Held to a Prior Standard

## Synopsis

In Chapter 99: Held to a Prior Standard, Graven and Orba made a respectable dent in our Band of the Benefactor debt when they turned in a pair of contracts at the Offices of the Broken Crown.  Supervisor Ken Reggie was his usual obstinate self, but he signed off on the payments and gave us an additional lead courtesy of our Writ of Service – which had turned out to be as useful as we hoped when we acquired it from Amari Magomet.

On the way out the door, we bumped into the trapper Murine – who had tracked the south road Girallon to its nest in the nearby woods.  Looking for a bigger payday at the Broken Crown, he was happy to stop and chat about his unique methods for dealing with dangerous wildlife – which included some useful tidbits about inducing fear and plant preservation.

After parting ways, it was during our walk through Breakpier that Graven finally felt he'd avoided Thorsten Ramaker for long enough – and not wanting to leave the city without at least checking in, we headed over to the Militia Reserves.  Thorsten was understandably upset at our absenteeism, but we tried to stress just how dangerous this killer was – and that any further investigation was sure to put our lives at risk.

The warning was noted, but it was clear this wasn't going to stop Thorsten from turning over stones until he got his answer – so we gave him all the information we could recall about Mr. Two and asked him to steer clear of the waste chamber where the carrion crawler had made its home.

Wishing we could have done more, we said our farewells and headed to the north end of town to speak with Ichabus Altimari – a local who hailed from a line of coastal guardians who predated Emperor Pachacamac's reign.  It was difficult to discern whether his ravings were grounded in truth or were closer to myth – but the contract he offered was solid… and well-paying.

Scattered across Anti-Suyu were several long-dormant lodestones that could be used as travel guides if they were reactivated – and two of these lodestones sat reasonably nearby along our intended route to the Rapras and back.  As long as we didn't lose Ichabus's prized equipment, the spoils would be nearly enough to have the Benefactor Band removed – so it seemed like a worthwhile detour if we could spare the time.

Our business in Wampurani-Na was just about finished and we started back toward the Steederway when a bit of our past caught up to us.  One of Percival Mollefaire's personal guards had been looking for Beezaura and when he was unable to locate her, turned to tracking down Orba – who was the last person seen with her at the rest stop on the road to Na-Qhusi.

The Mollefaires had a lead on who might be sabotaging their local projects, but for appearance's sake couldn't handle the matter themselves – so that responsibility was dumped on us.  Unless we wanted to suffer the inconvenience of Percival's ire every time we stepped foot in Navika-Pura, we'd need to throw them a bone – so it was off to Na-Upa to see what we could dig up.

On our way to the home of Mogril Busk in Bomirdle, we wrestled with the approach we wanted to take – supremely tired of kowtowing to the interests of the wealthy but knowing the formidable obstacle they could be if they wanted.  Ultimately we settled on a plan to undermine Percival, though convincing Mogril to trust our stated position was an uphill battle.

Sticking to his story of ignorance regarding the faulty valves in the Steederway, the metallurgist looked like he was finally starting to come around when he excused himself and locked the steel-doored exit.  We braced for what might be coming next – but it didn't seem that Mogril had yet made up his mind about whether he considered us friend or foe, so we listened carefully to the voice coming from the pipes below.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: one natural one was rolled in this Chapter, by Jordan.