Boom Boxes

## Synopsis

In Season 2 – Chapter 1: Boom Boxes, the party began their journey heading west out of Navika-Pura with the intention of taking the Stouthill Corridor up to the base of the Rapras, where they would meet their guide and hopefully dispatch the Coldlight Walker lurking in the mountains.

This secluded path was a good time to discuss a few things we hoped to accomplish along the way: gathering flowers for Niels Bagas who wanted to use them in his potions, investigating the Broken Crown outpost that had been raided and captured – and reactivating a lodestone as part of a well-paying contract.

In the coming days, we would surely try our best to tackle all of these objectives – but Orba reemphasized the importance of sticking to our schedule and decreed that any task looking like it would produce a significant delay would have to be abandoned.

With this in mind, we pressed on – but it wasn't long before a familiar feeling crept up on Graven… the uncomfortable, internal heat that often signaled an incoming line of communication with his god of light, Q'usñi.  Instead of words or admonition, however, Graven watched as an unfocused vision took shape: two figures sitting and referencing something on a table that looked like a map or diagram.

It took great concentration to gain clarity into what he was seeing, but Graven focused just long enough to glean what was perhaps the most important detail: a bracelet dangling from the wrist of one individual that bore the other half of Graven's holy relic.  Was this the once foretold second cleric of Q'usñi?  And what kind of window had been opened to allow us to see such events taking place?

As we ruminated on the answers to these questions, Erland – riding at the front – spotted something peeking out from behind a tree.  Despite a feeble attempt to stay hidden, we rushed to the spot and found a wounded soldier of the Broken Crown who had escaped from his captors at the outpost to the north.

In exchange for a spot of healing to mend his broken leg, he had a good bit of insight into what had happened when the outpost was raided: a dozen attackers, an organized attack in the night, five prisoners kept alive and unclear motivation beyond what meager supplies were available to steal.  In addition, there was mention of a records room where volumes had been kept on wartime debts – which would be curious spoils for supposed bandits.

There wasn't much to do here, but when we inevitably passed by the outpost on our way out of the Corridor, we could make a better informed decision about whether to intervene – and what to look for if we did.

The next landmark on our map was the bridge taking us back over the Navika River – and it was there that we found two hunters rather suspiciously burying a chest by the bank.  It was immediately apparent upon talking to them that they had some grievance with the Elatrians of the nearby Trickster's Thicket – and that these half-sunken boxes could be traps for unsuspecting elves.

Despite their underhanded deeds, we weren't looking to start a fight – but we kept a sharp eye out for additional buried containers and it wasn't long before we found one.  An attempt to disarm it went about as poorly as it could have – with a very sensitive triggering mechanism that erupted into a ball of concussive flame.

Skin singed and ears ringing, we vowed to be more careful going forward – but we'd quickly realize we weren't the only ones setting fires in the Stouthill Corridor.  With heavy footsteps that caused the very ground to shake beneath us, we spotted a Treant clearing burnt sticks and brush from the road – conceivably the aftermath of another one of these glyph-laden boxes.

In an attempt to sprint by on horseback, Graven and Erland were forced to pivot to avoid a collision with the oncoming trees – a maneuver that slowed them down just enough to allow the Treant one giant swipe of its branching limbs.  The force of the impact sent our horses tumbling to the ground and our companions hurdling into the river.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: six natural ones were rolled in this Chapter. 1 by Riley, 2 by Anthony and 3 by John.