunity to fake unconsciousness rather than succumb to it – and by keeping a careful ear out, Erland identified some distinct sounds that could lead us back if negotiations fell through.

Orba, having finished her tattoo, rode east – first stopping in Na-Garwas, where she spotted the market set up for the Rapraliers and bought a healing potion from a questionable individual who was eager to get rid of them.  After that it was on to Wampurani-Na, where she was unknowingly about an hour and a half behind Safira – who traveled straight to All Hands On Deck only to find that neither of her expected companions were waiting for her.

Fortunately, the beggar we spoke to on the road south was at the bar having a drink – and after hearing Erland's description directed Safira to the crossroads where they met.  He also mentioned that two other men had come through recently looking for Erland, which was a worrisome development that prompted Safira to make a hasty exit in an attempt to head off trouble before it started.

Reuniting at the crabber's community along the shore, Safira relayed what she'd learned and was fully content to circumvent the pursuers waiting at the crossroads – but one errant shot from a bow was enough to convince Erland it was better to put an end to this now, rather than let it snowball into something else.  The two men were not incompetent fighters but they were outmatched – a few deflected missiles and hard punches were enough to knock the lights out of one while we interrogated the other about their intentions.

The Lemonade Man, in his ongoing dispute with Thomas Pindle over power within Mukmu, had enlisted several bounty-hunting groups to reclaim Marvyn Bishop – and after seeing Erland meeting with one of the captors at Bremise Yorde's concert, presumed we were involved and thought our corpses might scare the Pindle associates into relinquishing the valued scientist.

We spared their lives on the condition that they drop the contract, then galloped back to All Hands on Deck – where Orba had just arrived and Graven was collecting the belongings he had left behind.  In a private room on the third floor, we caught each other up on the most pressing issues: the deal Erland had struck to potentially exchange one of the mutant whistles for Marvyn, Graven's perilous task at the behest of Mr. Two… and the departure of Beezaura, whose wanted status made it impossible for her to stay in the city.

With an agreement that the destruction of the crystal was our first priority, we allowed Graven to catch his breath while the rest of us headed over to the Offices of the Broken Crown – ideally to be shown the deposit room, but if nothing else to scout its location for an after-hours break-in.

## Trivia

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